Traditional vanadium batteries use pure sulfuric acid as electrolyte, but H2SO4 does not absorb enough vanadium ions to make the electrolyte an efficient energy source. This study investigates the effect of hydroxylation process on electrochemical and operational properties of carbon felt electrode in VOSO4 solution with an optimized supporting electrolyte (a mixture of six parts HCl and 2.5 pa...

We report a novel type of WO3 nanostructure, i.e. nanorolls obtained as a self-assembled thin film on a transparent conductive substrate. The mild conditions of preparation, avoiding the use of HCl, result in an eco-friendly hydrothermal method with reduced crystallization time. FESEM and HR-TEM show that WO3 nanocrystals are made of rolled nanoflakes with a telescope-like appearance at their t...

We present a fast, novel method for building porous silicon-based silicon-on-insulator photonic crystals in which a periodic modulation of the refractive index is built by alternating different electrochemical etching currents. The morphology and reflectance spectra of the photonic crystals, prepared by the proposed method, are investigated. The scanning electron micrograph and atomic force mic...

A new method was developed for the preparation of ultramicroelectrodes (UMEs). In this method, a photo-curable fluorinated functionalized perfluoropolyether, a liquid v-like polymer at room temperature, is used as the material for the insulation of metal microwires or carbon fibers. The UMEs prepared by this method were usually conical shaped and could be used both in aqueous solutions and with...

Single electron transfer (SET)-triggered radical ion-based reactions have proven to be powerful options in synthetic organic chemistry. Although unique chain processes have been proposed in various photo- and electrochemical radical ion-based transformations, the turnover number, also referred to as catalytic efficiency, remains unclear in most cases. Herein, we disclose our investigations of r...

We demonstrate the ability to chemically transform bulk silicon into a nanotextured surface that exhibits excellent electrochemical stability in aqueous conditions for water photo-oxidation. Conformal defective graphene coatings on nanotextured silicon formed by thermal treatment enable over 50× corrosion resistance in aqueous electrolytes based upon Tafel analysis and impedance spectroscopy. T...

Open structure ZnO/CdSe core/shell nanoneedle arrays were prepared on a conducting glass (SnO2:F) substrate by solution deposition and electrochemical techniques. A uniform CdSe shell layer with a grain size of approximately several tens of nanometers was formed on the surface of ZnO nanoneedle cores after annealing at 400°C for 1.5 h. Fabricated solar cells based on these nanostructures exhibi...

An artificial zinc porphyrin-myoglobin-based photo-chemical energy conversion system, consisting of ZnPP-Mb or ZnPE(1)-Mb as a photosensitizer, NADP(+) as an electron acceptor, and triethanolamine as an electron donor, has been constructed to mimic photosystem I. The photoirradiated product is able to reduce a single-electron acceptor protein cytochrome c, but cannot catalyze the two-electron r...

Optoelectronic properties of hematite (α-Fe2O3) as a photoanode and the required over-potential in photo-assisted water splitting has been improved by presence of Co-Pi on its surface. In order to increase the lifetime of the photogenerated holes and lower the applied bias, cobalt-phosphate (Co-Pi) on nanostructured α-Fe2O3 by electrodeposition was de...