Recovery of expensive Pt/C catalysts from the end-of-life membrane electrode assembly of proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

A simple and economical route using an environmental friendly solvent is reported for recovering catalyst from the end-of-life membrane electrode assembly. This precious component is recovered in the form of Pt/C and ionomer powder. The catalyst exhibited an electrochemical surface area of 42 m g and remarkable stability, showcasing its potential for second life applications.

Few-Layered MoS/Acetylene Black Composite as an Efficient Anode Material for Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Novel MoS/acetylene black (AB) composite was developed using a single-step hydrothermal method. A systematic characterization revealed a few-layered, ultrathin MoS grown on the surface of AB. The inclusion of AB was found to increase the capacity of the composite and achieve discharging capacity of 1813 mAhg.

Flexible polyester cellulose paper supercapacitor with a gel electrolyte.

A low-cost polyester cellulose paper has been used as a substrate for a flexible supercapacitor device that contains aqueous carbon nanotube ink as the electrodes and a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based gel as the electrolyte. Gel electrolytes have attracted much interest due to their solvent-holding capacity and good film-forming capability. The electrodes are characterized for their conductivity and morphology.

Synthesis of mesoporous Pt-Ru alloy particles with uniform sizes by sophisticated hard-templating method.

Team work: Mesoporous Pt-Ru alloy particles with uniform sizes are synthesized by controlled chemical reduction with ascorbic acid using mesoporous silica as a hard template. Elemental mapping shows uniform distribution of Pt and Ru particles. The electrochemical activity and stability of the alloys towards methanol oxidation much higher than that of mesoporous Pt and commercial Pt catalyst.