@article{XieXuWangetal.2022, author = {Xie, Dongjiu and Xu, Yaolin and Wang, Yonglei and Pan, Xuefeng and H{\"a}rk, Eneli and Kochovski, Zdravko and Eljarrat, Alberto and M{\"u}ller, Johannes and Koch, Christoph T. and Yuan, Jiayin and Lu, Yan}, title = {Poly(ionic liquid) nanovesicle-templated carbon nanocapsules functionalized with uniform iron nitride nanoparticles as catalytic sulfur host for Li-S batteries}, series = {ACS nano}, volume = {16}, journal = {ACS nano}, number = {7}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, address = {Washington}, issn = {1936-0851}, doi = {10.1021/acsnano.2c01992}, pages = {10554 -- 10565}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Poly(ionic liquid)s (PIL) are common precursors for heteroatom-doped carbon materials. Despite a relatively higher carbonization yield, the PIL-to-carbon conversion process faces challenges in preserving morphological and structural motifs on the nanoscale. Assisted by a thin polydopamine coating route and ion exchange, imidazoliumbased PIL nanovesicles were successfully applied in morphology-maintaining carbonization to prepare carbon composite nanocapsules. Extending this strategy further to their composites, we demonstrate the synthesis of carbon composite nanocapsules functionalized with iron nitride nanoparticles of an ultrafine, uniform size of 3-5 nm (termed "FexN@C "). Due to its unique nanostructure, the sulfur-loaded FexN@C electrode was tested to efficiently mitigate the notorious shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) in Li-S batteries. The cavity of the carbon nanocapsules was spotted to better the loading content of sulfur. The well-dispersed iron nitride nanoparticles effectively catalyze the conversion of LiPSs to Li2S, owing to their high electronic conductivity and strong binding power to LiPSs. Benefiting from this well-crafted composite nanostructure, the constructed FexN@C/S cathode demonstrated a fairly high discharge capacity of 1085 mAh g(-1) at 0.5 C initially, and a remaining value of 930 mAh g(-1 )after 200 cycles. In addition, it exhibits an excellent rate capability with a high initial discharge capacity of 889.8 mAh g(-1) at 2 C. This facile PIL-to-nanocarbon synthetic approach is applicable for the exquisite design of complex hybrid carbon nanostructures with potential use in electrochemical energy storage and conversion.}, language = {en} } @article{RotheZhaoMuelleretal.2021, author = {Rothe, Martin and Zhao, Yuhang and M{\"u}ller, Johannes and Kewes, G{\"u}nter and Koch, Christoph T. and Lu, Yan and Benson, Oliver}, title = {Self-assembly of plasmonic nanoantenna-waveguide structures for subdiffractional chiral sensing}, series = {ACS nano}, volume = {15}, journal = {ACS nano}, number = {1}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, address = {Washington}, issn = {1936-0851}, doi = {10.1021/acsnano.0c05240}, pages = {351 -- 361}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Spin-momentum locking is a peculiar effect in the near-field of guided optical or plasmonic modes. It can be utilized to map the spinning or handedness of electromagnetic fields onto the propagation direction. This motivates a method to probe the circular dichroism of an illuminated chiral object. In this work, we demonstrate local, subdiffraction limited chiral coupling of light and propagating surface plasmon polaritons in a self-assembled system of a gold nanoantenna and a silver nanowire. A thin silica shell around the nanowire provides precise distance control and also serves as a host for fluorescent molecules, which indicate the direction of plasmon propagation. We characterize our nanoantenna-nanowire systems comprehensively through correlated electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, dark-field, and fluorescence imaging. Three-dimensional numerical simulations support the experimental findings. Besides our measurement of far-field polarization, we estimate sensing capabilities and derive not only a sensitivity of 1 mdeg for the ellipticity of the light field, but also find 10(3) deg cm(2)/dmol for the circular dichroism of an analyte locally introduced in the hot spot of the antenna-wire system. Thorough modeling of a prototypical design predicts on-chip sensing of chiral analytes. This introduces our system as an ultracompact sensor for chiral response far below the diffraction limit.}, language = {en} }