TiO₂/GO-coated functional separator to suppress polysulfide migration in lithium–sulfur batteries

• Ning Liu,
• Lu Wang,
• Taizhe Tan,
• Yan Zhao and
• Yongguang Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1726–1736, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.168

• and Li2S2 at the electrode/electrolyte interface, shortening the service life and rendering poor coulombic efficiency, and (iii) large volumetric changes during charge/discharge, destroying the conductive network of the electrode and causing capacity decay [11][12][13][14][15]. To overcome these

• served as a reference electrode, TiO2/GO hybrid and GO membranes as separators, 1.0 M/0.1 M LiTFSI/LiNO3 in DOL and DME (1:1 v/v) as an electrolyte and sulfur as a cathode. The charge–discharge measurements were carried out in the voltage range of 1.5–3 V (vs Li/Li+) by using a multichannel Neware

Tuning the performance of vanadium redox flow batteries by modifying the structural defects of the carbon felt electrode

• Ditty Dixon,
• Deepu Joseph Babu,
• Aiswarya Bhaskar,
• Hans-Michael Bruns,
• Joerg J. Schneider,
• Frieder Scheiba and
• Helmut Ehrenberg

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1698–1706, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.165

• oxygen functional groups on the N2-plasma-treated sample was very low, the felt showed enhanced electrochemical performance for both V3+/V2+ as well as V5+/V4+ redox reactions. The result is highly significant as the pristine electrode with the same amount of oxygen functional groups showed significantly

• reaction (HER) at the negative electrode [2][3][4]. The air oxidation of V2+ species can be completely prevented by keeping the negative tank under inert gas atmosphere. However, the HER at the negative electrode is almost unavoidable as the redox potential of V3+/V2+ (−0.26 V vs normal hydrogen electrode

• (NHE)) reaction is very close to HER (0 V vs NHE). To minimize the HER, the negative electrode surface structure should be tuned in such a way that it tends to preferably bind V3+/V2+ ions over H+ ions. Creating oxygen functional groups on the surface of the anode is one way to achieve this [5][6

Nanoporous smartPearls for dermal application – Identification of optimal silica types and a scalable production process as prerequisites for marketed products

• David Hespeler,
• Sanaa El Nomeiri,
• Jonas Kaltenbach and
• Rainer H. Müller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1666–1678, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.162

• tempered to 25 °C. After calibration of the pH electrode and the UV–vis fiber optic, the sample was manually added immediately after and the UV–vis measurement with the fiber optic was started. The spectra were corrected using the Tyndall Rayleigh correction function. The different concentrations of raw

Giant magnetoresistance ratio in a current-perpendicular-to-plane spin valve based on an inverse Heusler alloy Ti₂NiAl

• Yu Feng,
• Zhou Cui,
• Bo Wu,
• Jianwei Li,
• Hongkuan Yuan and
• Hong Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1658–1665, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.161

• -metallic Heusler alloys (HMHAs) are regarded as one of the most promising candidates for electrode materials in CPP-SV owing to their high Curie temperature, tunable electronic structure and small lattice mismatch with Ag or Cu. Moreover, the majority spin bands of HMHA across the Fermi level show typical

• electronic structure and magnetic properties, and they deserve to be further studied and applied in spintronics devices. In this study, we built a CPP-SV device employing a half-metallic inverse Heusler alloy Ti2NiAl as the electrode and Ag as the spacer. Different atomic-terminated interfaces are considered

• employed as a semi-infinite left and right electrode, and Ag is selected to be the middle spacer layer. For bulk Ti2NiAl, one Ti atom locates at the (0, 0, 0) site, which is described as TiA, and the other locates at the (0.25, 0.25, 0.25) site, which is described as TiB, where Ni and Al sit at (0.5, 0.5

Upcycling of polyurethane waste by mechanochemistry: synthesis of N-doped porous carbon materials for supercapacitor applications

• Christina Schneidermann,
• Pascal Otto,
• Desirée Leistenschneider,
• Sven Grätz,
• Claudia Eßbach and
• Lars Borchardt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1618–1627, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.157

• applications in catalysis [24][25][26], gas sorption/separation [27][28][29] and electrochemical energy storage/conversion. For the latter, porous carbon materials are established as electrode materials in fuel cells [30][31][32][33], Li–S cells [34][35][36][37], and supercapacitors [38]. In addition, these

• and a total pore volume of up to 0.9 cm3·g−1. In order to generate different nitrogen contents and to increase the porosity of the carbon material, we used different ratios of urea and K2CO3. Moreover, the N-doped carbon materials have been investigated as electrode material for supercapacitors in

