Photocatalytic exoskeleton: Chitin nanofiber for retrievable and sustainable TiO carriers for the decomposition of various pollutants.

Loading a photocatalytic TiO to organic carriers has been desired for volumetric TiO incorporation, facile retrieval, and sustainable utilization. Traditionally, suspended TiO nanoparticles or its thin film on two-dimensional substrate are popularly fabricated for pollutants decomposition without carriers; due to poor thermomechanical properties of the organic carriers. Herein, a combination of the chitin nanofiber carrier and atomic layer deposition proves relevance for formation of anatase TiO thin layer so that photocatalytic decomposition in three-dimensional surface.

Laser Synthesis of MOF-Derived Ni@Carbon for High-Performance Pseudocapacitors.

Although nanosizing of multiphase pseudocapacitive nanomaterials could dramatically improve their electrochemical properties, a proper way to simultaneously control both the size and the phase of the pseudocapacitive materials is still elusive. Herein, we employed a commercial CO laser engraver to do the transformation of a metal-organic framework (MOF-74(Ni)) into size-controlled Ni nanoparticles (4-12 nm) in porous carbon. The produced Ni@carbon hybrid showed the best specific capacitance of 925 F/g with excellent cycling stability when the particle size is 5.

Effect of Airborne Hydrocarbons on the Wettability of Phase Change Nanoparticle Decorated Surfaces.

We present here a detailed study of the wettability of surfaces nanostructured with amorphous and crystalline nanoparticles (NPs) derived from the phase-change material GeSbTe (GST). Particular attention was devoted to the effect of airborne surface hydrocarbons on surface wetting. Our analysis illustrates that a reversible hydrophilic-hydrophobic wettability switch is revealed by combined ultraviolet-ozone (UV-O) treatments and exposure to hydrocarbon atmospheres.

Dynamics of GeSbTe phase-change nanoparticles deposited on graphene.

Phase-change GeSbTe nanoparticles (NPs), that are promising for next-generation phase-change memory and other emerging optoelectronic applications, have been deposited on graphene support layers and analyzed using advanced transmission electron microscopy techniques allowing high quality atomic resolution imaging at accelerating voltages as low as 40 kV. The deposition results in about three times higher NP coverage on suspended graphene than on graphene containing an amorphous background support. We attribute this to the variation in surface energy of suspended and supported graphene, indicating that the former harvests NPs more effectively.

Abnormal elastic modulus behavior in a crystalline-amorphous core-shell nanowire system.

We investigated the elastic modulus behavior of crystalline InAs/amorphous Al2O3 core-shell heterostructured nanowires with shell thicknesses varying between 10 and 90 nm by conducting in situ tensile tests inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Counterintuitively, the elastic modulus behaviors of InAs/Al2O3 core-shell nanowires differ greatly from those of bulk-scale composite materials, free from size effects. According to our results, the elastic modulus of InAs/Al2O3 core-shell nanowires increases, peaking at a shell thickness of 40 nm, and then decreases in the range of 50-90 nm.

Graphene-based stretchable and transparent moisture barrier.

We propose an alumina-deposited double-layer graphene (2LG) as a transparent, scalable, and stretchable barrier against moisture; this barrier is indispensable for foldable or stretchable organic displays and electronics. Both the barrier property and stretchability were significantly enhanced through the introduction of 2LG between alumina and a polymeric substrate. 2LG with negligible polymeric residues was coated on the polymeric substrate via a scalable dry transfer method in a roll-to-roll manner; an alumina layer was deposited on the graphene via atomic layer deposition.

Carbon Textile Decorated with Pseudocapacitive VC/V O for High-Performance Flexible Supercapacitors.

It is demonstrated that, via V O coating by low temperature atomic layer deposition and subsequent pyrolysis, ubiquitous cotton textile can readily turn into high-surface-area carbon textile fully decorated with pseudocapacitive V O /VC widely usable as electrodes of high-performance supercapacitor. It is found that carbothermic reduction of V O (C + V O → C' + VC + CO/CO (g)) leads to chemical/mechanical activation of carbon textile, thereby producing high-surface-area conductive carbon textile. In addition, sequential phase transformation and carbide formation (V O → V O → VC) occurred by carbothermic reduction trigger decoration of the carbon textile with redox-active V O /VC.

Nano sand filter with functionalized nanoparticles embedded in anodic aluminum oxide templates.

Since the ancient Egyptians had used sand as filter media for water purification, its principle has been inherited through generations and it is still being used now in industries. The sand filter consists of sand literally, and the voids within the sand bed are the pores for filtration. Here we present a filtration principle using nanoparticles, so that the voids between the nanoparticles can be considered as effective pores in nanoscale dimension.

Healing defective CVD-graphene through vapor phase treatment.

Structural defects present on chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-graphene have usually originated from the growth stage and transfer process. They limit the electronic transport properties of graphene and degrade performance of related devices. Here we report that these inherent atomic defects could be selectively healed by a simple vapor phase treatment performed in equipment conventionally used for atomic layer deposition (ALD).