Electrochemical capacitors (ECs) that store charge based on the pseudocapacitive mechanism combine high energy densities with high power densities and rate capabilities. 2D transition metal carbides ...(MXenes) have been recently introduced as high‐rate pseudocapacitive materials with ultrahigh areal and volumetric capacitances. So far, 20 different MXene compositions have been synthesized and many more are theoretically predicted. However, since most MXenes are chemically unstable in their 2D forms, to date only one MXene composition, Ti3C2Tx, has shown stable pseudocapacitive charge storage. Here, a cation‐driven assembly process is demonstrated to fabricate highly stable and flexible multilayered films of V2CTx and Ti2CTx MXenes from their chemically unstable delaminated single‐layer flakes. The electrochemical performance of electrodes fabricated using assembled V2CTx flakes surpasses Ti3C2Tx in various aqueous electrolytes. These electrodes show specific capacitances as high as 1315 F cm−3 and retain ≈77% of their initial capacitance after one million charge/discharge cycles, an unprecedented performance for pseudocapacitive materials. This work opens a new venue for future development of high‐performance supercapacitor electrodes using a variety of 2D materials as building blocks.
High‐rate pseudocapacitive performance of 2D vanadium carbide MXene (V2CTx) is shown in aqueous supercapacitors. A cation‐driven assembly process is used to convert chemically unstable single‐layer flakes of V2CTx into highly stable, ordered, flexible, and freestanding films that deliver ultrahigh volumetric capacitances, with a cycle life of over one million cycles in a variety of aqueous electrolytes.
Abstract
Two-dimensional membranes have gained enormous interest due to their potential to deliver precision filtration of species with performance that can challenge current desalination membrane ...platforms. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS
2
) laminar membranes have recently demonstrated superior stability in aqueous environment to their extensively-studied analogs graphene-based membranes; however, challenges such as low ion rejection for high salinity water, low water flux, and low stability over time delay their potential adoption as a viable technology. Here, we report composite laminate multilayer MoS
2
membranes with stacked heterodimensional one- to two-layer-thick porous nanosheets and nanodisks. These membranes have a multimodal porous network structure with tunable surface charge, pore size, and interlayer spacing. In forward osmosis, our membranes reject more than 99% of salts at high salinities and, in reverse osmosis, small-molecule organic dyes and salts are efficiently filtered. Finally, our membranes stably operate for over a month, implying their potential for use in commercial water purification applications.
Nanopores are being hailed as a potential next-generation DNA sequencer that could provide cheap, high-throughput DNA analysis. In this review we present a detailed summary of the various sensing ...techniques being investigated for use in DNA sequencing and mapping applications. A crucial impasse to the success of nanopores as a reliable DNA analysis tool is the fast and stochastic nature of DNA translocation. We discuss the incorporation of biological motors to step DNA through a pore base-by-base, as well as the many experimental modifications attempted for the purpose of slowing and controlling DNA transport.
Single-cell profiling methods have had a profound impact on the understanding of cellular heterogeneity. While genomes and transcriptomes can be explored at the single-cell level, single-cell ...profiling of proteomes is not yet established. Here we describe new single-molecule protein sequencing and identification technologies alongside innovations in mass spectrometry that will eventually enable broad sequence coverage in single-cell profiling. These technologies will in turn facilitate biological discovery and open new avenues for ultrasensitive disease diagnostics.
Fast water transport through carbon nanotube pores has raised the possibility to use them in the next generation of water treatment technologies. We report that water permeability in ...0.8-nanometer-diameter carbon nanotube porins (CNTPs), which confine water down to a single-file chain, exceeds that of biological water transporters and of wider CNT pores by an order of magnitude. Intermolecular hydrogen-bond rearrangement, required for entry into the nanotube, dominates the energy barrier and can be manipulated to enhance water transport rates. CNTPs block anion transport, even at salinities that exceed seawater levels, and their ion selectivity can be tuned to configure them into switchable ionic diodes. These properties make CNTPs a promising material for developing membrane separation technologies.
Proteins are structurally dynamic macromolecules, and it is challenging to quantify the conformational properties of their native state in solution. Nanopores can be efficient tools to study proteins ...in a solution environment. In this method, an electric field induces electrophoretic and/or electro-osmotic transport of protein molecules through a nanopore slightly larger than the protein molecule. High-bandwidth ion current measurement is used to detect the transit of each protein molecule. First, our measurements reveal a correlation between the mean current blockade amplitude and the radius of gyration for each protein. Next, we find a correlation between the shape of the current signal amplitude distributions and the protein fluctuation as obtained from molecular dynamics simulations. Further, the magnitude of the structural fluctuations, as probed by experiments and simulations, correlates with the ratio of α-helix to β-sheet content. We highlight the resolution of our measurements by resolving two states of calmodulin, a canonical protein that undergoes a conformational change in response to calcium binding.
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