| 1. |
- Dreos, Ambra, 1987, et al.
(författare)
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Liquid Norbornadiene Photoswitches for Solar Energy Storage
- 2018
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Ingår i: Advanced Energy Materials. - : Wiley. - 1614-6832 .- 1614-6840. ; 8:18
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Due to high global energy demands, there is a great need for development of technologies for exploiting and storing solar energy. Closed cycle systems for storage of solar energy have been suggested, based on absorption of photons in photoresponsive molecules, followed by on-demand release of thermal energy. These materials are called solar thermal fuels (STFs) or molecular solar thermal (MOST) energy storage systems. To achieve high energy densities, ideal MOST systems are required either in solid or liquid forms. In the case of the latter, neat high performing liquid materials have not been demonstrated to date. Here is presented a set of neat liquid norbornadiene derivatives for MOST applications and their characterization in toluene solutions and neat samples. Their synthesis is in most cases based on solvent-free Diels-Alder reactions, which easily and efficiently afford a range of compounds. The shear viscosity of the obtained molecules is close to that of colza oil, and they can absorb up to 10% of the solar spectrum with a measured energy storage density of up to 577 kJ/kg corresponding to 152 kJ mol(-1) (calculated 100 kJ mol(-1)). These findings pave the way towards implementation of liquid norbornadienes in closed cycle energy storage technologies.
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| 2. |
- Eklöf, Johnas, 1988, et al.
(författare)
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Understanding Interactions Driving the Template-Directed Self-Assembly of Colloidal Nanoparticles at Surfaces
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 124:8, s. 4660-4667
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Controlled deposition of colloidal nanoparticles using self-assembly is a promising technique for, for example, manufacturing of miniaturized electronics, and it bridges the gap between top-down and bottom-up methods. However, selecting materials and geometry of the target surface for optimal deposition results presents a significant challenge. Here, we describe a predictive framework based on the Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek theory that allows rational design of colloidal nanoparticle deposition setups. The framework is demonstrated for a model system consisting of gold nanoparticles stabilized by trisodium citrate that are directed toward prefabricated sub-100 nm features on a silicon substrate. Experimental results for the model system are presented in conjunction with theoretical analysis to assess its reliability. It is shown that three-dimensional, nickel-coated structures are well suited for attracting gold nanoparticles and that optimization of the feature geometry based on the proposed framework leads to a systematic improvement in the number of successfully deposited particles.
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| 3. |
- Erhart, Paul, 1978, et al.
(författare)
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Microscopic Origin of Thermal Conductivity Reduction in Disordered van der Waals Solids
- 2015
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Ingår i: Chemistry of Materials. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1520-5002 .- 0897-4756. ; 27:16, s. 5511-5518
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Films of layered substances like WSe2 can exhibit a reduction in the out-of-plane thermal conductivity of more than 1 order of magnitude compared to that of the bulk, effectively beating the glass limit (Science 2007, 315, 351). Here, we investigate the microscopic contributions that govern this behavior within the framework of Boltzmann transport theory informed by first-principles calculations. To quantitatively reproduce both the magnitude and the temperature dependence of the experimental data, one must account for both phonon confinement effects (softening and localization) and interlayer scattering. Both stacking order and layer spacing are shown to have a pronounced effect on the thermal conductivity that could be exploited to tune the balance between electrical and thermal conductivity.
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| 4. |
- Gray, Victor, 1988, et al.
