Article
Chemistry, Physical
Stefanos Chaitoglou, Rogelio Ospina, Yang Ma, Roger Amade, Xavier Vendrell, Jhonatan Rodriguez-Pereira, Enric Bertran-Serra
Summary: To accelerate the transition to a green economy based on hydrogen, this study introduces a bottom-up approach involving the carburization of Mo nanostructures on vertical graphene nanowalls supports. The resulting hybrid electrocatalysts show excellent efficiency and stability for hydrogen evolution reaction in acid electrolyte. This research paves the way for the design of hybrid nanostructures and holds great potential for driving the development of sustainable and efficient hydrogen production systems.
JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS
(2024)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Kyeong-Ho Kim, Daehyeon Hong, Myeong Gyu Kim, Wooseon Choi, Taewon Min, Young-Min Kim, Yun-Hyuk Choi
Summary: This study finds that the intrinsic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity of orthorhombic MoO3 can be significantly improved by incorporating lithium ions (Li+), which enhances electron carrier density and electrical conductivity, thus improving interfacial charge transfer kinetics and activating a large number of effective electrochemical surface areas (ECSA). By depositing a-MoO3 nanoparticles on a carbon fiber paper (a-MoO3/CFP) and subsequently applying a lithiation process, a lithiated a-MoO3/CFP (Li-a-MoO3/CFP) electrode with a robust overpotential of 458 mV for OER is prepared.
ACS MATERIALS LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Nadezhda S. Smirnova, Evgeny Khramov, Igor P. Stolarov, Ilya A. Yakushev, Galina N. Baeva, Galina O. Bragina, Ekaterina Belova, Arcady Ishchenko, Anna S. Popova, Yan Zubavichus, Michael N. Vargaftik, Aleksander Y. Stakheev
Summary: This study thoroughly investigates the phase transformations of a newly synthesized heterobimetallic acetate in a chemically reductive atmosphere, with a focus on optimizing conditions for the formation of nanostructured PtZn intermetallic compound. Through a two-stage process, the formation of ordered PtZn intermetallic compound with a tetragonal structure is achieved in a narrow temperature range. The results provide insight into the optimum reduction temperature for the preparation of supported bimetallic Pt?Zn/Al2O3 catalyst.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Qiuxia Zhou, Qin Hao, Yaxin Li, Jinghua Yu, Caixia Xu, Hong Liu, Shishen Yan
Summary: An innovative self-supporting intermetallic catalyst with superior electronic modulation and trimodal porous structure has been developed to address the sluggish kinetics of hydrogen evolution reaction, showing comparable catalytic performance to platinum and exceptional stability. This work presents a powerful and scalable approach for screening high-density active sites non-precious intermetallic nanocatalysts.
Review
Chemistry, Physical
Saswati Santra, Verena Streibel, Ian D. Sharp
Summary: The transition from a global economy dependent on fossil fuels to one based on sustainable energy conversion technologies is the primary challenge of the day. Earth-abundant bifunctional transition metal catalysts, especially those based on molybdenum (Mo), show great promise in reducing cost, simplifying systems, and providing prospects for accelerated scaling and sustainable material reuse. This comprehensive review focuses on recent progress in Mo-based multifunctional catalysts, discussing various formations and structures, as well as emerging trends and opportunities in this promising materials space.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Neda Heydari, Rahman Bikas, Maryam Shaterian, Tadeusz Lis
Summary: A new mononuclear tungsten coordination compound was synthesized and used as a heterogeneous catalyst for the epoxidation of olefins. The catalyst showed excellent catalytic activity and selectivity, and could be successfully recovered and reused multiple times without significant loss in its catalytic performance.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Binesh Unnikrishnan, Chien -Wei Wu, Arumugam Sangili, Ya-Ju Hsu, Yu-Ting Tseng, Jyoti Shanker Pandey, Huan-Tsung Chang, Chih-Ching Huang
Summary: This article presents a simple fluorine-free exfoliation and two-step vulcanization method for synthesizing molybdenum sulfide-modified molybdenum carbide MXene, which exhibits excellent electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance in alkaline medium. The sulfidation method demonstrated in this study is capable of producing amorphous MoS2 structures on Mo2CTx MXene, enhancing stability and electrocatalytic activity.
JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Li Gong, Xiao Mu, Qiang Li, Lei Ma, Yucong Xiong, Rong Li
Summary: An efficient electrocatalyst NC@Mo2C@MoS2-(Ni) was designed for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in water electrolysis, showing good catalytic performance in both acidic and basic media. This work not only fabricates a catalyst for hydrogen evolution, but also provides a method to design more efficient functional electrocatalysts.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Erika M. Dematteis, Fermin Cuevas, Michel Latroche
Summary: The study found that increasing Cu content leads to more secondary phase in the alloy, resulting in a harsher activation process. Substitution of Mn and Cu increases the cell parameter of TiFe, lowering the first plateau pressure and raising the second plateau pressure.
JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yu-An Shen, Han-Ming Hsieh, Shih-Hsun Chen, Jiahui Li, Sheng-Wen Chen, Hiroshi Nishikawa
Summary: This study examined the potential application of high-entropy alloy FeCoNiCu (FCNC) in electronic packaging, addressing its microstructure, thermal stability, corrosion behavior, and wettability towards solder. The findings show that FCNC has excellent thermal stability, corrosion resistance, and good wettability towards SAC305 solder, suggesting possible applications in HEA-related fields and electronic packaging.
APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Xin Zhang, Wenxuan Zhang, Lingchao Zhang, Zhenguo Huang, Jianjiang Hu, Mingxia Gao, Hongge Pan, Yongfeng Liu
Summary: Synthesizing nanostructured lithium borohydride without any supports can effectively improve its hydrogen storage reversibility. The resulting nano-LiBH4 shows superior hydrogen desorption and absorption capacity under high temperature and pressure, mainly due to the effective suppression of foaming.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Zihuan Yu, Haiqing Yan, Chaonan Wang, Zheng Wang, Huiqin Yao, Rong Liu, Cheng Li, Shulan Ma
Summary: A high-performance and ultra-durable electrocatalyst MoOx/Ni3S2/NF with MoOx/Ni3S2 heterostructure is synthesized by solvothermal method. The optimized catalyst MoOx/Ni3S2/NF-11 exhibits excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance with low overpotential and small Tafel slope. It also shows high catalytic stability for more than 100 hours. The heterostructure and oxygen vacancy contribute to the improved HER performance by reducing Gibbs free energy and facilitating surface reconstruction.
FRONTIERS OF CHEMICAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Jin-Tao Ren, Xi-Ming Wu, Tong Liu, Lei Chen, Ran Hao, Yue-Jun Song, Yu-Ping Liu, Zhong-Yong Yuan
Summary: Engineering nonprecious materials with active and robust performance is important for hydrogen evolution and oxidation reactions. In this study, a monolithic catalyst of Ni-MoO2 heterojunctions on nickel foam was fabricated, which exhibited extraordinary catalytic activities and stability. By coupling with an active urea oxidation catalyst, a urea splitting electrolyzer with low voltage and stable performance was achieved.
