Plasma Modification of Biomass-Based Starfish Catalysts for Efficient Biodiesel Synthesis.

This study investigated biodiesel production via the transesterification of grapeseed oil with plasma-modified biomass-based catalysts originating from starfish. Dried starfish was first converted into magnesium and calcium oxide through heat treatment and then further modified by plasma engineering to improve the catalyst's surface area and active sites via zinc addition. The Zn content was added via plasma engineering in the ratios of starfish (MgCaCO): ZnO varying from 5:1, 10:1, to 20:1.

Switching Electric Double Layer Potential by Phase Structure Control for Advanced Oxygen Reduction Reaction of Cobalt@Nitrogen Doped Carbon Core-Shell.

The key to design an advanced oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst is a well-balance between the adsorption and desorption of oxygen intermediates. This study systematically evaluated the ORR activity of HCP and FCC cobalt core-shell cobalt/N-doped carbon (Cobalt@NC) catalyst via theoretical and experimental studies. The electronic structure calculations using density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the ORR activity of carbon layer can be improved by 1) switching the electrostatic potential in the electrical double layer due to the polarization induced at the carbon-cobalt interface and 2) modulating the electron population in the bonding orbital in the C-O bonds in an ORR.

Conductive N, S doped Copolymers as Stable Metal-Free Electrocatalysts for Water Splitting.

Noble metals (Pt) and metal oxides (IrC and RuO) are heavily utilized as benchmark electrocatalysts for alkaline water splitting; however, these materials possess several drawbacks including high cost, poor selectivity and stability, and high environmental impact. To address these issues, we synthesized a novel metal-free conducting polypyrrole-polythiophene (Ppy-Ptp) copolymer and a separate Ppy electrode material for water-splitting applications. The Ppy-Ptp and Ppy electrocatalysts exhibited remarkable activity in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), respectively.

Recent progress of low-temperature plasma technology in biorefining process.

In recent years, low-temperature plasma-assisted processes, featuring high reaction efficiency and wide application scope, have emerged as a promising alternative to conventional methods for biomass valorization. It is well established that charged species, chemically energetic molecules and radicals, and highly active photons playing key roles during processing. This review presents the major applications of low-temperature plasma for biomass conversion in terms of (i) pretreatment of biomass, (ii) chemo fractionation of biomass into value-added chemicals, and (iii) synthesis of heterogeneous catalyst for further chemo-catalytic conversion.

Design and Optimization of Composite Cathodes for Solid-State Batteries Using Hybrid Carbon Networks with Facile Electronic and Ionic Percolation Pathways.

Solid-state batteries (SSBs) have emerged as a promising alternative to conventional liquid electrolyte batteries due to their potential for higher energy density and improved safety. However, achieving high performance in SSBs is difficult because of inadequate contact and interfacial reactions that generate high interfacial resistance, as well as inadequate solid-solid contact between electrodes. These chronic issues are associated with inhomogeneous ion and electron transport networks owing to imperfect solid-solid interfacial contact.

Ultrasonic Plasma Engineering Toward Facile Synthesis of Single-Atom M-N/N-Doped Carbon (M = Fe, Co) as Superior Oxygen Electrocatalyst in Rechargeable Zinc-Air Batteries.

As bifunctional oxygen evolution/reduction electrocatalysts, transition-metal-based single-atom-doped nitrogen-carbon (NC) matrices are promising successors of the corresponding noble-metal-based catalysts, offering the advantages of ultrahigh atom utilization efficiency and surface active energy. However, the fabrication of such matrices (e.g.

Electrodeposited Trimetallic NiFeW Hydroxide Electrocatalysts for Efficient Water Oxidation.

Tungsten-doped Ni-Fe hydroxides fabricated on a three-dimensional nickel foam through cathodic electrodeposition are proposed as effective oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts for alkaline water oxidation. Incorporating an adequate amount of W into Ni-Fe hydroxides modulates the electronic structure by changing the local environment of Ni and Fe and create oxygen vacancies, resulting in abundant active sites for the OER. The optimized electrocatalyst, with a substantial number of catalytic sites, is found to outperform the well-established 20 wt% Ir/C electrocatalyst.

Enhancing ORR/OER active sites through lattice distortion of Fe-enriched FeNi intermetallic nanoparticles doped N-doped carbon for high-performance rechargeable Zn-air battery.

Low-cost, high-activity, non-precious metal electrocatalysts are needed to enhance the bifunctional oxygen activities of rechargeable Zn-Air batteries. In this study, a Fe-enriched FeNi inter-metallic nanoparticle/nitrogen-doped carbon (Fe-enriched-FeNi/NC) electrocatalyst was designed and prepared using a facile method based on plasma engineering. The excess Fe-ions in the Fe-enriched FeNi nanoparticles led to a high degree of lattice distortion that produced abundant oxygen-active sites.

Cobalt Nanoparticles on Plasma-Controlled Nitrogen-Doped Carbon as High-Performance ORR Electrocatalyst for Primary Zn-Air Battery.

