No Arabic abstract
Increasing energy demands of modern society requires deep understanding of the properties of energy storage materials as well as their performance tuning. We show that the capacitance of graphene oxide (GO) can be precisely tuned using a simple electrochemical reduction route. In situ resistance measurements, combined with cyclic voltammetry measurement and Raman spectroscopy, have shown that upon the reduction GO is irreversibly deoxygenated which is further accompanied with structural ordering and increasing of electrical conductivity. The capacitance is maximized when the concentration of oxygen functional groups is properly balanced with the conductivity. Any further reduction and de-oxygenation leads to the gradual loss of the capacitance. The observed trend is independent on the preparation route and on the exact chemical and structural properties of GO. It is proposed that an improvement of capacitive properties of any GO can be achieved by optimization of its reduction conditions.
Electrochemical exfoliation is one of the most promising methods for scalable production of graphene. However, limited understanding of its Raman spectrum as well as lack of measurement standards for graphene strongly limit its industrial applications. In this work we show a systematic study of the Raman spectrum of electrochemically exfoliated graphene, produced using different electrolytes and different types of solvents in varying amounts. We demonstrate that no information on the thickness can be extracted from the shape of the 2D peak as this type of graphene is defective. Furthermore, the number of defects and the uniformity of the samples strongly depend on the experimental conditions, including post-processing. Under specific conditions, formation of short conductive trans-polyacetylene chains has been observed. Our Raman analysis provides guidance for the community on how to get information on defects coming from electrolyte, temperature and other experimental conditions, by making Raman spectroscopy a powerful metrology tool.
Flat TiO$_2$ layers are deposited by magnetron sputtering on Ti/Si wafers. The TiO$_2$ surfaces are then sputter-coated with thin Au films of a nominal thickness of 0.5-10 nm that are converted by solid-state dewetting into Au nanoparticles of tuneable size and spacing; the Au nanoparticle size can be tuned over a broad range, i.e. ca. 3-200 nm. The Au-decorated TiO$_2$ surfaces enable plasmonic photo-electrochemical water splitting under visible light illumination (450-750 nm). The water splitting performance reaches a maximum for TiO$_2$ layers decorated with ~ 30 nm-sized Au particles. As expected, optical absorption measurements show a red shift of the plasmonic extinction band with increasing the Au nanoparticle size. However, the plasmonic photocurrent is found to peak at ~ 600 nm regardless of the size of the Au nanoparticles, i.e. the plasmonic photocurrent band position is size-independent. Such a remarkable observation can be ascribed to a hot electron injection cut-off effect.
Previous studies indicate that the properties of graphene oxide (GO) can be significantly improved by enhancing its graphitic domain size through thermal diffusion and clustering of functional groups. Remarkably, this transition takes place below the decomposition temperature of the functional groups and thus allows fine-tuning of graphitic domains without compromising with the functionality of GO. By studying the transformation of GO under mild thermal treatment, we directly observe this size enhancement of graphitic domains from originally 40 nm2 to 200 nm2 through an extensive transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study. Additionally, we confirm the integrity of the functional groups during this process by comprehensive chemical analysis. A closer look into the process confirms the theoretically predicted relevance for the room temperature stability of GO. We further investigate the influence of enlarged graphitic domains on the hydration behaviour of GO and catalytic performance of single-atom catalysts supported by GO.
Memristors have been at the forefront of nanoelectronics research for the last decade, offering a valuable component to reconfigurable computing. Their attributes have been studied extensively along with applications that leverage their state-dependent programmability in a static fashion. However, practical applications of memristor-based AC circuits have been rather sparse, with only a few examples found in the literature where their use is emulated at higher frequencies. In this work, we study the behavior of metal-oxide memristors under an AC perturbation in a range of frequencies, from 10^3 to 10^7 Hz. Metal-oxide memristors are found to behave as RC low-pass filters and they present a variable cut-off frequency when their state is switched, thus providing a window of reconfigurability when used as filters. We further study this behaviour across distinct material systems and we show that the usable reconfigurability window of the devices can be tailored to encompass specific frequency ranges by amending the devices capacitance. This study extends current knowledge on metal-oxide memristors by characterising their frequency dependent characteristics, providing useful insights for their use in reconfigurable AC circuits.
The high flexibility, impermeability and strength of graphene membranes are key properties that can enable the next generation of nanomechanical sensors. However, for capacitive pressure sensors the sensitivity offered by a single suspended graphene membrane is too small to compete with commercial sensors. Here, we realize highly sensitive capacitive pressure sensors consisting of arrays of nearly ten thousand small, freestanding double-layer graphene membranes. We fabricate large arrays of small diameter membranes using a procedure that maintains the superior material and mechanical properties of graphene, even after high-temperature anneals. These sensors are readout using a low cost battery-powered circuit board, with a responsivity of up to 47.8 aF Pa$^{-1}$ mm$^{-2}$, thereby outperforming commercial sensors.