Synthesis and applications of carbon nanomaterials for energy generation and storage

• Marco Notarianni,
• Jinzhang Liu,
• Kristy Vernon and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 149–196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.17

Linear and nonlinear optical properties of hybrid metallic–dielectric plasmonic nanoantennas

• Mario Hentschel,
• Bernd Metzger,
• Bastian Knabe,
• Karsten Buse and
• Harald Giessen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 111–120, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.13

• process, we demonstrate the ability to selectively and reproducibly fill the gap region of nanoantennas with dielectric nanoparticles made of lithium niobate (LiNbO3) with high efficiency. The linear optical properties of the antennas are modified due to the large refractive index of the material. This

• , depending on its microscopic nonlinearity. Results and Discussion One obvious idea drawn from these earlier experiments is thus to use standard nonlinear materials such as lithium niobate crystals (LiNbO3) or indium tin oxide (ITO) and selectively position them inside the gaps of nanoantennas, as shown in

• increased spectral overlap of the laser source and the plasmon spectrum. There are actually several possible explanations for the observed behavior: Firstly, lithium niobate (under these circumstances) is a poor frequency converter. Lithium niobate exhibits an off-resonant nonlinearity which becomes

Surfactant-controlled composition and crystal structure of manganese(II) sulfide nanocrystals prepared by solvothermal synthesis

• Elena Capetti,
• Anna M. Ferretti,
• Vladimiro Dal Santo and
• Alessandro Ponti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2319–2329, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.238

• ), ≈100 K (β-MnS), and 154 K (α-MnS) [6]. The interesting physical properties and the rich polymorphism prompted research on MnS nanocrystals (NCs) in view of applications as photoluminescent components [7], photoreduction catalysts [8], anode materials in lithium-ion batteries [9], and supercapacitor

Nitrogen-doped graphene films from chemical vapor deposition of pyridine: influence of process parameters on the electrical and optical properties

• Andrea Capasso,
• Theodoros Dikonimos,
• Francesca Sarto,
• Alessio Tamburrano,
• Giovanni De Bellis,
• Maria Sabrina Sarto,
• Giuliana Faggio,
• Angela Malara,
• Giacomo Messina and
• Nicola Lisi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2028–2038, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.206

• nitrogen might also confer useful chemical properties to graphene, e.g., rendering it catalytic to oxygen reduction reactions [24] or enhancing its lithium intercalation properties for battery applications [25]. Nitrogen doping was originally achieved ex situ by the post-growth treatment of pristine CVD

Metal hydrides: an innovative and challenging conversion reaction anode for lithium-ion batteries

• Luc Aymard,
• Yassine Oumellal and
• Jean-Pierre Bonnet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1821–1839, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.186

• .6.186 Abstract The state of the art of conversion reactions of metal hydrides (MH) with lithium is presented and discussed in this review with regard to the use of these hydrides as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. A focus on the gravimetric and volumetric storage capacities for different

• electrode polarization (<0.2 V) for conversion materials. Conversion process reaction mechanisms with lithium are subsequently detailed for MgH2, TiH2, complex hydrides Mg2MHx and other Mg-based hydrides. The reversible conversion reaction mechanism of MgH2, which is lithium-controlled, can be extended to

• kinetics improvement and reversibility is presented. Drastic technological improvement in order to the enhance conversion process efficiencies is needed for practical applications. The main goals are minimizing the impact of electrode volume variation during lithium extraction and overcoming the poor

Materials for sustainable energy production, storage, and conversion

• Maximilian Fichtner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1601–1602, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.163

• the demands of future applications. Efficient systems based on powerful and sustainable materials beyond lithium are needed in order to provide long term solutions. In this respect, three contributions were selected from Rana Mohtadi, Luc Aymard, and Philip Adelhelm [4][5][6], presenting the progress

Charge carrier mobility and electronic properties of Al(Op)₃: impact of excimer formation

• Andrea Magri,
• Pascal Friederich,
• Bernhard Schäfer,
• Valeria Fattori,
• Xiangnan Sun,
• Timo Strunk,
• Velimir Meded,
• Luis E. Hueso,
• Wolfgang Wenzel and
• Mario Ruben

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1107–1115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.112

