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Anthraquinone (AQ) and its derivatives have been attracting more attention as promising electrode materials for lithium storage because of their high specific capacity, structural diversity, and environmental friendliness. The dissolution and poor electrical conductivity of AQ, however, limit its practical application. Here, a novel metal-organic coordination polymer with a one-dimensional (1D) chain ([C

A new metal-organic framework {(Me2NH2)2[Co3(μ3-O)(btb)2(py)(H2O)]·(DMF)2(H2O)2}n (Cobtbpy) was solvothermal synthesized (H3btb = 1,3,5-tri(4-carboxylphenyl)benzene, py = pyridine, DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide). Cobtbpy shows a (3,6)-connected rtl 3D network with a point symbol of (4·62)2(42·610·83) based on the [Co3(μ3-O)] clusters. The obtained Cobtbpy has stable, accessible, dense active sites and can be applied in the potassium- and sodium-ion batteries. Through mixing with single-walled carbon nanotubes, the prepared composite anode material Cobtbpy-0.9 achieved a high reversible capability, delivering 416 mAh/g in the potassium-ion batteries and 379 mAh/g in the sodium-ion batteries at 0.05 A/g. The outstanding properties of Cobtbpy-0.9 in the batteries demonstrated that this MOFs-based carbon composite is a highly desirable electrode material candidate for high-performance potassium- and sodium-ion batteries.

The intrinsic charge-transfer property bears the primary responsibility for the sluggish redox kinetics of the common electrode materials, especially operated at low temperatures. Herein, we report...

Na super ionic conductor (NASICON)-structured materials have evolved to play many critical roles in battery systems because of their three-dimensional framework structures. Here, by coupling NASICON-structured Na3V2(PO4)2O2F cathodes and Na3V2(PO4)3 anodes, an asymmetric Na-ion-based full cell exhibits two flat voltage plateaus at about 2.3 and 1.9 V and a high capacity of 101 mA h/g. Moreover, an all-solid-state Na-ion battery has been further enabled by the concept of using all NASICON-structured materials, including cathodes, anodes, and electrolytes (Na5YSi4O12), which delivers a high output voltage. Importantly, the full cell displays high safety without using a flammable organic liquid electrolyte and superior structure stability with all NASICON-structured materials.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are widely adopted power sources for portable digital products and electrical vehicles (EV). However, the high cost associated with raw materials and manufacturing and ...

Owing to the high de/intercalation potential of anions on graphite cathode, dual-ion battery (DIB) has attracted much attention for advanced energy storage. Among various DIBs, Li//graphite (Li//G)...

Due to the Earth’s scarcity of lithium, replacing lithium with earth-abundant and low-cost sodium for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) has recently become a promising substitute for lithium-ion batterie...

As a promising cathode material of sodium-ion battery, P2-type Na2/3Ni1/3Mn2/3O2 (NNMO) possesses a theoretically high capacity and working voltage to realize high energy storage density. However, it still suffers from poor cycling stability mainly incurred by the undesirable P2–O2 phase transition. Herein, the electrochemically active Fe3+ ions are introduced into the lattice of NNMO, forming Na2/3Ni1/3Mn2/3–xFexO2 (x = 0, 1/24, 1/12, 1/8, 1/6) to effectively stabilize the P2-type crystalline structure. In such Fe-substituted materials, both Ni2+/Ni4+ and Fe3+/Fe4+ couples take part in the redox reactions, and the P2–O2 phase transition is well restrained during cycling, as verified by ex situ X-ray diffraction. As a result, the optimized Na2/3Ni1/3Mn7/12Fe1/12O2 (1/12-NNMF) has a long-term cycling stability with the fading rate of 0.05% per cycle over 300 cycles at 5 C. Furthermore, the 1/12-NNMF delivers excellent rate capabilities (65 mA h g–1 at 25 C) and superior low-temperature performance (the cap...

As important anodes in lithium-ion batteries, graphene is always faced with the aggregation problem that makes most of the active sites lose their function at high current densities, resulting in low Li-ion intercalation capacity and poor rate performance. To address this issue, a layered g-C3N4@reduced graphene oxide composite (g-C3N4@RGO) was prepared via a scalable and easy strategy. The resultant g-C3N4@RGO composite possesses large interlayer distances, rich N-active sites, and a microporous structure, which largely improves Li storage performance. It shows excellent cycle stability (899.3 mA h g–1 after 350 cycles under 500 mA g–1) and remarkable rate performance (595.1 mA h g–1 after 1000 cycles under 1000 mA g–1). Moreover, the g-C3N4@RGO electrode exhibits desired capacity retention and relatively high initial Coulombic efficiency of 58.8%. Impressively, this result is better than that of RGO (29.1%) and most of RGO-based anode materials reported in the literature. Especially, the g-C3N4@RGO-base...

