Fluorinated Nanocarbons and Their Applications

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "2D and Carbon Nanomaterials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2022) | Viewed by 9525

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institut de Chimie de Clermont-Ferrand (ICCF UME 6296), Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, F-63178 Clermont-Ferrand, France
Interests: material characterization; nanostructured materials; nanoscience; carbon nanotubes; carbon nanomaterials
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Assistant Guest Editor
Department of Natural Sciences, College of Sciences and Humanities, Fahad Bin Sultan University, Tabuk 71454, Saudi Arabia
Interests: materials science; nanomaterials; energy storage and conversion; fuel cells; lithium batteries
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Owing to its high reactivity and high electronegativity, fluorine is a very interesting element as it can be bonded to any other element. Carbon is one of the few elements to have multiple allotropic forms. The allotropes of carbon can be either amorphous or crystalline. Thus, the combination of fluorine and carbon is unique in chemistry. The reaction leads to fluorocarbons (denoted CFx). Among the almost limitless possibilities, the carbon/fluorine combination is highly versatile in terms of carbon–fluorine bonding, which makes it a unique association in chemistry. In fact, the C–F bond can be ionic, semi-covalent (i.e., with weakened covalence), or even covalent. The curvature of the (nano)carbonaceous lattice may also affect the type of C–F bonding. The diversity of CFx (where 0 < x < 1) results in numerous applications for energy storage, gas sensing, lubrication solutions, neutron reflectors, as fillers for composites, or as chemical filters.

In general, the use of carbonaceous nanomaterials allows for the enhancement of the desired properties: electrochemical, tribological, or mechanical. The fluorination must be tailored according to the size, specific surface area, and chemistry of the starting nanomaterial.

The present Special Issue focuses on recent achievements with fluorinated nanomaterials and their applications in various domains: energy, depollution, filtering, lubrication, and neutron reflectors. The achievement may concern either the applicative properties or new developments for the synthesis of fluorinated nanomaterials.

Nanocarbons with different dimensionalities (0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D) and hybridizations are considered (fullerenes, nanotubes, nanofibers, nanodiscs, graphenes, carbon blacks, porous carbons, diamond, diamane, and diamond-like materials).

Finally, advanced characterization techniques (NEXAFS, XRS, solid-state NMR, EPR, etc.) may be developed to give specific information about the C–F bonding and/or structure to explain the applicative properties. Theoretical calculations are also more than welcome for such aims.

Prof. Dr. Marc Dubois
Guest Editor
Dr. Yasser Ahmad
Assistant Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • fluorination
  • fluorine chemistry
  • nanocarbons
  • nanodiamond
  • graphene
  • nanotubes
  • nanofibers
  • diamane
  • fullerenes

