Understanding the Wettability of CN (Sub)Nanopores: Implications for Porous Carbonaceous Electrodes.

Understanding how water interacts with nanopores of carbonaceous electrodes is crucial for energy storage and conversion applications. A high surface area of carbonaceous materials does not necessarily need to translate to a high electrolyte-solid interface area. Herein, we study the interaction of water with nanoporous CN materials to explain their very low specific capacitance in aqueous electrolytes despite their high surface area.

Revisiting the phosphonium salt chemistry for P-doped carbon synthesis: toward high phosphorus contents and beyond the phosphate environment.

The introduction of phosphorus and nitrogen atoms in carbo-catalysts is a common way to tune the electronic density, and thereby the reactivity, of the material, as well as to introduce surface reactive sites. Numerous environments are reported for the N atoms, but the P-doping chemistry is less explored and focuses on surface PO groups. A one-step synthesis of P/N-doped carbonaceous materials is presented here, using affordable and industrially available urea and tetrakis(hydroxymethyl)phosphonium chloride (THPC) as the N and P sources, respectively.

Red Carbon Mediated Formation of CuO Clusters Dispersed on the Oxocarbon Framework by Fehling's Route and their Use for the Nitrate Electroreduction in Acidic Conditions.

The oligomers of carbon suboxide, known as red carbon, exhibit a highly conjugated structure and semiconducting properties. Upon mild heat treatment, it transforms into a carbonaceous framework rich in oxygen surface terminations, called oxocarbon. In this study, the abundant oxygen functionalities are harnessed as anchors to create oxocarbon-supported nanohybrid electrocatalysts.

Programming crack patterns with light in colloidal plasmonic films.

Crack formation observed across diverse fields like geology, nanotechnology, arts, structural engineering or surface science, is a chaotic and undesirable phenomenon, resulting in random patterns of cracks generally leading to material failure. Limiting the formation of cracks or "programming" the path of cracks is a great technological challenge since it holds promise to enhance material durability or even to develop low cost patterning methods. Drawing inspiration from negative phototropism in plants, we demonstrate the capability to organize, guide, replicate, or arrest crack propagation in colloidal films through remote light manipulation.

Beyond Conventional Carbon Activation: Creating Porosity without Etching Using Cesium Effect.

Facile synthesis of porous carbon with high yield and high specific surface area (SSA) from low-cost molecular precursors offers promising opportunities for their industrial applications. However, conventional activation methods using potassium and sodium hydroxides or carbonates suffer from low yields (<20%) and poor control over porosity and composition especially when high SSAs are targeted (>2000 m g) because nanopores are typically created by etching. Herein, a non-etching activation strategy is demonstrated using cesium salts of low-cost carboxylic acids as the sole precursor in producing porous carbons with yields of up to 25% and SSAs reaching 3008 m g.

Probing Sodium Storage Mechanism in Hollow Carbon Nanospheres Using Liquid Phase Transmission Electron Microscopy.

Carbonaceous materials are promising sodium-ion battery anodes. Improving their performance requires a detailed understanding of the ion transport in these materials, some important aspects of which are still under debate. In this work, nitrogen-doped porous hollow carbon spheres (N-PHCSs) are employed as a model system for operando analysis of sodium storage behavior in a commercial liquid electrolyte at the nanoscale.

When High-Temperature Cesium Chemistry Meets Self-Templating: Metal Acetates as Building Blocks of Unusual Highly Porous Carbons.

Self-templating is a facile strategy for synthesizing porous carbons by direct pyrolysis of organic metal salts. However, the method typically suffers from low yields (<4%) and limited specific surface areas (SSA<2000 m  g ) originating from low activity of metal cations (e.g.

Nanoparticle STING Agonist Reprograms the Bone Marrow to an Antitumor Phenotype and Protects Against Bone Destruction.

Unlabelled: When breast cancer metastasizes to bone, treatment options are limited. Failure to treat bone metastases is thought to be due to therapy-resistant features of the bone marrow microenvironment. Using a murine model of bone metastatic mammary carcinoma, we demonstrate that systemic delivery of polymer nanoparticles loaded with cyclic dinucleotide (CDN) agonists of stimulator of interferon genes (STING) inhibited tumor growth and bone destruction after 7 days of treatment.

