材料导报:能源(英文)最新文献

Metal oxide-based electrocatalysts are promising alternatives to platinum group metals for water splitting due to their low cost, abundant raw materials, and impressive stability. This review covers recent progress in various metal oxides tailored for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, discussing their crystal structure, composition, and surface modification influence on performance. Strategies like surface engineering, doping, and nanostructuring are evaluated for enhancing catalytic activity and stability. The key considerations for commercialization are highlighted, emphasizing ongoing research, innovation, and future scope to drive widespread adoption of water-splitting technology for a cleaner and sustainable future.

Purification of emerging heavy metal antimony contaminated water based on advanced ingenious strategies. An activated modified coconut shell charcoal (CSC) was synthesized and evaluated as a substrate-supported loaded organic photovoltaic material, PM6:PYIT:PM6-b-PYIT, to prepare a surprisingly highly efficient, stable, environmentally friendly, and recyclable organic photocatalyst (CSC–N–P.P.P), which showed excellent effects on the simultaneous removal of Sb(III) and Sb(V). The removal efficiency of CSC-N-P.P.P on Sb(Ⅲ) and Sb(V) reached an amazing 99.9% in quite a short duration of 15 min. At the same time, under ppb level and indoor visible light (∼1 W m⁻²), it can be treated to meet the drinking water standards set by the European Union and the U.S. National Environmental Protection Agency in 5 min, and even after 25 cycles of recycling, the efficiency is still maintained at about 80%, in addition to the removal of As (III), Cd (II), Cr (VI), and Pb (II) can also be realized. The catalyst not only solves the problems of low reuse rate, difficult structure adjustment and high energy consumption of traditional photocatalysts but also has strong applicability and practical significance. The pioneering approach provides a much-needed solution strategy for removing highly toxic heavy metal antimony pollution from the environment.

Equipment used in underwater sensing and exploration typically relies on cables or batteries for energy supply, resulting in a limited and inconvenient energy supply and marine environmental pollution that hinder the sustainable development of distributed ocean sensing networks. Here, we design a deep-sea differential-pressure triboelectric nanogenerator (DP-TENG) based on a spiral shaft drive using modified polymer materials to harness the hydrostatic pressure gradient energy at varying ocean depths to power underwater equipment. The spiral shaft structure converts a single compression into multiple rotations of the TENG rotor, achieving efficient conversion of differential pressure energy. The multi-pair electrode design enables the DP-TENG to generate a peak current of 61.7 μA, the instantaneous current density can reach 0.69 μA cm⁻², and the output performance can be improved by optimizing the spiral angle of the shaft. The DP-TENG can charge a 33 μF capacitor to 17.5 V within five working cycles. It can also power a digital calculator and light up 116 commercial power light-emitting diodes, demonstrating excellent output capability. With its simple structure, low production cost, and small form factor, the DP-TENG can be seamlessly integrated with underwater vehicles. The results hold broad prospects for underwater blue energy harvesting and are expected to contribute to the development of self-powered equipment toward emerging “smart ocean” and blue economy applications.

Due to their low cost, environmental friendliness and high energy density, the lithium-sulfur batteries (LSB) have been regarded as a promising alternative for the next generation of rechargeable battery systems. However, the practical application of LSB is seriously hampered by its short cycle life and high self-charge owing to the apparent shuttle effect of soluble lithium polysulfides. Using MgSO₄@MgO composite as both template and dopant, template-guided S-doped mesoporous graphene (SMG) is prepared via the fluidized-bed chemical vapor deposition method. As the polypropylene (PP) modifier, SMG with high specific surface area, abundant mesoporous structures and moderate S doping content offers a wealth of physical and chemical adsorptive sites and reduced interfacial contact resistance, thereby restraining the serious shuttle effects of lithium polysulfides. Consequently, the LSB configured with mesoporous graphene (MG) as S host material and SMG as a separator modifier exhibits an enhanced electrochemical performance with a high average capacity of 955.64 mA h g⁻¹ at 1C and a small capacity decay rate of 0.109% per cycle. Additionally, the density functional theory (DFT) calculation models have been rationally constructed and demonstrated that the doped S atoms in SMG possess higher binding energy to lithium polysulfides than that in MG, indicating that the SMG/PP separator can effectively capture soluble lithium polysulfides via chemical binding forces. This work would provide valuable insight into developing a versatile carbon-based separator modifier for LSB.

Artificial photocatalysis represents a hopeful avenue for tackling the global crisis of environmental and energy sustainability. The crux of industrial application in photocatalysis lies in efficient photocatalysts that can inhibit the recombination of photogenerated charge carriers, thereby boost the efficiency of chemical reactions. In the past decade, single-atom catalysts (SACs) have been growing extremely rapidly and have become the forefront of photocatalysis owing to their superior utilization of metal atoms and outstanding catalytic activity. In this work, we provide an overview of the latest advancements and challenges in SACs for photocatalysis, focusing on the photocatalytic mechanisms, encompassing the generation, separation, migration, and surface extraction of photogenerated carriers. We also explore the design, synthesis, and characterization of SACs and introduce the progress of SACs for photocatalytic applications, such as water splitting and CO₂ reduction. Lastly, we offer our personal perspectives on the opportunities and challenges of SACs in photocatalysis, aiming to provide insights into the future studies of SACs for photocatalytic applications.

