Synthesis of an ordered mesoporous carbon with graphitic characteristics and its application for dye adsorption

An ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) was prepared by a chemical vapor deposition technique using liquid petroleum gas (LPG) as the carbon source. During synthesis, LPG was effectively adsorbed in the ordered mesopores of SBA-15 silica and converted to a graphitic carbon at 800 °C. X-ray diffraction and nitrogen adsorption/desorption data and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) of the OMC confirmed its ordered mesoporous structure. The OMC was utilized as an adsorbent in the removal of dyes from aqueous solution. A commercial powder activated carbon (AC) was also investigated to obtain comparative data. The efficiency of the OMC for dye adsorption was tested using acidic dye acid orange 8 (AO8) and basic dyes methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RB). The results show that adsorption was affected by the molecular size of the dye, the textural properties of carbon adsorbent and surface-dye interactions. The adsorption capacities of the OMC for acid orange 8 (AO8), methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RB) were determined to be 222, 833, and 233 mg/g, respectively. The adsorption capacities of the AC for AO8, MB, and RB were determined to be 141, 313, and 185 mg/ g, respectively. The OMC demonstrated to be an excellent adsorbent for the removal of MB from wastewater.Web of Scienc

Filtration-wet transferred transparent conducting films of mm long carbon nanotubes grown using water-assisted chemical vapor deposition.

Transparent conducting films (TCF) made up from carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have a tremendous potential in replacing the indium tin oxide films. Compare to single wall CNTs multiwall CNTs are more metallic and are more suitable candidate for the TCF. In this letter we report the use of selectively grown mm-scale, few-wall, vertically aligned CNTs for the fabrication of TCF. Water-assisted chemical vapor deposition was used to grow the mm-scale CNTs within short growth time. A special post-growth water-vapor treatment allowed us to remove the catalyst-free CNT forest very easily from the substrate and use it for the further process. A filtration-wet transfer process was used to form the TCF. The TCF shows sheet resistance of 228 omega/sq. at 72% transparency (at 550 nm). The ratio of optical conductivity to dc conductivity was observed in between 0.21 to 0.25 for below 80% transmission

Challenges in Knitted E-textiles

This paper considers the progress made in E-textiles within knitted textiles and discusses what “Project Jacquard” and the debut of the woven Levi’s Commuter X Jacquard by Google jacket helps reveal about the relationship between E-textiles and textiles manufacturing. The paper considers research conducted within the fields of Art, Design and Technology, along with materials with interesting and novel properties that have been integrated into knitted textiles by practitioners and researchers. Such materials can embellish or enhance knitted fabric, from creating additional visual interest to practical functions. However, due to the physical properties of these types of materials, not all materials can be knitted into the fabric with ease; the optimal machine settings and techniques must be determined. Adapting to the physical characteristics of these innovative materials is a logical design requirement of the prototype development process but when we look to adopt the same principles as “Project Jacquard”; manufacturing knitted E-textiles to scale, the challenges of the material/machinery relationship become more of an issue. This raises the question as to whether it is better to develop the material for better textiles integration, or to optimize the production process to suit the material

Three-dimensional Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Supported Molybdenum Disulfide Nanoparticles as an Advanced Catalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.

An efficient three-dimensional (3D) hybrid material of nitrogen-doped graphene sheets (N-RGO) supporting molybdenum disulfide (MoS(2)) nanoparticles with high-performance electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is fabricated by using a facile hydrothermal route. Comprehensive microscopic and spectroscopic characterizations confirm the resulting hybrid material possesses a 3D crumpled few-layered graphene network structure decorated with MoS(2) nanoparticles. Electrochemical characterization analysis reveals that the resulting hybrid material exhibits efficient electrocatalytic activity toward HER under acidic conditions with a low onset potential of 112 mV and a small Tafel slope of 44 mV per decade. The enhanced mechanism of electrocatalytic activity has been investigated in detail by controlling the elemental composition, electrical conductance and surface morphology of the 3D hybrid as well as Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. This demonstrates that the abundance of exposed active sulfur edge sites in the MoS(2) and nitrogen active functional moieties in N-RGO are synergistically responsible for the catalytic activity, whilst the distinguished and coherent interface in MoS(2)/N-RGO facilitates the electron transfer during electrocatalysis. Our study gives insights into the physical/chemical mechanism of enhanced HER performance in MoS(2)/N-RGO hybrids and illustrates how to design and construct a 3D hybrid to maximize the catalytic efficiency