Developing a high-performance, low-cost, and safer rechargeable battery is a primary challenge in next-generation electrochemical energy storage. In this work, a quasi-solid-state (QSS) sodium-ion full battery (SIFB) is designed and fabricated. Hard carbon cloth derived from cotton cloth and Na3V2(PO4)2O2F (NVPOF) are employed as the anode and the cathode, respectively, and a sodium ion-conducting gel-polymer membrane is used as both the QSS electrolyte and separator, accomplishing the high energy and power densities in the QSS sodium-ion batteries. The energy density can reach 460 W h kg–1 according to the mass of the cathode materials. Moreover, the fabricated QSS SIFB also exhibits an excellent rate performance (e.g., about 78.1 mA h g–1 specific capacity at 10 C) and a superior cycle performance (e.g., ∼90% capacity retention after 500 cycles at 10 C). These results show that the developed QSS SIFB is a hopeful candidate for large-scale energy storage.

A novel core–shell Fe3O4@FeS composed of Fe3O4 core and FeS shell with the morphology of regular octahedra has been prepared via a facile and scalable strategy via employing commercial Fe3O4 as the precursor. When used as anode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), the prepared Fe3O4@FeS combines the merits of FeS and Fe3O4 with high Na-storage capacity and superior cycling stability, respectively. The optimized Fe3O4@FeS electrode shows ultralong cycle life and outstanding rate capability. For instance, it remains a capacity retention of 90.8% with a reversible capacity of 169 mAh g–1 after 750 cycles at 0.2 A g–1 and 151 mAh g–1 at a high current density of 2 A g–1, which is about 7.5 times in comparison to the Na-storage capacity of commercial Fe3O4. More importantly, the prepared Fe3O4@FeS also exhibits excellent full-cell performance. The assembled Fe3O4@FeS//Na3V2(PO4)2O2F sodium-ion full battery gives a reversible capacity of 157 mAh g–1 after 50 cycles at 0.5 A g–1 with a capacity retention of...

A three-layered cathode structure was designed to minimize the shuttle effect of polysulfides and improve active material utilization. The three-layered configuration was fabricated by directly dropping pure sulfur composite slurry into multifunctional dual-barrier layers consisting of a self-standing TiO2/C interlayer and a very thin acetylene black layer (0.35 mg cm–2). In consequence, a decent discharge capacity of 963 mA h g–1 was acquired after 100 cycles at 0.1 C. With cycling at 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, and 2 C, the cells displayed excellent reversible capacities of 1203, 1145, 1035, 934, and 820 mA h g–1, respectively. Furthermore, the cells still delivered a satisfactory discharge capacity of 799 mA h g–1 after 300 cycles at 0.5 C. The light mass of the three-layered configuration guarantees that the energy density is effectively improved, considering the overall mass of the cathode. The energy density (603 W h kg–1 after 100 cycles) was at a high level compared with those of the reported ones. Therefor...

A novel kind of biomass-derived, high-oxygen-containing carbon material doped with nitrogen that has willow-leaf-shaped pores was synthesized. The obtained carbon material has an exotic hierarchical pore structure composed of bowl-shaped macropores, willow-leaf-shaped pores, and an abundance of micropores. This unique hierarchical porous structure provides an effective combination of high current densities and high capacitance because of a pseudocapacitive component that is afforded by the introduction of nitrogen and oxygen dopants. Our synthetic optimization allows further improvements in the performance of this hierarchical porous carbon (HPC) material by providing a high degree of control over the graphitization degree, specific surface area, and pore volume. As a result, a large specific surface area (1093 m2 g-1) and pore volume (0.8379 cm3 g-1) are obtained for HPC-650, which affords fast ion transport because of its short ion-diffusion pathways. HPC-650 exhibits a high specific capacitance of 312 F g-1 at 1 A g-1, retaining 76.5% of its capacitance at 20 A g-1. Moreover, it delivers an energy density of 50.2 W h kg-1 at a power density of 1.19 kW kg-1, which is sufficient to power a yellow-light-emitting diode and operate a commercial scientific calculator.

