Electrochemical behavior of nanostructured LiV3O8 in aqueous LiNO3 solution

Despite the large number of studies on the electrochemical behavior of LiV₃O₈ as a cathode material in nonaqueous lithium ion batteries, little information is available about the electrochemical behavior of LiV₃O₈ as an anode material in aqueous rechargeable lithium batteries. In this work, nanostructured LiV₃O₈ is successfully prepared using a low-temperature solid-state method. The electrochemical properties of the LiV₃O₈ electrode in 1 M, 5 M, and saturated LiNO₃ aqueous electrolytes have been characterized by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and galvanostatic charge/discharge experiments. The results show that LiV₃O₈ electrode in saturated LiNO₃ electrolyte exhibits good electrochemical performance in terms of specific capacity and electrochemical cycling performance. LiV₃O₈ electrode can be reversibly cycled in saturated LiNO₃ aqueous electrolyte for 300 cycles at a rate of 0.5 C (300 mA g⁻¹ is assumed to be 1 C rate) with impressive specific capacities.     

Dye-sensitized solar cell based on blood mimetic thixotropy sol-gel electrolyte

Blood mimetic thixotropy sol-gel electrolytes were prepared and sandwiched between dye-coated porous TiO(2) and a platinum counter-electrode to form a dye-sensitized solar cell. The highest overall conversion efficiency of 6.45%, and the fill factor of 0.74 under the white light irradiation AM 1.5 (100 mW cm(-2)) were obtained.     

Spherical Packing Superlattices in Self-Assembly of Homogenous Soft Matter:Progresses and Potentials

The construction of complex superlattices using homogenous soft matter has great potential for the bottom-up fabrication of complex, nanoscale structures. This topic is not only interested in scientific exploring for new concepts of supramolecular crystals with nanometer in sizes, which is about thousand times larger in volumes than those of normal crystals, but also practically important to provide construction principles of metamaterials which are artificially structured materials for controll...