Hematite concave nanocubes and their superior catalytic activity for low temperature CO oxidation

Hematite (α-Fe2O3) concave nanocubes bound by high-index {1344̄} and {123̄8} facets were synthesized and their catalytic activity for CO oxidation were also investigated.

An evolution from 3D face-centered-cubic ZnSnO3 nanocubes to 2D orthorhombic ZnSnO3 nanosheets with excellent gas sensing performance

We have successfully observed the development of three-dimensional (3D) face-centered-cubic ZnSnO(3) into two-dimensional (2D) orthorhombic ZnSnO(3) nanosheets, which is the first observation of 2D ZnSnO(3) nanostructures to date. The synthesis from 3D to 2D nanostructures is realized by the dual-hydrolysis-assisted liquid precipitation reaction and subsequent hydrothermal treatment. The time-dependent morphology indicates the transformation via a 'dissolution-recrystallization' mechanism, accompanied by a 'further growth' process. Furthermore, the 2D ZnSnO(3) nanosheets consist of smaller sized nanoflakes. This further increases the special specific surface area and facilitates their application in gas sensing. The 2D ZnSnO(3) nanosheets exhibit excellent gas sensing properties, especially through their ultra-fast response and recovery. When exposed to ethanol and acetone, the response rate is as fast as 0.26 s and 0.18 s, respectively, and the concentration limit can reach as low as 50 ppb of ethanol. All these results are much better than those reported so far. Our experimental results indicate an efficient approach to realize high-performance gas sensors.

CeO2/rGO/Pt sandwich nanostructure: rGO-enhanced electron transmission between metal oxide and metal nanoparticles for anodic methanol oxidation of direct methanol fuel cells

Pt-based nanocomposites have been of great research interest. In this paper, we design an efficient MO/rGO/Pt sandwich nanostructure as an anodic electrocatalyst for DMFCs with combination of the merits of rigid structure of metallic oxides (MOs) and excellent electronic conductivity of reduced oxidized graphene (rGO) as well as overcoming their shortcomings. In this case, the CeO(2)/rGO/Pt sandwich nanostructure is successfully fabricated through a facile hydrothermal approach in the presence of graphene oxide and CeO(2) nanoparticles. This structure has a unique building architecture where rGO wraps up the CeO(2) nanoparticles and Pt nanoparticles are homogeneously dispersed on the surface of rGO. This novel structure endows this material with great electrocatalytic performance in methanol oxidation: it reduces the overpotential of methanol oxidation significantly and its electrocatalytic activity and stability are much enhanced compared with Pt/rGO, CeO(2)/Pt and Pt/C catalysts. This work supplies a unique MO/rGO/Pt sandwich nanostructure as an efficient way to improve the electrocatalytic performance, which will surely shed some light on the exploration of some novel structures of electrocatalyst for DMFCs.

Pt nanoparticles residing in the pores of porous LaNiO₃ nanocubes as high-efficiency electrocatalyst for direct methanol fuel cells

Pt-filled porous LaNiO₃ cubes are prepared through a facile route. The characterizations reveal that large numbers of pores (9-10 nm) are distributed homogeneously in porous LaNiO₃ cubes. The Pt nanoparticles residing in the pores of porous LaNiO₃ cubes are about 5 nm in size. The investigation on the electrocatalytic activity reveals that electrocatalytic activity of the obtained Pt loaded porous LaNiO₃ nanocubes exhibit a significantly improved electrochemical active surface area (EASA) and a remarkably enhanced electrocatalytic performance toward methanol oxidation. The results are significant for improving the efficiency of Pt-based catalysts for DMFCs as well as the applications of perovskite compounds.

Au-Pd alloy and core-shell nanostructures: one-pot coreduction preparation, formation mechanism, and electrochemical properties

It is a known fact that Pd-based bimetallic nanostructures possess unique properties and excellent catalytic performance. In this work, the Au-Pd alloy and core-shell nanostructures have been prepared by a simple one-pot hydrothermal coreduction route, and their formation process and mechanism are discussed in detail. A reducing capacity-induced controlled reducing mechanism is proposed for the formation process of Au-Pd bimetallic nanostructures. CTAB plays a key role in the formation of alloy Au-Pd nanostructures. When CTAB is absent, the products are typical core-shell nanostructures. Moreover, the as-prepared nanostructures exhibit excellent electrocatalytic ORR performance in alkaline media, especially for Au-Pd alloy nanostructures. The overpotential of oxygen reduction gets reduced significantly, and the peak potential is positive-shifted by 44 and 34 mV in comparison with the core-shell ones and Pd/C catalyst, respectively. Thus, the controllable preparation and excellent electrocatalytic properties will make them become a potentially cheaper Pd-based cathodic electrocatalyst for DAFCs in alkaline media.

Nanowires assembled SnO2 nanopolyhedrons with enhanced gas sensing properties

Self-assembly of one-dimensional nanoscale building blocks into functional 2-D or 3-D complex superstructures has stimulated a great deal of interest. We report the synthesis and characterization of nanopolyhedrons assembled from ultrathin SnO(2) nanowires based on the sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-assisted hydrothermal process. As-synthesized SnO(2) nanopolyhedrons have uniform diameters around 300 nm and are self-assembled by numerous ultrathin SnO(2) nanowires with diameters of 5-10 nm. The growth mechanism was also studied by investigating the samples synthesized at different reaction time. Thin films of the assembled SnO(2) nanopolyhedrons were configured as high performance sensors to detect methanol, ethanol, and acetone, which exhibited 1 ppm sensitivity, very fast response and recovery times (several seconds for different gases with concentrations of 1-200 ppm) to all the target gases and highly selective detection to acetone.