• the other two materials. This can be attributed to a low electric conductivity of the electrodes accompanied with the lower ionic conductivity of such electrolytes. This causes a higher resistance of the whole device and results in a lower rate capability. The difference of the electrode

Kelvin probe force microscopy work function characterization of transition metal oxide crystals under ongoing reduction and oxidation

• Dominik Wrana,
• Karol Cieślik,
• Wojciech Belza,
• Christian Rodenbücher,
• Krzysztof Szot and
• Franciszek Krok

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1596–1607, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.155

• + contact + TiO nanowire + interface + STO bulk + bottom electrode) can be estimated to GLCAFM = 10 µS. In contrast, the STO surface exhibits a one order of magnitude lower current of a rather semiconducting nature. It is noteworthy that the STO(100) surface had been thermally reduced up to 1150 °C in UHV

• obtain the CPD signal, an AC-modulated bias was applied to the bottom of the electrode, where a sample was mounted. The modulation frequency and amplitude were set to 315 Hz and 500 mV, respectively. In order to ensure reproducible FM-KPFM results, two different types of AFM cantilevers were used: PPP

Materials nanoarchitectonics at two-dimensional liquid interfaces

• Katsuhiko Ariga,
• Michio Matsumoto,
• Taizo Mori and
• Lok Kumar Shrestha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1559–1587, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.153

• molecules. The one-dimensional carbon materials prepared through high-temperature carbonization of C70 crystalline assemblies showed high specific capacitances at a high current density and scan rate [243]. These nano-engineered one-dimensional carbon materials might be useful as electrode materials for

• -dimensional fullerene objects, Ji, Shrestha, and co-workers reported the synthesis of two-dimensional mesoporous carbon microbelts and demonstrated their usage as electrode material for electrochemical supercapacitors (Figure 19) [251]. Two-dimensional belt-like mesoporous structures can be fabricated from

Rapid thermal annealing for high-quality ITO thin films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering

• Petronela Prepelita,
• Ionel Stavarache,
• Doina Craciun,
• Florin Garoi,
• Catalin Negrila,
• Beatrice Gabriela Sbarcea and
• Valentin Craciun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1511–1522, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.149

• Thin oxide films, used as contact electrodes [1][2][3][4], are considered to be important components of photovoltaic cells [5][6]. As an electrode candidate for solar cells, an ITO film [7][8] must present excellent optical and electrical properties for increased energy generation. At this time, the

Synthesis of P- and N-doped carbon catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction via controlled phosphoric acid treatment of folic acid

• Rieko Kobayashi,
• Takafumi Ishii,
• Yasuo Imashiro and
• Jun-ichi Ozaki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1497–1510, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.148

• ) (PFA). Two types of PFA-based carbon materials were prepared by using hydrochloric acid or phosphoric acid as polymerization initiators (non-doped and P-doped PFA carbon materials, respectively). Electrochemical methods The ORR activity of carbon materials was probed by rotating disk electrode

• voltammetry. The working electrode was prepared by loading the catalyst (200 μg·cm−2) on a glassy carbon disk electrode. The carbon ink was prepared in the following manner: 2.5 mg of the prepared sample was mixed with 25 μL of Nafion solution (5% solution of lower aliphatic alcohols, Aldrich), 75 μL of

• ethanol (99.5%, Wako Pure Chemicals, Co. Ltd.) and 75 μL of ultrapure water in a plastic conical vial (1.5 mL). The working electrode was a 4 mm diameter glass-like carbon electrode (BAS Inc.). The carbon ink (1.78 μL) was pasted onto the whole area of the glass-like carbon electrode (catalyst loading is

Flexible freestanding MoS₂-based composite paper for energy conversion and storage

• Florian Zoller,
• Jan Luxa,
• Thomas Bein,
• Dina Fattakhova-Rohlfing,
• Daniel Bouša and
• Zdeněk Sofer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1488–1496, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.147

• electrode that comes into contact with the electrolyte solution S. The calculation was performed using equation: C = (2·I) / (S·U/t). The calculated values are summarized for each discharging current in Table 1. Charging–discharging curves of MoS2-based composite paper obtained using the chronoamperometry

• -based composite paper electrode was used. Moreover, the rate performance of the freestanding MoS2-based composite paper electrodes was further investigated (Figure 5c). The composite delivers 740, 721, 596, 190 and 49 mA·h·g−1, at current rates of 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1 and 2 A·g−1, respectively. The slightly

