skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Search for: All records

Creators/Authors contains: "Salehi‐Khojin, Amin"

Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
What is a DOI Number?

Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.

  1. We present the successful synthesis and characterization of a one-dimensional high-entropy oxide (1D-HEO) exhibiting nanoribbon morphology. These 1D-HEO nanoribbons exhibit high structural stability at elevated temperatures (to 1000°C), elevated pressures (to 12 gigapascals), and long exposure to harsh acid or base chemical environments. Moreover, they exhibit notable mechanical properties, with an excellent modulus of resilience reaching 40 megajoules per cubic meter. High-pressure experiments reveal an intriguing transformation of the 1D-HEO nanoribbons from orthorhombic to cubic structures at 15 gigapascals followed by the formation of fully amorphous HEOs above 30 gigapascals, which are recoverable to ambient conditions. These transformations introduce additional entropy (structural disorder) besides configurational entropy. This finding offers a way to create low-dimensional, resilient, and high-entropy materials. 
    more » « less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available May 29, 2026
  2. Abstract The inability to process many covalent organic frameworks (COFs) as thin films plagues their widespread utilization. Herein, a vapor‐phase pathway for the bottom‐up synthesis of a class of porphyrin‐based COFs is presented. This approach allows integrating electrocatalysts made of metal‐ion‐containing COFs into the electrodes’ architectures in a single‐step synthesis and deposition. By precisely controlling the metal sites at the atomic level, remarkable electrocatalytic performance is achieved, resulting in unprecedentedly high mass activity values. How the choice of metal atoms, i.e., cobalt and copper, can determine the catalytic activities of POR‐COFs is demonstrated. The theoretical data proves that the Cu site is highly active for nitrate conversion to ammonia on the synthesized COFs. 
    more » « less
  3. Abstract 1D materials, such as nanofibers or nanoribbons are considered as the future ultimate limit of downscaling for modern electrical and electrochemical devices. Here, for the first time, nanofibers of a solid solution transition metal trichalcogenide (TMTC), Nb1‐xTaxS3, are successfully synthesized with outstanding electrical, thermal, and electrochemical characteristics rivaling the performance of the‐state‐of‐the art materials for each application. This material shows nearly unchanged sheet resistance (≈740 Ω sq−1) versus bending cycles tested up to 90 cycles, stable sheet resistance in ambient conditions tested up to 60 days, remarkably high electrical breakdown current density of ≈30 MA cm−2, strong evidence of successive charge density wave transitions, and outstanding thermal stability up to ≈800 K. Additionally, this material demonstrates excellent activity and selectivity for CO2conversion to CO reaching ≈350 mA cm−2at −0.8 V versus RHE with a turnover frequency number of 25. It also exhibits an excellent performance in a high‐rate Li–air battery with the specific capacity of 3000 mAh g−1at a current density of 0.3 mA cm−2. This study uncovers the multifunctionality in 1D TMTC alloys for a wide range of applications and opens a new direction for the design of the next generation low‐dimensional materials. 
    more » « less
  4. Abstract Redox meditators (RMs) are soluble catalysts located in an electrolyte that can improve the energy efficiency (reduced overpotential) and cyclability of Li–oxygen (Li–O2) batteries. In this work, 20 RMs within a Li–O2system with dimethyl sulfoxide and tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether electrolytes are studied and their electrochemical features such as redox potential, the separation of cathodic and anodic peaks, and their current intensities are measured using cyclic voltammetry (CV) experiments. Six RMs are selected as “primary” choices based on their electrochemical performance, and stability tests are then performed to examine their electrochemical responses after consecutive cycles. Moreover, galvanostatic cycling tests are performed within a Li–O2battery system assembled with selected six RMs for real case consistency investigations. It is found that results from CV to galvanostatic cycling tests are consistent for halides and organometallic RMs, where the former exhibit much higher stability. However, the organic RMs show high reversibility in CV but low in battery cycling results. Density functional theory calculations are carried out to gain more understanding of the stability and redox potentials of the RMs. This study provides comparative information to select the most reliable RMs for Li–O2batteries along with new fundamental understanding of their electrochemical activity and stability. 
    more » « less
  5. Abstract 2D materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), graphene, and boron nitride, are seen as promising materials for future high power/high frequency electronics. However, the large difference in the thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) between many of these 2D materials could impose a serious challenge for the design of monolayer‐material‐based nanodevices. To address this challenge, alloy engineering of TMDs is used to tailor their TECs. Here, in situ heating experiments in a scanning transmission electron microscope are combined with electron energy‐loss spectroscopy and first‐principles modeling of monolayer Mo1−xWxS2with different alloying concentrations to determine the TEC. Significant changes in the TEC are seen as a function of chemical composition in Mo1−xWxS2, with the smallest TEC being reported for a configuration with the highest entropy. This study provides key insights into understanding the nanoscale phenomena that control TEC values of 2D materials. 
    more » « less
  6. Abstract Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising materials for electrocatalysis; however, lack of electrical conductivity in the majority of existing MOFs limits their effective utilization in the field. Herein, an excellent catalytic activity of a 2D copper (Cu)‐based conductive MOF, copper tetrahydroxyquinone (CuTHQ), is reported for aqueous CO2reduction reaction (CO2RR) at low overpotentials. It is revealed that CuTHQ nanoflakes (NFs) with an average lateral size of 140 nm exhibit a negligible overpotential of 16 mV for the activation of this reaction, a high current density of ≈173 mA cm−2at −0.45 V versus RHE, an average Faradaic efficiency (F.E.) of ≈91% toward CO production, and a remarkable turnover frequency as high as ≈20.82 s−1. In the low overpotential range, the obtained CO formation current density is more than 35 and 25 times higher compared to state‐of‐the‐art MOF and MOF‐derived catalysts, respectively. The operando Cu K‐edge X‐ray absorption near edge spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations reveal the existence of reduced Cu (Cu+) during CO2RR which reversibly returns to Cu2+after the reaction. The outstanding CO2catalytic functionality of conductive MOFs (c‐MOFs) can open a way toward high‐energy‐density electrochemical systems. 
    more » « less