Insight into thermal regulation of supercapacitors via surface-engineered phase change microcapsules.

Constructing efficient thermal management system to settle the thermal runaway of energy storage devices via employing phase change microcapsules (MEPCMs) is of great significance. However, it is still a challenge that the conventional MEPCMs go against the electrochemical performance and hardly be homogenously fixed in the electrodes. In order to conquer these long-standing critical issues, we designed a novel electrochemically active double-shell phase change microcapsule by introducing polypyrrole on the surface of dense amine resin shell of the conventional inert MEPCM.

Signal Inversion and Amplification of Circularly Polarized Luminescence in a Poly(phenylacetylene)-Based Composite System Assisted by Achiral PMMA.

Multichannel regulable circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) is fascinating because of its fundamental and application interest. There are few reports on helical sense (-/-helix) modulation and chiral signal amplification of polyacetylenes with the assistance of achiral polymers and further applications in precisely and conveniently regulating CPL handedness and magnitude. Herein, a helical poly(phenylacetylene)-based CPL-active system was constructed, in which CPL inversion occurred by adding achiral PMMA into a helical poly(phenylacetylene)-CHCl solution.

Recent advancements in metal-organic frameworks composites based electrochemical (bio)sensors.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a novel class of crystalline materials which find widespread applications in the field of microporous conductors, catalysis, separation, biomedical engineering, and electrochemical sensing. With a specific emphasis on the MOF composites for electrochemical sensor applications, this review summarizes the recent construction strategies on the development of conductive MOF composites (post-synthetic modification of MOFs, in situ synthesis of functional materials@MOFs composites, and incorporating electroactive ligands). The developed composites are revealed to have excellent electrochemical sensing activity better than their pristine forms.

Oxygen Vacancies and Interface Engineering on Amorphous/Crystalline CrO -Ni N Heterostructures toward High-Durability and Kinetically Accelerated Water Splitting.

Manipulating catalytic active sites and reaction kinetics in alkaline media is crucial for rationally designing mighty water-splitting electrocatalysts with high efficiency. Herein, the coupling between oxygen vacancies and interface engineering is highlighted to fabricate a novel amorphous/crystalline CrO -Ni N heterostructure grown on Ni foam for accelerating the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the electron transfer from amorphous CrO to Ni N at the interfaces, and the optimized Gibbs free energies of H O dissociation (ΔG ) and H adsorption (ΔG ) in the amorphous/crystalline CrO -Ni N heterostructure are conducive to the superior and stable HER activity.

Regulating Interfacial Li-Ion Transport via an Integrated Corrugated 3D Skeleton in Solid Composite Electrolyte for All-Solid-State Lithium Metal Batteries.

Although solid composite electrolytes show tremendous potential for the practical solid-state lithium metal batteries, searching for a straightforward tactic to promote the ion conduction at electrolyte/electrode interface, especially settling lithium dendrites formation caused by the concentration gradient polarization, are still long-standing problems. Here, the authors report a corrugated 3D nanowires-bulk ceramic-nanowires (NCN) skeleton reinforced composite electrolyte with regulated interfacial Li-ion transport behavior. The special and integrated NCN skeleton endows the electrolyte with fast Li-ion transfer and solves the Li concentration polarization at electrode/electrolyte interface, thereby eliminating the energy barrier originated from the redistribution of charge carriers and offering homogeneous interfacial Li-ion flux on lithium anode.

Boosting the zinc ion storage capacity and cycling stability of interlayer-expanded vanadium disulfide through in-situ electrochemical oxidation strategy.

Metallic vanadium dichalcogenides with high conductivity and large layer spacing are fantastically potential to be cathode candidates for aqueous zinc ion batteries. However, simply reliance on the reversible Zn intercalation/deintercalation process in the layer structure of vanadium dichalcogenides makes it suffer from low specific capacity and limited cycling number. Here we report a facile in-situ electrochemical oxidation strategy to boost the zinc ion storage capacity of interlayer-expanded vanadium disulfide (VS·NH) hollow spheres with satisfying cyclic stability.

In-Situ Intermolecular Interaction in Composite Polymer Electrolyte for Ultralong Life Quasi-Solid-State Lithium Metal Batteries.

Solid-state lithium metal batteries built with composite polymer electrolytes using cubic garnets as active fillers are particularly attractive owing to their high energy density, easy manufacturing and inherent safety. However, the uncontrollable formation of intractable contaminant on garnet surface usually aggravates poor interfacial contact with polymer matrix and deteriorates Li pathways. Here we report a rational designed intermolecular interaction in composite electrolytes that utilizing contaminants as reaction initiator to generate Li conducting ether oligomers, which further emerge as molecular cross-linkers between inorganic fillers and polymer matrix, creating dense and homogeneous interfacial Li immigration channels in the composite electrolytes.

Versatile Strategy for Realizing Flexible Room-Temperature All-Solid-State Battery through a Synergistic Combination of Salt Affluent PEO and LiLaZrTaO Nanofibers.

All-solid-state lithium metal batteries are highly attractive because of their high energy density and inherent safety. However, it is still a great challenge to design the solid electrolytes with high ionic conductivity at room temperature and good electrode/electrolyte interfacial compatibility simultaneously in a facile and scalable way. In this work, for the first time, the combination of salt affluent Poly(ethylene oxide) with LiLaZrTaO nanofibers was designed and intensively evaluated.

A Smart Epoxy Composite Based on Phase Change Microcapsules: Preparation, Microstructure, Thermal and Dynamic Mechanical Performances.

Microencapsulated phase change materials (MicroPCMs)-incorporated in epoxy composites have drawn increasing interest due to their promising application potential in the fields of thermal energy storage and temperature regulation. However, the study on the effect of MicroPCMs on their microstructure, thermal and viscoelastic properties is quite limited. Herein, a new type of smart epoxy composite incorporated with polyurea (PU)-shelled MicroPCMs was fabricated via solution casting method.

PDMS-PDMS Micro Channels Filled with Phase-Change Material for Chip Cooling.

This paper reports on a chip cooling solution using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) based microfluidic devices filled with -Octadecane. A thick SU-8 layer of 150 µm is used as the master mold for patterning PDMS fabrication. With the SU-8 mold, patterns with straight lines at microscale have been fabricated with standard micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology.

In-situ reduction of monodisperse nanosilver on hierarchical wrinkled mesoporous silica with radial pore channels and its antibacterial performance.

Monodisperse silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were facilely loaded on the inner and outer surface of hierarchical wrinkled mesoporous silica (WMSs) via an in situ chemical reduction, and the antibacterial capacity of the obtained nanocomposite was investigated in detail. Typical sulfydryl-functionalized wrinkled mesoporous silica nanoparticle with radical pore channels was firstly prepared through sol-gel technique with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the templating surfactant. After sulfonation of the as-prepared WMSs, Ag(+) ions were then densely locked up on the inner and outer surface of WMSs via electrostatic interactions.

Development of Hollow Steel Ball Macro-Encapsulated PCM for Thermal Energy Storage Concrete.

The application of thermal energy storage with phase change materials (PCMs) for energy efficiency of buildings grew rapidly in the last few years. In this research, octadecane paraffin was served as a PCM, and a structural concrete with the function of indoor temperature control was developed by using a macro-encapsulated PCM hollow steel ball (HSB). The macro-encapsulated PCM-HSB was prepared by incorporation of octadecane into HSBs through vacuum impregnation.