优化金属磷化物电催化析氢性能的策略

日益严重的能源危机和环境污染问题使得探索清洁的可再生能源载体及减少对传统化石燃料的过度依赖成为人们面临的一项重要任务.因此,各种可持续能源如太阳能、风能、海洋能和生物质能等得到了广泛研究并取得了一定的进展.然而,这些能源因存在间歇性和不稳定性等缺点阻碍了其实际应用.近年,氢气作为一种能源载体,以其高能量密度和无碳排放的优点引起了人们的广泛关注,被认为是缓解日益严重的污染问题的最有前途的环保能源.对比目前采用的天然气热解和煤炭气化等传统制氢策略,电催化水裂解由于催化效率高,制氢纯度高和不产生温室气体,被认为是高效、环保、可持续的制氢策略.电催化水裂解由两个独立的半反应组成,分别是析氢反应和析氧反应.析氢反应作为水裂解的一个半反应,在降低制氢成本及提高产氢催化效率方面起着关键作用.然而,目前的核心问题之一是要开发高效的析氢电催化剂,以加快反应速度.目前,铂和铂基纳米材料被认为是高效的析氢电催化剂,但是其稀缺性和高成本阻碍了大规模实际应用.金属磷化物由于具有较高的本征活性并且在不同的电解质中都具有良好的电催化析氢性能,被证明是一种优良的析氢电催化剂.此外,与普通催化剂相比,金属磷化电催化剂还具有合成简便、效率高、成本低、省时等优点.本文详细介绍了近年人们在金属磷化物用于电催化析氢研究中取得的进展.首先,介绍了电催化析氢反应机理,金属磷化物的结构及作用,并对其优缺点进行了总结;随后,综述了金属磷化物的合成方法,包括后处理、原位生成和电沉积策略,并对不同方法进行了比较和讨论.此外,从元素掺杂、界面工程、空穴工程、修饰特定载体、构建特定纳米结构、设计双或多金属磷化物和其他发展的新方法等七个方面详细总结了促进金属磷化物电催化活性的多种策略,并进行了对比和讨论.最后,归纳了金属磷化物在电催化析氢应用中存在的问题和面临的挑战,并对未来的研究发展提出了展望.     

碱性介质中氢氧化反应电催化剂的开发:从机理认识到材料设计

阴离子交换膜(AEM)燃料电池因具有使用非贵金属作为催化剂的优点而受到广泛关注.然而,在碱性体系中,AEM燃料电池中氢氧化反应(HOR)的反应动力学比在酸性介质中的慢两个数量级.针对HOR在碱中动力学缓慢的问题,有两种主要的理论来解释,(1)pH相关的氢结合能作为主要影响因素来控制HOR动力学的理论;(2)质子和氢氧根离子的吸附共同作为影响因子来控制HOR在碱性条件下的动力学的双功能理论.本文首先讨论了在碱性电解质中可能的HOR反应机理及其Tafel性能变化.除了传统的Tafel-Volmer和Heyrovsky-Volmer-HOR机理外,还讨论了最新提出的氢氧根离子吸附参与的HOR机理来说明在酸性和碱性介质中HOR机理的差异.然后,总结了具有代表性的碱性HOR催化剂(如贵金属、合金、金属间化合物、镍基合金、碳化物、氮化物等),简要介绍了它们相应的HOR反应机理,从而进一步理解在碱性介质中不同基元反应步骤给HOR性能带来的差异.最后,提出了一种未来设计HOR碱性催化剂的可行性方案,为今后碱性环境下的HOR催化剂设计提供参考.     

Adaptation of electrodes and printable gel polymer electrolytes for optimized fully organic batteries

Despite intensive scientific efforts on the development of organic batteries, their full potential is still not being realized. The individual components, such as electrode materials and electrolytes, are in most cases developed independently and are not adjusted to each other. In this context, we report on the performance optimization of a full-organic solid-state battery system by the mutual adaptation of the electrode materials and an ionic liquid (IL)-based gel polymer electrolyte (GPE). The formulation of the latter was designed for a one-step manufacturing approach and can be applied directly to the electrode surface, where it is UV-cured to yield the GPE without further post-treatment steps. Herein, a special focus was placed on the applicability in industrial processes. A first significant capacity increase was achieved by the incorporation of the IL into the electrode composite. Furthermore, the GPE composition was adapted applying acrylate- and methacrylate-based monomers and combinations thereof with the premise of a fast curing step. Furthermore, the amount of IL was varied, and all combinations were evaluated for their final performance in cells. The latter variation revealed that a high ionic conductivity is not the only determining factor for a good cell performance. Next to a sufficient conductivity, the interaction between electrode and electrolyte plays a key role for the cell performance as it enhances the accessibility of the counter ions to the redox-active sites.     