• -phenalen-9-olate to sensitize the europium ion. Furthermore, for lithium and sodium, the enhancement was found to be the most efficient. In these works, 9-hydroxyphenalen-1-one was carefully chosen for its photophysical properties, namely, its high absorption cross section in the condensed phase between

From lithium to sodium: cell chemistry of room temperature sodium–air and sodium–sulfur batteries

• Philipp Adelhelm,
• Pascal Hartmann,
• Conrad L. Bender,
• Martin Busche,
• Christine Eufinger and
• Juergen Janek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1016–1055, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.105

• , Germany 10.3762/bjnano.6.105 Abstract Research devoted to room temperature lithium–sulfur (Li/S8) and lithium–oxygen (Li/O2) batteries has significantly increased over the past ten years. The race to develop such cell systems is mainly motivated by the very high theoretical energy density and the

• . This review provides a summary of the state-of-the-art knowledge on lithium–sulfur and lithium–oxygen batteries and a direct comparison with the analogous sodium systems. The general properties, major benefits and challenges, recent strategies for performance improvements and general guidelines for

• further development are summarized and critically discussed. In general, the substitution of lithium for sodium has a strong impact on the overall properties of the cell reaction and differences in ion transport, phase stability, electrode potential, energy density, etc. can be thus expected. Whether

Multiscale modeling of lithium ion batteries: thermal aspects

• Arnulf Latz and
• Jochen Zausch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 987–1007, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.102

• .6.102 Abstract The thermal behavior of lithium ion batteries has a huge impact on their lifetime and the initiation of degradation processes. The development of hot spots or large local overpotentials leading, e.g., to lithium metal deposition depends on material properties as well as on the nano- und

• special cases the averaged thermal behavior can be captured very well by porous electrode theory. Keywords: lithium ion batteries; multiscale modeling; heat transport; Introduction The main challenge for establishing an ab initio multiscale simulation approach for batteries or electrochemical storage

• absolute accuracy of the DFT simulation, which usually contain many simplification and assumptions on the structure of the solution [4][5]. By using cluster expansions [8] it is possible to combine DFT with kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations to obtain collective diffusion coefficients for lithium ions

Effects of swift heavy ion irradiation on structural, optical and photocatalytic properties of ZnO–CuO nanocomposites prepared by carbothermal evaporation method

• Sini Kuriakose,
• D. K. Avasthi and
• Satyabrata Mohapatra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 928–937, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.96

• promising for applications ranging from solar cells to lithium-ion batteries [26][27][28][29]. ZnO–CuO nanocomposites formed by combining ZnO and CuO nanostructures are expected to exhibit improved physicochemical properties as compared to pure ZnO and CuO nanostructures, because of the formation of nano

Simple approach for the fabrication of PEDOT-coated Si nanowires

• Mingxuan Zhu,
• Marielle Eyraud,
• Judikael Le Rouzo,
• Nadia Ait Ahmed,
• Florence Boulc’h,
• Claude Alfonso,
• Philippe Knauth and
• François Flory

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 640–650, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.65

• research topic for many applications such as photovoltaics [1], lithium batteries [2], hydrogen storage [3] and optoelectronic devices [4] due to their unique properties with respect to visible light management [5][6][7]. Using an electroless etching method, a reflectivity as low as 1.3% over the entire

Nanoparticle shapes by using Wulff constructions and first-principles calculations

• Georgios D. Barmparis,
• Zbigniew Lodziana,
• Nuria Lopez and
• Ioannis N. Remediakis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 361–368, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.35

• transport crucial for reversibility and fast kinetics of hydrogen cycling. For instance, lithium borohydride (LiBH4) has a high gravimetric and volumetric hydrogen density, and it was considered recently as a promising hydrogen storage material or as new superionic conductor [61][62]. The lack of the long

• lithium borohydride the Wulff construction of the nanocrystal does not provide features that can confirm or match experimental evidence. The reason is the low surface energy of compound, fast rotational motion of anions, and large enthalpy of formation of small clusters. Due to the weak interaction with

• the tails of the surfactant are represented by sticks. Wulff construction for the nanoparticles of LiBH4. The blue spheres are for lithium, red for boron and white are hydrogen atoms. Acknowledgements INR acknowledges valuable discussions on Wulff construction with Prof. Phoebus Rosakis. ZL

Manganese oxide phases and morphologies: A study on calcination temperature and atmospheric dependence

