7 research outputs found
Self-Assembled Organic Nanowires for High Power Density Lithium Ion Batteries
The electroactive organic materials
are promising alternatives
to inorganic electrode materials for the new generation of green Li-ion
batteries due to their sustainability, environmental benignity, and
low cost. Croconic acid disodium salt (CADS) was used as Li-ion battery
electrode, and CADS organic wires with different diameters were fabricated
through a facile synthetic route using antisolvent crystallization
method to overcome the challenges of low electronic conductivity of
CADS and lithiation induced strain. The CADS nanowire exhibits much
better electrochemical performance than its crystal bulk material
and microwire counterpart. CADS nanowire with a diameter of 150 nm
delivers a reversible capability of 177 mAh g<sup>â1</sup> at
a current density of 0.2 C and retains capacity of 170 mAh g<sup>â1</sup> after 110 charge/discharge cycles. The nanowire structure also remarkably
enhances the kinetics of croconic acid disodium salt. The CADS nanowire
retains 50% of the 0.1 C capacity even when the current density increases
to 6 C. In contrast, the crystal bulk and microwire material completely
lose their capacities when the current density merely increases to
2 C. Such a high rate performance of CADS nanowire is attributed to
its short ion diffusion pathway and large surface area, which enable
fast ion and electron transport in the electrode. The theoretical
calculation suggests that lithiation of CADS experiences an ion exchange
process. The sodium ions in CADS will be gradually replaced by lithium
ions during the lithiation and delithiation of CADS electrode, which
is confirmed by inductively coupled plasma test
PEGylated Graphene Oxide-Mediated Protein Delivery for Cell Function Regulation
Delivery of proteins into cells may alter cellular functions
as
various proteins are involved in cellular signaling by activating
or deactivating the corresponding pathways and, therefore, can be
used in cancer therapy. In this study, we have demonstrated for the
first time that PEGylated graphene oxide (GO) can be exploited as
a nanovector for efficient delivery of proteins into cells. In this
approach, GO was functionalized with amine-terminated 6-armed polyethylene
glycol (PEG) molecules, thereby providing GO with proper physiological
stability and biocompatibility. Proteins were then loaded onto PEG-grafted
GO (GO-PEG) with high payload via noncovalent interactions. GO-PEG
could deliver proteins to cytoplasm efficiently, protecting them from
enzymatic hydrolysis. The protein delivered by GO-PEG reserves its
biological activity that regulates the cell fate. As a result, delivery
of ribonuclease A (RNase A) led to cell death and transport of protein
kinase A (PKA) induced cell growth. Taken together, this work demonstrated
the feasibility of PEGlyated GO as a promising protein delivery vector
with high biocompatibility, high payload capacity and, more importantly,
capabilities of protecting proteins from enzymatic hydrolysis and
retaining their biological functions
Graphene-Catalyzed Direct FriedelâCrafts Alkylation Reactions: Mechanism, Selectivity, and Synthetic Utility
Transition-metal-catalyzed alkylation
reactions of arenes have
become a central transformation in organic synthesis. Herein, we report
the first general strategy for alkylation of arenes with styrenes
and alcohols catalyzed by carbon-based materials, exploiting the unique
property of graphenes to produce valuable diarylalkane products in
high yields and excellent regioselectivity. The protocol is characterized
by a wide substrate scope and excellent functional group tolerance.
Notably, this process constitutes the first general application of
graphenes to promote direct CâC bond formation utilizing polar
functional groups anchored on the GO surface, thus opening the door
for an array of functional group alkylations using benign and readily
available graphene materials. Mechanistic studies suggest that the
reaction proceeds via a tandem catalysis mechanism in which both of
the coupling partners are activated by interaction with the GO surface
Combined Effect of Porosity and Surface Chemistry on the Electrochemical Reduction of Oxygen on Cellular Vitreous Carbon Foam Catalyst
A new
mechanism of O<sub>2</sub> reduction, which follows principles
different from those generally accepted for describing ORR reduction
on heteroatom-doped carbons, is suggested. It is based on the ability
of oxygen to strongly adsorb in narrow hydrophobic pores. In this
respect, a cellular vitreous carbon foamâgraphene oxide composite
was synthesized. The materials were doped with sulfur and nitrogen
and/or heat-treated at 950 °C in order to modify their surface
chemistry. The resultant samples presented a macro-/microporous nature
and were tested as ORR catalysts. To understand the reduction process,
their surfaces were extensively characterized from texture and chemistry
points of view. The treatment applied markedly changed the volumes
of small micropores and the surface hydrophilicity/polarity character.
