In this paper, we report on a multifunctional battery assembly, which possesses a balanced combination of energy storage capability and resistance to electrical failure under mechanical impact loading. The Granular Battery Assembly (GBA) presented here exhibits a mechanical response that emerges from features of granular and cellular media. We demonstrate that for the specific GBA embodiment considered in the present study, the electrical reliability following a mechanical loading event is substantively increased compared to that of plain battery cells. The increased reliability is due to the sacrificial material elements interspersed between the battery units, attributing energy absorption and local stress limiting.

A paradigm for the synthetic manipulation of composition and crystallite size of bimetallic composites via a low-temperature, aqueous co-precipitation technique employing non-stoichiometric ratios of starting materials, AgNO3 and Fe(NO3)3, is introduced. In-situ formation of composites containing crystalline silver ferrite, AgFeO2, and nanocrystalline maghemite, γ-Fe2O3 is demonstrated and established by Raman spectroscopic and X-ray absorption analyses. As a cathode, the lowest silver content composites exhibited profoundly improved electrochemical performance, with reversible capacities approximately 100% higher relative to stoichiometric AgFeO2, and demonstrate the lowest capacity fade.

Powders of La2O3 were mixed with mechanical ball-milling technique (MA) adding TiO2, to improve the electrochemical performance as a storage material. Microstructures, morphologies and electrochemical results were investigated using TEM, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Cyclic Voltammetry and Potentiodynamic studies. Results showed that, the samples with TiO2 content affected the capacity of response. The alloys exhibit a superior capacity and stability adding TiO2. The milling ball to powder weight ratio was kept 5 to 1 for all experimental runs. Milling intervals were 0, 2 and 4 hrs; using alternate cycles of 30 minutes milling and 30 min resting. The nanostructure TiO2 powder, improves the samples to design a better electrode. TiO2 has significant influence on electrochemical performance of electrodes. Electrochemical experiments were performed on ACM Instruments Gill AC and a typical three electrode setup was constructed to measure the electrochemical properties of the working electrode. Here, platinum was used as the counter electrode and calomel was used as the reference electrode. Structures of the samples were analyzed by digital image tools.

Carbon monofluoride (CFx) has been extensively used as a reliable cathode material in lithium primary batteries because of its high energy density and long shelf life. However, the implementation of Li/ CFx batteries in high-power applications is limited by the low power capability resulting from the insulative nature of CFx material. In this work, we incorporated multi-walled carbon nanotubes into CFx electrodes and studied the impact on the electrochemical performances when CNTs were used as a conductive additive material and current collector substrate. Our work demonstrated the promising utilization of CNTs in CFx electrodes in improving the practical capacity and power capability of Li/ CFx batteries.

Tin(Sn) and its alloys have been attracting attentions as a negative electrode material for sodium-ion secondary batteries with high theoretical capacity (Na15Sn4, ca. 847 mAh/g) and high electromotiveforce. There still remains the issue as regards the discharge capacity decrease with increasing the number of cycles. In order to improve cycle performance, there are many studies such as using Sn-Ni alloy, however, using Sn based alloy as negative electrode materials and it suffer from the disadvantage of lowering of discharge capacity. In this study, a deposition process for making Sn film which consists of amorphous structure for negative electrode of sodium ion secondary batteries utilizing electordeposition from aqueous bath was developed. The effect of additives on the surface morphology and microstructure of Sn film was investigated. Furthermore, we evaluated the effect of amorphous structure in the Sn film on cycle performance of the Sn negative electrode. Sn film has a good cycle characteristic (>50 cycles) and discharge capacity (> 400 mAh/g). Amorphous structure in the Sn film showed a microscopic effect on the volume change by sodiation and desodiation.

