Carbon Nanotube Materials for Substrate Enhanced Control of Catalytic Activity

Carbon SWNTs are attractive materials for supporting electrocatalysts. The properties of SWNTs are highly tunable and controlled by the nanotube's circumferential periodicity and their surface chemistry. These unique characteristics suggest that architectures constructed from these types of carbon support materials would exhibit interesting and useful properties. Here, we expect that the structure of the carbon nanotube support will play a major role in stabilizing metal electrocatalysts under extreme operating conditions and suppress both catalyst and support degradation. Furthermore, the chemical modification of the carbon nanotube surfaces can be expected to alter the interface between the catalyst and support, thus, enhancing the activity and utilization of the electrocatalysts. We plan to incorporate discrete reaction sites into the carbon nanotube lattice to create intimate electrical contacts with the catalyst particles to increase the metal catalyst activity and utilization. The work involves materials synthesis, design of electrode architectures on the nanoscale, control of the electronic, ionic, and mass fluxes, and use of advanced optical spectroscopy techniques

DOE Carbon-based Hydrogen Storage Center of Excellence: Center Highlights and NREL Activities

Presented at the 2006 DOE Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure Technologies Program Annual Merit Review in Washington, D.C., May 16-19, 2006

Controlled Growth of Carbon Nanotubes on Conductive Metal Substrates for Energy Storage Applications

The impressive mechanical and electronic properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) make them ideally suited for use in a variety of nanostructured devices, especially in the realm of energy production and storage. In particular, vertically-aligned CNT “forests” have been the focus of increasing investigation for use in supercapacitor electrodes and as hydrogen adsorption substrates. Vertically-aligned CNT growth was attempted on metal substrates by waterassisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD). CNT growth was catalyzed by iron-molybdenum (FeMo) nanoparticle catalysts synthesized by a colloidal method, which were then spin-coated onto Inconel® foils. The substrates were loaded into a custom-built CVD apparatus, where CNT growth was initiated by heating the substrates to 750 °C under the fl ow of He, H2, C2H4 and a controlled amount of water vapor. The resultant CNTs were characterized by a variety of methods including Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the growth parameters were varied in an attempt to optimize the purity and growth yield of the CNTs. The surface area and hydrogen adsorption characteristics of the CNTs were quantifi ed by the Brunauer- Emmett-Teller (BET) and Sieverts methods, and their capacitance was measured via cyclic voltammetry. While vertically-aligned CNT growth could not be verifi ed, TEM and SEM analysis indicated that CNT growth was still obtained, resulting in multiwalled CNTs of a wide range in diameter along with some amorphous carbon impurities. These microscopy fi ndings were reinforced by Raman spectroscopy, which resulted in a G/D ratio ranging from 1.5 to 3 across different samples, suggestive of multiwalled CNTs. Changes in gas fl ow rates and water concentration during CNT growth were not found to have a discernable effect on the purity of the CNTs. The specifi c capacitance of a CNT/FeMo/Inconel® electrode was found to be 3.2 F/g, and the BET surface area of a characteristic CNT sample was measured to be 232 m2/g with a cryogenic (77K) hydrogen storage of 0.85 wt%. This level of hydrogen adsorption is slightly higher than that predicted by the Chahine rule, indicating that these CNTs may bind hydrogen more strongly than other carbonaceous materials. More work is needed to confi rm and determine the reason for increased hydrogen adsorption in these CNTs, and to test them for use as catalyst support networks. This study demonstrates the feasibility of producing CNTs for energy storage applications using water-assisted CVD

Effects of Surfactant and Boron Doping on the BWF Feature in the Raman Spectrum of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotube Aqueous Dispersions †

We examine the Breit-Wigner-Fano (BWF) line shape in the Raman spectra of carbon single-wall nanotubes (SWNTs) dispersed in aqueous suspensions. Bundling and electronic effects are studied by comparing undoped SWNTs (C-SWNTs) to boron-doped nanotubes (B-SWNTs) in a variety of different surfactant solutions. For SWNTs dispersed with nonionic surfactants that are less effective in debundling than ionic surfactants, the Raman spectra retain a large BWF feature. However, we demonstrate that even for SWNTs dispersed as isolated nanotubes by ionic surfactants the BWF feature may be present and that the intensity of the BWF is highly sensitive to the specific surfactant. In particular, surfactants with electron-donating groups tend to enhance the BWF feature. Also, modification of the SWNT electronic properties by boron doping leads to enhanced surfactant dispersion relative to undoped C-SWNTs and also to modification of the BWF feature. These observations are in agreement with reports demonstrating an enhancement of the BWF by bundling but also agree with reports that suggest electron donation can enhance the BWF feature even for isolated SWNTs. Importantly, these results serve to caution against using the lack or presence of a BWF feature as an independent measure of SWNT aggregation in surfactant dispersions

Soiling and cleaning: Initial observations from 5-year photovoltaic glass coating durability study

The contamination of solar photovoltaic cover glass can significantly reduce the transmittance of light to the surface of the photovoltaic cell, reducing the module's power output. The solar industry has been developing antireflection (AR) and antisoiling (AS) surface coatings to enhance light transmittance and mitigate the impacts of soiling. Although uncoated glass has been field tested for decades, minimal data exist to demonstrate the durability of AR and AS coatings against abrasion and surface erosion, including from: natural weathering, airborne sand, and industry cleaning practices. Coupons 75 mm square of varying types have been field-deployed to gather long-term data on coating durability; the initial results are presented here after 1 year of outdoor exposure near Sacramento, California. Duplicate sets of coupons were cleaned monthly per four different cleaning practices. All coupons demonstrated inorganic soiling as well as microscale biological contamination, regardless of cleaning method. Additionally, full-sized, field-aged modules from other areas of the world presented with similar types of contamination as the field-aged coupons; micrographs and results from genomic sequencing of this contamination are included here. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy/energy-dispersive spectroscopy, surface roughness, transmittance, and surface energy analysis of representative specimens and cleaning practices are presented

Optical Microscopy Study of Soiling on Photovoltaic Glass: Evaluation of Mitigation Strategies

The natural soiling of photovoltaic cover glass has recently been shown to include both inorganic and organic particulate matter. Under favorable growth conditions, the latter can lead to the growth of dense colonies of filamentous fungi, potentially leading to measurable performance losses over time. Herein, we report on a field study where glass coupon samples were deployed in soiling-prone locations, focusing on Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Mumbai (India). For each site location, clear differences in the soiling were observed. The samples from Mumbai were contaminated with an abundance of filamentous fungi whereas the samples from Dubai had primarily inorganic contamination. The effectiveness of soiling mitigation strategies, including cleaning techniques and glass coatings, are discussed in detail