4 research outputs found
Synthesis, Shape Control, and Methanol Electro-oxidation Properties of Pt–Zn Alloy and Pt<sub>3</sub>Zn Intermetallic Nanocrystals
We report the first synthesis of highly monodisperse Pt<sub>3</sub>Zn nanocrystals (NCs). Shape-controlled synthesis generates cubic and spherical Pt–Zn NCs. Reaction temperature is the key to incorporate Zn into Pt, even in the absence of a strong reducing agent. The Pt–Zn NCs are active toward methanol oxidation, with the spherical NCs exhibiting higher activity than the cubic NCs. The Pt–Zn alloy phase can be transformed into the Pt<sub>3</sub>Zn intermetallic phase, upon annealing. The intermetallic Pt<sub>3</sub>Zn shows better performance than the alloy phase Pt–Zn. Besides the activity toward methanol oxidation, Pt–Zn NCs show excellent poisoning tolerance. With activities comparable to the commercial Pt catalyst, enhanced poisoning tolerance and lower cost, Pt–Zn and Pt<sub>3</sub>Zn NCs are a promising new family of catalysts for direct methanol fuel cells
Biaxial Stretchability and Transparency of Ag Nanowire 2D Mass-Spring Networks Prepared by Floating Compression
Networks
of silver nanowires (Ag NWs) have been considered as promising materials
for stretchable and transparent conductors. Despite various improvements
of their optoelectronic and electromechanical properties over the
past few years, Ag NW networks with a sufficient stretchability in
multiple directions that is essential for the accommodation of the
multidirectional strains of human movement have seldom been reported.
For this paper, biaxially stretchable, transparent conductors were
developed based on 2D mass-spring networks of wavy Ag NWs. Inspired
by the traditional papermaking process, the 2D wavy networks were
produced by floating Ag NW networks on the surface of water and subsequently
applying biaxial compression to them. It was demonstrated that this
floating-compression process can reduce the friction between the Ag
NW–water interfaces, providing a uniform and isotropic in-plane
waviness for the networks without buckling or cracking. The resulting
Ag NW networks that were transferred onto elastomeric substrates successfully
acted as conductors with an excellent transparency, conductivity,
and electromechanical stability under a biaxial strain of 30%. The
strain sensors that are based on the prepared conductors demonstrated
a great potential for the enhanced performances of future wearable
devices
Reversibly Stretchable, Optically Transparent Radio-Frequency Antennas Based on Wavy Ag Nanowire Networks
We report a facile approach for producing
reversibly stretchable, optically transparent radio-frequency antennas
based on wavy Ag nanowire (NW) networks. The wavy configuration of
Ag NWs is obtained by floating the NW networks on the surface of water,
followed by compression. Stretchable antennas are prepared by transferring
the compressed NW networks onto elastomeric substrates. The resulting
antennas show excellent performance under mechanical deformation due
to the wavy configuration, which allows the release of stress applied
to the NWs and an increase in the contact area between NWs. The antennas
formed from the wavy NW networks exhibit a smaller return loss and
a higher radiation efficiency when strained than the antennas formed
from the straight NW networks, as well as an improved stability in
cyclic deformation tests. Moreover, the wavy NW antennas require a
relatively small quantity of NWs, which leads to low production costs
and provides an optical transparency. These results demonstrate the
potential of these wavy Ag NW antennas in applications of wireless
communications for wearable systems
Chemically Designed Metallic/Insulating Hybrid Nanostructures with Silver Nanocrystals for Highly Sensitive Wearable Pressure Sensors
With the increase
in interest in wearable tactile pressure sensors for e-skin, researches
to make nanostructures to achieve high sensitivity have been actively
conducted. However, limitations such as complex fabrication processes
using expensive equipment still exist. Herein, simple lithography-free
techniques to develop pyramid-like metal/insulator hybrid nanostructures
utilizing nanocrystals (NCs) are demonstrated. Ligand-exchanged and
unexchanged silver NC thin films are used as metallic and insulating
components, respectively. The interfaces of each NC layer are chemically
engineered to create discontinuous insulating layers, i.e., spacers
for improved sensitivity, and eventually to realize fully solution-processed
pressure sensors. Device performance analysis with structural, chemical,
and electronic characterization and conductive atomic force microscopy
study reveals that hybrid nanostructure based pressure sensor shows
an enhanced sensitivity of higher than 500 kPa<sup>–1</sup>, reliability, and low power consumption with a wide range of pressure
sensing. Nano-/micro-hierarchical structures are also designed by
combining hybrid nanostructures with conventional microstructures,
exhibiting further enhanced sensing range and achieving a record sensitivity
of 2.72 × 10<sup>4</sup> kPa<sup>–1</sup>. Finally, all-solution-processed
pressure sensor arrays with high pixel density, capable of detecting
delicate signals with high spatial selectivity much better than the
human tactile threshold, are introduced