Submitted by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2017-02-20T15:24:48Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação - Joelma M. O. Ferreira.pdf: 2643340 bytes, checksum: eca2ac8dc24abdf2d8509611c7bad6f8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2017-02-20T15:25:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação - Joelma M. O. Ferreira.pdf: 2643340 bytes, checksum: eca2ac8dc24abdf2d8509611c7bad6f8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2017-02-20T15:25:20Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação - Joelma M. O. Ferreira.pdf: 2643340 bytes, checksum: eca2ac8dc24abdf2d8509611c7bad6f8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-20T15:25:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação - Joelma M. O. Ferreira.pdf: 2643340 bytes, checksum: eca2ac8dc24abdf2d8509611c7bad6f8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-20 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The study of tin chalcogenides SnX (X = O, S, Se, or Te) has attracted great attention of researchers due its intrinsic semiconductor characteristics. However, the binary compositions SnSe and SnS are the most studied at the present time because of the recently reported high value of ZT presented by the orthorhombic structure Pnma (SASSI et al., 2014; ZHAO et al., 2014), besides its anisotropic (AGARWAL et al., 2000) and polymorphic (MICHIELON DE SOUZA et al., 2016) characteristics. In this context, this research suggests the formation of a solid solution substitution Sn2SSe produced by mechanical alloying in two milling times, 1h and 10h. The structure, morphology and thermal behavior of the alloys were investigated using the following techniques: X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Energy-Dispersive Analysis of X-ray (EDX), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermal Treatment (TT), Fusion Process and Rietveld (MR) structural refinement method. The characterization by XRD confirmed that the produced alloys are constituted by a layered orthorhombic Sn2SSe single phase (space group Pnma). However, the sample produced in 10h also has the contaminant phase SnO2. The data adjusted by the Rietveld method allowed estimating the average crystallite size of 17,8nm and 19,6nm for the ternary phase Sn2SSe for samples with 1h and 10h of milling respectively. EDX did not show the contaminant phase present in the sample with 10h of milling, unlike XRD together with MR that revealed a relatively low amount of the contaminant about 7,6%. The DSC performed between 30o and 550oC in the uncontaminated sample was studied in concomitance with the TT and the melting process. The results showed the thermal instability of the sample and possible evaporation of Se and S elements above 240oC. The SEM showed that the alloy particles are irregular and of varying sizes. / O estudo dos calcogênios de estanho SnX (X=O, S, Se ou Te) tem atraído bastante atenção dos pesquisadores devido às suas características semicondutoras intrínsecas. Entretanto, as composições binárias SnSe e SnS são as mais estudadas na atualidade devido o alto valor de ZT apresentado pela estrutura ortorrômbica Pnma relatado recentemente(SASSI et al., 2014; ZHAO et al., 2014), tal como as suas características anisotrópicas(AGARWAL et al., 2000) e polimórficas(MICHIELON DE SOUZA et al., 2016). Nesse contexto, essa pesquisa, surgere a formação de uma solução sólida substitucional Sn2SSe produzida pela técnica de Moagem Mecânica de Alta Energia em dois tempos de moagem, 1h e 10h. A estrutura, morfologia e o comportamento térmico das ligas foram investigados através das seguintes técnicas: Difração de raios X (DRX), Espectroscopia de Fluorescência de Raios X por energia dispersiva (EDX), Microscopia Eletrônica de Varredura (MEV), Calorimetria Diferencial de Varredura (DSC), Tratamento Térmico (TT), Processo de Fusão e método de refinamento estrutural de Rietveld (MR). A caracterização por DRX confirmou que as ligas produzidas são constituídas pela fase única Sn2SSe de estrutura ortorrômbica (grupo espacial Pnma) disposta em camadas, no entanto a amostra produzida em 10h possui também a fase contaminante SnO2. Os dados ajustados pelo método de Rietveld permitiram estimar o tamanho médio de cristalito de 17,8nm e 19,6nm para a fase ternária Sn2SSe referentes às amostras com 1h e 10h de moagem respectivamente. A EDX não mostrou a fase contaminante presente na amostra com 10h de moagem ao contrario da DRX juntamente com o MR que revelaram uma quantidade relativamente baixa do contaminante cerca de 7,6%. A DSC realizada entre 30 e 550 oC na amostra não contaminada foi estudada em concomitância ao TT e ao processo de fusão e mostraram a instabilidade térmica da amostra bem como uma possível evaporação dos elementos Se e S a uma temperatura acima de 240oC. A MEV mostrou que as partículas das ligas são irregulares e de tamanhos variados.

