Advanced Sensor and Energy Materials最新文献

The high energy consumption and production of undesired oxygen greatly restrict the wide adoption of water electrolysis for hydrogen production. In a paper recently published in Nature Catalysis, Wang and coworkers rationally introduce aldehydes for oxidation at anode to replace oxygen evolution reaction, which can produce hydrogen and value-added products at low potential, realizing efficient bipolar hydrogen production with high-purity. Moreover, these aldehydes are biomass-derived and contribute to sustainable hydrogen production.

Hybrid redox flow batteries (RFBs) are a special type of RFBs that involve depositing reactions on negative electrodes. The available volume in negative electrodes for cell stacks limits the totally energy-storing capability of these batteries. This paper introduces the first fully flowable Ce–metal flow battery operated with a semisolid, flowable anolyte. Using the semisolid fuel cell concept, we incorporate the sustainable and deposit-abundant features of non-Li-based batteries into the structure of RFBs to develop a fully flowable RFB system. Solid suspension electrodes of hydrophilic carbon particles deposited by earth-abundant metals with redox activity are investigated as alternatives to the redox-active molecules employed in typical RFBs to decouple the power delivery capability from the energy storage capacity in fully flowable RFBs. While being charged, earth-abundant redox-active metal (Cu, Pb or Zn) is electrodeposited on the carbon particle suspension, which is dissolved in the sequent discharging process. On the basis of the proposed contact-charge-transfer mechanism, the electrical contact to the solid suspension electrode is fed by the redox-inert hydrophobic current collector that restrains direct metal deposition on their surfaces due to the hydrophobicity.

Solid-state lithium metal batteries (LMBs) have become a potential component, as they provide a considerable safety upgrade by eliminating flammable organic solvents. Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) are also a promising candidate, owing to their non-toxicity, low-manufacturing cost, and comparatively soft nature that allows the development of a seamless interface with the electrodes. Polymerization-induced phase separation (PIPS) controls the connectivity of phase-separated structures and domain size, enabling the co-continuous nanostructures’ formation. Researchers of a study published in Nature envisioned that outstanding mechanical and ionic properties could be realized, provided ionic conducting materials form a 3D interconnected phase inside a mechanically strong elastomer matrix via PIPS.

Rational design of high-efficient and low-cost catalysts as alternatives to Pt-based catalysts toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is extremely desirable but challenging. In this work, Fe@NCNT is firstly synthesized via the one-pot pyrolysis method, then Fe-N_X active species are in-situ created on the prepared Fe@NCNT by a feasible “plasma inducing” strategy to synthesize the resulting catalyst (Fe@NCNT-P) for ORR. The morphology of Fe@NCNT-P is perfectly inherited by the derived carbon precursor, resulting in the core-shell structure of carbon-coated Fe and a mesoporous dominant nanostructure with a high specific surface area of 536 m² g⁻¹. The resultant Fe@NCNT-P catalyst exhibits remarkable ORR activity and durability, as well as outstanding performance in assembled zinc-air battery (ZAB) test with a peak power density of 240 mW cm⁻². This work not only reports a novel and robust ORR catalyst, but also proposes a simple and effective strategy to improve the ORR electrocatalytic performance.