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Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Structural, Electronic And Catalytic Properties Of Graphene-Supported Platinum Nanoclusters, Ioanna Fampiou Nov 2014

Structural, Electronic And Catalytic Properties Of Graphene-Supported Platinum Nanoclusters, Ioanna Fampiou

Doctoral Dissertations

Carbon materials are predominantly used as catalytic supports due to their high surface area, excellent electrical conductivity, resistance to corrosion and structural stability. Graphene, a 2D monolayer of graphite, with its excellent thermal, electronic and mechanical features, has been considered a promising support material for next generation metal-graphene nanocatalysts. The main focus of this dissertation is to investigate the properties of such metal-graphene nanocomposites using computational methods, and to develop a comprehensive understanding of the experimentally observed enhanced catalytic activity of graphene-supported Platinum (Pt) clusters. In particular, we seek to understand the role of graphene supports on the ground-state morphology …


Boosting Electrocatalytic Activity Of Nitrogen-Doped Graphene/Carbon Nanotube Composite For Oxygen Reduction Reaction, Yu Zhang, Jin-Song Hu, Wen-Jie Jiang, Lin Guo, Zi-Dong Wei, Li-Jun Wan Oct 2014

Boosting Electrocatalytic Activity Of Nitrogen-Doped Graphene/Carbon Nanotube Composite For Oxygen Reduction Reaction, Yu Zhang, Jin-Song Hu, Wen-Jie Jiang, Lin Guo, Zi-Dong Wei, Li-Jun Wan

Journal of Electrochemistry

Developing low-cost catalysts with high electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has recently attracted much attention because the sluggish ORR currently limits the performance and commercialization of fuel cells and metal-air batteries as well. Nitrogen doped carbon materials have been considered as a promising candidate for the replacement of high-cost and scarce Pt-based catalysts although their electrocatalytic activity still needs to be much improved. In this work, an improved nitrogen-doped graphene/carbon nanotubes composite (N-rGO/CNT) was developed as an efficient ORR electrocatalyst. It was found that the ORR activity of N-rGO/CNT composite could be significantly enhanced by introducing iron in …


Transport And Optical Properties Of Low-Dimensional Complex Systems, Andrii Iurov Oct 2014

Transport And Optical Properties Of Low-Dimensional Complex Systems, Andrii Iurov

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over the last five years of my research work, I, my research was mainly concerned with certain crucial tunneling, transport and optical properties of novel low-dimensional graphitic and carbon-based materials as well as topological insulators. Both single-electron and many-body problems were addressed. We investigated the Dirac electrons transmission through a potential barrier in the presence of circularly polarized light. An anomalous photon-assisted enhanced transmission is predicted and explained in a comparison with the well-known Klein paradox. It is demonstrated that the perfect transmission for nearly-head-on collision in an infinite graphene is suppressed in gapped dressed states of electrons, which is …


Nanoscale Manipulation Of Pristine And Functionalized Freestanding Graphene Using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, Matthew Ackerman Aug 2014

Nanoscale Manipulation Of Pristine And Functionalized Freestanding Graphene Using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, Matthew Ackerman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past ten years the 2D material graphene has attracted an enourmous amount of attention from researchers from across diciplines and all over the world. Many of its outstanding electronic properties are present only when it is not interacting with a substrate but is instead freestanding. In this work I demonstrate that pristine and functionalized freestanding graphene can be imaged using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and that imaging a flexible 2D surface is fundamentally different from imaging a bulk material due to the attraction between the STM tip and the sample. This attraction can be used to manipulate …


Fabrication And Electrochemical Properties Of Graphene-Zno Nanocomposite, Chuan-Ling Men, Wan Wang, Jun Cao Apr 2014

Fabrication And Electrochemical Properties Of Graphene-Zno Nanocomposite, Chuan-Ling Men, Wan Wang, Jun Cao

