Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Crystal-Assisted Etching of Nickel Foam for the Collectively Exhaustive Electrochemical Performance of Oxygen Evolution Reaction.

In this work, an organic-inorganic hybrid crystal, violet-crystal (VC), was used to etch the nickel foam (NF) to fabricate a self-standing electrode for the water oxidation reaction. The efficacy of VC-assisted etching manifests the promising electrochemical performance towards the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), requiring only ~356 and ~376 mV overpotentials to reach 50 and 100 mA cm , respectively. The OER activity improvement is attributed to the collectively exhaustive effects arising from the incorporation of various elements in the NF, and the enhancement of active site density.

Boosting Oxygen Evolution Reaction on Metallocene-based Transition Metal Sulfides Integrated with N-doped Carbon Nanostructures.

In this study, utilizing metallocene and organosulfur chelating agent, an innovative synthetic route was developed towards electrochemically activated transition metal sulfides entrapped in pyridinic nitrogen-incorporated carbon nanostructures for superior oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Most importantly, the preferential electrochemical activation process, which consisted of both anodic and cathodic pre-treatment steps, strikingly enhanced OER and long-lasting cyclic stability. The substantial increase in OER electrocatalytic activity of Ni S /Ni S -NC and Co S -NC during the activation process was mainly attributed to the increase of faradaic active site density on the catalytic layer resulting from the reconstruction of catalytic interfaces.

A dual-ion accepting vanadium carbide nanowire cathode integrated with carbon cloths for high cycling stability.

Herein, we report vanadium carbide (V8C7) nanowires (NWs) axially grown on carbon cloths (CCs) as a dual-ion accepting cathode for both lithium (LIBs) and sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). Using a facile hydrothermal method, we grew V2O3 NWs on CCs and subsequently reduced them to V8C7 by annealing with carbon sources under a H2/Ar atmosphere. In striking contrast to V2O5 NW cathodes obtained by annealing under air, the V8C7 NWs exhibit outstanding cycling stability during 500 cycles, and good rate capability for both LIBs and SIBs.

Ferrocene-Incorporated Cobalt Sulfide Nanoarchitecture for Superior Oxygen Evolution Reaction.

Here, ferrocene(Fc)-incorporated cobalt sulfide (Co S ) nanostructures directly grown on carbon nanotube (CNT) or carbon fiber (CF) networks for electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) using a facile one-step solvothermal method are reported. The strong synergistic interaction between Fc-Co S nanostructures and electrically conductive CNTs results in the superior electrocatalytic activity with a very small overpotential of ≈304 mV at 10 mA cm and a low Tafel slope of 54.2 mV dec in 1 m KOH electrolyte.

Supercritical water assisted preparation of recyclable gold nanoparticles and their catalytic utility in cross-coupling reactions under sustainable conditions.

Preparation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in environmentally friendly water without using any reducing agents under supercritical conditions is demonstrated. PXRD, XPS, FE-SEM and HR-TEM analysis confirmed the formation of phase-pure and crystalline AuNPs of the size of ∼10-30 nm. The catalytic potential of AuNPs was manifested through a generalized green procedure that could accommodate both Sonogashira as well as Suzuki coupling under aqueous conditions at low catalytic loading (0.

Enhanced Superhydrophobic Performance of BN-MoS Heterostructure Prepared via a Rapid, One-Pot Supercritical Fluid Processing.

Fabrication of highly crystalline BN-MoS heterostructure with >95% yield was demonstrated using one-pot supercritical fluid processing within 30 min. The existence of 20-50 layers of BN-MoS in the prepared heterostructure was confirmed by AFM analysis. The HR-TEM imaging and mapping analysis revealed the well-melded BN and MoS nanosheets in the heterostructure.

Electrochemical cycling and beyond: unrevealed activation of MoO for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reactions.

We demonstrate electrochemical cycling-induced reduction of MoO to monoclinic molybdenum dioxide and molybdenum sub-oxides (MoO), which exhibit excellent electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity. The conversion of MoO during cycling was probed; after 250 cycles, the redox peaks were found to diminish with an onset potential shift and increased HER current density. At 400 cycles, the insertion/deinsertion processes observed in the initial cycles are completely absent and the HER current density is enhanced to the maximum.

Supercritical Fluid Facilitated Disintegration of Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nanosheets to Quantum Dots and Its Application in Cells Imaging.

Preparation of quantum dots (QDs) and exfoliation of two-dimensional layered materials have gathered significant attention in recent days. Though, there are number of attempts have been reported, facile and efficient methodology is yet to be explored. Here, we demonstrate supercritical fluid processing approach for rapid and facile synthesis of blue luminescent BN QDs from layered bulk material via in situ exfoliation followed by disintegration.