Ajaikumar Samikannu

Industrially benign super-compressible piezoresistive carbon foams with predefined wetting properties: from environmental to electrical applications

In the present work electrically conductive, flexible, lightweight carbon sponge materials derived from open-pore structure melamine foams are studied and explored. Hydrophobic and hydrophilic surface properties - depending on the chosen treatment conditions - allow the separation and storage of liquid chemical compounds. Activation of the carbonaceous structures substantially increases the specific surface area from ~4 m2g−1 to ~345 m2g−1, while retaining the original three-dimensional, open-pore structure suitable for hosting, for example, Ni catalyst nanoparticles. In turn the structure is rendered suitable for hydrogenating acetone to 2-propanol and methyl isobutyl ketone as well for growing hierarchical carbon nanotube structures used as electric double-layer capacitor electrodes with specific capacitance of ~40 F/g. Mechanical stress-strain analysis indicates the materials are super-compressible (>70% volume reduction) and viscoelastic with excellent damping behavior (loss of 0.69 ± 0.07), while piezoresistive measurements show very high gauge factors (from ~20 to 50) over a large range of deformations. The cost-effective, robust and scalable synthesis - in conjunction with their fascinating multifunctional utility - makes the demonstrated carbon foams remarkable competitors with other three-dimensional carbon materials typically based on pyrolyzed biopolymers or on covalently bonded graphene and carbon nanotube frameworks.

TiO2 nanoparticles vs. TiO2 nanowires as support in hydrogen peroxide direct synthesis: the influence of N and Au doping

The performance of Pd on titania support were evaluated in the direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide. The equipment used was a high pressure, semi-batch apparatus equipped with a special injection ...

Efficient C–C coupling of bio-based furanics and carbonyl compounds to liquid hydrocarbon precursors over lignosulfonate derived acidic carbocatalysts

This paper demonstrates the catalytic potential of novel Na-lignosulfonate (LS) derived meso/macroporous solid protonic acids upon C–C coupling of bio-based furanics and carbonyl compounds. The mat ...

Reaction Network upon One-pot Catalytic Conversion of Pulp

Nordic sulphite and sulphate (Kraft) cellulose originating from Nordic pulp mills were used as raw materials in the catalytic synthesis of green platform chemicals, levulinic and formic acids, resp ...