• Matthias Augustin,
• Daniela Fenske,
• Ingo Bardenhagen,
• Anne Westphal,
• Martin Knipper,
• Thorsten Plaggenborg,
• Joanna Kolny-Olesiak and
• Jürgen Parisi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 47–59, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.6

• , a 10 wt % Nafion®/water solution was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich, analytical reagent-grade ethanol from Fisher Scientific, and Vulcan® XC72R carbon powder was obtained from Cabot. For electrochemical measurements, reagent-grade lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) was purchased from

Advanced atomic force microscopy techniques II

• Thilo Glatzel,
• Ricardo Garcia and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2326–2327, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.241

• scientific community within the last years. Similar to the first volume [5], the development of advanced techniques and their application is the focus of this Thematic Series. Contributions related to energy conversion and storage systems have been addressed, e.g., the analysis of cathodes of lithium–sulfur

Influence of stabilising agents and pH on the size of SnO₂ nanoparticles

• Olga Rac,
• Patrycja Suchorska-Woźniak,
• Marta Fiedot and
• Helena Teterycz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2192–2201, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.228

• for the production of transparent conductive layers or in the production of electrodes in lithium cells [2]. However, a SnO2 anode in a Li-ion cell has poor cycling stability [3]. A potential solution to this problem may be the use of nanoparticles. Tin dioxide nanoparticles of 3 nm diameter have a

• high charging capacity, however, this ability slightly diminishes after 60 cycles. It is expected that the SnO2 nanoparticles have the potential to replace conventional graphite anodes in lithium-ion cells [4]. In sensor research, many semiconducting metal oxides are used of which tin dioxide is the

• able to reproducibly synthesize SnO2 nanoparticles, which would allow for their widespread use not only in lithium cells and gas sensors, but also in catalysis and other areas of science and technology. Tin dioxide nanoparticles are typically obtained by simple vapour phase transport methods [10][11

Carbon nano-onions (multi-layer fullerenes): chemistry and applications

• Juergen Bartelmess and
• Silvia Giordani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1980–1998, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.207

• group reported the preparation of water-soluble sucrose-functionalized CNOs [29]. In this case, F-CNOs were reacted with a lithium monosucrate derivative, which was previously synthesized from sucrose and lithium hydroxide. The sucrose-decorated CNOs showed an improved solubility of up to 200 mg·L−1 in

• capacitors and lithium-ion batteries and will be discussed in the corresponding part of this review article. Toxicological aspects In the context of applications in biology and medicine, newly employed nanomaterials should be carefully evaluated with regard to biocompatibility, environmental health and

• counter electrode. The capacitance of pure MnO2 (40 F·g−1) could be increased by the incorporation of CNO up to 177.5 F·g−1. In addition, the authors report an excellent cycling stability with 99–101% retention of the specific capacitance after 1000 cycles. Lithium-Ion batteries: Carbon nanotubes are

In vitro and in vivo interactions of selected nanoparticles with rodent serum proteins and their consequences in biokinetics

• Wolfgang G. Kreyling,
• Stefanie Fertsch-Gapp,
• Martin Schäffler,
• Blair D. Johnston,
• Nadine Haberl,
• Christian Pfeiffer,
• Jörg Diendorf,
• Carsten Schleh,
• Stephanie Hirn,
• Manuela Semmler-Behnke,
• Matthias Epple and
• Wolfgang J. Parak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1699–1711, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.180

• ; 80 nm AuNP were centrifuged and washed at 1000g for 20 min each as their mass assured a rapid precipitation at this centrifugal force). This was followed by protein detachment from the AuNP of the first pellet (by using a lysis buffer based on lithium dodecyl sulfate) and subsequently protein-mass

On the structure of grain/interphase boundaries and interfaces

• K. Anantha Padmanabhan and
• Herbert Gleiter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1603–1615, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.172

• scandium, 23.55 for palladium, 49.03 for lithium, 37.36 for beryllium, 19.38 for phosphorus, 10.16 for boron and so on. Similar values for polymers are not available.) In this line of argument, this enormous energy release raises the local temperature and enables the diffusive ordering of atoms over a

Magnesium batteries: Current state of the art, issues and future perspectives

• Rana Mohtadi and
• Fuminori Mizuno

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1291–1311, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.143

