Electrochemical Performance of Niobium MXenes with Lanthanum.

MXenes are the newest class of two-dimensional nanomaterials characterized by large surface area, high conductivity, and hydrophilicity. To further improve their performance for use in energy storage devices, heteroatoms or functional groups can be inserted into the Mxenes' structure increasing their stability. This work proposes insertion of lanthanum atoms into niobium-MXene (Nb-MX/La) that was characterized in terms of morphogy, structure, and electrochemical behavior.

Highly efficient Cu(II) coordination polymer catalyst for the conversion of hazardous volatile organic compounds.

Three novel coordination polymers (CPs), namely [Cu(μ-1κO,2κN-L)] (1), [Zn (μ-1κO,2κN-L)(HO)] (2) and [Cd (μ-1κOO',2κN-L)] (3) [where HL = 4-(pyrimidin-5-ylcarbamoyl)benzoic acid], were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, ATR-IR, TGA, XPS and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Despite having the same organic ligand, the various metal cations had an impact in the subsequent frameworks. Hirshfeld surface analysis was performed to investigate the intermolecular interactions and to examine the stability of the crystal structures of the three polymers.

MAX Phase (NbAlC) For Electrocatalysis Applications.

In search for novel materials to replace noble metal-based electrocatalysts in electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices, special attention is given to a distinct class of materials, MAX phase that combines advantages of ceramic and metallic properties. Herein, NbAlC MAX phase is prepared by a solid-state mixing reaction and characterized morphologically and structurally by transmission and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, nitrogen-sorption, X-ray diffraction analysis, X-ray photoelectron and Raman spectroscopy. Electrochemical performance of NbAlC in terms of capacitance as well as for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is evaluated in different electrolytes.

Is It Possible to Restrain OER on Simple Carbon Electrodes to Efficiently Electrooxidize Organic Pollutants?

This paper presents a comparative analysis of three carbon-based electrodes: bare multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), SnO2/MWCNT, and PbO2/graphene-nanoribbons (PbO2/GNR) composites, as anodes for the electrooxidative degradation of Rhodamine B as a model organic pollutant. Anodic electrooxidation of Rhodamine B was performed on all three electrodes, and the decolorization efficiency was found to increase in the order MWCNT < PbO2/GNR < SnO2/MWCNT. The electrodes were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV).

Structural and Chemical Properties of Geopolymer Gels Incorporated with Neodymium and Samarium.

The present work was focused on doping of 1% and 5% both of NdO and SmO in geopolymer gels. One of the main goals was to determine the influence of the behavior of Nd and Sm as dopants and structural nanoparticles changes of the final geopolymer formed. It is shown that the disorder formed by alkali activation of metakaolin can accommodate the rare earth cations Nd and Sm into their aluminosilicate framework structure.