Multichanneled hierarchical porous nanocomposite CuO/carbonized butterfly wing and its excellent catalytic performance for thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate

To meet the requirement of generating more apparent specific heat release at lower temperatures for ammonium perchlorate (AP)-based composite solid propellants, the development of high-performance catalysts for improving the thermal decomposition properties of AP still remains essential and challenging. Herein, a novel catalyst, multichanneled hierarchical porous nanocomposite of CuO and carbonized butterfly wing (CuO/CBW), has been prepared through an in-situ reaction on original butterfly wing scales. Owing to the high active surface area and the good electrical and thermal conductivity, as well as the synergistic effect of CuO nanoparticles (20–25 nm) and CBW, CuO/CBW nanocomposite exhibits excellent catalytic activity for AP thermal decomposition in reducing the high-temperature decomposition temperature by 88.3°C, lowering the apparent activation energy from 190.0 to 103.1 kJ mol⁻¹ and increasing the heat release from 255 to 1841 J g⁻¹.     

Oxide‐Nanotrap‐Anchored Platinum Nanoparticles with High Activity and Sintering Resistance by Area‐Selective Atomic Layer Deposition

An area‐selective atomic layer deposition (AS‐ALD) method is described to construct oxide nanotraps to anchor Pt nanoparticles (NPs) on Al₂O₃ supports. The as‐synthesized catalysts have exhibited outstanding room‐temperature CO oxidation activity, with a significantly lowered apparent activation energy (ca. 22.17 kJ mol⁻¹) that is half that of pure Pt catalyst with the same loading. Furthermore, the structure shows excellent sintering resistance with the high catalytic activity retention up to 600 °C calcination. The key feature of the oxide nanotraps lies in its ability to anchor Pt NPs via strong metal–oxide interactions while still leaving active metal facets exposed. Our reported method for forming such oxide structure with nanotraps shows great potential for the simultaneous enhancement of thermal stability and activity of precious metal NPs.     

Platinum Oxide Nanoparticles for Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution: Influence of Platinum Valence State

Electrochemical hydrogen generation is a rising prospect for future renewable energy storage and conversion. Platinum remains a leading choice of catalyst, but because of its high cost and low natural abundance, it is critical to optimize its use. In the present study, platinum oxide nanoparticles of approximately 2 nm in diameter are deposited on carbon nitride (C3N4) nanosheets by thermal refluxing of C3N4 and PtCl₂ or PtCl₄ in water. These nanoparticles exhibit apparent electrocatalytic activity toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acid. Interestingly, the HER activity increases with increasing Pt⁴⁺ concentration in the nanoparticles, and the optimized catalyst even outperforms commercial Pt/C, exhibiting an overpotential of only −7.7 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA cm⁻² and a Tafel slope of −26.3 mV dec⁻¹. The results from this study suggest that the future design of platinum oxide catalysts should strive to maximize the Pt⁴⁺ sites and minimize the formation of the less active Pt²⁺ species.     

Long-Term Colloidally Stable Aqueous Dispersions of ≤5 nm Spinel Ferrite Nanoparticles

Applications in biomedicine and ferrofluids, for instance, require long-term colloidally stable, concentrated aqueous dispersions of magnetic, biocompatible nanoparticles. Iron oxide and related spinel ferrite nanoparticles stabilized with organic molecules allow fine-tuning of magnetic properties via cation substitution and water-dispersibility. Here, we synthesize≤5 nm iron oxide and spinel ferrite nanoparticles, capped with citrate, betaine and phosphocholine, in a one-pot strategy. We present a robust approach combining elemental (CHN) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) to quantify the ratio of residual solvent molecules and organic stabilizers on the particle surface, being of particular accuracy for ligands with heteroatoms compared to the solvent. SAXS experiments demonstrate the long-term colloidal stability of our aqueous iron oxide and spinel ferrite nanoparticle dispersions for at least 3 months. By the use of SAXS we approved directly the colloidal stability of the nanoparticle dispersions for high concentrations up to 100 g L⁻¹.     