• cut into round disks with a diameter of 18 mm (254.5 mm2). They were directly used as an anode in ECC-PAT-Core (EL-Cell) battery test cells assembled in an argon-filled glove box using lithium metal both as the counter and reference electrode and an EL-CELL ECC1-01-0011-A/L glass fiber membrane as a

Hierarchically structured 3D carbon nanotube electrodes for electrocatalytic applications

• Pei Wang,
• Katarzyna Kulp and
• Michael Bron

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1475–1487, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.146

• electrocatalytic applications is demonstrated using the methanol electro-oxidation as a test reaction. The Pt mass specific activity towards methanol oxidation of Pt-CNT/CNT/GC is approximately 2.5 times higher than that of Pt-CNT/GC, and the hierarchical electrode exhibits a more negative onset potential. Both

• support is as important as the active material in order to form an optimum catalyst. For electrocatalytic applications, the support should possess high electrical conductivity, large surface area and good chemical and mechanical stability. Furthermore, the electrode prepared with the catalyst should

• between the conducting components [42][43][44][45]. The modification of the electronic and structural properties of Pt due to interaction with the support may also play a role. To take advantage of the properties of novel carbon materials, and at the same time gain control over the electrode structure

Growth of lithium hydride thin films from solutions: Towards solution atomic layer deposition of lithiated films

• Ivan Kundrata,
• Karol Fröhlich,
• Lubomír Vančo,
• Matej Mičušík and
• Julien Bachmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1443–1451, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.142

• electrode layers and substrates, for example to silicon into which the lithium can easily diffuse. In addition, several highly reactive precursors, such as Grignard reagents or n-butyllithium (BuLi) are only usable in solution. In theory, it is possible to use BuLi and water in solution to produce thin

• , LiH is not only suitable as an electrode material, where in fact it boasts the highest lithium concentration after elemental Li, it is also extremely useful as a hydrogen-torage layer. Since sputtering of LiH is possible [23][24], but not conformal, the sALD growth of LiH enables research regarding

BiOCl/TiO₂/diatomite composites with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity for the degradation of rhodamine B

• Minlin Ao,
• Kun Liu,
• Xuekun Tang,
• Zishun Li,
• Qian Peng and
• Jing Huang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1412–1422, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.139

• Figure 9. BiOCl and TiO2/diatomite are n-type semiconductors, and the flat-band potential (vs Ag/AgCl) is −0.75 V and −1.04 V, respectively. According to Equation 1, the flat-band potential relative to Ag/AgCl can be converted to the normal hydrogen electrode (NHE) potential: where E0Ag/AgCl = 0.197 V

Kelvin probe force microscopy of the nanoscale electrical surface potential barrier of metal/semiconductor interfaces in ambient atmosphere

• Petr Knotek,
• Tomáš Plecháček,
• Jan Smolík,
• Petr Kutálek,
• Filip Dvořák,
• Milan Vlček,
• Jiří Navrátil and
• Čestmír Drašar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1401–1411, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.138

• on a 107 nm Au layer on the Bi2Se3 (for both cases the contact electrode and conductive tip were located on the same material). We observed a higher conductivity of the bulk material (quantum size effect) (Figure 3, compare curves a) and b)) and a small photodiode effect of Au/Bi2Se3 (−100 mV) due to

Warped graphitic layers generated by oxidation of fullerene extraction residue and its oxygen reduction catalytic activity

• Machiko Takigami,
• Rieko Kobayashi,
• Takafumi Ishii,
• Yasuo Imashiro and
• Jun-ichi Ozaki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1391–1400, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.137

• /L KNO3. The carbons, bound by using a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) resin solution (KF polymer L, #7305, NMP solution, Kureha Co. Ltd.) with a composition of carbon/PVDF = 1/0.5, served as a working electrode with round shape. A potentiostat system (ALS700 series, BAS Japan) was used to record the

• cyclic voltammograms in a potential range of 0.6 to −0.1 V vs Ag/AgCl at different sweep rates (1 to 50 mV/s). Linear sweep voltammetry with a rotating disk electrode was used to evaluate the ORR activity of the prepared carbons. The carbons were used to form a working electrode by using a Nafion (Nafion

• perfluorinated resin solution, Aldrich) solution on a 4 mm glass-like carbon disk electrode (0.2 mg [carbon]/cm2, 0.1 mg [binder]/cm2). The reference electrode was a reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). The electrolyte was a 0.5 mol/L H2SO4 aqueous solution. A voltammogram obtained in a N2-saturated electrolyte

