Claudia Narvaez Villarrubia

Self-feeding paper based biofuel cell/self-powered hybrid μ-supercapacitor integrated system.

For the first time, a paper based enzymatic fuel cell is used as self-recharged supercapacitor. In this supercapacitive enzymatic fuel cell (SC-EFC), the supercapacitive features of the electrodes are exploited to demonstrate high power output under pulse operation. Glucose dehydrogenase-based anode and bilirubin oxidase-based cathode were assembled to a quasi-2D capillary-driven microfluidic system. Capillary flow guarantees the continuous supply of glucose, cofactor and electrolytes to the anodic enzyme and the gas-diffusional cathode design provides the passive supply of oxygen to the catalytic layer of the electrode. The paper-based cell was self-recharged under rest and discharged by high current pulses up to 4mAcm(-2). The supercapacitive behavior and low equivalent series resistance of the cell permitted to achieve up to a maximum power of 0.87mWcm(-2) (10.6mW) for pulses of 0.01s at 4mAcm(-2). This operation mode allowed the system to achieve at least one order of magnitude higher current/power generation compared to the steady state operation.

Active bialkali photocathodes on free-standing graphene substrates

The hexagonal structure of graphene gives rise to the property of gas impermeability, motivating its investigation for a new application: protection of semiconductor photocathodes in electron accelerators. These materials are extremely susceptible to degradation in efficiency through multiple mechanisms related to contamination from the local imperfect vacuum environment of the host photoinjector. Few-layer graphene has been predicted to permit a modified photoemission response of protected photocathode surfaces, and recent experiments of single-layer graphene on copper have begun to confirm these predictions for single crystal metallic photocathodes. Unlike metallic photoemitters, the integration of an ultra-thin graphene barrier film with conventional semiconductor photocathode growth processes is not straightforward. A first step toward addressing this challenge is the growth and characterization of technologically relevant, high quantum efficiency bialkali photocathodes on ultra-thin free-standing graphene substrates. Photocathode growth on free-standing graphene provides the opportunity to integrate these two materials and study their interaction. Specifically, spectral response features and photoemission stability of cathodes grown on graphene substrates are compared to those deposited on established substrates. In addition, we observed an increase of work function for the graphene encapsulated bialkali photocathode surfaces, which is predicted by our calculations. The results provide a unique demonstration of bialkali photocathodes on free-standing substrates, and indicate promise towards our goal of fabricating high-performance graphene encapsulated photocathodes with enhanced lifetime for accelerator applications.Graphene in accelerator technology: A new material for enhanced photocathode performance and lifetimeGraphene has shown potential to unlock new capabilities of electron sources and other aspects of accelerator technology. This report focuses on integrating graphene with high performance photocathodes with the goal of extending lifetime by thousands of hours.Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA, and colleagues succeeded in growth of chemically susceptible photocathodes on free-standing graphene substrates while maintaining state-of-the-art performance. Successful growth on graphene is a critical step toward a material-centric approach to photocathode design: enhancing lifetime without compromising efficiency or other performance metrics. Graphene, an atomically thin sheet of carbon, is an emerging material that has inspired new cathode design capabilities, including heterostructuring, resonant tunneling, and impermeable gas barriers. Conventional photocathode materials have no performance regimes. The next step is complete graphene encapsulation of photocathode films and demonstration of lifetime enhancement in the operating environment of accelerator facilities.

Single layer graphene protective gas barrier for copper photocathodes

Photocathodes can benefit from a thin protection layer and attain long-term stability. Graphene is potentially a good candidate for such application. We report direct growth of single-layer graphene on single crystal Cu(110) photocathodes using chemical vapor deposition and the effective protection of copper photocathodes with graphene against degradation under atmospheric conditions. Due to the interaction and charge transfer between graphene and copper, the graphene-protected cathodes have 0.25 eV lower work function and 17% higher quantum efficiency at 250 nm compared with bare Cu cathodes. The graphene coating can protect copper photocathodes from degradation for more than 20 min in an exposure to 200 Torr of air. The validation of graphene-photocathode compatibility opens a new route to the lifetime-extension for photocathodes.

Rational design of polyaromatic ionomers for alkaline membrane fuel cells with >1 W cm−2 power density

Alkaline membrane fuel cells (AMFCs) show great potential as alternative energy conversion devices to acidic proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Over the last decade, there has been significant progress in the development of alkaline-stable polyaromatic materials for membrane separators and ionomeric binders for AMFCs. However, the AMFC performance using polyaromatic ionomers is generally poor, ca. a peak power density of <400 mW cm−2. Here, we report a rational design for polyaromatic ionomers which can minimize undesirable phenyl group interaction with hydrogen oxidation catalysts. The AMFC using a newly designed aryl ether-free poly(fluorene) ionomer exhibits a peak power density of 1.46 W cm−2, which is approaching that of Nafion-based PEMFCs. This study further discusses the remaining challenges of high-performing AMFCs.