Physical Chemistry Commons^™

Magnetic Resonance In Metal-Ion Batteries: From Nmr (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) To Epr (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance), Bing-Wen Hu, Chao Li, Fu-Shan Geng, Ming Shen

Journal of Electrochemistry

Metal-ion batteries have changed our quotidian lives. The research on the electrode materials for metal-ion battery is the key to improve the performance of the battery. Therefore, understanding the structure-performance relationship of the electrode materials can help to improve the energy density and power density of the materials. Magnetic resonance, including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), has been continuously improved during the past three decades, and has gradually become one of the important technologies to study the structure-performance relationship of electrode materials. This paper summarizes the progress of magnetic resonance research from our group on several …

Frontier Of Electrochemistry, Hong-Gang Liao, Zhang-Quan Peng, Wen-Bin Cai

Journal of Electrochemistry

No abstract provided.

The Van Der Waals Mixture Construct Of A P-X Two-Component Gas=Liquid Phase Diagram, Carl W. David

Chemistry Education Materials

The van der Waals model, when applied to a mixture, is used to construct tie-line points on a liquid=vapor two phase p-x diagram.

Efficient Capture Of Co2 And Its Selective Reduction To Formic Acid Using Tin-Based Nanomaterials, Emmanuel Oluwaseun Abdul

Dissertations and Theses

CO₂ emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels and other anthropogenic sources have become the main contributing factors to global warming. Chemical methods of absorbing/capturing CO₂ from combustion flue gases have made it a sought-after approach in engineering emission solutions because of its simplistic and convenient operation and high absorption efficiency. The conversion of CO₂ into renewable fuels and high energy density chemicals by clean and economic processes has drawn scientists' attention over the decades. The electrocatalytic conversion of CO₂ using Sn-based materials has been demonstrated to be a promising method for producing formate, an important …

Infrared Investigation Of Lithium Ion Electrolytes: Characterization Of Structure And Dynamics Via Linear And Nonlinear Spectroscopy, Jeramie Christopher Rushing

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Lithium ion batteries are widely employed in energy storage, but the connection between the molecular interactions in their electrolytes and the macroscopic properties remains elusive. Across three vastly different electrolytes, speciation and dynamics were studied via linear and nonlinear infrared spectroscopy to shed light on this relationship. The impact of mixed solvation on ionic speciation was studied from the perspective of the anion, which revealed a significant energetic favorability for the formation of contact ion pairs in linear carbonate solvents over cyclic carbonates. Infrared spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations described a complete inversion of the speciation due to solvent …

Phenanthrene: Establishing Lower And Upper Bounds To The Binding Energy Of A Very Weakly Bound Anion, Elisabeth Gruber, Siegfried Kollotzek, Stefan Bergmeister, Fabio Zappa, Milan Ončák, Paul Scheier, Olof E. Echt

Faculty Publications

Quite a few molecules do not form stable anions that survive the time needed for their detection; their electron affinities (EA) are either very small or negative. How does one measure the EA if the anion cannot be observed? Or, at least, can one establish lower and upper bounds to their EA? We propose two approaches that provide lower and upper bounds. We choose the phenanthrene (Ph) molecule whose EA is controversial. Through competition between helium evaporation and electron detachment in He_nPh^- clusters, formed in helium nanodroplets, we estimate the lower bound of the vertical detachment energy …

A Microfluidic Approach For Synthesis And Kinetic Profiling Of Branched Gold Nanostructures, Qi Cai, Valentina Castagnola, Luca Boselli, Alirio Moura, Hender Lopez, Wei Zhang, João M. De Araújo, Kenneth A. Dawson

Articles

Automatized approaches for nanoparticle synthesis and characterization represent a great asset to their applicability in the biomedical field by improving reproducibility and standardization, which help to meet the selection criteria of regulatory authorities. The scaled-up production of nanoparticles with carefully defined characteristics, including intrinsic morphological features, and minimal intra-batch, batch-to-batch, and operator variability, is an urgent requirement to elevate nanotechnology towards more trustable biological and technological applications. In this work, microfluidic approaches were employed to achieve fast mixing and good reproducibility in synthesizing a variety of gold nanostructures. The microfluidic setup allowed exploiting spatial resolution to investigate the growth evolution …

Transition Metal Phosphides For High Performance Electrochemical Energy Storage Devices, Amina Saleh

Theses and Dissertations

Electrochemical energy storage technologies are nowadays playing a leading role in the global effort to address the energy challenges. A lot of attention has been devoted to designing hybrid devices known as supercapatteries which combine the merits of supercapacitors (high power density) and rechargeable batteries (high energy density). Transition metal phosphides (TMP) are a rising star for supercapattery anode materials thanks to their high conductivity, metalloid characteristics, and kinetic favorability for fast electron transport. Herein, new TMP-based materials were synthesized for use as supercapattery positive electrodes, via a multifaceted approach to yield devices enjoying concurrently high power and energy densities. …

