Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Commons^™

Fe-N Doped Hollow Carbon Nanospheres Linked By Carbon Nanotubes For Oxygen Reduction Reaction, Ya-Lin Zhang, Chi Chen, Liang-Liang Zou, Zhi-Qing Zou, Hui Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The development of non-precious metal catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is essential for large-scale application of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Herein, we present the in situ formed Fe-N doped hollow carbon nanospheres linked by carbon nanotubes composite, synthesized by using ZIF-8 as sacrificed template to form polydopamine (PDA) hollow nanospheres, followed by complexing with FeCl₃, high temperature heat-treatment and NH₃-etching. ZIF-8 was gradually decomposed simultaneously with PDA coating due to the loss of Zn²⁺ grabbed by PDA. NH3 etching resulted in the improved surface area, while the reducibility of NH₃ resulted in …

Caging Porous Co-N-C Nanocomposites In 3d Graphene As Active And Aggregation-Resistant Electrocatalyst For Oxygen Reduction Reaction, Lu-Yang Xiu, Meng-Zhou Yu, Peng-Ju Yang, Zhi-Yu Wang, Jie-Shan Qiu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is the cornerstone reaction of many renewable energy technologies such as fuel cells and rechargeable metal-air batteries. The Pt-based electrocatalysts exhibit the highest activity toward ORR, but their large implementation is greatly prohibiting by unaffordable cost and inferior durability. During electrode manufacturing and electrochemical reaction, severe aggregation of catalyst nanoparticles induced by size effect further limits the operational performance of electrocatalysts. We report a new strategy for fabrication of active and aggregation-resistant ORR electrocatalyst by caging metal-organic frameworks derived Co-N-C nanocomposites in permeable and porous 3D graphene cages via sprayed drying the mixed colloids of ZIF-67 …

Palladium Adatoms On Gold Nanoparticles As Electrocatalysts For Ethanol Electro-Oxidation In Alkaline Solutions, Hui-Mei Chen, Shang-Qian Zhu, Jia-Le Huang, Min-Hua Shao

Journal of Electrochemistry

Palladium (Pd) is a good catalyst for ethanol electro-oxidation in alkaline solutions. The activity of Pd is further improved in this study by modifying the gold (Au) nanoparticles with Pd adatoms using a simple spontaneous deposition process. The Pd overlayer on the Au core (Au@Pd) is un-uniform with some Au atoms exposed to the electrolyte. The activity of Au@Pd/C toward ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) is much higher than that of Pd/C in an alkaline solution. The peak current density of Au@Pd/C is 4.6 times higher than that of Pd/C with a 100 mV lower onset potential. The enhanced activity may …

The Pilot Application Of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy On Dynamic Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell, Jian-Wei Guo, Jian-Long Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

By analyzing Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) in applications of dynamic proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), bottlenecks which restrict EIS tool development have been pointed out in this paper. Though the high-frequency resistance in EIS is largely accepted as cell inner-resistance, this can only be applied for cell with low current. The low-frequency resistance is difficult to be realized due to its relation with mass transfer. Furthermore, the improved Randles equivalent circuits are built up preliminarily, thus, penetrating into studies for mass transfer reaction, cell operation/degeneration, and high temperature fuel cell. Inspiringly, EIS is becoming an analyzing tool for stack …

Facile Synthesis Of Pt-Cu Alloy Nanodendrites As High-Performance Electrocatalysts For Oxygen Reduction Reaction, Liu-Xuan Luo, Guang-Hua Wei, Shui-Yun Shen, Feng-Juan Zhu, Chang-Chun Ke, Xiao-Hui Yan, Jun-Liang Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Structures and compositions have significant effects on the catalytic properties of nanomaterials. Herein, a facile etching-based method was employed to synthesize Pt-Cu nanodendrites (NDs) with uniform and homogeneous alloy structures for enhancing oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The formation of dendritic morphology was ascribed to the etching effect caused by the oxidative etchants of the Br^-/O₂ pair. The atomic ratio of Pt/Cu in Pt-Cu NDs could be easily tuned by altering the ratio of the Pt/Cu precursors, without deteriorating the dendritic morphology. The most active carbon-supported Pt₁Cu₁ NDs (Pt₁Cu₁ NDs/C) exhibited the …

