Spray-Coated Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Composite Electrodes for Thermal Energy Scavenging Electrochemical Cells.

Spray-coated multiwalled carbon nanotube/poly(vinylidene fluoride) (MWCNT/PVDF) composite electrodes, scCNTs, with varying CNT compositions (2 to 70 wt %) are presented for use in a simple thermal energy-scavenging cell (thermocell) based on the ferro/ferricyanide redox couple. Their utility for direct thermal-to-electrical energy conversion is explored at various temperature differentials and cell orientations. Performance is compared to that of buckypaper, a 100% CNT sheet material used as a benchmark electrode in thermocell research.

Enhanced Salt Removal in an Inverted Capacitive Deionization Cell Using Amine Modified Microporous Carbon Cathodes.

Microporous SpectraCarb carbon cloth was treated using nitric acid to enhance negative surface charges of COO(-) in a neutral solution. This acid-treated carbon was further modified by ethylenediamine to attach -NH2 surface functional groups, resulting in positive surface charges of -NH3(+) via pronation in a neutral solution. Through multiple characterizations, in comparison to pristine SpectraCarb carbon, amine-treated SpectraCarb carbon displays a decreased potential of zero charge but an increased point of zero charge, which is opposed to the effect obtained for acid-treated SpectraCarb carbon.

Continuous operation of membrane capacitive deionization cells assembled with dissimilar potential of zero charge electrode pairs.

The performance of single stack membrane assisted capacitive deionization cells configured with pristine and nitric acid oxidized Zorflex (ZX) electrode pairs was evaluated. The potentials of zero charge for the pristine and oxidized electrodes were respectively -0.2V and 0.

Asymmetric electrode configuration for enhanced membrane capacitive deionization.

Long-term performance of capacitive deionization (CDI) and membrane-assisted capacitive deionization (MCDI) single cells equipped with the same pristine carbon xerogel (CX) electrodes configured as the anode and cathode was investigated. Unlike CDI, which was subject to performance degradation in a short period of time, MCDI showed performance preservation during the 50 h of operation due to its ability to mitigate charge leakage from parasitic electrochemical reactions that result in carbon oxidation. Differential capacitance measurements of the used CDI and MCDI electrodes revealed shifting of the potential of zero charge (EPZC) of the CDI anode from -0.

Visualizing diastereomeric interactions of chiral amine-chiral copper salen adducts by EPR spectroscopy and DFT.

Single enantiomers of R/S-methylbenzylamine (MBA) were found to selectively form adducts with two chiral Cu-salen complexes, [Cu(II)(1)] (H(2)1 = N,N'-bis(3,5-ditert-butylsalicylidene)-1,2-diaminocyclohexane) and [Cu(II)(2)] (H(2)2 = N,N'-bis-salicylidene-1,2-cyclohexanediamino). The axial g/A spin Hamiltonian parameters of the Cu-MBA adducts were typical of 5-coordinate species. Enantiomer discrimination in the MBA binding was directly evidenced by W-band CW EPR, revealing an 86 ± 5% preference for formation of the R,R-[Cu(1)] + S-MBA adducts compared to R,R-[Cu(1)] + R-MBA; this was reduced to a 57 ± 5% preference for R,R-[Cu(2)] + S-MBA following removal of the tert-butyl groups.

Enantioselective binding of structural epoxide isomers by a chiral vanadyl salen complex: a pulsed EPR, cw-ENDOR and DFT investigation.

The mode of chiral interaction between a series of asymmetric epoxides (propylene oxide, butylene oxide, epifluorohydrin and epichlorohydrin) and a chiral vanadyl salen complex, N, N'-bis(3,5-di-tert-butylsalicylidene)-1,2-cyclohexane-diamino-vanadium (iv) oxide, [VO()], was investigated by a range of electron magnetic resonance techniques (EPR, ENDOR, HYSCORE) and DFT. Enantiomer discrimination of the weakly bound epoxides by the vanadyl complex was evident by cw-ENDOR. The origin of this discrimination was attributed to a number of factors including H-bonds, steric properties and electrostatic contributions, which collectively control the outcome of the chiral interaction.