Grazing incidence X-Ray diffraction: identifying the dominant facet in copper foams that electrocatalyze the reduction of carbon dioxide to formate.

Copper foams have been shown to electrocatalyze the carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CORR) to formate (HCOO) with significant faradaic efficiency (FE) at low overpotentials. Unlike the CORR electrocatalyzed at copper foils, the CORR electrocatalyzed at porous copper foams selects for HCOO essentially to the exclusion of hydrocarbon products. Formate is an environmentally friendly organic acid with many applications such as food preservation, textile processing, de-icing, and fuel in fuel cells.

A scalable method for preparing Cu electrocatalysts that convert CO into C products.

Development of efficient catalysts for selective electroreduction of CO to high-value products is essential for the deployment of carbon utilization technologies. Here we present a scalable method for preparing Cu electrocatalysts that favor CO conversion to C products with faradaic efficiencies up to 72%. Grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction data confirms that anodic halogenation of electropolished Cu foils in aqueous solutions of KCl, KBr, or KI creates surfaces of CuCl, CuBr, or CuI, respectively.

Cu nanowire-catalyzed electrochemical reduction of CO or CO.

We prepared micrometer long Cu nanowires (NWs) of 25 and 50 nm diameters and studied their electrocatalysis for electrochemical reduction of CO/CO in 0.1 M KHCO at room temperature. The 50 nm NWs showed better selectivity than the 25 nm NWs, and catalyzed CO reduction to C-hydrocarbons (CH + CH) with a combined faradaic efficiency (FE) of 60% (CH FE of 35% and mass activity of 4.

Axon Outgrowth of Rat Embryonic Hippocampal Neurons in the Presence of an Electric Field.

Application of an electric field (EF) has long been used to induce axon outgrowth following nerve injuries. The response of mammalian neurons (e.g.

In Situ Measurement of Voltage-Induced Stress in Conducting Polymers with Redox-Active Dopants.

Minimization of stress-induced mechanical rupture and delamination of conducting polymer (CP) films is desirable to prevent failure of devices based on these materials. Thus, precise in situ measurement of voltage-induced stress within these films should provide insight into the cause of these failure mechanisms. The evolution of stress in films of polypyrrole (pPy), doped with indigo carmine (IC), was measured in different electrochemical environments using the multibeam optical stress sensor (MOSS) technique.