In situ electrochemical small-angle neutron scattering (eSANS) for quantitative structure and redox properties of nanoparticles

Published

February 16, 2012

Author(s)

Vivek M. Prabhu, Vytautas Reipa

Abstract

Rapid growth in nanomaterial applications highlight limitations of available physicochemical characterization methods. An in situ electrochemical small-angle neutron scattering (eSANS) meth-odology was devised that enables direct measurements of nano-material dispersion structure while undergoing reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions at the vitreous carbon electrode. Further, these porous electrodes are amenable to contrast-variant neutron scattering strategies to measure nanoparticle structure and polymer conformation in multi-component systems. The eSANS method was tested for feasibility by characterizing ZnO nanoparticles in 50 mmol/L NaCl deuterium oxide solution un-dergoing bulk electrolysis at negative potentials. Irreversible nanoparticle structural changes are observed during the potential cycle. The complete reduction of Zn2+ to Zn0 nanoparticles is unlikely, but an increase in the correlation length occurs as a pre-cursor to substantial redox bias and reduced correlation length.

Citation

Journal of the American Chemical Society

Volume

3

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1021/jz300124t

Keywords

nanoparticle, electrochemical, neutron scattering, toxicity, redox

Citation

Prabhu, V. and Reipa, V. (2012), In situ electrochemical small-angle neutron scattering (eSANS) for quantitative structure and redox properties of nanoparticles, Journal of the American Chemical Society, [online], https://doi.org/10.1021/jz300124t (Accessed October 11, 2025)