A Flexible Enzymeless Glucose Sensor Via Electrodepositing 3d Flower-Like Cos Onto Self-Supporting Graphene Tape Electrode, Jiang Li, Zuo-Peng Li, Yun-Feng Bai, Su-Xing Luo, Yong Guo, Ya-Yan Bao, Rong Li, Hai-Yan Liu, Feng Feng

Journal of Electrochemistry

Three-dimensional (3D) nanostructural Flower-like cobalt sulfide (CoS) on flexible self-supporting graphene tape electrode (GTE) with remarkably electrocatalytic activity toward glucose was successfully prepared by electrodeposition. Structural characterizations revealed that the electrodeposited CoS was highly dispersed on GTE as an active material. The fabricated binder-free and self-standing CoS/GTE shows a good linear response in the range of 0.025 ~ 1.0 mmol·L^-1, reaching a high glucose sensitivity value of 323.3 μA·(mmol·L ^-1)^-1·cm^-2 and a low detection limit of 8.5 μmol·L ^-1 (S/N = 3). Moreover, the as-prepared sensor was well applied for glucose …

Acetate Solutions With 3.9 V Electrochemical Stability Window As An Electrolyte For Low-Cost And High-Performance Aqueous Sodium-Ion Batteries, Dao-Yun Lan, Xiao-Feng Qu, Yu-Ting Tang, Li-Ying Liu, Jun Liu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Low-cost and high-safety aqueous sodium-ion batteries have received widespread attention in the field of large-scale energy storage, but the narrow electrochemical stability window (1.23 V) of water limits the energy density of aqueous sodium-ion batteries. The “water-in-salt” strategy which uses the interaction between cations and water molecules in the solution can inhibit water decomposition and broaden the electrochemical stability window of water. In this work, two types of low-cost salts, namely, ammonium acetate (NH₄CH₃COOH) and sodium acetate (NaCH₃COOH), were used to configure a mixed aqueous electrolyte for aqueous sodium-ion batteries. The solution consisted of …

Synthesis Of Lithium-Rich Manganese-Based Layered Cathode Materials And Study On Its Structural Evolution Of First Cycle Overcharge, Chen-Xu Luo, Chen-Guang Shi, Zhi-Yuan Yu, Ling Huang, Shi-Gang Sun

Journal of Electrochemistry

Lithium-rich manganese-based cathode materials have become one of promising cathode materials due to their low cost and large discharge specific capacity exceeding 250 mAh·g^-1. However, their problems such as low coulombic efficiency of first cycle and apparent voltage decay influence commercialization process. The high charging voltage will cause instability of structure and increase the hidden danger of the battery. Therefore, structural evolution of first cycle at higher voltage needs to be further studied. In this work, the precursor was synthesized by the co-precipitation method, and the lithium-rich manganese-based layered cathode materials were prepared by lithium-mixed and high-temperature sintering, …

Progress Of Pt-Based Catalysts In Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: A Review, Long Huang, Hai-Chao Xu, Bi Jing, Qiu-Xia Li, Wei Yi, Shi-Gang Sun

Journal of Electrochemistry

Fuel cells are energy conversion devices that convert chemical energy directly into electricity. It has the advantages of high energy density, high utilization efficiency of fuel, clean and noiseless during working. Among all kinds of fuel cells, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are most popular since PEMFCs function at near ambient temperature, while their power densities are higher than those of other fuel cells. Currently, Pt-based nanomaterials are still the unreplaceable catalysts in commercialized PEMFCs. The lack of low-cost and high-performance cathode catalysts is still one of key factors that hampers the commercialization of PEMFCs. In this review, the …

Advances Of Phosphide Promoter Assisted Pt Based Catalyst For Electrooxidation Of Methanol, Meng Li, Li-Gang Feng

Journal of Electrochemistry

Transition metal phosphide (TMP), as an ideal catalytic promoter in methanol fuel oxidation, has received increased attention because of its multifunctional active sites, tunable structure and composition, as well as unique physical and chemical properties and efficient multi-composition synergistic effect. Some advances have been made for this catalyst system recently. In the current review, the research progresses of transition metal phosphides (TMPs) in the assisted electrooxidation of methanol including the catalysts fabrication and their performance evaluation for methanol oxidation are reviewed. The promotion effect of TMPs has been firstly presented and the catalyst systems based on the different metal centers …

A High-Performance Continuous-Flow Mea Reactor For Electroreduction Co2 To Formate, Pei-Xuan Liu, Lu-Wei Peng, Rui-Nan He, Lu-Lu Li, Jin-Li Qiao