Cold-Resistant Nitrogen/Sulfur Dual-Doped Graphene Fiber Supercapacitors with Solar–Thermal Energy Conversion Effect

Although graphene fiber-based supercapacitors are promising for wearable electronic devices, the low energy density of electrodes and poor cold resistance of aqueous electrolytes limit their wide application in cold environments. Herein, porous nitrogen/sulfur dual-doped graphene fibers (NS-GFs) are synthesized by hydrothermal self-assembly followed by thermal annealing, exhibiting an excellent capacitive performance of 401 F cm⁻³ at 400 mA cm⁻³ because of the synergistic effect of heteroatom dual-doping. The assembled symmetric all-solid-state supercapacitor with polyvinyl alcohol/H₂SO₄/graphene oxide gel electrolyte exhibits a high capacitance of 221 F cm⁻³ and a high energy density of 7.7 mWh cm⁻³ at 80 mA cm⁻³. Interestingly, solar–thermal energy conversion of the electrolyte with 0.1 wt % graphene oxide extends the operating temperature range of the supercapacitor to 0 °C. Furthermore, the photocatalysis effect of the dual-doped heteroatoms increases the capacitance of NS-GFs. At an ambient temperature of 0 °C, the capacitance increases from 0 to 182 F cm⁻³ under 1 sun irradiation because of the excellent solar light absorption and efficient solar–thermal energy conversion of graphene oxide, preventing the aqueous electrolyte from freezing. The flexible supercapacitor exhibits a long cycle life, good bending resistance, reliable scalability, and ability to power visual electronics, showing great potential for outdoor electronics in cold environments.     

Simple Preparation and Application of TEMPO‐Coated Fe3O4 Superparamagnetic Nanoparticles for Selective Oxidation of Alcohols

The organic oxidant TEMPO (2,2,4,4‐tetramethylpiperdine‐1‐oxyl) was immobilized on iron oxide (Fe₃O₄) superparamagnetic nanoparticles by employing strong metal‐oxide chelating phosphonates and azide/alkyne “click” chemistry. This simple preparation yields recyclable TEMPO‐coated nanoparticles with good TEMPO loadings. They have excellent magnetic response and efficiently catalyze the oxidation of a wide range of primary and secondary alcohols to aldehydes, ketones, and lactones under either aerobic acidic Mn^II/Cu^II oxidizing Minisci conditions, or basic NaOCl Anelli conditions. The nanoparticles could be recycled more than 20 times under the Minisci conditions and up to eight times under the Anelli conditions with good to excellent substrate conversions and product selectivities. Immobilization of the catalyst through a phosphonate linkage allows the particles to withstand acidic oxidizing environments with minimal catalyst leaching. Clicking TEMPO to the phosphonate prior to phosphonate immobilization, rather than after, ensures the clicked catalyst is the only species on the particle surface. This facilitates quantification of the catalyst loading. The stability of the phosphonate linker and simplicity of this catalyst immobilization method make this an attractive approach for tethering catalysts to oxide supports, creating magnetically separable catalysts that can be used under neutral or acidic conditions.     

Laser-Ablation-Produced Cobalt Nickel Phosphate with High-Valence Nickel Ions as an Active Catalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Cost-effective, highly efficient and stable non-noble metal-based catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are very crucial for energy storage and conversion. Here, an amorphous cobalt nickel phosphate (CoNiPO₄), containing a considerable amount of high-valence Ni³⁺ species as an efficient electrocatalyst for OER in alkaline solution, is reported. The catalyst was converted from Co-doped Ni₂P through pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) and exhibits a large specific surface area of 162.5 m² g⁻¹ and a low overpotential of 238 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² with a Tafel slope of 46 mV dec⁻¹, which is much lower than those of commercial RuO₂ and IrO₂. This work demonstrates that PLAL is a powerful technology for generating amorphous CoNiPO₄ with high-valence Ni³⁺, thus paving a new way towards highly effective OER catalysts.     

