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The study employed the random forest (RF) and artificial neural network (ANN) methods based on the quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) techniques to analyze NSAIDs-Se derivatives and their antioxidant abilities. The best predictive models by the RF method yielded a coefficient of determination (R2) value of 0.868 for the training set, and the root mean square error (RMSE) of the test set was only 0.053. For the QSAR-ANN, the best predictive models resulted in an R2 value of 0.935, and the RMSE of the test set was 0.068. Based on the best models, the steric, electrostatic, and enthalpy descriptors are found to be related to antioxidant prediction. Thus, to extend the predictive ability of the obtained QSAR-ML models, an external set was collected from a later publication of NSAIDs-Se derivatives with experimental antioxidant abilities. The efficacy of two QSAR models in forecasting the antioxidant abilities of an external set of NSAIDs-Se derivatives was evaluated. The QSAR with machine learning models demonstrated high efficiency in predicting the antioxidant abilities of the external NSAIDs-Se set with an RMSE of the external set in the range of 0.074–0.087. Therefore, the results suggest that fine-tuning machine learning-based QSAR studies can aid in the design of novel NSAIDs-Se derivatives with highly efficient antioxidant prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of effective and selective catalysts is the key to improving the multi-electron transfer nitrate reduction reaction (NO3−RR) to ammonia (NH3). Herein, we prepared a copper–tin bimetallic alloy using the dynamic hydrogen bubble template electrodeposition technique for electrocatalytic NO3− reduction to NH3. The NH3 yield rate and the faraday efficiency were up to 293.12 μmol h−1 cm−2 and 78.57% at −1.2 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode in 0.1 M Na2SO4 (containing 0.01 M NaNO3) electrolyte. This paper will provide new suggestions for the use of bimetallic alloys for electrochemical removal of nitrate and ammonia synthesis from water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a selective and fast response gas sensor for dioctyl phthalate (DOP) has been attracting considerable attention for the early warning of electrical fires. In this study, photodeposition was applied to fabricate highly dispersed Pd/SnO2 with abundant defects. The obtained 5%Pd/SnO2 has more Sn2+ species and oxygen vacancies than SnO2, which may be due to the reduction of photogenerated electrons. 5%Pd/SnO2 exhibited the best comprehensive performance in response value and response and recovery time for DOP sensing among different Pd loadings. The response to 5 ppm of DOP is 3.58 at 240 °C, which is much higher than 1.03 for SnO2, due to the abundant oxygen vacancies and Sn2+ defects of the material. Besides, the material exhibited good selectivity, stability, and a linear response to different concentrations of DOP. The 5%Pd/SnO2 sensor also responded much faster than conventional smoke detectors for the overheated PVC cable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encapsulating micron-sized porous silicon monoxide (SiO) with conductive carbon materials has shown enormous potential as practical high-performance anodes for lithium-ion batteries. However, constructing an ideal integral interfacial coating layer to accommodate the dynamic evolution of SiO microparticles remains a huge challenge. Here, the stress fields of SiO microparticles with three types of coating strategies are studied via finite element modeling. The results demonstrate that the soft coating can better alleviate the tensile stress during lithiation processes compared with other hard and hard–soft dual-layer coatings. Consequently, a robust SiO-based anode is intelligently designed, in which porous SiO microparticles are encapsulated in a graphene hydrogel monolith (p-SiO@rGO). The ductility and sliding characteristics of the highly interlinked graphene architecture effectively release the large tensile stress of SiO particles upon lithiation, ensuring the structural integrality of the entire electrode. The p-SiO@rGO electrode shows a superior lithium storage capacity, including high initial coulombic efficiency (76.4%), long cycling durability (589.7 mA h g−1 at 2 A g−1, 1000 cycles later) and prominent rate performance (841.6 mA h g−1 at 5 A g−1). This study provides a helpful guideline for designing high-performance SiO-based anodes with long durability for practical energy storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulating the size of noble metals over oxide nanosheets has been attracting great attention in the fields of electrochemistry and catalysis. The photodeposition process is green, mild and controllable but is limited to loading noble metals onto semiconductors or metals with localized surface plasmon resonance effect. In this study, we proposed to use the photoinduced LSPR effect of Au NPs to load and adjust the size of Pt NPs on MnO2 nanosheets. The sizes of Pt could be easily adjusted using different light sources. This strategy could be expanded to Ag/Au@MnO2. Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was used as a model reaction to study the size effect of Pt on Au@MnO2 nanosheets. The optimized sample Pt-520/Au@MnO2 with small size has a lower initial potential than that of commercial Pt/C catalysts, while the mass activity of Pt is about 12.9 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C under 50 mV overpotential. This study provides an alternative route for controlling the size of metals on metal oxides beyond semiconductors via the photoinduced LSPR effect of noble metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precise control of the size and distribution of noble metal nanoparticles exerts obvious effects on the performance of heterogeneous catalysts and has received tremendous interest. The photochemical deposition method has advantages in adjusting chemical states, morphology, etc., but the tuning of size and distribution remains a big challenge. In this work, via modulating the surface states and surface charges of the TiO2 support, the size and distribution of noble metals including Ag, Pt, Au and Pd were precisely controlled. We demonstrated that photoelectrons located in the conduction band tend to form larger noble metal nanoparticles, while surface state confined electrons could form smaller nanoparticles. The thus-prepared noble metals/TiO2 catalysts exhibit good potential in both photocatalytic H2 evolution and catalytic oxidation of HCHO. This work not only provides a green and effective method to control the particle size of noble metals on metal oxides, but also is helpful in understanding the role of surface states in photocatalytic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enlarged interlayer spacing in NaNi0.5Mn0.5O by doping with Sn4+ prevents TMO2 slips and eliminates irreversible multiphase transitions during cycling, achieving a high capacity of 191 mA h g−1 at 0.1C for half cells, as well as 1000 long cycles at 1C and high power ability at 50C for the full cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu ions were deliberately introduced into the tetrahedral sites of MnCo spinel oxides by pyrolysis of Prussian blue analogues pre-doped with Cu. The as-synthesized catalysts deliver superior catalytic activity for toluene oxidation and excellent stability owing to the increase of octahedral metal ions and elongation of metal–oxygen bonds induced by the specific substitution of Cu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrathin, lightweight and flexible electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding films are urgently desired for the next generation electronic devices with complex-shaped surfaces. In this study, flexible EMI shielding composite films were fabricated by intercalating sliver nanowires (AgNWs) into Ti3C2Tx MXene nanosheets followed by a pressured-extrusion film-forming process. The resultant MXene/AgNW composite films with a low loading of nanocellulose (0.167 wt%) as a green binder exhibited remarkable conductivity (∼30 000 S m−1) and outstanding specific EMI shielding effectiveness (SSE/t, 16 724 dB). Thanks to the strengthening mechanism of the "brick-and-mortar" layered structure, the tensile stress of the MXene/AgNW composite film dramatically improved from 1.29 MPa (pure Ti3C2Tx film) to 63.80 MPa, and the electric conductivity and EMI SE can be maintained even after bending at 135° 10 000 times. The MXene/AgNW hybrid films with excellent EMI SE and mechanical robustness offered promising applications in the fields of aerospace, defense, smart electronics and flexible/wearable devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is still a challenge to develop metal-based monolithic deNOx catalysts with high activity, mass transfer ability and stability. Herein, we proposed a convenient and versatile pathway for the synthesis of novel monolithic deNOx catalysts originating from the in situ immobilization of metal organic framework (MOF) precursors on Fe mesh. Interestingly, the morphology and composition of the catalysts could be modulated by adjusting the synthesis parameters, such as the synthesis time, ligands and precursors, while the characterization results revealed an improvement in oxygen vacancies and Brønsted acid sites led by the strong interaction between the uniformly distributed active Mn–Fe components. As a result, the novel monolithic catalysts demonstrated improved catalytic performance compared with traditional catalysts obtained by hydroxide precursors. This work sheds lights on the advantages of using MOF-derived materials in situ decorated on metal mesh as monolithic catalysts and paves a way to design new monolithic deNOx catalysts with excellent low-temperature catalytic activity for future efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing multifunctional nanocomposites for a pH-responsive controlled dual-drug delivery is still a huge challenge. Herein, we report a gentle and simple method for