利用STM构建金属有机材料的纳米结构和改变电学性质

研究和开发利用扫描隧道显微镜(STM)对材料进行纳米尺度加工的功能,藉助于STM针尖和样品之间的强电场在金属有机络合物Ag TCNQ薄膜表面构建了纳米点、纳米点阵和纳米线等纳米结构。伏安(I U)特性曲线和扫描隧道的测试表明,在针尖强场作用后材料表面的局域电子态密度迅速增大,在电学上由高阻态转变为低阻态,这种效应可能归因于金属原子和有机分子之间的电荷转移。这些纳米结构展示了用作高密度存储器和纳米导线的可能性,有机导电材料将是未来纳米电子材料的理想候选者,而STM则将成为纳米电子学微细加工的有力工具。

Surface Modification Mechanism of Fine Coal by Electrochemical Methods

In order to reveal the surface modification mechanism of fine coal by electrochemical methods, the structural changes of the coal surface before and after electrochemical modification were investigated by Fourier Transform In- frared Spectra (FTIR) and Raman Spectra. The results show that under certain electrochemical conditions, the oxy- gen-containing functional group in the coal structure and the oxygen content of absorption could be reduced and the floatability of coal improved. At the same time, the sulfur in the coal was reduced to the hydrophilic S2– which could be separated easily from coal. Thus electrochemical modification methods could be used to change the structure and func- tional group on the coal surface and to enhance the floatability of coal.

Structure improvement and electrochemical studies of bipolar nickel metal hydride batteries for hybrid electric vehicles

Nickel metal hydride battery in bipolar design offers some advantages for its application as a power storage system for electric and hybrid vehicles. This paper deals with the structure design and electrochemical studies of bipolar Ni/MH batteries for hybrid vehicles. An improvement is applied in bipolar battery design, and such bipolar Ni/MH batteries with 5 sub-cells have been assembled and investigated. Testing results show that bipolar batteries with improved structure have better compression tolerance and cycle performance than conventional ones. In addition, the improved bipolar batteries display excellent large current discharge ability and high power density. As simulating working conditions for hybrid vehicles, the batteries show good stability during pulse cycles, which verifies the possibility of being used as a power storage device on hybrid vehicles.

Efficient development of Type-Ⅱ TiO_2 heterojunction using electrochemical approach for an enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting performance

Type‐II‐heterojunction TiO2nanorod arrays(NAs)are achieved by a combination of reduced and pristine TiO2NAs through a simple electrochemical reduction.The heterojunction‐structured TiO2NAs exhibit an enhanced photo‐efficiency,with respect to those of pristine TiO2NAs and completely reduced black TiO2.The improved efficiency can be attributed to a synergistic effect of two contributions of the partially reduced TiO2NAs.The light absorption is significantly increased,from theUV to the visible spectrum.Moreover,the type II structure leads to enhanced separation and transport of the electrons and charges.The proposed electrochemical approach could be applied to various semiconductors for a control of the band structure and improved photoelectrochemical performance.

Effects of Metal Oxide Modifications on Photoelectrochemical Properties of Mesoporous TiO2 Nanoparticles Electrodes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Mesoporous TiO2 （m-TiO2） nanoparticles were used to prepare the porous film electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells, and a second metal oxide （MgO, ZnO, A1203, or NiO） modifi- cation was carried out by dipping the m-TiO2 electrode into their respective nitrate solution followed by annealing at 500 ℃. Experimental results indicated that the above second metal oxide modifications on m-TiO2 electrode are shown in all cases to act as barrier layer for the interracial charge transfer processes, but film electron transport and interfacial charge recombination characteristics under applied bias voltage were dependent significantly on the existing states and kinds of these second metal oxides. Those changes based on sec- ond metal oxide modifications showed good correlation with the current-voltage analyses of dye-sensitized solar cell, and all modifications were found to increase the open-circuit photo- voltage in various degrees, while the MgO, ZnO, and NiO modifications result in 23%, 13%, and 6% improvement in cell conversion efficiency, respectively. The above observations indi- cate that controlling the charge transport and recombination is very important to improve the photovoltaic performance of TiO2-based solar cell.

Carbon Foam Anode Modified by Urea and Its Higher Electrochemical Performance in Marine Benthic Microbial Fuel Cell

Electrode materials have an important effect on the property of microbial fuel cell(MFC). Carbon foam is utilized as an anode and further modified by urea to improve its performance in marine benthic microbial fuel cell(BMFC) with higher voltage and output power. The electrochemical properties of plain carbon foam(PC) and urea-modified carbon foam(UC) are measured respectively. Results show that the UC obtains better wettability after its modification and higher anti-polarization ability than the PC. A novel phenomenon has been found that the electrical potential of the modified UC anode is nearly 100 m V lower than that of the PC, reaching-570 ±10 m V(vs. SCE), and that it also has a much higher electron transfer kinetic activity, reaching 9399.4 m W m-2, which is 566.2-fold higher than that from plain graphite anode(PG). The fuel cell containing the UC anode has the maximum power density(256.0 m W m-2) among the three different BMFCs. Urea would enhance the bacteria biofilm formation with a more diverse microbial community and maintain more electrons, leading to a lower anodic redox potential and higher power output. The paper primarily analyzes why the electrical potential of the modified anode becomes much lower than that of others after urea modification. These results can be utilized to construct a novel BMFC with higher output power and to design the conditioner of voltage booster with a higher conversion ratio. Finally, the carbon foam with a bigger pore size would be a potential anodic material in conventional MFC.

Tradeoffbetween Narrowing Optical Band Gap and Enhancing Electrical Conductivity of the Metal Nanoparticles-Modified Titanium Oxide Films

The n-type semiconducting titanium oxide thin films are well-known as electron transporting interlayer in photovoltaic cells. The favorable characteristics of interlayers in photovoltaics are high optical transmittance （T%）, wide band gap energy （Eg） and high electrical conductivity （σ）. Modifying titanium oxide films with metal nanoparticles would increase electrical conductivity but reduce optical band gap energy. We developed the sol-gel derived titanium suboxide （TiOx） films modified with silver （Ag） or gold （Au） or copper （Cu） nanoparticles （NPs）. This study explores a tradeoff between narrowing optical band gap and enhancing electrical conductivity of nanostructured TiOx films by controlling the Au- or Ag- or Cu-NPs loading concentrations （mol%） in titania. The Au- and Cu-NPs loading concentration of 4 mol% should meet a tradeoff which yields the higher T%, wider Eg and higher compared to those of pure TiOx films. In addition, since the pure Cu is not thermodynamically stable in ambience as compared to Au and Ag, the stability of as-obtained colloidal CuNPs is also examined. A careful examination of the time evolution of surface plasmon resonance （SPR） bands of CuNPs indicates that their stability is only up to 4 h.

Unique cytological behavior of MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts on H_2O_2-modified C/C composites in vitro

MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts were cultured on H2O2- modified and unmodified carbon/carbon （H-C/C and C/C） composites for one week in order to evaluate differences in cell adhesion, spreading, and proliferation. The results indicated a certain degree of enhancement in the cell adhesion capability of osteoblasts cultured on H-C/C samples. Cellu- lar morphologies after cell adhesion were observed via scan- ning electron microscopy （SEM）, which showed that the cells adhered more closely and spread more widely on the H-C/C sample surface. However, no cell appeared in several mul- tiple and continuous types of minor pores on both the C/C and H-C/C surfaces. In addition, two unique situations were observed on the H-C/C samples： an outline change of the osteoblasts was observed when the cells spread across some minor pores, and the cells entered and adhered well in some larger pores.