Physical Chemistry Commons^™

Special Issue: Electrochemistry Of Carbon Materials, Wei Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

Carbon materials are traditional electrode materials due to their excellent electrical conductivities, high electrochemical stabilities and wide potential windows. Glassy carbon, graphite, various activated charcoals, carbon fibers etc. have been widely used in electrochemistry serving as electrode substrates or supports. In addition to their applications in basic electrochemistry, carbon materials have also played important roles in electrochemical energy storage and conversion. In recent years, various types of carbon structures, from zero-dimensional carbon nanodots, one-dimensional nanotubes, two-dimensional graphene to three-dimensional porous carbons, have attracted increasing attention in electrochemical field. It has been found that carbon materials have outstanding properties as advanced …

Applications Of Carbon Materials In Electrochemical Energy Storage, Ji Liang, Lei Wen, Hui-Ming Cheng, Feng Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

An electrode material for electrochemical energy storage is one of the key components for high performance devices. In a variety of electrochemical energy storage systems, carbon materials, especially the lately emerged carbon nanomaterials including the carbon nanotube and graphene, have been playing a very important role and brought new vitality to the development and demonstration of the broad application prospects. In this review, we summarize the applications of various carbon materials in the typical electrochemical energy storage devices, namely lithium/sodium ion batteries, supercapacitors, and lithium-sulfur batteries, as well as flexible electrochemical energy storage and electrochemical catalysis. A perspective of novel …

Colloidal Ionic Supercapacitors, Kun-Feng Chen, Dong-Feng Xue

Journal of Electrochemistry

Supercapacitors have high power density and long cycle life compared with battery systems, but they still suffer from low energy density at the same time. In order to increase the energy density of supercapacitors, we have developed a new type of pseudocapacitor, called colloidal ion supercapacitor, which can directly use commercial metal salts as electrode materials and form electroactive matter by in-situ electrochemical reactions without the need of additional materials synthesis processes. Colloidal ion supercapacitor can fully utilize the redox reaction of metal cations with multiple oxidation states, which can completely release the stored electrical energy of multiple-valence cations, leading …

Electrodeposition Of Lanthanum In Deep Eutectic Solvents, Li Wang, You-Jun Fan, Lu Wei, Hai-Xia Liu, Shi-Gang Sun

Journal of Electrochemistry

With the choline chloride/urea deep eutectic solvents (DESs) as the medium, the olive-like lanthanum particles with uniform shape and size were successfully prepared through a potentiostatic deposition method. The prepared samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). At the same time, the effect of deposition potential, temperature and time on the size and morphology of samples was investigated. The results demonstrated that the optimum conditions for the preparation of olive-like lanthanum particles were as follows: deposition potential of -1.7 V, temperature of 80 °C and …

Progress Of Self-Supported Supercapacitor Electrode Materials Based On Carbon Substrates, Shui-Jian He, Wei Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

Self-supported electrode materials have been widely used in supercapacitors. Carbon materials are promising substrates in building self-supported electrode materials attributed to their diverse structures, rich resource, relatively low cost and high stability. Combined with our own research in this field, we summarize here the recent progress on the synthesis of self-supported electrode materials and their supercapacitance properties. The overall synthetic strategy could be divided into two categories: “top-down” and “bottom-up”. We hope this review is helpful for the development and application of renewable sources in self-supported electrode materials.

Synthesis Of Porous Carbon Nanosheets And Its Application In Sodium-Ion Battery, Jing-Fei Zhang, Jing Lu, Xiao-Yu Yang, Yun-Di Huang, Lin Xu, Dong-Mei Sun, Ya-Wen Tang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Owning to sodium’s high abundance, relatively low cost, similar chemical properties to Li and very suitable redox potential of E₀(Na⁺/Na) = -2.71 V versus SHE which is only 0.3 V above that of lithium, rechargeable sodium ion battery hold much promise as potential alternatives to current lithium ion batteries for energy storage applications. Carbon material is regarded as the most promising anode candidate for sodium ion battery. Particularly, carbon nanosheet with porous structure and high conductivity is expected to have improved sodium ion storage properties. In this paper, we present a two-step pyrolysis-based method for facile …

Carbon Aerogel/Nickel Foam As Electrode For High-Performance Supercapacitor, Zhong Wu, Xin-Bo Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Herein, a facile synthesis has been explored to prepare carbon aerogel/Ni foam. Graphene oxide, resorcinol and formaldehyde serve as precursors and polymerize in-situ on the Ni foam after hydrothermal synthesis at 85 ℃. After lyophilization treatment, the carbon aerogel/Ni foam with porous structure can be obtained. Electrochemical investigations reveal that the carbon aerogel/Ni foam exhibits superior performances in both aqueous and organic electrolytes involving high specific capacitance and long-term cycling stability. The excellent properties can be ascribed to the unique formation and porous structure, which allows more effective transportations of electron and electrolyte ion.

