Materials Chemistry Frontiers最新文献

Hydrogen is the most promising energy carrier to replace fossil fuels due to its sustainability, environmental friendliness, and high energy efficiency. Green electricity can be used to power electrocatalytic water splitting, which produces green hydrogen. The industrial production of green hydrogen is critical to achieving carbon-neutrality. Herein, we have systematically summarized industrial electrolyzers and related mechanisms for the OER and HER in both alkaline and acid media. Then, catalyst design strategies for achieving industrial current density are discussed, followed by the illustration of bubble growth and the principle of catalyst stability. Recent advances in long-term water electrolysis under both traditional laboratory and quasi-industrial conditions are also discussed. Besides, scale-up methods and low-cost catalysts are studied to accommodate industrial manufacturing. Finally, challenges and perspectives of industrial green hydrogen production are highlighted. This review would provide useful insights into the mechanism, design, fabrication, improvement, and application of electrocatalysts for industrial hydrogen production.

Developing high-performance electrocatalysts for water splitting in both acidic and basic electrolytes is of significance for hydrogen production. Despite the great advances achieved, efficient design and synthesis of electrocatalysts with the same chemical composition for both hydrogen and oxygen evolution in the same electrolyte is still expected. Herein, a series of Ir/IrO_x/WO₃ electrocatalysts, synthesized via electrospinning and subsequent pyrolysis, delivered high performance for both hydrogen and oxygen evolution in acidic and basic environments. Among them, Ir/IrO_x/WO₃ calcinated at 350 °C delivered the best activity for oxygen evolution through a lattice oxygen mediated pathway. Ir/IrO_x/WO₃ treated at 450 °C exhibited the highest activity for hydrogen evolution in both acidic and basic electrolytes due to the enhanced adsorption of active hydrogen species in the acidic electrolyte and promoted water dissociation in the basic electrolyte, respectively. Thereafter, coupling two electrocatalysts as the cathode and the anode delivered high performance for overall water splitting in both acidic and basic electrolytes.

Developing fast-charging technology is inevitable for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles. Therefore, high-performance all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) assembled with stable electrodes and solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) with superior ionic conductivity are in demand. Herein, we develop dual-halogen SSEs Li₃YCl_6−xI_x that increase the ionic conductivity of trigonal Li₃YCl₆ (LYC) by more than one order of magnitude. Structural distortions and perturbative local structures of Li⁺ and Y³⁺ were studied, which confirmed the successful introduction of I⁻ ions. Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ (LTO) was chosen as the cathode material for ASSBs, and the batteries showed great stability after 1000 cycles at a high charge–discharge rate of 4.0C, with the initial capacity retained at 80%, suggesting promising applications as fast-charging ASSBs.

Nonlinear optical (NLO) materials play a crucial role in all-solid-state lasers, as their frequency conversion effects enable the expansion of the limited and fixed frequency outputs of lasers to encompass both ultraviolet and infrared regions. Nitrides have emerged as highly promising NLO candidate materials, primarily due to their potentially large second-order NLO coefficients and extensive band gaps. In recent years, nitride NLO crystals have garnered significant interest from researchers, leading to the discovery of several NLO nitrides. This review provides a comprehensive overview of both reported and potential NLO nitrides, with a particular focus on their crystal structures, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the correlations between their structure and properties. Potential NLO nitrides are analyzed using density functional theory (DFT) as a basis. Additionally, this review addresses the existing challenges and offers insights into the prospective advancements in the field of NLO nitrides, fostering further discussion and exploration.

Two-dimensional (2D) perovskites, as an important part of organic–inorganic hybrid halide perovskite materials, have attracted increasing attention owing to their excellent stability, especially water resistance, and become a research hotspot in the field of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). This review mainly summarizes the application of 2D Ruddlesden–Popper (RP) perovskite materials based on different spacer cations in solar cells. First, we briefly introduce the structure and classification of 2D perovskite materials. Then, the research progress of 2D RP perovskite materials based on several typical spacer cations is discussed, mainly including the performance improvement strategy, surface passivation application, and mechanism research. Finally, we also briefly prospect the present challenges and future development direction of 2D RP PSCs.

