Cobalt selenide has been proposed to be an effective low‐cost electrocatalyst toward the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) due to its well‐suited electronic configuration. However, pure cobalt selenide ...has by far still exhibited catalytic activity far below what is expected. Herein, this paper for the first time reports the synthesis of new monoclinic Co3Se4 thin nanowires on cobalt foam (CF) via a facile one‐pot hydrothermal process using selenourea. When used to catalyze the OER in basic solution, the conditioned monolithic self‐supported Co3Se4/CF electrode shows an exceptionally high catalytic current of 397 mA cm−2 at a low overpotential (η) of 320 mV, a small Tafel slope of 44 mV dec−1, a turnover frequency of 6.44 × 10−2 s−1 at η = 320 mV, and excellent electrocatalytic stability at various current densities. Furthermore, an electrolyzer is assembled using two symmetrical Co3Se4/CF electrodes as anode and cathode, which can deliver 10 and 20 mA cm−2 at low cell voltages of 1.59 and 1.63 V, respectively. More significantly, the electrolyzer can operate at 10 mA cm−2 over 3500 h and at 100 mA cm−2 for at least 2000 h without noticeable degradation, showing extraordinary operational stability.
Thin Co3Se4 nanowires are grown on porous Co foam (CF) via hydrothermal selenization, forming an integrated Co3Se4/CF electrode, which exhibits outstanding catalytic performance for oxygen evolution with a high current of 397 mA cm‐2 at an overpotential of 320 mV. An electrolyzer comprising two symmetrical Co3Se4/CF can operate at 10 mA cm−2 under 1.59 V over 3500 h without degradation.
Effective solid‐state interfacial contact of both the cathode and lithium metal anode with the solid electrolyte (SE) are required to improve the performance of solid‐state lithium metal batteries ...(SSBs). Electro–chemo–mechanical coupling (ECMC) strongly affects the interfacial stability of SSBs. On one hand, mechanical stress strongly influences interfacial contact and causes side reactions. On the other hand, electrochemical reactions such as lithium deposition cause mechanical deformation and stress at electrode/SE interfaces. To solve the degradation/failure problems of interfaces and provide guidelines to construct high‐performance SSBs, the ECMC at electrode/SE interfaces should be comprehensively investigated. In this review, the problems associated with ECMC at electrode/SE interfaces are summarized. The interfacial degradation/failure mechanisms, including the contact and electrochemical stability of interfaces, are introduced. Mechanical factors affecting interfacial contact and lithium deposition are highlighted. Experimental observation and computational analysis methods for electrode/SE interfaces are then summarized. Strategies to construct stable electrode/SE interfaces, such as assembling stress and wetting layers to improve interfacial contact, 3D SE structure, and plating stress relief to suppress lithium dendrite formation, are reviewed. The remaining challenges to better understanding ECMC and related solutions to aid SSB development are discussed.
The failure mechanisms of electrode/solid electrolyte (SE) interfaces in solid‐state lithium metal batteries (SSBs) involve multiscale and multiphysical field coupling. Various in situ observation technologies and corresponding theoretical approaches have been used to investigate the degradation mechanism of SSBs. Based on the experimental and theoretical results, well‐established solutions are explored to construct stable electrode/SE interfaces in SSBs.
Separating molecules or ions with sub-Angstrom scale precision is important but technically challenging. Achieving such a precise separation using membranes requires Angstrom scale pores with a high ...level of pore size uniformity. Herein, we demonstrate that precise solute-solute separation can be achieved using polyamide membranes formed via surfactant-assembly regulated interfacial polymerization (SARIP). The dynamic, self-assembled network of surfactants facilitates faster and more homogeneous diffusion of amine monomers across the water/hexane interface during interfacial polymerization, thereby forming a polyamide active layer with more uniform sub-nanometre pores compared to those formed via conventional interfacial polymerization. The polyamide membrane formed by SARIP exhibits highly size-dependent sieving of solutes, yielding a step-wise transition from low rejection to near-perfect rejection over a solute size range smaller than half Angstrom. SARIP represents an approach for the scalable fabrication of ultra-selective membranes with uniform nanopores for precise separation of ions and small solutes.
A new approach was designed to synthesize tin‐nanoparticles encapsulated in elastic hollow carbon spheres (TNHCs) with uniform size, in which tin nanoparticles with a diameter <100 nm were ...encapsulated in one thin hollow carbon sphere. The content of tin is up to over 70% by weight, andthe void volume inside the TNHCsis as high as 70–80%, which can accommodate the volume after expansion. This tin‐based nanocomposite exhibits a great potential as an anode materials for lithium‐ion batteries.
Recently, phage display technology has been announced as the recipient of Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018. Phage display technique allows high affinity target-binding peptides to be selected from a ...complex mixture pool of billions of displayed peptides on phage in a combinatorial library and could be further enriched through the biopanning process; proving to be a powerful technique in the screening of peptide with high affinity and selectivity. In this review, we will first discuss the modifications in phage display techniques used to isolate various cancer-specific ligands by in situ, in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo screening methods. We will then discuss prominent examples of solid tumor targeting-peptides; namely peptide targeting tumor vasculature, tumor microenvironment (TME) and overexpressed receptors on cancer cells identified through phage display screening. We will also discuss the current challenges and future outlook for targeting peptidebased therapeutics in the clinics.
