Promising supercapacitor electrodes based immobilization of proteins onto macroporous Ni foam materials

Immobilizing biocomponents on solid surfaces is a critical step in the development of new devices for future biological, medical, and elec- tronic applications. Therefore, numerous integrated films were recently developed by immobilizing different proteins or enzymes on electrode surfaces. In this work, hemeproteins were safely immobilized onto macroporous nickel-based electrodes while maintaining their functionality. Such modified electrodes showed interesting pseudo-capacitive behavior. Among hemeproteins, hemoglobin （Hb） film has a higher electro- chemical performance and greater charge/discharge cycling stability than myoglobin （Mb） and cytochrome C （CytC）. The heme group in an alkaline medium could induce the formation of superoxides on the electrode surface. These capacitive features of hemeprotein-Ni electrode were related to strong binding sites between hemeproteins and porous Ni electrode, the accumulation of superoxide or radicals on the Ni sur- face, and facile electron transfer and electrolyte diffusion through the three-dimensional macroporous network. Thus, these new protein-based supercapacitors have potential use in free-standing platform technology for the development of implantable energy-storage devices.

Alkaline zinc-based flow battery: chemical stability, morphological evolution, and performance of zinc electrode with ionic liquid

Zinc-based flow battery is an energy storage technology with good application prospects because of its advantages of abundant raw materials,low cost,and environmental friendliness.The chemical stability of zinc electrodes exposed to electrolyte is a very important issue for zinc-based batteries.This paper reports on details of chemical stability of the zinc metal exposed to a series of solutions,as well as the relationship between the morphological evolution of zinc electrodes and their properties in an alkaline medium.Chemical corrosion of zinc electrodes by the electrolyte will change their surface morphology.However,we observed that chemical corrosion is not the main contributor to the evolution of zinc electrode surface morphology,but the main contributor is the Zn/Zn^(2+)electrode process.The morphological evolution of zinc electrodes was controlled by using ionic liquids,1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate(EMIA),and 1-propylsulfonic-3-methylimidazolium tosylate(PSMIT),and the electrode performance was recorded during the morphological evolution process.It was observed that the reversible change of zinc electrode morphology was accompanied by better electrode performance.

Iron-incorporated nitrogen-doped carbon materials as oxygen reduction electrocatalysts for zinc-air batteries

The application of electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) is vital in a variety of energy conversion technologies. Exploring low-cost ORR catalysts with high activity and long-term stability is highly desirable, although it still remains challenging. Herein, we report a facile and reliable route to convert ZIF-8 modified by Fe-phenanthroline into Fe-incorporated and N-doped carbon dodecahedron nanoarchitecture(Fe-NCDNA), in which carbon nanosheets are formed in situ as the building blocks with uniform Fe-N-C species decoration. Systematic electrochemical studies demonstrate that the as-synthesized Fe-NCDNA electrocatalyst possesses highly attractive catalytic features toward the ORR in terms of activity and durability in both alkaline and neutral media. The Zn-air battery with the optimal Fe-NCDNA catalyst as the cathode performs impressively, delivering a power density of 184 m W cm^–2 and a specific capacity of 801 m Ah g^–1;thus, it exhibits great competitive advantages over those of the Zn-air devices employing a Pt-based cathode electrocatalyst.

Synthesis of Flower-Like Nanoparticles of Anatase Titania by Microwave Solvo-Hydrothermal Method

Anatase titania nanoparticles with an average size of about 14 nm were synthesized by microwave solvothermal method from TiCI4 and ethanol as a precursor and solvent respectively. The shapes of as prepared samples were modified by microwave hydrothermal treatment in strongly alkaline medium at 100℃ for 2 h, the agglomerate particles can be converted to the nanorods then to flower-like sphere. The structure, morphology and optical properties of as-prepared powders were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and UV- vis absorption spectroscopy, the quality of the samples was examined by IR absorption spectroscopy and room temperature photoluminescence （PL）. The results showed that the synthesized Ti02 revealed the formation of the nanorods and the flower-like shape of titania after post treatment in 5 mol/L and 10 mol/L NaOH solution, respectively. IR absorption spectra showed that the as-prepared TiO2 nanocrystals were highly pure and strongly surface hydrated, The photoluminescence measurement showed that five main emission peaks appeared in UV, violet, blue and green regions.

Electrooxidation Mechanism of Methanol at Pt-Ru Catalyst Modified GC Electrode in Electrolytes with Different pH Using Electrochemical and SERS Techniques

The electrochemical and in-situ surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy （SERS） techniques were used to investigate the electrooxidation behavior of methanol in acidic, neutral and alkaline media at a Pt-Ru nanoparticle modified glassy carbon （Pt-Ru/GC） electrode. The results showed that methanol could be dissociated spontaneously at the Pt-Ru/GC electrode to produce a strongly adsorbed intermediate, CO. It was found that CO could be oxidized more easily in the alkaline medium than in the acidic and neutral media. The peak potential of methanol oxidation was shifted from 0.663 and 0.708 V in the acidic and neutral media to -0.030 V in the alkaline medium, which is due to that the adsorption strength of CO on the Pt surface in the alkaline medium is weaker than that in the acidic and neutral media. The final product of the methanol oxidation is CO2. However, in the alkaline medium, CO2 produced would form CO3^2- and HCO3^- resulting in the decrease in the alkaline concentration and then in the decrease in the performance of DMFC. Therefore, the performance of the alkaline DMFC is not Stable.

Calibrating SECCM measurements by means of a nanoelectrode ruler.The intrinsic oxygen reduction activity of PtNi catalyst nanoparticles

Scanning electrochemical cell microscopy(SECCM)is increasingly applied to determine the intrinsic catalytic activity of single electrocatalyst particle.This is especially feasible if the catalyst nanoparticles are large enough that they can be found and counted in post-SECCM scanning electron microscopy images.Evidently,this becomes impossible for very small nanoparticles and hence,a catalytic current measured in one landing zone of the SECCM droplet cannot be correlated to the exact number of catalyst particles.We show,that by introducing a ruler method employing a carbon nanoelectrode decorated with a countable number of the same catalyst particles from which the catalytic activity can be determined,the activity determined using SECCM from many spots can be converted in the intrinsic catalytic activity of a certain number of catalyst nanoparticles.