No abstract

Polymer-free semiconducting carbon nanotube networks demonstrate unprecedented equivalent n- and p-type thermoelectric performance.

Hydrogen holds promise as a clean alternative automobile fuel, but its on-board storage presents significant challenges due to the low temperatures and/or high pressures required to achieve a sufficient energy density. The opportunity to significantly reduce the required pressure for high density H 2 storage persists for metal-organic frameworks due to their modular structures and large internal surface areas. The measurement of H 2 adsorption in such materials under conditions most relevant to on-board storage is crucial to understanding how these materials would perform in actual applications, although such data have to date been lacking. In the present work, the metalorganic frameworks M 2 (m-dobdc) (M = Co, Ni; m-dobdc 4− = 4,6-dioxido-1,3benzenedicarboxylate) and the isomeric frameworks M 2 (dobdc) (M = Co, Ni; dobdc 4− = 1,4dioxido-1,3-benzenedicarboxylate), which are known to have open metal cation sites that strongly interact with H 2 , were evaluated for their usable volumetric H 2 storage capacities over a range of near-ambient temperatures relevant to on-board storage. Based upon adsorption isotherm data, Ni 2 (m-dobdc) was found to be the top-performing physisorptive storage material with a usable volumetric capacity between 100 and 5 bar of 11.0 g/L at 25 °C and 23.0 g/L with a temperature swing between −75 and 25 °C. Additional neutron diffraction and infrared spectroscopy experiments performed with in situ dosing of D 2 or H 2 were used to probe the hydrogen storage properties of these materials under the relevant conditions. The results provide benchmark characteristics for comparison with future attempts to achieve improved adsorbents for mobile hydrogen storage applications.

Determining the surface areas of electrocatalysts is critical for separating the key properties of area-specific activity and electrochemical surface area from mass activity. Hydrogen underpotential deposition and carbon monoxide oxidation are typically used to evaluate iridium (Ir) surface areas, but are ineffective on oxides and can be sensitive to surface oxides formed on Ir metals. Mercury underpotential deposition is presented in this study as an alternative, able to produce reasonable surface areas on Ir and Ir oxide nanoparticles, and able to produce similar surface areas prior to and following characterization in oxygen evolution. Reliable electrochemical surface areas allow for comparative studies of different catalyst types and the characterization of advanced oxygen evolution catalysts. They also enable the study of catalyst degradation in durability testing, both areas of increasing importance within electrolysis and electrocatalysis.

We present a rheological investigation of fuel cell catalyst inks. The effects of ink parameters, which include carbon black-support structure, Pt presence on carbon support (Pt−carbon), and ionomer (Nafion) concentration, on the ink microstructure of catalyst inks were studied using rheometry in combination with ultrasmall-angle X-ray scattering (USAXS) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Dispersions of a high-surface-area carbon (HSC), or Ketjen black type, demonstrated a higher viscosity than Vulcan XC-72 carbon due to both a higher internal porosity and a more agglomerated structure that increased the effective particle volume fraction of the inks. The presence of Pt catalyst on both the carbon supports reduced the viscosity through electrostatic stabilization. For carbon-only dispersions (without Pt), the addition of ionomer up to a critical concentration decreased the viscosity due to electrosteric stabilization of carbon agglomerates. However, with Pt−carbon dispersions, the addition of ionomer showed contrasting behavior between Vulcan and HSC supports. In the Pt− Vulcan dispersions, the effect of ionomer addition on the rheology was qualitatively similar to Vulcan dispersions without Pt. The Pt−HSC dispersions showed an increased viscosity with ionomer addition and a strong shear-thinning nature, indicating that Nafion likely flocculated the Pt−HSC aggregates. These results were verified using DLS and USAXS. Further, the observations of the effect of ionomer:carbon ratio and a comparison between carbons of different surface areas provided insights on the microstructure of the catalyst ink corresponding to the optimized I/C ratio for fuel cell performance reported in the literature.