Tunable Electronic And Optical Properties Of Low-Dimensional Materials, Shiyuan Gao

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two-dimensional (2D) materials with single or a few atomic layers, such as graphene, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), and the heterostructures or one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures they form, have attracted much attention recently as unique platforms for studying many condensed-matter phenomena and holds great potentials for nanoelectronics and optoelectronic applications. Apart from their unique intrinsic properties which has been intensively studied for over a decade by now, they also allow external control of many degrees of freedom, such as electrical gating, doping and layer stacking. In this thesis, I present a theoretical study of the electronic and …

Towards Engineering Advanced Nanomaterials: Elucidating Fundamental Particle Behavior In Water And Critical Sorption Dynamics, Changwoo Kim

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As advanced nanomaterials, inorganic-organic nano composites have received great interest as potential platform (nano) structures for sensor, catalyst, sorbent, and environmental applications. Here, my Ph.D. research has focused on the design, synthesis, and characterization of advanced water-stable engineered metal-oxide nanoparticles functionalized by organic frames for environmental applications. For the environmental applications, I have evaluated particleoptimized sorption processes for the remediation and separation of arsenic, chromium, and uranium under environmentally relevant conditions. More specifically, I have explored the critical role of organic coating on sorption mechanisms and performances using engineered iron oxide -based, manganese oxide -based, and manganese ferrite -based (core) …

Radiolabeled Nanohydroxyapatite As A Platform For The Development Of New Pet Imaging Agents, Stacy Lee Queern

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging utilizes drugs labeled with positron emitters to target and evaluate different biological processes occurring in the body. Tailoring medicine to the individual allows for higher quality of care with better diagnosis and treatment and is a key purpose for advancing research into developing new platforms for PET imaging agents. A PET nuclide of high interest for the development of these agents is 89Zr. This can be attributed to the long half-life of 3.27 days and low positron energy of 89Zr.

In this work, we developed a production method for 89Zr using Y sputtered coins that …

Digital Plasmonic Holography, Joseph W. Nelson, Greta R. Knefelkamp, Alexandre G. Brolo, Nathan C. Lindquist

Physics and Engineering Faculty Publications

We demonstrate digital plasmonic holography for direct in-plane imaging with propagating surface-plasmon waves. Imaging with surface plasmons suffers from the lack of simple in-plane lenses and mirrors. Lens-less digital holography techniques, however, rely on digitally decoding an interference pattern between a reference wave and an object wave. With far-field diffractive optics, this decoding scheme provides a full recording, i.e., a hologram, of the amplitude and phase of the object wave, giving three-dimensional information from a two-dimensional recording. For plasmonics, only a one-dimensional recording is needed, and both the phase and amplitude of the propagating plasmons can be extracted for high-resolution …

Quasi-Particle Band Structure And Excitonic Effects In One-Dimensional Atomic Chains, Eesha Sanjay Andharia

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The high exciton binding energy in one dimensional (1D) nano-structures makes them prominent for optoelectronic device applications, making it relevant to theoretically investigate their electronic and optical properties. Many-body effects that are not captured by the conventional density functional theory (DFT) have a huge impact in such selenium and tellurium single helical atomic chains. This work goes one step beyond DFT to include the electron self-energy effects within the GW approximation to obtain a corrected quasi-particle electronic structure. Further, the Bethe-Salpeter equation was solved to obtain the absorption spectrum and to capture excitonic effects. Results were obtained using the Hyberstein-Louie …

