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Nitrogen-doped porous carbon with well-balanced charge conduction and electrocatalytic activity were synthesized from nitrogen-rich pitch by hard-template method. The sample carbonized at 900 °C possessing high nitrogen content (7.11 wt.%) and large specific surface area exhibits high electrocatalytic activity in dye-sensitized solar cells. A fast charge conduction involving facile ion transport and...
Hollow carbon nanospheres have received much interest by virtue of the special shape, low density and large interior void space, allowing their many potential applications. Here we report a template-free route to produce nitrogen-doped hollow porous carbon spheres (denoted as N-HPCSs) through amination reaction of C60 with alkyl diamines and subsequent carbonization. The size of wall thickness and...
Carbon nanotube (CNT) thin films have attracted great attention for their use in flexible electronics, including thin-film transistors (TFTs) and memory devices, due to their excellent optical, electrical and mechanical properties. The flexibility of current CNT TFTs is usually limited by the use of rigid inorganic oxide insulators. Gate dielectrics made of polymers are promising candidates that give...
Ceramics are widely used as engineering materials due to their high strength; however, their lack of plasticity is a major drawback. We report that dual-phase amorphous carbon (a-C) reveals high yield strength of ∼E/11 (E is elastic modulus, and E/10 is theoretical limit for ideal material) and large plasticity of ∼70% at room temperature in uniaxial compression tests. To the best of our knowledge,...
Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are one of the most promising next-generation secondary battery systems for meeting increasing energy storage demands due to their high theoretical energy density. However, the commercialization of Li-S batteries is hindered by the low electrical conductivity of sulfur and the severe polysulfide shuttling problem. Here, we report the easy synthesis of a nitrogen-doped...
A hierarchically meso/micro-porous Fe-N-doped carbon nanotube electrocatalyst (meso/micro-Fe-N-CNT), for the first time, was synthesized. Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) was used as a template to cast the CNT framework and Fe(NO)3 was filled in the AAO nanochannels as both a mesopore template in CNT walls and the iron source to form Fe-N-C active sites. Subsequent NH3 activation was carried out to create...
Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have been a focus of nanomaterial research over the past two decades, due to their wide range of potential applications in micro- and nano-electronics, energy storage, solar cells, sensors, drug delivery, and neuronal interfaces. Structurally-uniform and chirality-pure SWCNTs are highly desired and essential for both fundamental studies and many applications such...
Capacitive deionization (CDI) with a high energy efficiency and low cost is considered a promising desalination technique to obtain clean water. To achieve excellent CDI performance, a rational design of the structure of the electrode material is essential. In this study, a flexible cotton-derived carbon sponge (CCS) with a high specific surface area (up to 2680 m2/g) and suitable pore size distribution...
We investigated the conduction properties of pristine bulk graphene oxide (GO) with different oxidation degrees. GO with a low oxidation degree shows the electron/hole conduction behavior. Interestingly, however, GO with high oxidation degree exhibits mixed conduction behaviors (electron/hole conduction and proton conduction), depending on the water content. For GO with a high oxidation degree, electron/hole...
A hybrid cathode material for high rate lithium ion batteries was prepared by ball-milling and spray-drying a slurry containing LiFePO4 nanoparticles, glucose and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in water, followed by pyrolysis at 600°C for 6h under a gas mixture of 5% H2in Ar. CNTs with a large aspect ratio form a continuous conductive network connecting the LiFePO4 nanoparticles and amorphous carbon, which...
A carpet structure composed of high purity cup-stacked carbon nanotubes (CSCNTs) was synthesized by a catalytic chemical vapor deposition method. In a 15-min growth time, the CSCNT carpet with a height up to ∼300μm and carbon purity above 99.9wt.% was prepared. Transmission electron microscopy observations indicated that the CSCNTs with diameters ranging from 80nm to 230nm consist of truncated conical...
Realizing mass production of graphene materials at low cost and high quality is urgently required for their real applications. Thermal exfoliation of graphite oxide (GO) is considered as a promising strategy though it normally requires a high exfoliation temperature together with a fast heating rate, making the produced graphenes suffer from high cost and concentrated topological defects. A mild exfoliation...
Carbon nanotube/polyurethane (CNT/PU) composites were prepared by using an in-situ polymerization method, and their electrical sensitivity to tensile strain was investigated. The addition of CNTs can remarkably enhance both the mechanical strength and electrical conductivity of the composite. The CNT/PU composite exhibits a high sensitivity of electrical resistance to changes in tensile strain. The...
Double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) were synthesized by a metal-catalyst-free chemical vapor deposition method using silicon oxide nanoparticles as a catalyst. The diameters and lengths of the DWCNTs are in the ranges of 3–5nm and 1–5μm, respectively. The amount of DWCNTs produced is about 70%, while the remainder is single-walled carbon nanotubes. A heat treatment of the SiO 2 /Si substrate...
Coaxial nanocables of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) sheathed with amorphous silicon oxide were directly synthesized by a hydrogen arc discharge method. As-prepared nanocables are usually tens of microns in length and about 10–30nm in diameter. The sheath of the nanocables is amorphous silicon oxide, while the core is high quality SWCNTs. Each cylinder-shaped nanocable contained one to several...
Tadpole-like carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition from ethanol using TiO 2 nanoparticles (NPs) as catalyst. The CNTs have a cup-stacked structure are typically less than 500nm in length, and have a non-uniform diameter with a big “head” and a smaller diameter “tail”, inside which a catalyst NP is usually encapsulated. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)...
Patterning is an essential and important process for the future use of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) thin films (TFs) in electronic devices. Different from traditional Si based electronic materials, SWCNTs can be easily etched when exposed to an oxidative atmosphere. Here we propose a gas exposure method to pattern SWCNT TFs on flexible polymeric substrates, without using vacuum and high temperature...
Vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were prepared by hydrogen arc discharge, using pure graphite powder as carbon source without catalysts added. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy characterizations show that the aligned CNTs have a bamboo-like structure, and their lengths and diameters are about 30μm and 40–60nm, respectively. No metallic impurities can be detected in the samples...
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