Thermogravimetric analysis

About: Thermogravimetric analysis is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 37248 publications have been published within this topic receiving 862144 citations. The topic is also known as: thermal gravimetric analysis & TGA.

Nitrogen-containing microporous carbon nanospheres with improved capacitive properties

Abstract: We report the largely improved electrochemical capacitance of polypyrrole-derived microporous carbon nanospheres (MCNs, 80–100 nm in diameter) containing nitrogen functional groups. We have investigated the electrochemical properties of precursor polypyrrole nanospheres (PNs, with a high N/C ratio and low surface area) and as-derived carbon nanospheres (CNs, with a moderate N/C ratio and low surface area) prepared by carbonizing PNs at different temperatures, and MCNs (with a low N/C ratio and high surface area) obtained by chemical activation of CNs. The samples are thoroughly characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), nitrogen sorption, elemental analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It is found that MCNs with a high surface area and N-doping species exhibit much better capacitive performance compared to the PNs and CNs, and commercial carbon blacks (XC-72 and BP2000) as well. The MCN sample gives a reversible specific capacitance of ∼240 F g−1 for 3000 cycles in aqueous media as a result of combined advantages of high electrochemical activity of doped heteroatoms (N and O) and accessible well-developed porosity, demonstrating the promising use in high-energy-density supercapacitors.

Evidence for Bilayer Assembly of Cationic Surfactants on the Surface of Gold Nanorods

Abstract: The surface structure of gold nanorods (NRs) capped with cationic surfactants in water was studied by FTIR, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). For gold nanorods, the FTIR results show the formation of new bands, which indicate binding of the surfactant headgroup to the surface of the NR. These bands are stable at temperatures as high as 350 °C. For a surfactant mixture (used as capping material), TGA shows a weak weight loss peak at 235 °C and a strong peak at 298 °C assigned to the surfactant molecules in monomer and aggregated forms, respectively. For gold nanorods, three weight loss peaks at about 230, 273, and 344 °C are observed. For gold nanospheres (NSs), TGA shows a strong mass loss at 225 °C and two weak mass loss peaks at 255 and 288 °C. The released material after combustion in the TGA process was analyzed by FTIR spectroscopy and found to be CO2. Our results suggest the following for both NRs and NSs: (1) There are two different binding modes for the...