The development of high-performance, solution-processable semiconducting materials is crucial for the advancement of emerging clean-energy technologies such as light-emitting diodes and photovoltaics. While hybrid perovskites have shown considerable promise for implementation in these technologies, their reliance on toxic metals and relatively low stability towards moisture and chemical environments remain to be addressed. In this Chemistry Frontiers article, we describe a unique strategy to build nontoxic, robust and solution-processable hybrid semiconductors based on copper halide by incorporating ionic bonds in coordination complexes (molecular or extended network structures). Specifically, these compounds are made of anionic copper(I) halide and cationic organic ligands that form both coordinate and ionic bonds at the inorganic/organic interfaces and are referred to as all-in-one (AIO)-type structures. The unique bonding nature renders the AIO-type structures with greatly enhanced solubility, excellent optical tunability and remarkable framework stability, all highly desirable for thin-film based optoelectronic devices. We will highlight the most recent progress in the development of this material group, including their design strategies, important properties and potential for clean-energy related applications. We will also briefly discuss the existing challenges and future outlook of these materials.

Transition metal carbides and nitrides (MXenes) have been regarded as a promising material for the separation and removal of toxic pollutants from the environment due to its excellent optical, electrical, chemical, and mechanical properties. This review discusses the various MXene synthesis methods and their optical, electrical, and mechanical properties. In addition, the photocatalytic properties of these materials are studied with respect to antibiotic medication degradation. This review also discusses the utilization of MXenes as a membrane and adsorbent for removing synthetic dyes and heavy metal ions from wastewater. Finally, the technical challenges and prospects for this wonder 2D nanomaterials are discussed. We hope that this study will motivate scientists working on MXene-based nanocomposites.

Potentiometric sensing is used to quantify the analyte via potential readouts between the working and reference electrodes. All-solid-state potentiometric sensors are drawing significant attention, with a variety of functional materials being utilized as the solid contacts to realize the ion-to-electron transduction. Some emerging materials and novel modes of potentiometric sensing have come into play in recent research endeavors.

Correction for ‘Porous RuO₂-Co₃O₄/C nanocubes as high-performance trifunctional electrocatalysts for zinc–air batteries and overall water splitting’ by Jingyi Shi et al., Mater. Chem. Front., 2023, https://doi.org/10.1039/D3QM00507K.

Lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) have attracted much attention due to their high energy density, environmental friendliness and abundant natural reserves, and are considered a strong competitor for the next generation of energy storage devices. Significant research has been conducted on LSBs over the past decade; however, the inherent lithium polysulfide (LiPS) shuttle and lithium dendrite growth problems have been impossible to completely avoid for conventional liquid LSBs. The use of sulfide solid electrolytes (SEs) instead of organic liquid electrolytes can completely avoid the shuttle effect and mitigate the lithium dendrite growth problem due to the rigidity of sulfide SEs, but this does not mean that sulfide-based solid-state lithium–sulfur batteries (SSLSBs) are the optimal solution. For sulfide-based all-solid-state lithium–sulfur batteries (ASSLSBs), their inherent drawbacks, such as air sensitivity of the sulfide SE and narrow electrochemical stability window (ESW), mechanical–chemical failures caused by volume expansion of the active materials, and ineffective protection of the lithium metal anode, result in their commercial applications remaining challenging. To promote research and development of sulfide-based SSLSBs, this article reviews the electrochemical mechanisms of lithium–sulfur batteries, the defects and optimization strategies of sulfide SEs and reviews the recent developments in sulfide-based cathode materials, lithium-based anodes in sulfide-based SSLSBs, and their interface optimization and protection strategies. Finally, future development direction and prospects of ASSLSBs are analyzed.