Intercalation Of Clo4- Into Hopg Investigated By Ec-Stm, Xiao-Yan Hu, Alice Aliwowe, Jia-Wei Yan, Bing-Wei Mao

Journal of Electrochemistry

The electrochemical intercalation and surface morphology of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) electrode in 2 mol⋅L^-1 HClO₄ were studied by in situ scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). Based on the step-height changes observed before and after the intercalation, the effects of different step sites on intercalation are compared. The feasibility, reversibility and speed of intercalation are discussed. The intercalation ofClO₄^- into HOPG can be divided into three types depending on the number of graphite layers at the step site: When the layers of graphite are more than three, the intercalation becomes feasible; when …

Effect Of Mno2 Content On Electrochemical Capacitance Behavior Of Active Carbon Electrode, Kun Shen, Xian-Liang Zhou, Qi-Shun Duan

Journal of Electrochemistry

In this work, the manganese dioxide (MnO₂) materials were prepared by solution approach at low temperature, thermal decomposition and electrochemical deposition. The actived carbon (AC) and MnO₂composite electrodes were used for aqueous supercapacitors. The morphologies and structures of the prepared materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the electrochemical behaviors were tested by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galanostatic charge-discharge tests. Electrochemical test data show that the maximum specific capacitances of 151, 172 and 141 F•g^-1were obtained with the contents of MnO₂being 70, 60 and 70% in …

Fast And Accurate Evaluation Of Lifepo4 Cathode Materials By Single Particle Microelectrode, Fu-Qing Wang, Yi-Min Wei, Yu-Zhuan Su, Bing-Wei Mao, Kai Wu, Feng-Gang Zhao, Chun-Lei Chen, Xing-Lu Li, Jin Chong

Journal of Electrochemistry

Single particle microelectrode enables to evaluate the electrochemical responses for single particle of active material without binder and conductive agent. Thus, the influences of additive and electrode structure on the electrochemical performance of active materials can be ignored. Furthermore, this technology can be used to evaluate active materials fast. Therefore, single particle microelectrode allows fast and accurate determination of the intrinsic performance of active material. Cyclic voltammogram (CV), cycle performance, and kinetic behavior of LiFePO₄ cathode materials were evaluated by the single particle microelectrode. CV curve of LiFePO₄ particle with a pair of oxidation and reduction peaks was …

Electrochemical Properties Of Graphene/Porous Nano-Silicon Anode, Chun-Li Li, Guang Yang, Ping Zhang, Zhi-Yu Jiang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Porous nano-silicon (Si) was prepared by acid etching Al-Si alloy powder method, and used as an active material for fabricating a grapene/porous nano-Si electrode. The results of SEM and TEM measurements indicated that porous nano-Si powder was uniformly mixed with graphene by emulsification dispersion-ultrasonication method. As an anode for lithium ion battery, the graphene/porous nano-Si electrode presented relatively high performance in 1 mol•L^-1LiPF6/EC:DMC = 1:1(by volume) + 1.5% (by mass) VC solution. At the charge and discharge current densities of 0.5A•g^-1, the first discharge capacity was 1768.6mAh•g^-1with coulombic efficiency of 68.3%. The discharge capacity …

Photooxidation Reactions Of Small-Chain Methyl Esters, Aerosol Photoelectron Spectroscopy, And The Photodissociation Of Ethylenediamine, Giel Muller

Master's Theses

Research conducted at the University of San Francisco is presented within this masters thesis, including the Cl-initiated photooxidation reactions of methyl propanoate, methyl butanoate, and methyl valerate (pentanoate), the aerosol photoelectron spectroscopy of isoprene and gamma-valerolactone, and the TPEPICO investigation of ethylenediamine. Experiments were conducted at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Advanced Light Source (ALS), the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center in Hsinchu City (NSRRC), and the University of Stockton in California, respectively.