Metal-air batteries and fuel cells have attracted much attention as powerful candidates for a renewable energy conversion system for the last few decades. However, the high cost and low durability of platinum-based catalysts used to enhance sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at air electrodes prevents its wide application to industry. In this work, we applied a plasma process to synthesize cobalt nanoparticles catalysts on nitrogen-doped carbon support with controllable quaternary-N and amino-N structure.

Self-assembled 3D hierarchical MnCO/NiFe layered double hydroxides as a superior electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reactions.

Developing cost-effective and efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst is highly essential for energy-conversion technologies. A self-assembled NiFe-layered double hydroxide (LDH)@MnCO heterostructure prepared on Ni foam using a successive hydrothermal strategy shows notable catalytic activity toward the OER with a small overpotential of 275 mV to drive a geometrical current density of 10 mA cm under alkaline conditions with remarkable stability for 15 h, outperforming IrO/C electrocatalyst (350 mV@10 mA cm). The hierarchical NiFe-LDH@MnCO heterostructure possess more exposed active sites, enhanced conductivity and superior interfacial coupling effect makes them an ideal candidate for OER electrocatalyst.

Enhanced Electrocatalytic Stability of Platinum Nanoparticles Supported on Sulfur-Doped Carbon using in-situ Solution Plasma.

The metal-air battery is a form of renewable energy generation technology that produces energy electrochemically and can address energy concerns in the near future. However, state-of-the-art Pt electrocatalysts often suffer from agglomeration or detachment from carbon supports under prolonged operation, eventually limiting the long-term utilization of metal-air batteries. In this work, Pt nanoparticles were deposited on sulfur-doped nanocarbon to increase its stability.

Transition Metal (Fe, Co, Ni) Nanoparticles on Selective Amino-N-Doped Carbon as High-Performance Oxygen Reduction Reaction Electrocatalyst.

Metal-air batteries are attracting increasing attention as a superior renewable energy conversion device due to their high performance and strong potential. However, the high cost and low stability of the current Pt catalyst is the main obstacle preventing wide industrial application. In this work, we applied a plasma process to fabricate aniline and a transition metals electrode (Fe, Co, Ni) as the carbon-nitrogen and the metal nanoparticle (NP) precursors, respectively, for selective metal/amino-N-doped carbon catalysts.

Effects of halogen doping on nanocarbon catalysts synthesized by a solution plasma process for the oxygen reduction reaction.

Halogen-doped carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) were synthesized by a simple one-step solution plasma process at room temperature using a mixture of benzene (C6H6) and organics containing halogen atoms as the precursors (i.e., hexafluorobenzene (C6F6), hexachlorobenzene (C6Cl6), and hexabromobenzene (C6Br6)).

Heterocarbon nanosheets incorporating iron phthalocyanine for oxygen reduction reaction in both alkaline and acidic media.

Heterocarbon nanosheets incorporating iron phthalocyanine (FP-NCNs-SP) have been successfully synthesized by a facile one-pot solution plasma process at high repetition frequency. It was found that the Fe-N4 catalytic active sites could be preserved on the FP-NCNs-SP without degradation. The FP-NCNs-SP also possessed large surface area, good conductivity and high degree of graphitization.

Adsorption and desorption of DNA tuned by hydroxyl groups in graphite oxides-based solid extraction material.

The extraction of DNA is the most crucial method used in molecular biology. Up to date silica matrices has been widely applied as solid support for selective DNA adsorption and extraction. However, since adsorption force of SiOH functional groups is much greater than that of desorption force, the DNA extraction efficiency of silica surfaces is limited.

Enhancement of ORR catalytic activity by multiple heteroatom-doped carbon materials.

Heteroatom-doped carbon matrices have been attracting significant attention due to their superior electrochemical stability, light weight and low cost. Hence, in this study, various types of heteroatom, including single dopants of N, B and P and multiple dopants of B-N and P-N with a carbon matrix were synthesized by an innovative method named the solution plasma process. The heteroatom was doped into the carbon matrix during the discharge process by continuous dissociation and recombination of precursors.

The role of the central Fe atom in the N4-macrocyclic structure for the enhancement of oxygen reduction reaction in a heteroatom nitrogen-carbon nanosphere.

In the present work, we demonstrated the significance of a central transition metal, Fe, in a N4-macrocycle for the enhancement of ORR activity and other electrochemical properties. The catalysts were synthesized by a solution plasma process. Fe-phthalocyanine/benzene and phthalocyanine/benzene were chosen as the precursors of Fe-phthalocyanine based mesoporous carbon (FP-MCS) and phthalocyanine based mesoporous carbon (P-MCS) catalysts, respectively.

A simple synthesis method for nano-metal catalyst supported on mesoporous carbon: the solution plasma process.

High-electrocatalytic-activity noble nanoparticles (NPs) supported on carbon nanoballs (CNBs) were synthesized using an innovative plasma-in-liquid method, which is known as solution plasma processing (SPP). This technique uses a one-step method for the synthesis of NPs on carbon materials. CNBs are formed using benzene as a carbon precursor while gold (Au) or platinum (Pt) nanoparticles are generated instantaneously via sputtering from metal electrodes.