Polyvinyl pyrrolidone-assisted synthesis of flower-like nickel-cobalt layered double hydroxide on Ni foam for high-performance hybrid supercapacitor

Nickel-cobalt layered double hydroxides (NiCo-LDH) were successfully deposited on nickel foam by a facile hydrothermal method using polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as the structure-directing reagent. The effect of PVP on the morphology and electrochemical performance of binder-free NiCo-LDH electrode for supercapacitor were investigated in detail. The prepared NiCo-LDH presented good dispersivity and appeared different flower-like structure via the addition of PVP. Specially, the NiCo-LDH electrode using 1 g of PVP exhibited a superior performance with a high-specific capacity of 724.9 C g^?1 at a current density of 1 A g^?1 and 577.1 C g^?1 at 10 A g^?1. In addition, a hybrid supercapacitor (HSC) based on the optimized NiCo-LDH as positive electrode and activated carbon as negative electrode was assembled with 6 M KOH as the electrolyte. The HSC device can deliver an energy density of 32.3 Wh kg^?1 at the power density of 387.1 W kg^?1. Moreover, the HSC device exhibited a good cycling stability with a retention rate of 94.0% after 2000-cycle charge-discharge test at 3 A g^?1.     

Sulfur and Nitrogen Codoped Carbon Tubes as Bifunctional Metal‐Free Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction and Hydrogen Evolution in Acidic Media

Invited for the cover of this issue is the group of Qiang Wu and Zheng Hu at Nanjing University. The image depicts sulfur and nitrogen codoped carbon tubes as bifunctional metal‐free electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction and hydrogen evolution in acidic media. Read the full text of the article at 10.1002/chem.201601535 .     

CdS/Si nanofilm heterojunctions based on amorphous silicon films:Fabrication,structures,and electrical properties

Shortening the distance between the depletion region and the electrodes to reduce the trapped probability of carriers is a useful approach for improving the performance of heterojunction.The CdS/Si nanofilm heterojunctions are fabricated by using the radio frequency magnetron sputtering method to deposit the amorphous silicon nanofilms and Cd S nanofilms on the ITO glass in turn.The relation of current density to applied voltage(I-V)shows the obvious rectification effect.From the analysis of the double logarithm I-V curve it follows that below~2.73 V the electron behaviors obey the Ohmic mechanism and above~2.73 V the electron behaviors conform to the space charge limited current(SCLC)mechanism.In the SCLC region part of the traps between the Fermi level and conduction band are occupied,and with the increase of voltage most of the traps are occupied.It is believed that Cd S/Si nanofilm heterojunction is a potential candidate in the field of nano electronic and optoelectronic devices by optimizing its fabricating procedure.     

Multichromophoric π‐Conjugation: Modular Design for Gated and Cascade Energy Transfer

Multichromophore arrays allow for cascade energy transfer. As an isoelectronic analogue of indacenyl, bis(triazolo)benzene features a fused tricyclic skeleton that rigidly places two π‐extended triazoles in close proximity. Such triazole‐based fluorophores behave as electronically independent modules in the ground states, but become tightly coupled upon photoexcitation for highly efficient excitation energy transfer (EET) that can be gated by external stimuli. Taking this donor–acceptor fluorophore system a step further, we have designed and implemented a cascade EET. Here, the initial excitation takes part in a circular relay to arrive at the longest‐wavelength emitting site as the final destination. Modularly constructed triazoloarenes should serve as versatile platforms for chemically controlled optical signaling.     

Annealing-free Poly(3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester-based organic solar cells

We report on the fabrication of efficient annealing-free organic solar cells using co-solvent solution considered as a promising method for low-cost and time-saving manufacturing. Higher device efficiency could be obtained compared to the pure solvent casted device, resulting from the improved crystallinity, optical absorption and transport properties. The power conversion efficiency of 2.8% was obtained, demonstrating the feasibility of achieving low-cost and high-efficiency organic solar cells without any additional treatment and processing additives.