Facile Synthesis of Ultra-Small Few-Layer Nanostructured MoSe2 Embedded on N,P Co-Doped Bio-Carbon for High-Performance Half/Full Sodium-Ion and Potassium-Ion Batteries

Sodium/potassium-ion batteries (SIBs/PIBs) arouse intensive interest on account of the natural abundance of sodium/potassium resources, the competitive cost and appropriate redox potential. Nevertheless, the huge challenge for SIBs/PIBs lies in the scarcity of an anode material with high capacity and stable structure, which are capable of accommodating large-size ions during cycling. Furthermore, using sustainable natural biomass to fabricate electrodes for energy storage applications is a hot topic. Herein, an ultra-small few-layer nanostructured MoSe₂ embedded on N, P co-doped bio-carbon is reported, which is synthesized by using chlorella as the adsorbent and precursor. As a consequence, the MoSe₂/NP-C-2 composite represents exceedingly impressive electrochemical performance for both sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) and potassium-ion batteries (PIBs). It displays a promising reversible capacity (523 mAh g⁻¹ at 100 mA g⁻¹ after 100 cycles) and impressive long-term cycling performance (192 mAh g⁻¹ at 5 A g⁻¹ even after 1000 cycles) in SIBs, which are some of the best properties of MoSe₂-based anode materials for SIBs to date. To further probe the great potential applications, full SIBs pairing the MoSe₂/NP-C-2 composite anode with a Na₃V₂(PO₄)₃ cathode also exhibits a satisfactory capacity of 215 mAh g⁻¹ at 500 mA g⁻¹ after 100 cycles. Moreover, it also delivers a decent reversible capacity of 131 mAh g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹ even after 250 cycles for PIBs.     

CoII Cryptates Convert CO2 into CO and CH4 under Visible Light

Three Co^II octaazacryptates, with different substituents on the aromatic rings (Br, NO₂, CCH), were synthesised and characterised. These and the already published non-substituted cryptate catalysed CO₂ photoreduction to CO and CH₄ under blue visible light at room temperature. Although CO was observed after short irradiation times and a large range of catalyst concentrations, CH₄ was only observed after longer irradiation periods, such as 30 h, but with a small catalyst concentration (25 nm ). Experiments with ¹³C labelled CO₂ showed that CO is formed and reacts further when the reaction time is long. The CCH catalyst is deactivated faster than the others and the more efficient catalyst for CH₄ production is the one with Br. This reactivity trend was explained by an energy decomposition analysis based on DFT calculations.     

CS2 Reductive Coupling to Acetylenedithiolate by a Dinuclear Ytterbium(II) Complex

The activation of CS₂ is of interest in a broad range of fields and, more particularly, in the context of creating new C−C bonds. The reaction of the dinuclear ytterbium(II) complex [Yb₂L₄], 1 , [L=(OtBu)₃SiO⁻] with carbon disulfide led to the isolation of unprecedented reduction products. In particular, the crystallographic characterization of complex [Yb₂L₄(μ-C₂S₂)], 2 , provided the first example of an acetylenedithiolate ligand formed from metal reduction of CS₂. Computational studies indicated that this unprecedented reactivity can be ascribed to the unusual binding mode of CS₂²⁻ in the isolated “key intermediate” [Yb₂L₄(μ-CS₂)], 3 , which results from the dinuclear nature of 1 .     

Porous Molybdenum Carbide Nanostructures Synthesized on Carbon Cloth by CVD for Efficient Hydrogen Production

Molybdenum carbide (Mo₂C) is a promising noble-metal-free electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), due to its structural and electronic merits, such as high conductivity, metallic band states and wide pH applicability. Here, a simple CVD process was developed for synthesis of a Mo₂C on carbon cloth (Mo₂C@CC) electrode with carbon cloth as carbon source and MoO₃ as the Mo precursor. XRD, Raman, XPS and SEM results of Mo₂C@CC with different amounts of MoO₃ and growth temperatures suggested a two-step synthetic mechanism, and porous Mo₂C nanostructures were obtained on carbon cloth with 50 mg MoO₃ at 850 °C (Mo₂C-850(50)). With the merits of unique porous nanostructures, a low overpotential of 72 mV at current density of 10 mA cm⁻² and a small Tafel slope of 52.8 mV dec⁻¹ was achieved for Mo₂C-850(50) in 1.0 m KOH. The dual role of carbon cloth as electrode and carbon source resulted into intimate adhesion of Mo₂C on carbon cloth, offering fast electron transfer at the interface. Cyclic voltammetry measurements for 5000 cycles revealed that Mo₂C@CC had excellent electrochemical stability. This work provides a novel strategy for synthesizing Mo₂C and other efficient carbide electrocatalysts for HER and other applications, such as supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries.     

