Dynamic Modulation of LiO Growth in Li-O Batteries through Regulating Oxygen Reduction Kinetics with Photo-Assisted Cathodes.

Widely acknowledged that the capacity of Li-O batteries (LOBs) should be strongly determined by growth behaviors of the discharge product of lithium peroxide (LiO) that follows both coexisting surface and solution pathways. However until now, it remains still challenging to achieve dynamic modulation on LiO morphologies. Herein, the photo-responsive Au nanoparticles (NPs) supported on reduced oxide graphene (Au/rGO) have been utilized as cathode to manipulate oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics by aid of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effects.

Bayesian Optimization-guided Discovery of High-performance Methane Combustion Catalysts based on Multi-component PtPd@CeZrOx Core-Shell Nanospheres.

Formula regulation of multi-component catalysts by manual search is undoubtedly a time-consuming task, which has severely impeded the development efficiency of high-performance catalysts. In this work, PtPd@CeZrO core-shell nanospheres, as a successful case study, is explicitly demonstrated how Bayesian optimization (BO) accelerates the discovery of methane combustion catalysts with the optimal formula ratio (the Pt/Pd mole ratio ranges from 1/2.33-1/9.

Layer-by-Layer Electrodeposition of FTO/TiO /Cu O/CeO (1 < x < 2) Photocatalysts with High Peroxidase-Like Activity by Greatly Enhanced Singlet Oxygen Generation.

Inorganic nanomaterials have attracted much attention as enzyme mimics because of simple and stable spatial conformation of those artificially synthesized nanocatalysts. Cu O, as an important kind of narrow band gap semiconductor, is identified as effective as visible-light-driven photocatalysts, which can catalyze decomposition of H O into reactive oxygen species. Moreover, after forming Cu O/CeO hybrids, the strongly coupled interface between the two components will further improve their catalytic performance.

In Situ Fabrication of Porous Co P Hierarchical Nanostructures on Carbon Fiber Cloth with Exceptional Performance for Sodium Storage.

Superior high-rate performance and ultralong cycling life have been constantly pursued for rechargeable sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). In this work, a facile strategy is employed to successfully synthesize porous Co P hierarchical nanostructures supported on a flexible carbon fiber cloth (Co P@CFC), constructing a robust architecture of ordered nanoarrays. Via such a unique design, porous and bare structures can thoroughly expose the electroactive surfaces to the electrolyte, which is favorable for ultrafast sodium-ion storage.

Solvation Effect on the Improved Sodium Storage Performance of N-Heteropentacenequinone for Sodium-Ion Batteries.

The performance of electrode material is correlated with the choice of electrolyte, however, how the solvation has significant impact on electrochemical behavior is underdeveloped. Herein, N-heteropentacenequinone (TAPQ) is investigated to reveal the solvation effect on the performance of sodium-ion batteries in different electrolyte environment. TAPQ cycled in diglyme-based electrolyte exhibits superior electrochemical performance, but experiences a rapid capacity fading in carbonate-based electrolyte.

3D Carbon Networks: Design and Applications in Sodium Ion Batteries.

As the key component of a new generation for low-cost energy storage systems, sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted enormous attention and research due to its promising potentiality in large-scale electrochemical energy storage. For practical application of SIBs, carbonaceous materials have been considered to be one of the best choices for electrodes in virtue of their abundant reserves, low cost, easy availability, and environmental friendliness. 3D carbon network (3D-carbon) is of particular interests, which has displayed outstanding features, including abundant active sites, interconnected multi-level pore structures, high electronic conductivity, and excellent mechanical stability.

Highly Active PdO/Mn O /CeO Nanocomposites Supported on One Dimensional Halloysite Nanotubes for Photoassisted Thermal Catalytic Methane Combustion.

In this work, we have successfully triggered the aqueous auto-redox reactions between reductive Ce(OH) and oxidative MnO /Pd ions to form PdO/Mn O /CeO (PMC) nanocomposites. PMC could spontaneously self-assemble into compact encapsulation on the surface of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) to form the final one dimensional HNTs supported PMCs (HPMC). It is identified that there exists strong synergistic effects among the components of PdO, Mn O , and CeO , and hence HPMC could show excellent performance on photoassisted thermal catalytic CH combustion that its light-off temperature was sharply reduced to be 180 °C under visible light irradiation.

Determination of Volatile Water Pollutants Using Cross-Linked Polymeric Ionic Liquid as Solid Phase Micro-Extraction Coatings.

Ionic liquids found a wide application in catalysis and extraction due to their unique properties. Herein, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the cross-linker and 1-vinyl-3- butylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate as functional monomer via thermally initiated free-radical polymerization was prepared as a novel copolymer solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) coating. A surface modified stainless-steel wire was implemented as the substrate.

