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Ultrathin electron-modulated porous zeolite MFI hollow sulfated doped Ti-containing molecular sieves (TS) were modified through a process that included the incorporation of sulfur and g-C3N4nanosheets, followed by the integration of Au-modified TiO2with an appropriate energy platform. The resulting hybrid material exhibited remarkable visible-light photoactivities, showing 18 and 19 times higher efficiency in producing H2and CH4from water and CO2, respectively, compared to the pristine zeolite TS. Notably, the hybrid material demonstrated excellent quantum efficiencies at a wavelength of 420 nm. The observed phenomenon is directly linked to the effective band gap engineering achieved through the cooperative effect of g-C3N4in the nanocomposite. This engineering approach enhances both light capture and charge separation processes. Various spectroscopic techniques and electrochemical studies confirm that the distinct photoresponses can be attributed to the nanocomposite's remarkable surface area, resulting from its permeable morphology. Moreover, the modulation of excited electrons from TS nanosheets to g-C3N4, along with the catalytic functions of decorated sulphur and coupled Au–TiO2nanosheets, significantly contributes to improved charge separation. Through conversion experiments utilizing 13CO2and D2O, it was determined that CO2and H are the active species responsible for the production of CH4from CO2. This research opens up possibilities for the development of highly efficient and stable nanophotocatalysts, enabling latent energy production and environmental remediation.

Blast furnace slag (BFS) is a secondary material generated during the process of producing iron in blast furnaces, prompting scholars to concentrate on its efficient management and broad application for the creation of valuable commodities. This study examines the mineral composition, adsorption characteristics, and utilization of BFS and its silica counterparts. Recent developments in the application of BFS and its functionalized materials for pollution mitigation are examined, specifically concentrating on the elimination of nitrogen, phosphorus, metal ions, pharmaceutical effluents, waste oils, and dye molecules from wastewater. Moreover, these inexpensive adsorbents exhibit significant specific surface areas, possess microporous configurations, and contain alkaline components like calcium oxide, magnesium oxide, and aluminum oxide. This review further elucidates the present state of BFS-based adsorbents in the absorption of acid gases, with a specific focus on CO₂. The problems associated with widespread BFS usage are analyzed, and potential solutions for effective resource utilization are discussed.

With the widespread application of communication equipment with electromagnetic signal transmission to cause electromagnetic radiation pollution, there is an urgent need for high-performance electromagnetic shielding materials. Here, an ultrathin, flexible, alternating multilayered, and conductive gradient-structured cellulose nanofiber–MXene/silver nanowire (CNF-MXene/AgNW) nanocomposite paper with high mechanical strength, strong electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, and outstanding thermal management was constructed via the alternating vacuum filtration (AVF) process. The extensive hydrogen bonding interactions between MXene, CNF, and AgNW enhance the interfacial adhesion and conductive synergy between layers, resulting in excellent tensile strength of 194.3 MPa and fracture strain of 7.62% of nanocomposite paper. The alternating conductive gradient structure of the nanocomposite paper greatly increases the interlayer multiple reflections and absorption of electromagnetic waves, resulting in a high conductivity of 3237.35 S cm−1and excellent electromagnetic shielding efficiency of 65.4 dB for the nanocomposite paper. Under an external low voltage of 3 V, the surface temperature of the nanocomposite paper reaches 107.2 ℃ within 10 s and can be stable for a long time. These results indicate that CNF-MXene/AgNW nanocomposite paper with a conductive gradient structure has potential applications in the fields of aerospace, communication engineering, and wearable devices.

A sequence of Sm3+-incorporated calcium telluro-fluoroborate glasses by changing the modifier oxide was prepared via the melt-quenching method. The physical, structural, and gamma radiation shielding properties are investigated. XRD spectra confirmed the glassy state. The glasses’ compactness was explored via the structural features like the boron-boron separation, oxygen molar volume, and oxygen packing density. Mechanical and optical properties such as Poisson’s ratio, optical electronegativity, optical basicity, two-photon absorption (TPA) coefficient, and ionic and covalent characters were evaluated and discussed per modifier concentration. The photon attenuation attributes of the glasses were computed by means of the MCNP-5 code. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) was simulated in the energy region of 0.015–15 MeV. The highest MAC achieved at gamma energy 0.015 MeV increased from 25.004 to 33.165 cm2g-1with increasing the CaO ratios between 0 and 40 wt%. Besides, several attenuation factors, such as the mean free path and the radiation protection efficiency, were evaluated connected with the MAC’s simulated values. The study showed that the fabricated glasses’ radiation protection efficiency at 0.5 MeV increased from 33.39 to 39.31, increasing the CaO content from 0 to 40 mol%.

