Sharif Digital Repository

Bioactivity of Escherichia coli bacteria (as a simple model for microorganisms) and interaction of them with the environment were controlled by their capturing within aggregated graphene nanosheets. The oxygen-containing functional groups of chemically exfoliated single-layer graphene oxide nanosheets were reduced by melatonin as a biocompatible antioxidant. While each one of the graphene (oxide) suspension and melatonin solution did not separately show any considerable inactivation effects on the bacteria, aggregation of the sheets in the melatonin-bacterial suspension resulted in trapping the bacteria within the aggregated sheets, i.e., a kind of inactivation. The bacteria trapped within... 

Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) fabricated using electron beam lithography are investigated using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) with a spatial resolution of 5 nm under ambient conditions. High-resolution TERS imaging reveals a structurally modified 5-10 nm strip of disordered graphene at the edge of the GNRs. Furthermore, hyperspectral TERS imaging discovers the presence of nanoscale organic contaminants on the GNRs. These results pave the way for nanoscale chemical and structural characterisation of graphene-based devices using TERS. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021  

Synthesizing efficient electrode materials for water splitting and supercapacitors is essential for developing clean electrochemical energy conversion/storage devices. In the present work, we report the construction of a ruthenium cobalt oxide (RuCo2O4)/Ti3C2Tx MXene hybrid by electrophoretic deposition of Ti3C2Tx MXene on nickel foam (NF) followed by RuCo2O4 nanostructure growth through an electrodeposition process. Owing to the strong interactions between RuCo2O4 and Ti3C2Tx sheets, which are verified by density functional theory (DFT)-based simulations, RuCo2O4/Ti3C2Tx MXene@NF can serve as a bifunctional electrode for both water splitting and supercapacitor applications. This electrode... 

The wide utilization of nanomanipulation as a promising approach in microorganisms, nanoelectromechanical systems, and assembly of nanostructures remarks the importance of nanostructures' motion in electric fields. Here, we study the rotational dynamics of metallic and non-metallic nanowires (NWs) in a static uniform electric field in viscous dielectric liquids. For metallic NWs, it has been theoretically shown that the electric field-induced rotation is practically independent of the geometrical dimensions and the electrical properties of NWs. Our experimental results for suspended silver (Ag) NWs in microscope oil are perfectly in agreement with this model. However, in the case of TiO2... 

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides are promising candidates of photodetectors where they are commonly grown parallel to the substrate due to their 2D characteristics in micrometer scales from exfoliation of bulk crystals or through high temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods. In this study, semi-hexagonal vertical nanosheets of SnS2 layered have been fabricated on FTO substrate without using Sn source through CVD method at relatively low temperature (500 °C). Due to exceptional band alignment of triple cation lead perovskite (TCLP) with semi-hexagonal SnS2 nanosheets, an improved photodetector has been fabricated. This type of photodetectors fabricated through... 

In this study, graphene oxide fibers are introduced as new graphene oxide (GO) membranes with the capability of ion selectivity. Graphene oxide fibers, like other macro structured membranes, are always associated with cavities and defects. To solve this problem, a 50% combination of graphene oxide suspension including small sheets with an average size of ~ 0.5 µm2 and large sheets with an area of more than 10 µm2 was used. According to the morphological results of scanning electron microscopy, as well as the amount of ionic transport through the fiber, reduction of cavities and its defects were confirmed. Moreover, it was found that ionic current through fibers consist of large and small GO... 

Due to the favorable properties of two-dimensional materials such as SnS2, with an energy gap in the visible light spectrum, and InSe, with high electron mobility, the combination of them can create a novel platform for electronic and optical devices. Herein, we study a tunable gain SnS2/InSe Van der Waals heterostructure photodetector. SnS2 crystals were synthesized by chemical vapor transport method and characterized using X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The exfoliated SnS2 and InSe layers were transferred on the substrate. This photodetector presents photoresponsivity from 14 mA/W up to 740 mA/W and detectivity from 2.2 × 108 Jones up to 3.35 × 109 Jones by gate modulation from... 

TiO2-graphene (TiO2-GR) nanocomposites were synthesized using photocatalytic reduction method. TiO2-GR nanocomposites were thereafter doped with noble metals (Pt and Pd) by chemical reduction of the corresponding cations. The samples were characterized by different techniques. The addition of GR to TiO2 decreases the crystalline size of TiO2 due to the homogeneous dispersion of the TiO2 nanoparticles on GR sheets and prevention of coagulation of TiO2 nanoparticles during synthesis process. In addition, the surface area of TiO2 was increased by addition of GR and deposition of noble metals which helps to prevent agglomeration of graphene sheets and TiO 2 nanoparticles. Red shifts to the... 

Efficient utilization of solar energy as the cleanest and most plentiful natural resource for drinking water is a water is as sustianble and environmental friendly approach to obviate long-standing water scarcity. Carbon-based photothermal absorbers due to broadband light absorption are very interesting in interfacial solar steam generation systems. Herein, we investigate the convenient application of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets with carbon black (CB) nanoparticles on the cotton fabric as a flexible texture-based photothermal absorber. Polyurethane (PU) as a self-floating insulator foam was selected to manage the energy loss and preserve light converted to heat on the fabric... 

There is a long-standing question about the molecular configuration of interfacial water molecules in the proximity of solid surfaces, particularly carbon atoms, which plays a crucial role in electrochemistry and biology. In this study, the dielectric, structural, and dynamical properties of confined water placed between two parallel graphene walls at different interdistances from the angstrom scale to a few tens of nanometer have been investigated using molecular dynamics. For the dielectric properties of water, we show that the dielectric constant of the perpendicular component of water drastically decreases under sub-2-nm spatial confinement. The dielectric constant data obtained through... 

