Swollen hexagonal liquid crystals as smart nanoreactors: implementation in materials chemistry for energy applications

Nanoscale ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (13) ◽  
pp. 5793-5819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srabanti Ghosh ◽  
Laurence Ramos ◽  
Hynd Remita
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Materials Chemistry ◽  
Energy Applications

Swollen hexagonal liquid crystals are versatile temples to synthesize nanomaterials for energy harvesting applications.

scholarly journals Emerging Energy Harvesting Technology for Electro/Photo-Catalytic Water Splitting Application

Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 142
Author(s):  
Jianfei Tang ◽  
Tianle Liu ◽  
Sijia Miao ◽  
Yuljae Cho
Keyword(s):  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Water Splitting ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Energy Applications ◽  
Sustainable Environment ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Splitting System

In recent years, we have experienced extreme climate changes due to the global warming, continuously impacting and changing our daily lives. To build a sustainable environment and society, various energy technologies have been developed and introduced. Among them, energy harvesting, converting ambient environmental energy into electrical energy, has emerged as one of the promising technologies for a variety of energy applications. In particular, a photo (electro) catalytic water splitting system, coupled with emerging energy harvesting technology, has demonstrated high device performance, demonstrating its great social impact for the development of the new water splitting system. In this review article, we introduce and discuss in detail the emerging energy-harvesting technology for photo (electro) catalytic water splitting applications. The article includes fundamentals of photocatalytic and electrocatalytic water splitting and water splitting applications coupled with the emerging energy-harvesting technologies using piezoelectric, piezo-phototronic, pyroelectric, triboelectric, and photovoltaic effects. We comprehensively deal with different mechanisms in water splitting processes with respect to the energy harvesting processes and their effect on the water splitting systems. Lastly, new opportunities in energy harvesting-assisted water splitting are introduced together with future research directions that need to be investigated for further development of new types of water splitting systems.

scholarly journals Shaping nanoparticle fingerprints at the interface of cholesteric droplets

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (10) ◽  
pp. eaat8597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Tran ◽  
Hye-Na Kim ◽  
Ningwei Li ◽  
Shu Yang ◽  
Kathleen J. Stebe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Periodic Structures ◽  
Water Solution ◽  
Cholesteric Liquid Crystal ◽  
Solution Ph ◽  
Surrounding Water ◽  
Particle Assembly ◽  
Interfacial Assembly ◽  
Energy Applications ◽  
Geometric Frustration

The ordering of nanoparticles into predetermined configurations is of importance to the design of advanced technologies. Here, we balance the interfacial energy of nanoparticles against the elastic energy of cholesteric liquid crystals to dynamically shape nanoparticle assemblies at a fluid interface. By adjusting the concentration of surfactant that plays the dual role of tuning the degree of nanoparticle hydrophobicity and altering the molecular anchoring of liquid crystals, we pattern nanoparticles at the interface of cholesteric liquid crystal emulsions. In this system, interfacial assembly is tempered by elastic patterns that arise from the geometric frustration of confined cholesterics. Patterns are tunable by varying both surfactant and chiral dopant concentrations. Adjusting the particle hydrophobicity more finely by regulating the surfactant concentration and solution pH further modifies the rigidity of assemblies, giving rise to surprising assembly dynamics dictated by the underlying elasticity of the cholesteric. Because particle assembly occurs at the interface with the desired structures exposed to the surrounding water solution, we demonstrate that particles can be readily cross-linked and manipulated, forming structures that retain their shape under external perturbations. This study serves as a foundation for better understanding inter-nanoparticle interactions at interfaces by tempering their assembly with elasticity and for creating materials with chemical heterogeneity and linear, periodic structures, essential for optical and energy applications.

Comment on “An ultrathin stretchable triboelectric nanogenerator with coplanar electrode for energy harvesting and gesture sensing” by X. Chen, Y. Song, H. Chen, J. Zhang and H. Zhang, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2017, 5, 12361

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (45) ◽  
pp. 24011-24013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Shahzad ◽  
K. Rohana Wijewardhana ◽  
Jang-Kun Song
Keyword(s):  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Electrostatic Charge ◽  
Triboelectric Nanogenerator ◽  
Materials Chemistry ◽  
Contact Type ◽  
Skin Contact ◽  
Energy Harvesting Devices ◽  
Triboelectric Energy Harvesting

The electrostatic charge issue in skin-contact type triboelectric energy harvesting devices can be overcome by an appropriate choice of materials.

Introduction to hollow structures for energy applications

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Materials Chemistry ◽  
Energy Applications ◽  
Hollow Structures

Dan Wang introduces the Materials Chemistry Frontiers themed issue on hollow structures for energy applications.

The Structure and Development of Microbodies in the Fat Body and other Tissues of an Insect (Calpodes Ethlius)

1970 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 148-149
Author(s):  
M. Locke ◽  
J. T. McMahon
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Fat Body ◽  
Competitive Inhibitor ◽  
Dense Core ◽  
Urate Oxidase ◽  
Blood Proteins ◽  
Free Base ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Matrix

The fat body of insects has always been compared functionally to the liver of vertebrates. Both synthesize and store glycogen and lipid and are concerned with the formation of blood proteins. The comparison becomes even more apt with the discovery of microbodies and the localization of urate oxidase and catalase in insect fat body.The microbodies are oval to spherical bodies about 1μ across with a depression and dense core on one side. The core is made of coiled tubules together with dense material close to the depressed membrane. The tubules may appear loose or densely packed but always intertwined like liquid crystals, never straight as in solid crystals (Fig. 1). When fat body is reacted with diaminobenzidine free base and H2O2 at pH 9.0 to determine the distribution of catalase, electron microscopy shows the enzyme in the matrix of the microbodies (Fig. 2). The reaction is abolished by 3-amino-1, 2, 4-triazole, a competitive inhibitor of catalase. The fat body is the only tissue which consistantly reacts positively for urate oxidase. The reaction product is sharply localized in granules of about the same size and distribution as the microbodies. The reaction is inhibited by 2, 6, 8-trichloropurine, a competitive inhibitor of urate oxidase.

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