Browsing by Author "Dong, Pei"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    3D Macroporous Solids from Chemically Cross-linked Carbon Nanotubes
    (Wiley, 2014) Ozden, Sehmus; Narayanan, Tharangattu N.; Tiwary, Chandra S.; Dong, Pei; Hart, Amelia H.C.; Vajtai, Robert; Ajayan, Pulickel M.
    Suzuki reaction for covalently interconnected 3D carbon nanotube (CNT) architectures is reported. The synthesis of 3D macroscopic solids made of CNTs covalently connected via Suzuki cross-coupling, a well-known carbon-carbon covalent bond forming reaction in organic chemistry, is scalable. The resulting solid has a highly porous, interconnected structure of chemically cross-linked CNTs. Its use for the removal of oil from contaminated water is demonstrated.
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    Nanomaterials Enabled Dye-sensitized Solar Cells
    (2013-12-06) Dong, Pei; Lou, Jun; Hauge, Robert H.; Ajayan, Pulickel M.; Vajtai, Robert
    Dye sensitized solar cells (DSCs), as the third generation of solar cells, have attracted tremendous attention for their unique properties. The semi-transparent nature, low-cost, environmental friendliness, and convenient manufacturing conditions of this generation of solar cells are promising aspects of DSCs that make them competitive in their future applications. However, much improvement in many aspects of DSCs’ is required for the realization of its full potential. In this thesis, various nanomaterials, such as graphene, multi wall carbon nanotubes, vertically aligned single wall carbon nanotubes, hybrid structures and etc, have been used to improve the performance of DSCs. First, the application of graphene covered metal grids as transparent conductive electrodes in DSCs is explored. It is demonstrated that the mechanical properties of these flexible hybrid transparent electrodes, in both bending and stretching tests, are better than their oxide-based counter parts. Moreover, different kinds of carbon nanotubes, for instance vertically aligned single wall carbon nanotubes, have been used as a replacement for traditional platinum counter electrodes, in both iodine electrolyte, and sulfide-electrolyte. Further, a flexible, seamlessly connected, 3-dimensional vertically-aligned few wall carbon nanotubes graphene hybrid structures on Ni foil as DSCs’ counter electrodes improve their efficiency significantly. All these nanomaterials enabled DSCs architectures achieve a comparable or better performance than standard brittle platinum/ fluorine doped tin oxide combination. The large surface area of such nanomaterials in addition to the high electrical conductivity and their mechanical robustness provides a platform for significant enhancements in DSCs’ performance.
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    Super-elasticity at 4 K of covalently crosslinked polyimide aerogels with negative Poisson’s ratio
    (Springer Nature, 2021) Cheng, Yang; Zhang, Xiang; Qin, Yixiu; Dong, Pei; Yao, Wei; Matz, John; Ajayan, Pulickel M.; Shen, Jianfeng; Ye, Mingxin
    The deep cryogenic temperatures encountered in aerospace present significant challenges for the performance of elastic materials in spacecraft and related apparatus. Reported elastic carbon or ceramic aerogels overcome the low-temperature brittleness in conventional elastic polymers. However, complicated fabrication process and high costs greatly limited their applications. In this work, super-elasticity at a deep cryogenic temperature of covalently crosslinked polyimide (PI) aerogels is achieved based on scalable and low-cost directional dimethyl sulfoxide crystals assisted freeze gelation and freeze-drying strategy. The covalently crosslinked chemical structure, cellular architecture, negative Poisson’s ratio (−0.2), low volume shrinkage (3.1%), and ultralow density (6.1 mg/cm3) endow the PI aerogels with an elastic compressive strain up to 99% even in liquid helium (4 K), almost zero loss of resilience after dramatic thermal shocks (∆T = 569 K), and fatigue resistance over 5000 times compressive cycles. This work provides a new pathway for constructing polymer-based materials with super-elasticity at deep cryogenic temperature, demonstrating much promise for extensive applications in ongoing and near-future aerospace exploration.
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    Ternary CuIn7Se11: Towards Ultra-Thin Layered Photodetectors and Photovoltaic Devices
    (Wiley, 2014) Lei, Sidong; Sobhani, Ali; Wen, Fangfang; George, Antony; Wang, Qizhong; Huang, Yihan; Dong, Pei; Li, Bo; Najmaei, Sina; Bellah, James; Gupta, Gautam; Mohite, Aditya D.; Ge, Liehui; Lou, Jun; Halas, Naomi J.; Vajtai, Robert; Ajayan, Pulickel
    2D materials have been widely studied over the past decade for their potential applications in electronics and optoelectronics. In these materials, elemental composition plays a critical role in defining their physical properties. Here we report the first successful synthesis of individual high quality CuIn7Se11 (CIS) ternary 2D layers and demonstrate their potential use in photodetection applications. Photoconductivity measurements show an indirect bandgap of 1.1 eV for few-layered CIS, an external quantum efficiency of 88.0 % with 2 V bias across 2 μm channel with and a signal-to-noise ratio larger than 95 dB. By judicious choice of electrode materials, we demonstrate the possibility of layered CIS-based 2D photovoltaic devices. This study examines this ternary 2D layered system for the first time, demonstrating the clear potential for layered CIS in 2D material-based optoelectronic device applications.