Sharif Digital Repository

Nickel modified NiOOH electrodes were used for the electrocatalytic oxidation of ethanol in alkaline solutions. The electro-oxidation of ethanol in a 1 mol/L NaOH solution at different concentrations of ethanol was studied by ac impedance spectroscopy. Electrooxidation of ethanol on Ni shows negative resistance on impedance plots. The impedance shows different patterns at different applied anodic potential. The influence of the electrode potential on impedance was studied and a quantitative explanation for the impedance of ethanol oxidation was given by means of a proposed mathematical model. At potentials higher than 0.52 V(vs. Ag/AgCl), a pseudoinductive behavior was observed, but at those... 

Nickel-dimethylglyoxime complex (NiDMG) modified nickel electrode (Ni/NiDMG) showed a catalytic activity towards methanol oxidation in NaOH solution. The modified electrode prepared by the dimethylglyoxime anodic deposition on Ni electrode in the solution containing 0.20 mol L-1 NH4Cl + NH4OH (pH 9.50) and 1.0 × 10-4 mol L-1 dimethylglyoxime. The modified electrode conditioned by potential recycling in a potential range of 100-700 mV (vs. SCE) by cyclic voltammetry in alkaline medium (0.10 M NaOH). The results show that the NiODMG film on the electrode behaves as an efficient catalyst for the electrooxidation of methanol in alkaline medium via Ni(III) species formed on the electrode with the... 

Electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol on a nickel disc electrode coated with nickel dimethyglyoxime complex (NiDMG), conditioned by potential recycling in a potential range of 100-700 mV (versus SCE) is studied by cyclic voltammetry in alkaline medium (0.10 M NaOH). The results show that the NiODMG layer formed at the surface of electrode behaves as an efficient electrocatalyst for the oxidation of methanol in alkaline medium via Ni(III) species with the cross exchange reaction occurring through out the layer at a low concentration of methanol. A plausible mechanism was proposed for catalytic oxidation of methanol at this modified electrode. Moreover, the effects of various parameters such... 

Electrocatalytic activity of electrodeposited nanocrystalline CoNiFe alloy in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was studied in 1 M NaOH solution. The steady-state polarization measurement and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were used to determine the Tafel slope, the exchange current density and the activation energy. The simulation of the data obtained from these two methods, using a nonlinear fitting procedure, allowed us to determine the surface coverage and the rate constants associated with the mentioned reaction. The ac-impedance spectra measured at various overpotentials in the HER region exhibited three semicircles in the complex plane plots. The high-frequency semicircle was... 

The development of cheaper electrocatalysts for fuel cells is an important research area. This work proposes a new, simpler and low-cost approach to develop nanostructured silver electrocatalysts by using natural cellulose as a template. Silver was deposited by reduction of Ag complexes on the surface of cellulose fibers, followed by heat removal of the template to create self-standing nanostructured silver fibers (NSSFs). X-Ray diffraction (XRD) showed fcc silver phase and X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) demonstrated that the surface was partially oxidized. The morphology of the fibers consisted of 50 nm nanoparticles as the building blocks, and they possessed a specific surface area... 

Energy and environment crises motivated scientists to develop sustainable, renewable, and clean energy resources mainly based on solar hydrogen. For this purpose, one main challenge is the low cost flexible substrates for designing earth abundant efficient cocatalysts to reduce required water oxidation overpotential. Here, a systematic morphological and electrochemical study has been reported for cobalt oxide/hydroxide nanoflakes simply electrodeposited on four different commercially available substrates, titanium, copper sheet, steel mesh, and nickel foam. Remarkable dependence between the used substrate, morphology, and electrocatalytic properties of nanoflakes introduced flexible porous... 

Recently, three-dimensional carbon nanostructures have attracted significant attention for biosensing applications. We have prepared highly porous three-dimensional graphene (3DG) structures (90% porosity) by template-assisted chemical vapor deposition technique and enhanced their electrocatalytic activity through in situ electrochemical deposition of rose-like yttrium hexacyanoferrate particles on their struts. The 3DG structure has an average channel size of ∼500 μm, and the microflowers have lateral sizes in the range of 2-10 μm. The performance of the 3DG-based electrode in efficient detection of ascorbic acid was investigated after transferring on a gold screen printed electrode (SPE).... 

The first usage of dihexadecyl hydrogen phosphate (DHP)-modified highly oriented multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) forests in a sensor configuration was developed to investigate the electrochemical oxidation and determination of simvastatin (SV) in pharmaceutical dosage forms. Synthesis of well-aligned MWCNTs on a conductive Ta substrate by catalytic vapor deposition technique using a common chemical, ethylenediamine, and without being plasma-aided was reported. The electrochemical behavior and oxidation of SV at the aligned MWCNTs/DHP/Ta electrode were discussed in detail through cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. This modified electrode showed considerably higher... 

Electrodes made of group VIII and IB metals were examined for their redox process and electrocatalytic activities towards the oxidation of ethylene glycol in alkaline solutions. The method of cyclic voltammetery (CV) and Open circuit potentials measurement (OCP) was employed. It is found that considerable electrooxidation current are observed for silver and copper but lower anodic overpotential for oxidation is obtained for gold and platinum. Oxide layer produced on the surface of all electrodes in alkaline solution under anodic scan participates in ethylene glycol electrooxidation. Oxidation current observed in the reverse scans for platinum and gold are higher than those observed in... 

