Thermal stability of graphene edge structure and graphene nanoflakes

One of the most exciting recent developments in nanoscience was the discovery of graphene (single sheets of carbon atoms, a two-dimensional "(2D) crystal") and the subsequent discovery of the fascinating properties of this new material, e.g., electrons behaving as massless relativistic particles and an anomalous quantum Hall effect [A. K. Geim and K. S. Novoselov, Nat. Mater. 6, 183 (2007)]. It is also surprising that large sheets of graphene exist as it was widely believed that 2D crystals are unstable. Furthermore, because of the stability of folded graphene sheets, i.e., carbon nanotubes (CNTs), a fascinating question is why does not graphene spontaneously transform into CNTs? In this paper, we explore the thermal stability of small pieces of graphene, i.e., graphene nanoflakes by ab initio quantum mechanical techniques. We find that indeed nanoflakes are stable to being heated and do not under any conditions used here transform to CNTs. They do not, however, remain strictly 2D as at finite temperatures, they undergo extensive vibrational motion and remain buckled if annealed and then quenched to room temperature.     

Ab initio study of dielectric response of rippled graphene

Ab initio calculations of dielectric function and electron energy loss (EEL) function of periodically rippled armchair-edged graphene were performed in the framework of the random-phase approximation. The bending of graphene was found to remove restrictions on the electron transitions being forbidden in the flat graphene for certain light polarization. As a result, new peaks appear in the optical absorption spectrum and EEL spectrum of rippled graphene. Energy position, intensity, and width of the peaks are sensitive to the height of out-of-plane graphene bending that can be used in construction of graphene-based materials with variable transparency window.     

Thermophysical study of graphene nanoflakes by differential scanning calorimetry

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Combustion heats of graphene nanoflakes (GNFs) of different thicknesses produced by chemical vapor deposition method were measured for the first time...     

Tunable ferromagnetism in assembled two dimensional triangular graphene nanoflakes

Triangular graphene nanoflakes (TGFs), due to their novel magnetic configurations, can serve as building blocks to design new magnetic materials. Based on spin polarized density functional theory, we show that the two dimensional (2D) structures composed of zigzag-edged TGFs linked by 1,3,5-benzenetriyl units (TGF(N)-C(6)H(3)) are ferromagnetic. Their magnetic moments can be tuned by changing the size and edge termination of TGFs, namely magnetic moments increase linearly with the size of TGFs, and double hydrogenation of the edge carbon atoms can significantly enhance stability of the ferromagnetic states. The dynamic stability of the assembled 2D structures is further confirmed by frequency calculations. The characteristic breathing mode is identified where the frequency changes with the inverse square root of the TGFs width, which can be used to identify the size of TGF(N)-C(6)H(3) in Raman experiments. This study provides new pathways to assemble 2D ferromagnetic carbon materials.     

Pyrolytic synthesis of nitrogen and silicon doped graphene nanoflakes

Russian Chemical Bulletin - Heterosubstitution in graphene materials is a powerful tool for targeted variation of their structural and electronic characteristics. In this work, the template...     

Stability, electronic and magnetic properties of embedded triangular graphene nanoflakes

Stability, electronic and magnetic properties of triangular graphene nanoflakes embedded in graphane (graphane-embedded TGNFs) are investigated by density functional theory. It is found that the interface between the embedded TGNF and graphane is stable since the diffusion of H atoms from the graphane region to the embedded TGNF is energetically unfavorable with high energy barriers. The electronic and magnetic properties of the system completely depend on the embedded TGNF. The band gaps of graphane-embedded ATGNFs (armchair-edged TGNFs) arise due to the quantum confinement, while the special characteristics of nonbonding states of graphane-embedded ZTGNFs (zigzag-edged TGNFs) play an important role in their electronic properties. As the edge sizes increase, the differences of band gaps between graphane-embedded TGNFs and the isolated ones decrease. Furthermore, owing to the partially paired p(z) orbitals of edge C atoms, graphane-embedded ZTGNFs exhibit a ferrimagnetic ground state with size-dependant total spin being consistent with Lieb's theorem. Our work provides a possible way to obtain TGNFs without physical cutting.     

