Nanometal Thermocatalysts: Transformations, Deactivation, and Mitigation

Nanometals have been proven to be efficient thermocatalysts in the last decades. Their enhanced catalytic activity and tunable functionalities make them intriguing candidates for a wide range of catalytic applications, such as gaseous reactions and compound synthesis/decomposition. On the other hand, the enhanced specific surface energy and reactivity of nanometals can lead to configuration transformation and thus catalytic deactivation during the synthesis and catalysis, which largely undermines the activity and service time, thereby calling for urgent research effort to understand the deactivating mechanisms and develop efficient mitigating methods. Herein, the recent progress in understanding the configuration transformation-induced catalytic deactivation within nanometals is reviewed. The major pathways of configuration transformations, and their kinetics controlled by the environmental factors are presented. The approaches toward mitigating the transformation-induced deactivation are also presented. Finally, a perspective on the future academic approaches toward in-depth understanding of the kinetics of the deactivation of nanometals is proposed.

Biosensors-Recent Advances and Future Challenges in Electrode Materials

Electrochemical biosensors benefit from the simplicity, sensitivity, and rapid response of electroanalytical devices coupled with the selectivity of biorecognition molecules. The implementation of electrochemical biosensors in a clinical analysis can provide a sensitive and rapid response for the analysis of biomarkers, with the most successful being glucose sensors for diabetes patients. This review summarizes recent work on the use of structured materials such as nanoporous metals, graphene, carbon nanotubes, and ordered mesoporous carbon for biosensing applications. We also describe the use of additive manufacturing (AM) and review recent progress and challenges for the use of AM in biosensing applications.

Bicontinuity analysis of multibeam interference three-dimensional periodic structures: volume fractions and interface areas

Bicontinuous structures are an important subset of three-dimensional periodic structures. In multibeam interference structures, the conditions for bicontinuity depend on the beam parameters and the exposure dose. As described in the present work, these conditions can be applied to establish the range of bicontinuity for any multibeam-interference-produced structure. In addition to the bicontinuity range, the analysis yields the volume fraction of the constituent materials and the normalized interface areas. This analysis has been performed for rhombohedral and woodpile lattices as well as their cubic structure limiting cases. A sphere-at-each-lattice-site model for each of the cubic cases has also been developed for comparison. The multibeam interference structures were investigated for representative media and for various incident polarizations.

Enzymatic Biofuel Cells on Porous Nanostructures

Biofuel cells (BFCs) that utilize enzymes as catalysts represent a new sustainable and renewable energy technology. Numerous efforts have been directed to improve the performance of the enzymatic BFCs (EBFCs) with respect to power output and operational stability for further applications in portable power sources, self-powered electrochemical sensing, implantable medical devices, etc. The latest advances in EBFCs based on porous nanoarchitectures over the past 5 years are detailed here. Porous matrices from carbon, noble metals, and polymers promote the development of EBFCs through the electron transfer and mass transport benefits. Some key issues regarding how these nanostructured porous media improve the performance of EBFCs are also discussed.

pulSED: pulsed sonoelectrodeposition of fractal nanoplatinum for enhancing amperometric biosensor performance

A technique for deposition of fractal nanometal as a transducer in electrochemical sensing is described. The effect(s) of duty cycle and deposition time were explored, and two sensors are demonstrated.

Three-Dimensional Au Microlattices as Positive Electrodes for Li-O2 Batteries

We demonstrate the feasibility of using a 3-dimensional gold microlattice with a periodic porous structure and independently tunable surface composition as a Li-O2 battery cathode. The structure provides a platform for studying electrochemical reactions in architected Li-O2 electrodes with large (300 μm) pore sizes. The lack of carbon and chemical binders in these Au microlattices enabled the investigation of chemical and morphological processes that occur on the surfaces of the microlattice during cycling. Li-O2 cells with Au microlattice cathodes were discharged in 0.5 M lithium-bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonamide (LiTFSI) in a 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) electrolyte, with lithium metal foil as the anode. SEM analysis of microlattice cathodes after first discharge revealed the presence of toroidal-shaped 500-700 nm particles covering the surface of the electrode, which disappeared upon subsequent charging. Raman and FTIR spectroscopy analysis determined these particulates to be Li2O2. The morphology of discharge products evolved with cycling into micrometer-sized clusters of arranged "platelets", with a higher amount of side reaction products such as Li2CO3 and LiOH. This work shows that properly designed 3-dimensional architected materials may provide a useful foundation for investigating fundamental surface electrochemistry while simultaneously enabling mechanical robustness and enhancing the surface area over a factor of 30 compared with a thin film with the same foot print.

Uniform copper oxide–poly(m-phenylenediamine) microflowers: synthesis and application for the adsorption of methyl orange

A CuO–PmPD flower-like composite synthesised in one step exhibit a superior adsorption capacity for MO.

Developing Monolithic Nanoporous Gold with Hierarchical Bicontinuity Using Colloidal Bijels

We report a universal platform for the synthesis of monolithic porous gold materials with hierarchical bicontinuous morphology and combined macro- and mesoporosity using a synergistic combination of nanocasting and chemical dealloying. This robust and accessible approach offers a new design paradigm for the parallel optimization of active surface area and mass transport in porous metal electrodes.

Tunable hierarchical macro/mesoporous gold microwires fabricated by dual-templating and dealloying processes

Tailor-made highly ordered macro/mesoporous hierarchical metal architectures have been created by combining sphere lithography, membrane template electrodeposition and alloy-etching processes. The new double-template preparation route involves the electrodeposition of Au/Ag alloy within the interstitial (void) spaces of polystyrene (PS) microspheres which are closely packed within the micropores of a polycarbonate membrane (PC), followed by dealloying of the Ag component and dissolution of the microsphere and membrane templates. The net results of combining such sphere lithography and silver etching is the creation of highly regular three-dimensional macro/mesoporous gold architecture with well-controlled sizes and shapes. The morphology and porosity of the new hierarchical porous structures can be tailored by controlling the preparation conditions, such as the composition of the metal mixture plating solution, the size of the microspheres template, or the dealloying time. Such tunable macro/mesoporous hierarchical structures offer control of the electrochemical reactivity and of the fuel mass transport, as illustrated for the enhanced oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and hydrogen-peroxide detection. The new double templated electrodeposition method provides an attractive route for preparing highly controllable multiscale porous materials and diverse morphologies based on different materials and hence holds considerable promise for designing electrocatalytic or bioelectrocatalytic surfaces for a variety sensing and energy applications.

Nanoporous Gold Electrodes and Their Applications in Analytical Chemistry

Nanoporous gold prepared by dealloying Au:Ag alloys has recently become an attractive material in the field of analytical chemistry. This conductive material has an open, 3D porous framework consisting of nanosized pores and ligaments with surface areas that are 10s to 100s of times larger than planar gold of an equivalent geometric area. The high surface area coupled with an open pore network makes nanoporous gold an ideal support for the development of chemical sensors. Important attributes include conductivity, high surface area, ease of preparation and modification, tunable pore size, and a bicontinuous open pore network. In this paper, the fabrication, characterization, and applications of nanoporous gold in chemical sensing are reviewed specifically as they relate to the development of immunosensors, enzyme-based biosensors, DNA sensors, Raman sensors, and small molecule sensors.