• a myriad of distinct batteries and energy storage chemistries [1]. Out of the several known battery technologies, secondary or rechargeable batteries, such as nickel metal hydride and lithium-ion, which allow for reversibly storing and harnessing power on demand while providing high power and energy

• as in hybrid (HV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and electric vehicles (EV) up to large scale stationary and grid applications [1][4]. As one of the scalable battery systems, lithium-ion batteries have been at the forefront in attracting great interests since the great discovery and ingenious use of Li-ion

• intercalation compounds as negative electrodes [1]. Although the capacities (measure of electrons number obtained from the active material) offered by most common lithium-ion intercalation compounds are lower than those provided by the Li metal (i.e., 372 mAh g−1, 837 mAh cm−3 for LiC6 vs 3862 mAh g−1, 2061 mAh

Effects of the preparation method on the structure and the visible-light photocatalytic activity of Ag₂CrO₄

• Difa Xu,
• Shaowen Cao,
• Jinfeng Zhang,
• Bei Cheng and
• Jiaguo Yu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 658–666, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.77

• contaminants both in air and aqueous solution. However, Ag2CrO4 is neglected although it has been explored as cathode for lithium cells in early years [37][38][39]. Actually, the band gap of Ag2CrO4 is narrow enough (about 1.75 eV) to obtain strong absorption in visible-light region [40], and thus may enable

Magnesiothermic conversion of the silica-mineralizing golden algae Mallomonas caudata and Synura petersenii to elemental silicon with high geometric precision

• Janina Petrack,
• Steffen Jost,
• Jens Boenigk and
• Matthias Epple

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 554–560, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.65

• use as electrodes in lithium batteries has been proposed [9][15][16]. Another advantage of such biofabrication approaches is the conversion of a large number of almost identical biological objects into defined materials. Different approaches which start from porous silica-mineralizing organisms as

Tensile properties of a boron/nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube–graphene hybrid structure

• Kang Xia,
• Haifei Zhan,
• Ye Wei and
• Yuantong Gu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 329–336, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.37

• for the application as fuel cell electrocatalyst, in field-effect transistors, and in lithium batteries. Thus, especially N-doped nanotube–graphene hybrid structures have been envisioned to have promising potential applications in the field of catalysis, gas storage and energy storage [16]. The

Atomic layer deposition, a unique method for the preparation of energy conversion devices

• Julien Bachmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 245–248, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.26

• semiconductors, molecules and ions in electrolytes. Figure 1 summarizes the particular types of charge and energy carriers in a solar cell (left), an electrode of a lithium ion battery (center), and the water oxidation electrode of an electrolyzer (right). Despite the variety of physical states and chemical

• which can be performed by ALD materials may be rationalized if a few common themes are recognized, which run like a common thread through this Thematic Series: ALD for a direct device function, such as light absorption in solar cells, ion conduction and electrocatalysis in fuel cells, or lithium uptake

• lithium ion battery (center), and the water oxidation electrode of an electrolyzer (or the oxygen-evolving complex in photosynthesis, right). An example of nanostructured interfaces in an energy conversion device: thylakoids for photosynthesis (micrograph adapted and reproduced with author permission; (c

Surface assembly and nanofabrication of 1,1,1-tris(mercaptomethyl)heptadecane on Au(111) studied with time-lapse atomic force microscopy

• Tian Tian,
• Burapol Singhana,
• Lauren E. Englade-Franklin,
• Xianglin Zhai,
• T. Randall Lee and
• Jayne C. Garno

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 26–35, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.3

• dried with calcium hydride (CaH2) and distillated before use. Pyridinium chlorochromate (PCC) and lithium aluminum hydride (LiAlH4) were purchased from Alfa Aesar. 1-Octadecanol (ReagentPlus®, 99%), formaldehyde (37 wt % in H2O), trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride (≥99%), 18-crown-6 (≥99.9%), pyridine

Many-body effects in semiconducting single-wall silicon nanotubes

• Wei Wei and
• Timo Jacob

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 19–25, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.2

• anodes for lithium rechargeable batteries [10][11][12]. Although the ground-state geometric and electronic properties of SiNTs have been studied [14][15][16][17], properties of excited states, for example optical absorption of SiNTs, are still in need. It is of high importance to correctly understand the