Engineering Commons^™

Maximizing Charge Dynamics In Znin2s4/Cn Van Der Waals Heterojunction For Optimal Hydrogen Production From Photoreforming Of Glucose, Jinqiang Zhang, Xinyuan Xu, Lei Shi, Huayang Zhang, Shaobin Wang, Hongqi Sun

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Biomass photoreforming stands out as a promising avenue for green hydrogen, leveraging solar energy for the generation and transformation of clean and renewable energy resources. The pursuit of efficient photocatalysts is motivated by the unsatisfied hydrogen evolution performance arising from the complex and stubborn structure of biomass. Herein, we loaded 2-dimensional (2D) ZnIn2S4 onto 2D carbon nitride nanosheets, resulting in the formation of Van der Waals (VDW) heterojunctions (ZIS/CN). Band structure and morphology of CN were rationally tailored through precursor engineering to effectively magnify interfacial internal electric field and minimize diffusion pathway within the VDW heterostructure, realizing optimal charge dynamics …

Ambient Ammonia Synthesis Via Microwave-Catalytic Materials And Plasma Chemistry, Siobhan Brown

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Ammonia is critical to supporting human life on earth because of its use as fertilizer. The Haber-Bosch process to produce ammonia has been practiced for over 100 years. This process operates at high pressure and temperature to overcome the thermodynamic and kinetic limitations of the ammonia synthesis reaction thus researchers have tried to overcome it for decades. At present this process represents 1% of global energy usage and 2.5% of global CO₂ emissions. The proposed chemical looping ammonia synthesis approach seeks to reduce the environmental impact of this critical process and to elucidate microwave-catalytic principles.

This research aims to …

Non-Conventional Vehicles As A Way Towards Carbon Neutrality In Iceland, Julia Sokolowska

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Paris Agreement’s chief objective is to protect the Earth and its inhabitants from a point of no return, when the effects of climate change will be so intense that they will shift the equilibrium of ecosystems. The distinctiveness of this international environmental treaty is that it does not impose climate change mitigation measures, but rather allows nation states to create their own set of measures, the NDCs, to reach the global warming of ‘well below 2oC’ by the end of the century. Thus, Iceland has submitted its own NDC, the Climate Action Plan 2018-2030, which has an ambitious goal of …

High-Pressure Studies On The Transition From Red Phosphorus To Black Phosphorus, Heng Xiang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Black phosphorus (BP) is a promising material in many research fields. However, the transition process from amorphous red phosphorus (ARP) is elusive and hence hinders large scale synthesis and applications. This work describes the application of the high-pressure method to study the transition process from ARP to BP.

In this thesis, the following three objectives were achieved: (1) to understand the mechanism of the transition, (2) to facilitate the synthesis of BP by taking the advantage of less pure ARP, (3) to propose new methods of synthesizing BP-based materials, such as the moderately oxidized BP and the black phosphorus/ amorphous …

Synthesis And Connection Of Iridium Hydrogen Evolution Catalyst To Chlorella Vulgaris Photosystem I For Light-Driven Hydrogen Evolution, Anna Ramirez

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Hydrogen gas has been shown to be a promising energy source as options other than fossil fuels are being looked at in the face of anthropogenic climate change. It is known that anthropogenic climate change is caused by the production of greenhouse gases being let into the atmosphere, specifically a common reason for this is the burning of fossil fuels for energy. The overall goal of this project is to design a biochemical hybrid system that will be used to make H 2 gas and does not require the use of fossil fuels. Burning hydrogen as fuel produces only water …

Designed Conducting Polymer Composites That Facilitate Long-Lived, Light-Driven Oxygen And Hydrogen Evolution From Water In A Photoelectrochemical Concentration Cell (Pecc), Mohammed Alsultan, Khalid Zainulabdeen, Pawel W. Wagner, Gerhard F. Swiegers, Holly Warren