Gas sensing properties of individual SnO₂ nanowires and SnO₂ sol–gel nanocomposites

• Alexey V. Shaposhnik,
• Dmitry A. Shaposhnik,
• Sergey Yu. Turishchev,
• Olga A. Chuvenkova,
• Stanislav V. Ryabtsev,
• Alexey A. Vasiliev,
• Xavier Vilanova,
• Francisco Hernandez-Ramirez and
• Joan R. Morante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1380–1390, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.136

• , while the inner pair is used for the measurement of the electrical potential drop. This 4-electrode scheme of electrical resistance measurement improves the quality of sensor response detection. In spite of the large number of works dedicated to the use of nanowires as conductometric gas sensors, these

• energy consumption reduction of the device when using a 4-electrode connection, where the outer pair of electrodes is used for applying the electrical potential. Another feature is the ability to use silicon technology for sensing device integration with measuring circuits. This allows the fabrication of

A biomimetic nanofluidic diode based on surface-modified polymeric carbon nitride nanotubes

• Kai Xiao,
• Baris Kumru,
• Lu Chen,
• Lei Jiang,
• Bernhard V. K. J. Schmidt and
• Markus Antonietti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1316–1323, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.130

• ). The membrane was caught in a H-cell with electrolyte. A Ag/AgCl electrode was used to collect the ionic current. The I–V curves were adjusted to zero current at zero voltage to remove small offsets experienced between runs. All measurements were carried out at ambient temperature. The main

Multicomponent bionanocomposites based on clay nanoarchitectures for electrochemical devices

• Giulia Lo Dico,
• Bernd Wicklein,
• Lorenzo Lisuzzo,
• Giuseppe Lazzara,
• Pilar Aranda and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1303–1315, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.129

• nanofillers to ensure the mechanical strength and electrical conductivity of the prepared bionanocomposite films and foams [26]. Moreover, MWCNTs are supposed to act as nanowires improving the contact between the active site of the immobilized enzymes and an electrode surface via direct electron transfer [39

• stability of these multicomponent hybrid materials in water showing a mass loss of only 3.2 wt % over the course of two months. This excellent stability, together with the good electrical and mechanical properties, suggest that the prepared multicomponent bionanocomposite can be suitable as electrode

• fast electron transfer between the enzyme and the electrode surface. In fact, a fit of the curve with the Lineweaver–Burk plot (Figure S9, Supporting Information File 1) rendered a Michaelis–Menten constant (Km) of 9.3 mM, which is smaller than those reported for GOx in solution (33 mM) [62] and GOx

Alloyed Pt₃M (M = Co, Ni) nanoparticles supported on S- and N-doped carbon nanotubes for the oxygen reduction reaction

• Stéphane Louisia,
• Yohann R. J. Thomas,
• Pierre Lecante,
• Marie Heitzmann,
• M. Rosa Axet,
• Pierre-André Jacques and
• Philippe Serp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1251–1269, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.125

• reaction (ORR) have been evaluated in a rotating ring disk electrode experiment. The Pt3M/N-CNT catalysts revealed excellent electrochemical properties compared to a commercial Pt3Co/Vulcan XC-72 catalyst. The nature of the carbon support plays a key role in determining the properties of the metal

• rotating ring disk electrode (RRDE) experiment to determine the active surface and the activity for the ORR of each catalyst. Finally, membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) of 25 cm2 active area, integrating the synthesized catalysts, have been prepared and tested. The one giving the best beginning-of-life

• selectivity In order to proceed to a first screening of the as-prepared catalysts, their electrochemical properties were evaluated by RRDE measurements. It is worth noting that electrocatalyst investigations are usually performed with a rotating ring-disk electrode (RRDE) in acidic or alkaline media. Previous

Molecular attachment to a microscope tip: inelastic tunneling, Kondo screening, and thermopower

• Rouzhaji Tuerhong,
• Mauro Boero and
• Jean-Pierre Bucher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1243–1250, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.124

• ], only the second method is used in this work. To pick up the molecule, the tip is approached above the ligand moiety. The ligand moiety is the most favorable site of binding between the phthalocyanine molecule and the sharp metallic electrode as confirmed by calculations [12]. We found that approching

Porous N- and S-doped carbon–carbon composite electrodes by soft-templating for redox flow batteries

