A TiCT-Based Composite as Separator Coating for Stable Li-S Batteries.

The nitrogen-doped MXene carbon nanosheet-nickel (N-M@CNi) powder was successfully prepared by a combined process of electrostatic attraction and annealing strategy, and then applied as the separator coating in lithium-sulfur batteries. The morphology and structure of the N-M@CNi were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectrum, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and nitrogen adsorption-desorption method. The strong LiPS adsorption ability and high conductivity are associated with the N-doped carbon nanosheet-Ni modified surface.

Practical Prelithiation of 4.5 V LiCoO ||Graphite Batteries by a Passivated Lithium-Carbon Composite.

Prelithiation can replenish active Li into the battery to compensate the Li consumption due to the formation of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the electrode surface, therefore improving the energy density of Li-ion batteries (LIBs), especially for batteries using electrode materials with low initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE). However, practical prelithiation in LIBs is a challenge since most lithiated compounds with high specific capacity are unstable and industrially incompatible. Herein, an effective prelithiation strategy is demonstrated by using a lithium-carbon (Li-C) microsphere composite.

Self-Assembled Monolayers for Batteries.

Current studies in the Li-battery field are focusing on building systems with higher energy density than ever before. The path toward this goal, however, should not ignore aspects such as safety, stability, and cycling life. These issues frequently originate from interfacial instability, and therefore, precise surface chemistry that allows for accurate control of material surface and interfaces is much in demand for advanced battery research.

Nitrogen-Doped Hierarchical Porous Activated Carbon Derived from Paddy for High-Performance Supercapacitors.

A facile and environmentally friendly fabrication is proposed to prepare nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous activated carbon via normal-pressure popping, one-pot activation and nitrogen-doping process. The method adopts paddy as carbon precursor, KHCO and dicyandiamide as the safe activating agent and nitrogen dopant. The as-prepared activated carbon presents a large specific surface area of 3025 m·g resulting from the synergistic effect of KHCO and dicyandiamide.

Fast and straightforward analysis approach of charge transport data in single molecule junctions.

In this study, we introduce an efficient data sorting algorithm, including filters for noisy signals, conductance mapping for analyzing the most dominant conductance group and sub-population groups. The capacity of our data analysis process has also been corroborated on real experimental data sets of Au-1,6-hexanedithiol-Au and Au-1,8-octanedithiol-Au molecular junctions. The fully automated and unsupervised program requires less than one minute on a standard PC to sort the data and generate histograms.

Symmetry Effects on Attenuation Factors in Graphene-Based Molecular Junctions.

The unique structural and electronic characteristics of graphene make it an attractive contact for fundamental single-molecule electrical studies. With this in mind, we have probed here the electrical conductance of a molecular junction based on α,ω-diaminoalkane chains sandwiched between a gold and a graphene electrode. Using an STM based I(s) method combined with density functional theory-based transport calculations, we demonstrate that the resulting attenuation factor turns out to be much lower when compared to the standard molecular junction between two gold electrodes.

Precipitation hardening and microstructure evolution of the Ti-7Nb-10Mo alloy during aging.

A biomedical β titanium alloy (Ti-7Nb-10Mo) was designed and prepared by vacuum arc self-consumable melting. The ingot was forged and rolled to plates, followed by quenching and aging. Age-hardening behavior, microstructure evolution and its influence on mechanical properties of the alloy during aging were investigated, using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, tensile and hardness measurements.