Thin-film composite membranes formed by conventional interfacial polymerization generally suffer from the depth heterogeneity of the polyamide layer, i.e., nonuniformly distributed free volume pores, ...leading to the inefficient permselectivity. Here, we demonstrate a facile and versatile approach to tune the nanoscale homogeneity of polyamide-based thin-film composite membranes via inorganic salt-mediated interfacial polymerization process. Molecular dynamics simulations and various characterization techniques elucidate in detail the underlying molecular mechanism by which the salt addition confines and regulates the diffusion of amine monomers to the water-oil interface and thus tunes the nanoscale homogeneity of the polyamide layer. The resulting thin-film composite membranes with thin, smooth, dense, and structurally homogeneous polyamide layers demonstrate a permeance increment of ~20-435% and/or solute rejection enhancement of ~10-170% as well as improved antifouling property for efficient reverse/forward osmosis and nanofiltration separations. This work sheds light on the tunability of the polyamide layer homogeneity via salt-regulated interfacial polymerization process.
Aluminum‐ion batteries (AIBs) attract interest for their promising features of superior safety and long‐life energy storage. Organic materials with engineered active groups are considered promising ...for promoting energy storage capabilities. However, the corresponding energy density (both voltage plateau and sufficient active sites required) and stability are still unexpectedly poor. To address these challenges, here π‐conjugated organic porphyrin molecules, that is, 5,10,15,20‐tetraphenylporphyrin (H2TPP) and 5,10,15,20‐tetrakis(4‐carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (H2TCPP), are selected as the positive electrode materials for AIBs. Owing to the highly reversible coordination/dissociation with aluminum complex cations, H2TPP presents long‐term cycling stability beyond 5000 cycles at 200 mA g−1. Compared with the specific capacity of H2TCPP (≈24 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1), the enhanced capabilities in H2TPP (reversible specific capacity of ≈101 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1) are attributed to removal of the carboxyl functional groups, which plays a role in reducing the basicity of porphyrin induced via electron withdrawing effects. Additionally, the mechanism of electrochemical reaction between AlCl2+ and porphyrin as well as ionic diffusion behaviors on the surface of the electrode are investigated. The results establish a platform to develop long‐term organic aluminum batteries for safe and stable energy storage.
Stable high‐capacity organic aluminum–porphyrin batteries are assembled and the large delocalized π bond in porphyrins can effectively promote the active sites and improve stability of the molecular structures. These features allow the aluminum–porphyrin batteries to deliver long‐term stability and high rate capabilities, which enable the fabrication of a high‐capacity organic Aluminum‐ion batteries.
With H2O or NH3 stimuli, the blue cobalt‐based metal–organic framework (MOF) BP can reversibly transform to red RP. The removal/recovery of terephthalate ligands accompanied by the transformation ...leads to a gate effect, which allows the encapsulation and release of small solvent molecules under certain conditions. This is the first example of topology transformation from a self‐penetrating to interpenetrating net in 3D MOFs.
Lithium metal is considered a “Holy Grail” of anode materials for high‐energy‐density batteries. However, both dendritic lithium deposition and infinity dimension change during long‐term cycling have ...extremely restricted its practical applications for energy storage devices. Here, a thermal infusion strategy for prestoring lithium into a stable nickel foam host is demonstrated and a composite anode is achieved. In comparison with the bare lithium, the composite anode exhibits stable voltage profiles (200 mV at 5.0 mA cm−2) with a small hysteresis beyond 100 cycles in carbonate‐based electrolyte, as well as high rate capability, significantly reduced interfacial resistance, and small polarization in a full‐cell battery with Li4Ti5O12 or LiFePO4 as counter electrode. More importantly, in addition to the fact that lithium is successfully confined in the metallic nickel foam host, uniform lithium plating/stripping is achieved with a low dimension change (merely ≈3.1%) and effective inhibition of dendrite formation. The mechanism for uniform lithium stripping/plating behavior is explained based on a surface energy model.
A Li–Ni composite anode is achieved via a thermal infusion strategy. It exhibits stable voltage profiles (90 mV at 1.0 mA cm−2) with small hysteresis beyond 100 cycles, as well as low dimension change and effective dendrite inhibition after 100 cycles in a symmetric cell.
Nanofluidics derived from low‐dimensional nanosheets and protein nanochannels are crucial for advanced catalysis, sensing, and separation. However, polymer nanofluidics is halted by complicated ...preparation and miniaturized sizes. This work reports the bottom‐up synthesis of modular nanofluidics by confined growth of ultrathin metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) in a polymer membrane consisting of zwitterionic dopamine nanoparticles (ZNPs). The confined growth of the MOFs on the ZNPs reduces the chain entanglement between the ZNPs, leading to stiff interfacial channels enhancing the nanofluidic transport of water molecules through the membrane. As such, the water permeability and solute selectivity of MOF@ZNPM are one magnitude improved, leading to a record‐high performance among all polymer nanofiltration membranes. Both the experimental work and the molecular dynamics simulations confirm that the water transport is shifted from high‐friction‐resistance conventional viscous flow to ultrafast nanofluidic flow as a result of rigid and continuous nanochannels in MOF@ZNPM.
A rigid‐scaffold‐reinforced polymeric nanoparticles’ interfacial channel strategy is proposed for fabricating nanofluidic membranes that exhibit water permeance and dye/salt selectivity that are 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than conventional polymeric membranes. The unprecedented separation performance is due to the paradigm shift of water transport from conventional viscous flow to ultrafast nanofluidic flow in the membrane nanofluidics.
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