Balanced Adsorption Toward Highly Selective Electrochemical Reduction of CO to Formate.

Tin-based materials have been designed as potential catalysts for the electrochemical conversion of CO into a single product. However, such tin-based materials still face the challenges of unsatisfactory selectivity, because the rate-determining step is situated within the slow desorption step. In this work, a variety of tin-based materials are synthesized using the electrospinning technique in an effort to control the adsorption strength during electrochemical reduction, therefore improving the selectivity of CO reduction toward formate.

A Stepwise Electrochemical Baeyer-Villiger Oxidation with Water as the Oxygen Source.

Baeyer-Villiger oxidation is a method with a 125-year history that produces lactones through a synergistic mechanism by reaction with stoichiometric peracids. Therefore, substituted lactones can be obtained from only substituted cyclic ketones. In this context, an electrochemical Baeyer-Villiger oxidation was developed using a CeO@PbO@Ti electrode, which produces substituted lactones through a stepwise mechanism.

A study of impact of climate change on the U.S. stock market as exemplified by the NASDAQ 100 index constituents.

This paper employs an innovative event study methodology to demonstrate the impact of climate change on the NASDAQ index from the unique perspective of extreme weather events. This is achieved through the application of the event study methodology to a total of 526 biological, climatic, geological, hydrological, and meteorological disasters of climate change occurring in the U.S.

Toward robust lithium-sulfur batteries advancing LiS deposition.

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) with two typical platforms during discharge are prone to the formation of soluble lithium polysulfides (LiPS), leading to a decrease in the cycling life of the battery. Under practical working conditions, the transformation of S into LiS is cross-executed rather than a stepwise reaction, where the liquid LiPS to solid LiS conversion can occur at a high state of charge (SOC) to maintain the current requirement. Therefore, advancing LiS deposition can effectively reduce the accumulation of LiPSs and ultimately improve the reaction kinetics.

Benzoic Acid: Electrode-Regenerated Molecular Catalyst to Boost Cycloolefin Epoxidation.

Stoichiometric oxidants are always consumed in organic oxidation reactions. For example, olefins react with peroxy acids to be converted to epoxy, while the oxidant, peroxy acid, is downgraded to carboxylic acid. In this paper, we aim to regenerate carboxylic acid into peroxy acid through electric water splitting at the anode, in order to construct an electrochemical catalytic cycle to accomplish the cycloolefin epoxidation reaction.

Stable Lithium-Sulfur Batteries Ensured by GeS and α-S Lattice Matching During the Charge Process.

The charge process of lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) is a process in which molecular polarity decreases and the volume shrinks gradually, which is the process most likely to cause lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) loss and interfacial collapse. In this work, GeS is utilized, whose (111) lattice plane exactly matches with the (113) lattice of α-S , to solve these problems. GeS can regulate the interconversion-deposition behavior of S-species during the charge process.

Electrochemical oxidation of styrene to benzaldehyde by discrimination of spin-paired π electrons.

The oxidation of styrene to benzaldehyde has been a considerable challenge in the electrochemical synthesis of organic compounds because styrene is more easily oxidized to benzoic acid. In this work, MnO with an asymmetric electronic configuration is designed to discriminate the spin-paired π electrons of styrene. One of these discriminated π electrons combined with reactive oxygen species (ROS), ˙OH, ˙OOH, , produced simultaneously on a MnO/(RuTi)O/Ti bifunctional anode, to form benzaldehyde , rather than benzoic acid.

Nanoarray Architecture of Ultra-Lithiophilic Metal Nitrides for Stable Lithium Metal Anodes.

Lithium metal anode (LMA) is puzzled by the serious issues corresponding to infinite volume change and notorious lithium dendrite during long-term stripping/plating process. Herein, the transition metal nitrides array with outstanding lithiophilicity, including CoN, VN, and Ni N, are decorated onto carbon framework as "nests" to uniform Li nucleation and guide Li metal deposition. These transition metal nitrides with excellent conductivity can guarantee the fast electron transport, therefore maintain a stable interface for Li reduction.

Suppress Loss of Polysulfides in Lithium-Sulfur Battery by Regulating the Rate-Determining Step via 1T MoS-MnO Covering Layer.

