Bacterial cellulose as source for activated nanosized carbon for electric double layer capacitors

A nanosized carbonaceous material was derived from bacterial cellulose (BC). BC, which is produced by bacteria as nanosized material, possesses high degree of crystallinity of 90 %, was pyrolysed at 950 °C and physically activated with CO₂ to produce a nanosized activated carbon material. The pyrolysis of BC yielded a carbonaceous material (carbon yield of between 2 and 20 %) with a relatively low D- to G-band ratio (between 2.2 and 2.8), indicating that the carbonaceous material possesses a graphitic structure. Two different BC materials were pyrolysed—a loose fibrous (freeze-dried) and dense paper form. It was observed that a carbon nanofibre-like material was produced by the pyrolysis of the loose fibrous form of BC. The electric double layer (EDL) capacitance and the area-normalised specific capacitance in K₂SO₄ solution were as high as 42 F g^?1 and 1,617 F cm^?2, respectively. The EDL capacitance was also compared to commercially available activated carbon (YP-50F).     

Epitaxial insertion of gold silicide nanodisks during the growth of silicon nanowires

Nanodisk-shaped, single-crystal gold silicide heterojunctions were inserted into silicon nanowires during vapor-liquid-solid growth using Au as a catalyst within a specific range of chlorine-to-hydrogen atomic ratio. The mechanism of nanodisk formation has been investigated by changing the source gas ratio of SiCl4 to H2. We report that an over-supply of silicon into the Au-Si liquid alloy leads to highly supersaturated solution and enhances the precipitation of Au in the silicon nanowires due to the formation of unstable phases within the liquid alloy. It is shown that the gold precipitates embedded in the silicon nanowires consisted of a metastable gold silicide. Interestingly, faceting of gold silicide was observed at the Au/Si interfaces, and silicon nanowires were epitaxially grown on the top of the nanodisk by vapor-liquid-solid growth. High resolution transmission electron microscopy confirmed that gold silicide nanodisks are epitaxially connected to the silicon nanowires in the direction of growth direction. These gold silicide nanodisks would be useful as nanosized electrical junctions for future applications in nanowire interconnections.     

Catalyst-free growth of oriented single-walled carbon nanotubes on mica by ethanol chemical vapor deposition

In this letter, it is reported for the first time that single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) can grow on mica substrate without additional catalyst by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using ethanol as carbon source. The single-wall structure was characterized by Raman spectra and AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy) measurements. The growth of carbon nanotubes on mica surface contributes to the small amount of iron oxide in bare mica. The uniform dispersion and nanosized Fe particles formed from the reduction of iron oxide favor for the growth of SWNTs. Horizontally aligned superlong SWNTs arrays can be successfully generated on the mica surface, which is proved to be guided by the gas flow and under “kite growth mechanism”. The mica is a machinable material which can be easily cut and made a narrow slit on, thus the nanotubes can traverse the slit which can be in millimeter scale and long suspended SWNTs can be generated. This will provide an opportunity to manipulate individual SWNT for various purposes.     

Catalytic action of gold and copper crystals in the growth of carbon nanotubes

Multi-wall carbon nanotubes are grown in a chemical vapor deposition process by using bulk gold and copper substrates as catalysts. Nanotube growth starts from a nanometer-sized roughness on the metal surfaces and occurs in a mechanism where the catalyst particle is either at the tip (Au) or root (Cu) of the growing nanotube. Whereas Au leads to nanotubes with good structural perfection, nanotubes grown from Cu show a higher density of defects. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy shows the bonding between Au and carbon at the metal-nanotube interface whereas no bonds between Cu and carbon occur. Highly mobile Au or Cu atoms adsorb at the growing edge of a carbon nanotube from where diffusion along the nanotube wall can lead to the formation of Au or Cu nanowires inside the central hollow of carbon nanotubes.     

Large‐Area 3D Hierarchical Superstructures Assembled from Colloidal Nanoparticles

Assembling nanosized building blocks into macroscopic 3D complex structures is challenging. Here, nanosized metal and semiconductor building blocks with a variety of sizes and shapes (spheres, stars, and rods) are successfully assembled into a broad range of hierarchical (nanometer to micrometer) assemblies of functional materials in centimeter size using butterfly wings as templates. This is achieved by the introduction of steric hindrance to the assembly process, which compensates for attraction from the environmentally sensitive hydrogen bonds and prevents the aggregation of nanosized building blocks. Of these materials, Au nanostar assemblies show a superior enhancement in surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) performance (rhodamine 6G, 1506 cm^?1) under 532, 633, and 780 nm excitation—this is 3.1–4.4, 3.6–3.9, and 2.9–47.3 folds surpassing Au nanosphere assemblies and commercial SERS substrates (Q‐SERS), respectively. This method provides a versatile route for the assembly of various nanosized building blocks into different 3D superstructures and for the construction of hybrid nanomaterials and nanocomposites.     