Thermoelectric devices make it possible for direct energy conversion between heat and electricity. In order to achieve a high energy conversion efficiency, materials with a high thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT = S2σT/κ, where S is the Seebeck coefficient, σ is the electrical conductivity, T is the absolute temperature, and κ is the thermal conductivity) are in great demand. The standard approach is to optimize charge carrier transport while at the same time scatter the heat transport, a task that is easier said than done. Improving the electrical properties in order to increase ZT is limited since electrons also carry heat, among other reasons, resulting in higher κ with a higher σ. Low κ materials, whether through complexity or lattice distortion, are therefore of great interest in optimizing the materials’ thermoelectric properties. In this thesis I will present my investigations on certain material systems that have intrinsically low κ, materials with cage-like or layer-like crystal structure and complex chalcogenides, as well as investigations on nanostructured bulk chalcogenides in order to further lower the κ. In addition, unique transport phenomena that can be described as polaronic-type conduction and lone-pair distortion have been observed in certain materials. This too will be extensively described in this thesis.

The work presented in this thesis reports the use of a series of novel thiobiuret metal complexes [M(SON(CNiPr2)2)n] (M = Cu, Ni, Fe, Zn, Cd or In; n = 2 or 3) for the first time as single source precursors for the colloidal synthesis of metal sulfide nanoparticles. Other single source precursor(s) were also used for the synthesis of CdSe, CdS, CdSe/CdS core/shell, CdSeS alloys and Cu2-xS nanoparticles in microfluidic reactors. Thermolysis experiments of [Cu(SON(CNiPr2)2)2] using only oleylamine produced Cu7S4 nanoparticles as a mixture of monoclinic and orthorhombic phases. Pure orthorhombic Cu7S4 nanoparticles were obtained when a solution of precursor in octadecene was injected into hot oleylamine whereas, Cu1.94S nanoparticles were obtained when a solution of the precursor in oleylamine was injected into hot dodecanethiol. The thermolysis of [Ni(SON(CNiPr2)2)2] gave Ni3S4 in all cases except when precursor solution in oleylamine was injected into hot octadecene which produced NiS nanoparticles. The thermolysis of [Fe(SON(CNiPr2)2)3] in oleylamine/oleylamine produced Fe7S8 nanoparticles but other combinations, in most cases, gave amorphous material. Thermolysis of [Zn(SON(CNiPr2)2)2] in oleylamine produced spherical ZnS nanoparticles. Particles with size smaller than 4.3 nm had a cubic phase, whereas the particles with size larger than 4.3 nm had a hexagonal crystal structure as suggested by the selected area electron diffraction. Powder X-Ray diffraction showed that the CdS nanoparticles obtained from the thermolysis of [Cd(SON(CNiPr2)2)2] in oleylamine were cubic under all reaction conditions except when dodecanethiol was used as an injection solvent which produced hexagonal CdS. β-In2S3 were synthesized from the thermolysis of [In(SON(CNiPr2)2)3]. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the copper, nickel and iron sulfide nanoparticles had various morphologies such as spherical, hexagonal disks, trigonal disks, rods or wires; depending on the reaction temperature, concentration of the precursor, the growth time and the solvent/capping agent combination. The zinc and cadmium sulfide nanoparticles were mostly spherical whereas the indium sulfide nanoparticles were produced in the form of ultra-thin (< 1.0 nm) nanorods or nanowires. ZnxCd1-xS and CuInS2 nanoparticles were synthesised from the 1,1,5,5-tetra-iso-propyl-4-thiobiureto complexes of Zn, Cd and Cu, In, respectively. Powder X-Ray diffraction showed that the obtained ZnxCd1-xS nanoparticles are cubic under all reaction conditions. The ZnxCd1-xS nanoparticles had an average diameter between 3.5 to 6.4 nm as shown by transmission electron microscopy. The optical properties of the ZnxCd1-xS nanoparticles were highly dependent on the ZnS to CdS precursor ratio and the solvents/capping agents. Chalcopyrite (tetragonal), wurtzite (hexagonal) or a mixture of both CuInS2 