Journal of Electrochemistry

In this work, the graphene-ZnO nanocomposite was successfully synthesized through a one-step solvothermal approach, using ethylene glycol as the solvent and reducing agent. The ZnO particles could be attached to the surfaces and edges of graphene sheet. The electrochemical performance of the nanocomposite was investigated by performing cyclic voltammetry, A.C. impedance and chronopotentiometry tests in 6 mol·L-1 KOH. The results showed that the graphene-ZnO nanocomposite exhibited a nice electrochemical specific capacitance of 115 F·g-1 determined in cyclic voltammetry test, or 71 F·g-1 evaluated in chronopotentiometry test and good reversible charge/discharge behavior.


Carbon Allotrope Dependence On Temperature And Pressure During Thermal Decomposition Of Silicon Carbide, Munson J. Anderson Mar 2014

Carbon Allotrope Dependence On Temperature And Pressure During Thermal Decomposition Of Silicon Carbide, Munson J. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Bulk CNT and graphene films form on SiC using a metal-catalyst-free thermal decomposition approach. In this work, the background vacuum pressure and temperature used in the decomposition process are varied to investigate their impact on the type and quality of carbon allotrope formed on the SiC substrate. The carbon nanostructure growth is performed using two approaches, both of which involve intense heating (1400-1700°C) of SiC under moderate vacuum conditions (0.01 - 0.00001 Torr). The first growth method uses a conventional graphite resistance furnace capable of annealing waferscale samples over 1700°C under vacuum. Using this approach, post-growth characterization is performed using …


Nanomaterial-Mediated Biosensors For Monitoring Glucose, Eric S. Mclamore, Masashige Taguchi, Andre Ptitsyn, Jonathan C. Claussen Jan 2014

Nanomaterial-Mediated Biosensors For Monitoring Glucose, Eric S. Mclamore, Masashige Taguchi, Andre Ptitsyn, Jonathan C. Claussen

Jonathan C. Claussen

Real-time monitoring of physiological glucose transport is crucial for gaining new understanding of diabetes. Many techniques and equipment currently exist for measuring glucose, but these techniques are limited by complexity of the measurement, requirement of bulky equipment, and low temporal/spatial resolution. The development of various types of biosensors (eg, electrochemical, optical sensors) for laboratory and/or clinical applications will provide new insights into the cause(s) and possible treatments of diabetes. State-of-the-art biosensors are improved by incorporating catalytic nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, electrospun nanofibers, and quantum dots. These nanomaterials greatly enhance biosensor performance, namely sensitivity, response time, and limit of …


Fundamental Studies Of Supported Graphene Interfaces : Defect Density Of States In Graphene Field Effect Transistors (Fets) And Ideal Graphene - Silicon Schottky Diodes, Dhiraj Sinha Jan 2014

Fundamental Studies Of Supported Graphene Interfaces : Defect Density Of States In Graphene Field Effect Transistors (Fets) And Ideal Graphene - Silicon Schottky Diodes, Dhiraj Sinha

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The physics of transport in atomically thin 2D materials is an active area of research, important for understanding fundamental properties of reduced dimensional materials and for applications. New phenomena based on graphene may include properties of topologically protected insulators. Applications of these materials are envisioned in electronics, optoelectronics and spintronics.


Growth And Characterization Of Graphene On Cuni Substrates, Parul Tyagi Jan 2014

Growth And Characterization Of Graphene On Cuni Substrates, Parul Tyagi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Graphene is a single layer of sp2 bonded carbon atoms that crystallizes in the honeycomb structure. Because of its true two-dimensional structure, it has very unique electrical properties, including a very high carrier mobility that is symmetric for holes and electrons. To realize these unique properties, it is important to develop a method for growing graphene films with uniform thickness and low defect density. One of the most popular methods of growth is by chemical vapor deposition on Cu substrates, because it is self-limited. However many applications require the growth of graphene films that are more than one atomic layer …