Hexagonal cobalt oxyhydroxide nanoflakes/reduced graphene oxide for hydrogen peroxide detection in biological samples

Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry - Abnormal concentration of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in blood plasma and cells may lead to several diseases. Thus, it is important to develop a selective and...     

Electrochemical and oxygen reduction properties of pristine and nitrogen-doped few layered graphene nanoflakes (FLGs)

Vertically aligned few layered graphene (FLGs) nanoflakes were synthesized by microwave plasma deposition for various time durations ranging from 30 to 600 s to yield graphene films of varying morphology, microstructure and areal/edge density. Their intrinsic electrochemical properties were explored using Fe(CN)₆ ^3?/4? and Ru(NH₃)₆ ^3+/2+ redox species. All the FLG electrodes demonstrate fast electron transfer kinetics with near ideal ΔEp values of 60–65 mV. Using a relationship between electron transfer rate and edge plane density, an estimation of the edge plane density was carried out which revealed a moderation of edge plane density with increase in growth time. The pristine FLGs also possess excellent electrocatalytic activity towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline solutions. This ORR activity can be further enhanced by exposing the pristine FLGs to nitrogen electron cyclotron resonance plasma. The metal free N-doped FLGs exhibit much higher electrocatalytic activity towards ORR than pristine FLGs with higher durability and selectivity than Pt-based catalysts. The excellent electrochemical performance of N-doped FLGs is explained in terms of enhanced edge plane exposure, high content of pyridinic nitrogen and an increase in the electronic density of states.     

Transition metal-doped graphene nanoflakes for CO and CO2 storage and sensing applications: a DFT study

Structural Chemistry - The adsorptions of CO and CO2 on pristine and transition metal-doped graphene nanoflakes (GNFs) were theoretically investigated using the density functional theory. Doping of...     

Simultaneous voltammetric determination of vanillin and guaiacol in food products on defect free graphene nanoflakes modified glassy carbon electrode

Microchimica Acta - Simple and robustic mediator free graphene nanoflake modified glassy carbon electrode (GNF/GCE) was used for the simultaneous determination of vanillin (VAN) and...     

氧化铜纳米片及其自组装球状纳米结构的制备及催化作用

氧化铜具有独特的光电和光化学性能,可被用来制作太阳能电池或高能锂电池~([1,2]).纳米氧化铜还可以作为催化剂、载体以及电极活性材料等~([3-7]).在实际应用中,纳米材料的结构和形貌对其性能有很大影响.     

Power law behavior in chemical reactions

Reactions between metals and chloride solutions have been shown to exhibit magnetic field fluctuations over a wide range of size and time scales. Power law behavior observed in these reactions is consistent with models said to exhibit self-organized criticality. Voltage fluctuations observed during the dissolution of magnesium and aluminum in copper chloride solution are qualitatively similar to the recorded magnetic signals. In this paper, distributions of voltage and magnetic peak sizes, noise spectra, and return times are compared for both reactions studied.     

The statistical overlap theory of chromatography using power law (fractal) statistics

The chromatographic dimensionality was recently proposed as a measure of retention time spacing based on a power law (fractal) distribution. Using this model, a statistical overlap theory (SOT) for chromatographic peaks is developed that estimates the number of peak maxima as a function of the chromatographic dimension, saturation and scale. Power law models exhibit a threshold region whereby below a critical saturation value no loss of peak maxima due to peak fusion occurs as saturation increases. At moderate saturation, behavior is similar to the random (Poisson) peak model. At still higher saturation, the power law model shows loss of peaks nearly independent of the scale and dimension of the model. The physicochemical meaning of the power law scale parameter is discussed and shown to be equal to the Boltzmann-weighted free energy of transfer over the scale limits. The scale is discussed. Small scale range (small β) is shown to generate more uniform chromatograms. Large scale range chromatograms (large β) are shown to give occasional large excursions of retention times; this is a property of power laws where "wild" behavior is noted to occasionally occur. Both cases are shown to be useful depending on the chromatographic saturation. A scale-invariant model of the SOT shows very simple relationships between the fraction of peak maxima and the saturation, peak width and number of theoretical plates. These equations provide much insight into separations which follow power law statistics.     

