Optimizing s-p Orbital Overlap between Sodium Polysulfides and Single-Atom Indium Catalyst for Efficient Sulfur Redox Reaction.

P-block metal carbon-supported single-atom catalysts (C-SACs) have emerged as a promising candidate for high-performance room-temperature sodium-sulfur (RT Na-S) batteries, due to their high atom utilization and unique electronic structure. However, the ambiguous electronic-level understanding of Na-dominant s-p hybridization between sodium polysulfides (NaPSs) and p-block C-SACs limits the precise control of coordination environment tuning and electro-catalytic activity manipulation. Here, s-p orbital overlap degree (OOD) between the s orbitals of Na in NaPSs and the p orbitals of p-block C-SACs is proposed as a descriptor for sulfur reduction reaction (SRR) and sulfur oxidation reaction (SOR).

Multi-Functional Descriptor Design of V-Based Double Atomic Catalysts for Room Temperature Sodium-Sulfur Batteries.

Double atomic catalysts (DACs) have emerged as a promising approach for addressing the shuttle effect and sluggish kinetics in room temperature sodium-sulfur batteries (RT-SSBs). However, identifying optimal metal combinations to meet the multiple requirements for RT-SSBs is challenging. Herein, a method for designing V-based DACs catalysts (DAC-VX, X = metal atoms) is presented by distilling descriptors through first-principle calculations and Multi-Task Learning-Sure Independence Screening and Sparsifying Operator.

Macroscopically uniform interface layer with Li conductive channels for high-performance Li metal batteries.

The numerous grainboundaries solid electrolyte interface, whether naturally occurring or artificially designed, leads to non-uniform Li metal deposition and consequently results in poor full-battery performance. Herein, a lithium-ion selective transport layer is reported to achieve a highly efficient and dendrite-free lithium metal anode. The layer-by-layer assembled protonated carbon nitride nanosheets present uniform macroscopical structure without grainboundaries.

Machine learning-based design of electrocatalytic materials towards high-energy lithium||sulfur batteries development.

The practical development of Li | |S batteries is hindered by the slow kinetics of polysulfides conversion reactions during cycling. To circumvent this limitation, researchers suggested the use of transition metal-based electrocatalytic materials in the sulfur-based positive electrode. However, the atomic-level interactions among multiple electrocatalytic sites are not fully understood.

Bimetal Fluorides with Adjustable Vacancy Concentration Reinforcing Ion Transport in Poly(ethylene oxide) Electrolyte.

The poor ambient ionic transport properties of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based SPEs can be greatly improved through filler introduction. Metal fluorides are effective in promoting the dissociation of lithium salts via the establishment of the Li-F bond. However, too strong Li-F interaction would impair the fast migration of lithium ions.

Responsive Protection of Magnesium Alloys From Multicorrosive Media by Constructing Nanofluidic Channels in Self-Repairing Coatings.

Low-density magnesium (Mg) alloys are excellent engineering materials, and can significantly reduce energy consumption by replacing existing steel and aluminum materials. However, Mg species are susceptible to corrosion, especially in harsh environments (high-temperature or acidic), severely limiting the range of practical applications. Here, 2D covalent organic framework (COF) is synthesized with pore diameters ranging from 1.

Hydrogen Spillover Mechanism at the Metal-Metal Interface in Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation.

Hydrogen spillover in metal-supported catalysts can largely enhance electrocatalytic hydrogenation performance and reduce energy consumption. However, its fundamental mechanism, especially at the metal-metal interface, remains further explored, impeding relevant catalyst design. Here, we theoretically profile that a large free energy difference in hydrogen adsorption on two different metals (|ΔG-ΔG|) induces a high kinetic barrier to hydrogen spillover between the metals.

Coumarin-furo[2,3-]pyrimidone hybrid molecules targeting human liver cancer cells: synthesis, anticancer effect, EGFR inhibition and molecular docking studies.

The design, synthesis and investigation of antitumor activities of some coumarin-furo[2,3-]pyrimidone hybrid molecules are reported. , HepG2 cells were used to investigate the cytotoxicity of 6a-n and 10a-n. The results demonstrated that coupling a furopyrimidone scaffold with coumarin through a hydrazide linker can effectively improve their synergistic anticancer activity.

