Creation and Plasmon-Assisted Photosensitization of Annealed Z-Schemes for Sunlight-Only Water Splitting.

Solely light-induced water splitting represents a promising avenue for a carbon-free energy future, based on reliable energy sources. Such processes can be performed using coupled semiconductor materials (the so-called direct Z-scheme design) that facilitate spatial separation of (photo)excited electrons and holes, prevent their recombination, and allow water-splitting half-reactions proceeding at each corresponding semiconductor side. In this work, we proposed and prepared a specific structure, based on WO/CdWO/CdS coupled semiconductors, created by annealing of a common WO/CdS direct Z-scheme.

Switchable PNIPAm/PPyNT Hydrogel for Smart Supercapacitors: External Control of Capacitance for Pulsed Energy Generation or Prolongation of Discharge Time.

Supercapacitors based on nonresponsive polymer hydrogels are gaining significant attention due to their fabrication simplicity and high potential for wearable electronics. However, the use of smart hydrogels in supercapacitor design remains unexplored. In this work, a smart externally controlled supercapacitor based on a temperature-responsive hydrogel doped with polypyrrole nanotubes (PPyNTs) is proposed.