Carbon Nano-onions: Potassium Intercalation and Reductive Covalent Functionalization

Perez-Ojeda Rodriguez ME, Castro E, Kröckel C, Lucherelli MA, Ludacka U, Kotakoski J, Werbach K, Peterlik H, Melle-Franco M, Chacón-Torres JC, Hauke F, Echegoyen L, Hirsch A, Abellán G (2021)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c07604

Open Access Link: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.1c07604

Abstract

Herein we report the synthesis of covalently functionalized carbon nano-onions (CNOs) via a reductive approach using unprecedented alkali-metal CNO intercalation compounds. For the first time, an in situ Raman study of the controlled intercalation process with potassium has been carried out revealing a Fano resonance in highly doped CNOs. The intercalation was further confirmed by electron energy loss spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Moreover, the experimental results have been rationalized with DFT calculations. Covalently functionalized CNO derivatives were synthesized by using phenyl iodide and n-hexyl iodide as electrophiles in model nucleophilic substitution reactions. The functionalized CNOs were exhaustively characterized by statistical Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, dynamic light scattering, UV–vis, and ATR-FTIR spectroscopies. This work provides important insights into the understanding of the basic principles of reductive CNOs functionalization and will pave the way for the use of CNOs in a wide range of potential applications, such as energy storage, photovoltaics, or molecular electronics.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Universität Wien / University of Vienna Austria (AT) The University of Texas at El Paso United States (USA) (US) CICECO Portugal (PT) University of València / Universitat de València Spain (ES) Universidad de Investigación de Tecnología Experimental (Yachay Tech) Ecuador (EC)

How to cite

APA:

Perez-Ojeda Rodriguez, M.E., Castro, E., Kröckel, C., Lucherelli, M.A., Ludacka, U., Kotakoski, J.,... Abellán, G. (2021). Carbon Nano-onions: Potassium Intercalation and Reductive Covalent Functionalization. Journal of the American Chemical Society. https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c07604

MLA:

Perez-Ojeda Rodriguez, Maria Eugenia, et al. "Carbon Nano-onions: Potassium Intercalation and Reductive Covalent Functionalization." Journal of the American Chemical Society (2021).

BibTeX: Download