Functionalization of gold-coated carbon nanotubes with self-assembled monolayers of thiolates

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition using Co–Fe as a catalyst and ethylene as a carbon source. Afterward, a simple method combining wet-chemistry and chemical reduction was used to prepare carbon nanotube/gold material (CNT/Au). Pristine nanotubes and CNT/Au were characterized by transmission electron microscopy micrographs. It appeared that gold formed nanoparticles on CNTs endings and their sidewalls. Further functionalization was carried out by using thiols of different chemical properties and molecule sizes. Thiols formed self-assembled monolayer on gold surface that led to formation of CNT/gold/thiol-functionalized material. The amounts of chemisorbed thiols were measured by elemental analysis and thermogravimetry.     

纳米Au团簇在氧化钛修饰的介孔分子筛MCM-41中的组装

以钛酸丁酯为ＴｉＯ_２前驱体,使ＴｉＯ_２均匀分散于纯硅介孔分子筛ＭＣＭ－４１的介孔孔道内表面,利用ＴｉＯ_２光学性质将ＡｕＣｌ－４还原为Ａｕ（０）并组装于氧化钛修饰的ＭＣＭ－４１孔道中．对所合成的Ａｕ负载的氧化钛修饰的ＭＣＭ－４１进行了ＸＲＤ,ＸＰＳ,Ｎ_２吸附－脱附曲线,及固体ＵＶ－Ｖｉｓ漫反射等多种结构表征．由ＸＰＳ谱和固体ＵＶ－Ｖｉｓ漫反射吸收光谱的ｐｌａｓｍｏｎ吸收峰证明Ａｕ团簇呈现０价的金属状态．     

金刚石纳米粉促进的CVD金刚石薄膜的生长行为研究

采用由普通炸药爆轰制备的金刚石纳米粉对光滑硅衬底进行了涂覆预处理,研究了金刚石薄膜经徐覆和研磨预处理的两种衬底上的生长行为及其演化过程．结果表明,纳米粉处理能在显著提高成核密度的同时,大大缩短长成连续膜所用的时间;薄膜的生长由前后相继的两个阶段所构成,即确定晶面形成前球状颗粒的成长与融合和晶面的逐渐显露与晶粒长大过程．经足够长的生长时间后,所得薄膜具有结构致密、晶面清晰、晶形完整和表面平整度高的特征,特别适合于高致密性自支持薄膜的生长．而研磨处理衬底上生长的薄膜一旦成核,便有确定晶面的显露,但却出现明显的二次成核和孪晶,所得薄膜的致密性与表面平整度均不及徐覆处理的好．文中还对结果进行了简要讨论．     

Preparation and characteristics of a binderless carbon nanotube monolith and its biocompatibility

A carbon nanotube (CNT) monolith without any binders was obtained by spark plasma sintering (SPS) treatment at 1100 °C under 40 MPa pressure. Transmission electron microscope results confirmed that this material maintained the nanosized tube microstructure of raw CNT powder after SPS treatment. The density and mechanical properties of this material were similar to cancellous bone. The material was implanted in subcutaneous tissue and femurs of rats and tissue samples were analyzed by histopathology at 1 and 4 weeks after surgery. Although some foreign body giant cells were seen around the CNTs, no severe inflammatory response such as necrosis was observed, and CNT implants were surrounded by newly formed bone in the femur. The study provides the first in vivo testing evidence that pure bulk carbon nanotubes are not a strongly inflammatory substance and have no toxicity for bone regeneration. Our study is the first successful experiment to consolidate CNTs without binders, and may provide an effective method for CNT monolith synthesis, as well as demonstrating that a binderless carbon nanotube material with a strength matching that of bone could be a candidate bone substitute material and a bone tissue engineering scaffold material.     

