Nano Energy最新文献

Seeking sustainable energy solutions for bioelectronic devices, high-performance, multifunctional biopolymer-based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are proving to be essential for biomedical applications. This study presents an innovative fabrication method for establishing secondary electron transport paths, resulting in biopolymer-based nanocomposites (poly (lactic acid) (PLA)/carbon nanotube (CNT)@expanded graphite (EG)) with inherent electron pathways. By integrating conductive biopolymer nanocomposites with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) films, we developed a contact-separation mode TENG (CS-TENG) that demonstrates outstanding energy-harvesting efficiency. The CS-TENG displays an impressive charge density of 280 μC/m², accompanied by an open circuit voltage (V_oc) of 100.5 V and short circuit current density (I_sc) values of 47.25 mA/m². Moreover, the essential conductive network guarantees the CS-TENG’s stability across different humidity levels and serves as a moisture barrier. In addition to energy harvesting, the fabricated biopolymer nanocomposite films exhibit effective electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and Joule heating capabilities, rendering the CS-TENG suitable for use in diverse application scenarios. Our results emphasize the crucial role of conductive network architecture in creating high-performance biopolymer PLA-based TENGs. The innovative fabrication method and our CS-TENG's capabilities reveal the significant potential of biopolymer-based composites to transform energy harvesting, thermal management, and EMI shielding in bioelectronics.

Perovskite solar cells have emerged as a promising technology for renewable energy generation due to their potential of high-efficiency and low-cost fabrication. However, their stability under environmental stressors such as humidity and light exposure remains a critical challenge for widespread commercialization. This study investigates the use of FAPbI₃ quantum dots (QDs) synthesized in a colloidal solution as adlayer on top of the FAPbI₃ bulk light absorbing layer. Our main findings reveal that incorporating such an adlayer composed of FAPbI₃ QDs significantly improves the stability of FAPbI₃ films and devices against humidity and light-induced degradation. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that a femtosecond (fs) laser treatment in a colloidal solution provides significant surface modification of FAPbI₃ QDs. By using such a treated FAPbI₃ QDs as adlayer, the devices exhibit power conversion efficiencies exceeding 20 % with improved stability, highlighting their potential for practical applications. This study offers valuable insights into leveraging QDs and the post laser treatment to enhance the stability and efficiency of FAPbI₃ perovskite solar cells within a monomaterial system, paving the way for the development of durable and high-performance photovoltaic devices.

Piezoelectric polymers such as poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) exhibit remarkable flexibility, lightweight, durability, and biocompatibility compared to their ceramic counterparts. This unique characteristic makes them highly suitable for harvesting mechanical vibrations. However, conventional manufacturing methods mainly result in two-dimensional (2D) piezoelectric energy harvester (PEHs) structures. This confines the internal stress and, as a result, limits their potential voltage output. This study introduces an innovative bio-inspired three-dimensional (3D) structure crafted through fused deposition modeling (FDM). Barium titanate (BT) nanoparticles were added as piezoelectric fillers to improve the performance of the PEH. The obtained nanocomposite was poled under optimal poling conditions, achieving a β-phase fraction of 95,72 %, a piezoelectric charge coefficient (d33) of 28 pC/N, and a permittivity of 24.2 at 100 Hz. A parametric study was performed through numerical analysis, resulting in an effective and optimized structural configuration. The combined excellent piezoelectric properties of the nanocomposite with the optimized structure enabled the PEH to generate an open-circuit voltage of 30.8 V, enabling it to charge a commercial 1 μF capacitor to 25 V in just 260 s. The bioinspired PEH demonstrates its practical application by powering an innovative device known as the "smart mouse," showcasing its utility and potential in real-world applications.