High-temperature stable, iron-based core-shell catalysts for ammonia decomposition

High‐temperature, stable core–shell catalysts for ammonia decomposition have been synthesized. The highly active catalysts, which were found to be also excellent model systems for fundamental studies, are based on α‐Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles coated by porous silica shells. In a bottom‐up approach, hematite nanoparticles were firstly obtained from the hydrothermal reaction of ferric chlorides, L ‐lysine, and water with adjustable average sizes of 35, 47, and 75 nm. Secondly, particles of each size could be coated by a porous silica shell by means of the base‐catalyzed hydrolysis of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) with cetyltetramethylammonium bromide (CTABr) as porogen. After calcination, TEM, high‐resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR‐SEM), energy‐dispersive X‐ray (EDX), XRD, and nitrogen sorption studies confirmed the successful encapsulation of hematite nanoparticles inside porous silica shells with a thickness of 20 nm, thereby leading to composites with surface areas of approximately 380 m² g^?1 and iron contents between 10.5 and 12.2 wt %. The obtained catalysts were tested in ammonia decomposition. The influence of temperature, iron oxide core size, possible diffusion limitations, and dilution effects of the reagent gas stream with noble gases were studied. The catalysts are highly stable at 750 °C with a space velocity of 120 000 cm³ g_cat^?1 h^?1 and maintained conversions of around 80 % for the testing period time of 33 h. On the basis of the excellent stability under reaction conditions up to 800 °C, the system was investigated by in situ XRD, in which body‐centered iron was determined, in addition to FeN_x, as the crystalline phase under reaction conditions above 650 °C.     

钴掺杂的磁性氧化铁纳米粒子的可控合成

通过油酸盐前驱体高温热解法制备出大小均匀的钴掺杂四氧化三铁球形纳米粒子, 其钴/铁摩尔比可以通过调节油酸钴与油酸铁的比例进行调变. 当产物中钴/铁摩尔比从0.024增加到0.156, 所制备的氧化铁纳米粒子的饱和磁矩从39 emu·g^-1逐渐减小到30 emu·g^-1, 而矫顽力从0 Oe升至190 Oe. 在305℃下, 随着反应体系的热解时间由0.5 h 增加到3 h, 所制备出的氧化铁纳米粒子尺寸逐渐由7 nm增加到14 nm. 热解时间较短时, 以高价态的四氧化三铁的晶型为主, 辅之以少量的氧化亚铁; 热解时间增加至2 h, 产物的晶型为四氧化三铁和氧化亚铁的复合物; 而继续增加热解时间至3 h, 除四氧化三铁和氧化亚铁之外, 还出现少量的零价态的CoFe合金, 说明铁(钴)元素经历了由三价到二价, 最后被还原为零价的过程. 随着反应温度的升高, 产物的尺寸逐渐增大, 同时产物中氧化亚铁的含量增多.     

原位合成钴/还原氧化石墨烯纳米粒子催化氨硼烷制氢

采用简单的原位还原合成方法,利用具有温和还原性能的氨硼烷作为还原剂,在室温下一步还原氧化石墨烯和氯化钴混合溶液制备了还原氧化石墨烯负载钴纳米复合材料催化剂. 利用所制备的钴/还原氧化石墨烯催化剂催化氨硼烷水解制氢,发现钴/还原氧化石墨烯具有优异的催化性能. 相对于没有负载的钴纳米粒子以及采用硼氢化钠作为还原剂制备的钴/还原氧化石墨烯催化剂,采用氨硼烷还原制备的钴/还原氧化石墨烯催化剂表现出更加优越的催化性能. 动力学测试表明,钴/还原氧化石墨烯催化氨硼烷水解反应为零级反应,同时钴/还原氧化石墨烯催化剂催化氨硼烷水解反应的活化能为27.10 kJ·mol^-1,低于大部分已报道的其它催化剂,甚至一些贵金属催化剂的活化能. 钴/还原氧化石墨烯催化剂有着稳定的循环使用性,特别是其具有的磁性使得它能够直接从溶液中通过磁力回收,极具应用前景. 这种简单有效的合成方法有望推广到其它的金属-还原氧化石墨烯纳米复合材料体系.     

