Electrical properties of nanostructured carbons in aqueous and non-aqueous electrolytes.

摘要

Nanostructured carbons have many interesting and useful properties such as high surface area and excellent chemical and electrochemical stability. Due to these properties, nanostructured carbons have potential in a wide variety of applications such as electroanalysis, chemical/biological sensing, energy storage, and catalysis/electrocatalysis. This work reports investigations of the electrical properties of as-grown and chemically modified nanostructured carbon interfaces in various electrolytes. Particular emphasis is placed on two materials: (1) polycrystalline diamond (PCD) and (2) vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (VACNFs). Using a combination of surface analysis and electrochemical methods, the chemical, electrical properties and their interplay were studied. The influence of the atomic structure on the interfacial capacitance and electron transfer processes was investigated. Using electrical impedance spectroscopy, contributions from the individual components of the complex interface such as carbon substrate, the molecular layer and the electrolytes were separated. The results have implications for using nanostructured carbons as ultra-stable, chemically tunable substrates.