nanoparticles were obtained depending on the reaction conditions. TEM showed that the CuInS2 nanoparticles could be synthesised with different morphologies (spherical, hexagonal, trigonal or cone). Luminescent CuInS2 nanoparticles were obtained only in the absence of oleylamine. [Cd(S2CNMenHex)2], [Cd(Se2P(iPr)2)2] and [Cu(SON(CNiPr2)2)2] were used as single source precursor(s) for the synthesis of CdS, CdSe, CdSe/CdS core/shell, CdSeS alloys and Cu2-xS in microfludic reactor. The CdS nanoparticles were in size range of 5.0 to 8.0 nm whereas the CdSe nanoparticles were ultra small (ca. 2 nm) with blue luminescence. The CdSe/CdS core/shell and the CdSeS alloys were bluish green or green luminescent depending on their size. The copper sulfide nanoparticles were found to be monoclinic Cu7S4 or monoclinic Cu7S4 with minor impurities of rhombohedral Cu9S5 depending on the reaction conditions.

No description available.

Les verres de tellures sont des matériaux récemment remis au goût du jour pour des applications en optiques. Certaines compositions permettent en effet de transmettre la lumière loin dans l’infrarouge au-delà de 20 µm, mais leur tendance naturelle à recristalliser rend difficile la fabrication d’objet pour la photonique telle que des fibres optiques. Des verres du système Te-Ge-Se ont été développés dans le cadre du projet Darwin de l’Agence Spatiale Européenne permettant de détecter la bande d’absorption du CO2 à 15 µm. La première fibre optique monomode a été obtenue à partir d’une nouvelle méthode de fabrication de préforme par moulage. Les verres de tellure du système Te-Ge-AgI sont les seuls à ne pas présenter de pic de cristallisation en analyse thermique. Leur stabilité a été mise à profit pour développer des fibres optiques avec un niveau très bas de pertes optiques, de l’ordre de 3 dB∙m-1, ce qui constitue un record. Ces fibres ont été utilisées pour mettre en œuvre des expériences de spectroscopie par ondes évanescentes permettant d’accéder à une gamme de longueurs d’onde encore jamais atteinte de 2 à 16 µm. Ce gain sera de première importance pour la mise en service de ces fibres en biologie ou médecine.Par ailleurs, les verres de tellure sont les verres présentant les conductivités électroniques les plus élevées jamais mesurées. Il s’agit donc de matériaux potentiellement intéressants pour la thermoélectricité. Certaines compositions du système (Te/Se)-(As/Sb/Bi)-(Cu/Ag) ont été synthétisées et caractérisées. Des matériaux composites obtenus par broyage et compression de poudres de verre et de Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 cristallisé ont été préparés. Ces derniers présentent un ZT = 0.365 à 413 K, ce qui est encourageant pour l’avenir. / The tellurium-based glasses are of interest because of their transparency in the mid- and far-infrared range. Tellurium-based glasses and optical fibers can be used for the detection the atmosphere of terrestrial planets in Darwin project and the identification of chemical species in the daily life. For the detection of CO2 (15 µm) on exoplanet, high purity Te-Ge-Se experimental single mode fiber which can transmit light up to 16 μm has been successfully fabricated based on a new preform molding process. Moreover, Te-Ge-AgI glasses, which present no crystallization peak and far infrared transmittance beyond 30 μm (as bulk), are also candidates for infrared sensing. A structural model proposed in this work provides some explanations on their good thermal stability. Low-loss single index fibers drawn from these glasses have shown their capabilities to collect mid-infrared spectra from 2 to 16 µm. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first fiber evanescent wave spectra collected on such a wide range. This achievement will be essential for future medical applications.Otherwise, tellurium-based glasses, due to the intrinsic poor thermal conductivity and high Seebeck coefficient, are good candidates as new materials in the thermoelectricity field. Te-As-Se-Cu glass with the introduction of copper up to 25% has been explored. By sintering this glass with Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3, glass-ceramic composites were also obtained exhibiting maximum zT values equal to 0.365 at 413 K.