Multifunctional Electrocatalytic Cathodes Derived from Metal–Organic Frameworks for Advanced Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

The rechargeable lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery is a promising candidate for the next generation of energy storage technology, owing to the high theoretical capacity, high specific energy density, and low cost of electrode materials. The main drawbacks in the development of long-life Li-S batteries are capacity fading and the sluggish kinetics at the cathode caused by the polysulfides shuttle. These limitations are addressed through the design of novel nanocages containing cobalt phosphide (CoP) nanoparticles embedded in highly porous nitrogen-doped carbon (CoP-N-GC) by thermal annealing of ZIF-67 in a reductive atmosphere followed by a phosphidation step using sodium hypophosphite. The CoP nanoparticles, with large surface area and uniform homogeneous distribution within the N-doped nanocage graphitic carbon, act as electrocatalysts to suppress the shuttle of soluble polysulfides through strong chemical interactions and catalyze the sulfur redox. As a result, the S@CoP-N-GC electrode delivers an extremely high specific capacity of 1410 mA h g⁻¹ at 0.1 C (1 C=1675 mA g⁻¹) with an excellent coulombic efficiency of 99.7 %. Moreover, capacity retention from 864 to 678 mA h g⁻¹ is obtained after 460 cycles with a very low decay rate of 0.046 % per cycle at 0.5 C. Therefore, the combination of the CoP catalyst and polar conductive porous carbon effectively stabilizes the sulfur cathode, enhancing the electrochemical performance and stability of the battery.     

Nickel/Cobalt Molybdate Hollow Rods Induced by Structure and Defect Engineering as Exceptional Electrode Materials for Hybrid Supercapacitor

Oxygen defects and hollow structures positively impact pseudocapacitive properties of diffusion/surface-controlled processes, a component of critical importance when building high-performance supercapacitors. Hence, we fabricated hollow nickel/cobalt molybdate rods with O-defects (D−H−NiMoO₄@CoMoO₄) through a soft-template and partial reduction method, enhancing D−H−NiMoO₄@CoMoO₄’s electrochemical performance, yielding a specific capacitance of 1329 F g⁻¹, and demonstrating excellent durability with 95.8 % capacity retention after 3000 cycles. D−H−NiMoO₄@CoMoO₄ was used as the positive electrode to construct an asymmetric supercapacitor, displaying an energy density of up to 34.13 Wh kg⁻¹ and demonstrating good predisposition towards practical applications. This work presents an effective approach to fabricate and use hollow nickel/cobalt molybdate rods with O-defects as pseudocapacitor material for high-performance capacitive energy storage devices.     

Magnetic Field-Enhanced Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution on a Mixed-Valent Cobalt-Modulated LaCoO3 Catalyst

Extensive efforts to enhance the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalytic performance of transition metal oxides mainly concentrate on the extrinsic morphology tailoring, lattice doping, and electrode interface optimizing. Nevertheless, little room is left for performance improvement using these methods and an obvious gap still exists compared to the precious metal catalysts. In this work, a novel “mixed-valent cobalt modulation” strategy is presented to enhance the electrocatalytic OER of perovskite LaCoO₃ (LCO) oxide. The valence transition of cobalt is realized by ethylenediamine post reduction procedure at room temperature, which further induces the variation of magnetic properties for LCO catalyst. The optimized LCO catalyst with Co²⁺/Co³⁺ of 1.98 % exhibits the best OER activity, and the overpotential at 10 mA cm⁻² current density is decreased by 170 mV compared pristine LCO. Impressively, the ferromagnetic LCO catalyst can perform magnetic OER enhancement. By application of an external magnetic field, the overpotential of LCO at 10 mA cm⁻² can be further decreased by 20 mV compared to that of under zero magnetic field, which arises from the enhanced energy states of electrons and accelerated electron transfer process driven by magnetic field. Our findings may provide a promising strategy to break the bottleneck for further enhancement of OER performance.     