Evaluation of the role of Au in improving catalytic activity of Ni nanoparticles for the formation of one-dimensional carbon nanostructures

In situ dynamic imaging, using an environmental transmission electron microscope, was employed to evaluate the catalytic activity of Au/SiO(2), Ni/SiO(2), and Au-Ni/SiO(2) nanoparticles for the formation of one-dimensional (1-D) carbon nanostructures such as carbon nanofibers (CNFs) and nanotubes (CNTs). While pure-Au thin-film samples were inactive for carbon deposition at 520 °C in 0.4 Pa of C(2)H(2), multiwalled CNTs formed from Ni thin films samples under these conditions. The number of nanoparticles active for CNF and CNT formation increased for thin films containing 0.1 mol fraction and 0.2 mol fraction of Au but decreased as the overall Au content in thin films was increased above 0.5 mol fraction. Multiwalled CNTs formed with a root growth mechanism for pure Ni samples, while with the addition of 0.1 mol fraction or 0.2 mol fraction of Au, CNFs were formed via a tip growth mechanism at 520 °C. Single-walled CNTs formed at temperatures above 600 °C in samples doped with less than 0.2 mol fraction of Au. Ex situ analysis via high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) revealed that catalytically active particles exhibit a heterogeneous distribution of Au and Ni, where only a small fraction of the overall Au content was found in the portion of each particle actively involved in the nucleation of graphitic layers. Instead, the majority of the Au was found to be segregated to an inactive capping structure at one the end of the particles. Using density-functional theory calculations, we show that the activation energy for bulk diffusion of carbon in Ni reduces from ≈1.62 eV for pure Ni to 0.07 eV with the addition of small amounts (≈0.06 mol fraction) of Au. This suggests that the enhancement of C diffusion through the bulk of the particles may be responsible for improving the number of particles active for nucleating the 1-D carbon nanostructures and thereby the yield.     

Superior Magnetic Performance in FePt L10 Nanomaterials

The discovery of the high maximum energy product of 59 MGOe for NdFeB magnets is a breakthrough in the development of permanent magnets with a tremendous impact in many fields of technology. This value is still the world record, for 40 years. This work reports on a reliable and robust route to realize nearly perfectly ordered L1₀‐phase FePt nanoparticles, leading to an unprecedented energy product of 80 MGOe at room temperature. Furthermore, with a 3 nm Au coverage, the magnetic polarization of these nanomagnets can be enhanced by 25% exceeding 1.8 T. This exceptional magnetization and anisotropy is confirmed by using multiple imaging and spectroscopic methods, which reveal highly consistent results. Due to the unprecedented huge energy product, this material can be envisaged as a new advanced basic magnetic component in modern micro and nanosized devices.     

Achieving Ultralow Wear with Stable Nanocrystalline Metals

Recent work suggests that thermally stable nanocrystallinity in metals is achievable in several binary alloys by modifying grain boundary energies via solute segregation. The remarkable thermal stability of these alloys has been demonstrated in recent reports, with many alloys exhibiting negligible grain growth during prolonged exposure to near‐melting temperatures. Pt–Au, a proposed stable alloy consisting of two noble metals, is shown to exhibit extraordinary resistance to wear. Ultralow wear rates, less than a monolayer of material removed per sliding pass, are measured for Pt–Au thin films at a maximum Hertz contact stress of up to 1.1 GPa. This is the first instance of an all‐metallic material exhibiting a specific wear rate on the order of 10^?9 mm³ N^?1 m^?1, comparable to diamond‐like carbon (DLC) and sapphire. Remarkably, the wear rate of sapphire and silicon nitride probes used in wear experiments are either higher or comparable to that of the Pt–Au alloy, despite the substantially higher hardness of the ceramic probe materials. High‐resolution microscopy shows negligible surface microstructural evolution in the wear tracks after 100k sliding passes. Mitigation of fatigue‐driven delamination enables a transition to wear by atomic attrition, a regime previously limited to highly wear‐resistant materials such as DLC.     

Direct synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes selectively suspended on tips of vertically aligned silicon nanostructures fabricated by hydrogen plasma etching

Here we present a method to synthesize single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) selectively suspended on tips of silicon-based nanostructure (Si-ns) templates. The Si-ns templates vertically aligned to the substrates are fabricated via an anisotropic etch process using reactive hydrogen plasmas, in which the etch-resistive nanomasks are the nanosized particles formed by thermal annealing of multi-layered catalytic thin films. After plasma etching, the nanosized self-masks remaining at the tips of the Si-ns directly serve as the catalysts for SWNT growth by thermal chemical vapour deposition. Consequently, the synthesized SWNTs are selectively suspended on the tips of the Si-ns, as revealed by characterizations using scanning electron microscopy and resonance Raman spectroscopy. This methodology provides a simple and straightforward approach to assemble two different nanomaterials, i.e., Si-ns and suspended SWNTs, together as a building block for constructing nanodevices for possible applications.     

Controlled synthesis of 2D Au nanostructure assembly with the assistance of sulfonated polyaniline nanotubes

A wet chemical approach is used successfully to produce nanostructured Au material by the reduction of sulfonated polyaniline (SPANI) nanotubes. The Au nanostructures obtained are composed of single crystal Au nanoplates, which are aggregated layer-by-layer into stacks or edge-on-face into clusters at various conditions. The Au nanoplate diameter and thickness can be conveniently controlled in the range of 100?nm to 2?μm and 10 to 30?nm, respectively, with no accompanying single Au nanoparticles being observed. The formation of the Au nanostructures was controlled by the degradation of SPANI. The gradually and slowly released segments of SPANI served as the reductant during the growth of the 2D Au nanostructures.     

