Electrochemical performance of reduced graphene oxide in Spiro‐(1, 1')‐bipyrrolidinium tetrafluoroborate electrolyte

This paper investigates the relationship between structure and electrochemical performance of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) prepared via heat treatment and chemical reduction method. Structure and morphology of RGO was characterized by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller. Electrochemical performance of RGO electrode supercapacitor was investigated in the organic electrolyte by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge–discharge and electrochemical impedance. The results show heat treatment RGO has high graphitization degree, less surface oxygen‐containing groups, good charge–discharge efficiency and stable life cycle. The chemical reduced RGO has single‐graphene structure, high specific surface area, high specific capacitance and low internal resistance. The ascorbic acid reduction RGO exhibits good comprehensive electrochemical performance: Its specific capacitance was 220.7 F g^?1, internal resistance was 3.0 Ω and charge–discharge efficiency was 97.0% after 2000 cycles of charging/discharging tests. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis and characterization of poly(ethylene tetrasulfide)/graphene oxide nanocomposites by in situ polymerization method

Poly(ethylene tetrasulfide) (PSP) is synthesized via interfacial polycondensation of 1,2 dichloroethane and sodium tetrasulfide, in the presence of graphene oxide (GO). This process resulted in homogeneously dispersed PSP/GO nanocomposites. Nanocomposites of 0.3 and 0.5?wt% of GO are synthesized and their morphology, chemical characteristics behavior are studied employing field emission scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques. Thermal characterization of composites is performed by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry analysis. Results indicate that the addition of only small amounts (0.5?wt%) of well-dispersed GO can increase the melting point more than 16°C resulting in better thermal properties for the composite. The solubility of nanocomposite is also studied and results show that the solubility depends on solvent concentration in addition to reinforcement (GO) deals.     

Tunable Fe/N co-doped 3D porous graphene with high density Fe-Nx sites as the efficient bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst for Zn-air batteries

Nitrogen-doped transition metal materials display promising potential as bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, Fe/N co-doped three-dimensional (3D) porous graphene (FeN-3D-PG) is prepared via a template method using sodium alginate as the carbon source and low polymerization degree melamine resin as the nitrogen source. The low polymerization degree melamine resin can form complexes with Fe³⁺ in the aqueous solution and further forms high density Fe-N_x active sites during pyrolysis. Meanwhile, the formed 3D porous structure efficiently promotes the uniform distribution of Fe-N_x active sites. The FeN-3D-PG catalyst exhibits pH-independent ORR activity. For OER, the catalyst possesses a low over potential (370 mV at 10 mA cm⁻²) in alkaline electrolyte. The Zn-air batteries (ZABs) using FeN-3D-PG as cathode exhibits a power density up to 212 mW cm⁻², a high specific capacity of 651 mAh g⁻¹, and the charge-discharge stability of 80 h. This work provides new sight to transition metal materials based ZABs with excellent performance.     

Flash sintering of alumina/reduced graphene oxide composites

The flash sintering behavior of Al₂O₃/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composites was investigated. rGO was used as a composite component and a conductive additive. Under the electric fields of 250–400 V cm⁻¹, the flash event occurred at extremely low temperatures of 236–249 °C. The current density limit played a significant role in the degree of densification. A larger current density resulted in a higher density of the sample. However, current densities larger than 33.33 A cm⁻² resulted in broken samples because of the localization of high current density coupled with the formation of hot spots. Flash sintering at a furnace temperature of 800 °C, electric field of 300 V cm⁻¹ and current density limit of 33.33 A cm⁻² produced nearly completely dense Al₂O₃/rGO composites. In addition to the current limit, the furnace temperature is also a key parameter that controls the degree of densification to achieve “safe” flash sintering.     

