EcoEnergy最新文献

Dyes and antibiotics as typical persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are widely present in the environment, but can hardly be removed completely by traditional water treatment methods. Here, we designed Bi₄O₅Br₂/g-C₃N₄ composite nanosheets for efficient photocatalytic removal of POPs in water. The Bi₄O₅Br₂/g-C₃N₄ composite with a heterojunction structure exhibited high adsorption and photocatalytic activity for removal of tetracycline (TC) and ciprofloxacin (CIP) with excellent cyclic stability, owing to its large specific surface area as well as enhanced charge separation and visible light utilization. Our characterization revealed that h⁺ and ·OH are responsible for the photocatalytic degradation of TC and CIP. This work provides insights into the design of photocatalytic materials with synergy of adsorption and photocatalytic degradation, and offers a heterojunction construction strategy for addressing the increasingly severe environmental issues.

Low-dimensional mesoporous nanomaterials (LDMNs), which possess complementary properties in the mesoscale and nanoscale, have realized more technological potentials in a wide range of applications, in particular, catalysis. Although still in its infancy, the proposed monomicelles-induced assembly (MIA) has been proved to be an emerging and powerful toolbox for the direct synthesis of LDMNs with well-controlled mesostructures and architectures. This review starts from the developmental history of the MIA strategy and then discuss general protocols to fabricate the monomicelles. After that, manipulation of the monomicelles' assembly by well-designed interfaces and confined spaces for the controllable fabrication of LDMNs are reviewed in detail. Then, catalytic applications, including thermal, photo- and electrocatalysis, of LDMNs are discussed critically based on the structure-performance relationship. This review ends with a brief summary and further directions of the MIA strategy, paving the way for the synthesis of sophisticated mesoporous assemblies to achieve advanced functionalities.

Increasing global environmental deterioration is becoming a serious concern, leading to an exponential increase in scientific interest in renewable energy as an alternative to replace fossil fuels. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting, which directly converts sunlight into hydrogen fuel, offers a promising renewable energy technology. Semiconductors, used as photoelectrodes, provide the most feasible method for converting solar energy into electrical energy and chemical fuels. Unfortunately, most of the common semiconductors used in PEC water splitting have wide bandgaps, which greatly restrict the utilization efficiency of sunlight. To promote the solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency of PEC water splitting, atomically precise clusters with regular crystal structures have been introduced in the PEC systems. In this review, the recent advances in nanoclusters for PEC water splitting, including metal clusters, polyoxometalates, semiconductor clusters, and carbon clusters, are summarized. At last, major challenges and outlook for the development of clusters for PEC water splitting are provided.

Graphdiyne (GDY), a new carbon allotrope containing sp and sp²-hybridized carbon atoms, features the one-atom-thick two-dimensional structure with many unique and promising characteristics, such as highly conjugated and extremely large π structures, abundant carbon chemical bonds, naturally distributed pores, inherent band gap, excellent chemical and mechanical stability, highly uneven distributed surface charges, and can be grown on the surface of arbitrary substrates. GDY has been one of the hottest frontiers in chemistry and material sciences and represents a new development trend and research direction in the development of carbon materials. Owing to the unique characteristics in chemical and electronic structures, GDY has shown great application potentials and prospects in many fields, including catalysis, energy, optoelectronics, life science, and intelligent device. In this review, the structures, synthetic methods, and fundamental properties of GDY are introduced. In particular, the recent advances of GDY and its formed aggregates in hydrogen energy conversion are summarized and discussed.

Hydrogen produced from electrocatalytic water splitting means is deemed to be a promising route to construct a low-carbon, eco-friendly, and high-efficiency modern energy system. The design and construction of highly active catalysts with affordable prices toward alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are effective in accelerating the overall water-splitting process. So far, ruthenium (Ru) based catalysts deliver comparable or even superior catalytic performance relative to the platinum (Pt)/C benchmark. Combined with their price advantage, Ru-based catalysts are undoubtedly considered as one of the perfect alternatives of Pt toward the alkaline HER. Extensive efforts have been made to reasonably synthesize Ru-related materials, but a careful insight into material engineering strategies and induced effects remain in its infancy. In this review, recent progress on the material engineering strategies for improving the catalytic activity of Ru-related catalysts, including electronic regulation, geometric modulation, local structure alteration, self-optimization strategies, and the induced structure–activity relationship are comprehensively summarized. Furthermore, the challenges and perspectives on future studies of Ru-related electrocatalysts for the alkaline HER are also proposed.

Electrocatalytic N₂ reduction (NRR) has been regarded as a promising approach for environment-friendly and sustainable ammonia (NH₃) synthesis. However, developing cost-effective electrocatalysts with high NRR efficiency at low overpotential in neutral media remains a great challenge. In this paper, a freestanding NRR electrocatalyst, BiFeO/FCC, has been developed by in situ growth of bismuth ferrite (Bi₂₅FeO₄₀) on functionalized carbon cloth (FCC), which exhibits high NRR activity with a maximum NH₃ yield of 3.88 μg h⁻¹ cm⁻² (at −0.40 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode [RHE]) and a Faradaic efficiency of 12.71% (at −0.45 V vs. RHE) in 0.1 M Na₂SO₄. The synergistic effect of the abundant exposed bismuth and iron dual active sites confined in the lattice, the binder-free nature of the electrode and the excellent conductivity of the carbon substrate enable the easy adsorption/activation of N₂ and accelerate the electron transfer simultaneously, thus boosting its NRR performance. This work is significant to design low-cost, and high-efficient NRR catalysts for large-scale electrocatalytic NH₃ synthesis.