Magnetically water‐dispersible and recoverable rhodium organometallic catalyst derived from Wilkinson's catalyst for promoting organic reactions

A novel magnetic rhodium catalyst was prepared through immobilizing Wilkinson's catalyst on the surface of silica‐coated iron oxide nanoparticles. After (thio)diphenylphosphine (─S&─PPh₂) was modified on the surface of the silica‐coated iron oxide nanoparticles, tris(triphenylphosphine)rhodium(I) chloride was employed to synthesize the Rh(Cl)(PPh₃)₂(Ph₂P&─S&─) complex, affording a rhodium loading of 0.16 mmol g⁻¹. The Rh(I) organometallic magnetic nanoparticles form a novel class of heterogeneous catalyst which is particularly suitable for the practice of organic synthesis. The prepared system exhibits high catalytic efficiency in Suzuki–Miyaura and Miyaura–Michael reactions in ethanol–water solution. High yield, low reaction times, use of green solvents and non‐toxicity of the catalyst are the main merits of this protocol. Also, magnetic separation is an environmentally friendly alternative for the recovery of the catalyst, since it minimizes energy and catalyst loss by preventing mass loss and oxidation. The produced catalyst was characterized using a variety of techniques.     

A Dendritic Nanostructured Copper Oxide Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction

To use water as the source of electrons for proton or CO₂ reduction within electrocatalytic devices, catalysts are required for facilitating the proton‐coupled multi‐electron oxygen evolution reaction (OER, 2 H₂O→O₂+4 H⁺+4 e⁻). These catalysts, ideally based on cheap and earth abundant metals, have to display high activity at low overpotential and good stability and selectivity. While numerous examples of Co, Mn, and Ni catalysts were recently reported for water oxidation, only few examples were reported using copper, despite promising efficiencies. A rationally designed nanostructured copper/copper oxide electrocatalyst for OER is presented. This material derives from conductive copper foam passivated by a copper oxide layer and further nanostructured by electrodeposition of CuO nanoparticles. The generated electrodes are highly efficient for catalyzing selective water oxidation to dioxygen with an overpotential of 290 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² in 1 m NaOH solution.     

In Situ Growth of Hierarchical Ni-Mn-O Solid Solution on a Flexible and Porous Ni Electrode for High-Performance All-Solid-State Asymmetric Supercapacitors

To endow all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitors with high energy density, cycling stability, and flexibility, we design a binder-free supercapacitor electrode by in situ growth of well-distributed broccoli-like Ni_0.75Mn_0.25O/C solid solution arrays on a flexible and three-dimensional Ni current collector (3D-Ni). The electrode consists of a bottom layer of compressed but still porous Ni foam with excellent flexibility and high electrical conductivity, an intermediate layer of interconnected Ni nanoparticles providing a large specific surface area for loading of active substances, and a top layer of vertically aligned mesoporous nanosheets of a Ni_0.75Mn_0.25O/C solid solution. The resultant 3D-Ni/Ni_0.75Mn_0.25O/C cathode exhibits a specific capacitance of 1657.6 mF cm⁻² at 1 mA cm⁻² and shows no degradation of the capacitance after 10 000 cycles at 3 mA cm⁻². The assembled 3D-Ni/Ni_0.75Mn_0.25O/C//activated carbon asymmetric supercapacitor has a high specific capacitance of 797.7 mF cm⁻² at 2 mA cm⁻² and an excellent cycling stability with 85.3 % of capacitance retention after 10 000 cycles at a current density of 3 mA cm⁻². The energy density and power density of the asymmetric supercapacitor are up to 6.6 mW h cm⁻³ and 40.8 mW cm⁻³, respectively, indicating a fairly promising future of the flexible 3D-Ni/Ni_0.75Mn_0.25O/C electrode for efficient energy storage applications.     

