Techno-economic assessment of CO2 quality effect on its storage and transport: CO2QUEST: An overview of aims, objectives and main findings

This paper provides an overview of the aims, objectives and the main findings of the CO2QUEST FP7 collaborative project, funded by the European Commission and designed to address the fundamentally important and urgent issues regarding the impact of the typical impurities in CO2 streams captured from fossil fuel power plants and other CO2 intensive industries on their safe and economic pipeline transportation and storage. The main features and results recorded from some of the unique test facilities constructed as part of the project are presented. These include an extensively instrumented realistic-scale test pipeline for conducting pipeline rupture and dispersion tests in China, an injection test facility in France to study the mobility of trace metallic elements contained in a CO2 stream following injection near a shallow-water qualifier and fluid/rock interactions and well integrity experiments conducted using a fully instrumented deep-well CO2/impurities injection test facility in Israel. The above, along with the various unique mathematical models developed, provide the fundamentally important tools needed to define impurity tolerance levels, mixing protocols and control measures for pipeline networks and storage infrastructure, thus contributing to the development of relevant standards for the safe design and economic operation of CCS

Catalytic polymeric electrodes for direct borohydride fuel cells

Abstract not availableBita Bayatsarmadi, Alice Peters, Pejman Talem

Flexible polymer-on-polymer architecture for piezo/pyroelectric energy harvesting

An all polymer piezo/pyroelectric device was fabricated using β phase poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) as the active material and vapor phase polymerized (VPP) poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiphene) (PEDOT) as the flexible electrode overlay material. Inherent problems usually associated with coating polymeric electrodes onto the low surface energy PVDF were overcome by air plasma treating the film in conjunction with utilizing the VPP technique to simultaneously synthesize and in situ deposit the PEDOT electrode. Strain measurements up to the breaking-strain of PVDF (approximately 35%) indicated that the change in R/Ro was significantly smaller for the PEDOT based electrodes compared to the platinum electrode. Plasma treatment of the PVDF film increased the level of surface oxygenated carbon species that contributed to increased surface energy, as confirmed by confirmed by contact angle measurement. The enhanced adhesion between the two polymers layers contributed to a significant increase in the measured piezoelectric output voltage from 0.2 to 0.5 V for the same strain conditions. Pyroelectric voltage outputs were obtained by placing the film onto and off of a hotplate, for temperatures up to 50 °C above ambient. Finally, as a proof of concept, a simple energy harvesting device (plastic tube with slots for mounting multiple piezo/pyro films) was fabricated. The device was able to generate a usable level of peak output current (>3.5 μA) from human inhalation and exhalation "waste energy".Pejman Talemi, Marine Delaigue, Peter Murphy, and Manrico Fabrett

Extending the utility of conducting polymers through chemisorption of nucleophiles

The investigation of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) exposed to several example amines has shown that they bind to the conducting polymer through a nucleophilic attack on the positively charged carbon atoms. The PEDOT films were polymerized using the vacuum vapor phase polymerization (VPP) technique, and their electrical and optical properties subsequently modified by adsorbing aniline, ammonia or urea. Analysis of the surface chemistry shows that the reversibility of the binding depends on the nature of the amine, although a portion is chemisorbed to the PEDOT. This mechanism allows the polymer surface to be decorated with biomolecules or nanoparticles, as demonstrated by attachment of poly(allylamine) coated silica nanoparticles to the PEDOT. This understanding provides the opportunity to control PEDOT properties, and opens the pathway to extend the utility of these electroactive, optoactive, and bioactive materials.Pejman Hojati-Talemi, Drew Evans, and Manrico Fabrett

Effect of different microwave-based treatments on multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Three new methods for the functionalization of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are reported using microwave (MW) energy and water as a mild chemical agent. In the first method we reported the effect of MW irradiation on a dispersion of MWCNTs in deionized water, in the second method we studied the exposing of MWCNT to microwave irradiation in the presence of steam, and in the third method we used microwave oven-generated plasma for the functionalization of MWCNTs. We also performed thermal oxidation and acid treatment as two conventional methods for oxidative functionalization of carbon nanotubes, to compare their effect with our results. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy results showed that although these microwave methods introduced some defects to the carbon nanotubes, the damage was less severe than conventional treatments. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements confirmed that the functionalization of carbon nanotubes by these methods favored hydroxyl groups, which are useful when further functionalization is required.Pejman Hojati-Talemi, Raoul Cervini, George P. Simo

Sonochemical synthesis and structural determination of novel the nano-card house Cu(II) metal-organic coordination system

Abstract not availableFaeze Mojtabazade, Babak Mirtamizdoust, Ali Morsali, Pejman Talem

Highly efficient low voltage electron emission from directly spinnable carbon nanotube webs

Abstract not availablePejman Hojati-Talemi, Stephen C. Hawkins, Chi P. Huynh, George P. Simo

Enhancing the morphology and electrochromic stability of polypyrrole via PEG-PPG-PEG templating in vapour phase polymerisation

Abstract not availableRobert Brooke, Drew Evans, Pejman Hojati-Talemi, Peter Murphy, Manrico Fabrett

Understanding parameters affecting field emission properties of directly spinnable carbon nanotube webs

Abstract not availablePejman Hojati-Talemi, Stephen Hawkins, Chi Huynh, George P. Simo

Fusion of carbon nanotubes for fabrication of field emission cathodes

Consolidated carbonaceous samples prepared by spark plasma sintering of multi-walled carbon nanotubes are analyzed, and the effect of the heating regime on their morphology, density, thermal stability, electron field emission and adhesive behavior studied. The trend in the field emission properties of these samples is explained by the changes in the mobility of the nanotube tips. The effect of such changes in the number of free nanotube tips is also deduced from micro-adhesion data, obtained from pull-off tests using atomic force microscopy