TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of nitrogen configuration on carbon nanowall surface
T2 - Towards the improvement of electrochemical transduction properties and the stabilization of gold nanoparticles
AU - Achour, A.
AU - Solaymani, S.
AU - Vizireanu, S.
AU - Baraket, A.
AU - Vesel, A.
AU - Zine, N.
AU - Errachid, A.
AU - Dinescu, G.
AU - Pireaux, J. J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the Wallonia Region for financial support ( Project Cleanair ; convention 1510618 , compl. Feder films). The Synthesis, Irradiation & Analysis of Materials platform of the University of Namur is acknowledged for XPS measurements. This work was also partially supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministery of Research and Innovation- UEFISCDI , in the frame of Nucleus Programme INFLPR/2019 and project number PN-III-P1-1.2-PCCDI-2017-0387/80 PCCDI EMERG2Ind , within PNCDI III.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
Copyright:
Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/4/15
Y1 - 2019/4/15
N2 - In this work, unintentionally nitrogen doped carbon nanowall (CNW) films, deposited on silicon substrates, were treated in argon plasma admixed with nitrogen (Ar/N 2 ) or oxygen (Ar/O 2 ). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that oxygen functional groups have been incorporated in various amounts with high nitrogen doping concentration (∼12.5–13.5 at%. for Ar/N 2 and Ar/O 2 gas mixtures). More importantly, nitrogen configuration on the surface has been modified after the treatment. The electrochemical reactivity of the CNW electrodes, before and after the treatment, was investigated by both cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The CV results indicate that the pyrrolic nitrogen can play a key role in the electrochemical transaction improvement. In addition, deposition of gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) onto CNW samples and their interaction with CNWs has been discussed through XPS results. It was suggested that a certain nitrogen configuration there is a promotion of electron donation from nitrogen to the Au NPs. Such findings open the way to design nitrogen doped carbon materials with specific nitrogen configuration to improve electrochemical properties and to prepare better platform for Au NPs for use in catalysis and sensor applications.
AB - In this work, unintentionally nitrogen doped carbon nanowall (CNW) films, deposited on silicon substrates, were treated in argon plasma admixed with nitrogen (Ar/N 2 ) or oxygen (Ar/O 2 ). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that oxygen functional groups have been incorporated in various amounts with high nitrogen doping concentration (∼12.5–13.5 at%. for Ar/N 2 and Ar/O 2 gas mixtures). More importantly, nitrogen configuration on the surface has been modified after the treatment. The electrochemical reactivity of the CNW electrodes, before and after the treatment, was investigated by both cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The CV results indicate that the pyrrolic nitrogen can play a key role in the electrochemical transaction improvement. In addition, deposition of gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) onto CNW samples and their interaction with CNWs has been discussed through XPS results. It was suggested that a certain nitrogen configuration there is a promotion of electron donation from nitrogen to the Au NPs. Such findings open the way to design nitrogen doped carbon materials with specific nitrogen configuration to improve electrochemical properties and to prepare better platform for Au NPs for use in catalysis and sensor applications.
KW - Carbon nanowalls
KW - Electrochemical transductor
KW - Nitrogen doping
KW - Plasma treatments
KW - Pyrrolic nitrogen
KW - Surface chemistry
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062279988&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.matchemphys.2019.02.046
DO - 10.1016/j.matchemphys.2019.02.046
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85062279988
SN - 0254-0584
VL - 228
SP - 110
EP - 117
JO - Materials Chemistry and Physics
JF - Materials Chemistry and Physics
ER -