A Freestanding Selenium Disulfide Cathode Based on Cobalt Disulfide‐Decorated Multichannel Carbon Fibers with Enhanced Lithium Storage Performance

SeS₂ shows attractive advantages beyond bare S and Se as a cathode material for lithium storage. Here, a freestanding lotus root‐like carbon fiber network decorated with CoS₂ nanoparticles (denoted as CoS₂@LRC) has been designed and prepared as the SeS₂ host for enhancing the lithium storage performance. The integrated electrode is constructed by three‐dimensional interconnected multichannel carbon fibers, which can not only accommodate high content of SeS₂ (70 wt %), but also promise excellent electron and ion transport for achieving high capacity utilization of 1015 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.2 A g⁻¹. What is more, there are numerous CoS₂ nanoparticles decorated all over the inner walls and surfaces of the carbon fibers, providing efficient sulfiphilic sites for restricting the dissolution of polysulfides and polyselenides during the electrochemical processes, thus successfully suppressing the shuttle effect and maintaining excellent cycling stability over 400 cycles at 0.5 A g⁻¹.     

Iron–Cobalt Phosphomolybdate with High Electrocatalytic Activity for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Iron–cobalt phosphomolybdate (FeCoPM₁₂) nanoparticles, which are highly efficient catalytic materials for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), were fabricated through a coprecipitation route. Compared with iron–cobalt hydroxide and state‐of‐the‐art RuO₂ electrocatalysts, the as‐prepared FeCoPM₁₂ sample exhibited robust OER catalytic activity with a low overpotential of 258 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² and a small Tafel slope of 33 mV dec⁻¹. Moreover, the as‐synthesized sample presented preferable stability and after 10 h at 1.52 V the current density degraded by merely 8.3 %. This is ascribed to the high electrochemical stability and small porous structure of FeCoPM₁₂, which provide effective electron transmission and improve the catalytic performance for OER in alkaline media.     

Heterostructured Inter-Doped Ruthenium–Cobalt Oxide Hollow Nanosheet Arrays for Highly Efficient Overall Water Splitting

The development of transition-metal-oxides (TMOs)-based bifunctional catalysts toward efficient overall water splitting through delicate control of composition and structure is a challenging task. Herein, the rational design and controllable fabrication of unique heterostructured inter-doped ruthenium–cobalt oxide [(Ru–Co)O_x] hollow nanosheet arrays on carbon cloth is reported. Benefiting from the desirable compositional and structural advantages of more exposed active sites, optimized electronic structure, and interfacial synergy effect, the (Ru–Co)O_x nanoarrays exhibited outstanding performance as a bifunctional catalyst. Particularly, the catalyst showed a remarkable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity with an overpotential of 44.1 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² and a small Tafel slope of 23.5 mV dec⁻¹, as well as an excellent oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity with an overpotential of 171.2 mV at 10 mA cm⁻². As a result, a very low cell voltage of 1.488 V was needed at 10 mA cm⁻² for alkaline overall water splitting.     

Nanocomposite of manganese ferrocyanide and graphene: A promising cathode material for rechargeable lithium ion batteries

A nanocomposite of potassium manganese ferrocyanide and graphene (12% C, 88% K_1.8Mn_1.1Fe(CN)₆∙ 0.27H₂O) was prepared by ball milling of graphene oxide powder and nanoparticles of manganese–iron Prussian Blue. It exhibits enhanced electrochemical performance compared to pure Prussian Blue with a specific capacity of 150 mAhg^− 1 at average 3.8 V vs. Li⁺/Li and a good cyclability. The nanocomposite can be considered as competitive to standard cathode materials of present rechargeable lithium ion batteries like cobalt oxide, iron phosphate or NMC.