Hybrid Sol–Gel Glasses With Glass-Transition Temperatures Below Room Temperature, Andrei Jitianu, Guadalupe Gonzalez, Lisa C. Klein

Publications and Research

Melting gels are hybrid gels that have the ability to soften and flow at around 100 ° C for some combinations of mono- and di-substituted alkoxysiloxanes, where substitutions are either all aromatic or all aliphatic. In this study, melting gels were prepared using phenyltriethoxysilane (PhTES) and dimethyldiethoxysilane (DMDES), meaning both an aromatic and aliphatic substitution. Differential scanning calorimetry was performed to identify glass-transition temperatures, and thermal gravimetric analysis coupled with differential thermal analysis (TGA-DTA) was performed to measure weight loss. The glass-transition temperatures ( T g ) ranged from – 61 ° C to + 5.6 ° C, which are …

From Dye Sensitized Solar Cells To Organic Field Effect Transistors: A Computational Investigation Into The Structural And Electronic Properties Of Novel Phthalocyanines, Patrick J. Dwyer

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Phthalocyanines (Pc) have gained intense research attention in many diverse application areas due to their highly tunable electronic and structural properties through modification of the molecular periphery and metal center. Throughout this work a series of novel perfluoro-isopropyl substituted MPc have been investigated through theoretical methods. First, the synthetic mechanisms of these Pcs will be explored to gain insight into the experimentally observed Pc product distribution. By examining the electronic structure and formation energies of the various Pc precursors, we explain the product distribution as well as propose the formation of additional Pcs, which were not currently believed to form. …

Hydrogen Bond-Mediated Structural Order In Hydroxylated Bis-Mpa Dendritic Polymers: Experimental And Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study, Maliha N. Syed

Dissertations

Dendritic architectures are echoed throughout nature. While the significance of these pervasive patterns is not entirely clear, connections between their structures and physical properties are fascinating to contemplate. Particular interest has been paid to a family of synthetically manufactured and commercially available dendritic polymers based on 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl) propionic acid (bis-MPA) as a monomer. Composed of two hydroxyls and a carboxyl group, bis-MPA based structures hydrogen bond (H-bond) profusely. Given the high concentration and unique spatial orientation of end-groups, as well as the multitude of carbonyl, ester, and ether interior H-bond acceptors, a set of distinct H-bond organizations may be observed …

Validation Of The Global Distribution Of Co2 Volume Mixing Ratio In The Mesosphere And Lower Thermosphere From Saber, L. Rezac, Y. Jian, J. Yue, J. M. Russell Iii, A. Kutepov, R. Garcia, K. Walker, P. Bernath

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument on board the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics satellite has been measuring the limb radiance in 10 broadband infrared channels over the altitude range from ~ 400 km to the Earth's surface since 2002. The kinetic temperatures and CO₂ volume mixing ratios (VMRs) in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere have been simultaneously retrieved using SABER limb radiances at 15 and 4.3 μm under nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) conditions. This paper presents results of a validation study of the SABER CO₂ VMRs obtained with a two-channel, self-consistent …

Bombardment Simulations And Intercalation Studies Of Carbon Materials, Charles Lowe

All Dissertations

Molecular bombardment experiments have led to the possibility of altering materials with properties not normally associated with those materials. Molecular bombardment leads to defect formation in the material, potentially creating a pore, depending on the material and bombarding molecule. Carbon allotropes, specifically graphite and graphene, make excellent candidates for molecular bombardment experimentation. Depending on the bombarding molecule and the kinetic energy associated with that molecule, the defects induced will be sufficient to create a pore in the graphene. The AIREBO potential is used to simulate a graphene bilayer being bombarded with a single Ar atom, or a fullerene molecule, to …

Influence Of Shelling Temperature And Time On The Optical And Structural Properties Of Cuins2/Zns Quantum Dots, Colette Robinson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

CIS/ZnS core/shell QDs are an important class of nanomaterials for optoelectronic, photovoltaic and photoluminescence applications. They consist of lower toxicity materials than the prototypical II-VI Cd-based QDs and show long fluorescence lifetimes, which generates prospective in biological imaging applications. It is vital to develop reproducible synthetic methods for this new class of nanomaterials in order to maintain small sizes with high QYs. CIS core QDs have been shelled with ZnS at various temperatures from 90-210°C for reaction times ranging from 20-140 minutes to examine the role of thermodynamics and kinetics on the shell growth. Using HR-TEM and ICP-MS, it was …

Photochemistry Of A Series Of Weakly Coupled Dinuclear Ruthenium(Ii) Complexes, Latisha Michelle Puckett

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An improved synthetic method was developed for symmetric ruthenium(II) polypyridine complexes with the form L2Ru(diphen)RuL2. The scope of the reaction was investigated in regards to the ligands, bridging ligands, and starting materials. Several ligands were successful in the synthesis, including 2,2’-bipyridine (bpy), 4,4’-dimethyl-2,2’-dipyridyl (dmb), 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (dpphen), and 3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (tmphen). Ligands that did not react to form symmetric dimeric complexes were 2,2’-bipyrazine, bpz, and 2,2’-bipyrimidine, bpm.

