Z. Abasali Karaj Abad, A. Nemati, A. Malek Khachatourian, M. Golmohammad,
Volume 17, Issue 4 (December 2020)
Abstract
The graphene oxide -TiO2 (GO-TiO2) and pre-reduced graphene oxide -TiO2 (rGO-TiO2) nanocomposites were fabricated successfully by hydrothermal method. The microstructure of synthesized nanocomposites was investigated using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. Moreover, galvanostatic charge/discharge (GCD), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods in three electrode system were applied to evaluate electrochemical properties. The results revealed that nanoparticles distributed more uniformly on graphene sheets, at lower concentrations of TiO2. The rGO-TiO2 and GO-TiO2 nanocomposites showed 224 and 32 F/g specific capacitance at 5 mV s-1 scan rate in 1 M KOH aqueous electrolyte, respectively. The pre-reduction of graphene oxide is the main reason for the better electrochemical performance of rGO-TiO2 nanocomposite compared to GO-TiO2 nanocomposite.
Amirhosein Paryab, Toktam Godary, Sorosh Abdollahi, Mohsen Anousheh, Adrine Malek Khachatourian,
Volume 18, Issue 3 (September 2021)
Abstract
Silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) materials derived from silicone attracted great attention for their superior high-temperature behavior. In the present study, Si(Ti)OC and Si(Ti,Al)OC nanocomposites, in which alkoxide precursors were used with the main silicone precursor, have been compared with SiOC material. Although in SiOC, C was bonded with Si in a carbon-rich SiOC phase, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showed that TiC was the preferred state for C atoms upon adding Ti into the system. This claim was also substantiated by Raman spectroscopy, where adding Ti into the system lowered the intensity of the D band, indicating the high affinity of C to form crystalline TiC. In the Si(Ti,Al)OC nanocomposites synthesized by adding AlCl3 into the Si(Ti)OC system, mullite nanocrystals formed a superlattice structure with TiC. UV-vis spectra of the nanocomposites showed Si(Ti,Al)OC with mullite-TiC superlattice had a larger bandgap compared with Si(Ti)OC with only TiC nanocrystals.