"Red Carbon": A Rediscovered Covalent Crystalline Semiconductor.

Carbon suboxide (C O ) is a unique molecule able to polymerize spontaneously into highly conjugated light-absorbing structures at temperatures as low as 0 °C. Despite obvious advantages, little is known about the nature and the functional properties of this carbonaceous material. In this work, the aim is to bring "red carbon," a forgotten polymeric semiconductor, back to the community's attention.

Periodic Nanoporous Inorganic Patterns Directly Made by Self-Ordering of Cracks.

Solution-processed inorganic nanoporous films are key components for the vast spectrum of applications ranging from dew harvesting to solar cells. Shaping them into complex architectures required for advanced functionality often needs time-consuming or expensive fabrication. In this work, crack formation is harnessed to pattern porous inorganic films in a single step and without using lithography.

"We Are Here!" Oxygen Functional Groups in Carbons for Electrochemical Applications.

Heteroatom doping of carbon networks may introduce active functional groups on the surface of the material, induce electron density changes that alter the polarity of the carbon surface, promote the formation of binding sites for molecules or ions, or make the surface catalytically active for different reactions, among many other alterations. Thus, it is no surprise that heteroatom doping has become a well-established strategy to enhance the performance of carbon-based materials for applications ranging from water remediation and gas sorption to energy storage and conversion. Although oxygen functionalization is sometimes inevitable (i.

The origin of the high electrochemical activity of pseudo-amorphous iridium oxides.

Combining high activity and stability, iridium oxide remains the gold standard material for the oxygen evolution reaction in acidic medium for green hydrogen production. The reasons for the higher electroactivity of amorphous iridium oxides compared to their crystalline counterpart is still the matter of an intense debate in the literature and, a comprehensive understanding is needed to optimize its use and allow for the development of water electrolysis. By producing iridium-based mixed oxides using aerosol, we are able to decouple the electronic processes from the structural transformation, i.

Chemical and Structural Characterization of Amorphous and Crystalline Alumina Obtained by Alternative Sol-Gel Preparation Routes.

Aluminum oxide is one of the most commonly used materials in the industry. It is used in the field of catalysis, refractories, and optics. Despite the fact that there are many techniques available, there is still a great challenge in obtaining a material with desired and designed properties.

Principles of computer-controlled linear motion applied to an open-source affordable liquid handler for automated micropipetting.

OTTO is an open-source automated liquid handler that can be fabricated at a cost of $1,500 using off-the-shelf and 3D-printable parts as an alternative to commercial devices. Open-source approaches have been applied to build syringe pumps, centrifuges, and other laboratory equipment. These devices are affordable but generally rely on a single motor to perform simple operations and thus do not fully utilize the potential of the Maker Movement.

Liquid-Crystalline Suspensions of Photosensitive Paramagnetic CeF Nanodiscs.

The design of high-performance energy-converting materials is an essential step for the development of sensors, but the production of the bulk materials currently used remains costly and difficult. Therefore, a different approach based on the self-assembly of nanoparticles has been explored. We report on the preparation by solvothermal synthesis of highly crystalline CeF nanodiscs.

Design and Application of High Optical Quality YAG:Ce Nanocrystal-Loaded Silica Aerogels.

The intrinsic properties of silica aerogels make them well suited for applications requiring high surface area. Therefore, the dispersion of functional nanoparticles (NPs) in these highly porous structures gives access to materials for wide range of applications such as catalysis, energy storage or sensing. The last one is particularly interesting if such composites possess good optical quality.

Hierarchically structured lithium titanate for ultrafast charging in long-life high capacity batteries.

High-performance Li-ion batteries require materials with well-designed and controlled structures on nanometre and micrometre scales. Electrochemical properties can be enhanced by reducing crystallite size and by manipulating structure and morphology. Here we show a method for preparing hierarchically structured LiTiO yielding nano- and microstructure well-suited for use in lithium-ion batteries.