Electro-oxidation of alcohols (methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol and 2-propanol) on nickel dispersed into a thick layer of poly-o-aminophenol on graphite electrode (GE/POAP-SDS/Ni) was investigated. Ni-doping into the polymeric film was achieved chemically followed by enrichment of Ni(III) through cycling the potential. The electro-oxidation of alcohols on GE/POAP-SDS/Ni were found to be dominated by direct electro-oxidation with some contribution from Ni(II)/Ni(III) couple. Rate constants for the electro-oxidation of methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol and 2-propanol as derived by chronoamperometry were 1.65 × 105, 1.31 × 105, 2.53 × 104 and 1.40 × 104 cm3 mol-1 s-1, respectively. Impedance... 

The emergence of nanoscience and nanotechnology has opened up new horizons to researchers. In this regard, carbon nanomaterials are considered as the cornerstone of numerous investigations. Among various carbon nanostructures, “Carbon nanoparticles (CNPs)” have attracted a great deal of attention during the past few years due to their unique properties such as high surface area, non-toxicity, biocompatibility as well as simple and low-cost synthetic procedures via environmentally friendly routes. Thanks to these properties along with their interesting optical behavior, CNPs have found diverse applications in the fields of bioimaging, nanomedicine, photo/electro-catalysis, and bio/chemical... 

Electrochemical sensing performance of two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (2D h-BN) has traditionally been suppressed by their intrinsic electrical insulation and deficient electron transportation mechanism. However, the excellent electrocatalytic activity, high specific surface area, N- and B-active edges, structural defects, adjustable band gap through interaction with other nanomaterials, and chemical functionalization, makes 2D h-BN ideal for many sensing applications. Therefore, finding a pathway to modulate the electronic properties of 2D h-BN while the intrinsic characteristics are well preserved, will evolve a new generation of highly sensitive and selective electrochemical... 

Operation of solid oxide fuel/electrolysis cells (SOFC/SOEC) at high temperatures (T > 850 °C) is accompanied by degradation phenomena, which severely affect the operational lifetime of the cell. Degradation processes are expected to occur slower at low temperatures. However, significant reduction in electrocatalytic activity of the oxygen electrode, is one of the major challenges in decreasing the operating temperature down to 500 °C-650 °C. Recently, Pr6O11 infiltrated Ce0.9Gd0.1O2 (CGO) based electrodes have been proposed to realize high electrochemical performance at intermediate temperature. In this study, Pr-oxide has been infiltrated into a well performing sub-micro... 

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with its sluggish kinetics has imposed a significant barrier to the sustainable and green generation of hydrogen fuel (via electrolysis of water) and the development of metal-air batteries. In this study, we report an efficient and novel OER electrocatalyst based on NiSe2nanoparticles (NPs) and the naturally abundant halloysite clay mineral. The NiSe2/halloysite nanocomposite (NiSe2/H) was prepared by a simple one-step hydrothermal route. The electrocatalytic performance of the as-synthesized nanocomposite and its components (pristine NiSe2and halloysite) toward OER in 1.0 KOH solution was examined. The NiSe2/H nanocomposite exhibited a significantly... 

The development of active, durable, cost-effective, and stable electrocatalysts is an urgent need for various industrial fields including renewable energy systems. The state-of-the-art catalysts suffer from poor water splitting activity in alkaline media due to their sluggish kinetics, high cost, and scarcity on earth to be scaled up. Herein, we present an electrochemical analysis of a nanostructured electrocatalyst based on a face-centered cubic (FCC) copper-rich Cu-Ni-Fe-Cr-Co alloy with a quasi-spherical morphology electrodeposited on a highly porous nickel substrate. Electrochemical studies determine the enhanced electrocatalytic activity toward both hydrogen and oxygen reactions in an... 

Nickel modified graphite electrodes (G/Ni) prepared by galvanostatic deposition were examined for their redox process and electrocatalytic activities towards the oxidation of methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol and 2-propanol in alkaline solutions. The methods of cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) and impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were employed. In CV studies, the electrochemical response, peak current varied in the order of MeOH > EtOH > 1-PrOH > 2-PrOH. Under the CA regime, a higher catalytic rate constant obtained for methanol oxidation was in agreement with CV measurements. Lower charge transfer resistance was obtained for low carbon alcohols oxidation and significantly higher... 

Nickel and nickel-manganese alloy modified graphite electrodes (G/Ni and G/NiMn) prepared by galvanostatic deposition were examined for their redox process and electrocatalytic activities towards the oxidation of methanol in alkaline solutions. The methods of cyclic voltammetery (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) and impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were employed. In CV studies, in the presence of methanol NiMn alloy modified electrode shows a significantly higher response for methanol oxidation. The peak current of the oxidation of nickel hydroxide increase is followed by a decrease in the corresponding cathodic current in presence of methanol. The anodic peak currents show linear dependency upon the...