水分子在均三嗪基g-C3N4上的吸附

气体分子与光催化剂之间的相互作用对于光催化反应的触发非常重要.对于TiO2,ZnO和WO3等传统金属氧化物光催化剂上的水分解反应而言,已有许多报道研究了水分子在它们表面的吸附行为.结果表明,水分子与催化剂表面的原子形成了O-H…O氢键.石墨相氮化碳(g-C3N4)是一种具有可见光响应且化学性质稳定的光催化剂,对其进行修饰以增强其分解水产氢性能的研究非常多.本文通过密度泛函理论计算,全面研究了水分子在均三嗪(s-triazine)基g-C3N4上的吸附情况.首先构建了一系列初始吸附模型,考察了各种吸附位和水分子的朝向.通过比较分析计算得到的吸附能,确定了一种最优的吸附构型,即水分子以竖直的朝向吸附于褶皱的单层g-C3N4表面.水分子中的一个极性O-H键与g-C3N4中一个二配位富电子的氮原子结合形成了分子间的O-H…N氢键.其中,H原子与N原子的间距为1.92?,O-H键的键长由0.976?增至0.994?.进一步通过计算Mulliken电荷,态密度和静电势曲线分析了该吸附体系的电子性质.结果发现在分子间氢键的桥接作用下,g-C3N4上的电子转移至水分子,由此导致g-C3N4的费米能级降低,功函数由4.21 eV增至5.30 eV.在该吸附模型的基础上,考查了不同的吸附距离.当水分子与g-C3N4的间距设为1至4?时,几何优化后总是能得到相同的吸附构型,吸附能和氢键长度也十分相近.随后,通过改变吸附基底g-C3N4的大小和形状,验证了这种吸附构型具有很强的重复性.将2′2单层g-C3N4吸附基底替换为2′2多层g-C3N4(2至5层),3′3和4′4单层g-C3N4,以及具有不同管径的单壁g-C3N4纳米管后,水分子的吸附能随着体系原子数的增多而增大,但吸附模型的几何结构和电子性质基本不变,包括O-H…N氢键的形成和键长,以及电子转移和增大的功函数.另外还研究了非金属元素(P,O,S,Se,F,Cl和Br)掺杂对吸附能的影响.构建模型时,杂质原子以取代二配位氮原子的方式进行掺杂,水分子放置于杂质原子上方.结果显示,引入杂质原子后水分子的吸附能增大,在理论上从吸附的角度解释了元素掺杂增强g-C3N4分解水活性.总之,本文揭示了一种在分子间氢键的作用下,具有高取向性的水分子吸附的g-C3N4构型,这有助于g-C3N4基光催化剂上水分解过程的理解和优化设计.     

Y-Mn-O负载的Ni基催化剂用于乙酸自热重整产氢

为了有效地从生物质衍生的乙酸中获得高氢气产率,通过水热法合成了一系列的NiMnY催化剂并用于乙酸自热重整(ATR)过程中,并采用X射线衍射(XRD)、N2吸附-脱附测试、H₂程序升温还原(H₂-TPR)探究催化剂中的内在联系。在Ni_0.39Mn_0.61YO_3.11±δ催化剂中,经焙烧后形成了类钙钛矿型(Ni,Mn)YO3物相;经氢气还原后,转化为含有Mn O、Y₂O₃和高分散Ni纳米粒子的热稳定的Ni-Mn-Y-O物种。Ni_0.39Mn_0.61YO_3.11±δ具有高效稳定的产氢催化性能,乙酸转化率高达100%,氢气产率达到2.68 mol_(H₂)·mol_HAc^-1。     

The Chemical Bond: When Atom Size Instead of Electronegativity Difference Determines Trend in Bond Strength