(författare)
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Loss channels in triplet-triplet annihilation photon upconversion: importance of annihilator singlet and triplet surface shapes
- 2017
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Ingår i: Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1463-9084 .- 1463-9076. ; 19:17, s. 10931-10939
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Triplet-triplet annihilation photon upconversion (TTA-UC) can, through a number of energy transfer processes, efficiently combine two low frequency photons into one photon of higher frequency. TTA-UC systems consist of one absorbing species (the sensitizer) and one emitting species (the annihilator). Herein, we show that the structurally similar annihilators, 9,10-diphenylanthracene (DPA, 1), 9-(4-phenylethynyl)10-phenylanthracene (2) and 9,10-bis(phenylethynyl) anthracene (BPEA, 3) have very different upconversion efficiencies, 15.2 +/- 2.8%, 15.9 +/- 1.3% and 1.6 +/- 0.8%, respectively (of a maximum of 50%). We show that these results can be understood in terms of a loss channel, previously unaccounted for, originating from the difference between the BPEA singlet and triplet surface shapes. The difference between the two surfaces results in a fraction of the triplet state population having geometries not energetically capable of forming the first singlet excited state. This is supported by TD-DFT calculations of the annihilator excited state surfaces as a function of phenyl group rotation. We thereby highlight that the commonly used "spin-statistical factor'' should be used with caution when explaining TTA-efficiencies. Furthermore, we show that the precious metal free zinc octaethylporphyrin (ZnOEP) can be used for efficient sensitization and that the upconversion quantum yield is maximized when sensitizer-annihilator spectral overlap is minimized (ZnOEP with 2).
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| 5. |
- Jain, Titoo, et al.
(författare)
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Additional Article Notification: Anisotropic growth of gold nanoparticles using cationic gemini surfactants: effects of structure variations in head and tail groups
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Materials Chemistry C. - 2050-7534 .- 2050-7526. ; 2:17, s. 3476-3485
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A library of gemini surfactants is employed to study surfactant directed anisotropic growth of gold nanoparticles. The surfactants are modified with respect to the length and type of the tails, as well as of the spacer group. By analyzing the structure of the anisotropic nanoparticles, it is possible to extract information on how the structure of the surfactants influences the anisotropic gold nanocrystal growth. We find that the tail length of the surfactants has a greater influence on the resulting nanoparticle aspect ratio compared to the chemical nature of the spacer group. While clear trends between the aspect ratio and the tail as well as spacer length remain elusive, we observe that surfactants with a critical micelle concentration of similar to 1 mM produce particles with the highest aspect ratio. A crystallographic analysis of nanorods obtained using gemini surfactants reveals that they grow along 100 and are bound by {310} facets. This observation, which is specific for gemini surfactants, is explained by taking into account the preferential alignment of gemini surfactants with surface steps as suggested by electronic structure calculations.
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| 6. |
- Jain, T., et al.
(författare)
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Anisotropic growth of gold nanoparticles using cationic gemini surfactants: effects of structure variations in head and tail groups
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Materials Chemistry C. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 2050-7526 .- 2050-7534. ; 2:6, s. 994-1003
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A library of gemini surfactants is employed to study surfactant directed anisotropic growth of gold nanoparticles. The surfactants are modified with respect to the length and type of the tails, as well as of the spacer group. By analyzing the structure of the anisotropic nanoparticles, it is possible to extract information on how the structure of the surfactants influences the anisotropic gold nanocrystal growth. We find that the tail length of the surfactants has a greater influence on the resulting nanoparticle aspect ratio compared to the chemical nature of the spacer group. While clear trends between the aspect ratio and the tail as well as spacer length remain elusive, we observe that surfactants with a critical micelle concentration of similar to 1 mM produce particles with the highest aspect ratio. A crystallographic analysis of nanorods obtained using gemini surfactants reveals that they grow along and are bound by {310} facets. This observation, which is specific for gemini surfactants, is explained by taking into account the preferential alignment of gemini surfactants with surface steps as suggested by electronic structure calculations.
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| 7. |
- Jevric, Martyn, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Norbornadiene-Based Photoswitches with Exceptional Combination of Solar Spectrum Match and Long-Term Energy Storage
- 2018
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Ingår i: Chemistry - A European Journal. - : Wiley. - 1521-3765 .- 0947-6539. ; 24:49, s. 12767-12772
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Norbornadiene-quadricyclane (NBD-QC) photoswitches are candidates for applications in solar thermal energy storage. Functionally, they rely on an intramolecular [2+2] cycloaddition reaction, which couples the S0 landscape on the NBD side to the S1 landscape on the QC side of the reaction and vice-versa. This commonly results in an unfavourable correlation between the first absorption maximum and the barrier for thermal back-conversion. This work demonstrates that this correlation can be counteracted by using steric repulsion to hamper the rotational motion of the side groups along the back-conversion path. It is shown that this modification reduces the correlation between the effective back-conversion barrier and the first absorption maximum and also increases the back-conversion entropy. The resulting molecules exhibit exceptionally long half-lives for their metastable forms without significantly affecting other properties, most notably solar spectrum match and storage density.