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Light-driven water-splitting to generate hydrogen and oxygen from water is typically carried out in an electrochemical cell with an external voltage greater than 1.23 V applied between the electrodes. In this work, we examined the use of a concentration/chemical bias as a means of facilitating water-splitting under light illumination without the need for such an externally applied voltage. Such a concentration bias was created by employing a pH differential in the liquid electrolytes within the O2-generating anode half-cell and the H2-generating cathode half-cell. A novel, stretchable, highly ion-conductive polyacrylamide CsCl hydrogel was developed to connect the two half-cells. The key …

Electrocatalytically Inactive Sns2 Promotes Water Adsorption/Dissociation On Molybdenum Dichalcogenides For Accelerated Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution, Yaping Chen, Xingyong Wang, Mengmeng Lao, Kun Rui, Xiaobo Zheng, Haibo Yu, Jing Ma, Shi Xue Dou, Wenping Sun

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Molybdenum dichalcogenides, in particular, MoS2 and MoSe2, are very promising nonprecious metal-based electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acidic media. They exhibit inferior alkaline HER activity, however, due to the sluggish water dissociation process. Here, we design and synthesize new molybdenum dichalcogenide-based heterostructures with the basal planes decorated with SnS2 quantum dots towards enhanced alkaline HER activity. The electrochemical results reveal that the alkaline hydrogen evolution kinetics of molybdenum dichalcogenides is substantially accelerated after incorporation of SnS2 quantum dots. The optimal MoSe2/SnS2 heterostructure delivers a much lower overpotential of 285 mV than MoSe2 (367 mV) to reach a current …

Effect Of Storage Environment On Hydrogen Generation By The Reaction Of Al With Water, Yin-Qiang Wang, Wei-Zhuo Gai, Xia-Yu Zhang, Hong-Yi Pan, Zhenxiang Cheng, Pingguang Xu, Zhen-Yan Deng

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Al powder was stored in saturated water vapor, oxygen, nitrogen and drying air separately for a time period of up to six months, the degradation behavior of Al activity was characterized by the reaction of Al with water. It was found that water vapor decreased the induction time for the beginning of Al-water reaction and reduced the total hydrogen generation per unit weight of Al, while oxygen increased the induction time and retarded the Al-water reaction. In contrast, the effect of nitrogen and drying air on Al activity was weak. The mechanism analyses indicated that water vapor promoted the hydration …

Preface-Jes Focus Issue On Electrolysis For Increased Renewable Energy Penetration, B. Pivovar, M. Carmo, K. Ayers, X. Zhang, J. O'Brien

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) Today represents a particularly exciting time, as our planet’s energy system is undergoing major changes due to dramatically decreasing renewable energy prices and increasing societal concerns over greenhouse gas emissions, criteria pollutants (arsenic, mercury, NOx, particulate matter), and climate change. These factors are pushing society toward deep decarbonization of our energy system, perhaps the most challenging issue facing the planet today. Unfortunately, wind and solar energy, while both promising generation sources, come with intermittency challenges and have limitations in their abilities to impact industrial and transportation sector demands where fossil fuel energy carriers based on chemical bonds have …

Doped Tio2 Nanowires For Applications In Dye Sensitized Solar Cells And Sacrifical Hydrogen Production, Qasem Alsharari

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis explores the synthesis of metal oxide 1-D nanowires using a sol-gel method in supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-CO₂), as an environmental friendly enabling solvent. Porous nanowires were synthesized and their performance was tested in dye sensitized solar cell and sacrifical hydrogen production. Titanium isopropoxide (TIP) was used as a precursor for titania synthesis while copper, bismuth and indium were examined as dopants, respectively. The sol-gel reactions were catalyzed by acetic acid in CO₂ at a temperature of 60 °C and pressure of 5000 psi. It was observed that acetic acid/monomer ratio > 4 produced nanowires while a …

Oxygen-Free Layer-By-Layer Assembly Of Lithiated Composites On Graphene For Advanced Hydrogen Storage, Guanglin Xia, Yingbin Tan, Xiaowei Chen, Fang Fang, Dalin Sun, Xingguo Li, Zaiping Guo, Xuebin Yu

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

A facile hydrogenation-induced self-assembly strategy to synthesize lithium hydride (LiH) nanosheets with a thickness of 2 nm that are uniformly distributed on graphene is reported and designed. Taking advantage of LiH nanosheets with high reactivity and a homogeneous distribution on graphene support as a nanoreactor, the confined chemical synthesis of oxygen-free lithiated composites is effectively and efficiently realized.

