This
work demonstrates the confinement of porous metal–organic
framework (HKUST-1) on the surface and walls of track-etched nanochannel
in polyethylene terephthalate (np-PET) membrane using a liquid-phase
epitaxy (LPE) technique. The composite membrane (HKUST-1/np-PET) exhibits
defect-free MOF growth continuity, strong attachment of MOF to the
support, and a high degree of flexibility. The high flexibility and
the strong confinement of the MOF in composite membrane results from
(i) the flexible np-PET support, (ii) coordination attachment between
HKUST-1 and the support, and (iii) the growth of HKUST-1 crystal in
nanoconfined geometries. The MOF has a preferred growth orientation
with a window size of 3.5 Å, resulting in a clear cut-off of
CO2 from natural gas and olefins. The experimental results
and DFT calculations show that the restricted diffusion of gases only
takes place through the nanoporous MOF confined in the np-PET substrate.
This research thereby provides a new perspective to grow other porous
MOFs in artificially prepared nanochannels for the realization of
continuous, flexible, and defect-free membranes for various applications.
Herein, we report a rapid and facile synthetic methodology for robust, nanostructured films of cobalt oxide over metal evaporated gold layer of 50 nm, directly onto plain glass substrates via aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) approach. The films thus prepared are characterized by XRD, SEM, and EDX spectroscopy as a function of deposition time (i.e., 5 min -20 min). It is remarkably shown that the film growth rate is 0.8 nmSec −1 using this AACVD method and a commercially available precursor, which is ∼10 times higher as compared to the electrochemical synthetic routes. As a result, 250 nm thick cobalt oxide films are generated only in 5 minutes of deposition time. The water oxidation reaction for this film started at ∼0.6 V vs Ag/AgCl with current density of 10 mA cm −2 is achieved at ∼0.75 V that corresponds to an overpotential of 484 mV. This current density is further increased to 60 mA cm −2 at ∼1.5 V (vs Ag/AgCl). Electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) calculations are also performed which indicated that the synergy between Au-film acting as electron sink and the cobalt oxide film acting as catalytic layer are more pronounced than the surface area effects.
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