Toward Scalable Electrochemical Exfoliation of Molybdenum Disulfide Powder through an Accessible Electrode Design.

Cathodic electrochemical intercalation/exfoliation of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with bulky tetraalkylammonium-based cations is gaining popularity as it avoids the semiconducting (2H) to metallic (1T) phase transformation in TMDs like molybdenum disulfide (MoS) and, generally, produces sheets with a larger aspect ratio - important for achieving conformal sheet-to-sheet contact in optoelectronic devices. Large single crystals are typically used as the precursor, but these are expensive, often inaccessible, and result in limited quantities of material. In this paper, a 3D-printable electrochemical cell capable of intercalating gram-scale quantities of commercially available TMD powders is presented.

Hydrophobic nanoporous carbon scaffolds reveal the origin of polarity-dependent electrocapillary imbibition.

An engineered nanoporous carbon scaffold (NCS) consisting of a 3-D interconnected 85 nm nanopore network was used here as a model material to investigate the nanoscale transport of liquids as a function of the polarity and magnitude of an applied potential ('electro-imbibition'), all in 1 M KCl solution. A camera was used to track both meniscus formation and meniscus jump, front motion dynamics, and droplet expulsion, while also quantifying the electrocapillary imbibition height () as a function of the applied potential of the NCS material. Although no imbibition was seen over a wide range of potentials, at positive potentials (+1.

Phosphorene quantum dots: synthesis, properties and catalytic applications.

Phosphorene quantum dots (PQDs) belong to a new class of zero-dimensional functional nanostructures with unique physicochemical and surface properties in comparison with few-layer phosphorene and other 2D analogues. Tunable band gap as a function of number of layers, ease of passivation and high carrier mobility of PQDs have attracted considerable attention in catalysis research due to which spectacular progress has been made in PQD research over the last few years. PQDs are now considered as promising catalytic materials for electrocatalytic water splitting and nitrogen reduction, lithium-sulfur batteries, solar light-driven energy devices and biocatalysis, either in pristine form or as an active component for constructing heterostructures with other 2D materials.

Correction: Bismuthene nanosheets produced by ionic liquid assisted grinding exfoliation and their use for oxygen reduction reaction.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1039/D0RA09763B.].

Bismuthene nanosheets produced by ionic liquid assisted grinding exfoliation and their use for oxygen reduction reaction.

We report the simple synthesis of bismuthene nanosheets (BiNS) by ionic liquid assisted grinding exfoliation, followed by size selection sequential centrifugation steps for the first time. The exfoliation process results in the formation of self-assembled spherule-like superstructures with abundant edge sites, which are able to catalyze the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) a two-electron pathway, with a higher efficiency than the bulk Bismuth. We rationalize the enhanced ORR activity of the BiNS to: (i) the presence of 1 dimensional topological edge states, which provide strong conduction channels for electron hopping between the bismuth layers and (ii) the more active role of edge sites in facilitating O adsorption and dissociation of O-O bonds compared to the basal plane.

Role of Structural Distortion in Stabilizing Electrosynthesized Blue-Emitting Phosphorene Quantum Dots.

Luminescent phosphorene quantum dots (PQDs) have emerged as fascinating nanomaterials for potential applications in optoelectronics, catalysis, and sensing. Herein, we investigate the structural distortion of black phosphorus (BP) under an applied electric field to yield blue luminescent PQDs [average diameter 8 ± 1.5 nm ( N = 60)].

A single-step, electrochemical synthesis of nitrogen doped blue luminescent phosphorene quantum dots.

Herein, we report a one-step strategy for the electrochemical synthesis of nitrogen doped blue luminescent phosphorene quantum dots (NPQDs) from black phosphorus at room temperature. Nitrogen percentage in NPQDs can be varied by the appropriate choice of solvent and supporting electrolyte. NPQDs [average size 6 ± 1.

Adsorption Kinetics of WS Quantum Dots onto a Polycrystalline Gold Surface.

In this work, we report the adsorption kinetics of electrochemically synthesized WS quantum dots (QDs) (ca. 3 nm) onto a polycrystalline gold electrode. The Langmuir adsorption isotherm approach was employed to explore the temperature and adsorbate concentration dependence of the experimentally calculated equilibrium constant of adsorption ( K) and the free energy for adsorption (Δ G).