Nanobead-reinforced outmost shell of solid-electrolyte interphase layers for suppressing dendritic growth of lithium metal

Department of Energy EngineeringDesign of catalyst support for high durability of oxygen electrocatalystPlating-stripping reversibility of lithium metal was improved by reinforcing the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer by inorganic nanobeads during formation of the SEI layer. The outmost SEI shell (OSS) was clearly identified, which is the SEI layer formed on current collectors (or lithium metal) before the first lithium metal deposition. The OSS was intrinsically brittle and fragile so that the OSS was easily broken by lithium metal dendrites growing along the progress of plating. Lithium metal deposit was not completely stripped back to lithium ions. On the other hand, lithium metal cells containing inorganic nanobeads in electrolyte showed high reversibility between plating and stripping. The nanobeads were incorporated into the OSS during the OSS formation. The nanobead-reinforced OSS having mechanically durable toughness suppressed dendritic growth of lithium metal, not allowing the dendrites to penetrate the OSS. In addition to the mechanical effect of nanobeads, the LiF-rich SEI layer formation was triggered by HF generated by the reaction of the moisture adsorbed on oxide nanobeads with PF6-. The LiF-rich composition was responsible for facile lithium ion transfer through the SEI layer and the OSS in the presence of nanobeads.clos

Role of nonlinearities and initial prepatterned surfaces in nanobead formation by ion-beam bombardment of Au(001): experiments and theory

Au(001) surfaces that have been prepatterned into a rippled morphology develop one-dimensional nanodot arrays (nanobeads) selectively along the ripples when bombarded with energetic ions at an angle that is normal to the average surface orientation. By quantifying the shape and morphology of these arrays, we show experimentally and by numerical simulations of an extended Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation that the degree of one-dimensional order of the nanobeads can be optimized by considering initial rippled surfaces with various wavelength and roughness values. Our simulations employ physical units and use the experimental topographies as initial conditions. Such nonideal shapes are key to elucidating the influence of nonlinear effects (like conformal interface motion and local redeposition) since the early stages of the dynamics for these prepatterned systems. In spite of the fact that the evolution of the surface morphology becomes far from trivial under these circumstances, our continuum model is able to reproduce the experimental results quantitatively, in contrast to relevant alternative models in the context of surface nanopatterning by ion-beam bombardment.This work was supported by NRF (Korea) Grant No. 20100010481 by MICINN (Spain) Grant No. FIS2009-12964- C05-01 and by MEC (Spain) Grants No. FIS2012-32349 and No. FIS2012-38866-C05-01. J.M.-G. was supported by MICINN (Spain) under the Juan de la Cierva program.Publicad

Kinked p–n Junction Nanowire Probes for High Spatial Resolution Sensing and Intracellular Recording

Semiconductor nanowires and other semiconducting nanoscale materials configured as field-effect transistors have been studied extensively as biological/chemical (bio/chem) sensors. These nanomaterials have demonstrated high-sensitivity from one- and two-dimensional sensors, although the realization of the ultimate pointlike detector has not been achieved. In this regard, nanoscale p–n diodes are attractive since the device element is naturally localized near the junction, and while nanowire p–n diodes have been widely studied as photovoltaic devices, their applications as bio/chem sensors have not been explored. Here we demonstrate that p–n diode devices can serve as a new and powerful family of highly localized biosensor probes. Designed nanoscale axial p–n junctions were synthetically introduced at the joints of kinked silicon nanowires. Scanning electron microscopy images showed that the kinked nanowire structures were achieved, and electrical transport measurements exhibited rectifying behavior with well-defined turn-on in forward bias as expected for a p–n diode. In addition, scanning gate microscopy demonstrated that the most sensitive region of these nanowires was localized near the kinked region at the p–n junction. High spatial resolution sensing using these p–n diode probes was carried out in aqueous solution using fluorescent charged polystyrene nanobeads. Multiplexed electrical measurements show well-defined single-nanoparticle detection, and experiments with simultaneous confocal imaging correlate directly the motion of the nanobeads with the electrical signals recorded from the p–n devices. In addition, kinked p–n junction nanowires configured as three-dimensional probes demonstrate the capability of intracellular recording of action potentials from electrogenic cells. These p–n junction kinked nanowire devices, which represent a new way of constructing nanoscale probes with highly localized sensing regions, provide substantial opportunity in areas ranging from bio/chem sensing and nanoscale photon detection to three-dimensional recording from within living cells and tissue.Chemistry and Chemical Biolog

Natural Resources Policy Under the Bush Administration: Not What it Says, But What it has Done in Court

Bioassays relying on magnetic read-out using probe-tagged magnetic nanobeads are potential platforms for low-cost biodiagnostic devices for pathogen detection. For optimal assay performance it is crucial to apply an easy, efficient and robust bead-probe conjugation protocol. In this paper, sensitive (1.5 pM) singleplex detection of bacterial DNA sequences is demonstrated in a portable AC susceptometer by a magnetic nanobead-based bioassay principle; the volume-amplified magnetic nanobead detection assay (VAM-NDA). Two bead sizes, 100 and 250 nm, are investigated along with a highly efficient, rapid, robust, and stable conjugation chemistry relying on the avidin-biotin interaction for bead-probe attachment. Avidin-biotin conjugation gives easy control of the number of detection probes per bead; thus allowing for systematic investigation of the impact of varying the detection probe surface coverage upon bead immobilization in rolling circle amplified DNA-coils. The existence of an optimal surface coverage is discussed. Biplex VAM-NDA detection is for the first time demonstrated in the susceptometer: Semi-quantitative results are obtained and it is concluded that the concentration of DNA-coils in the incubation volume is of crucial importance for target quantification. The present findings bring the development of commercial biodiagnostic devices relying on the VAM-NDA further towards implementation in point-of-care and outpatient settings