Noble-Nanoparticle-Decorated TiCT MXenes for Highly Sensitive Volatile Organic Compound Detection.

Two-dimensional transition-metal carbides and nitrides (MXenes) have been regarded as promising sensing materials because of their high surface-to-volume ratios and outstanding electronic, optical, and mechanical properties with versatile transition-metal and surface chemistries. However, weak gas-molecule adsorption of MXenes poses a serious limitation to their sensitivity and selectivity, particularly for trace amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at room temperature. To deal with these issues, Au-decorated MXenes are synthesized by a facile solution mixing method for room-temperature sensing of a wide variety of oxygen-based and hydrocarbon-based VOCs.

α-FeO Nanoparticles Aided-Dual Conversion for Self-Powered Bio-Based Photodetector.

Eco-friendly energy harvesting from the surrounding environment has been triggered extensive researching enthusiasm due to the threat of global energy crisis and environmental pollutions. By the conversion of mechanical energy that is omnipresent in our environment into electrical energy, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) can potentially power up small electronic devices, serves as a self-powered detectors and predominantly, it can minimize the energy crisis by credibly saving the traditional non-renewable energy. In this study, we present a novel bio-based TENG comprising PDMS/α-FeO nanocomposite film and a processed human hair-based film, that harvests the vibrating energy and solar energy simultaneously by the integration of triboelectric technology and photoelectric conversion techniques.

Charge trapping with α-FeO nanoparticles accompanied by human hair towards an enriched triboelectric series and a sustainable circular bioeconomy.

This work reports a new approach to amending polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) by supporting α-FeO nanoparticles (NPs), thereby generating a material suitable for use as a negative triboelectric material. Additionally, human hair exhibits a profound triboelectrification effect and is a natural regenerative substance, and it was processed into a film to be used as a positive triboelectric material. Spatial distribution of α-FeO NPs, the special surface morphologies of a negative tribological layer containing nano-clefts with controlled sizes and a valley featuring a positive tribolayer based on human hair made it possible to demonstrate facile and scalable fabrication of a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) presenting enhanced performance; this nanogenerator produced a mean peak-to-peak voltage of 370.

Flexible Layered-Graphene Charge Modulation for Highly Stable Triboelectric Nanogenerator.

The continuous quest to enhance the output performance of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) based on the surface charge density of the tribolayer has motivated researchers to harvest mechanical energy efficiently. Most of the previous work focused on the enhancement of negative triboelectric charges. The enhancement of charge density over positive tribolayer has been less investigated.

Strain-Induced Ferroelectric Heterostructure Catalysts of Hydrogen Production through Piezophototronic and Piezoelectrocatalytic System.

In this work, we discover a piezoelectrocatalytic system composed of a ferroelectric heterostructure of BaTiO (BTO)@MoSe nanosheets, which exhibit piezoelectric potential (piezopotential) coupling with electrocatalyzed effects by a strain-induced piezopotential to provide an internal bias to the catalysts' surface; subsequently, the catalytic properties are substantially altered to enable the formation of activity states. The H production rate of BTO@MoSe for the piezoelectrocatalytic H generation is 4533 μmol h g, which is 206% that of TiO@MoSe for piezophototronic (referred to as piezophotocatalytic process) H generation (∼2195.6 μmol h g).

Surface Functionalization of TiCT MXene with Highly Reliable Superhydrophobic Protection for Volatile Organic Compounds Sensing.

Two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal carbides (TiCT MXene) have received a great deal of attention for potential use in gas sensing showing the highest sensitivity among 2D materials and good gas selectivity. However, one of the long-standing challenges of the MXenes is their poor stability against hydration and oxidation in a humid environment, limiting their long-term storage and applications. Integration of an effective protection layer with MXenes shows promise for overcoming this major drawback.

Simultaneous Piezoelectrocatalytic Hydrogen-Evolution and Degradation of Water Pollutants by Quartz Microrods@Few-Layered MoS Hierarchical Heterostructures.

Intense light attenuation in water/wastewater results in photocatalysts exhibiting a low quantum efficiency. This study develops a novel piezoelectrocatalysis system, which involves quartz microrods (MRs) abundantly decorated with active-edge-site MoS nanosheets to form a quartz microrods@few-layered MoS hierarchical heterostructure (QMSH). Through theoretical calculations, it is found that the quartz MRs serve as a parallel-plate capacitor, which is self-powered to provide an internal electric field to the few-layered MoS nanosheets surrounding the quartz MR surfaces, and the piezoelectric potential (piezopotential) effectively facilitates redox reactions with the free carriers in MoS .

Nanohybrids of a MXene and transition metal dichalcogenide for selective detection of volatile organic compounds.

Two-dimensional transition metal carbides/nitrides, known as MXenes, have been recently receiving attention for gas sensing. However, studies on hybridization of MXenes and 2D transition metal dichalcogenides as gas-sensing materials are relatively rare at this time. Herein, TiCT and WSe are selected as model materials for hybridization and implemented toward detection of various volatile organic compounds.

Performance of hydrogen evolution reaction of R3C ferroelectric ZnSnO nanowires.

The synthesis of LiNbO-type R3C ZnSnO is still a challenging task under an extremely high-pressure condition. In this work, we have not only successfully synthesized R3C ZnSnO nanowires (NWs) through a hydrothermal process, but ZnSnO NWs with a high concentration of oxygen vacancies (referred to as [Formula: see text] NWs), exhibiting a highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction compared to unannealed ZnSnO and ZnO NWs. The x-ray diffraction pattern and Raman spectra both confirm that the as-synthesized ZnSnO NWs mainly belong to the R3C space group with a second phase of ZnSn(OH).

Photocatalytic Activities Enhanced by Au-Plasmonic Nanoparticles on TiO Nanotube Photoelectrode Coated with MoO.

Although TiO was formerly a common material for photocatalysis reactions, its wide band gap (3.2 eV) results in absorbing only ultraviolet light, which accounts for merely 4% of total sunlight. Modifying TiO has become a focus of photocatalysis reaction research, and combining two metal oxide semiconductors is the most common method in the photocatalytic enhancement process.

Investigation of Free-Standing Plasmonic Mesoporous Ag/CMK-8-Nafion Composite Membrane for the Removal of Organic Pollutants with 254-nm UV Irradiation.

"Carbon-based material" has demonstrated a great potential on water purification due to its strong physical adsorption to organic pollutants in the water. Three-dimensional cubic ordered mesoporous carbon (CMK-8), one of the well-known ordered mesoporous carbons, was prepared by using nanocasting method with mesoporous silica (KIT-6) as the template. In this study, CMK-8 blended with Nafion polymer to form a free-standing mesoporous CMK-8-Nafion composite membrane.

Synthesis of Strong Light Scattering Absorber of TiO₂-CMK-3/Ag for Photocatalytic Water Splitting under Visible Light Irradiation.

The enhanced water splitting photocurrent has been observed through plasmonic mesoporous composite electrode TiO2-CMK-3/Ag under visible light irradiation. Strong light absorption achieved from the integrations of ordered mesoporous carbon (CMK-3) and silver plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) layer in the TiO2, which significantly increased the effective optical depth of TiO2-CMK-3/Ag photoelectrode. The carbon-based CMK-3 also increased the surface wetting behavior and conductivity of the photoelectrodes, which resulted in a higher ion exchange rate and faster electron transport.