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This work primarily exhibits a systematic study of the large-scale hydrothermal synthesis of β-Mn2V2O7 interconnected nanospheres without templates. An optimal combination of hydrothermal/annealing/atmosphere parameters is identified for the pure phase, which exhibits an excellent cycling performance of 760 mA h g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 over 120 cycles and a rate capability of 470 mA h g−1 at 2 A g−1 as an anode for a lithium ion battery. Guidelines have been provided for the first time for the synthesis of β-Mn2V2O7, which opens broad opportunities for this earth-abundant chemical in electrochemical devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great importance to search for efficient and stable metal-free catalysts toward electrochemical N2-to-NH3 conversion. In this communication, a chemically oxidized carbon nanotube material (O-CNT) is verified as an active electrocatalyst for the N2 reduction reaction under ambient conditions. In 0.1 M LiClO4, O-CNT achieves a large NH3 yield of 32.33 μg h−1 mgcat.−1 and a high faradaic efficiency of 12.50% at −0.4 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode. It also demonstrates superior stability. Density functional theory calculations suggest that C–O groups play a key role in the electrochemical N2 fixation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrocatalytic N2 reduction as an alternative approach to the energy-intensive and large CO2-producing Haber–Bosch process for NH3 synthesis under mild conditions has attracted extensive attention. Current research efforts on N2 reduction have mainly focused on metal-based catalysts, but metal-free alternatives can avoid the issue of metal ion release. In this work, oxygen-doped hollow carbon microtubes (O-KFCNTs) derived from natural kapok fibers are reported as a metal-free NRR electrocatalyst for N2-to-NH3 conversion with excellent selectivity. In 0.1 M HCl, the O-KFCNTs achieve a high faradaic efficiency of 9.1% at −0.80 V vs. a reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and a NH3 yield rate of 25.12 μg h−1 mgcat.−1 at −0.85 V vs. RHE under ambient conditions. Notably, this catalyst also demonstrates high stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nickel diselenide (NiSe2) has been synthesized and applied as a counter electrode (CE) of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) for the first time, which displays remarkable catalytic activity in the reduction of I3−. The DSSC with a NiSe2 CE produces a higher power conversion efficiency (8.69%) than that (8.04%) of the cell with a Pt CE under the same conditions. A new method for comparing the catalytic activity has also been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilization of the strong electron-withdrawing ligand, hfac, leads to a novel dinuclear dysprosium single-molecule magnet featuring a pyrazine bridge with a large anisotropic barrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilization of the strong electron-withdrawing ligand, hfac, leads to a novel dinuclear dysprosium single-molecule magnet featuring a pyrazine bridge with a large anisotropic barrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]