Power law relaxation in an interpenetrating polymer network

Emulsion polymerized interpenetratingpolymer networks (IPN) of polyacrylate and polystyrene exhibit a power law relaxation over a wide frequency range. The response of the material to oscillatory shear, step sheaf strain and a constant stress can be described with a two parameter constitutive equation. The power law behavior was previously found in polymers at their critical state where molecular motions were correlated over large distances without intrinsic size or time scale.The effect of composition and crosslink density on the behavior of the material is studied. The behavior might be explained with the granular structure of the material.     

氧化铜纳米片的水热合成与表征

利用水热法一步制备了形貌均一的氧化铜纳米片,借助场发射扫描电子显微镜、X射线粉末衍射仪和透射电子显微镜分析了产物的形貌和晶体结构;并研究了反应物浓度及表面活性剂等因素对氧化铜纳米结构的影响.结果表明,以氢氧化钠作为碱源时,在不添加任何表面活性剂的情况下,随着氢氧化钠浓度的升高,纳米片的尺寸减小、厚度增大;此外,通过添加不同的表面活性剂可以得到不同形貌的氧化铜纳米结构.     

Power law of nucleation rate of folded-chain single crystals of polyethylene

The number-average molecular weight (M _n) dependence of the primary nucleation rate (I) of polyethylene (PE) folded-chain single crystals was studied in the ordered phase. We observed that the M _n dependence of I is mainly controlled by the diffusion process of polymer chains within the interface between a nucleus and the melt and/or within the nucleus. The results show that I decreases with increasing M _n and follows a power law I∝M _n ^−2.3 for the ordered phase. It is named the power law of the nucleation rate. In a previous article we showed that for the disordered phase I∝M _n ⁻¹. In this article, we concluded that I decreases with increasing M _n and follows a universal power law, I∝M _n ^−H for both ordered and disordered phases. The power H depends on the degree of order of the crystalline phase, which is related to the morphology. Received: 13 September 2000 Accepted: 15 November 2000     

Synthesis of single-crystalline anatase nanorods and nanoflakes on transparent conducting substrates

Single-crystalline anatase nanorods and nanoflakes were grown on transparent conducting fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates through hydrolysis of titanium tetrachloride (TiCl(4)) followed by heating to 450 °C.     

Controlled construction of uniform pompon-shaped microarchitectures self-assembled from single-crystalline lanthanum molybdate nanoflakes

Uniform three-dimensional La2(MoO4)3 nanostructures with a pompon shape have been successfully constructed by a simple surfactant-free hydrothermal approach via self-assembly from single-crystalline nanoflakes. The formation of the uniform pompon-shaped La2(MoO4)3 microarchitectures is closely related to the presence of a proper amount of ammonium ions, and it is proposed that the pompon-shaped microarchitecture forms through an electrostatic attraction/repulsion effect between the oppositely charged flat surface and the edge of nanoflakes. Without the introduction of ammonium ions, no pompon-shaped microarchitectures can be formed, and while under the presence of excess ammonium ions, the nanoflakes on the micropompons become amorphous, twisted, and rugged. The novel microarchitectures of the product can be successfully modified from spherical to columelliform by using a mixed solvent of water/ethanol. This simple and efficient method may provide a practical reference to the controlled synthesis of other microarchitectures.     

Power rate law in kinetics of adsorption processes on exponentially inhomogeneous surfaces

A power rate equation is derived based on the dependences which characterize the adsorption equilibrium on exponentially inhomogeneous surfaces. It is established that the power of the rate equation is temperature-dependent. The latter is used for the determination of the energy and entropy factors on which the process rate depends.

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Synthesis of MnV2O6 nanoflakes via simple hydrothermal process

A single phase of monoclinic MnV₂O₆ nanoflakes was prepared by a hydrothermal process at 180°C for 18 h, using Mn (CH₃COO)₂·4H₂O and NH₄VO₃ as starting materials and using acetic acid to adjust the pH value of the reaction solution. The as-prepared samples were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). X-ray photoelectron spectrum (XPS) measurements further confirm the component of MnV₂O₆. Results indicated that the products consisted of a large quantity of compact accumulated nanoflakes, with average width of 0.85 μm, thickness of 100 nm and lengths up to 1.7 μm. __________ Translated from Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2007, 22(6): 1139–1141 [译自: 无机材料学报]