We have quantum chemically analyzed element−element bonds of archetypal H_nX−YH_n molecules (X, Y=C, N, O, F, Si, P, S, Cl, Br, I), using density functional theory. One purpose is to obtain a set of consistent homolytic bond dissociation energies (BDE) for establishing accurate trends across the periodic table. The main objective is to elucidate the underlying physical factors behind these chemical bonding trends. On one hand, we confirm that, along a period (e. g., from C−C to C−F), bonds strengthen because the electronegativity difference across the bond increases. But, down a period, our findings constitute a paradigm shift. From C−F to C−I, for example, bonds do become weaker, however, not because of the decreasing electronegativity difference. Instead, we show that the effective atom size (via steric Pauli repulsion) is the causal factor behind bond weakening in this series, and behind the weakening in orbital interactions at the equilibrium distance. We discuss the actual bonding mechanism and the importance of analyzing this mechanism as a function of the bond distance.     

锂金属负极人造保护膜的研究进展

金属锂因其具有极高的理论容量(3860 mAh·g^?1)、最低的电极电位(?3.04 V vs.标准氢电极)和低的密度(0.534 g·cm^?3),被认为是最具潜力的负极材料。但循环过程中不可控的枝晶生长及不稳定的固体电解质相界面膜所引起的安全隐患和电池库伦效率低等问题严重阻碍了锂金属负极的发展。通过在电极表面构建人造保护膜可以有效调控锂离子沉积行为,因此人造保护膜的构建是一种简单高效抑制锂枝晶生长的策略。本综述将从聚合物保护膜、无机保护膜、有机-无机复合保护膜和合金保护膜总结了人造保护膜的构建方法、抑制锂枝晶生长机理,为促进高比能锂金属电池的商业化应用提供借鉴参考作用。     

Sulfone-based high-voltage electrolytes for high energy density rechargeable lithium batteries:Progress and perspective

Further enhancement in the energy density of rechargeable lithium batteries calls for high-voltage cathode materials and stable anodes,as well as matched high-voltage electrolytes without compromising the overall property of batteries.Sulfone-based electrolytes have aroused great interest in recent years owing to their wide electrochemical window and high safety.However,significant challenges such as the complexity of synthesis,high melting point(typically above room temperature),high viscosity,and their poor compatibility with graphite-based anodes have drastically impeded their practical applications.In this review,recent progress of sulfone solvents in high energy density rechargeable lithium batteries is summarized theoretically and experimentally.More importantly,general improvement methods of sulfone-based electrolytes,such as adding additives and cosolvents,structural modifications of sulfo ne,superconcentrated salt strategy are briefly discussed.We expect that this review provides inspiration for the future developments of sulfone-based high-voltage electrolytes(SHVEs) and their widespread applications in high specific energy lithium batteries.     

Three dimensional accurate morphology measurements of polystyrene standard particles on silicon substrate by electron tomography

Polystyrene latex (PSL) nanoparticle (NP) sample is one of the most widely used standard materials. It is used for calibration of particle counters and particle size measurement tools. It has been reported that the measured NP sizes by various methods, such as Differential Mobility Analysis, dynamic light scattering (DLS), optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), differ from each other. Deformation of PSL NPs on mica substrate has been reported in AFM measurements: the lateral width of PSL NPs is smaller than their vertical height. To provide a reliable calibration standard, the deformation must be measured by a method that can reliably visualize the entire three dimensional (3D) shape of the PSL NPs. Here we present a method for detailed measurement of PSL NP 3D shape by means of electron tomography in a transmission electron microscope. The observed shape of the PSL NPs with 100 nm and 50 nm diameter were not spherical, but squished in direction perpendicular to the support substrate by about 7.4% and 12.1%, respectively. The high difference in surface energy of the PSL NPs and that of substrate together with their low Young modulus appear to explain the squishing of the NPs without presence of water film.     

氩原子基态波函数和能量的解析计算

以第一性原理和变分原理为基础,给出了氩原子基态波函数的一种解析表达式,计算了基态氩原子(含类氩离子)的能量,导出了所涉及的所有积分的解析表达式.对氩原子,所得到的能量理论值与实验值的相对误差为0.22%.