Journal of Colloid and Interface Science最新文献

The water pollution caused by the abuse of antibiotics has significant harmful effects on the environment and human health. The photo-Fenton process is currently the most effective method for removing antibiotics from water, but it encounters challenges such as inadequate response to visible light, low yield and utilization of photogenerated electrons, and slow electron transport. In this study, spin state regulation was introduced into the photo-Fenton process, and the spin state of Co³⁺ was regulated through Ce displacement doping. The intermediate-spin state Ce-LaCoO₃ could degrade 91.6 % of tetracycline within 120 min in the photo-Fenton system, which is 15.2 % higher than that of low-spin state LaCoO₃. The improved degradation effect is attributed to the reasons that Ce-LaCoO₃ in the intermediate-spin state have lower band gap, better charge transfer ability, and stronger adsorption capacity of H₂O₂, which can accelerate the redox cycle of Co²⁺/Co³⁺ and promote the generation of ·OH. This study presents a unique strategy for synthesizing efficient photo-Fenton materials to treat antibiotic wastewater effectively.

The human perception and learning heavily rely on the visual system, where the retina plays a vital role in preprocessing visual information. Developing neuromorphic vision hardware is based on imitating the neurobiological functions of the retina. In this work, an optoelectronic neuron is developed by combining a gate-modulated PDVT-10 channel with a volatile threshold switching memristor, enabling the achievement of optoelectronic performance through a resistance-matching mechanism. The optoelectronic spiking neuron exhibits the ability to alter its spiking behavior in a manner resembling that of a retina. Incorporating electrical and optical modulation, the artificial neuron accurately replicates neuronal signal transmission in a biologically manner. Moreover, it demonstrates inhibition of neuronal firing during darkness and activation upon exposure to light. Finally, the evaluation of a perceptron spiking neural network utilizing these leaky integrate-and-fire neurons is conducted through simulation to assess its capability in classifying image recognition algorithms. This research offers a hopeful direction for the development of easily expandable and hierarchically structured spiking electronics, broadening the range of potential applications in biomimetic vision within the emerging field of neuromorphic hardware.

Expanding the application field of polyolefin materials through functionalization has been a research hotspot in the past three decades. Here, a TiO₂-supported anilinenaphthoquinone nickel catalyst was assembled and applied for in situ ethylene polymerization with high activity (>2000 kg mol^–1h⁻¹) to produce ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)/TiO₂ composites with unique physicochemical performance. The UHMWPE/TiO₂ composite films and fibers prepared by in-situ ethylene polymerization are superior to the samples from the blend system in issues such as TiO₂ dispersibility, mechanical property, and photocatalytic degradability. The mechanical properties (strength up to 26.8 cN/dtex, modulus up to 1248.8 cN/dtex) of the obtained UHMWPE/TiO₂ composite fibers are significantly improved with a very low dosage of TiO₂ (as low as 1.4 wt‰). Moreover, UHMWPE/TiO₂ composites obtained by coating Al₂O₃ and SiO₂ on the surface of TiO₂ not only retain the strong absorption of ultraviolet rays, but also effectively weaken the photocatalytic degradation effect.

Silicon (Si) is considered as one of the most potential commercial materials for the next-generation lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to its high theoretical capacity and low voltage platform. However, the severe volume expansion and poor electric conductivity of Si anodes limit the practical application. Herein, a hierarchical porous hard carbon@Si@soft carbon (PHC@Si@SC) material was prepared by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and following calcination process. The differences in capacities and initial Coulombic efficiencies (ICEs) resulting from variations in silane deposition are demonstrated using PHC@Si as a model. To improve the cycling performance, a cheap pitch-derived soft carbon was introduced to protect the nano-Si to suppress the volume expansion. The formed PHC@Si@SC anode delivers a high capacity of 1625 mAh g⁻¹ and a high ICE of 86.8%, attributed to the excellent cooperation of hard and soft carbon. The capacity retention is 55% after 100 cycles with a harsh N/P ratio of 1.1 in a PHC@Si@SC||NCM811 full cell. This work provides a strategy, which is easy to scale up for practical application.