Graphene-Wrapped Reversible Reaction For Advanced Hydrogen Storage, Guanglin Xia, Yingbin Tan, Feilong Wu, Fang Fang, Dalin Sun, Zaiping Guo, Zhenguo Huang, Xuebin Yu

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Here, we report the fabrication of a graphene-wrapped nanostructured reactive hydride composite, i.e., 2LiBH4-MgH2, made by adopting graphene-supported MgH2 nanoparticles (NPs) as the nanoreactor and heterogeneous nucleation sites. The porous structure, uniform distribution of MgH2 NPs, and the steric confinement by flexible graphene induced a homogeneous distribution of 2LiBH4-MgH2 nanocomposite on graphene with extremely high loading capacity (80 wt%) and energy density. The well-defined structural features, including even distribution, uniform particle size, excellent thermal stability, and robust architecture endow this composite with significant improvements in its hydrogen storage performance. For instance, at a temperature as low as 350 °C, a …

Manipulating Coupling State And Magnetism Of Mn-Doped Zno Nanocrystals By Changing The Coordination Environment Of Mn Via Hydrogen Annealing, Yan Cheng, W Li, Weichang Hao, Huaizhe Xu, Zhongfei Xu, Li Rong Zheng, Jing Zhang, S X. Dou, Tianmin Wang

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Mn-doped ZnO nanocrystals are synthesized by a wet chemical route and treated in H2/Ar atmosphere with different H2/Ar ratios. It is found that hydrogen annealing could change the coordination environment of Mn in ZnO lattice and manipulate the magnetic properties of Mn-doped ZnO. Mn ions initially enter into interstitial sites and a Mn3+O6 octahedral coordination is produced in the prepared Mn-doped ZnO sample, in which the nearest neighbor Mn3+ and O2 ions could form a Mn3+-O2--Mn3+ complex. After H2 annealing, interstitial Mn ions can substitute for Zn to generate the Mn2+O4 tetrahedral coordination in the nanocrystals, in which neighboring Mn2+ …

3d Binder-Free Mose2 Nanosheets/Carbon Cloth Electrodes For Efficient And Stable Hydrogen Evolution Prepared By Simple Electrophoresis Deposition Strategy, Yundan Liu, Long Ren, Zhen Zhang, Xiang Qi, Hongxing Li, Jianxin Zhong

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

We successfully developed a simple electrophoretic deposition (EPD) method to decorate the MoSe2 nanosheets on the carbon fiber surface of carbon cloth (MoSe2/CC). With this process, MoSe2 nanosheets can be uniformly and tightly deposited on this flexible conductor to form a 3D binder-free electrode for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The film thickness can also be controlled by the EPD time. Directly used as binder-free electrodes for hydrogen evolution reaction, the as-prepared 3D MoSe2/CC samples exhibit excellent catalytic activity in an acidic electrolyte (21 mA/cm2 at an over-potential of 250 mV). Variation of MoSe2 nanosheets film thickness in the electrodes could …

Dft Investigations Of Hydrogen Storage Materials, Gang Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

"Hydrogen serves as a promising new energy source having no pollution and abundant on earth. However the most difficult problem of applying hydrogen is to store it effectively and safely, which is smartly resolved by attempting to keep hydrogen in some metal hydrides to reach a high hydrogen density in a safe way. There are several promising metal hydrides, the thermodynamic and chemical properties of which are to be investigated in this dissertation.