There is a long-standing question about the molecular configuration of interfacial water molecules in the proximity of solid surfaces, particularly carbon atoms, which plays a crucial role in electrochemistry and biology. In this study, the dielectric, structural, and dynamical properties of confined water placed between two parallel graphene walls at different interdistances from the angstrom scale to a few tens of nanometer have been investigated using molecular dynamics. For the dielectric properties of water, we show that the dielectric constant of the perpendicular component of water drastically decreases under sub-2-nm spatial confinement. The dielectric constant data obtained through... 

We report an approach for collecting, charging, and exceedingly fast motion of silver nanowires (Ag NWs) using an external static electric field. With a proper choice of suspension medium, dispersed Ag NWs can be efficiently driven to align and accumulate vertically on the edges of two parallel gold microelectrodes on a glass substrate surface by dielectrophoresis. Then, at sufficiently high electric fields (> 2.0 × 10 5 V/m), these NWs break at the electrode contact point while carrying some net charge. Afterwards, they immediately accelerate in the field direction and, despite an extremely low Reynolds number for the motion of NWs in viscous liquids, move with high speeds (> 25 mm/s)... 

In the field of energy storage by high-rate supercapacitors, there has been an upper limit for the total interfacial capacitance of carbon-based materials. This upper limit originates from both quantum and electric double-layer capacitances. Surpassing this limit has been the focus of intense research in this field. Here, we precisely investigate the effect of chemical functional groups and physical confinement on the electrochemical performance of graphene nanoribbons. We present the results of a quasi-one-dimensional single-layer graphene nanoribbon (120 nm in width and -100 μm in length) microelectrode fabricated by mechanical exfoliation of graphite, followed by electron beam lithography... 

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... 

Enhancing the photoresponse of single-layered semiconductor materials is a challenge for high-performance photodetectors due to atomically thickness and limited quantum efficiency of these devices. Band engineering in heterostructure of transition metal chalcogenides (TMDs) can sort out part of this challenge. Here, we address this issue by utilizing the plasmonics phenomenon to enrich the optoelectronics property of the WSe2/MoS2 heterojunction and further enhancement of photoresponse. The introduced approach presents a contamination-free, tunable and efficient way to improve light interactions with heterojunction devices. The results showed a 3600-fold enhancement in photoresponsivity and... 

TiO2 nanoparticles were physically attached to chemically synthesized single-layer graphene oxide nanosheets deposited between Au electrodes in order to investigate the electrical, chemical, and structural properties of the TiO2/graphene oxide composition exposed to UV irradiation. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that after effective photocatalytic reduction of the graphene oxide sheets by the TiO2 nanoparticles in ethanol, the carbon content of the reduced graphene oxides gradually decreased by increasing the irradiation time, while no considerable variation was detected in the reduction level of the reduced sheets. Raman spectroscopy indicated that, at first, the photocatalytic... 

Ion-exchange membrane-based reverse electrodialysis (RED) shows great potential for harvesting osmotic energy from seawater and converting it to electricity. However, their low energy conversion efficiency and huge ionic resistance hinder their application on large scales. The implementation of nanofluidic channels in RED devices can significantly improve the performance of osmotic power generators due to their selective and fast ion transport. However, technical challenges in scalable processing at the nanoscale and ion-selective membranes restrict their development in economically viable generators. Here, we report fibrous-based channels as positively and negatively charged MXene fibers... 

The development of a nonenzymatic glucose sensor working in real human body conditions through a noninvasive sampling approach has attracted considerable attention. Hence, this work focuses on the development of a new nonenzymatic glucose sensor based on flower-like Au nanostructures (F-AuNTs) and graphene oxide (GO) as a supporting matrix. The F-AuNTs-GO hybrid was synthesized by simple drop casting of the GO suspension onto the graphite sheet (GS) followed by electrodeposition of F-AuNTs on GO nanosheets at 3 V in a two-electrode system. The electrocatalytic activity of the F-AuNTs-GO/GS sensor toward glucose electrooxidation was initially evaluated in a 0.1 M buffer phosphate solution (pH... 

The controlled growth of metal oxide nanostructures within hierarchically porous conductive carbon-based frameworks is critically important to achieving high volumetric performance and appropriate channel size for energy storage applications. Herein, we grow cobalt oxide (Co3O4) nanoflakes, using a sequential-electrodeposition process, into spherically porous sponge-like few-layer partially reduced graphene oxide (SrGO) synthesized by template-directed ordered assembly. Maximum specific/volumetric capacitances of 1112 F gCo3O4-1 (at 3.3 A gCo3O4-1), 178 F cm-3 (at 2.6 A cm-2), and 406 F gtotal-1 (at 1 A gtotal-1) and sensible rate capability (80% retention by increasing the charge/discharge... 

Decoding behavioral aspects associated with the water molecules in confined spaces such as an interlayer space of two-dimensional nanosheets is key for the fundamental understanding of water-matter interactions and identifying unexpected phenomena of water molecules in chemistry and physics. Although numerous studies have been conducted on the behavior of water molecules in confined spaces, their reach stops at the properties of the planar ice-like formation, where van der Waals interactions are the predominant interactions and many questions on the confined space such as the possibility of electron exchange and excitation state remain unsettled. We used density functional theory and...