No description available.

No description available.

The ever increasing demand for energy due to over consumption of non-renewable fossil fuels has emphasized the need for alternate, sustainable and efficient energy conversion and storage systems. In this direction, electrochemical energy conversion and storage systems involving various fundamental electrochemical redox processes such as hydrogen evolution (HER), oxygen reduction (ORR), oxygen evolution (OER), hydrogen oxidation (HOR) reactions and others become highly important. Electrocatalysts are often used to accelerate the kinetics of these reactions. Platinum (Pt), ruthenium oxide and iridium oxide (RuO2 and IrO2) are known to be the state of the art catalysts for several of these reactions due to favouarable density of states (DOS) near the Fermi level, binding energy with the reactant species, chemical inertness etc. Apart from HER, OER and ORR, chlorine evolution reaction (Cl-ER) is another industrially important reaction associated with water purification, disinfection, bleaching, chemical weapons and pharmaceuticals. Dimensionally stable anodes (RuO2/IrO2 mixed with TiO2 on Ti) are the most commonly used catalysts for this process. Issues related to surface poisoning, corrosion and cost of the catalysts, in addition to selectivity and specificity towards a particular reaction are various aspects to be addressed. For example, Pt is not very specific for ORR in presence of methanol in addition to high cost and corrosion in certain media. On the other hand, DSA can efficiently catalyze both OER and Cl-ER, and hence there is overlap of the two processes in the potential range available. There is an on going search for efficient, cost-effective, stable catalysts that possess high specificity for a particular redox reaction. Towards this goal, the present study explores certain layered (phospho)chalcogenides for catalyzing HER, ORR, OER and Cl-ER. The present thesis is structured in two parts, where the first part explores the multi-functional catalytic aspects of new classes of compounds based on layered transition metal mixed chalcogenides (MoS2(1-x)Se2x) and ternary phosphochalcogenides (FePS3, FePSe3 and MoPS). In addition, lithium insertion and desinsertion has been studied with the aim of using the layered materials for rechargeable batteries. The second part of the thesis explores organic electrode materials with active carbonyl groups such as rufigallol, polydihydroxyanthrachene succinic anhydride (PDASA) as battery electrodes. Additionally, covalently functionalized transition metal phthalocyanines with reduced graphene oxide are studied as counter electrodes in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). MoS2(1-x)Se2x (x = 0 to 1) compositions are solid solutions of MoS2 and MoSe2 in different ratios. They crystallize in hexagonal structure with space group P63/mmc (D6h4) having Mo in trigonal prismatic coordination like the pristine counterparts. X-Ray diffraction studies reveal that Vegard’s law (figure 1a) is followed and hence complete miscibility of MoS2 and MoSe2 is established. MoS2(1-x)Se2x (x = 0 to 1) are layered in nature and the layers are held together by long range, weak van der Waal’s forces. This gives us the flexibility of exfoliation to produce corresponding few-layer materials (figure 1b). Figure 1. (a) Variation of lattice parameter corresponding to (002) reflection of MoS2(1-x)Se2x with different x values. (b) Scanning electron micrograph of few-layer MoS2(1-x)Se2x (x = 0.5). The electrocatalytic activity of the few-layer sulphoselenides have been studied towards HER in aqueous 0.5 M H2SO4 and towards Cl-ER in 3 M aqueous NaCl (pH = 3) solution. The mixed chalcogenides exhibit very good activities for both HER and Cl-ER as compared to the activity of their pristine counter parts (i.e. MoS2 and MoSe2) (figures 2a and 2b). Electrocatalytic activity on different compositions reveal that MoS1.0Se1.0 exhibits the maximum activity. Additionally, it has been observed that MoS1.0Se1.0 shows high specificity