Herein, we investigated the noncovalent interactions derived from functionalized carbon nanotube matrices grafting metallic alloy PtRu nanoparticle-decorated Vulcan carbon (fMWCNTs-g-PtRu/C) toward the enhancement of alcohol oxidation reactions. The fMWCNTs noncovalently grafted PtRu/C was successfully synthesized and demonstrated significant enhancement of the electro-catalytic activity and stability toward alcohol oxidation reactions as revealed by electrochemical characterizations. The presented results indicate that the grafting matrix specifically enhances ethanol oxidation reaction kinetics much more than methanol and propanol oxidation reactions. Since the same loading of PtRu/C was used for all tests, the differentiation between these reactants revealed the different strength of noncovalent interactions between the functional matrix and corresponding reactants. This result reveals a new strategy for using fMWCNTs matrix as potential catalyst supports due to its facile fabrication and functionalization, cost effectiveness and environmental friendliness, factors in which all of them are necessary for the practical application of direct alcohol fuel cells in near future.

As an important method for preparing ordered mesoporous polymer and carbon, organic template directed self-assembly is facing challenges because of the weak non-covalent interactions between the organic templates and the building blocks. Herein we developed a novel synthetic procedure based on a reactive template-induced self-assembly to construct ordered mesoporous framework. The aldehyde end-group of reactive template can react with the building blocks (i.e., resol) to form a stable covalent bond during the self-assembly process. This leads to an enhanced interaction between resol and template and thus achieves the formation of ordered mesostructure.

Material like PET {polyethylene terephthalate (C10H8O4)n} are usually thrown away present in glasses of refreshments, water bottles between others which are hard to be degraded. However, this material can be recycled and used to acquire nanostructures. During this investigation the objective was to obtain nanoparticles and carbon based nanostructures from the polymer type PET by means of microwave irradiation at the temperature of 260°C at normal pressure and at 600 psi in the presence of acids, ethylene glycol and by means of calcinations. The obtained nanoparticles of ultrananocrystalline diamonds were studied by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Raman spectroscopy.

Diamond was investigated as one of the superior dielectric materials for advanced wakefield accelerators. Both planar and cylindrical wakefield accelerating structures were constructed. An AsTex microwave plasma-enhanced CVD system was modified for synthesis of cylindrical polycrystalline diamond tubes. Cylindrical diamond tubes were successfully synthesized from hydrogen and methane and are characterized with micro Raman, photoluminescence spectroscopy and optical tests. In addition, planar wakefield structures were constructed from commercially available diamond. Wakefield tests on a rectangular diamond structure confirm that diamond can sustain microwave electric field strengths of 0.3 GV/m at its surface without material breakdown.