Optimizing The Plasmonic Enhancement Of Light In Metallic Nanogap Structures For Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, Stephen Joseph Bauman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Technology based on the interaction between light and matter has entered something of a renaissance over the past few decades due to improved control over the creation of nanoscale patterns. Tunable nanofabrication has benefitted optical sensing, by which light is used to detect the presence or quantity of various substances. Through methods such as Raman spectroscopy, the optical spectra of solid, liquid, or gaseous samples act as fingerprints which help identify a single type of molecule amongst a background of potentially many other chemicals. This technique therefore offers great benefit to applications such as biomedical sensors, airport security, industrial waste …

Improved Gas Sensing Performance Of Ald Azo 3-D Coated Zno Nanorods, P. Lin, X. Chen, K. Zhang, H. Baumgart

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper reports an enhancement on the sensing performance of ZnO nanorod ethanol sensors with a new approach by utilizing nested coatings of Aluminum doped ZnO (AZO) thin films by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technology. ZnO nanorods were grown by the hydrothermal method with the ZnO seed layer synthesized on Silicon wafers by ALD. To enhance the sensing performance of ZnO nanorod ethanol sensors, multiple coated AZO thin film 3-D coatings were deposited on the surface of the intrinsic ZnO nanorods by ALD.To investigate the sensing performance of the ZnO nanorods sensor for the detection of ethanol vapor, a gas …

Physical Electronic Properties Of Self-Assembled 2d And 3d Surface Mounted Metal-Organic Frameworks, Radwan Elzein

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Metal-organic frameworks stand at the frontiers of molecular electronic research because they combine desirable physical properties of organic and inorganic components. They are crystalline porous solids constructed by inorganic nodes coordinated to organic ligands to form 1D, 2D, or 3D structures. They possess unique characteristics such as ultrahigh surface area crystal lattices up to 10000 m² g^-1, and tunable nanoporous sizes ranging from 0.2 to 50 nm. Their unprecedented structural diversity and flexibility beyond solid state materials can lead to unique properties such as tailorable electronic and ionic conductivity which can serve as interesting platforms for a …

Cementitious Sensors Exhibiting Stopbands In Acoustic Transmission Spectra, Shreya Vemuganti

Shared Knowledge Conference

Ultrasonic monitoring in cementitious materials is challenging due to the high degree of attenuation. In wellbore environments, monitoring becomes more challenging due to inaccessibility. Meta materials, also known as acoustic bandgap materials, exhibit an interesting feature of forbidding the propagation of elastic/sound waves and isolate vibration in a certain frequency band. Traditionally, acoustic bandgap materials are developed with inclusions such as tin, aluminum, gold, steel in a polymer matrix. In this study, we present the development of three-dimensional cementitious sensors capable of exhibiting stopbands in the acoustic transmission spectra using carbon nanotubes. Relatively wide stopbands were engineered using Floquet-Bloch periodic …

Two-Dimensional Layered Materials (Graphene-Mos2) Nanocatalysts For Hydrogen Production, Jacob Dobler, Taylor Robinson, Sanju Gupta 7455940

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Recent development of two-dimensional layered materials including graphene-family and related nanomaterials have arisen as potential game changer for energy, water and sensing applications. While graphene is a form of carbon arranged hexagonally within atomic thin sheet, MoS₂ is becoming a popular, efficient, and cost-effective catalyst for electrochemical energy devices, in contrast to expensive platinum and palladium catalysts. In this work, we electrochemically desulfurize few-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) and aerogels with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) prepared under hydrothermal conditions ((P< 20 bar, T< 200 ^oC), for improving hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity via point defects (S-vacancy). Moreover, the interactions between rGO …

Physical Properties Of Engineered Nanocomposites For Defense Applications, Alex Henson, Sanju Gupta

