Nanostructured Electrochemical Devices for Sensing, Energy Conversion and Storage

Nanomaterials are very promising to enhance device performances for sensing, sustainable energy production, and energy conversion and storage, as extensively reported in the literature [1-3]. In this field, one of the most severe challenge is to find suitable methods for fabricating nanomaterials. Over the years, numerous preparation methods were proposed in the literature, but not all of them are easily scalable and economically advantageous for industrial application. In this context, electrochemical deposition in template is a facile method for fabricating either two- or one-dimensional nanostructured materials because it allows to easily adjust the fundamental parameters controlling their final features [4]. In addition, electrochemical processes are, usually, cheap and environmental friendly, and they can be easily scaled-up from lab to industrial level. For these reasons, the attention was focused on the synthesis of different type of nanomaterials for application in electrochemical sensing of H2O2, in lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries, in solar cells, and in electrochemical water splitting. Here, we will present an electrochemical method for obtaining dimensionally stable nanostructured electrode characterized by the presence of uniform array of nanowires and/or nanotubes with very high surface area (a typical morphology is shown in Figure 1a). The findings demonstrate that nanotechnology is beneficial for improving the resulting device performances. In this work, in addition to the fabrication method, also the performance of different nanostructured materials are presented, and discussed. In particular, the use of PbO2 nanowires (Figure 1) as positive electrode in lead acid batteries and of Ni-IrO2 nanowires in alkaline electrolyzer (Figure 2b) are presented. Besides, preliminary results (Figure 2c) on the use of Cu and Pd nanostructures as electrochemical sensors for detection of H2O2are also showed. References [1] N. A. Fromer, M. S. Diallo, J Nanopart Res 15 (2013) 2011-2015. [2] Q. Zhang, E. Uchaker, S. L. Candelaria, G. Cao, Chem. Soc. Rev.42 (2013) 3127-3171 [3] P. Si, Y. Huang, T. Wang, J. Ma, RSC Adv. 3 (2013) 3487-3502. [4] G-R. Li, H. Xu, X-F. Lu, J-X. Feng, Y-X. Tong, C-Y. Su, Nanoscale 5 (2013) 4056-4069. Acknowledgement: This work was partially funded by U.E. through PON03PE_00214_1 - Nanotecnologie e nanomateriali per i beni culturali (TECLA)