APPLIED CATALYSIS B-ENVIRONMENTAL
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Zhen Hu, Jian Chen, Peiyao Pan, Chao Liu, Jingming Zeng, Yang Ou, Xiaopeng Qi, Tongxiang Liang
Summary: Exploration for an earth-rich and competent electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a significant and challenging approach to confronting the resources shortage and environmental crisis. Porous N-doped Mo2C@C (N-Mo2C@C) nanoparticles self-encapsulated in nanospheres are presented as a high-performing HER electrocatalyst fabricated through a one-pot solvothermal method followed by hydrogen calcination.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yue Qiu, Zhenli He, Yuehui He, Qian Zhao, Zhonghe Wang, Yao Jiang
Summary: In this work, the evolution of microstructure and phase composition of TiNi intermetallic compound at different temperatures were studied. The electrochemical corrosion behavior of TiNi in NaCl solution was also investigated. The results showed the formation of a core-shell structure during the sintering process, with Ni as the core and Ti2Ni, TiNi, and TiNi3 as the shells. A large pore replaced the Ni core due to the Kirkendall effect. TiNi exhibited better corrosion resistance compared to Ni and Ti, attributed to the generation of a passivation film on the surface.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Mattia Costamagna, Jussara Barale, Claudio Carbone, Carlo Luetto, Alessandro Agostini, Marcello Baricco, Paola Rizzi
Summary: This study conducts an environmental and cost analysis of a metal hydride compressor and competing technologies for fuel cell-driven forklifts. The results show that the metal hydride compressor has limited environmental impacts when waste heat is available, and its economic cost is lower than a generic hydrogen compressor but higher than an air booster. Improvement in technical aspects is needed for large-scale applications of metal hydride compressors.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
(2022)
Article
Physics, Applied
S. Bahamida, A. Fnidiki, M. Coisson, E. S. Olivetti, G. Barrera, F. Celegato, P. Tiberto, M. Boudissa
Summary: The kinetics of the transformation from the disordered to the ordered phase in Fe56Pd44 thin films were studied. It was found that the transformation reached completion after 20 minutes of annealing time, with the grain size growing exponentially. The resulting film had a high density of defects, which were linearly related to the average order parameter of the alloy. The evolution of the transformed phase followed Avrami's law with an exponent of 0.4, indicating nucleation-controlled transformation without grain growth.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Mattia Costamagna, Valentina Brunella, Maria Paola Luda, Umberto Romagnolli, Bruno Muscato, Marco Girotto, Marcello Baricco, Paola Rizzi
Summary: This study evaluates the environmental impacts of a thermo-mechanical devulcanization process for recycling EPDM waste using twin-screw extruders. The main environmental hotspot identified is energy consumption, but overall, the process helps reduce the environmental burden of rubber products throughout their lifecycle.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gajanan Pradhan, Federica Celegato, Gabriele Barrera, Elena Sonia Olivetti, Marco Coisson, Jan Hajducek, Jon Ander Arregi, Ladislav Celko, Vojtech Uhlir, Paola Rizzi, Paola Tiberto
Summary: Flexible materials have ushered in a new era of application-based research in stretchable electronics and wearable devices. The tuning of magnetic properties by changing the curvature of devices has significant impact in the new generation of sensor-based technologies. In this study, magnetostrictive FeGa thin films were deposited on a flexible Kapton sheet to exploit the magneto-elastic coupling effect and modify the magnetic properties of the sample.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Marco Coisson, Gabriele Barrera, Federica Celegato, Paolo Allia, Paola Tiberto
Summary: In this study, machine learning approaches were used to predict the magnetic hysteresis properties of magnetic nanoparticles for hyperthermia applications. A neural network and a random forest model were trained on a dataset compiled from numerical simulations. The predictive ability of these approaches provides a valuable tool for the precision medicine application of magnetic hyperthermia.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Deepti Raj, Mauro Palumbo, Gianluca Fiore, Federica Celegato, Federico Scaglione, Paola Rizzi
Summary: A low-cost Nanoporous Gold (NPG) was successfully produced by chemical dealloying of supersaturated solid solution Au33Fe67 ribbons. The obtained NPG, with tunable ligament size and shape, showed impressive Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) effect and a detection limit as low as 10-15 M. It also exhibited great potential as an economical and highly sensitive SERS-active substrate for life science applications. The production process of NPG was inexpensive and sustainable.
MATERIALS CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Deepti Raj, Gabriele Barrera, Federico Scaglione, Federica Celegato, Matteo Cialone, Marco Coisson, Paola Tiberto, Jordi Sort, Paola Rizzi, Eva Pellicer
Summary: Dense and mesoporous FePd nanowires were successfully fabricated using template- and micelle-assisted pulsed potentiostatic electrodeposition. The structural and magnetic properties of the nanowires were investigated, and it was found that the mesoporous core and dense shell structure slightly affected the magnetic properties. Moreover, the mesoporous nanowires showed excellent performance as SERS substrates for the detection of 4,4'-bipyridine, attributed to the mesoporous morphology and the close proximity of the embedded nanowires enabling localized surface plasmon resonance.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Deepti Raj, Federico Scaglione, Paola Rizzi
Summary: Fe and Pd thin film samples were prepared by potentiostatic electrodeposition over a copper substrate using the dynamic hydrogen bubble template (DHBT) method. The dendritic morphology of the samples was directly proportional to the deposition time. All samples were tested as SERS substrates for the detection of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) dye, with the Pd samples showing the best performance. One of the Pd samples with a deposition time of 180 s exhibited the lowest detectable R6G concentration of 10(-6) M (479 mu gL(-1)). The enhanced signals observed in this sample can be attributed to its nanostructured morphology, which is highly conducive to localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR).
