Room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) are intriguing solvents, which are recognized as "green" alternatives to volatile organics. Although RTILs are nonvolatile and can dissolve a wide range of charged, polar, and nonpolar organic and inorganic molecules, there remain substantial challenges in their use, not the least of which is the solvents' high viscosity that leads to potential mass transfer limitations. In the course of this work, we discovered that the simple adsorption of the bacterial protease, proteinase K, onto single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) results in intrinsically high catalytic turnover. The high surface area and the nanoscopic dimensions of SWNTs offered high enzyme loading and low mass transfer resistance. Furthermore, the enzyme-SWNT conjugates displayed enhanced thermal stability in RTILs over the native suspended enzyme counterpart and allowed facile reuse. These enzyme-SWNT conjugates may therefore provide a way to overcome key operational limitations of RTIL systems.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12010-007-0035-2 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
High-Rate 4.2 V Solid-State Potassium Batteries by In Situ Polymerized Epoxide Ether Electrolyte.
Nano Lett
January 2025
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan Joint International Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Technology of Clean Energy, Hunan Province Key Laboratory for Advanced Carbon Materials and Applied Technology, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.
Article Synopsis
- Solid-state metallic potassium batteries (SSMPBs) are gaining attention as alternatives to lithium batteries, but face challenges like low ionic conductivity and high interfacial resistance.
- Researchers achieved improved performance by using in situ ring-opening polymerization with a plasticizer and catalyst, resulting in short-chain polyether electrolytes that significantly enhance ionic conductivity.
- The developed SSMPBs show a high discharge capacity of 69 mAh/g at 100 mA/g and 88.8% capacity retention after 100 cycles, outperforming previous SSMPB studies.
A sum-frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy studies on buried liquid/liquid interfaces of CCl4/[Cnmim][TFSA] (n = 4 and 8) hydrophobic ionic liquids.
J Chem Phys
January 2025
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, O-okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan.
The liquid/liquid interfaces of room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) play a pivotal role in chemical reactions owing to their characteristic microscopic structure, yet the structure of hydrophobic liquid/RTIL interfaces remains unclear. We studied the structure at the liquid/liquid interfaces of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide ([Cnmim][TFSA]; n = 4 and 8) RTILs using infrared-visible sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy. A comparison of the SFG spectra of the CCl4/RTIL and air/RTIL interfaces revealed that the solvation of the alkyl chains of the [Cnmim]+ cations by CCl4 reduces the number of gauche defects in the alkyl chain and the interface number density of the cation at the CCl4 interface.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResource utilization of waste solar photovoltaic panels for preparation of microporous silicon nanoparticles.
Waste Manag
December 2024
College of Environmental Science and Engineering and Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Ministry of Education), Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China.
With the exponential growth of global photovoltaic (PV) installed capacity, the quantity of discarded PV modules continues to rise. This study innovatively explored the sustainable recovery and utilization of raw materials from discarded solar panels, focusing on the transformation of recycled silicon into microporous silica nanoparticles (MSN). Low toxic organic solvent ethyl acetate (EA) was for the first time utilized to reduce the viscosity of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and facilitated its removal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUsing Data-Science Approaches to Unravel Insights for Enhanced Transport of Lithium Ions in Single-Ion Conducting Polymer Electrolytes.
Chem Mater
December 2024
Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States.
Solid polymer electrolytes have yet to achieve the desired ionic conductivity (>1 mS/cm) near room temperature required for many applications. This target implies the need to reduce the effective energy barriers for ion transport in polymer electrolytes to around 20 kJ/mol. In this work, we combine information extracted from existing experimental results with theoretical calculations to provide insights into ion transport in single-ion conductors (SICs) with a focus on lithium ion SICs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlocking Solid-State Sodium-Metal Batteries at -15 °C by Electrolyte Optimization and Interface Regulation.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
December 2024
Tianjin Key Laboratory for Photoelectric Materials and Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, P.R. China.
Beta-AlO-based solid-state sodium metal batteries are some of the best options for large-scale energy storage systems because of their high energy density, high-level safety, and low cost. Nevertheless, their room-/low-temperature operation remains challenging due to low ionic conductivity of Beta-AlO electrolyte and weak solid-solid contact of the Na/Beta-AlO interface. Herein, an integrated strategy was developed via electrolyte optimization and interface regulation, in which Cu as a stabilizing agent was incorporated into Beta-AlO to improve density and ionic conductivity and the InS interface layer was introduced between the Na anode and solid electrolyte to induce the in situ formation of a mixed conductive layer (Na-In alloy and NaS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!