In Situ Anchoring of Pyrrhotite on Graphitic Carbon Nitride Nanosheet for Efficient Immobilization of Uranium

Enrichment of U^VI is an urgent project for nuclear energy development. Herein, magnetic graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets were successfully prepared by in situ anchoring of pyrrhotite (Fe₇S₈) on the graphitic carbon nitride nanosheet (CNNS), which were used for capturing U^VI. The structural characterizations of Fe₇S₈/CNNS-1 indicated that the CNNS could prevent the aggregation of Fe₇S₈ and the saturation magnetization was 4.69 emu g⁻¹, which meant that it was easy to separate the adsorbent from the solution. Adsorption experiments were performed to investigate the sorption properties. The results disclosed that the sorption data conformed to the Langmuir isotherm model with the maximum adsorption capacity of 572.78 mg g⁻¹ at 298 K. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) demonstrated that the main adsorption mechanism are as follows: U^VI is adsorbed on the surface of Fe₇S₈/CNNS-1 through surface complexation initially, then it was reduced to insoluble U^IV. Thereby, this work provided an efficient and easy to handle sorbent material for extraction of U^VI.     

Nitrogen Doping and Carbon Coating Affects Substrate Selectivity of TiO2 Photocatalytic Organic Pollutant Degradation

A series of carbon-coated, nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide photocatalysts was produced and characterized. N-doped TiO₂ powder samples were prepared using a sol-gel method and subsequently used for making doped-TiO₂ thin films on glass substrates. Carbon layers were coated on the films by a thermal decomposition method using catechol. Diffuse reflectance spectra and Mott-Schottky analyses of the samples proved that nitrogen doping and carbon coating can slightly lower the band gap of TiO₂, broaden its absorption to visible light and enhance its n-type character. According to photocatalytic tests against model contaminants, carbon-coated nitrogen-doped TiO₂ films have better performance than simple TiO₂ on the degradation of Rhodamine B dye molecules, but are poorly effective for degrading 4-chlorophenol molecules. Several possible explanations are proposed for this result, supported by scavenging experiments. This reveals the importance of a broad substrate scope when assessing new photocatalytic materials for water treatment, something which is often overlooked in many literature studies.     

旋涂法制备WO3薄膜电致变色性能

"智能窗"大规模推广顺应可持续发展潮流,三氧化钨(WO_3)是生产"智能窗"的一种重要电致变色材料,但调控WO_3薄膜电致变色性能机制仍待进一步研究。采用旋涂法制备WO_3薄膜,重点研究了溶液浓度和旋涂次数对调控WO_3薄膜电致变色性能的影响。通过表面轮廓仪测量薄膜厚度,X射线衍射(XRD)测量薄膜结晶情况,原子力显微镜(AFM)和扫描电子显微镜(SEM)分析薄膜表面形貌,光谱仪测量薄膜初始态、着色态和褪色态的透射率。实验结果表明,随着溶液浓度增加(0. 2～1. 0 mol/L),薄膜厚度从9. 7 nm增加到33. 3 nm,透射率调制能力从0%提升到37. 0%;多次旋涂薄膜厚度线性增长,线性拟合优度(R~2)达0. 98,5次旋涂后透射率调制能力达51. 3%。改变溶液浓度和旋涂次数都是调控薄膜透射率调制能力的有效手段,精准调控薄膜透射率调制能力对设计不同应用场景的电致变色器件具有重大意义。     

Suppressing the environmental dependence of the open‐circuit voltage in inverted polymer solar cells through a radical polymer anodic modifier

Developing stable, readily‐synthesized, and solution‐processable transparent conducting polymers for interfacial modifying layers in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices has become of great importance. Here, the radical polymer, poly(2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidinyloxy methacrylate (PTMA), is shown to not affect the absorption of the well‐studied poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]‐phenyl‐C₆₁‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) active layer when incorporated into inverted OPV devices, as it is highly transparent in the visible spectrum due to the non‐conjugated nature of the PTMA backbone. The inclusion of this radical polymer as an anode‐modifying layer enhanced the open‐circuit voltage and short‐circuit current density values over devices that did not contain an anodic modifier. Importantly, devices fabricated with the PTMA interlayer had performance metrics that were time‐independent over the entire course of multiples days of testing after exposing the OPV devices to ambient conditions. Furthermore, these high performance values were independent of the metal used as the top electrode contact in the inverted OPV devices. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 311–316     

Cooperative Dehydrogenation of N‐Heterocycles Using a Carbon Nanotube–Rhodium Nanohybrid

Rhodium nanoparticles were anchored on carbon nanotubes and the resulting nanohybrid was studied as co‐catalyst, along with tert‐butylcatechol, for the dehydrogenation of various N‐heterocycles. The co‐catalytic system operates in high yields, under the mildest conditions reported so far, and can be applied to a wide variety of secondary amine‐containing scaffolds.