In this work, a flexible and self-supporting P-doped carbon cloth (FPCC), which is composed of interwoven mesh of hollow microtubules with porous carbon walls, is prepared via a vacuum-sealed doping technology by employing the commercially available cotton cloth as sustainable and scalable raw material. When directly used as binder-free anode for sodium-ion batteries, the as-prepared FPCC delivers superior Na-storage properties in terms of specific capacity up to 242.4 mA h g–1, high initial Coulombic efficiency of ∼72%, excellent rate capabilities (e.g., 123.1 mA h g–1 at a high current of 1 A g–1), and long-term cycle life (e.g., ∼88% capacity retention after even 600 cycles). All these electrochemical data are better than the undoped carbon cloth control, demonstrating the significance of P-doping to enhance the Na-storage properties of cotton-derived carbon anode. Furthermore, the technologies of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and galvanostatic intermittent titration technique are implemented ...

Marcasite (m-FeS2) exhibits higher electronic conductivity than that of pyrite (p-FeS2) because of its lower semiconducting gap (0.4 vs 0.7 eV). Meanwhile, as demonstrates stronger Fe–S bonds and less S–S interactions, the m-FeS2 seems to be a better choice for electrode materials compared to p-FeS2. However, the m-FeS2 has been seldom studied due to its sophisticated synthetic methods until now. Herein, a hierarchical m-FeS2 and carbon nanofibers composite (m-FeS2/CNFs) with grape-cluster structure was designed and successfully prepared by a straightforward hydrothermal method. When evaluated as an electrode material for lithium ion batteries, the m-FeS2/CNFs exhibited superior lithium storage properties with a high reversible capacity of 1399.5 mAh g–1 after 100 cycles at 100 mA g–1 and good rate capability of 782.2 mAh g–1 up to 10 A g–1. The Li-storage mechanism for the lithiation/delithiation processes of m-FeS2/CNFs was systematically investigated by ex situ powder X-ray diffraction patterns and sca...

With the rapidly increasing use of lithium ion batteries (LIBs), the corresponding spent materials will eventually lead to severe environment pollution and resource waste if they cannot be recycled...

Herein, we develop a Co3O4-based anode material with a hierarchical structure similar to that of a lotus pod, where single yolk–shell-structured Co3O4@Co3O4 nanospheres are well embedded in a nitrogen-doped carbon (N–C) conductive framework (Co3O4@Co3O4/N–C). This distinctive architecture contains multiple advantages of both the yolk–shell structure and conductive N–C framework to improve the Li ion storage performance. Especially, the doping of the N atom in N–C increases the interaction between the carbon and adsorbents, which is confirmed by the theoretical calculations in this work, making the carbon framework much more electrochemically active. As a result, the Co3O4@Co3O4/N–C exhibits fast surface-controlled kinetics, which corroborate the high counterion mobility and the ultrafast electron-transfer kinetics of the electrode. Due to these synergetic effects, desired capacity stability (1169.6 mAh g–1 at 200 mA g–1 after 100 cycles) and superior rate performance (633.4 mAh g–1 at 10 A g–1) have been ...

In this work, carbon-free, porous, and micro/nanostructural Zn2GeO4 nanofibers (p-ZGONFs) have been prepared via a dissolution-recrystallization-assisted electrospinning technology. The successful electrospinning to fabricate the uniform p-ZGONFs mainly benefits from the preparation of completely dissolved solution, which avoids the sedimentation of common Ge-containing solid-state precursors. Electrochemical tests demonstrate that the as-prepared p-ZGONFs exhibit superior Li-storage properties in terms of high initial reversible capacity of 1075.6 mA h g–1, outstanding cycling stability (no capacity decay after 130 cycles at 0.2 A g–1), and excellent high-rate capabilities (e.g., still delivering a capacity of 384.7 mA h g–1 at a very high current density of 10 A g–1) when used as anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). All these Li-storage properties are much better than those of Zn2GeO4 nanorods prepared by a hydrothermal process. The much enhanced Li-storage properties should be attributed t...

The synergistic design of cathode region was conducted to minimize the shuttle effect of polysulfides and decrease the loading of inactive components in order to acquire high-energy-density lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. The well-designed cathode region presented two special characteristics: one was the intertwined nanofibers interlayer based on ultrafine TiO2 nanocrystal uniformly embedded within N-doping porous carbon; the other was the lightweight and three-dimensional current collector of fibrous cellulose paper coated by reduced graphene oxide. In consequence, the decent reversible capacity of 874.8 mA h g–1 was acquired at 0.1 C with a capacity retention of 91.83% after 100 cycles. Besides, the satisfactory capacity of 670 mA h g–1 was delivered after 300 cycles at 1 C with the small decay rate of only 0.08%. Because of higher capacity and lower loading of inactive component in cathode region, the energy density of cell increased more than five times compared with unmodified cell. Moreover, to fur...

