The ability to tune the molecular interaction electronically can have profound impact on wide-ranging scientific frontiers in catalysis, chemical and biological sensor development, and the understanding of key biological processes. Despite that electrochemistry is routinely used to probe redox reactions involving loss or gain of electrons, electrical probing and tuning of the weaker noncovalent...

We present a modeling scheme to analyze cagelike silica mesoporous crystals based on in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) data collected during gas adsorption-desorption (physisorption) processes. Nitrogen physisorption on a silica mesoporous crystal of SBA-16 was directly monitored by using synchrotron in situ powder XRD measurements conducted at SPring-8. SBA-16 is a well-ordered mesoporous silica...

Detection of individual molecular adsorption, which represents the ultimate resolution of gas sensing, has rarely been realized with solid-state devices. So far, only a few studies have reported detection of individual adsorption by measuring the variation of electronic transport stemming from the charge transfer of adsorbate. We report room-temperature detection of the individual physisorption...

Raman spectroscopy and Raman imaging were used to examine several types of carbon electrode materials, including glassy carbon (GC) and highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). Variations in the intensity ratio of the D and E2g Raman bands across the carbon surface indicated varying carbon microstructure. The D/E2g ratio for polished GC and pyrolytic graphite edge (PG) was relatively constant,...

Many methods have been proposed for efficient storage of molecular hydrogen for fuel cell applications. However, despite intense research efforts, the twin U.S. Department of Energy goals of 6.5% mass ratio and 62 kg/m3 volume density has not been achieved either experimentally or via theoretical simulations on reversible model systems. Carbon-based materials, such as carbon nanotubes, have alw...

Interaction between hydrogen molecules and bare as well as functionalized single-wall carbon nanotubes SWNT is investigated using first-principles plane wave method. It is found that the binding energy of the H2 physisorbed on the outer surface of the bare SWNT is very weak, and cannot be enhanced significantly either by increasing the curvature of the surface through radial deformation, or by ...

We investigate the capability of low-coordinated sites on small model clusters to act as active centers for hydrogen storage. A set of small magic clusters with the formula (XY)6 (X = Mg, Ba, Be, Zn, Cd, Na, Li, B and Y = O, Se, S, F, I, N) and a "drumlike" hexagonal shape showing a low coordination number of three was screened. Oxide clusters turned out to be the most promising candidates for ...