Super flexibility of a 2D Cu-based porous coordination framework on gas adsorption in comparison with a 3D framework of identical composition: framework dimensionality-dependent gas adsorptivities.

Selective synthetic routes to coordination polymers [Cu(bpy)(2)(OTf)(2)](n) (bpy = 4,4'-bipyridine, OTf = trifluoromethanesulfonate) with 2- and 3-dimensionalities of the frameworks were established by properly choosing each different solvent-solution system. They show a quite similar local coordination environment around the Cu(II) centers, but these assemble in a different way leading to the 2D and 3D building-up structures. Although the two kinds of porous coordination polymers (PCPs) both have flexible frameworks, the 2D shows more marked flexibility than the 3D, giving rise to different flexibility-associated gas adsorption behaviors.

Preparation and mechanical properties of rubber composites reinforced with carbon nanohorns.

Nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) composites with single-wall carbon nanohorns (SWNHs, or simply NHs), hole-opened NHs (h-NHs), and carbon black (CB), the most commonly used nanocarbon rubber filler, were prepared, and their mechanical properties were compared. The NBR composites with h-NHs (NBR/h-NH) showed higher tensile strength than those with NHs (NBR/NH), and the tensile strength of NBR/h-NH or NBR/NH was much greater than those of the NBR composites with CB (NBR/CB). At 5 parts per hundred of rubber (phr), the tensile stresses at break of NBR/h-NH was about 1.

Enhanced hydrogen adsorptivity of single-wall carbon nanotube bundles by one-step c60-pillaring method.

Single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) bundles were pillared by fullerene (C60) by the cosonication of C60 and SWCNT in toluene to utilize the interstitial pores for hydrogen storage. C60-pillared SWCNTs were confirmed by the shift in the X-ray diffraction peak and the expanded hexagonal and distorted tetragonal bundles revealed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The H2 adsorptivity of the C60-pillared SWCNT bundles was twice that of the original SWCNT bundles, indicating a design route for SWCNT hydrogen storage.

Investigation of the ion storage/transfer behavior in an electrical double-layer capacitor by using ordered microporous carbons as model materials.

An ordered microporous carbon, which was prepared with zeolite as a template, was used as a model material to understand the ion storage/transfer behavior in electrical double-layer capacitor (EDLC). Several types of such zeolite-templated carbons (ZTCs) with different structures (framework regularity, particle size and pore diameter) were prepared and their EDLC performances were evaluated in an organic electrolyte solution (1 M Et(4)NBF(4)/propylene carbonate). Moreover, a simple method to evaluate a degree of wettability of microporous carbon with propylene carbonate was developed.

Selective optical property modification of double-walled carbon nanotubes by fluorination.

We found that by fluorination of double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNTs), it is possible to suppress only the Raman radial breathing mode and absorption peaks from the outer (large diameter) tubes of DWNTs. In contrast, Raman signals from the inner shells showed no difference from the pristine DWNTs. The stability of the inner shells of fluorinated DWNTs was also confirmed from the photoluminescence (PL) map and the optical absorption spectra, which only showed the signals from the inner shells of DWNTs, with no distinct change in the optical properties of the inner tubes after fluorination.

Quantum sieving effect of modified activated carbon fibers on H2 and D2 adsorption at 20 K.

Quantum sieving of activated carbon fibers (ACFs) and their fluorides was observed for H(2) and D(2) adsorption at 20 K. Fluorination reduced the slit-shaped pore width of ACFs by 0.2 nm.