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Gabriele Barrera, Federico Scaglione, Federica Celegato, Marco Coisson, Paola Tiberto, Paola Rizzi
Summary: This study combines a fast and cost-effective dealloying process with a fast, low-cost, scalable electroless deposition technique to realize hybrid magnetic heterostructures. The gold nanoporous surface obtained by dealloying is used as a nanostructured substrate for the electrodeposition of cobalt, resulting in a patterned thin film with different magnetic properties. The structural and morphological features are correlated with the magnetic properties.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Marta Vassallo, Daniele Martella, Gabriele Barrera, Federica Celegato, Marco Coisson, Riccardo Ferrero, Elena S. Olivetti, Adriano Troia, Huseyin Sozeri, Camilla Parmeggiani, Diederik S. Wiersma, Paola Tiberto, Alessandra Manzin
Summary: Magnetic hyperthermia is a therapeutic technique that utilizes magnetic nanoparticles to induce controlled temperature increase in diseased tissues. Surface treatments, such as using sodium citrate coating, can enhance the heat release capability of the nanoparticles and improve dispersion and stability in solution. Fe3O4 nanoparticles synthesized in this study exhibit an SLP value of around 170 W/g under a 100 kHz and 48 kA/m magnetic field.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Marta Rojas-Rodriguez, Tania Fiaschi, Michele Mannelli, Leonardo Mortati, Federica Celegato, Diederik S. Wiersma, Camilla Parmeggiani, Daniele Martella
Summary: Liquid Crystalline Networks (LCNs) with different surface topographies obtained by self-assembly can efficiently control cell alignment and differentiation, providing biological models that cannot be reproduced spontaneously on standard culture dishes. These materials can guide the organization of different cell lines, including single cell alignment or high-density cell cultures. The rough surfaces formed by the spontaneous assembly of liquid crystals can control biological models without the need for lithographic patterning or complex fabrication procedures, opening up possibilities for in vitro formation of well-aligned muscle tissue.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Annalisa Ferrarotti, Elisa Vittoria Ghiggini, Riccardo Rocca, Matteo Dotoli, Federico Scaglione, Claudio Errigo, Giancarlo Marchiaro, Marcello Baricco
Summary: Mathematical modelling and software simulation are effective tools for understanding and predicting corrosion processes. The COMSOL Multiphysics 5.6 software provides validated mathematical models for predicting and preventing corrosion. This study compared simulation results with laboratory tests to investigate the corrosion of zinc-coated steel sheets. The results of mathematical modelling and empirical tests allow estimation of the stability of the protective zinc layer over time. Discrepancies between analytical methods led to modifications in the model for better coherence with experimental data. A computational model of corrosion phenomena in an automotive component was developed, which could potentially replace time-consuming and expensive laboratory tests.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Deepti Raj, Noor Tayyaba, Ginevra De Vita, Federico Scaglione, Paola Rizzi
Summary: In this article, a high-performance nanostructured substrate has been developed for the ultrasensitive detection of a specific organic pollutant, Malachite green isothiocyanate (MGITC), in aquatic systems. The substrate, called nanoporous gold (NPG), was synthesized using a chemical dealloying approach and exhibited remarkable surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) performance with a signal enhancement of 7.9 x 10(9) and a low detection limit of 10(-16) M. The signal amplification was attributed to the presence of numerous active sites and plasmonic hotspots on the nanoporous surface, resulting from the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) phenomenon. This technology not only provides a simple and effective approach for detecting malachite green but also lays the foundation for in situ detection of toxic chemicals in aquatic ecosystems.
