Superhydrophobic and Conductive Wire Membrane for Enhanced CO2 Electroreduction to Multicarbon Products

Gas-liquid-solid triple-phase interfaces (TPI) are essential for promoting electrochemical CO₂ reduction, but it remains challenging to maximize their efficiency while integrating other desirable properties conducive to electrocatalysis. Herein, we report the elaborate design and fabrication of a superhydrophobic, conductive, and hierarchical wire membrane in which core–shell CuO nanospheres, carbon nanotubes (CNT), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) are integrated into a wire structure (designated as CuO/F/C(w); F, PTFE; C, CNT; w, wire) to maximize their respective functions. The realized architecture allows almost all CuO nanospheres to be exposed with effective TPI and good contact to conductive CNT, thus increasing the local CO₂ concentration on the CuO surface and enabling fast electron/mass transfer. As a result, the CuO/F/C(w) membrane attains a Faradaic efficiency of 56.8 % and a partial current density of 68.9 mA cm⁻² for multicarbon products at −1.4 V (versus the reversible hydrogen electrode) in the H-type cell, far exceeding 10.1 % and 13.4 mA cm⁻² for bare CuO.     

Exploring 2D materials at surfaces through synchrotron-based core-level photoelectron spectroscopy

The interest in understanding and controlling the properties of two-dimensional materials (2DMs) has fostered in the last years a significant and multidisciplinary research effort involving condensed matter physics and materials science. Although 2DMs have been investigated with a wide set of different experimental and theoretical methodologies, experiments carried out with surface-science based techniques were essential to elucidate many aspects of the properties of this family of materials. In particular, synchrotron-based X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been playing a central role in casting light on the properties of 2DMs, providing an in-depth and precise characterization of these materials and helping to elucidate many elusive and intricate aspects related to them. XPS was crucial, for example, in understanding the mechanism of growth of several 2DMs at surfaces and in identifying the parameters governing it. Moreover, the chemical sensitivity of this technique is crucial in obtaining knowledge about functionalized 2DMs and in testing their behavior in several model chemical reactions. The achievements accomplished so far in this field have reached a maturity point for which a recap of the milestones is desirable. In this review, we will showcase relevant examples of studies on 2DMs for which synchrotron-based XPS, in combination with other techniques and state-of-the-art theoretical modeling of the electronic structure and of the growth mechanisms, was essential to unravel many aspects connected to the synthesis and properties of 2DMs at surfaces. The results highlighted herein and the methodologies followed to achieve them will serve as a guidance to researchers in testing and comparing their research outcomes and in stimulating further investigations to expand the knowledge of the broad and versatile 2DMs family.     

Mitigating Electron Leakage of Solid Electrolyte Interface for Stable Sodium-Ion Batteries

The interfacial stability is highly responsible for the longevity and safety of sodium ion batteries (SIBs). However, the continuous solid-electrolyte interphase(SEI) growth would deteriorate its stability. Essentially, the SEI growth is associated with the electron leakage behavior, yet few efforts have tried to suppress the SEI growth, from the perspective of mitigating electron leakage. Herein, we built two kinds of SEI layers with distinct growth behaviors, via the additive strategy. The SEI physicochemical features (morphology and componential information) and SEI electronic properties (LUMO level, band gap, electron work function) were investigated elaborately. Experimental and calculational analyses showed that, the SEI layer with suppressed growth delivers both the low electron driving force and the high electron insulation ability. Thus, the electron leakage is mitigated, which restrains the continuous SEI growth, and favors the interface stability with enhanced electrochemical performance.