Metal-nitrogen-carbon single-atom catalysts (SACs) have emerged as promising candidates for electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction. However, the perpendicular $d_{z^2}$ orbital within planar metal site mainly interacts with *COOH, resulting in inferior CO₂ activation. Inspired by reaction-driven active configuration, here we propose to upshift nickel single-atom away from nitrogen-carbon substrate, prominently promoting the interaction between CO₂ and other d orbitals besides $d_{z^2}$. Theoretical and experimental analyses reveal that upshifting nickel site away substrate induces $d_{\mathrm{xz}}$, $d_{\mathrm{yz}}$, and $d_{z^2}$ to hybridize with CO₂, expediting CO₂ conversion to *COOH. The planar and out-of-plane Ni-N sites are formed on carbon nanosheet (Ni₁-N/C_NS) and curved nanoparticle (Ni₁-N/C_NP), respectively, which is verified by X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. Impressively, the Ni₁-N/C_NP presents CO Faradaic efficiency of 96.4 % at 500 mA cm⁻² and energy conversion efficiency of 79.8 % in flow cell, outperforming Ni₁-N/C_NS and most SACs. This work highlights the simulation of reaction-driven active sites for efficient electrocatalysis.

The exploration of hybrid composites holds great promise in the pursuit of synergistic energy-harvesting solutions, providing an efficient approach to tap into multiple energy sources. One striking example is the BTO (BaTiO₃)-polymer hybrid where its high dielectric constant and the piezo-/ferroelectricity are leveraged to improve the triboelectricity of the polymer-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). Beyond this, the BTO also exhibits a photoactive nature, which, until now, has not been exploited to enhance triboelectricity. In this study, a facile method to exploit BTO’s photoresponses in a BTO-polymer hybrid is reported, where surface states present in BTO nanoparticles enable visible spectrum absorption, and the interfaces are designed to facilitate charge spatial separation. Upon visible light illumination, surface charges are generated on the BTO-polymer hybrid, significantly enhancing the photo-induced charge electrification, which in turn boosts the TENG output. These findings demonstrate the possibility of simultaneously harvesting solar and mechanical energies in TENGs using ceramic-polymer hybrids. Additionally, the study employs multiple advanced Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) techniques to elucidate the roles of each component and interface in energy harvesting, shedding light on the functional material design. This work not only broadens the variety of energy sources for TENGs but also addresses the growing demand for sustainable and adaptable methods of power generation.

Room-temperature (RT) solid-state sodium-sulfur batteries (SSNSBs) are one of the most promising next-generation energy storage systems because of their high energy density, enhanced safety, cost-efficiency, and non-toxicity. While most of the studies for SSNSBs focused on designing and developing sulfur cathodes, we carve out a new path to understanding and modulating the structures and properties of sulfide solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) for achieving high-performance SSNSBs. A novel cation and anion co-doped approach was developed to enhance the ionic conductivity and expand the electrochemical stability of sulfide SSEs, and eventually improve the electrochemical performance of SSNSBs. The crystal structure and local structure of the cation/anion co-doped sulfide SSEs have been studied in detail combined with the density functional theory (DFT) calculations for mechanism understanding. SSNSBs incorporating co-doped sulfide SSEs demonstrate high capacity and stable cycling performance, even at high rates, which is at the top of the reported performances in the literature. Our novel approach for cation and anion-tuned SSEs demonstrates excellent ionic conductivity and electrochemical stability, paving a new way for the next generation of solid-state sodium batteries.

Benefiting from their ordered orientation and superior stability compared to traditional conjugated materials, hydrogen bonding (HB)-induced H-aggregates in organic small molecule hole-transport materials (HTMs) hold a big potential for high-performance inverted perovskite solar cells (IPSCs). However, H-aggregates can also lead to excessive face-aggregation by forming the gaps between aggregates, which is in turn unfavorable for charge mobility and thus for the overall device performance. Herein, we design and synthesize a new set of HB-containing triphenylamine-based small molecules to tailor the degree of H-aggregation, namely O1 (without HB), O2 (unilateral HB unit), and O3 (bilateral HB units). These HTMs make a clear trade-off effect on the charge mobility within the HTM and the interfacial properties of perovskite and HTM. Although the interfacial hole extraction process is promoted upon the HB-functionalized interface, the best performance of IPSCs is still achieved by O1 HTM, which is mainly influenced by the higher hole mobility without HB-induced H-aggregates. Nevertheless, the photo stability of as-fabricated devices is effectively improved upon the HB passivation effect on the interface of HTM (O2 or O3) and perovskite, as well as the better quality of atop perovskite layers with less grain boundary compared to the reference case (O1).

