Electrosynthesis of Composites Consisting of FeOOH and Reduced Graphene Oxide in Graphite Electrodes

Carbon-based composite nanomaterials, such as graphene oxide, have demonstrated a great potential for applications in several areas. The present work sought to obtain, via electrosynthesis, a composite material based on graphene oxide and iron oxyhydroxide deposited onto graphite pencil surface. The electrodes modifications by electrosynthesis was performed using the cyclic voltammetry technique. The graphene oxide and the electrosynthesized FeOOH cuboids were characterized by SEM-FEG, EDX. The cyclic voltammetry was used to characterize the electrochemical behavior of the graphite pencil electrode (PEG). The composites electrodes of PEG modified with GO/FeOOH (PEG/GO/FeOOH) were formed in two stages. In the first stage, there was the formation of FeHCF in PEG/GO, and subsequently, there was the formation of PEG/GO/FeOOH in alkaline medium. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v12i3.147

Electrosynthesis of Composites Consisting of FeOOH and Reduced Graphene Oxide in Graphite Electrodes

Carbon-based composite nanomaterials, such as graphene oxide, have demonstrated a great potential for applications in several areas. The present work sought to obtain, via electrosynthesis, a composite material based on graphene oxide and iron oxyhydroxide deposited onto graphite pencil surface. The electrodes modifications by electrosynthesis was performed using the cyclic voltammetry technique. The graphene oxide and the electrosynthesized FeOOH cuboids were characterized by SEM-FEG, EDX. The cyclic voltammetry was used to characterize the electrochemical behavior of the graphite pencil electrode (PEG). The composites electrodes of PEG modified with GO/FeOOH (PEG/GO/FeOOH) were formed in two stages. In the first stage, there was the formation of FeHCF in PEG/GO, and subsequently, there was the formation of PEG/GO/FeOOH in alkaline medium. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v12i3.147

NiOOH/FeOOH Supported on Reduced Graphene Oxide Composite Electrodes for Ethanol Electrooxidation

In this work, nickel (Ni) and Ni-Fe bimetallic microparticles were electrosynthesized at reduction potentials in the range from −0.70 V to −1.20 V (50 mV s−1) by cyclic voltammetry (CV) onto graphite/paraffin electrode surface modified with nanosheets of reduced graphene oxide (RGO). Previously, the RGO was electrodeposited by CV from a suspension of 1 mg mL−1 of graphene oxide in PBS solution with pH 9.18, in the potential range from −1.50 V to 0.50 V (10 mV s−1). After electrodeposition of metals, the oxyhydroxides were formed by CV in an alkaline medium of 0.10 mol L−1 of NaOH in the potential range from −0.20 V to 1.0 V (100 mV s−1) with successive scans until stabilization of currents. In order to characterize the developed electrodes composites, the surfaces were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Electrochemical performance of the developed electrodes composites to ethanol electrooxidation was carried out in an alkaline medium of 0.10 mol L−1 of NaOH in the potential range from −0.20 V to 1.0 V (100 mV s−1) by CV. The electrodes were able to induce the electrooxidation of ethanol at a potential of 0.55 V for the electrode made of NiOOH/FeOOH and around of 0.60 V for the electrode modified with NiOOH

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of a Low-Cost Solar Still

The ability to treat saltwater to make it suitable for human consumption has long been sought by mankind. More than three-quarters of the earth’s surface is covered with saltwater. Although this water is important for some forms of transportation and fishing, it contains too much salt to sustain human life or agricultural activities. The current work consists of building a low-cost solar still and numerically modeling this device to predict the performance of the solar still without using any experimental measurements. The simulated results were compared with the best experimental values obtained from the water-covering temperatures and desalinated water yield under Brazilian climatic conditions (coordinates: 23°26′31.344″ S and 46°27′27.468″ W). The simulation results were in acceptable agreement with the experimental data. The main results obtained indicate that the solar still has greater efficiency when the volume of water is smaller inside the equipment owing to the lower height of the water and when the global radiation has greater intensity. In addition, numerical modeling allows the analysis of the behavior of the volume fraction over time for water and vapor and indicates better performance in water production after 30 min

Methanol, Ethanol, and Glycerol Oxidation by Graphite-Epoxy Composite Electrodes with Graphene-Anchored Nickel Oxyhydroxide Nanoparticles

In this work, a graphite-epoxy electrode with cyclic voltammetry electrodeposited reduced graphene oxide and nickel oxyhydroxide nanoparticles was prepared by decomposition in NaOH alkaline solution of cyclic voltammetry electrodeposited nickel hexacyanoferrate. FE-SEM studies were performed to confirm the NiOOH nanoparticle; the average size of the NiOOH nanoparticles was 61 ± 16 nm and EDX was applied to analyze chemical composition. To verify the performance of the prepared electrode, it was used in the electrooxidation of alcohols in alkaline medium by cyclic voltammetry. By performing different calibration experiments of methanol, ethanol, and glycerol, it was possible to extract some information about the electrode in the presence of alcohols. The LOD for methanol, ethanol, and glycerol were 2.16 mM, 2.73 mM and 0.09 mM, respectively, with sensitivity values of 1.32 µA mM−1, 1.80 µA mM−1 and 24.60 µA mM−1, respectively. Multivariate inspection of the data using Principal Component Analysis (performed with the ClustVis online tool) demonstrated the potential ability to discriminate between the different alcohols, whereas the explained variance with the first two components was as high as 89.7%