Biomass, recognized as renewable green coal, is pivotal for energy conservation, emission reduction, and dual-carbon objectives. Chemical looping gasification, an innovative technology, aims to enhance biomass utilization efficiency. Using metal oxides as oxygen carriers regulates the oxygen-to-fuel ratio to optimize synthesis product yields. This review examines various oxygen carriers and their roles in chemical looping biomass gasification, including natural iron ore types, industrial by-products, cerium oxide-based carriers, and core-shell structures. The catalytic, kinetic, and phase transfer properties of iron-based oxygen carriers are analyzed, and their catalytic cracking capabilities are explored. Molecular interactions are elucidated and system performance is optimized by providing insights into chemical looping reaction mechanisms and strategies to improve carrier efficiency, along with discussing advanced techniques such as density functional theory (DFT) and reactive force field (ReaxFF) molecular dynamics (MD). This paper serves as a roadmap for advancing chemical looping gasification towards sustainable energy goals.

ZnO nanowires (ZnO NWs), ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and carbon dots (C-dots) were synthesized by hydrothermal, sol-gel and hydrothermal methods respectively. They were also characterized and applied for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The effects of C-dots on ZnO NWs and ZnO NPs have been evaluated. The C-dots were used at a mole ratio of citric acid (CA) to ethylene diamine (EDA) of 1 : 1.5. These C-dots were found to enhance the performance of the flexible electrode DSSCs. After the addition of C-dots, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ZnO NPs was boosted to be two times higher than that of ZnO NPs DSSCs without C-dots. Similarly, the ultraviolet (UV)-band revealed a blue shift, resulting in a lower band gap and a reduced charge transfer resistance, which can enhance the PCE of DSSCs. The loaded quantity on the flexible electrode substrate made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was optimized (50 mg). For DSSCs, the PET flexible electrode conductive polymer has produced positive outcomes. For ZnO NWs and ZnO NWs@C-dots, the PCE values were 1.45% and 4.25%; while for ZnO NPs and ZnO NPs@C-dots, they were 2.34% and 5.81%, respectively. This work achieved remarkable and competitive performance when compared to solid (indium tin oxides/glass)-based substrate.

Currently, the iron chromium redox flow battery (ICRFB) has become a research hotspot in the energy storage field owing to its low cost and easily-scaled-up. However, the activity of electrolyte is still ambiguous due to its complicated solution environment. Herein, we performed a pioneering investigation on the coordination behavior and transformation mechanism of Cr³⁺ in electrolyte and prediction of impurity ions impact through quantum chemistry computations. Based on the structure and symmetry of electrostatic potential distribution, the activity of different Cr³⁺ complex ions is confirmed as [Cr(H₂O)₅Cl]²⁺ > [Cr(H₂O)₄Cl₂]⁺ > [Cr(H₂O)₆]³⁺. The transformation mechanism between [Cr(H₂O)₆]³⁺ and [Cr(H₂O)₅Cl]²⁺ is revealed. We find the metal impurity ions (especially Mg²⁺) can exacerbate the electrolyte deactivation by reducing the transformation energy barrier from [Cr(H₂O)₅Cl]²⁺ (24.38 kcal mol⁻¹) to [Cr(H₂O)₆]³⁺ (16.23 kcal mol⁻¹). The solvent radial distribution and mean square displacement in different solvent environments are discussed and we conclude that the coordination configuration limits the diffusivity of Cr³⁺. This work provides new insights into the activity of electrolyte, laying a fundamental sense for the electrolyte in ICRFB.

Aqueous zinc metal batteries are regarded as the most promising energy storage system due to their advantages of high safety, low cost, and high theoretical capacity. However, the growth of dendrites and the occurrence of side reactions hinder the development of zinc metal batteries. Despite previous attempts to design advanced hydrogel electrolytes, achieving high mechanical performance and ionic conductivity of hydrogel electrolytes has remained challenging. In this work, a hydrogel electrolyte with an ionic crosslinked network is prepared by carboxylic bacterial cellulose fiber and imidazole-type ionic liquid, following by a covalent network of polyacrylamide. The hydrogel electrolyte possesses a superior ionic conductivity of 43.76 mS cm⁻¹, leading to a Zn²⁺ migration number of 0.45, and high mechanical performance with an elastic modulus of 3.48 GPa and an elongation at breaking of 38.36%. More importantly, under the anion-coordination effect of the carboxyl group in bacterial cellulose and [BF₄]⁻ in imidazole-type ionic liquid, the solvation sheath of hydrated Zn²⁺ ions and the nucleation overpotential of Zn plating are regulated. The results of cycled testing show that the growth of zinc dendrites is effectively inhibited and the generation of irreversible by-products is reduced. With the carboxylic bacterial cellulose-based hydrogel electrolyte, the Zn||Zn symmetric batteries offer good cyclability as well as Zn||Ti batteries.