Pierre Lecante

TiC-carbide derived carbon electrolyte adsorption study by ways of X-ray scattering analysis

Understanding ion adsorption in nanoporous carbon electrodes is of great importance for designing the next-generation of high energy density electrical double-layer capacitors. In this work, X-ray scattering is used for investigating the impregnation of nanoporous carbons with electrolytes in the absence of applied potential. We are able to show that interactions between the carbon surface and electrolytes allow adsorption to take place in sub-nanopores, thus confirming experimentally for the first time the results predicted by molecular dynamic simulations.

Insights into the chemistry of bismuth nanoparticles

Enhancement of the thermoelectric properties of bismuth due to size reduction has prompted a large body of studies and recent interest in the nanochemistry of this material. The size control at the nanometer scale is complicated because of bismuths low melting point and little known surface chemistry. We report herein an efficient synthetic method producing bismuth nanoparticles (Bi NPs) of sizes below 10 nm, and of rhombohedral structure based on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) analysis. The nature and dynamics of the ligands at their surface have been investigated by infrared spectroscopy (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. We demonstrate that alkynyl ligands, seldom used in nanochemistry, efficiently coordinate at the surface and afford stable Bi NPs that can be easily purified, leading to powders with high bismuth payload which can be redispersed into stable colloidal solutions.