Photocatalytic water splitting technology for H₂ production represents a promising and sustainable approach to clean energy generation. In this study, a high concentration of oxygen vacancies was introduced into tungsten trioxide (WO₃) to create a vacancy-rich layer. This modified WO₃ (WO_3-x) was then combined with N-doped Zn_0.6Cd_0.4S through a hydrothermal synthesis, resulting in the formation of a Z-scheme heterojunction composite aimed at enhancing photocatalytic performance. Under visible light, the H₂ production activity of the composite reached an impressive 8.52 mmol·g⁻¹ without adding co-catalyst Pt. This corresponds to enhancements of 7.82 and 4.39 times the production yield of pure ZCS and ZCSN, respectively. However, the hydrogen production increased to 21.98 mmol·g⁻¹ when Pt was added as a co-catalyst. Furthermore, an array of characterizations were employed to elucidate the presence of oxygen vacancies and the establishment of the Z-scheme heterojunction. This structural enhancement significantly facilitates the utilization of photo-generated electrons while effectively preventing photo-corrosion of ZCSN, thus improving material stability. Our study provides a new scheme for the incorporation of oxygen-rich vacancy and the construction of Z-scheme heterojunction, demonstrating a synergistic effect that greatly advances photocatalytic performance.

Considerable attention has been paid to the preparation of single-atom solid base catalysts (SASBCs) owing to their high activity and maximized utilization of basic sites. At present, the reported fabrication methods of SASBCs, such as two-step reduction strategy and sublimation capture strategy, require high temperature. Such a high activation temperature is easy to cause the sublimation loss of alkali or alkaline earth metal atoms and destructive to the support structure. Herein, a new SASBC, Ca₁/UiO-67-BPY, is fabricated, in which the alkaline earth metal Ca sites are immobilized onto N-rich metal–organic framework UiO-67-BPY at room temperature. The results show that the atomic configuration of Ca single atoms is coordinated by two N atoms in the framework. The obtained Ca SASBC possesses ordered structure and exhibits high product yield of 87.2% in the Knoevenagel reaction between benzaldehyde and malononitrile. Furthermore, thanks to the Ca single atoms sites anchored on UiO-67-BPY, the Ca₁/UiO-67-BPY catalyst also shows good stability during cycles. This work might offer new insight in designing SASBCs for different base-catalyzed reactions.

Enabling highly-efficient multiplex-optimization photocatalysts is critical to overcome the bottlenecks of hydrogen evolution reaction efficiency and photostability. Herein, novel CoS/S_v-ZnIn₂S₄/MoS₂ composites are successfully synthesized through an in situ technique. Taking advantage of the synergistic effect of sulfur vacancy, Schottky-type MoS₂/S_v-ZnIn₂S₄ junction and Ohmic-type CoS/S_v-ZnIn₂S₄ junction, the light absorption, electron/hole separation efficiency, charge transfer rate and hydrogen reduction reaction dynamic can be significantly enhanced. As a result, an impressive photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate of 18.43 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ is achieved under the visible-light irradiation. Furthermore, apparent quantum efficiencies of 72.14 % and 9.91 % are also achieved under 350 and 420 nm monochromatic light irradiation. This work presents an in situ perspective to design multiplex-optimization photocatalytic system for highly-efficient hydrogen production.

The photocatalytic hydrogen production performance of semiconductor materials can be improved by co-catalyst modification. In most of the studies, the size of the co-catalyst is relatively small compared to the primary catalyst. However, in this study, we employed a novel strategy by synthesizing a relatively large-sized Cu₂MoS₄ as the co-catalyst and in situ loading smaller-sized Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S onto Cu₂MoS₄, verifying that Cu₂MoS₄ enhances the photocatalytic hydrogen production efficiency of Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S. It can be observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) that the lateral size of 2D Cu₂MoS₄ is at least 50 times larger than the Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S nanoparticle particle size. In addition, Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations have demonstrated that the active site for hydrogen production in the composite is located in Cu₂MoS₄. The large-sized of Cu₂MoS₄ not only provides more active sites but also broadens the electron transport channel, which is conducive to promoting the transfer of photogenerated electrons from Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S. This work enriches the study of large-sized materials as co-catalyst and provides a strategy for the construction of composite catalysts.