66 nanotimes News in Brief

The team created GMO while conducting research into the behavior of a hybrid nanomaterial engineered by J. Chen that consists of carbon nanotubes (essentially, graphene rolled into a cylinder) decorated with tin oxide nanoparticles. Chen uses his hybrid material to make high-performance, energy-efficient and inexpensive sensors.

http://alchemy.chem.uwm.edu/

Eric C. Mattson, Haihui Pu, Shumao Cui, Marvin A. Schofield, Sonny Rhim, Ganhua Lu, Michael J. Nasse, Rodney S. Ruoff, Michael Weinert, Marija Gajdardziska-Josifovska, Junhong Chen, and Carol J. Hirschmugl: Evidence of Nanocrystalline Semiconducting Graphene Monoxide during Thermal Reduction of Graphene Oxide in Vacuum, In: ACS Nano, Volume 5, Issue 12, December 27, 2011, Pages 9710-9717, DOI: 10.1021/nn203160n:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/nn203160n

The design of a nature-inspired material that can make energy-storing hydrogen gas has gone holistic. Usually, tweaking the design of this particular catalyst – a work in progress for cheaper, better fuel cells – results in either faster or more energy efficient production but not both. Now, researchers have found a condition that creates hydrogen faster without a loss in efficiency. And, holistically, it requires the entire system – the hydrogen-producing catalyst and the liquid environment in which it works – to overcome the speed-efficiency tradeoff. The results, published online June 8 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provide insights into making better materials for energy production.

"Our work shows that the liquid medium can improve the catalyst‘s performance," said chemist John Roberts of the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis at the Department of Energy‘s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. "It‘s an important step in the transformation of laboratory results into useable technology." The results also provide molecular details into how the catalytic material converts electrical energy into the chemical bonds between hydrogen atoms. This information will help the researchers build better catalysts.

Douglas H. Pool, Michael P. Stewart, Molly O‘Hagan, Wendy J. Shaw, John A. S. Roberts, R. Morris Bullock, and Daniel L. DuBois: An Acidic Ionic Liquid/Water Solution as Both Medium and Proton Source for Electrocatalytic H2 Evolution by [Ni(P2N2)2]2+ Complexes, In: PNAS Early Edition, June 8, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1120208109:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1120208109