• Maike Schnucklake,
• László Eifert,
• Jonathan Schneider,
• Roswitha Zeis and
• Christina Roth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1131–1139, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.113

• obtained inside the macroporous carbon felt. For the investigation of electrode structure and porosity X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and nitrogen sorption (BET) were used. The electrochemical performance of the carbon felts was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry

• ; porous electrode; redox flow battery; soft-templating approach; vanadium; Introduction In recent years, vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) have attracted significant attention as a promising large-scale system for storing excess energy from renewable sources like wind or solar energy [1][2][3]. The

• material” in the following text (Figure 1). Structural characterization For a detailed insight into the morphology of the electrode, SEM images of the carbonized sample, N-doped carbon felt and S- and N-doped composite material were taken at two different magnifications (Figure 2). The fibers of the

Synthesis and characterization of quaternary La(Sr)S–TaS₂ misfit-layered nanotubes

• Marco Serra,
• Erumpukuthickal Ashokkumar Anumol,
• Dalit Stolovas,
• Iddo Pinkas,
• Ernesto Joselevich,
• Reshef Tenne,
• Andrey Enyashin and
• Francis Leonard Deepak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1112–1124, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.111

• open electrode front-illuminated CCD camera cooled to −60 °C (Syncerity, HORIBA, USA). The system utilizes an open confocal microscope (Olympus BXFM) with a spatial resolution better than 1 μm. The measurements were done with the laser beam focused on a single nanotube at a time. DFT calculations All

Glucose-derived carbon materials with tailored properties as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction

• Rafael Gomes Morais,
• Natalia Rey-Raap,
• José Luís Figueiredo and
• Manuel Fernando Ribeiro Pereira

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1089–1102, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.109

• potentials (0.75–0.78 V and 0.30–0.33 V), indicating that the ORR mechanism proceeds via the two-electron pathway. These results are corroborated by the experiments performed with a rotating ring disk electrode, from which the production of hydrogen peroxide was evaluated. More than 18% of hydrogen peroxide

• analysis, a calibration of the CO and CO2 content was carried out, allowing the quantification of the TPD profiles. Electrochemical characterization The electrochemical measurements were performed on a PGSTAT 302N potentiostat/galvanostat by using a three-electrode cell configuration. Ag/AgCl (KCl 3 M) and

• a glassy carbon rod were used as reference and counter electrode, respectively. Working electrodes were prepared by depositing a suspension of the carbon samples on a glassy carbon rotating disk electrode (3 mm of diameter, Metrohm). These suspensions were prepared by dispersing 1 mg of the prepared

Tailoring the stability/aggregation of one-dimensional TiO₂(B)/titanate nanowires using surfactants

• Atiđa Selmani,
• Johannes Lützenkirchen,
• Kristina Kučanda,
• Dario Dabić,
• Engelbert Redel,
• Ida Delač Marion,
• Damir Kralj,
• Darija Domazet Jurašin and
• Maja Dutour Sikirić

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1024–1037, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.103

• Riedel-de Haën and used for pH-electrode calibration. All other chemicals used in this investigation were purchased from Fluka and dissolved in Milli-Q water. Sample preparation Preparation of neat surfactant solutions Stock solutions of DTAB, c(DTAB) = 1 × 10−1 mol dm−3 and 12-2-12, c(12-2-12) = 1 × 10

• after each addition of titrant in order to obtain stable pH electrode response. The pH was recorded using a pH meter (827 pH Lab, Metrohm) equipped with a combined glass electrode (6.0228.010, Metrohm) which was calibrated with five standard buffers (pH 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10). During the experiments

Concurrent nanoscale surface etching and SnO₂ loading of carbon fibers for vanadium ion redox enhancement

• Jun Maruyama,
• Shohei Maruyama,
• Tomoko Fukuhara,
• Toru Nagaoka and
• Kei Hanafusa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 985–992, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.99

• recently, a technique for nanoscale and uniform surface etching of the carbon fiber surface was developed and a significant enhancement of the negative electrode reaction of vanadium redox flow batteries was attained, although the enhancement was limited to the positive electrode reaction. In this study

• photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The activity for the vanadium ion redox reactions was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) to demonstrate the enhancement of both the positive and negative electrode reactions. A full cell test of the vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) showed a significant decrease of the

• overpotential and a stable cycling performance. A facile and efficient technique based on the nanoscale processing of the carbon fiber surface was presented to substantially enhance the activity for the redox reactions in redox flow batteries. Keywords: carbon fiber; electrode reactions; metal-oxide