Proton conducting gel electrolytes are very important components of clean energy devices. Phosphoric acid (PA, H(3)PO(4) · H2O) is one of the best proton conductors, but needs to be incorporated into some matrix for real device applications, such as into lyotropic liquid crystalline mesophases (LLCMs). Herein, we show that PA and nonionic surfactant (NS, C(12)H(25)(OCH(2)CH(2))(10)OH, C(12)E(10)) molecules self-assemble into PANS-LLCMs and display high proton conductivity. The content of the PANS-LLCM can be as high 75% H(3)PO(4) · H2O and 25% 10-lauryl ether (C(12)H(25)(OCH(2)CH(2))(10)OH, C(12)E(10)), and the mesophase follows the usual LLC trend, bicontinuous cubic (V1)-normal hexagonal (H1)-micelle cubic (I1), by increasing the PA concentration in the media. The PANS-LLCMs are stable under ambient conditions, as well as at high (up to 130 °C) and low (-100 °C) temperatures with a high proton conductivity, in the range of 10(-2) to 10(-6) S/cm. The mesophase becomes a mesostructured solid with decent proton conductivity below -100 °C. The mesophase can be used in many applications as a proton-conducting media as well as a phosphate source for the synthesis of various metal phosphates. As an application, we demonstrate a graphene-based optical modulator using supercapacitor structure formed by graphene electrodes and a PANS electrolyte. A PANS-LLC electrolyte-based supercapacitor enables efficient optical modulation of graphene electrodes over a range of wavelengths, from 500 nm to 2 μm, under ambient conditions.
A nanoparticle fluid filter consisting of gold nanoparticles and indium tin oxide nanocrystals was fabricated and the optical properties were assessed. Results were integrated against the AM 1.5 solar spectrum to determine solar weighted efficiency of the filter for light energies transmitted above the bandgap to a photovoltaic cell for direct electrical generation while absorbing light below the bandgap that is converted to heat for thermal storage or processing. Temperature dependent bandgaps for both GaAs and cSi were used for optimization of the filter design. GaAs is preferred based upon its higher IR reflectivity, lower temperature coefficient, and greater high-temperature efficiency. However, cSi is significantly cheaper than current and projected GaAs costs. It was found that the experimental filter efficiency was 62% for GaAs and 56% for cSi which was within 6% of previous theoretical predictions.
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