Emergent geometry experienced by fermions in graphene in the presence of dislocations

In graphene in the presence of strain the elasticity theory metric naturally appears. However, this is not the one experienced by fermionic quasiparticles. Fermions propagate in curved space, whose metric is defined by expansion of the effective Hamiltonian near the topologically protected Fermi point. We discuss relation between both types of metric for different parametrizations of graphene surface. Next, we extend our consideration to the case, when the dislocations are present. We consider the situation, when the deformation is described by elasticity theory and calculate both torsion and emergent magnetic field carried by the dislocation. The dislocation carries singular torsion in addition to the quantized flux of emergent magnetic field. Both may be observed in the scattering of quasiparticles on the dislocation. Emergent magnetic field flux manifests itself in the Aharonov–Bohm effect while the torsion singularity results in Stodolsky effect.     

Determination of glutathione in single HepG2 cells by capillary electrophoresis with reduced graphene oxide modified microelectrode

Determination of intracellular bioactive species will afford beneficial information related to cell metabolism, signal transduction, cell function, and disease treatment. In this study, the electrochemically reduced graphene oxide modified carbon fiber microdisk electrode (ER‐GOME) was used as a detector of CZE‐electrochemical detection and developed to detect glutathione (GSH). The electrocatalytic activity of the modified microelectrode was characterized by cyclic voltammetry. Under optimized experimental conditions, the concentration linear range of GSH was from 1 to 60 μM. When the S/N ratio was 3, the concentration detection limit was 1 μM. Compared with the unmodified carbon fiber microdisk electrode, the sensitivity was enhanced more than five times. With the use of this method, the average contents of GSH in single HepG2 cells were found to be 7.13 ± 1.11 fmol (n = 10). Compared with gold/mercury amalgam microelectrode, which was usually used in determining GSH, the electrochemically reduced graphene oxide modified carbon fiber microdisk electrode was friendly to environment for free mercury. Furthermore, there were several merits of the novel electrochemical detector coupled with CE, such as comparative repeatability, easy fabrication, and high sensitivity, hold great potential for the single‐cell assay.     

Submicron carbon-based hybrid nano-pour-point depressant with outstanding pour point depressant and excellent viscosity depressant

We have investigated the effective utilization potential of carbon nanomaterials in the field of pour point depressants, and reported three kind of carbon-based hybrid nano-pour-point depressants with different dimensions. In this paper, poly-α-olefins-acrylate high-carbon ester pour point depressant (PAA-18) was prepared by esterification and polymerization as the basic pour point depressant. Then, the basic pour point depressant PAA18 was modified by solvothermal method with graphene oxide (GO), carbon nanospheres (Cna) and carbon nanotubes (OCNTs). The morphology and structure of the composites were analyzed by SEM, FTIR and XRD. The results showed that PAA18 was successfully in situ polymerized on GO, Cna and OCNTs. We took the simulated oil as the experimental object, and evaluated its pour point, rheological properties and wax crystal morphology, and achieved excellent results. In the three carbon-based hybrid nano-pour-point depressants with different carbon contents, the oxidation carbon nanotubes composite pour point depressant (PAA18-1 % OCNTs) with carbon content of 1 % had the best pour point and viscosity reduction effect when the dosage was 1250 ppm, which could make the pour point of the simulated oil containing wax decrease by 16 °C. PAA18-1 % OCNTs reduced the pour point by 5 °C more than PAA18. This paper provides reference for the application of carbon nanomaterials in the field of pour point depressant.     

Development of Graphene/CdSe Quantum Dots‐Co Phthalocyanine Nanocomposite for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Nanocomposites containing CdSe quantum dots, tetra(4‐(4,6‐diaminopyrimidin‐2‐ylthio) phthalocyaninatocobalt(II)) (CoPyPc) and reduced graphene nanosheets (rGNS) were devoloped and used for the modification of a glassy carbon electrode. Characterization of the nanocomposites was done by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) was used for electrochemical characterization of the prepared nanocomposite for oxygen reduction reaction. The oxygen reduction activity for rGNS/CdSe‐CoPyPc nanocomposite was found to be superior over the individual nanomaterials in this study. The activity of the nanocomposite towards oxygen reduction was also tested for tolerance to methanol crossover effect using chronoamperometry (CA) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies.     

Synthesis,characterization and electrochemical performances of LiFePO4/graphene cathode material for high power lithium-ion batteries

LiFePO₄/graphene (LiFePO₄/G) cathode with exciting electrochemical performance was successfully synthesized by liquid phase method. LiFePO₄ nanoparticles wrapped with multi-layered grapheme can be fabricated in a short time. This method did not need external heating source. Heat generated by chemical reaction conduct the process and removed the solvent simultaneously. The LiFePO₄/G were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), magnetic properties analysis and electrochemical performance tests. The LiFePO₄/G delivered a capacity of 160 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1C and could tolerate various dis-charge currents with a capacity retention rate of 99.8%, 99.2%, 99.0%, 98.6%, 97.3% and 95.0% after stepwise under 5C, 10C, 15C, 20C, 25C and 30C, respectively.     

