Large-Scale Fabrication of Boron Nitride Nanosheets and Their Utilization in Polymeric Composites with Improved Thermal and Mechanical Properties

A review on various electrochemical techniques for heavy metal ions detection with different sensing platforms

Composites science and technology

Heavy metal pollution is one of the most serious environmental problems, which undermines global sustainability. Many efforts have been made to develop portable sensors for monitoring heavy metals in the environment. Incorporation of nanomaterials and nanostructures into sensors leads to significant improvement in the performance of devices in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, multiplexed detection capability and portability. In addition, small molecules, DNA, proteins and bacteria have been integrated with inorganic materials to selectively bind heavy metals as the molecular recognition probes. This review presents a recent advance in optical, electrochemical and field-effect transistor sensors for heavy metal detection. The optical sensors are focused on colorimetric, fluorescent, surface-enhanced Raman scattering and surface plasmon resonance devices. In addition, optofluidic devices which integrate optical components with microfluidic chips are discussed. Furthermore, nanoparticle-modified electrodes...

Nanostructured Sensors for Detection of Heavy Metals: A Review

A comprehensive review on the state-of-the-art of piezoelectric energy harvesting

A novel method to prepare Cu@Ag core–shell nanoparticles for printed flexible electronics

Thermal conductivity enhancement of ZnO nanofluid using a one-step physical method

Two-dimensional (2D) piezoelectric hexagonal boron nitride nanoflakes (h-BN NFs) were synthesized by a mechanochemical exfoliation process and transferred onto an electrode line-patterned plastic substrate to characterize the energy harvesting ability of individual NFs by external stress. A single BN NF produced alternate piezoelectric output sources of ∼50 mV and ∼30 pA when deformed by mechanical bendings. The piezoelectric voltage coefficient (g11) of a single BN NF was experimentally determined to be 2.35 × 10-3 V·m·N-1. The piezoelectric composite composed of BN NFs and an elastomer was spin-coated onto a bulk Si substrate and then transferred onto the electrode-coated plastic substrates to fabricate a BN NFs-based flexible piezoelectric energy harvester (f-PEH) which converted a piezoelectric voltage of ∼9 V, a current of ∼200 nA, and an effective output power of ∼0.3 μW. This result provides a new strategy for precisely characterizing the energy generation ability of piezoelectric nanostructures and for demonstrating f-PEH based on 2D piezomaterials.

Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting from Two-Dimensional Boron Nitride Nanoflakes

Interlayer engineering for dissimilar bonding of titanium to stainless steel

Heterostructures based on combining two-dimensional (2D) crystals in one stack have unusual physical properties and allow the creation of novel devices. Although this method of mechanically transferring individual 2D crystals is required for precise control, it is not scalable. Large-scale fabrication of heterostructures remains a key challenge for practical applications. Here, we provide a simple solution-based method using electrostatic interaction assembly of boron nitride (h-BN) and graphene to produce hybrid films with van der Waals heterostructures. The hybrid films prepared by this fabrication method tend to be alternately stacked and provide compact structured films. For a potential application, the h-BN/graphene hybrid films are fabricated supercapacitor’s electrodes revealing high volumetric capacitance, superior rate capability, a permanent life cycle, and high flexibility due to their synergistic effects. We anticipate that the hybrid films are useful as scalable flexible electrodes in superca...

Min-Ku Lee

Papers

A novel method to prepare Cu@Ag core–shell nanoparticles for printed flexible electronics

Thermal conductivity enhancement of ZnO nanofluid using a one-step physical method

Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting from Two-Dimensional Boron Nitride Nanoflakes

Interlayer engineering for dissimilar bonding of titanium to stainless steel

Ordered, Scalable Heterostructure Comprising Boron Nitride and Graphene for High-Performance Flexible Supercapacitors