for Cl-ER with negligible interference of OER. Figure 2. Voltammetric data for (a) hydrogen evolution reaction (in 0.5 M aqueous H2SO4) and (b) chlorine evolution reaction (in 3 M aqueous NaCl solution, pH = 3) on MoS2(1-x)Se2x (x = 0, 0.5, 1). Figure 3. (a) XRD pattern of MoS2(1-x)Se2x (x = 0.5) electrode after a cycle of Li insersion and deinsersion (red) along with as-synthesized material (black) (b) Cycling behaviour of rGO supported (black) and pristine (red) MoS2(1-x)Se2x (x = 0.5) as electrode in rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The equiatomic MoS1.0Se1.0 has also been studied as an anode material for rechargeable lithium batteries. The cyclic voltammogram and characterization after charge-discharge cycle (figure 3a) indicate intercalation of Li with in the layers followed by conversion type formation of Li-S and Li-Se type compounds. The pristine material shows continuous capacity fading while the composites of sulphoselenides functionalized with conducting carbon supports such as rGO, MWCNT, super P carbon, toray carbon show marked improvement in capacity as well as cycling behavior. The rGO functionalized MoS1.0Se1.0 reveals ~1000 mAh/g of stable specific discharge capacity for 500 cycles (figure 3b). In the next two chapters, new class of transition metal-based layered materials FePS3 and FePSe3, containing both P and chalcogen (S and Se) is indroduced for electrocatalysis. FePS3 crystallizes in monoclinic symmetry with an indirect band gap of ~1.55 eV while FePSe3 possesses rhombohedral crystal structure with comparatively low band gap (~1.3 eV) as shown in figure 4a. The FePS3 and FePSe3 have been exfoliated as has been done for MoS1.0Se1.0 (liquid exfoliation method) using acetone as the solvent. Stable colloids with few-layer nanosheets having lamellar morphology and lateral sizes of ~100 to 200 nm are obtained. Electrical characterization indicates that they are semiconducting and the conductivity of the Se analogue is ~50 times higher than that of the S analogue (figure 4b). Figure 4. (a) Catholuminescence of FePX3 ( X = S and Se) reveals the band gap of the material. Band gap of the S analogue is 1.52 eV and that of the Se analogue is 1.33 eV (b) Resistivity of FePX3 ( X = S and Se) as a function of temperature. The tri-functional electrocatalytic activities on rGO-few layer FePX3 (X = S and Se) have been evaluated for HER over a wide pH range (0.5 M H2SO4, 0.5 M KOH, phosphate Figure 5. Catalytic activity of rGO-few-layer FePX3 (X = S, Se) towards HER in (a) aqueous 0.5 M H2SO4 and (b) 3.5 wt % NaCl solutions. (c) ORR activity of the catalysts in oxygen saturated 0.5 M KOH (d) OER behaviour on the catalysts in 0.5 M KOH at a rotation speed of 1600 rpm. buffer, pH 7 and 3.5 % NaCl), ORR and OER in alkaline media (0.5 M KOH). The studies clearly reveal that both rGO-FePS3 and rGO-FePSe3 exhibit excellent HER activity in acidic media (figure 5a) with high stability. The HER studies in 3.5 wt % aqueous NaCl solution (figure 5b) suggests that the catalysts are effective in evolving hydrogen from sea-water environment. Studies on ORR activity (figure 5c) indicate that the rGO composites of both S and Se analogues follow 4-electron pathways to produce water as the final product. They are also found to be highly methanol tolerant. In the case of OER (figure 5d), XPS characterization of the electrodes after the voltammetric studies reveals the presence of very thin layer of Fe2O3 (not detectable by XRD). All the three reactions (HER, ORR and OER) catalyzed by the Se analogue are better than the S analogue (figure 5). This could be due to the low band gap and high conductivity of FePSe3 as compared to FePS3. The over potential to achieve 10 mAcm-2 current density is ~108 mV for rGO-few-layer FePS3 catalyst where in the case of rGO-few layer FePSe3, it is ~97 mV (table 1). Table 1. Catalytic activities of rGO-few layer FePS3 and rGO-few layer FePSe3 towards HER, ORR and OER. Reaction studied rGO-FePS3 rGO-FePSe3 HER (η @ 10mAcm-2) ~108 mV ~97 mV ORR (peak potential) ~0.81 V ~0.87 V OER (η @ 10mAcm-2) ~470 mV ~430 mV It is likely that there is a strong interaction between FePX3 (metal d-orbital) and rGO, as observed from the downward shift of Fe 2p peak in high resolution XPS studies. This interaction may extend the density of states of metal d-orbitals thereby improving the catalytic activities. The next chapter deals with molybdenum-based phosphosulphide compound (MoPS). Molybdenum-based phosphide catalysts have been explored recently as excellent catalysts for various electrochemical reactions such as HER. It is expected that the catalyst containing both S and P will show positive effects on catalytic activities due to the synergy between S and P. In the present study, P incorporated MoS2 is studied towards HER. The XRD pattern of the as-synthesized crystal suggests the presence of mixed phase of MoS2, MoP2 and MoP while the elemental mapping in microscopy indicates the ratio of Mo, P and S to be 1:1:1. The electrochemical HER in 0.5 M H2SO4 indicates that the activity is improved drastically as compared to bulk and few-layer MoS2. The next section explores the use of different organic electrode materials possessing active carbonyl groups for Li-storage studies. The advantage of the use of carbonyl-based compounds lies in the high reversible activity towards Li ion insersion and de-insersion. Rufigallol (figure 6a) exhibits very stable capacity of ~200 mAh/g (at C/20 rate) upto 500 Figure 6. (a) and (c) Schematic representation of rufigallol and poly-dihydroanthracene succinic anhydride (PDASA) respectively. (b) and (d) Cyclic behaviour of rufigallol (at C/20 rate) and PDASA (at 20 mAg-1 current rate) in Li-storage devices. (e) and (f) represent the coulombic efficiency of rufigallol (at C/20 rate) and PDASA (at 20 mAg-1 current rate) as a function of number of cycles. cycles along (figure 6b) and with very good rate capability. A triptycene-based mesoporous polymer, PDASA (figure 6c) is introduced and explored as efficient electrode material for Li-storage. PDASA exhibits very high capacity of ~1000 mAh/g at a current rate of 50 mA/g upto 1000 cycles (figure 6d). Even at very high current rates (3A/g) excellent cyclability is observed. The mechanistic details of lithium uptake and release are studied using various spectroscopic techniques. In both the cases the coulombic efficiency observed is ~80 to 90 % (figures 6e and f). Figure 7. (a) Digital photograph of the dye sensitized solar cell with rGO-Co-TAPc counter electrode. (b) Photoconversion efficiency of DSSCs with different counter electrodes as mentioned in the figure. (c) Photo conversion efficiency of Pt and rGO-Co-TAPc based DSSCs as function of storage time. (d) Schematic illustration of DSSC wherein the energy level of the counter electrodes and electrolyte are shown for different M-TAPcs. In a slightly different direction, metal phthalocyanine - rGO composites (rGO-M-TAPc; M = Co, Zn, Fe) have been explored as counter electrodes in DSSC. Figure 7a depicts the digital image of a DSSC constructed using rGO-Co-TAPc as the counter electrode. It has been observed that rGO-cobalt tetraamino phthalocyanine (rGO-Co-TAPc) counter electrode exhibits ~6.6 % of solar conversion efficiency (figure 7b) and is close to that of standard DSSC (Pt counter electrode) under identical experimental conditions and are highly stable (figure 7c). Other metal phthalocyanines show less efficiency and is analysed based on the relative positions of HOMO energy levels of the materials and the energy level of the redox system (I-/I3- system) as given in figure 7d. The thesis contains eight chapters on aspects discussed above along with summary and future perspectives given at the end. It is devided into various chapters in two sections, one comprising inorganic chalcogenide-based electrocatalysts and another comprising organic electrode materials. Appendix I discusses the Na-storage behaviour of MoS1.0Se1.0 and appendix II describes the Li-storage behaviour of rGO functionalized benzoquinone and diamino anthraquinone electrode materials.