Graphene incorporation should be one effective strategy to develop advanced electrode materials for a sodium-ion battery (SIB). Herein, the micro/nanostructural Sb/graphene composite (Sb-O-G) is successfully prepared with the uniform Sb nanospheres (∼100 nm) bound on the graphene via oxygen bonds. It is revealed that the in-situ-constructed oxygen bonds play a significant role on enhancing Na-storage properties, especially the ultrafast charge/discharge capability. The oxygen-bond-enhanced Sb-O-G composite can deliver a high capacity of 220 mAh/g at an ultrahigh current density of 12 A/g, which is obviously superior to the similar Sb/G composite (130 mAh/g at 10 A/g) just without Sb-O-C bonds. It also exhibits the highest Na-storage capacity compared to Sb/G and pure Sb nanoparticles as well as the best cycling performance. More importantly, this Sb-O-G anode achieves ultrafast (120 C) energy storage in SIB full cells, which have already been shown to power a 26-bulb array and calculator. All of these superior performances originate from the structural stability of Sb-O-C bonds during Na uptake/release, which has been verified by ex situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies and infrared spectroscopies.

In this paper, gelatin as a natural biomass was selected to successfully prepare an oxygen-enriched carbon with layered sedimentary rocks structure, which exhibited ultrahigh-rate performance and excellent cycling stability as supercapacitors. The specific capacitance reached 272.6 F g(-1) at 1 A g(-1) and still retained 197.0 F g(-1) even at 100 A g(-1) (with high capacitance retention of 72.3%). The outstanding electrochemical performance resulted from the special layered structure with large surface area (827.8 m(2) g(-1)) and high content of oxygen (16.215 wt %), which effectively realized the synergistic effects of the electrical double-layer capacitance and pseudocapacitance. Moreover, it delivered an energy density of 25.3 Wh kg(-1) even with a high power density of 34.7 kW kg(-1) and ultralong cycling stability (with no capacitance decay even over 10,000 cycles at 2 A g(-1)) in a symmetric supercapacitor, which are highly desirable for their practical application in energy storage devices and conversion.

In this work, the chemical interaction of cathode and lithium polysulfides (LiPSs), which is a more targeted approach for completely preventing the shuttle of LiPSs in lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, has been established on the electrode level. Through simply posttreating the ordinary sulfur cathode in atmospheric environment just for several minutes, the Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) were well-decorated on/in the surface and pores of the electrode composed of commercial acetylene black (CB) and sulfur powder. The Au NPs can covalently stabilize the sulfur/LiPSs, which is advantageous for restricting the shuttle effect. Moreover, the LiPSs reservoirs of Au NPs with high conductivity can significantly control the deposition of the trapped LiPSs, contributing to the uniform distribution of sulfur species upon charging/discharging. The slight modification of the cathode with3 wt % Au NPs has favorably prospered the cycle capacity and stability of Li-S batteries. Moreover, this cathode exhibited an excellent anti-self-discharge ability. The slight decoration for the ordinary electrode, which can be easily accessed in the industrial process, provides a facile strategy for improving the performance of commercial carbon-based Li-S batteries toward practical application.

Mesoporous SiO2 nanospheres (MSNs) and carbon nanocomposite with dual-porosity structure (DMSNs/C) were synthesized via a straightforward approach. Both MSNs and DMSNs/C showed uniform pore size distribution, high specific surface area, and large pore volume. When evaluated as an anode material for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), the DMSNs/C nanocomposite not only delivered an impressive reversible capacity of 635.7 mAh g–1 (based on the weight of MSNs in the electrode material) over 200 cycles at 100 mA g–1 with Coulombic efficiency (CE) above 99% but also exhibited excellent rate capability. The significant improvement of the electrochemical performance was attributed to synergetic effects of the dual-mesoporous structure and carbon coating layer: (i) the dual-porosity structure could increase the contact area and facilitate Li+ diffusion at the interface between the electrolyte and active materials, as well as buffer the volume change of MSNs, and (ii) the homogeneous carbon coating represented an excell...

