Green synthesis of carbon nanotubes@tetraferrocenylporphyrin/copper nanohybrid and evaluation of its ability as a supercapacitor

Copper oxide nanoparticles fabricated by green chemistry using Tribulus terrestris seed natural extract-photocatalyst and green electrodes for energy storage device

Nanobiotechnology is a unique class of multiphase and recently become a branch of contemporary science and a paradigm shift in material research. One of the two main problems facing the field of nanomaterial synthesis is the discovery of new natural resources for the biological production of metal nanoparticles and the absence of knowledge about the chemical composition of bio-source required for synthesis and the chemical process or mechanism behind the production of metal nanoparticles presents the second difficulty. We reported template-free green synthesized copper oxide nanoparticles using Tribulus terrestris seed natural extract without any isolation process. XRD, TEM, SEM, UV-Vis, DLS, zeta potential, and BET evaluated the synthesized metal nanoparticle. The TEM analysis confirmed that the CuO NPs are well dispersed and almost round in shape with an average size of 58 nm. EDAX confirms that copper is the prominent metal present in the nanomaterial. The greener fabricated copper oxide nanoparticle was employed to degrade methyl orange dye, almost 84% of methyl orange was degraded within 120 min. The outcomes demonstrated the nanomaterial's effective breakdown of contaminants, highlighting their potential for environmental rehabilitation. The electrochemical investigation of the CuO NPs was utilized for supercapacitor application. An appreciable value of specific capacitance is 369 F/g specific capacitances with 96.4% capacitance retention after 6000 cycles. Overall, the results of the current study show that the biologically produced copper oxide nanoparticles have intriguing uses as photocatalysts for treating water contaminants and are suitable for energy storage devices.

Dimensionality Control of 1D Coupling Reaction for the Facile Preparation of Porous Carbon Nanofibers

Porous carbon nanofibers with unique hierarchical structures have great potential in many fields, including heterogeneous catalysis, optoelectronics, and sensing. However, several preparation issues, such as additional templates, complicated processes, and harsh conditions, seriously hamper their widespread use. Here, we control the Sonogashira coupling reaction of linear building monomers─1,4-dibromaphthalene and 1,4-ethylbenzene─at the molecular level. Due to the occurrence of branching chain reaction (side reaction), 1D oligomer expands the growth orientation in the plane direction, forming a curled 1D fiber polymer. After thermal-driven skeleton engineering, porous carbon nanofibers were obtained with hierarchical channels of macro- (150 nm), meso- (5.2 nm), and microcavities (0.5 and 1.3 nm). The integration of macro-/meso-/microporous structure reveals a fast and sufficient interaction with electrolyte molecules, facilitating the construction of high-performance electrical devices. Our strategy, using a side reaction to achieve the dimensionality control of 1D copolymerization, paves a new way for the facile preparation of porous carbon nanofibers.

Composites and Copolymers Containing Redox-Active Molecules and Intrinsically Conducting Polymers as Active Masses for Supercapacitor Electrodes—An Introduction

In this introductory report, composites and copolymers combining intrinsically conducting polymers and redox-active organic molecules, suggested as active masses without additional binder and conducting agents for supercapacitor electrodes, possibly using the advantageous properties of both constituents, are presented. A brief overview of the few reported examples of the use of such copolymers, composites, and comparable combinations of organic molecules and carbon supports is given. For comparison a few related reports on similar materials without intrinsically conducting polymers are included.