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Journal articleHammond OS, Eslava S, Smith AJ, et al., 2017,
Microwave-assisted deep eutectic-solvothermal preparation of iron oxide nanoparticles for photoelectrochemical solar water splitting
, JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A, Vol: 5, Pages: 16189-16199, ISSN: 2050-7488- Author Web Link
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- Citations: 42
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Journal articleOlowojoba GB, Kopsidas S, Eslava S, et al., 2017,
A facile way to produce epoxy nanocomposites having excellent thermal conductivity with low contents of reduced graphene oxide
, Journal of Materials Science, Vol: 52, Pages: 7323-7344, ISSN: 1573-4803A well-dispersed phase of exfoliated graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets was initially prepared in water. This was concentrated by centrifugation and was mixed with a liquid epoxy resin. The remaining water was removed by evaporation, leaving a GO dispersion in epoxy resin. A stoichiometric amount of an anhydride curing agent was added to this epoxy-resin mixture containing the GO nanosheets, which was then cured at 90 °C for 1 hour followed by 160 °C for 2 hours. A second thermal treatment step of 200 °C for 30 minutes was then undertaken to reduce further the GO in-situ in the epoxy nanocomposite. An examination of the morphology of such nanocomposites containing reduced graphene oxide (rGO) revealed that a very good dispersion of rGO was achieved throughout the epoxy polymer. Various thermal and mechanical properties of the epoxy nanocomposites were measured and the most noteworthy finding was a remarkable increase in the thermal conductivity when relatively very low contents of rGO were present. For example, a value of 0.25 W/mK was measured at 30 °C for the nanocomposite with merely 0.06 weight percentage (wt%) of rGO present, which represents an increase of ~40% compared with that of the unmodified epoxy polymer. This value represents one of the largest increases in the thermal conductivity per wt% of added rGO yet reported. These observations have been attributed to the excellent dispersion of rGO achieved in these nanocomposites made via this facile production method. The present results show that it is now possible to tune the properties of an epoxy polymer with a simple and viable method of GO addition.
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Journal articleZhang J, Salles I, Pering S, et al., 2017,
Nanostructured WO<sub>3</sub> photoanodes for efficient water splitting via anodisation in citric acid
, RSC ADVANCES, Vol: 7, Pages: 35221-35227- Author Web Link
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- Citations: 30
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Journal articleEslava S, Reynal A, Rocha VG, et al., 2016,
Using graphene oxide as a sacrificial support of polyoxotitanium clusters to replicate its two-dimensionality on pure titania photocatalysts
, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol: 4, Pages: 7200-7206, ISSN: 2050-7496The nanostructure optimisation of metal oxides is of crucial importance to exploit their qualities in artificial photosynthesis, photovoltaics and heterogeneous catalysis. Therefore, it is necessary to find viable and simple fabrication methods to tune their nanostructure. Here we reveal that graphene oxide flakes, known for their nano- and two-dimensionality, can be used as a sacrificial support to replicate their nano- and two-dimensionality in photocatalytic titania. This is demonstrated in the calcination of Ti16O16(OEt)32 polyoxotitanium clusters together with graphene oxide flakes, which results in pure titania nanoflakes of <10 nm titania nanoparticles in a two-dimensional arrangement. These titania nanoflakes outperform the titania prepared from only Ti16O16(OEt)32 clusters by a factor of forty in the photocatalytic hydrogen production from aqueous methanol suspensions, as well as the benchmark P25 titania by a factor of five. These outcomes reveal the advantage of using polyoxotitanium clusters with graphene oxide and open a new avenue for the exploitation of the vast variety of polyoxometalate clusters as precursors in catalysis and photovoltaics, as well as the use of graphene oxide as a sacrificial support for nanostructure optimisation.
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Journal articleD'Elia E, Eslava S, Miranda M, et al., 2016,
Autonomous self-healing structural composites with bio-inspired design
, Scientific Reports, Vol: 6, ISSN: 2045-2322Strong and tough natural composites such as bone, silk or nacre are often built from stiff blocks boundtogether using thin interfacial soft layers that can also provide sacrificial bonds for self-repair. Herewe show that it is possible exploit this design in order to create self-healing structural composites byusing thin supramolecular polymer interfaces between ceramic blocks. We have built model brick-andmortarstructures with ceramic contents above 95 vol% that exhibit strengths of the order of MPa(three orders of magnitude higher than the interfacial polymer) and fracture energies that are twoorders of magnitude higher than those of the glass bricks. More importantly, these properties can befully recovered after fracture without using external stimuli or delivering healing agents. This approachdemonstrates a very promising route towards the design of strong, ideal self-healing materials able toself-repair repeatedly without degradation or external stimuli.
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Journal articleOlowojoba GB, Eslava S, Gutierrez ES, et al., 2016,
In-situ thermally-reduced graphene oxide/epoxy composites: thermal and mechanical properties
, Applied Nanoscience, Vol: 6, Pages: 1015-1022, ISSN: 2190-5509Graphene has excellent mechanical, thermal, optical and electrical properties and this has made it a prime target for use as a filler material in the development of multifunctional polymeric composites. However, several challenges need to be overcome in order to take full advantage of the aforementioned properties of graphene. These include achieving good dispersion and interfacial properties between the graphene filler and the polymeric matrix. In the present work we report the thermal and mechanical properties of reduced graphene oxide/epoxy composites prepared via a facile, scalable and commercially-viable method. Electron micrographs of the composites demonstrate that the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) is well-dispersed throughout the composite. Although no improvements in glass transition temperature, tensile strength, and thermal stability in air of the composites were observed, good improvements in thermal conductivity (about 36%), tensile and storage moduli (more than 13%) were recorded with the addition of 2 wt% of rGO.
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Journal article, 2016,
Inside front cover
, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol: 4, Pages: 7076-7076, ISSN: 2050-7488 -
PatentIacopi F, Eslava S, Kirschhock CEA, et al., 2007,
UV light exposure for functionalization and hydrophobization of pure silica zeolite
, USA (US2007/0189961), Europe (EP1816104) and Japan (JP2007210884).
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