The escalating energy demands underscore the importance of Ni-rich Li-metal batteries (LMBs); however, their aggressive bidirectional electrode-electrolyte interfacial issues hinder the practical implementation. Overcoming the limited solubility (∼800 ppm) of lithium nitrate (LiNO₃) in commercially available carbonate electrolytes holds promise. Nevertheless, unintended effects caused by solubilizers raise emerging concerns. Herein, an additive solubilized additive strategy is introduced to synergistically stabilize the Ni-rich cathode and Li-metal anode (LMA) in carbonate electrolytes, where tris (2, 2, 2-trifluoroethyl) borate (TTFEB) as a solubilizer utilizes its electron-deficient B atom to snatch electron-rich NO₃^- anion of insoluble LiNO₃ and thus forms a unique TTFEB-LiNO₃ solvation structure in carbonate electrolytes. Valuably, the dual-additive electrolyte facilitates the formation of a robust LiF/Li₃N-rich solid electrolyte interphase on LMA and a thin, uniform F, B, N-rich cathode electrolyte interphase on Ni-rich cathode, effectively suppressing the breeding of Li dendrites and mitigating the structure degradation of Ni-rich cathode. Consequently, the full cell, featuring a thin Li anode (50 µm) and a high-loading NCM811 cathode (4.04 mAh cm⁻²) in the dual-additive electrolyte, demonstrates a notable capacity retention of 81.5 % after 140 cycles. This work reveals the intricated LiNO₃-carbonate solvation chemistry, inspiring further advancements in electrolyte engineering for practical LMBs.

The diversity of inorganic crystal (IC) supports endows supported precious metal single-atom (PMSA) with a tunable interfacial coordination environment, rich atomic arrangement geometry, and well-defined active sites. The synergies of metal-metal and metal-supports interaction result in excellent catalytical activities for photo/electrocatalysis. Despite the achieved progress in IC-supported PMSA catalysts, more comprehensive and insightful reports on the structure regulation of IC-supported PMSA for photo/electrocatalysis were not retrieved. Herein, adsorption (e.g., electrostatic, coordination, and covalent adsorption) and confinement strategies (e.g., surface defect, lattice, and layer confinement tactic) are systematically summarized based on interactions between IC and PMSA, with a special focus on the structure regulation of IC-confined PMSA for photo/electrocatalysis. We also put forward future research directions and opportunities regarding structure regulating and machine learning screening for IC-supported PMSA.

The cathodic host for practical lithium sulfur (Li–S) batteries needs to meet numerous requirements, such as outstanding electron conductivity, desirable lithium polysulfide (LiPSs) adsorption ability, and efficient catalytic effect towards the redox of sulfur. Given the above considerations, an N, P, S tri-doped 3D interconnected porous carbon embedded with heterogeneous ruthenium phosphides (RuP₂-RuP@NPSC) was constructed to serve as a sulfur host for high-performance and practical Li–S battery. Strong interfacial coupling effect in the RuP₂-RuP heterojunctions endowed the active sites with favorable LiPSs adsorption ability and boosted sulfur reduction reaction. The density functional theory calculation suggested that the electronic tuning of the constructed heterojunction interface could enhance the electron transport and LiPSs adsorption ability. The higher current response of symmetric cells, larger Li₂S deposition and dissolution capacity of RuP₂-RuP@NPSC in comparison to other counterparts of RuP@NPSC, RuP₂@NPSC, and NPSC further verified the great catalytic capability of RuP₂-RuP heterojunctions. As a result, corresponding cells with RuP₂-RuP@NPSC/S electrodes delivered an impressive reversible capacity of 565 mAh g⁻¹ at 6 C, and an ultralow capacity decay rate of 0.019 % per cycle after 1000 cycles was achieved at the current of 2 C. The commercial level high sulfur loading pouch cells further confirmed the feasibility and practicability of RuP₂-RuP@NPSC/S based Li–S battery