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| 8. |
- Klein, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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The Fermi energy as common parameter to describe charge compensation mechanisms: A path to Fermi level engineering of oxide electroceramics
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Electroceramics. - 1573-8663 .- 1385-3449.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Chemical substitution, which can be iso- or heterovalent, is the primary strategy to tailor material properties. There are various ways how a material can react to substitution. Isovalent substitution changes the density of states while heterovalent substitution, i.e. doping, can induce electronic compensation, ionic compensation, valence changes of cations or anions, or result in the segregation or neutralization of the dopant. While all these can, in principle, occur simultaneously, it is often desirable to select a certain mechanism in order to determine material properties. Being able to predict and control the individual compensation mechanism should therefore be a key target of materials science. This contribution outlines the perspective that this could be achieved by taking the Fermi energy as a common descriptor for the different compensation mechanisms. This generalization becomes possible since the formation enthalpies of the defects involved in the various compensation mechanisms do all depend on the Fermi energy. In order to control material properties, it is then necessary to adjust the formation enthalpies and charge transition levels of the involved defects. Understanding how these depend on material composition will open up a new path for the design of materials by Fermi level engineering.
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| 9. |
- Kuisma, Mikael Juhani, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Comparative Ab-Initio Study of Substituted Norbornadiene-Quadricyclane Compounds for Solar Thermal Storage
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 120:7, s. 3635-3645
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Molecular photoswitches that are capable of storing solar energy, so-called molecular solar thermal storage systems, are interesting candidates for future renewable energy applications. In this context, substituted norbornadiene-quadricyclane systems have received renewed interest due to recent advances in their synthesis. The optical, thermodynamic, and kinetic properties of these systems can vary dramatically depending on the chosen substituents. The molecular design of optimal compounds therefore requires a detailed understanding of the effect of individual substituents as well as their interplay. Here, we model absorption spectra, potential energy storage, and thermal barriers for back-conversion of several substituted systems using both single-reference (density functional theory using PBE, B3LYP, CAM-B3LYP, M06, M06-2x, and M06-L functionals as well as MP2 calculations) and multireference methods (complete active space techniques). Already the diaryl substituted compound displays a strong red shift compared to the unsubstituted system, which is shown to result from the extension of the conjugated pi-system upon substitution. Using specific donor/acceptor groups gives rise to a further albeit relatively smaller red-shift. The calculated storage energy is found to be rather insensitive to the specific substituents, although solvent effects are likely to be important and require further study. The barrier for thermal back-conversion exhibits strong multireference character and as a result is noticeably correlated with the red-shift. Two possible reaction paths for the thermal back-conversion of diaryl substituted quadricyclane are identified and it is shown that among the compounds considered the path via the acceptor side is systematically favored. Finally, the present study establishes the basis for high-throughput screening of norbornadiene-quadricyclane compounds as it provides guidelines for the level of accuracy that can be expected for key properties from several different techniques.
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| 10. |
- Kuisma, Mikael Juhani, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Optimization of Norbornadiene Compounds for Solar Thermal Storage by First-Principles Calculations
- 2016
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Ingår i: ChemSusChem. - : Wiley. - 1864-5631 .- 1864-564X. ; 9:14, s. 1786-1794
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Molecular photoswitches capable of storing solar energy are interesting candidates for future renewable energy applications. Here, using quantum mechanical calculations, we carry out a systematic screening of crucial optical (solar spectrum match) and thermal (storage energy density) properties of 64 such compounds based on the norbornadiene-quadricyclane system. Whereas a substantial number of these molecules reach the theoretical maximum solar power conversion efficiency, this requires a strong red-shift of the absorption spectrum, which causes undesirable absorption by the photoisomer as well as reduced thermal stability. These compounds typically also have a large molecular mass, leading to low storage densities. By contrast, single-substituted systems achieve a good compromise between efficiency and storage density, while avoiding competing absorption by the photo-isomer. This establishes guiding principles for the future development of molecular solar thermal storage systems.
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