Self-Catalyzed Growth of CoN and N-Doped Carbon Nanotubes toward Bifunctional Cathode for Highly Safe and Flexible Li-Air Batteries.

The practical application of high-energy density lithium-oxygen (Li-O) batteries is severely impeded by the notorious cycling stability and safety, which mainly comes from slow kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at cathodes, causing inferior redox overpotentials and reactive lithium metal in flammable liquid electrolyte. Herein, a bifunctional electrode, a safe gel polymer electrolyte (GPE), and a robust lithium anode are proposed to alleviate above problems. The bifunctional electrode is composed of N-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) and CoN by chemical vapor deposition self-catalyzed growth on carbon cloth (N-CNTs@CoN@CC).

Unraveling the Role of Metal Vacancy Sites and Doped Nitrogen in Enhancing Pseudocapacitance Performance of Defective MXene.

Nitrogen-doped titanium carbides (MXene) films exhibit extraordinary volumetric capacitance when high-concentration sulfuric acid electrolyte is utilized owing to the enhancement of pseudocapacitance. However, the energy storage mechanism of nitrogen-doped MXene is unclear due to the complex electrode structure and electrolyte ions' behavior. Here, based on pristine MXene (TiCO), three different MXene structures are constructed by introducing metal vacancy sites and doped nitrogen atoms, namely, defective MXene (TiCO), nitrogen-doped MXene (TiCON), and nitrogen-doped MXene with metal vacancy sites (TiCON).

An artificial interfacial layer with biomimetic ionic channels towards highly stable Li metal anodes.

Lithium (Li) metal with low electrochemical potential and high theoretical capacity is a promising anode material for next-generation batteries. However, the low reversibility and safety problems caused by the notorious dendrite growth significantly impede the development of high-energy-density lithium metal batteries (LMBs). Here, to enable a dendrite-free and highly reversible Li metal anode (LMA), we develop a cytomembrane-inspired artificial layer (CAL) with biomimetic ionic channels using a scalable spread coating method.

Stimuli-responsive nanocarrier delivery systems for Pt-based antitumor complexes: a review.

Platinum-based anticancer drugs play a crucial role in the clinical treatment of various cancers. However, the application of platinum-based drugs is heavily restricted by their severe toxicity and drug resistance/cross resistance. Various drug delivery systems have been developed to overcome these limitations of platinum-based chemotherapy.

Boosting the reaction kinetics in aprotic lithium-carbon dioxide batteries with unconventional phase metal nanomaterials.

Given the high energy density and eco-friendly characteristics, lithium-carbon dioxide (Li-CO) batteries have been considered to be a next-generation energy technology to promote carbon neutral and space exploration. However, Li-CO batteries suffer from sluggish reaction kinetics, causing large overpotential and poor energy efficiency. Here, we observe enhanced reaction kinetics in aprotic Li-CO batteries with unconventional phase 4H/face-centered cubic (fcc) iridium (Ir) nanostructures grown on gold template.

3D Artificial Solid-Electrolyte Interphase for Lithium Metal Anodes Enabled by Insulator-Metal-Insulator Layered Heterostructures.

Despite considerable efforts to prevent lithium (Li) dendrite growth, stable cycling of Li metal anodes with various structures remains extremely difficult due to the direct contact of the liquid electrolyte with Li. Rational design of solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) for 3D electrodes is a promising but still challenging strategy for preventing Li dendrite growth and avoiding lithium-electrolyte side reactions in Li-metal batteries. Here, a 3D architecture is constructed with g-C N /graphene/g-C N insulator-metal-insulator sandwiched nanosheets to guide uniform Li plating/stripping in the van der Waals gap between the graphene and the g-C N , and the function of which can be regarded as a 3D artificial SEI.

Efficient Reversible Conversion between MoS and Mo/Na S Enabled by Graphene-Supported Single Atom Catalysts.