Systems that exhibit the extraordinary magnetoresistance (EMR) effect and other more disordered semiconductor-metal hybrid structures have been investigated numerically with the use of the finite element method (FEM). Initially, modelling focused on circular geometry EMR devices where a single metallic droplet is embedded concentrically into a larger semiconducting disk. The dependence of the magnetoresistance of such systems on the transverse magnetic field (0 5T) and filling factor (1/16 15/16) are reported and generally show a very good agreement with existing experimental data. The influence of the geometry of the conducting region of these EMR systems was then investigated. The EMR effect was found to be highly sensitive to the shape of the conducting region with a multi-branched geometry producing a four order of magnitude enhancement of the magnetoresistance over a circular geometry device of the same filling factor. Conformal mapping has previously been shown to transform a circular EMR device into an equivalent linear geometry. Such a linear EMR device has been modelled with the EMR mechanism clearly observed. The magnetoresistive response of a circular EMR device upon changes to: the mobility of the semiconducting region; the ratio of metal to semiconductor conductivity; and the introduction of a finite resistance at the semiconductor-metal interface, have also been investigated. In order for a large EMR effect to be observed the system requires: the semiconductor mobility to be large; the conductivity of the metal to be greater than two orders of magnitude larger than that of the semiconductor; and a very low interface resistance. This modelling procedure has been extended to include inhomogeneous semiconductor-metal hybrids with a more complex and disordered structure. Two models are presented, both based upon the random distribution of a small proportion of metal inside a semiconducting material. The resultant magnetoresistance in each case is found to have a quasi-linear dependence on magnetic field, similar to that observed in the silver chalcogenides.

Understanding how atoms interact is a fundamental aspect of chemistry, biology and materials science. There have been great advances in the knowledge of covalent and ionic bonding over the past twenty years but one of the major challenges for chemistry is to develop full understanding of weak interatomic/intermolecular forces. This thesis describes fundamental studies that develop the basic understanding of weak interactions between heavier polarisable elements. The chosen methodology is to constrain heavy atoms using a rigid naphthalene backbone. When substituents larger than hydrogen, are positioned at close proximity at the peri-positions of a naphthalene molecule they experience steric strain; the extent of which is dictated by intramolecular interactions. These interactions can be repulsive due to steric hindrance or attractive due to weak or strong bonding. In efforts to understand the factors which influence distortion in sterically crowded naphthalenes and study possible weak intramolecular interactions between peri-atoms, investigations focussed on previously unknown mixed 1,8-disubstituted naphthalene systems. Mixed phosphorus-chalcogenide species were initially studied; three mixed phosphine compounds of the type Nap[ER][PPh2] were prepared along with their chalcogenides and a series of metal complexes. The study of interactions between heavy atoms was progressed by investigations into a series of mixed chalcogenide compounds of the type Nap[EPh][E’Ph] (E = S, Se, Te). Subsequent reaction of the chalcogenide systems with the di-halogens, dibromine and diiodine, afforded a mixture of charge transfer and insertion adducts displaying an array of different geometries around the chalcogen atom. From molecular structural studies, a collection of intramolecular peri-interactions were found, extending from no interaction due to repulsive effects, weak attractive 3c-4e type interactions and one example containing a strong covalent peri-bond. Further weak intramolecular interactions observed include CH-π and E•••E’ type interactions plus π-π stacking between adjacent phenyl rings. It was discovered that the bulk of the peri-atoms is influential on the distance between them, but this is not the only factor determining the naphthalene geometry. Inter- and intramolecular interactions can also have an impact and furthermore the number, size and electronic properties of substituents attached to the peri-atoms can determine molecular distortion.