Assembly-Dissociation-Reconstruction Synthesis of Covalent Organic Framework Membranes with High Continuity for Efficient CO Separation.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), at the forefront of porous materials, hold tremendous potential in membrane separation; however, achieving high continuity in COF membranes remains crucial for efficient gas separation. Here, we present a unique approach termed assembly-dissociation-reconstruction for fabricating COF membranes tailored for CO/N separation. A parent COF is designed from two-node aldehyde and three-node amine monomers and dissociated to high-aspect-ratio nanosheets.

Biocompatible TiAu-Ag/Cu thin film coatings with enhanced mechanical and antimicrobial functionality.

Background: Biofilm formation on medical device surfaces is a persistent problem that shelters bacteria and encourages infections and implant rejection. One promising approach to tackle this problem is to coat the medical device with an antimicrobial material. In this work, for the first time, we impart antimicrobial functionality to TiAu intermetallic alloy thin film coatings, while maintaining their superior mechanical hardness and biocompatibility.

Supramolecular Network Structured Gel Polymer Electrolyte with High Ionic Conductivity for Lithium Metal Batteries.

Polymer-based solid electrolytes (PSEs) offer great promise in developing lithium metal batteries due to their attractive features such as safety, light weight, low cost, and high processability. However, a PSE-based lithium battery usually requires a relatively high temperature (60 °C or above) to complete charge and discharge due to the poor ionic conductivity of PSEs. Herein, a gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) film with a supramolecular network structure through a facile one-step photopolymerization is designed and developed.

Electrolyte Salts and Additives Regulation Enables High Performance Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries: A Mini Review.

Aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) are regarded as one of the most ideally suited candidates for large-scale energy storage applications owning to their obvious advantages, that is, low cost, high safety, high ionic conductivity, abundant raw material resources, and eco-friendliness. Much effort has been devoted to the exploration of cathode materials design, cathode storage mechanisms, anode protection as well as failure mechanisms, while inadequate attentions are paid on the performance enhancement through modifying the electrolyte salts and additives. Herein, to fulfill a comprehensive aqueous ZIBs research database, a range of recently published electrolyte salts and additives research is reviewed and discussed.

Screen printing directed synthesis of covalent organic framework membranes with water sieving property.

Screen printing is introduced to direct the synthesis of crack-free and thickness-tunable TpPa(OH)2 covalent organic framework membranes. A smooth precursor layer is firstly screen printed and then fully crystallised into the TpPa(OH)2 membrane. Molecular-scale pores endow the membrane with a fast water-sieving property, which is promising in water desalination.