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Polymer nanocomposites are significant for modern and future technologies (aerospace, defense, water purification etc.) due to their tailored properties, lightweight and low cost. However, ‘forward’ engineered polymer (host matrix) composites with smaller size nanoparticles (guest) providing desired properties targeting specific applications remains a challenging task as they depend largely on nanoparticles size, shape and loading (volume fraction). This study develops polymer nanocomposites impregnated with ‘organic-inorganic’ silsesquioxane nanoparticles and graphene nanoribbons, and investigates microscopic structure and dynamics of interfacial layer to predict macroscale properties. The nanocomposites consist of poly(2-vinylpyridine) (P2VP) polymer (segment ~5nm) with spherical silsesquioxane nanoparticles (diameter ~2-5nm) and planar …

Recent Advances In Non-Noble Metal Nanomaterials For Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysis, Dan-Dan Zhao, Nan Zhang, Ling-Zheng Bu, Qi Shao, Xiao-Qing Huang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Hydrogen is a kind of renewable energies with the merits of environmentally friendly, abundance and high weight energy density, which can replace the fossil energy. The electrolysis of water is regarded as the most effective way to generate hydrogen. Owing to the sluggish kinetics and large overpotential of the anode oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the efficiency of the cathode hydrogen evolution reaction is greatly limited. Therefore, it is highly desirable to explore efficient, stable and low cost electrocatalysts to reduce the overpotential of OER and improve the efficiency of hydrogen evolution. Based on the natural characteristics of non-noble metal catalysts …

Preparation Of Nanoprobes And Their Possible Applications In Nanoscale Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy For Studying Electrocatalytic Oxygen And Hydrogen Reactions, Xing-Xing Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) is a type of scanning probe microscopy, which can not only provide the topographical information, but also offer the electrochemical properties of different samples. The interrelationship of physical and electrochemical properties of a sample can be searched at a high-resolution scale due to the introduction of ultramicroelectrode (UME). With the continuous development of modern nanotechnology, the SECM probe has been improved with drastically decreasing its size down to nanometer. Meanwhile, to evaluate and understand the electrochemical performance of various electrocatalysts for both oxygen and hydrogen reactions with high-efficiency is highly demanded in the research area of …

An Investigation On The Structure Of Au(111)/Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquid Interface: Effect Of Alkyl Side Chain Length, Li Chen, Shuai Liu, Mian-Gang Li, Jian-Jia Su, Jia-Wei Yan, Bing-Wei Mao

Journal of Electrochemistry

In this work, we comparatively investigated the interfacial structures at Au(111) electrode surfaces in two ionic liquids (ILs) with different alkyl chain lengths by combining AFM force curve technique and electrochemical methods. The number and stability of the layering structures, and their potential-dependency were analyzed. The experimental results indicated that the tendencies of force-potential curves in the two ILs behave the same way. At potentials close to PZC, the ions arrange loosely, which lowers the stability of the layering structure. As the potential shifting away from PZC, more ions attach to electrode surface, which increases the stability of layering structure, …

Parallel Algorithms For Time Dependent Density Functional Theory In Real-Space And Real-Time, James Kestyn

Doctoral Dissertations

Density functional theory (DFT) and time dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) have had great success solving for ground state and excited states properties of molecules, solids and nanostructures. However, these problems are particularly hard to scale. Both the size of the discrete system and the number of needed eigenstates increase with the number of electrons. A complete parallel framework for DFT and TDDFT calculations applied to molecules and nanostructures is presented in this dissertation. This includes the development of custom numerical algorithms for eigenvalue problems and linear systems. New functionality in the FEAST eigenvalue solver presents an additional level of …

No2- And No3- Enhance Cold Atmospheric Plasma Induced Cancer Cell Death By Generation Of Onoo-, Dehui Xu, Qingjie Cui, Yujing Xu, Zhijie Liu, Zeyu Chen, Wenjie Xia, Hao Zhang, Dingxin Liu, Hailan Chen, Michael G. Kong

Bioelectrics Publications

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is a rapidly developed technology that has been widely applied in biomedicine especially in cancer treatment. Due to the generation of various active species in plasma, CAP could induce various tumor cells death and showed a promising potential in cancer therapy. To enhance the biological effects of gas plasma, changing the discharging parameters is the most commonly used method, yet increasing discharging power will lead to a higher possibility of simultaneously damage surrounding tissues. In this study, by adding nontoxic concentration of additional nitrite and nitrate in the medium, we found that anti-tumor effect of CAP …

