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At least 343 records · Page 19

Correlation of Fabrication Methods and Enhanced Wear Performance in Nanoporous Anodic Aluminum Oxide with Incorporated Molybdenum Disulfide (MoS 2 ) Nanomaterials

Wear performance is integral to component longevity, minimizing industrial waste and excess energy costs in a wide variety of applications. Anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) has many beneficial properties leading to its wide use across industries as a surface treatment for many aluminum components, but the wear properties of the coating could be improved significantly. Here, we used an electrochemical method to incorporate molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ), a nanomaterial used as a dry lubricant, to modify alloys of aluminum during AAO preparation. Using Raman spectroscopy and tribological scratch measurements, we thoroughly characterized the structure and wear behavior of the films. The MoS 2 deposition procedure was optimal on aluminum 5052 anodized in higher acid concentrations, with friction coefficients at around 0.05 (~10× better than unmodified AAO). Changing anodization conditions to produce harder films with smaller pores led to worsened wear properties, likely because of lower MoS 2 content. Studying a commercial MoS 2 /AAO film of a different Al alloy (7075) showed that a heat treatment step intended to fully convert all deposited MoS x species to MoS 2 can adversely affect wear in some alloys. While Al 6061 and 1100 produced films with worse wear performance compared to Al 5052 or 7075, our results show evidence that acid cleaning after initial anodization likely removes residual alloying elements, affecting MoS 2 incorporation. This study demonstrates a nanomaterial modified AAO film with superior wear characteristics to unmodified AAO and relates fabrication procedure, film structure, and practical performance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Replication Data for: Stabilization of a nanoporous NiCu dilute alloy catalyst for non-oxidative ethanol dehydrogenation

The data underlying this published work have been made publicly available in this repository as part of the IMASC Data Management Plan. This work was supported as part of the Integrated Mesoscale Architectures for Sustainable Catalysis (IMASC), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award # DE-SC0012573.

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Replication Data for: Exploiting the Liquid Phase to Enhance the Cross-Coupling of Alcohols over Nanoporous Gold Catalysts

The data underlying this published work have been made publicly available in this repository as part of the IMASC Data Management Plan. This work was supported as part of the Integrated Mesoscale Architectures for Sustainable Catalysis (IMASC), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award # DE-SC0012573.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Nanoporous separators for batteries and related manufacturing methods

Provided is a lithium battery, wherein the battery comprises an anode, a cathode, wherein the cathode comprises one or more transition metals, an electrolyte, and a porous separator interposed between the cathode and anode, wherein the separator comprises an anionic compound. Also provided are methods of manufacturing such batteries.

Carlson, Steven A.↗

Nanoporous separators for batteries and related manufacturing methods

Provided is a lithium battery, wherein the battery comprises an anode, a cathode, wherein the cathode comprises one or more transition metals, an electrolyte, and a porous separator interposed between the cathode and anode, wherein the separator comprises an anionic compound. Also provided are methods of manufacturing such batteries.

Carlson, Steven A.↗

Nanopore device for reversible ion and molecule sensing or migration

Disclosed are methods and devices for detection of ion migration and binding, utilizing a nanopipette adapted for use in an electrochemical sensing circuit. The nanopipette may be functionalized on its interior bore with metal chelators for binding and sensing metal ions or other specific binding molecules such as boronic acid for binding and sensing glucose. Such a functionalized nanopipette is comprised in an electrical sensor that detects when the nanopipette selectively and reversibly binds ions or small molecules. Also disclosed is a nanoreactor, comprising a nanopipette, for controlling precipitation in aqueous solutions by voltage-directed ion migration, wherein ions may be directed out of the interior bore by a repulsing charge in the bore.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Water-Assisted Proton Transport in Confined Nanochannels

Hydrated excess protons under hydrophobic confinement are a critical component of charge transport behavior and reactivity in nanoporous materials and biomolecular systems. In this study, excess proton confinement effects are computationally investigated for sub-2 nm hydrophobic nanopores by varying the diameters (d = 0.81, 0.95, 1.09, 1.22, 1.36, 1.63, and 1.90 nm), lengths (l ~3 and ~5 nm), curvature, and chirality of cylindrical carbon nanotube (CNT) nanopores. CNTs with a combination of different diameter segments are also explored. The spatial distribution of water molecules under confinement is diameter-dependent; however, proton solvation and transport are consistently found to occur in the water layer adjacent to the pore wall, showing an “amphiphilic” character of the hydrated excess proton hydronium-like structure. The proton transport free energy barrier also decreases significantly as the nanopore diameter increases and proton transport becomes almost barrierless in the d > 1 nm nanopores. Among the nanopores studied, the Zundel cation (H 5 O 2 + ) is populated only in the d = 0.95 nm CNT (7,7) nanopore. The presence of the hydrated excess proton and K + inside the CNT (7,7) nanopore induces a water density increase by 40 and 20%, respectively. The K + transport through CNT nanopores is also consistently higher in the free energy barrier than proton transport. Interestingly, the evolution of excess protonic charge defect distribution reveals a “frozen” single water wire configuration in the d = 0.81 nm CNT (6,6) nanopore (or segment), through which hydrated excess protons can only shuttle via the Grotthuss mechanism. Vehicular diffusion becomes relevant to proton transport in the “flat” free energy regions and in the wider nanopores, where protons do not primarily shuttle in the axial direction.

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Single-Molecule Tracking Measurements Reveal the Detailed Mechanisms of Molecular Diffusion in Solvent Mixtures under Nanoconfinement

Understanding mass transport mechanisms in nanopores is important for developing advanced materials for chemical separations, chemical sensing, and energy storage. This paper reports a novel imaging platform that is employed for the first time to investigate the detailed diffusion dynamics of single rhodamine B (RhB) dye molecules confined within solution-filled cylindrical anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) nanopores. The imaging platform relies on illumination of horizontally-oriented AAO nanopores in a highly inclined and laminated optical (HILO) light sheet microscopy geometry. The method was used to investigate the translational and orientational dynamics of single rhodamine B (RhB) molecules within horizontally-oriented 5- and 10-nm diameter AAO nanopores filled with water–ethanol mixtures. The established platform enabled the observation of one-dimensional motion along the pore axis involving occasional short- or long-term immobilization at the single-molecule level. Analysis of cumulative squared-displacement distributions revealed fast (5 – 30 µm²/s), intermediate (1 – 5 µm²/s), and slow (< 1 µm²/s) diffusion components. From the effects of mixture composition and pore size on the contributions of these three components, we inferred that the fast, intermediate, and slow components could be assigned to desorption-mediated hopping, crawling, and wiggling motions, respectively. The platform based on the horizontally-oriented AAO nanopores also permitted single-molecule emission polarization measurements that revealed the negligible steric confinement of individual diffusing RhB molecules within the AAO nanopores. The imaging platform based on AAO membranes and HILO microscopy provided a unique means to investigate how solvation-mediated surface interactions and nanoconfinement govern molecular transport in nanoporous environments.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