Dpp, 2,3-bis(2-pyridyl)-pyrazine, effectively replaced diphen as the bridging ligand to produce (phen)2Ru(dpp)Ru(phen)24+. However, replacing the [Ru(CO)2Cl2]n with Ru(DMSO)4Cl2 did not prove successful. The newly developed synthesis was also applied to the synthesis of …

Energy-Efficient Computational Chemistry: Comparison Of X86 And Arm Systems, Kristopher Keipert, Gaurav Mitra, Vaibhav Sunriyal, Sarom S. Leang, Masha Sosonkina, Alistair P. Rendell, Mark S. Gordon

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

The computational efficiency and energy-to-solution of several applications using the GAMESS quantum chemistry suite of codes is evaluated for 32-bit and 64-bit ARM-based computers, and compared to an x86 machine. The x86 system completes all benchmark computations more quickly than either ARM system and is the best choice to minimize time to solution. The ARM64 and ARM32 computational performances are similar to each other for Hartree-Fock and density functional theory energy calculations. However, for memory-intensive second-order perturbation theory energy and gradient computations the lower ARM32 read/write memory bandwidth results in computation times as much as 86% longer than on the …

Collecting Our Wisdom And Working Together, Making The Journal Go Further ---On The 20 Years Anniversary Of The Journal Of Electrochemistry, Zong-Rang Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

On celebrating the 20 years anniversary of the founding of Journal of Electrochemistry (China), the author wishes to make a brief record of its historical events during the past years, and also to pay respect to the entire person who contributed a lot for the development of the journal. Some personal ideas related to the future development of the journal are proposed too.

Sulfonated-Graphene/Nafion Composite Membrane For All Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries, Da-Wei Yang, Yan-Qing Dong, Jing-Min Fan, Ming-Sen Zheng, Quan-Feng Dong

Journal of Electrochemistry

Nafion membrane has been widely used in fuel cells due to its good proton conductivity, chemical and mechanical stabilities. However, the well-developed water channels in Nafion membrane have restricted its application in all vanadium redox flow batteries owing to the high permeation of vanadium ions and the cost. In this work, the water adsorption rate, resistivity and transference number of vanadium ions of sulfonated-graphene/Nafion composite membrane were investigated and compared with those of Nafion membrane in an effort to overcome the abovementioned drawbacks. It was found that the area resistivity and permeation rate of sulfonated-graphene/Nafion composite membrane were significantly reduced …

Application Of Pd/Graphene Modified Electrode In The Detection Of 4-Chlorophenol, Peng Shi, Bo-Xuan Wang, Quan-Lin Song, Hui Wang, Xin Liu, Zhao-Yong Bian

Journal of Electrochemistry

The Pd/graphene composites were synthesized by a modified Hummers method and NaBH4 reduction process, and then were characterized using XRD, SEM, XPS, and TEM. The Pd/graphene modified glassy carbon electrode (Pd/graphene/GCE) was prepared based on this method. Cyclic voltammetry was used to study the optimum operation conditions for the 4-chlorophenol detection. It was shown that the surface of the graphene was smooth and Pd nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed on graphene. The average particle size was calculated to be 6.5 ± 0.05 nm. These nanoparticles exhibited high catalytic activity and sensitivity toward chlorophenols. PBS with a concentration of 0.1 mol·L^{-1 …}

Latest Progresses In Vanadium Flow Battery Technologies And Applications, Xiao-Li Wang, Yu Zhang, Hua-Min Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

With virtues of high safety, long cycle life, friend environment and state of charge easy monitoring, vanadium flow battery has become an effective technique for large scale energy storage. United States, Japan, Europe and other developed countries are actively promoting the developments of vanadium flow battery technology and related equipments. In this paper, the performance of containerized vanadium flow battery, which was newly developed by Rongke Power (RKP) and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, was introduced. The operation data of 5 MW/10 MWh vanadium flow battery energy storage station was displayed. Finally, it is pointed out that reducing the cost, …