Sodium alanate (NaAlH₄) is one of the promising metal hydrides with high hydrogen storage capacity around 7.4 wt. % and relatively low decomposition temperature of …

Synthesis, Characterisation, Electrochemical, And Spectroscopic Studies Of Cobaloximes: Unique Clues Of Cobalt(I) Species In Various Solvents, Michael John Celestine

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

With the dwindling amount of fossil fuels in the world’s reserve is said to run out in the future. The use of alternative fuels such as hydrogen can be produced from renewable sources. One source is the use of first row transition metal complexes that can harness the power of the sun to reduce protons to hydrogen. In this thesis we investigated a well-known hydrogen evolution catalyst in a quest to understand the behavior of different oxidation states that occur during the catalytic cycle.

In an attempt to synthesize a binuclear ruthenium(II) complex, [{Ru(phen)2}2{µmes(1,4-phO-Izphen)3}](PF6)4, as a possible photosensitizer for the …

Guanidinium Octahydrotriborate: An Ionic Liquid With High Hydrogen Storage Capacity, Weidong Chen, Zhenguo Huang, Guotao Wu, Teng He, Zhao Li, Juner Chen, Zaiping Guo, Hua-Kun Liu, Ping Chen

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

For chemical hydrogen storage, capacity is one key criterion that has spurred intense efforts to investigate compounds with high hydrogen content. The guanidinium cation and the octahydrotriborate anion possess 6 H⁺ and 8 H^-, respectively. The combination of these two ions yields guanidinium octahydrotriborate with 13.8 wt% hydrogen. This paper presents its facile synthesis, as confirmed by ¹¹B and ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The results show that guanidinium octahydrotriborate is an ionic liquid with a melting point below -10°C, which makes it a possible injectable/pumpable hydrogen carrier. It decomposes selectively to hydrogen, in stark …

Hierarchical Porous Li 2 Mg(Nh)2@C Nanowires With Long Cycle Life Towards Stable Hydrogen Storage, Guanglin Xia, Yingbin Tan, Dan Li, Zaiping Guo, Hua-Kun Liu, Zongwen Liu, Xuebin Yu

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

The hierarchical porous Li₂Mg(NH)₂@C nanowires full of micropores, mesopores, and macropores are successfully fabricated via a single-nozzle electrospinning technique combined with in-situ reaction between the precursors, i.e., MgCl₂ and LiN₃, under physical restriction upon thermal annealing. The explosive decomposition of LiN₃ well dispersed in the electrospun nanowires during carbothermal treatment induces a highly porous structure, which provides a favourable way for H₂ delivering in and out of Li₂Mg(NH)₂ nanoparticles simultaneously realized by the space-confinement of the porous carbon coating. As a result, the thus-fabricated Li₂Mg(NH)_{2 …}

Electrochemical And Surface Compositional Studies On Uranium Dioxide, Mayuri Razdan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis describes electrochemical and surface compositional studies performed on a number of simulated nuclear fuel (SIMFUEL) materials under conditions relevant to permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a geologic repository. This is important since a number of critical issues have been identified in the event of waste container failure. The research performed was mainly focused in three areas: (i) the influence of low pH on the surface chemistry of UO₂, since acidity could develop within corrosion product deposits and flaws in the fuel; (ii) the combined influence of dissolved H₂ and H₂O_{2 …}

A Highly Efficient Tio2-Xcx Nano-Heterojunction Photocatalyst For Visible-Light Induced Antibacterial Applications, Vinodkumar Etacheri, Michael Seery, Stephen Hinder, Georg Michlits, Suresh Pillai

Articles

Visible-light-induced antibacterial activity of carbon-doped anatase-brookite titania nano-heterojunction photocatalysts are reported for the first time. These heterostructures were prepared using a novel low temperature (100 °C) non-hydrothermal low power microwave (300 W) assisted method. Formation of interband C 2p states was found to be responsible for the band gap narrowing of the carbon doped heterojunctions. The most active photocatalyst obtained after 60 minutes of microwave irradiation exhibits a 2-fold higher visible-light induced photocatalytic activity in contrast to the standard commercial photocatalyst Evonik-Degussa P-25. Staphylococcus aureus inactivation rate constant for carbon-doped nano-heterojunctions and the standard photocatalyst was 0.0023 and -0.0081 min …