The results showed that the electron transfer number was between 3.87
and 3.96 and the onset potential reached 0.879 V for the best-performing
sample. It is noteworthy that the best-performing sample has the highest
volume of pores smaller than 0.7 nm while there was no heteroatom
doping. The hydrophobicity and the strong adsorption forces provided
by these pores to pull oxygen inside are the possible reasons for
the observed excellent performance. A decrease in the volume of these
pores resulted in a decrease in the catalytic performance. When the
surface was modified with heteroatoms, the performances worsened further
because of the induced hydrophilicity
Structural Transformation of Li-Excess Cathode Materials via Facile Preparation and Assembly of Sonication-Induced Colloidal Nanocrystals for Enhanced Lithium Storage Performance
A surfactant-free
sonication-induced route is developed to facilely prepare colloidal
nanocrystals of Li-excess layered Li<sub>1.2</sub>Mn<sub>0.54</sub>Ni<sub>0.13</sub>ÂCo<sub>0.13</sub>O<sub>2</sub> (marked as
LMNCO) material. The sonication process plays a critical role in forming
LMNCO nanocrystals in ethanol (ethanol molecules marked as EtOHs)
and inducing the interaction between LMNCO and solvent molecules.
The formation mechanism of LMNCOâEtOH supramolecules in the
colloidal dispersion system is proposed and examined by the theoretical
simulation and light scattering technique. It is suggested that the
as-formed supramolecule is composed of numerous ethanol molecules
capping the surface of the LMNCO nanocrystal core via hydrogen bonding.
Such chemisorption gives rise to dielectric polarization of the absorbed
ethanol molecules, resulting in a negative surface charge of LMNCO
colloids. The self-assembly behaviors of colloidal LMNCO nanocrystals
are then tentatively investigated by tuning the solvent evaporation
condition, which results in diverse superstructures of LMNCO materials
after the evaporation of ethanol. The reassembled LMNCO architectures
exhibit remarkably improved capacity and cyclability in comparison
with the original LMNCO particles, demonstrating a very promising
cathode material for high-energy lithium-ion batteries. This work
thus provides new insights into the formation and self-assembly of
multiple-element complex inorganic colloids in common and surfactant-free
solvents for enhanced performance in device applications
PâDoped Porous Carbon as Metal Free Catalysts for Selective Aerobic Oxidation with an Unexpected Mechanism
An extremely simple and rapid (seconds)
approach is reported to
directly synthesize gram quantities of P-doped graphitic porous carbon
materials with controlled P bond configuration. For the first time,
it is demonstrated that the P-doped carbon materials can be used as
a selective metal free catalyst for aerobic oxidation reactions. The
work function of P-doped carbon materials, its connectivity to the
P bond configuration, and the correlation with its catalytic efficiency
are studied and established. In direct contrast to N-doped graphene,
the P-doped carbon materials with higher work function show high activity
in catalytic aerobic oxidation. The selectivity trend for the electron
donating and withdrawing properties of the functional groups attached
to the aromatic ring of benzyl alcohols is also different from other
metal free carbon based catalysts. A unique catalytic mechanism is
demonstrated, which differs from both GO and N-doped graphene obtained
by high temperature nitrification. The unique and unexpected catalytic
pathway endows the P-doped materials with not only good catalytic
efficiency but also recyclability. This, combined with a rapid, energy
saving approach that permits fabrication on a large scale, suggests
that the P-doped porous materials are promising materials for âgreen
catalysisâ due to their higher theoretical surface area, sustainability,
environmental friendliness, and low cost
Direct Production of Graphene Nanosheets for Near Infrared Photoacoustic Imaging
Hummers method is commonly used for the fabrication of graphene oxide (GO) from graphite particles. The oxidation process also leads to the cutting of graphene sheets into small pieces. From a thermodynamic perspective, it seems improbable that the aggressive, somewhat random oxidative cutting process could directly result in graphene nanosheets without destroying the intrinsic Ï-conjugated structures and the associated exotic properties of graphene. In Hummers method, both KMnO<sub>4</sub> and NO<sub>2</sub><sup>+</sup> (nitronium ions) in concentrated H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> solutions act as oxidants <i>via</i> different oxidation mechanisms. From both experimental observations and theoretical calculations, it appears that KMnO<sub>4</sub> plays a major role in the observed oxidative cutting and unzipping processes. We find that KMnO<sub>4</sub> also limits nitronium oxidative etching of graphene basal planes, therefore slowing down graphene fracturing processes for nanosheet fabrication. By intentionally excluding KMnO<sub>4</sub> and exploiting pure nitronium ion oxidation, aided by the unique thermal and kinetic effects induced by microwave heating, we find that graphite particles can be converted into graphene nanosheets with their Ï-conjugated aromatic structures and properties largely retained. Without the need of any postreduction processes to remove the high concentration of oxygenated groups that results from Hummers GO formation, the graphene nanosheets as-fabricated exhibit strong absorption, which is nearly wavelength-independent in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) regions, an optical property typical for intrinsic graphene sheets. For the first time, we demonstrate that strong photoacoustic signals can be generated from these graphene nanosheets with NIR excitation. The photo-to-acoustic conversion is weakly dependent on the wavelength of the NIR excitation, which is different from all other NIR photoacoustic contrast agents previously reported