The commercialization of lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) is obstructed by several technical challenges, the most severe of which is the irreversible loss of soluble polysulfide intermediates. These soluble polysulfides must be anchored or confined in the cathode side to maintain the long life of the LSBs. Here, 1T MoS-MnO/CC heterostructure functional covering layer is designed to regulate the rate-determining step from the liquid-to-solid reaction to solid-to-solid reaction.

Enhanced catalysis of radical-to-polysulfide interconversion increased sulfur vacancies in lithium-sulfur batteries.

The practical application of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries is seriously hindered by severe lithium polysulfide (LiPS) shuttling and sluggish electrochemical conversions. Herein, the CoS/MoS heterojunction as a model cathode host material is employed to discuss the performance improvement strategy and elucidate the catalytic mechanism. The introduction of sulfur vacancies can harmonize the chemisorption of the heterojunction component.

Densely vertical-grown NiFe hydroxide nanosheets on a 3D nickel skeleton as a dendrite-free lithium anode.

Densely vertical-grown NiFe hydroxide nanosheets on a nickel foam (DVS-NFOH@NF) were designed and synthesized for a dendrite-free lithium anode. As a result, the Li dendrite was significantly suppressed. The invented Li anode presented a uniform morphology and great cycle performance in a symmetric cell.

3D Net-like GO-d-TiCT MXene Aerogels with Catalysis/Adsorption Dual Effects for High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

High theoretical specific capacity and rich resources in nature make sulfur an ideal cathode material for lithium-metal batteries. However, the shuttle effect and sluggish reduction reaction kinetics of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) seriously affect the performance of the batteries. Here, we report GO-d-TiCT MXene aerogels with a novel three-dimensional (3D) reticular structure that served as sulfur host cathode materials for lithium-sulfur batteries (LiSBs), which benefits adsorption/catalytic conversion of LiPSs simultaneously.

Lattice-matching Ni-based scaffold with a spongy cover for uniform electric field against lithium dendrites.

Herein, carbonized nickel metal organic framework scaffolds at nickel foam (CNS@NF) were fabricated to regulate Li-ion plating/stripping in lithium cells. CNS@NF would contribute to uniform Li nucleation and low overpotential due to the small lattice mismatch ratio and homogenous lithiophilic sites. Moreover, the spongy structure of the carbonized MOF can reduce the local current density by smoothening the sharp edges of NiO.

"Superaerophobic" NiCo bimetallic phosphides for highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalysts.

A "superaerophobic" NiCo bimetallic phosphide electrocatalyst has been fabricated by employing bimetal-organic frameworks as self-sacrificing templates. An overpotential of only 205 mV can drive the HER current density to 800 mA cm-2, which is even superior to that for Pt/C. This study provides a promising approach for the development of industrialized HER electrocatalysts.

Balancing the Seesaw: Investigation of a Separator to Grasp Polysulfides with Diatomic Chemisorption.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are promising next-generation high-density energy storage systems due to their advantages of high theoretical specific capacity, environmental compatibility, and low cost. However, high-order polysulfides dissolve in the electrolyte and subsequently lead to the undesired polysulfide shuttle effect, which hinders the commercialization of Li-S batteries. To tackle this issue, morpholine molecules were successfully grafted onto a commercial polypropylene separator.

Construction of Soft Base Tongs on Separator to Grasp Polysulfides from Shuttling in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Rechargeable lithium-sulfur batteries, which use sulfur as the cathode material, promise great potentials to be the next-generation high-energy system. However, higher-order lithium polysulfides, Li S (x = 4, 6, and 8), regardless of in charge or in discharge, always form first, dissolve subsequently in the electrolyte, and shuttle to the cathode and the anode, which is called "shuttle effect." The polysulfides shuttle effect leads to heavy loss of the active-sulfur materials.

Enhanced Conductivity of Anion-Exchange Membrane by Incorporation of Quaternized Cellulose Nanocrystal.

High ion conductivity of anion-exchange membrane is essential for the operation of alkaline anion-exchange membrane fuel cell. In this work, we demonstrated an effective strategy to enhance the conductivity of anion-exchange membrane (AEM), by incorporation of quaternized cellulose nanocrystal (QCNC) for the first time. Morphology observation demonstrated a uniform distribution of QCNC within QPPO matrix, as well as a clear QCNC network, which led to significant enhancement in hydroxide conductivities of composite membranes, for example, 2 wt % QCNC/QPPO membrane possessed a conductivity of 160% (60 mS cm, @80 °C) of that of QPPO.