Pd–Co bimetallic nanoparticles supported on graphene as a highly active catalyst for Suzuki–Miyaura and Sonogashira cross-coupling reactions

Graphene (G) supported Pd–Co bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) as a highly active catalyst was prepared by a chemical reduction method and used for coupling reactions. With the characterization of X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectrum, the composition of resulting Pd–Co material was identified to be alloy structural. The Pd–Co (1:1)/G exhibited the highest catalytic activity for the Sonogashira-type coupling reactions and also exerted satisfied catalytic activity and recycle stability for Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions. This Pd–Co/G material also possessed other advantages such as low-cost, easy recycled from reaction system by a magnet for their magnetic property, and easy experimental handling.     

Multi‐responses Methodology Applied in the Electroanalytical Determination of Hair Dye by Using Printed Carbon Electrode Modified with Graphene

This paper describes a rapid and sensitive method for determination of the hair dye Basic Blue 41 in wastewater samples using screen‐printed carbon electrodes modified with graphene (SPCE/Gr). The method is based on the reversible reduction of azo groups of the dye at potential of ?0.23 V/?0.26 V, where both the anodic and cathodic currents increased 1,300 % when compared to screen‐printed carbon (SPCE) and glassy carbon electrodes (GCE). The optimization of a square wave voltammetric method was performed by means of 2³ factorial design, Doehlert matrix and multi‐response assays, and the best parameters were: frequency (54.8 Hz), step potential (6 mV), pulse amplitude (43.7 mV) and pH 4.5. The analytical curve was constructed from 3.00×10^?8 to 2.01×10^?6 mol L^?1, with detection and quantification limits of 5.00×10^?9 and 1.70×10^?8 mol L^?1, respectively. The repeatability of the method evaluated for 10 consecutive measurements at concentrations of 1.70×10^?7 mol L^?1 and 1.70×10^?6 mol L^?1, showed relative standard deviation of 3.56 and 0.57 %, respectively. The sensor based in SPCE/Gr was successfully applied in wastewater samples collected from a drinking water treatment plant and validated by comparison with HPLC‐DAD method with good accuracy.     

Manipulation of inherent characteristics of graphene through N and Mg atom co-doping; a DFT study

First-principles calculations were performed to investigate the structural, electronic, magnetic and optical properties of nitrogen (N) and magnesium (Mg) atom co-doped graphene systems. We observed that, N and Mg atom co-doping in graphene, introduces half-metallic properties in the electronic structure of graphene, introduces ferromagnetism behavior along with new trends in optical properties of graphene. Doping site and concentration of N and Mg atoms in graphene was changed and resulting effects of these changes on aforementioned properties were investigated. Through density of states plots we observed that, Mg atom sp orbitals mainly induced magnetic moments in graphene. It was revealed that, N/Mg atoms substitution in graphene introduces a red shift in absorption spectrum towards visible range and a finite absorption coefficient quantity value in 0 to 3 eV and 7 to 11 eV energy intervals is also produced, that is unavailable for absorption spectrum of intrinsic graphene. Moreover, N/Mg atoms co-doping produces increment in the reflectivity parameter of graphene in low lying energy region, while producing diminishing behavior in the higher energy range. These results offer a possibility to tune electronic, magnetic and optical characteristics of graphene sufficiently for utilization in graphene based spintronic and optoelectronic devices.     

Magnetic moment of phonons in graphene induced by a magnetic field

A magnetic field not only changes the electronic structure in graphene but also affects the phonon excitations via the electron-phonon interaction and even enables the phonons to generate magnetism. In this paper, we evaluate the magnetic moment of phonons in graphene using a generating-functional technique. The calculation results indicate that the phonon magnetic moment exists only in a weak magnetic field. The step-like change of the magnetic moment with the magnetic field reflects a macroscopic quantum effect.     

Graphene oxide (GO) catalyzed transamidation of aliphatic amides: An efficient metal-free procedure

Transamidation involves direct interconversion of an amide with amine, and represents an alternative to the common method of amide formation from the reaction of carboxylic acid with an amine. While the carboxamides have huge potential in biological systems and polymer industries, their formation from carboxylic acids requires activation by a suitable catalyst. A metal-free transamidation of aliphatic amide with aromatic amine catalyzed by graphene oxide (GO) has been developed and established as a general, synthetically useful and selective procedure. Graphene oxide bearing several carboxylic acids on the edges and having large surface area acts as an efficient and recyclable catalyst for transamidation.