A nanoflower, in chemistry, refers to a compound of certain elements that results in formations which in microscopic view resemble flowers or, in some cases, trees that are called nanobouquets or nanotrees.[1] These formations are nanometers long and thick so they can only be observed using electron microscopy.[2]
Production
Several ways to produce nanoflowers are known:
- A process similar to the making of a carbon nanotube using a hydrocarbon gas.
- Heating gallium (Ga) and then flowing methane (CH4) over, under specific pressure and heat. This forms flower-shaped silicon carbide (SiC) structures.
- Heating a molybdenum dioxide (MoO2) thin film on a piece of molybdenum foil surrounded by sulfur vapour.[3]
Nanomeadow
In supercapacitors, energy is stored because the electrodes are coated with a porous material that soaks up ions like a sponge, usually activated carbon. Nanomeadow supercapacitors store ions in manganese oxide (MnO), a material with a much greater capacity for ions than activated carbon.[4]
Scientists at Research Institute of Chemical Defence (Beijing, China) and Peking University created a nanomeadow of microscopic structures, fuzzy flowers of MnO each about 100 nanometres across on a field of messy carbon nanotube grass grown on a tantalum metal foil. Nanomeadows perform 10 times better than MnO alone and can store twice as much charge as the carbon-based electrodes in existing ultracapacitors.[4]