Encapsulating phase change materials into melamine formaldehyde sponge assembled with polypyrrole modified halloysite nanotube for effective solar-thermal energy storage and solar-thermal-electric conversion.

Exploiting inexpensive composite phase change materials (PCMs) with comprehensive characteristics of high encapsulation efficiency, good leakage resistance, strong flexibility, high heat conductivity, and powerful light absorption is considerably imperative for their solar-thermal and solar-thermal-electric conversion. Herein, polypyrrole (PPy) modified halloysite (HNT/PPy) was assembled into the pores of melamine formaldehyde (MF) sponge to construct hierarchical porous structure (MHP), in which PPy serves as light absorber and heat conducting agent to consolidate the light absorption and thermal conductivity, while the interwoven HNT in MF not only acts as carrier to provide sufficient space for guaranteeing more PCMs' encapsulation, but also dramatically narrows MF's pore size and prevents PCMs' leakage. As expected, the MHP can encapsulate as high as 95 wt% of polyethylene glycol (PEG) with extremely high latent heat of 177.

Phosphorus and sulfur co-doped nickel molybdate with rich-oxygen vacancies for efficient water splitting.

The rational design of high-performance electrocatalysts is essential for promoting the industrialization of electrocatalytic water-splitting technology. Herein, phosphorus and sulfur co-doped nickel molybdate with rich-oxygen vacancies (P, S-NiMoO) was prepared as an efficient bifunctional self-supporting water-splitting catalyst from the perspective of enhancing the conductivity and optimizing the electronic configurations. The incorporation of P, S and oxygen vacancies greatly enhances the conductivity and charge-transfer efficiency of NiMoO.