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2423 KiB  
Article
Graphite-Mediated Microwave-Exfoliated Graphene Fluoride as Supercapacitor Electrodes
by Nicoloò Canever, Xianjue Chen, Mark Wojcik, Hui Zhang, Xinchen Dai, Marc Dubois and Thomas Nann
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(11), 1796; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12111796 - 24 May 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1918
Abstract
A graphite-mediated microwave-based strategy was used for solid-state exfoliation of graphite fluoride in a few seconds, followed by a simple yet efficient separation to obtain exfoliated materials based on the density difference between graphite and graphene fluoride in solvent. The microwave-exfoliated graphene fluoride [...] Read more.
A graphite-mediated microwave-based strategy was used for solid-state exfoliation of graphite fluoride in a few seconds, followed by a simple yet efficient separation to obtain exfoliated materials based on the density difference between graphite and graphene fluoride in solvent. The microwave-exfoliated graphene fluoride was a few layers thick and electrically conductive. The electrochemical testing of pouch-cell supercapacitors assembled by using the exfoliated graphene fluoride electrodes and a novel microemulsion-based electrolyte showed reasonable performance with typical electrical double-layer capacitance behavior and good rate capability (gravimetric specific capacitance: 3.2 F g−1 at 500 mA g−1 and 3.1 F g−1 at 5000 mA g−1). The BET specific surface areas of the as-exfoliated graphene fluoride are ~60–80 m2 g−1, which could be increased by activation using this simple yet versatile microwave-based method for further improvements on the electrochemical performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fluorinated Nanocarbons and Their Applications)
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15 pages, 3920 KiB  
Article
Photolysis of Fluorinated Graphites with Embedded Acetonitrile Using a White-Beam Synchrotron Radiation
by Galina I. Semushkina, Yuliya V. Fedoseeva, Anna A. Makarova, Dmitry A. Smirnov, Igor P. Asanov, Dmitry V. Pinakov, Galina N. Chekhova, Alexander V. Okotrub and Lyubov G. Bulusheva
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(2), 231; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12020231 - 11 Jan 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2353
Abstract
Fluorinated graphitic layers with good mechanical and chemical stability, polar C–F bonds, and tunable bandgap are attractive for a variety of applications. In this work, we investigated the photolysis of fluorinated graphites with interlayer embedded acetonitrile, which is the simplest representative of the [...] Read more.
Fluorinated graphitic layers with good mechanical and chemical stability, polar C–F bonds, and tunable bandgap are attractive for a variety of applications. In this work, we investigated the photolysis of fluorinated graphites with interlayer embedded acetonitrile, which is the simplest representative of the acetonitrile-containing photosensitizing family. The samples were continuously illuminated in situ with high-brightness non-monochromatized synchrotron radiation. Changes in the compositions of the samples were monitored using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. The NEXAFS N K-edge spectra showed that acetonitrile dissociates to form HCN and N2 molecules after exposure to the white beam for 2 s, and the latter molecules completely disappear after exposure for 200 s. The original composition of fluorinated matrices CF0.3 and CF0.5 is changed to CF0.10 and GF0.17, respectively. The highly fluorinated layers lose fluorine atoms together with carbon neighbors, creating atomic vacancies. The edges of vacancies are terminated with the nitrogen atoms and form pyridinic and pyrrolic units. Our in situ studies show that the photolysis products of acetonitrile depend on the photon irradiation duration and composition of the initial CFx matrix. The obtained results evaluate the radiation damage of the acetonitrile-intercalated fluorinated graphites and the opportunities to synthesize nitrogen-doped graphene materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fluorinated Nanocarbons and Their Applications)
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13 pages, 31233 KiB  
Article
Gas-Phase Fluorination of g-C3N4 for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution
by Lidong Sun, Yu Li and Wei Feng
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(1), 37; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12010037 - 23 Dec 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 2957
Abstract
Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has attracted much attention because of its potential for application in solar energy conservation. However, the photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4 is limited by the rapidly photogenerated carrier recombination and insufficient solar adsorption. [...] Read more.
Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has attracted much attention because of its potential for application in solar energy conservation. However, the photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4 is limited by the rapidly photogenerated carrier recombination and insufficient solar adsorption. Herein, fluorinated g-C3N4 (F-g-CN) nanosheets are synthesized through the reaction with F2/N2 mixed gas directly. The structural characterizations and theoretical calculations reveal that fluorination introduces N vacancy defects, structural distortion and covalent C-F bonds in the interstitial space simultaneously, which lead to mesopore formation, vacancy generation and electronic structure modification. Therefore, the photocatalytic activity of F-g-CN for H2 evolution under visible irradiation is 11.6 times higher than that of pristine g-C3N4 because of the enlarged specific area, enhanced light harvesting and accelerated photogenerated charge separation after fluorination. These results show that direct treatment with F2 gas is a feasible and promising strategy for modulating the texture and configuration of g-C3N4-based semiconductors to drastically enhance the photocatalytic H2 evolution process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fluorinated Nanocarbons and Their Applications)
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15 pages, 3562 KiB  
Article
Effect of Particle Sizes on the Efficiency of Fluorinated Nanodiamond Neutron Reflectors
by Aleksander Aleksenskii, Marcus Bleuel, Alexei Bosak, Alexandra Chumakova, Artur Dideikin, Marc Dubois, Ekaterina Korobkina, Egor Lychagin, Alexei Muzychka, Grigory Nekhaev, Valery Nesvizhevsky, Alexander Nezvanov, Ralf Schweins, Alexander Shvidchenko, Alexander Strelkov, Kylyshbek Turlybekuly, Alexander Vul’ and Kirill Zhernenkov
Nanomaterials 2021, 11(11), 3067; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11113067 - 14 Nov 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2517
Abstract
Over a decade ago, it was confirmed that detonation nanodiamond (DND) powders reflect very cold neutrons (VCNs) diffusively at any incidence angle and that they reflect cold neutrons quasi-specularly at small incidence angles. In the present publication, we report the results of a [...] Read more.
Over a decade ago, it was confirmed that detonation nanodiamond (DND) powders reflect very cold neutrons (VCNs) diffusively at any incidence angle and that they reflect cold neutrons quasi-specularly at small incidence angles. In the present publication, we report the results of a study on the effect of particle sizes on the overall efficiency of neutron reflectors made of DNDs. To perform this study, we separated, by centrifugation, the fraction of finer DND nanoparticles (which are referred to as S-DNDs here) from a broad initial size distribution and experimentally and theoretically compared the performance of such a neutron reflector with that from deagglomerated fluorinated DNDs (DF-DNDs). Typical commercially available DNDs with the size of ~4.3 nm are close to the optimum for VCNs with a typical velocity of ~50 m/s, while smaller and larger DNDs are more efficient for faster and slower VCN velocities, respectively. Simulations show that, for a realistic reflector geometry, the replacement of DF-DNDs (a reflector with the best achieved performance) by S-DNDs (with smaller size DNDs) increases the neutron albedo in the velocity range above ~60 m/s. This increase in the albedo results in an increase in the density of faster VCNs in such a reflector cavity of up to ~25% as well as an increase in the upper boundary of the velocities of efficient VCN reflection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fluorinated Nanocarbons and Their Applications)
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18 pages, 6715 KiB  
Article
Clustering of Diamond Nanoparticles, Fluorination and Efficiency of Slow Neutron Reflectors
by Aleksander Aleksenskii, Markus Bleuel, Alexei Bosak, Alexandra Chumakova, Artur Dideikin, Marc Dubois, Ekaterina Korobkina, Egor Lychagin, Alexei Muzychka, Grigory Nekhaev, Valery Nesvizhevsky, Alexander Nezvanov, Ralf Schweins, Alexander Shvidchenko, Alexander Strelkov, Kylyshbek Turlybekuly, Alexander Vul’ and Kirill Zhernenkov
Nanomaterials 2021, 11(8), 1945; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11081945 - 28 Jul 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3317
Abstract
Neutrons can be an instrument or an object in many fields of research. Major efforts all over the world are devoted to improving the intensity of neutron sources and the efficiency of neutron delivery for experimental installations. In this context, neutron reflectors play [...] Read more.
Neutrons can be an instrument or an object in many fields of research. Major efforts all over the world are devoted to improving the intensity of neutron sources and the efficiency of neutron delivery for experimental installations. In this context, neutron reflectors play a key role because they allow significant improvement of both economy and efficiency. For slow neutrons, Detonation NanoDiamond (DND) powders provide exceptionally good reflecting performance due to the combination of enhanced coherent scattering and low neutron absorption. The enhancement is at maximum when the nanoparticle diameter is close to the neutron wavelength. Therefore, the mean nanoparticle diameter and the diameter distribution are important. In addition, DNDs show clustering, which increases their effective diameters. Here, we report on how breaking agglomerates affects clustering of DNDs and the overall reflector performance. We characterize DNDs using small-angle neutron scattering, X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, neutron activation analysis, dynamical light scattering, infra-red light spectroscopy, and others. Based on the results of these tests, we discuss the calculated size distribution of DNDs, the absolute cross-section of neutron scattering, the neutron albedo, and the neutron intensity gain for neutron traps with DND walls. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fluorinated Nanocarbons and Their Applications)
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