In this paper, we report on a multifunctional battery assembly, which possesses abalanced combination of energy storage capability and resistance to electricalfailure under mechanical impact loading. The Granular Battery Assembly (GBA)presented here exhibits a mechanical response that emerges from features ofgranular and cellular media. We demonstrate that for the specific GBA embodimentconsidered in the present study, the electrical reliability following amechanical loading event is substantively increased compared to that of plainbattery cells. The increased reliability is due to the sacrificial materialelements interspersed between the battery units, attributing energy absorptionand local stress limiting.

A paradigm for the synthetic manipulation of composition and crystallite size ofbimetallic composites via a low-temperature, aqueous co-precipitation techniqueemploying non-stoichiometric ratios of starting materials, AgNO3 andFe(NO3)3, is introduced. In-situ formation ofcomposites containing crystalline silver ferrite, AgFeO2, andnanocrystalline maghemite, γ-Fe2O3 isdemonstrated and established by Raman spectroscopic and X-ray absorptionanalyses. As a cathode, the lowest silver content composites exhibitedprofoundly improved electrochemical performance, with reversible capacitiesapproximately 100% higher relative to stoichiometric AgFeO2, anddemonstrate the lowest capacity fade.

Powders of La2O3 were mixed with mechanical ball-milling technique (MA) adding TiO2, to improve the electrochemical performance as a storage material. Microstructures, morphologies and electrochemical results were investigated using TEM, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Cyclic Voltammetry and Potentiodynamic studies. Results showed that, the samples with TiO2 content affected the capacity of response. The alloys exhibit a superior capacity and stability adding TiO2. The milling ball to powder weight ratio was kept 5 to 1 for all experimental runs. Milling intervals were 0, 2 and 4 hrs; using alternate cycles of 30 minutes milling and 30 min resting. The nanostructure TiO2 powder, improves the samples to design a better electrode. TiO2 has significant influence on electrochemical performance of electrodes. Electrochemical experiments were performed on ACM Instruments Gill AC and a typical three electrode setup was constructed to measure the electrochemical properties of the working electrode. Here, platinum was used as the counter electrode and calomel was used as the reference electrode. Structures of the samples were analyzed by digital image tools.

Carbon monofluoride (CFx) has been extensively used as a reliablecathode material in lithium primary batteries because of its high energy densityand long shelf life. However, the implementation of Li/ CFx batteriesin high-power applications is limited by the low power capability resulting fromthe insulative nature of CFx material. In this work, we incorporatedmulti-walled carbon nanotubes into CFx electrodes and studied theimpact on the electrochemical performances when CNTs were used as a conductiveadditive material and current collector substrate. Our work demonstrated thepromising utilization of CNTs in CFx electrodes in improving thepractical capacity and power capability of Li/ CFx batteries.

Tin(Sn) and its alloys have been attracting attentions as a negative electrodematerial for sodium-ion secondary batteries with high theoretical capacity(Na15Sn4, ca. 847 mAh/g) and highelectromotiveforce. There still remains the issue as regards the dischargecapacity decrease with increasing the number of cycles. In order to improvecycle performance, there are many studies such as using Sn-Ni alloy, however,using Sn based alloy as negative electrode materials and it suffer from thedisadvantage of lowering of discharge capacity. In this study, a depositionprocess for making Sn film which consists of amorphous structure for negativeelectrode of sodium ion secondary batteries utilizing electordeposition fromaqueous bath was developed. The effect of additives on the surface morphologyand microstructure of Sn film was investigated. Furthermore, we evaluated theeffect of amorphous structure in the Sn film on cycle performance of the Snnegative electrode. Sn film has a good cycle characteristic (>50cycles) and discharge capacity (> 400 mAh/g). Amorphous structure inthe Sn film showed a microscopic effect on the volume change by sodiation anddesodiation.

