Charge-Gradient Sulfonated Poly(ether ether ketone) Membrane with Enhanced Ion Selectivity for Osmotic Energy Conversion.

Engineered asymmetric heterogeneous ion-selective membranes have become a focal point for their improved efficiency in harnessing osmotic energy from ionic solutions with varying salinity. However, achieving both energy conversion efficiency and excellent chemical stability necessitates effectively mitigating the formation of detrimental interface cracks between two different layers. We develop a charge-gradient sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) membrane (CG-SPEEK) on a large-scale using a straightforward coating method.

High stability copper clusters anchored on N-doped carbon nanosheets for efficient CO electroreduction to HCOOH.

Cu-based nanomaterials is crucial for electrochemical CO reduction reaction (CORR), but they inevitably undergo performance degradation due to structural self-reconstruction at a large current density during CORR. Here, we developed a pre-synthetic atomically dispersed Cu source strategy to fabricate a catalyst of stable Cu clusters anchored on N-doped carbon nanosheets (c-Cu/NC), which exhibited an exceptional electroreduction for CO to HCOOH with a Faradaic efficiency of up to 96.2 % at current density of 276.

Interfacial Electronic Interaction in InO/Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-Modified Carbon Heterostructures for Enhanced Electroreduction of CO to Formate.

Formate, as an important chemical raw material, is considered to be one of the most promising products for industrialization among CO electroreduction reaction (CORR) products, but it still suffers from poor selectivity and a low formation rate at a high current density on account of the competitory hydrogen evolution reaction. Herein, the heterogeneous nanostructure was constructed by anchoring InO nanoparticles on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)-modified carbon black (InO/PC), in which the PEDOT polymer interface layer could immobilize InO nanoparticles and obtain a notable reduction in electron transfer resistance among the InO particles, showing a 27% increase in the total electron transfer rate. The optimized InO/PC with rich heterogeneous interfaces selectively reduced CO to formate with a high FE of 95.

Photo-controllable Ion-Gated Metal-Organic Framework MIL-53 Sub-nanochannels for Efficient Osmotic Energy Generation.

By closing and opening ion channels, electric eels are able to convert ion concentration gradients into electricity. Inspired by electric eels, considerable artificial sub-nanoscale ion channels with high ion selectivity and transportation efficiency have been designed for harvesting the osmotic energy between ionic solutions of different salinities, but constructing smart ion-gated sub-nanochannels for effective ion transport is still a huge challenge. Herein, photo-controllable sub-nanochannels of metal-organic framework (MOF) NH-MIL-53 encapsulated with spiropyrans (SP-MIL-53) were fabricated by a facile in situ growth strategy.

Bioinspired Ultrastable MXene/PEDOT:PSS Layered Membrane for Effective Salinity Gradient Energy Harvesting from Organic Solvents.

The waste organic solvents containing inorganic salts have been considered sustainable resources, which can effectively capture salinity gradient energy using ion-selective membranes. However, it still remains a great challenge to fabricate the ion-selective membranes with high conversion efficiency and stability in an organic system. Here, the bioinspired nacre-like layered MXene/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) (MP) composite membranes for capturing salinity gradient energy from an organic solvent are fabricated via filtration method, in which PEDOT:PSS molecules are introduced into MXene interlayers.