Engineered Nanoparticles Interact With Nutrients To Intensify Eutrophication In A Wetland Ecosystem Experiment, Marie Simonin, Benjamin P. Colman, Steven M. Anderson, Ryan S. King, Matthew T. Ruis, Astrid Avellan, Christina M. Bergemann, Brittany G. Perrotta, Nicholas K. Geitner, Mengchi Ho, Belen De La Barrera, Jason M. Unrine, Gregory V. Lowry, Curtis J. Richardson, Mark R. Wiesner, Emily S. Bernhardt

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Despite the rapid rise in diversity and quantities of engineered nanomaterials produced, the impacts of these emerging contaminants on the structure and function of ecosystems have received little attention from ecologists. Moreover, little is known about how manufactured nanomaterials may interact with nutrient pollution in altering ecosystem productivity, despite the recognition that eutrophication is the primary water quality issue in freshwater ecosystems worldwide. In this study, we asked two main questions: (1) To what extent do manufactured nanoparticles affect the biomass and productivity of primary producers in wetland ecosystems? (2) How are these impacts mediated by nutrient pollution? To address …

Complex Coordination Silver Electrocrystallization Mechanism On Glassy Carbon Electrode Surface, Shuai-Shuai Huang, Cheng Liu, Lei Jin, Fang-Zu Yang, Zhong-Qun Tian, Shao-Min. Zhou

Journal of Electrochemistry

Cyclic voltammetry and potential step methods were successfully used to study the electrochemical crystallization mechanism of silver deposition on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) in the practical cyanide-free silver plating electrolyte containing composite complexing agents. Scharifker-Hill (SH) theory was used to fitting the experimental data. The results showed that the electrodeposition of silver is a diffusion controlled irreversible electrode process according to three-dimensional instantaneous nucleation mechanism. When the step potential shifted from -750 mV to -825 mV, the peak deposition current Im was increased, while the induced nucleation time tm shortened. The calculated kinetic parameters showed that the diffusion coefficient (D) …

Preparations Of Nano-Manganite Loaded Titanium Electocatalytic Membrane Electrode For Phenolic Wastewater Treatment, Le Li, Hong Wang, Rong-Hua Ma, Hong-Sen Hui, Xiao-Ping Liang, Jian-Xin Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

Nano-manganese oxide loaded on titanium electrocatalytic membrane electrodes (nano-MnO_x/Ti) were synthesized bysol-gel method using porous Ti membrane as a substrate and the manganese acetate as a raw material without releasing NO_x. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) were employed to characterize crystal form, valence state and surface morphology of nano-MnO_x, respectively. Cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and chronoamperometry (CA) were used to investigate the electrochemical properties of nano-MnO_x electrode. The results indicated that the MnO_x catalysts consisted of γ-MnO₂ and Mn_{2 …}

Highly Crystalline Nickel Borate Nanorods As Oxygen Evolution Reaction Electrocatalysts, Xi Xu, Juan Liu, Hua-Zong Wu, Wen-Jie Jiang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Hydrogen energy, a kind of clean and renewable energy, is considered to be the solution to the problems of energy crisis and environmental deterioration. Electrochemical water splitting is an efficient and promising technology for the production of high-purity hydrogen. However, oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode of water electrolyzer limits the efficiency of water splitting due to the high overpotential. Therefore, the challenges still remain for the exploration of highly active, stable and low-cost catalysts with superior activity for OER. Herein, nickel borate nanorods with high crystallinity were prepared via high-temperature calcination. The as-obtained nickel borate nanorods with 2 …

Mitigating Accumulation Of Aeolian Dust Particles On Solar Power Generator Panels Without Water, Sanjana Das

