Chemical versus Electrochemical Synthesis of Carbon Nano‐onion/Polypyrrole Composites for Supercapacitor Electrodes

The development of high‐surface‐area carbon electrodes with a defined pore size distribution and the incorporation of pseudo‐active materials to optimize the overall capacitance and conductivity without destroying the stability are at present important research areas. Composite electrodes of carbon nano‐onions (CNOs) and polypyrrole (Ppy) were fabricated to improve the specific capacitance of a supercapacitor. The carbon nanostructures were uniformly coated with Ppy by chemical polymerization or by electrochemical potentiostatic deposition to form homogenous composites or bilayers. The materials were characterized by transmission‐ and scanning electron microscopy, differential thermogravimetric analyses, FTIR spectroscopy, piezoelectric microgravimetry, and cyclic voltammetry. The composites show higher mechanical and electrochemical stabilities, with high specific capacitances of up to about 800 F g^?1 for the CNOs/SDS/Ppy composites (chemical synthesis) and about 1300 F g^?1 for the CNOs/Ppy bilayer (electrochemical deposition).     

Mechanistic Aspects of a Highly Active Dinuclear Zinc Catalyst for the Co‐polymerization of Epoxides and CO2

The dinuclear zinc complex reported by us is to date the most active zinc catalyst for the co‐polymerization of cyclohexene oxide (CHO) and carbon dioxide. However, co‐polymerization experiments with propylene oxide (PO) and CO₂ revealed surprisingly low conversions. Within this work, we focused on clarification of this behavior through experimental results and quantum chemical studies. The combination of both results indicated the formation of an energetically highly stable intermediate in the presence of propylene oxide and carbon dioxide. A similar species in the case of cyclohexene oxide/CO₂ co‐polymerization was not stable enough to deactivate the catalyst due to steric repulsion.     

A simple,rapid and sensitive method based on modified multiwalled carbon nanotube for preconcentration and determination of lead ions in aqueous media in natural pHs

In this study, multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) was modified by the pyridine group using a silane agent and characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR), thermal analysis (TG/DTA), and elemental analysis (CHN) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The application of this sorbent was investigated in determination of lead ions in aqueous samples, using flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). Through this study, different parameters such as pH and sample flow rate on adsorption process and eluent concentration, volume and flow rate were optimized. The limit of detection (LOD), the relative standard deviation and the recovery of the method were 2 ng mL^?1, 1.3% and 99.7%, respectively. Two standard reference materials (NIST 1571 and NIST 1572) were used to verify accuracy of this method. Finally, the sorbent was successfully applied for extraction and determination of low levels of Pb(II) ions in aqueous samples.     

Self-Assembly of C3 Symmetric Rigid Macrolactams into Very Polar and Porous Trigonal Crystals

Cyclohexane and cyclotri-β-alanyl have been used as scaffolds for the design of new C₃-symmetric rings incorporating conjugated alkenes and dienes. All three C₃-symmetric lactams share the same triangular shape and their crystal system is trigonal. They all belong to the R3 space group, R3m, R3 and R3c, for the increasingly large 12-, 18- and 24-membered rigid rings, respectively. All lactams stack on top of each other, through H-bonds and van der Waals noncovalent interactions, leading to endless supramolecular cylinders and tubes. The largest member of the family leads to tubes, the central pores of which is wide enough to let water in. A common feature of all the lactams is their very large dipole, of around 9 D, according to DFT calculations. Surprisingly, all the resulting cylinders and tubes pack side by side in the crystals, with all the dipoles pointing to the same direction. As a result, all three crystals are anisotropic and appear to be the first members of a new kind of highly polar crystals.     