Journal of Electrochemistry

The electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO₂RR) is a promising approach to produce liquid fuels and industrial chemicals by utilizing intermittent renewable electricity for mitigating environmental problems. However, the traditional H-type reactor seriously limits the electrochemical performance of CO₂RR due to the low CO₂ solubility in electrolyte, and high ohmic resistance caused by the large distance between two electrodes, which is unbeneficial for industrial application. Herein, we demonstrated a high-performance continuous flow membranes electrode assembly (MEA) reactor based on a self-growing Cu/Sn bimetallic electrocatalyst in 0.5 mol·L^-1 KHCO₃ for converting CO₂ to …

Oxidative Efficiency Of Ozonation Coupled With Electrolysis For Treatment Of Acid Wastewater, Ze-You Hu, Feng-Yun Xiang, Ji-Qiang Mao, Ya-Lei Ding, Shao-Ping Tong

Journal of Electrochemistry

Establishment of an ozone-based advanced oxidation process (AOPs-O₃) for effective treatment of acid wastewater is an important and difficult task. The process of ozonation coupled with electrolysis (electrolysis-ozonation, E-O₃) has been reported to effectively degrade pollutants in neutral solution. We studied the efficiency of E-O₃ for degradation of acetic acid (HAc, an ozone inert chemical) in acid solution and found that E-O₃ had high oxidative efficiency at pH less than 3. For example, 52.2% of 100 mg·L^-1 HAc could be removed by E-O₃ in 120 min at pH 1.0, but only 2.2% …

Resolving The Three-Dimensional Rotational And Translational Dynamics Of Single Molecules Using Radially And Azimuthally Polarized Fluorescence, Oumeng Zhang, Weiyan Zhou, Jin Lu, Tingting Wu, Matthew D. Lew

Electrical & Systems Engineering Publications and Presentations

We report a radially and azimuthally polarized (raPol) microscope for high detection and estimation performance in single-molecule orientation-localization microscopy (SMOLM). With 5000 photons detected from Nile red (NR) transiently bound within supported lipid bilayers (SLBs), raPol SMOLM achieves 2.9 nm localization precision, 1.5° orientation precision, and 0.17 sr precision in estimating rotational wobble. Within DPPC SLBs, SMOLM imaging reveals the existence of randomly oriented binding pockets that prevent NR from freely exploring all orientations. Treating the SLBs with cholesterol-loaded methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MβCD-chol) causes NR’s orientational diffusion to be dramatically reduced, but curiously NR’s median lateral displacements drastically increase from 20.8 to …

Spectroscopic Properties Relevant To Astronomical And Laboratory Detection Of Mch And Mch+ (M = Al, Mg), Vincent J. Esposito, Tarek Trabelsi, Joseph S. Francisco

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

New spectroscopic parameters have been calculated to aid in the laboratory and observational detection of AlCH, AlCH⁺, MgCH, MgCH⁺, and their deuterated analogs. All species exist in linear geometry except for AlCH+, which exhibits a bent structure. Rotational frequencies have been calculated and the transition with maximum intensity is discussed for three temperature regions present in space: 100 K for a central circumstellar envelope (CSE), 30 K for an outer CSE, and 3 K indicative of the interstellar medium. Pertinent frequencies range from 25 to 250 GHz, depending on the species. At 30 K, the most …

Shapes Of Molecular Aggregates Associated With A Critical Point Of Solution, James Baird

Summer Community of Scholars (RCEU and HCR) Project Proposals

No abstract provided.

Inhibitors Of Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation, Jemil Ahmed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alpha-Synuclein (αS) – a neuronal, disordered, presynaptic protein – aggregates into amyloid fibrils and accumulates in the substantia nigra pars compacta of Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients. The aggregation and accumulation of αS amyloid fibrils leads to death of dopaminergic neurons; a hallmark of PD. Although it’s not clear why αS aggregates, prior studies have found that intrastriatal injection of fibril alone is sufficient to cause PD pathology in mouse and non-human primates models. These observations implicate αS as a therapeutic target against PD.

Unfortunately, there are three caveats when attempting to target αS. First, αS is a neuronal protein expressed …

Affinity Of Cadmium Versus Zinc For The Carbonic Anhydrase Active Site, Rachel Phan

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

Cadmium is a heavy metal found in tobacco plants, nickel-cadmium batteries, and as a byproduct of metal mining. The similarities between the properties of zinc ions and cadmium ions in proteins due to their 2+ charges may cause displacement of zinc by cadmium if encountered and has been shown to do so in several transcription factors. Cadmium’s ability to replace zinc- a metal found in around 3,000 human proteins- is a cause for concern, especially due to its toxicity, long half-life in the body, and larger size.

Carbonic anhydrase is an important metalloprotein protein that relies on a central zinc(II) …