One‐Step Synthesis of Multifunctional Zinc‐Iron‐Oxide Hybrid Carbon Nanowires by Chemical Fusion for Supercapacitors and Interfacial Water Marbles

Abstract

Hybrid carbon nanowires with tunable elemental composition and nanoscale component mixing resolution can be synthesized by a chemical fusion method in one pot, using a unique heating mechanism of conducting polymers under the electromagnetic field of microwave. Carbon nanowire matrices hybridized with metals and oxides can be facilely synthesized by simple instrumentation and processes within tens of seconds. Different metallic precursors (e. g. Fe and Zn) can be selectively incorporated in the chemical fusion process that substantially integrated with the carbon nanowire matrices during the growth process while their characteristic functions are infused. The hybrid carbon nanowires show excellent electrochemical supercapacitive and supramolecular self‐assembly properties owing to the unique hybrid nanostructures and surface characteristics. “Interfacial water marbles” can be obtained by the supramolecular self‐assembly of hybrid carbon nanowires on the water/hexane interface. The interfacial water marbles are semi‐permanent and completely impede the event of coalescence cascade, demonstrating significant applications in mass transport, microfluidics, and interfacial synthesis.

Facile growth of carbon nanotubes using microwave ovens: the emerging application of highly efficient domestic plasma reactors

“…Unlike the slow cooling steps involved in CVD as a result of the long time required for the heat dissipation of the furnace at elevated synthesis temperatures, cooling of the CNTs synthesized by microwave radiation can be instantaneously triggered as the microwave power ceases, as a result of the internal heating mechanism of microwave; moreover, the microwave transparent reaction vessels also help dissipate the heat generated by the microwave absorbing materials quickly, which in sum makes the cooling process feasible under ambient conditions and can be completed in a few minutes. [53][54][55] Aer cooling, the as-obtained CNTs can then be separated from the carbon impurities by sonication and centrifugation. Various instruments can be used to perform the synthesis of CNTs under microwave irradiation, including a single-mode microwave system, laboratory microwave oven and the domestic microwave oven, as shown in Fig.…”

Partial Transformation of Imogolite by Decylphosphonic Acid Yields an Interface Active Composite Material

“…Thanks to the nanoparticles, the droplets are able to maintain their shapes even after deformation by external forces. [58][59][60] Up to now, the dispersibility of alkylphosphonic acid modified imogolite in organic solvents was explained by a successful grafting reaction, and the resulting grafted imogolite was sketched as a tube with a brushlike corona of grafting agent. [16][17][18][19][20] The difference in hydrophilicity between the internal and the external surfaces of such a grafted tube was used to explain the formation of Pickering emulsions by ODPA modified imogolite.…”

Morphological Evolvement of Carbon Nanotubes Synthesized by Using Conducting Polymer Nanofibers

“…However, the CVD techniques majorly use the gasified hydrocarbons as the precursor while AC and LA use the decomposed carbonaceous species generated from high-energy sources as precursors. Recently, extensive research efforts have been made to develop the synthesis technique of CNTs based on conducting polymers [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Due to their excellent microwave absorption properties, conducting polymers, e.g., polypyrrole (Ppy), can be used as the substrate to grow CNTs in a domestic microwave oven.…”

“…This triggers the decomposition of ferrocene to generate iron (Fe) nanoparticles as the catalyst and gaseous hydrocarbons as the carbon source to initiate the CNT growth. Due to the highly efficient heating of the conducting polymer, the whole CNT growth process can be completed within tens of seconds [3,6,9,10]. Compared to CVD, AC, and LA techniques, the conducting polymer-based microwave technique may attain the characteristics of simple instrumentation, easy-processing, and very fast growth.…”