Peptide‐functionalized reduced graphene oxide as a bioactive mechanically robust tissue regeneration scaffold

Bioactive, synthetic materials represent next‐generation composites for tissue regeneration. Design of contemporary materials attempts to recapitulate the complexities of native tissue; however, few successfully mimic the order in nature. Recently, graphene oxide (GO ) has emerged as a scaffold due to its potential for bioactive functionalization and long‐range order instilled by the self‐assembly of graphene sheets. Chemical reduction of GO results in a more compatible material with enhanced properties but compromises the ability to functionalize the graphenic backbone. However, using Johnson–Claisen rearrangement chemistry, functionalization is achieved that is not liable to reduction. From reduced Claisen graphene, we polymerized short homopeptides from α ‐amino acid N ‐carboxyanhydride monomers of glutamate and lysine to result in functionalized graphenes (pGlu‐rCG and pLys‐rCG ) that are cytocompatible, degradable, and bioactive. Exposure to NIH‐3T3 fibroblasts and RAW 264.7 macrophages revealed that the materials are cytocompatible and do not alter important sub‐cellular compartments. Powders were hot pressed to form mechanically stiff (E ′: 41 and 49 MPa ), strong (UCS : 480 and 140 MPa ), and tough (U _T: 2898 and 584 J m^?3 × 10⁴) three‐dimensional constructs (pGlu‐rCG and pLys‐rCG, respectively). Overall, we report a robust chemistry and processing strategy for facile bioactive functionalization of compatible, reduced Claisen graphene for three‐dimensional biomedical applications. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry     

Scalable arrays of chemical vapor sensors based on DNA-decorated graphene

Arrays of chemical vapor sensors based on graphene field effect transistors functionalized with single-stranded DNA have been demonstrated. Standard photolithographic processing was adapted for use on large-area graphene by including a metal protection layer, which protected the graphene from contamination and enabled fabrication of high quality field-effect transistors （GFETs）. Processed graphene devices had hole mobilities of 1,640 ± 250 cm2.V-1.s-1 and Dirac voltages of 15 ± 10 V under ambient conditions. Atomic force microscopy was used to verify that the graphene surface remained uncontaminated and therefore suitable for controlled chemical functionalization. Single-stranded DNA was chosen as the functionalization layer due to its affinity to a wide range of target molecules and π-π stacking interaction with graphene, which led to minimal degradation of device characteristics. The resulting sensor arrays showed analyte- and DNA sequence-dependent responses down to parts-per-billion concentrations. DNA/GFET sensors were able to differentiate among chemically similar analytes, including a series of carboxylic acids, and structural isomers of carboxylic acids and pinene. Evidence for the important role of electrostatic chemical gating was provided by the observation of understandable differences in the sensor response to two compounds that differed only by the replacement of a （deprotonating） hydroxyl group by a neutral methyl group. Finally, target analytes were detected without loss of sensitivity in a large background of a chemically similar, volatile compound. These results motivate further development of the DNA/graphene sensor family for use in an electronic olfaction system.     

Nitrogen‐doped self‐shrinking porous 3D graphene capacitor deionization electrode

Traditional three‐dimensional (3D) graphene has a large pore structure, which makes the graphene structure not well interact with the anion and cation during the desalination process, thereby restricting the capacitive deionization (CDI) ability of the 3D graphene. In this work, we prepared a nitrogen‐doped self‐shrinking porous 3D graphene electrode by adding a pyrrole monomer to a graphene oxide solution, which was then applied to a CDI electrode. The results show that the electrochemical performance of the as‐prepared nitrogen‐doped self‐shrinking porous 3D graphene (NSPG) is significantly improved. Compared with traditional 3D graphene, NSPG has a denser pore structure with a larger specific surface area, thus exhibiting a good CDI performance: The NSPG electrode has an electroadsorption capacity of 13.16 mg/g.     

White graphene based composite proton exchange membrane: Improved durability and proton conductivity

Boron nitride, which is also known as “white graphene” may be an attractive filler for composite proton exchange membrane. Application of polymer electrolyte membranes in fuel cell as an electrolyte is gaining attention due to the requirement of clean energy. However, despite its attractive features it requires more consideration for complete commercialization. Herein we demonstrate the preparation of novel functionalized WHITE GRAPHENE (hexagonal boron nitride) and sulfonated poly ether sulfone (SPES) based polymer electrolyte membranes (PEM). Composite membranes have been characterized through thermal, mechanical, structural analysis. Membranes have been subjected to measure methanol permeability and proton conductivity at different temperatures for its use in DMFC. Composite membranes exhibit good physicochemical properties as well as high methanol crossover resistance. 0.5 wt % of FBN (SP-FBN-05) membrane is found to be adequate to get the better performance in DMFC.