Solid Hybrid materials abound. But flowing versions of them are new actors in the materials science landscape and in particular for energy applications. This paper presents a new way to deliver nanostructured hybrid materials for energy storage, namely, in the form of nanofluids. We present here the first example of a hybrid electroactive nanofluid (HENFs) combining capacitive and faradaic energy storage mechanisms in a single fluid material. This liquid electrode is composed of reduced graphene oxide and polyoxometalates (rGO-POMs) forming a stable nanocomposite for electrochemical energy storage in novel Nanofluid Flow Cells. Two graphene based hybrid materials (rGO-phosphomolybdate, rGO-PMo and rGO-phosphotungstate, rGO-PW ) were synthesized and dispersed with the aid of a surfactant in 1 M H SO aqueous electrolyte to yield highly stable hybrid electroactive nanofluids (HENFs) of low viscosity which were tested in a home-made flow cell under static and continuous flowing conditions. Remarkably, even low concentration rGO-POMs HENFs (0.025 wt%) exhibited high specific capacitances of 273 F/g(rGO-PW ) and 305 F/g(rGO-PMo ) with high specific energy and specific power. Moreover, rGO-POM HENFs show excellent cycling stability (∼95 %) as well as Coulombic efficiency (∼77-79 %) after 2000 cycles. Thus, rGO-POM HENFs effectively behave as real liquid electrodes with excellent properties, demonstrating the possible future application of HENFs for dual energy storage in a new generation of Nanofluid Flow Cells.

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The rising amount of patients suffering for diabetes mellitus increases the requirements for effective insulin sensors. Carbon materials are a suitable choice for the development of insulin sensors due to their electrochemical characteristics. Pencil graphite electrodes (PGE) represent the trade‐off between price and excellent conductive properties. The modification of PGE by NiO and Ni nanoparticles fixed by chitosan results in surface area enlargement and improved electrocatalytic properties. This paper is focused on the comparison of different properties of Ni and NiO nanoparticles and their effect on redox reaction mechanism of insulin and detection characteristics. The electrode modified by Ni nanoparticles displays linear range of 1 μM–5 μM (R2 0.80), limit of detection (LOD) of 4.34 μM and sensitivity of 0.12 μA/μM. On the other hand, the electrode modified by NiO nanoparticles displays enhanced electrochemical characteristics such as linear range of 0.05 μM–5 μM (R2 0.99), limit of detection of 260 nM and sensitivity of 0.64 μA/μM. These properties make the NiO nanoparticles modified PGE the appropriate candidate for insulin determination.

Gómez-Romero P.. Battery and supercapacitor materials in flow cells. Electrochemical energy storage in a LiFePO4/reduced graphene oxide aqueous nanofluid. Electrochimica Acta, (2018). 281.

Diabetes mellitus can be considered one of the most widespread diseases globally. Hence, the diabetes research is currently focused on developing an effective, low-cost sensor having high stability and suitable analytical characteristics. Screen printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) embody ideal candidates for insulin determination due to the small area of the working electrode eliminating the solution volume required for the given purpose. Modification of SPCEs by using nanoparticles resulted in an increase of the working electrode surface area and formation of a higher number of active species. The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of a chitosan membrane on the electrochemical determination of insulin on NiO nanoparticles (NiONPs) and multi-walled nanotube (MWCNTs) modified SPCE (NiONPs/MWCNTs/SPCE). This study is primarily conceived to compare the analytical characteristics and stability of NiONPs/chitosan-MWCNTs/SPCE and NiONPs/MWCNTs/SPCE. An electrode modified with chitosan displays a wider linear range, one of 0.25 µM -5 µM (R 2 0.997); a lower limit of detection, 94 nM; a high sensitivity (0.021 µA/µM) and better stability than that of an electrode without chitosan. According to these characteristics, the polymer is considered a necessary compound of the electrochemical insulin sensor, improving the sensor's analytical characteristics.