Unidirectional Suppression Of Hydrogen Oxidation On Oxidized Platinum Clusters, Yu Li, Jun Xing, Zong Chen, Zhen Li, Feng Tian, Li Zheng, Hai Wang, P Hu, Huijun Zhao, Huagui Yang

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Solar-driven water splitting to produce hydrogen may be an ideal solution for global energy and environment issues. Among the various photocatalytic systems, platinum has been widely used to co-catalyse the reduction of protons in water for hydrogen evolution. However, the undesirable hydrogen oxidation reaction can also be readily catalysed by metallic platinum, which limits the solar energy conversion efficiency in artificial photosynthesis. Here we report that the unidirectional suppression of hydrogen oxidation in photocatalytic water splitting can be fulfilled by controlling the valence state of platinum; this platinum-based cocatalyst in a higher oxidation state can act as an efficient hydrogen …

An Overview - Functional Nanomaterials For Lithium Rechargeable Batteries, Supercapacitors, Hydrogen Storage, And Fuel Cells, Hua-Kun Liu

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

There is tremendous worldwide interest in functional nanostructured materials, which are the advanced nanotechnology materials with internal or external dimensions on the order of nanometers. Their extremely small dimensions make these materials unique and promising for clean energy applications such as lithium ion batteries, supercapacitors, hydrogen storage, fuel cells, and other applications. This paper will highlight the development of new approaches to study the relationships between the structure and the physical, chemical, and electrochemical properties of functional nanostructured materials. The Energy Materials Research Programme at the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials, the University of Wollongong, has been focused on …

Possible Room-Temperature Ferromagnetism In Hydrogenated Carbon Nanotubes, Adam L. Friedman, Hyunkyung Chun, Yung Joon Jung, Don Heiman, Evan R. Glaser, Latika Menon

Yung Joon Jung

We find that ferromagnetism can be induced in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by introducing hydrogen. Multiwalled CNTs grown inside porous alumina templates contain a large density of defects resulting in significant hydrogen uptake when annealed at high temperatures. This hydrogen incorporation produces H-complex and adatom magnetism which generates a sizable ferromagnetic moment and a Curie temperature near TC=1000  K. We studied the conditions for the incorporation of hydrogen, the temperature-dependent magnetic behavior, and the dependence of the ferromagnetism on the size of the nanotubes.

Possible Room-Temperature Ferromagnetism In Hydrogenated Carbon Nanotubes, Adam L. Friedman, Hyunkyung Chun, Yung Joon Jung, Don Heiman, Evan R. Glaser, Latika Menon

Donald Heiman

We find that ferromagnetism can be induced in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by introducing hydrogen. Multiwalled CNTs grown inside porous alumina templates contain a large density of defects resulting in significant hydrogen uptake when annealed at high temperatures. This hydrogen incorporation produces H-complex and adatom magnetism which generates a sizable ferromagnetic moment and a Curie temperature near TC=1000  K. We studied the conditions for the incorporation of hydrogen, the temperature-dependent magnetic behavior, and the dependence of the ferromagnetism on the size of the nanotubes.

Effects Of Moisture Augmentation Of Municipal Solid Waste Through Addition Of Food Waste Or Wastewater Treatment Biosolids On Bio-Gas Formation For Power Generation, Jared Michael Gore

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An investigation into the effect of moisture augmentation by manipulation of food waste proportion or wastewater treatment plant biosolids proportion was undertaken to determine the effects on production of methane and other biogases from municipal solid waste (MSW). Laboratory microcosm experiments were performed to determine the effect of various proportions of influent waste streams on the production of biogas. Results indicated that moisture augmentation through the addition of food waste to MSW increases the overall bio-gas and hydrogen gas formed during fermentation. Moisture augmentation through addition of wastewater treatment bio-solids lead to inconclusive results. Addition of food waste to MSW …