Short Review On Electrochemical Energy Storage, Hong Li, Ying-Chun Lyu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Energy storage is a critical supporting technology in many fields such as energy, information, transportation, and healthcare, aerospace, advanced manufacture, advanced equipment, national security. Electrochemical energy storage technique has been widely applied and is developing continuously. In this article, the energy storage mechanism, technical indicators and technology ready level in electrochemical energy storage are summarized. Mainly based on lithium ion batteries, untraditional electrochemical issues in electrochemical energy storage devices are described from the perspective of fundamental science. These issues deal mainly with thermodynamics, kinetics, size effect, asymmetric system, asymmetric reaction path, surface phenomenon, hybrid ion transportation, and solid state battery. …

Research Progress Of Secondary Sodium-Air Batteries, San-Pei Zhang, Zhao-Yin Wen, Jun Jin, Xiang-Wei Wu, Ying-Ying Hu, Mei-Fen Wu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Rechargeable sodium-air batteries have been the focus in the fields of batteries and energy storage recently, owing to their high specific energy density (1600 Wh·kg^-1), an equilibrium discharge potential of 2.3 V and earth-abundant sodium element However, research on sodium-air cells is still in an infant age and presents many scientific issues. Based on recently reported work and our own experience on sodium-based batteries, this review summarizes the research progress related to the critical scientific is sues of secondary sodium-air batteries and the application prospect of sodium-air battery.

Preparations And Properties Of Polybenzimidazole/Polyvinylbenzyl Crosslinked Composite Membranes For High Temperature Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, Jin-Kai Hao, Yong-Yi Jiang, Zhen Wang, Xiao-Jin Li, Zhi-Gang Shao, Bao-Lian Yi

Journal of Electrochemistry

In order to increase the chemical stability of polybenzimidazole (PBl) membrane, a highly stable polymer, poly vinyl. benzyl chloride (PVBC), was chosen as the macromolecular crosslinker, and 1H-1,2,4-triazol was adopted to prepare the crosslinked PBI-based membranes. The influence of the PVBC amount on membrane characteristic was investigated in detail. The results indi. cated that the crosslinked structure of the membrane effectively improved the chemical stability, and at the same time, the mem. brane presented good mechanical property and proton conductivity. The fuel cell performance for the membrane was tested with hy. drogen and oxygen single cell without humidification at 150 …

Development Of Proton Conduction Membranes In Application Of Vanadium Flow Battery, Le-Tu Qingge, Wei-Nan Guo, Ping Liu, Bao-Guo Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The polymeric hydrophilic/hydrophobic interactions into membrane formation were introduced. A general and straightforward strategy for preparing membranes with nanometer-scale pores was suggested by utilization of hydrophilic/hydrophobic interactions to generate phase separation and removal of polyion aggregates through water immersion. Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and sodium allyl sulfonate (SAS) serve as the membrane material and pore-generator, respectively, resulting in chemically stable and oxidation-resistant membranes with various potential applications. Following the same procedure invented to produce the laboratory-scale membranes, the scale-up process to manufacture large-area membranes was completed. The obtained membrane exhibited the conductivity of 3.5×10^-2 S•cm^-1, thickness of 100 …

Review For Applications Of "Lead Carbon" Batteries In Energy Storage System, Yong-Quan Ma, Ke Ke, Da-Ming Gu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Three types of “lead carbon” batteries are introduced by comparing their advantages and disadvantages. Then their applications in energy storage system (ESS), especially in the field of renewable energy power generation, are discussed. The prospects and potential applications of “lead carbon” batteries in EES for electric power supply system are analyzed by combining the state-of-the-art techniques in this field.

Characterization Of The Separator With Thermal-Shutdown Layer For Use In Lithium Batteries, Li Bai, Yong-Jian Huai, Xin-Ping Ai, Hai Jia

Journal of Electrochemistry

In this paper, the lithium ion battery coated with the thermal-shutdown functional layer has been introduced. The shutdown temperature of the separator could be decreased by using the melting point of thermal-shutdown functional layer. When the internal battery environment reached a critical temperature, the functional layer melted and coated the anode/separator with a non-conductive barrier, halting Li-ion transport and shutting down the cell permanently. The results showed that the functional layer did not affect the resistance, rate performance and cycle life. It was found the functional layer can significantly improve the safety of the battery when misused.