Atomically dispersed dinuclear iridium active sites for efficient and stable electrocatalytic chlorine evolution reaction.

The electrochemical chlorine evolution reaction (CER) is a critical anode reaction in chlor-alkali electrolysis. Although precious metal-based mixed metal oxides (MMOs) have long been used as CER catalysts, they suffer from high cost and poor selectivity due to the competing oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Single-atom catalysts (SACs), featuring high atom utilization efficiency, have captured widespread interest in diverse applications.

Novel Quasi-Liquid K-Na Alloy as a Promising Dendrite-Free Anode for Rechargeable Potassium Metal Batteries.

Rechargeable potassium metal batteries are promising energy storage devices with potentially high energy density and markedly low cost. However, eliminating dendrite growth and achieving a stable electrode/electrolyte interface are the key challenges to tackle. Herein, a novel "quasi-liquid" potassium-sodium alloy (KNA) anode comprising only 3.

NiFeO nanoparticles coated on 3D graphene capsule as electrode for advanced energy storage applications.

Current energy crises are inspiring researchers to focus intensively on development of feasible ways to produce high performing composite electrode materials for increasing energy demands. The present work addresses this objective by developing a novel structure of NiFe2O4 (NFO) nanoparticles coated on graphene capsules (GCs) by a simple hydrothermal technique. This NFO-GCs electrode material was subjected to different types of electrochemical performance evaluations to investigate its feasibility as a supercapacitor electrode.

Boosting potassium-ion batteries by few-layered composite anodes prepared via solution-triggered one-step shear exfoliation.

Earth-abundant potassium is a promising alternative to lithium in rechargeable batteries, but a pivotal limitation of potassium-ion batteries is their relatively low capacity and poor cycling stability. Here, a high-performance potassium-ion battery is achieved by employing few-layered antimony sulfide/carbon sheet composite anode fabricated via one-step high-shear exfoliation in ethanol/water solvent. Antimony sulfide with few-layered structure minimizes the volume expansion during potassiation and shortens the ion transport pathways, thus enhancing the rate capability; while carbon sheets in the composite provide electrical conductivity and maintain the electrode cycling stability by trapping the inevitable by-product, elemental sulfur.

An All-Integrated Anode via Interlinked Chemical Bonding between Double-Shelled-Yolk-Structured Silicon and Binder for Lithium-Ion Batteries.

The concept of an all-integrated design with multifunctionalization is widely employed in optoelectronic devices, sensors, resonator systems, and microfluidic devices, resulting in benefits for many ongoing research projects. Here, maintaining structural/electrode stability against large volume change by means of an all-integrated design is realized for silicon anodes. An all-integrated silicon anode is achieved via multicomponent interlinking among carbon@void@silica@silicon (CVSS) nanospheres and cross-linked carboxymethyl cellulose and citric acid polymer binder (c-CMC-CA).

Few Atomic Layered Lithium Cathode Materials to Achieve Ultrahigh Rate Capability in Lithium-Ion Batteries.

The most promising cathode materials, including LiCoO (layered), LiMn O (spinel), and LiFePO (olivine), have been the focus of intense research to develop rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for portable electronic devices. Sluggish lithium diffusion, however, and unsatisfactory long-term cycling performance still limit the development of present LIBs for several applications, such as plug-in/hybrid electric vehicles. Motivated by the success of graphene and novel 2D materials with unique physical and chemical properties, herein, a simple shear-assisted mechanical exfoliation method to synthesize few-layered nanosheets of LiCoO , LiMn O , and LiFePO is used.

Smart design of free-standing ultrathin Co-Co(OH)2 composite nanoflakes on 3D nickel foam for high-performance electrochemical capacitors.

Ultrathin Co-Co(OH)2 composite nanoflakes have been fabricated through electrodeposition on 3D nickel foam. As electrochemical capacitor electrodes, they exhibit a high specific capacitance of 1000 F g(-1) at the scan rate of 5 mV s(-1) and 980 F g(-1) at the current density of 1 A g(-1), respectively, and the retention of capacitance is 91% after 5000 cycles.

Facile synthesis of Ag/GNS-g-PAA nanohybrids for antimicrobial applications.

A facile and efficient aqueous phase-based strategy to synthesize silver nanocrystal/graphene nanosheet (GNS) nanohybrids at room temperature, via in situ poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) grafting followed by attachment of Ag nanocrystals, was reported. In the presence of PAA-grafted GNSs, Ag nanoparticles were in situ generated from AgNO(3) aqueous solution without any additional reducing agent or complicated treatment. They readily attached to the GNS surfaces, leading to Ag/GNS-g-PAA nanohybrids.

Fabrication of carbon nanofiber-polyaniline composite flexible paper for supercapacitor.

In this work we report a low cost technique, via simple rapid-mixture polymerization of aniline using an electrospun carbon nanofiber (CNF) paper as substrate, to fabricate free-standing, flexible CNF-PANI (PANI=polyaniline) composite paper. The morphology and microstructure of the obtained products are characterized by FESEM, FTIR, Raman and XRD. As results, PANI nanoparticles are homogeneously deposited on the surface of each CNF, forming a thin, light-weight and flexible composite paper.