Transition-Metal-Boron Intermetallics with Strong Interatomic d-sp Orbital Hybridization for High-Performance Electrocatalysis.

A theoretical and experimental study gives insights into the nature of the metal-boron electronic interaction in boron-bearing intermetallics and its effects on surface hydrogen adsorption and hydrogen-evolving catalytic activity. Strong hybridization between the d orbitals of transition metal (T ) and the sp orbitals of boron exists in a family of fifteen T -boron intermatallics (T :B=1:1), and hydrogen atoms adsorb more weakly to the metal-terminated intermetallic surfaces than to the corresponding pure metal surfaces. This modulation of electronic structure makes several intermetallics (e.

Protecting the Lithium Metal Anode for a Safe Flexible Lithium-Air Battery in Ambient Air.

The flexible Li-air battery (FLAB) with ultrahigh energy density is a hopeful candidate for flexible energy storage devices. However, most current FLAB operate in a pure oxygen atmosphere, which is limited by safety and corrosion issues from the metallic lithium anode and has thus greatly impeded the application of FLAB. Now, inspired by the protection effect of the umbrella, a stable hydrophobic composite polymer electrolyte (SHCPE) film with high flexibility, hydrophobicity, and stability was fabricated to protect the lithium anode.

An Illumination-Assisted Flexible Self-Powered Energy System Based on a Li-O Battery.

The flexible Li-O battery is suitable to satisfy the requirements of a self-powered energy system, thanks to environmental friendliness, low cost, and high theoretical energy density. Herein, a flexible porous bifunctional electrode with both electrocatalytic and photocatalytic activity was synthesized and introduced as a cathode to assemble a high-performance Li-O battery that achieved an overpotential of 0.19 V by charging with the aid of solar energy.

Flexible Electrodes for Sodium-Ion Batteries: Recent Progress and Perspectives.

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are considered as promising alternatives to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for large-scale electrical-energy-storage applications due to the wide availability and the low cost of Na resources. Along with the avenues of research on flexible LIBs, flexible SIBs are now being actively developed as one of the most promising power sources for the emerging field of flexible and wearable electronic devices. Here, the recent progress on flexible electrodes based on metal substrates, carbonaceous substrates (i.

Self-Assembled Pd@CeO /γ-Al O Catalysts with Enhanced Activity for Catalytic Methane Combustion.

Pd@CeO /Al O catalysts are of great importance for real applications, such as three-way catalysis, CO oxidation, and methane combustion. In this article, the Pd@CeO core@shell nanospheres are prepared via the autoredox reaction in aqueous phase. Three kinds of methods are then employed, that is, electrostatic interaction, supramolecular self-assembly, and physical mixing, to support the as-prepared Pd@CeO nanospheres on γ-Al O .

Decoration of Pt on Cu/Co double-doped CeO nanospheres and their greatly enhanced catalytic activity.

In this paper, we report an efficient strategy for the synthesis of Cu/Co double-doped CeO nanospheres (Cu Co -CeO-Pt, 0 ≤ ≤ 1), which were fabricated a simple water-glycol system. The following surface decoration of Pt nanoparticles make these nanospheres highly active for the catalytic reduction of nitrophenol and CO oxidation. Detailed tests show that their catalytic performance strongly depends on the doping components and ion concentration of Cu and Co ions.

Galvanic replacement synthesis of Ag Au @CeO (0 ≤ ≤ 1) core@shell nanospheres with greatly enhanced catalytic performance.

A galvanic replacement strategy has been successfully adopted to design Ag Au @CeO core@shell nanospheres derived from Ag@CeO ones. After etching using HAuCl, the Ag core was replaced with Ag Au alloy nanoframes, and void spaces were left under the CeO shell. Among the as-prepared Ag Au @CeO catalysts, AgAu@CeO shows the optimal catalytic performance, whose catalytic efficiency reaches even 2.

Detection of organophosphorous pesticides in soil samples with multiwalled carbon nanotubes coating SPME fiber.

A headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) technique using stainless steel fiber coated with 20 μm multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and gas chromatography with thermionic specific detector (GC-TSD) was developed to determine organophosphorous pesticides (OPPs) in soil. Parameters affecting the extraction efficiency such as extraction time and temperature, ionic strength, the volume of water added to the soil, sample solution volume to headspace volume ratio, desorption time, and desorption temperature were investigated and optimized. Compared to commercial polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS, 7 μm) fiber, the PDMS fiber was better to be corrected as phorate, whereas the MWCNTs fiber gave slightly better results for methyl parathion, chlorpyrifos and parathion.