Nanotechnology Spotlight – Latest Articles

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Showing Spotlights 65 - 72 of 198 in category All (newest first):

 

Monitoring oxygen reaction dynamics with an individual nanosheet-based electronic circuit

electrochemical_cellElectrocatalysis offers important opportunities for clean fuel production, but uncovering the chemistry at the electrode surface remains a challenge. Here, this work exploits a single-nanosheet device to perform in-situ measurements of water oxidation electrocatalysis and reveal a crucial interaction with oxygen. The obtained in-depth understanding could provide valuable clues for catalysis system design and the in-situ measurement could be also useful to analyze other interfacial reaction processes.

Sep 29th, 2017

Structural engineering of 2D-layered energy materials

nanosheetsTwo-dimensional (2D) energy materials have outstanding physical and chemical properties in contrast to their bulk counterparts. This is particularly true for charge storage devices such as lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors. Unfortunately, when directly applying these 2D nanostructured materials for energy storage, there is still a significant challenge as they may have serious self-restacking leading to decreased active surface areas and sluggish ion transport kinetics. Researchers have now developed an effective interlayer engineering strategy to improve sodium ion transport in 2D nanosheets via controlled organic intercalation.

Sep 13th, 2017

Alkaline earth metal vanadates: new anode materials for high performance sodium-ion batteries

nanograinSodium-ion battery, as an emerging battery technology beyond lithium-ion battery, has attracted great research interests recent years. Sodium-ion batteries have a similar configuration and electrochemical reaction processes with lithium-ion batteries. But the Na resources are much more abundant and cost-effective than Li resources, which makes sodium-ion batteries highly promising as next-generation energy storage devices, especially for large-scale energy storage. However, the practical application of Na-ion batteries is still not currently realized.

Sep 12th, 2017

Harvesting water energy with a wearable, all-fabric triboelectric generator

surfaceWearable energy harvesters are greatly attractive and receive intensive research efforts in recent years, aiming at powering various emerging flexible and wearable electronics to meet the requirements of smart fabrics, motion tracking and health monitoring. Researchers now have developed a coating based on cellulose-derived hydrophobic nanoparticles and demonstrated its application as a wearable water triboelectric generator that harvests energy from water flow. This innovative fabric-based TEG has self-cleaning and antifouling properties.

Aug 7th, 2017

Graphene for batteries, supercapacitors and other energy storage

batteriesGraphene currently is the most studied material on the planet - this is especially true for charge storage and the results from many laboratories confirm its potential to change today's energy-storage landscape. Specifically, graphene could present several new features for energy-storage devices, such as smaller capacitors, completely flexible and even rollable energy-storage devices, transparent batteries, and high-capacity and fast-charging devices.

Jul 20th, 2017

Three-dimensional nanosheet electrodes for efficient electrochemical and photoelectrochemical water splitting

catalystDeveloping highly active electrocatalysts for photoelectrochemical water splitting is critical to bringing solar/electrical-to-hydrogen energy conversion processes into reality. Researchers have developed a novel 3D hierarchical hybrid electrocatalyst grown on electrochemically exfoliated graphene. The researchers then further integrated the hybrid nanosheets with a macroporous silicon photocathode, and the results show that it can enable highly active solar-driven photoelectrochemical water splitting in both basic media and real river water.

Jul 20th, 2017

Portable energy harvester for self-powered devices

smartphone_pouchWith a focus on using eco-friendly materials such as fabrics worn in daily life (nylon, jeans, cotton, etc.), researchers have developed and demonstrated an innovative product for scavenging biomechanical energy. The team's Smart Mobile Pouch Triboelectric Nanogenerator (SMP-TENG) can generate electricity from lateral sliding and vertical contact and separation with freestanding fabrics; it also can serve as a self-powered emergency flashlight and self-powered pedometer.

Jul 6th, 2017

The hidden talent of mushrooms for solar steam generation

solar_steam_generationSteam is important for desalination, hygiene systems, and sterilization; and in remote areas where the sun is the only source of energy, being able to generate steam with solar energy could be very useful. Researchers now have found that the mushroom structure can surprisingly benefit solar steam generation. The stipe of the mushroom can serve as efficient water supply path, meanwhile, due to the extreme small ratio of the areas of fibrous stipe and black pileus, only little heat (useless heat loss) conducted into water.

Jun 6th, 2017