A generic approach for embedded catalyst-supported vertically aligned nanowire growth

We demonstrate a general approach for growing vertically aligned, single-crystalline nanowires of any material on arbitrary substrates by using plasma-sputtered Au/Pd thin films as a catalyst through the vapor-liquid-solid process. The high-energy sputtered Au/Pd atoms form a reactive interface with the substrate forming nanoclusters which get embedded in the substrate, thus providing mechanical stability for vertically aligned nanowire growth. We demonstrate that our approach for vertically aligned nanowire growth is generic and can be extended to various complex substrates such as conducting indium tin oxide.     

CoP nanoparticles enwrapped in N-doped carbon nanotubes for high performance lithium-ion battery anodes

CoP is a candidate lithium storage material for its high theoretical capacity. However, large volume variations during the cycling processes haunted its application. In this work, a four-step strategy was developed to synthesize N-doped carbon nanotubes wrapping CoP nanoparticles (CoP@N-CNTs). Integration of nanosized particles and hollow-doped CNTs render the as-prepared CoP@N-CNTs excellent cycling stability with a reversible charge capacity of 648 mA·h·g⁻¹ at 0.2 C after 100 cycles. The present strategy has potential application in the synthesis of phosphide enwrapped in carbon nanotube composites which have potential application in lithium-ion storage and energy conversion.     

Preparation of rare-earth carbonate nanosized particles monolayer by using potentiostatic technique

Gadolinium carbonate and samarium carbonate nanosized particles monolayers were prepared on copper grids coated with carbon film by using potentiostatic technique. The particles were obtained by homogeneous precipitation in aqueous solution by reaction with the thermal decomposition products of urea. The electrocatalytic activity of nanosized particle film was investigated.     

A metallization and bonding approach for high performance carbon nanotube thermal interface materials

A method has been developed to create vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) thermal interface materials that can be attached to a variety of metallized surfaces. VACNT films were grown on Si substrates using standard CVD processing followed by metallization using Ti/Au. The coated CNTs were then bonded to metallized substrates at 220?°C. By reducing the adhesion of the VACNTs to the growth substrate during synthesis, the CNTs can be completely transferred from the Si growth substrate and used as a die attachment material for electronic components. Thermal resistance measurements using a photoacoustic technique showed thermal resistances as low as 1.7 mm(2) K W(-1) for bonded VACNT films 25-30 μm in length and 10 mm(2) K W(-1) for CNTs up to 130 μm in length. Tensile testing demonstrated a die attachment strength of 40 N cm(-2) at room temperature. Overall, these metallized and bonded VACNT films demonstrate properties which are promising for next-generation thermal interface material applications.     

Electrochemical behavior of gold nanoparticles modified nitrogen incorporated tetrahedral amorphous carbon and its application in glucose sensing

Gold nanoparticles (NPs) with 10-50 nm in diameter were synthesized on nitrogen incorporated tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C:N) thin film electrode by electrodeposition. The deposition and nucleation processes of Au on ta-C:N surface were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The morphology of Au NPs was characterized by scanned electron microscopy. The electrochemical properties of Au NPs modified ta-C:N (ta-C:N/Au) electrode and its ability to sense glucose were investigated by voltammetric and amperometric measurements. The potentiostatic current-time transients showed a progressive nucleation process and diffusion growth of Au on the surface of ta-C:N film according to the Scharifker-Hills model. The Au NPs acted as microelectrodes improved the electron transfer and electrocatalytic oxidation of glucose on ta-C:N electrode. The ta-C:N/Au electrode exhibited fast current response, a linear detection range of glucose from 0.5 to 25 mM and a detection limit of 120 microM, which hinted its potential application as a glucose biosensor.     

Activated carbon as support of gold–platinum nanoparticles for the D-glucose electrochemical oxidation in alkaline solution

Carbon microspheres were synthesised using biomass materials (such as glucose, cellulose, etc.) as precursors by hydrothermal carbonisation route. Activated carbon (AC) was obtained by sintering and activation of these carbon microspheres and characterised by powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherm analysis. Electrocatalytic oxidation of glucose was studied in alkaline solution on AC-supported gold–platinum nanoparticles by cyclic voltammetry method. It was found that Au–Pt catalyst loaded on this carbon material had better electrochemical oxidation efficiency than that loaded on commercial carbon black.