In the present work, sodium titanate nanotubes doped with potassium were synthesized by the Kasuga method and tested as catalysts for biodiesel production. Potassium was added to the nanotubes in order to increase their basicity and, consequently, improve their performance in the transesterification of soybean oil with methanol. In the synthesis, the NaOH:KOH molar ratio was changed from 9:1 to 7:3 in order to increase potassium loadings in the obtained nanotubular solids. Synthesized catalysts were characterized by N2 physisorption, powder XRD, scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), FT-IR, FT-Raman and CO2 temperature-programmed desorption (CO2-TPD). Obtained results showed that sodium trititanate nanotubes containing 1.5 wt. % of potassium were obtained when 10 M alkali solution with NaOH:KOH molar ratio of 9:1 was used. In this case, the proportion of sodium and potassium in the synthesized material was similar to that used in the synthesis. An increase in the proportion of KOH to 20 and 30 molar % in the NaOH-KOH solutions used in the synthesis allowed obtaining titanate nanotubes with larger potassium loadings (3.2 and 3.3 wt. %, respectively). As it was expected, potassium addition to the sodium titanate nanotubes resulted in an increase in the amount of medium and strong basic sites. Potassium-containing nanotubes showed higher catalytic activity in the transesterification reaction than the pure sodium counterpart used as a reference. The best results were obtained with the samples containing 3.2-3.3 wt. % of potassium where a biodiesel yield of about 94-96 % was obtained at 80 °C and 1 h reaction time.

Duel p-block element doped carbon nanomaterial is a new kind of metal-free bifunctional catalysts for fuel cells and metal-air batteries because of their low-cost and high efficiency compared to traditional noble metals and their alloys. To optimize co-doped catalysts, we studied the interactions of dopants on the doped graphene and their effect on oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). It is found that the interactions between N and X (P, B, S) occur within a distance of ∼0.5 nm, and beyond the distance their interactions are limited while the interactions between N and Cl take places beyond the distance of ∼0.5 nm.

PtCu nanoparticles were synthesized with different pH and support conditions using radiochemical process. The nanoparticle structures were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction techniques. The nanoparticle structure was relevant to the pH of the precursor solutions. The lattice parameter of PtCu alloy increased in high pH samples, which indicates the critical effect of metal ion adsorption in precursor solution on nanoparticle structure.

This study reports on the preparation of cobalt doped zinc oxide (Co:ZnO) films via pulsed electron beam ablation (PEBA) from a single target containing 20 w% Co on sapphire (0001) and silicon (100) substrates. The films have been deposited at various temperatures (350оC, 400оC, 450оC) and pulse frequencies (2 Hz, 4 Hz), under a background argon (Ar) pressure of about 3 mtorr, and an accelerating voltage of 14 kV. The surface morphology has been examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). According to SEM analysis, the films consist of nano-globules whose size is in the range of 80-178 nm. Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) reveals that deposition is congruent and the prepared films contain ∼20±5 w% cobalt. It has been found that the nano-globules in the deposited films are cobalt-rich zones containing ∼70 w% Co. From x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, Co 2p3/2 peaks indicate that the deposited films contain CoO (binding energy = 780.5 eV) as well as metallic Co (binding energy = 778.1-778.5 eV). X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis supports the presence of metallic Co hcp phase (2ϴ = 44.47° and 47.43°) in the films.

In order to enhance the photocatalytic efficiency of oxide semiconductors, variant processes have been proposed. The creation of the heterojunction composites has attracted considerable attentions and developed into an important research area for the high performance photocatalyst preparation. In this paper, we introduce the research progress on heterojunction composites which were prepared via a novel physical route with relatively high temperature treatments. It is hope that this mini-review can inspire research interest in the realm of heterojunction synthesis based on the thermal diffusion mechanism.

Development of a photoelectrochemical conversion device, operated at room temperature and ambient pressure with only ultraviolet radiation as an energy source is presented. We report a nanocomposite platform that combines a photocatalyst and an electrocatalyst capable of reducing gaseous Carbon Dioxide, without using external electricity. The composite catalyst produces Methane from Carbon Dioxide and atmospheric water vapor at an initial high conversion rate of 2596 μL of CH4 per gram of catalyst per hour, which is amongst the highest reported. Our new approach offers a versatile solution to reduce the rising level of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide where a source of light is available.