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) based on conversion-type metal sulfide (MS) anodes have attracted extraordinary attention due to relatively high capacity and intrinsic safety. The highly reversible conversion of M/Na S to pristine MS in charge plays a vital role with regard to the electrochemical performance. Here, taking conventional MoS as an example, guided by theoretical simulations, a catalyst of iron single atoms on nitrogen-doped graphene (SAFe@NG) is selected and first used as a substrate to facilitate the reaction kinetics of MoS in the discharging process.

Self-Propagating Enabling High Lithium Metal Utilization Ratio Composite Anodes for Lithium Metal Batteries.

Constructing three-dimensional (3D) structural composite lithium metal anode by molten-infusion strategy is an effective strategy to address the severe problems of Li dendritic growth and huge volume changes. However, various challenges, including uncontrollable Li loading, dense inner structure, and low Li utilization, still need to be addressed for the practical application of 3D Li anode. Herein, we propose a self-propagating method, which is realized by a synergistic effect of chemical reaction and capillarity effect on porous scaffold surface, for fabricating a flexible 3D composite Li metal anode with high Li utilization ratio and controllable low Li loading.

Intercalation-Induced Conversion Reactions Give High-Capacity Potassium Storage.

Potassium ion batteries (PIBs) have shown great potential as a next-generation electrochemical energy storage system, due to the natural abundance of potassium and the relatively low redox potential of K ions. To accommodate the large ionic radius of K ions, conversion-type electrode materials are regarded as suitable candidates for K ion storage. However, the triggering mechanism of a conversion reaction in most anode materials of PIBs is unclear, which limits their further development.

Defect-Enhanced CO Reduction Catalytic Performance in O-Terminated MXenes.

Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO RR) represents a promising way to generate fuels and chemical feedstock sustainably. Recently, studies have shown that two-dimensional metal carbides and nitrides (MXenes) can be promising CO RR electrocatalysts due to the alternating -C and -H coordination with intermediates that decouples scaling relations seen on transition metal catalysts. However, further by tuning the electronic and surface structure of MXenes it should still be possible to reach higher turnover number and selectivities.

Building Fast Diffusion Channel by Constructing Metal Sulfide/Metal Selenide Heterostructures for High-Performance Sodium Ion Batteries Anode.

Heterostructure engineering is one of the most promising modification strategies toward improving sluggish kinetics for the anode of sodium ion batteries (SIBs). Herein, we report a systemic investigation on the different types of heterostructure interfaces' effects of discharging products (NaO, NaS, NaSe) on the rate performance. First-principle calculations reveal that the NaS/NaSe interface possesses the lowest diffusion energy barrier (0.

Bidirectional Catalysts for Liquid-Solid Redox Conversion in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Accelerated conversion by catalysis is a promising way to inhibit shuttling of soluble polysulfides in lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, but most of the reported catalysts work only for one direction sulfur reaction (reduction or oxidation), which is still not a root solution since fast cycled use of sulfur species is not finally realized. A bidirectional catalyst design, oxide-sulfide heterostructure, is proposed to accelerate both reduction of soluble polysulfides and oxidation of insoluble discharge products (e.g.

Theoretical Calculation Guided Design of Single-Atom Catalysts toward Fast Kinetic and Long-Life Li-S Batteries.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are promising next-generation energy storage technologies due to their high theoretical energy density, environmental friendliness, and low cost. However, low conductivity of sulfur species, dissolution of polysulfides, poor conversion from sulfur reduction, and lithium sulfide (LiS) oxidation reactions during discharge-charge processes hinder their practical applications. Herein, under the guidance of density functional theory calculations, we have successfully synthesized large-scale single atom vanadium catalysts seeded on graphene to achieve high sulfur content (80 wt % sulfur), fast kinetic (a capacity of 645 mAh g at 3 C rate), and long-life Li-S batteries.

Altering polythiophene derivative substrates to control the electrodeposition morphology of Au particles toward ultrafine nanoparticles.

A novel strategy for controlling the morphology of AuNPs by altering polythiophene derivative substrates was developed, and the nucleation mechanism of AuNPs on PTs was further explored theoretically. It is found that PTs with longer side chains can induce the electrodeposition of AuNPs with different morphologies and smaller particle sizes.