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Accumulation of dust on solar panels poses a serious problem as it can significantly reduce light absorption and electrical energy output. Several factors affect the dust accumulation such as location, dust properties, wind velocity, system orientation, ambient temperature, humidity, and panel surface properties. Experimental and theoretical studies show that short circuit current and maximum power output of photovoltaic panels reduce approximately linearly with dust concentration. Incidentally, the locations with higher solar energy concentrations are also arid or semi-arid regions with higher dust concentrations. In order to avoid loss in power output, most PV installations perform periodic panel cleaning with water. …

Opto-Thermal Characterization Of Plasmon And Coupled Lattice Resonances In 2-D Metamaterial Arrays, Vinith Bejugam

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Growing population and climate change inevitably requires longstanding dependency on sustainable sources of energy that are conducive to ecological balance, economies of scale and reduction of waste heat. Plasmonic-photonic systems are at the forefront of offering a promising path towards efficient light harvesting for enhanced optoelectronics, sensing, and chemical separations. Two-dimensional (2-D) metamaterial arrays of plasmonic nanoparticles arranged in polymer lattices developed herein support thermoplasmonic heating at off-resonances (near infrared, NIR) in addition to regular plasmonic resonances (visible), which extends their applicability compared to random dispersions. Especially, thermal responses of 2-D arrays at coupled lattice resonance (CLR) wavelengths were comparable …

Investigation Of The Acoustic Response Of A Confined Mesoscopic Water Film Utilizing A Combined Atomic Force Microscope And Shear Force Microscope Technique, Monte Allen Kozell

Dissertations and Theses

An atomic force microscopy beam-like cantilever is combined with an electrical tuning fork to form a shear force probe that is capable of generating an acoustic response from the mesoscopic water layer under ambient conditions while simultaneously monitoring force applied in the normal direction and the electrical response of the tuning fork shear force probe. Two shear force probes were designed and fabricated. A gallium ion beam was used to deposit carbon as a probe material. The carbon probe material was characterized using energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy. The probes were experimentally validated by demonstrating the …

Pt/G-C3N4 Nanosheet For Visible Light €“Induced Enhancement Of The Activity For Formic Acid Electro-Oxidation, Yong-Rong Sun, Chun-Yu Du, Guo-Kang Han, Ya-Jing Wang, Yun-Zhi Gao, Ge-Ping Yin

Journal of Electrochemistry

By using graphitic carbon nitride nanosheet (g-C₃N₄ nanosheet) as a support，Pt/g-C₃N₄ nanosheet catalyst was fabricated by microwave assisted polylol process. The nanoparticles size，composition，structure and optical properties of Pt/g-C₃N₄ nanosheet were characterized by TEM，XRD，XPS and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Comparing with the catalytic activities toward formic acid electro-oxidation under dark and visible light illumination，the superior activity of Pt/g-C₃N₄ nanosheet catalyst was achieved under visible light illumination. This visible light-driven enhancement in the formic acid performance could be attributed to the plasmon-induced electron-hole separation on g-C₃N₄ with …

Lead Modified Nanoporous Platinum Electro-Catalysts For Formic Acid Oxidation, Yuanyuan Zhang, Qingfeng Yi, Gekunkun Zuo, Tao Zou, Xiaoping Liu, Xiulin Zhou

Journal of Electrochemistry

Platinum (Pt) catalysts modified by other suitable metals significantly enhance their electrochemical activities for formic acid oxidation. In this work, a titanium-supported nanoporous network platinum (nanoPt/Ti) electrode was prepared using a hydrothermal method. The as-prepared nanoPt/Ti electrode was modified with a certain amount of lead by using cyclic voltammetry for different scan cycle numbers (n), namely, n = 10, 15, 20 and 30, to synthesize the novel lead-modified nanoporous Pt (nanoPb_(n)-Pt/Ti) electrodes. Electro-oxidation of formic acid on these electrodes was studied with cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry and chronopotentiometry in sulfuric acid solution. CV curves showed that both nanoPt/Ti …