New Phenomena in Organometallic‐Mediated Radical Polymerization (OMRP) and Perspectives for Control of Less Active Monomers

The impact of reversible bond formation between a growing radical chain and a metal complex (organometallic‐mediated radical polymerization (OMRP) equilibrium) to generate an organometallic intermediate/dormant species is analyzed with emphasis on the interplay between this and other one‐electron processes involving the metal complex, which include halogen transfer in atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), hydrogen‐atom transfer in catalytic chain transfer (CCT), and catalytic radical termination (CRT). The challenges facing the controlled polymerization of “less active monomers” (LAMs) are outlined and, after reviewing the recent achievements of OMRP in this area, the perspectives of this technique are analyzed.     

Zinc polyoxometalate on activated carbon: an efficient catalyst for selective oxidation of alcohols with hydrogen peroxide

[PW₁₁ZnO₃₉]^5? was immobilized on activated carbon and characterized using Fourier transform infrared, X‐ray diffraction, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller and elemental analysis techniques. Effective oxidation of various alcohols with hydrogen peroxide was performed in the presence of this catalyst. Easy separation of the catalyst from the reaction mixture, cheapness, high activity and selectivity, stability as well as retained activity in subsequent catalytic cycles make this supported catalyst suitable for small‐scale synthesis. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A study on the electrical conductivity of multi-walled carbon nanotube aqueous solution

The electrical conductivity was investigated for multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) dissolved in chloroform and toluene, respectively. The electrical conductivity remarkably increased with increase in the content of MWNTs, which is in accordance with Archie's equation . Furthermore, a hypothesis of the electronic transport process was proposed to explain the difference between the solution and the solid compound. In addition, the temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity shows that log σ vs. 1/T exist in a good linear relationship. The activation energy of the electrical conductivity decreased with increase in concentration and an inflexion was observed at 60 °C in MWNT/toluene solution.     

Theoretical Study on the Reaction Mechanism between Dichlorocarbene and Armchair Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes

1 INTRODUCTION Carbon nanotubes have many potential applica- tions due to their unique structures and properties[1～4]. Physicists have been studying their electrical, me- chanical and other properties since their discove- ries[5, 6]. Recently, chemists are interested in carbon nanotubes because their properties can be altered by chemical functionalization[7～14], and these functiona- lized nanotubes can undergo further chemical trea- tment. So the potential application range of such na- …     

Non‐empirical calculations of NMR indirect carbon–carbon coupling constants. Part 4: Bicycloalkanes

A systematic study of the one‐bond and long‐range J(C,C), J(C,H) and J(H,H) in the series of nine bicycloalkanes was performed at the SOPPA level with special emphasis on the coupling transmission mechanisms at bridgeheads. Many unknown couplings were predicted with high reliability. Further refinement of SOPPA computational scheme adjusted for better performance was carried out using bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane as a benchmark to investigate the influence of geometry, basis set and electronic correlation. The calculations performed demonstrated that classical ab initio SOPPA applied with the locally dense Dunning's sets augmented with inner core s‐functions used for coupled carbons and Sauer's sets augmented with tight s‐functions used for coupled hydrogens performs perfectly well in reproducing experimental values of different types of coupling constants (the estimated reliability is ca 1–2 Hz) in relatively large organic molecules of up to 11 carbon atoms. Additive coupling increments were derived for J(C,C), J(C,H) and J(H,H) based on the calculated values of coupling constants within SOPPA in the model bicycloalkanes, in reasonably good agreement with the known values obtained earlier on pure empirical grounds. Most of the bridgehead couplings in all but one bicycloalkane appeared to be essentially additive within ca 2–3 Hz while bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane demonstrated dramatic non‐additivity of ?14.5 Hz for J(C,C), +16.6 Hz for J(H,H) and ?5.5 Hz for J(C,H), in line with previous findings. Non‐additivity effects in the latter compound established at the SOPPA level should be attributed to the through‐space non‐bonded interactions at bridgeheads due to the essential overlapping of the bridgehead rear lobes which provides an additional and effective non‐bonding coupling path for the bridgehead carbons and their protons in the bicyclopentane framework. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.