Boron-Nitrogen-Hydrogen (Bnh) Compounds: Recent Developments In Hydrogen Storage, Applications In Hydrogenation And Catalysis, And New Syntheses, Zhenguo Huang, Tom Autrey

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

The strong efforts devoted to the exploration of BNH compounds for hydrogen storage have led to impressive advances in the field of boron chemistry. This review summarizes progress in this field from three aspects. It starts with the most recent developments in using BNH compounds for hydrogen storage, covering NH₃BH₃, B₃H₈- containing compounds, and CBN compounds. The following section then highlights interesting applications of BNH compounds in hydrogenation and catalysis. The last part is focused on breakthroughs in the syntheses and discovery of new BNH organic analogues. The role of N-H^{δ+ …}

Enhanced Hydrogen Storage Properties Of Naalh4 Co-Catalysed With Niobium Fluoride And Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes, Jianfeng Mao, Zaiping Guo, Hua-Kun Liu

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

The effects of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as a co-catalyst with NbF₅ on the dehydrogenation and hydrogenation kinetics of NaAlH₄ were investigated by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential thermal analysis, temperature-programmed desorption, and isothermal hydrogen ab/desorption techniques. It has been revealed that there is a synergistic effect of SWCNTs and NbF₅ on the de/rehydrogenation of NaAlH4, which improves the hydrogen de/absorption performance when compared to adding either SWCNTs or NbF₅ alone. For example, the apparent activation energy for the first-step and the second-step dehydrogenation of the co-doped NaAlH4 sample is estimated to be 85.9 …

Investigation Of The Hydrogen Storage Mechanism Of Expanded Graphite By Measuring Electrical Resistance Changes, Ji Sun Im, Seungsoon Jang, Youngseak Lee

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

The hydrogen storage mechanism of graphite was studied by measuring the electrical resistance change. Graphite was expanded and activated to allow for an easy hydrogen molecule approach and to enlarge the adsorption sites. A vanadium catalyst was simultaneously introduced on the graphite during the activation process. The hydrogen storage increased due to the effects of expansion, activation, and the catalyst. In addition, the electrical resistance of the prepared samples was measured during hydrogen molecule adsorption to investigate the hydrogen adsorption mechanism. It was found that the electrical resistance changed as a result of the easy hydrogen molecule approach, as well …

Ammonium Octahydrotriborate (Nh4b3h8): New Synthesis, Structure, And Hydrolytic Hydrogen Release, Zhenguo Huang, Xuenian Chen, Teshome Yisgedu, Edward A. Meyers, Sheldon Shore, J C. Zhao

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

A metathesis reaction between unsolvated NaB₃H₈ and NH₄Cl provides a simple and high-yield synthesis of NH₄B₃H₈. Structure determination through X-ray single crystal diffraction analysis reveals weak N—H^δ+- - -H^δ-—B interaction in NH₄B₃H₈ and strong N—H^δ+—H^δ-—B interaction in NH₄B₃H₈·18-crown-6·THF adduct. Pyrolysis of NH₄B₃H₈ leads to the formation of hydrogen gas with appreciable amounts of other volatile boranes below 160°C. Hydrolysis experiments show that …

High-Capacity Hydrogen Release Through Hydrolysis Of Nab3h8, Zhenguo Huang, Xuenian Chen, Teshome Yisgedu, J C. Zhao, Sheldon Shore

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

NaB3H8 has advantages over NaBH4 and NH3BH3, two most widely studied chemical hydrides for hydrogen storage via hydrolysis. NaB3H8 has an extraordinary high solubility in water and thus possesses a high theoretical capacity of 10.5 wt% H via hydrolysis, in contrast to 7.5 wt% for NaBH4 and 5.1 wt% for NH3BH3. NaB3H8 is reasonably stable in water which makes it unnecessary to add corrosive NaOH as a stabilizer as the case for NaBH4. Furthermore, hydrolysis of NaB3H8 can be catalyzed by a Co-based catalyst with fast kinetics that is comparable to Ru-based catalysts. Therefore, cost-effective hydrolysis of NaB3H8 is possible …