Retraction of ‘Engineering selective CO2photoreduction by tailored interfacial design of P-modulated CuPc/B-C3N4heterojunction for improved C2H4selectivity’ by Imran Khan et al., Catal. Sci. Technol., 2023, https://doi.org/10.1039/d3cy01447a.

The tetrametallic PtNiCuCo alloy nanoparticles were prepared by a simple and cost-effective solution-based approach and spray deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates to use as a highly sensitive catalyst for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) sensing. The morphological studies revealed that the PtNiCuCo nanoparticles had an average particle size of 5 ± 1 nm. Electrochemical studies showed that PtNiCuCo nanoparticles possess excellent electro-oxidation activity for hydrogen peroxide at 20 mVs−1scanning rate (vs Ag/AgCl). The wide linear range for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was obtained from 10μM to 16 mM. The detection limits for H2O2were 0.16 μM (SNR = 3). The sensitivity of H2O2was 4367.25 µAmM−1cm−2. These results revealed that the prepared nanoparticles could be a potential candidate for H2O2sensing.

The signal crosstalk and electromagnetic interference (EMI) problems direly need to be resolved in the rapid development of modern microwave communication technology for a better working frequency and transmission power of electronic systems. Where the new absorbing materials such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)/titania (TiO2)/Ti2CTxand MoS2/Ti2CTxcomposites could meet the requirement of “thin, strong, light weight, and wide band” for excellent absorbing performance. In this work, a lighter Ti2CTxmaterial was selected as the matrix, and MoS2was in-situ grown on Ti2CTxmatrix by traditional hydrothermal method and microwave solvothermal method. The fabricated composite exhibited synergic effect of two-dimensional heterostructural interface and double dielectric elements, where a small amount of TiO2and a certain proportion of MoS2jointly improve the impedance matching of the composite material. In here, the extreme reflection loss (RLmin) can reach − 54.70 dB (with a frequency of 7.59 GHz, 3.39 mm thickness), and the maximum effective absorption bandwidth (EABmax) can reach 4 GHz. Polyethylene glycol 200 was used as the solvent instead of water to make Ti2CTxless oxidized during the composite process, where the microwave heating would attain fast speed, short time, high efficiency, and uniform product. Since, the MoS2/Ti2CTxcomposite without oxidizing possessed a wider effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) at a thinner thickness, thus resulting in the excellent microwave absorption performance and confirming the validity and rationality of new microwave absorption materials.

A surfactant-assisted hydrothermal route has been presented to one-pot synthesized Ni nanoparticles encapsulated in Mg(OH)2hollow spheres. The diameter of Ni cores and the thickness of Mg(OH)2shells are about 60–80 and 15 nm, respectively, and the size of a whole composite sphere is approximately 70–100 nm. Benefiting from the ferrimagnetic behavior of Ni cores and the high surface area of Mg(OH)2shells, Ni@Mg(OH)2nanocomposites exhibit excellent heavy metals adsorption capacity and recyclable property. The first removal efficiency is almost 100% for target metals, and after five cycles, the adsorption capacity remains 95%. A series of experiments show the adsorption of heavy metal ions on Ni@Mg(OH)2follows a pseudo-second order kinetic equation and can be described by a Langmuir isotherm model.

There has been a dire need for the exploration of renewable clean hydrogen energy recourses in recent years. In this work, we investigated the photocatalytic hydrogen production of heterostructured Ti3C2/TiO2/rGO composites. Ti3C2/TiO2/rGO heterojunction nanocomposites were synthesized using two-step calcination and hydrothermal methods, and the optimum in situ growth ratio of TiO2of 71.8% (nTi–O/nTi) and rGO mass ratio (mRGO/mTiO2/mTi3C2) of 12% were obtained. The target photocatalyst presented an outperforming photocatalytic hydrogen production performance of 1671.85 μmol·g–1hydrogen production capacity in 4 h, with the maximum hydrogen production rate of 808.11 μmol·g–1·h–1in the first hour being 3.08 times the maximum hydrogen production rate of bare TiO2(262.66 μmol·g–1·h–1). The excellent hydrogen production performance was due to the formed rutile TiO2and the constructed heterojunction of Ti3C2/TiO2/rGO, where rGO provided different electron transport channels, and made charge transfer easier, and restrained the recombination efficiency of electrons and holes.