In the present work, sodium titanate nanotubes doped with potassium weresynthesized by the Kasuga method and tested as catalysts for biodieselproduction. Potassium was added to the nanotubes in order to increase theirbasicity and, consequently, improve their performance in the transesterificationof soybean oil with methanol. In the synthesis, the NaOH:KOH molar ratio waschanged from 9:1 to 7:3 in order to increase potassium loadings in the obtainednanotubular solids. Synthesized catalysts were characterized by N2physisorption, powder XRD, scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX), transmissionelectron microscopy (TEM), FT-IR, FT-Raman and CO2temperature-programmed desorption (CO2-TPD). Obtained results showedthat sodium trititanate nanotubes containing 1.5 wt. % of potassium wereobtained when 10 M alkali solution with NaOH:KOH molar ratio of 9:1 was used. Inthis case, the proportion of sodium and potassium in the synthesized materialwas similar to that used in the synthesis. An increase in the proportion of KOHto 20 and 30 molar % in the NaOH-KOH solutions used in the synthesis allowedobtaining titanate nanotubes with larger potassium loadings (3.2 and 3.3 wt. %,respectively). As it was expected, potassium addition to the sodium titanatenanotubes resulted in an increase in the amount of medium and strong basicsites. Potassium-containing nanotubes showed higher catalytic activity in thetransesterification reaction than the pure sodium counterpart used as areference. The best results were obtained with the samples containing 3.2-3.3wt. % of potassium where a biodiesel yield of about 94-96 % was obtained at 80°C and 1 h reaction time.

Duel p-block element doped carbon nanomaterial is a new kind of metal-freebifunctional catalysts for fuel cells and metal-air batteries because of theirlow-cost and high efficiency compared to traditional noble metals and theiralloys. To optimize co-doped catalysts, we studied the interactions of dopantson the doped graphene and their effect on oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) andoxygen evolution reaction (OER). It is found that the interactions between N andX (P, B, S) occur within a distance of ∼0.5 nm, and beyond thedistance their interactions are limited while the interactions between N and Cltake places beyond the distance of ∼0.5 nm.

PtCu nanoparticles were synthesized with different pH and support conditionsusing radiochemical process. The nanoparticle structures were characterized bytransmission electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma atomic emissionspectrometry, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction techniques.The nanoparticle structure was relevant to the pH of the precursor solutions.The lattice parameter of PtCu alloy increased in high pH samples, whichindicates the critical effect of metal ion adsorption in precursor solution onnanoparticle structure.

This study reports on the preparation of cobalt doped zinc oxide (Co:ZnO) filmsvia pulsed electron beam ablation (PEBA) from a single target containing 20 w%Co on sapphire (0001) and silicon (100) substrates. The films have beendeposited at various temperatures (350оC,400оC, 450оC) and pulsefrequencies (2 Hz, 4 Hz), under a background argon (Ar) pressure of about 3mtorr, and an accelerating voltage of 14 kV. The surface morphology has beenexamined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM). According to SEM analysis, the films consist of nano-globules whose sizeis in the range of 80-178 nm. Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) revealsthat deposition is congruent and the prepared films contain∼20±5 w% cobalt. It has been found that the nano-globules inthe deposited films are cobalt-rich zones containing ∼70 w% Co. Fromx-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, Co 2p3/2 peaksindicate that the deposited films contain CoO (binding energy = 780.5eV) as well as metallic Co (binding energy = 778.1-778.5 eV). X-raydiffraction (XRD) analysis supports the presence of metallic Co hcp phase(2ϴ = 44.47° and 47.43°) in the films.

In order to enhance the photocatalytic efficiency of oxide semiconductors,variant processes have been proposed. The creation of the heterojunctioncomposites has attracted considerable attentions and developed into an importantresearch area for the high performance photocatalyst preparation. In this paper,we introduce the research progress on heterojunction composites which wereprepared via a novel physical route with relatively high temperature treatments.It is hope that this mini-review can inspire research interest in the realm ofheterojunction synthesis based on the thermal diffusion mechanism.

Development of a photoelectrochemical conversion device, operated at roomtemperature and ambient pressure with only ultraviolet radiation as an energysource is presented. We report a nanocomposite platform that combines aphotocatalyst and an electrocatalyst capable of reducing gaseous Carbon Dioxide,without using external electricity. The composite catalyst produces Methane fromCarbon Dioxide and atmospheric water vapor at an initial high conversion rate of2596 μL of CH4 per gram of catalyst per hour, which isamongst the highest reported. Our new approach offers a versatile solution toreduce the rising level of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide where a source of light isavailable.