AbstractsChemistry

Synthesis and characterization ofcontrolled metal nanostructures forelectrochemical applications

by Nguyet Doan




Institution: Aalto University
Department:
Year: 2016
Posted: 02/05/2017
Record ID: 2067142
Full text PDF: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/22392


Abstract

Metal nanoparticles synthesed by using wet chemical route and nanostructures by electrodeposition has attracted much attention because their properties differ from those of the same material in bulk form and the ease of the electrodeposition method which allows control of the film thickness.These nanostructures have numerous potential applications in various areas such as biomedical sciences, electrodes, optics, magnetism, energy storage and electrochemistry. In the first part of this thesis, synthesis and properties of cobalt and gold nanoparticles were studied. In order to investigate their size distribution and oxidation with different capping ligands, cobalt nanoparticles were synthesized with the decomposition method. Tridodecyl amine stabilized Co nanoparticles with different sizes (8, 22, and 36 nm) were prepared by thermal decomposition of Co2(CO)8 in dodecane, and e.g. particles with an average diameter of 8 nm and a standard deviation of 8 % were obtained. The oxidation of different sized cobalt nanoparticles was studied. The particles capped with carboxylic acid had become hollow and oxidized throughout, while the tridodecyl amine capped ones appeared to have a small core surrounded by oxidized shell. Gold nanoparticles were used as probes to visualize the surface density of functional molecules on silica. The second part of this thesis was focused on preparing nanostructures and mesostructures using an electrodeposition method. Zn/ZnO macroporous films were synthesized via electrodeposition using polystyrene spheres as a template. Subsequent oxidation of the films at elevated temperature yielded structured ZnO films. The results of this work showed that high quality templated Zn and ZnO films can be electrodeposited from ionic liquid onto both semiconductor (ITO) and metallic (Au) substrates. Pt mesoporous films were synthesized via electrodeposition using a liquid crystalline template method. Mesoporous Pt and [email protected]/* */ were electrodeposited using both galvanostatic and potentiostatic methods from liquid crystal templates resulting in Pt structures with pores in the 3-5 nm size range. The [email protected]/* */ electrocatalyst was shown to have a high potential for direct ethanol fuel cells. Pt mesostructures were applied in fuel cells as anodes. Polarization and power curves for both the commercial Pt and the electrodeposited mesoporous Pt at different temperatures (30 ° C, 50 °C and 70 °C) were studied, showing an increase in the performance with the temperature. All the mesoporous samples showed better or similar performance in the direct ethanol fuel cell in comparison with the commercial Pt sample.; Metallinanopartikkelien synteesi kemiallisesti ja nanorakenteiden valmistaminen sähkösaostuksella on kiinnostanut tutkijoita, koska nanopartikkelien ominaisuudet eroavat saman aineen bulkkimateriaalista ja koska sähkökemiallisen menetelmän avulla on helppoa kontrolloida sähkösaostetun filmin paksuutta. Näitä nanorakenteita voidaan käyttää monissa sovelluksissa kuten mm. elektrodeina, optisissa, magneettisissa ja…