Graphene-wrapped lithium-excess layered hybrid materials (Li(2)MnO(3)·LiMO(2), M = Mn, Ni, Co, hereafter abbreviated as LMNCO) have been synthesized and investigated as cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Cyclic voltammetry measurement shows a significant reduction of the reaction overpotential in benefit of the graphene conducting framework. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results reveal that the graphene can greatly reduce the cell resistance, especially the charge transfer resistance. Our investigation demonstrates that the graphene conducting framework can efficiently alleviate the polarization of pristine LMNCO material leading to an outstanding enhancement in cell performance and cycling stability. The superior electrochemical properties support the fine hybrid structure design by enwrapping active materials in graphene nanosheets for high-capacity and high-rate cathode materials.

A general and efficient hydrothermal strategy combined with a high-temperature carbon-coating technique has been developed for large scale synthesis of self-assembled LiFePO4/C nano/microspheres employing the biomass of phytic acid as a novel and eco-friendly phosphorus source. The LiFePO4/C nano/microspheres are investigated by SEM, TEM, EDS, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and electrochemical techniques. A reasonable assembly process of the hierarchical structure is proposed on the basis of time-dependent experimental results. Because of the unique structure, the LiFePO4/C nano/microspheres show a high tap density of 1.2 g cm–3, a high reversible specific capacity of 155 mA h g–1 at 0.1 C, as well as excellent rate capability and cycling performance, exhibiting great potential as superior cathode materials in lithium ion batteries. The approach for the preparation of LiFePO4 by using PA as the phosphorus source may open new prospects for utilization of biomass to produce high performance cathode materials for ...

Well-organized mesoporous TiO2−C nanospheres are manufactured in large scale starting from tetrabutyl titanate (TBT) and glucose in solution, and investigated with scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption−desorption isotherms, and electrochemical experiments. The TiO2−C nanospheres show excellent rate capability and cycling performance for lithium ion batteries. At the extremely high rate of 100 C (discharge/charge within 36 s), the TiO2−C nanosphere can still deliver a specific capacity as high as 96 mA h g−1. Moreover, the as-obtained mesoporous TiO2−C nanosphere can be used as an anode material for a new high rate 1.5 V rechargeable Li ion full cell containing a LiFePO4−C cathode with similar mixed conducting 3D networks. This type of rechargeable battery typically gives an output of 1.5 V per cell, which raises the potential for directly replacing the widely used 1.5 V primary alkaline batteries and dry cells.

RuO2/CNT nanocomposites with well-dispersed RuO2 nanoparticles (diameter

Well-organized carbon nanotube (CNT)@TiO2 core/porous-sheath coaxial nanocables are synthesized by controlled hydrolysis of tetrabutyl titanate in the presence of CNTs, and investigated with scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and electrochemical experiments. The CNT@TiO2 coaxial nanocables show excellent rate capability and cycling performance compared with both pure CNT and pure TiO2 when used as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Both the specific capacity in the CNT core and that in the TiO2 sheath are much higher than that of the TiO2-free CNT and that of the CNT-free TiO2 sample, respectively. These results demonstrate that the coaxial cable morphology provides a clever solution to the ionic-electronic wiring problem in LIBs as well as the synergism of the two cable wall materials. On one hand, the CNT core provides sufficient electrons for the storage of Li in TiO2 sheath. On the other hand, the CNT itself can also store Li whereby this ...

In this paper, single-crystal line Co3O4 hollow octahedral hollow cages with tunable surface aperture were synthesized by the carbon-assisted carbothermal method. On the basis of electron microscopic observation and structural analysis, all the following factors, including the precursor concentration, species of precursor, intrinsic crystal structure of products and carbon-assisted carbothermal reaction, play key roles in the formation Of Co3O4 octahedral hollow structures. When the as-prepared Co3O4 samples were used as the anode materials in lithium ion batteries (LIBs), it was found that the octahedral hollow cages with large surface aperture performed better than both those with small surface aperture and Co3O4 nanoparticles, indicating that not only the single-crystalline robust structure but also the tunable surface aperture in the shell could affect the electrochemical property in LIBs.

Hierarchical flower-like SnO2 nanomicrostructure has been synthesized via a solvent-induced and surfactant assisted self-assembly technique at ambient temperature followed by a suitable thermal treatment. A possible growth mechanism governing the formation of such a nanomicrostructure is discussed. The applications in gas sensors for detecting CO and H2 reveal that the obtained SnO2 material exhibits a remarkable sensitivity and extremely low detecting limit (5 ppm), as well as good reproducibility and short response/recovery times, which benefit a lot from its unique flower-like nanomicrostructure consisting of three-dimensional interconnected SnO2 nanoparticles and nanopores. In order to use the present SnO2 nanomicrostructure in lithium-ion batteries, carbon coatings are introduced to the surface of them by pyrolysis of glucose under hydrothermal conditions. Both SnO2−C and Sn−C nanocomposites are obtained by taking thermal treatment of the precursors at different temperatures. The conversion processes...

In this work, LiFePO4 with hierarchical microstructures self-assembled by nanoplates has been successfully synthesized by using poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) as the surfactant in a benzyl alcohol system. The resulting dumbbell-like LiFePO4 microstructures are hierarchically constructed with two-dimensional nanoplates with ∼300 nm length and ∼50 nm thicknesses, while these tiny plates are attached side by side in an ordered fashion. Both benzyl alcohol and LiI acting as reducing agents promote the formation of LiFePO4, and the presence of PVP plays an important role in the construction of the hierarchically self-assembled microstructures. A reasonable formation mechanism is proposed on the basis of the result of time-dependent experiments. In addition, the cell performance of the synthesized LiFePO4 is better than that of the commercial LiFePO4, which makes it a promising cathode material for advanced electrochemical devices such as lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors.

By applying the concept of an inorganic structure-directing agent, uniform α-Fe2O3 nanospheres of about 300 nm in diameter and well-defined nanorhombohedra of about 50−80 nm in size have been successfully synthesized using the simple inorganic sodium salt of NaAc and NaCl as the only structure-directing agent in the hydrothermal system, respectively. In comparison, only micrometer sphere-like aggregates composed of irregular nanoparticles of about 80−120 nm were obtained without the presence of any inorganic salt additives. All three nanostructures are investigated with XRD, SEM, TEM, and electrochemical tests toward lithium storage. It is found that the particle size and shape has a remarkable effect on the lithium insertion/extraction behavior. Among the three α-Fe2O3 nanostructures, nanospheres show a very high specific capacity of >600 mA h g−1 in the initial 10 cycles and >414 mA h g−1 after 60 cycles as well as good cycling performance, exhibiting great potential as anode materials in lithium-ion ba...

Three novel heterobimetallic coordination polymers, {Na2[Cd(odpa)(H2O)]}n (1), {Na2[Zn(odpa)(H2O)]}n (2), and {Na2[Cd3(odpa)2(H2O)5]·1.5H2O}n (3) (H4odpa = 4,4′-oxydiphthalic acid), have been prepared under solvothermal conditions and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Compounds 1 and 2 are unprecedented 2D bilayer anion networks containing 26- and 24- membered channels made of Cd/Zn polyhedra linked by (odpa)4− ligand, while a novel 2D Na−O network is inserted subtly in the bilayer networks. Compound 3 presents a three-dimensional coordination polymer based on both tetranuclear and hexanuclear heterobimetallic clusters containing one-dimensional hydrophilic channels, where guest water molecules reside. Furthermore, these heterobimetallic clusters connected to each other to build a Cd−Na polyhedral network existing in a 3D anion framework. Compounds 1−3 are all heterobimetallic Cd/Zn−Na compounds containing polymeric anions, which have not been reported in all coordination polymers of (odp...

Porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates were prepared by a two-step aluminum anodic oxidation process. Nanowires, microspheres, and hexagonal nanoplates of PbO were successfully prepared by an improved sol–gel method combined with AAO templates. On the anodized external surface and the surface-dissolved barrier layer of AAO, hexagonal nanoplates of PbO with a diameter of 2 μm and a thickness of 100 nm and microspheres of PbO with a diameter of 400 nm were obtained, respectively, where hexagonal patterns and circular patterns of the external surface appearance of AAO acted as templates. Nanowires with a diameter of 80 nm and a length of 10 μm were also synthesized within the pores of AAO, consistent with the diameters and thicknesses of the pores. All of the samples were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction pattern.

Strontium tungstate nanoparticles with diameters of 40−50 nm, nanopeanuts with diameters of 100−150 nm, and nanorods with a rough surface were controllably synthesized by a solvothermal-mediated mi...

Regular, single-crystalline nanocubes of Prussian blue, Fe4[Fe(CN)6]3, with different sizes were synthesized in large quantities by a direct dissociation of the single-source precursor K4Fe(CN)6 in...