growing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) that can load two anticancer drugs, namely DOX and 5-FU (doxorubicin and 5-fluorouracil), on the surface of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) by the reactions of Schiff bases and electrostatic adsorption. The resulting pH-responsive UCMOFs@D@5 nanosystem showed effective dual-drug release by the cleavage of chemical bonds and the disruption of the MOF structure under acidic conditions. Moreover, the final nanosystem UCMOFs@D@5 showed much higher cytotoxicity in comparison with UCMOFs@D and UCMOFs@5, which loaded only one kind of drug, respectively, after being incubated with human cervical cancer (HeLa) cells, indicating that Dox and 5-FU released from the final nanosystem had synergistic effects on cytotoxicity. Cellular uptake studies showed that UCMOFs@D@5 was well uptaken by HeLa cells and has potential for bioimaging applications in intracellular fluorescence imaging with high-contrast, and is beneficial for the intracellular localization of anti-cancer drugs. In addition, the nanosystem can be successfully applied in T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Therefore, we developed a visualized tracking agent combined with MOFs to load two anticancer drugs to form a nanosystem for diagnosis and synergistic treatment, thus achieving the bioimaging and stimulation-responsive dual-drug release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparent conductive cellulose nanopapers (TCCNPs) have been regarded as the most promising alternative to commercial polyethylene terephthalate-indium tin oxide (PET-ITO) films for the next-generation green flexible electronics and optoelectronics. Herein, a hierarchical TCCNP composed of conducting polymer (PEDOT:PSS) enhanced silver nanowire (AgNW) networks adsorbed on the polydopamine functionalized nanofibrillated cellulose (PDA@NFC) substrate was fabricated by a solution-based pressured-extrusion papermaking process. The PEDOT:PSS tightly decorated on the surfaces of AgNW networks provided more conductive electron pathways. As a result, an improved performance in TCCNP with a high conductivity of 7.32 Ohm sq−1 and a high optical transmittance of 92.56%@550 nm was ultimately achieved. More importantly, the TCCNP exhibited slight changes after being bent for 1000 cycling times and negligible changes after being peeled for 100 times. Furthermore, the soaking test demonstrated that the TCCNP with PEDOT:PSS additions displayed excellent chemical corrosion resistance. Significantly, the solution-processed TCCNP provides great potential as an easy disposable transparent conductive film (TCF) for superseding PET-ITO in the next-generation green flexible electronics and optoelectronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we report a flexible polyamide-imide (PAI)/boron nitride nanosheet (BNNS) composite film with improved thermal conductivity by doping boron nitride quantum dots (BNQDs) using an evaporation-induced self-assembly method. Continuous thermal conductive paths are constructed using BNQDs and BNNS in a PAI matrix, and the heat flow is effectively transmitted along the paths to improve the in-plane thermal conductivity (TC) of the PAI composite film. The synergistic effect between the BNNS and BNQDs plays a pivotal role in the formation of a continuous thermal conductive path. The PAI/BNNS/BNQD composite film shows an in-plane thermal conductivity of 7.69 W m−1 K−1 at a BNNS loading of 9 wt% and a BNQD loading of 1 wt%. This work provides valuable guidance for the design of thermal management materials to meet the efficient heat dissipation requirements of electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanocomposites have been playing an increasingly significant role in the bioimaging-guided visualization of cancer physiotherapy. However, it has been a challenge to explore new diagnosis and treatment reagents with small size, good stability, and high photothermal conversion efficiency. Herein, we report a novel preparation of nanocomposites based on the heterogeneous growth of nano-palladium on the surface of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs). The final poly vinylpyrrolidone (PVP) modified UCNPs@Pd nanocomposites possess a small size and exhibit good monodispersity, biocompatibility and high photothermal conversion efficiency. In addition, relevant cellular assays show that based on the growth of palladium, the UCNPs@Pd-PVP nanocomposites can effectively kill HeLa cells under 808 nm laser irradiation. The nanocomposites also present effective upconversion luminescence imaging and T1 signal enhancement capability based on Er3+ and Gd3+ ions, respectively. Therefore, the nanocomposites successfully integrate upconversion luminescence imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, and photothermal therapy. This work provides new insights for the future development of multi-application materials based on the multicomponent heterogeneous growth of nanocomposites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional nanopaper based on cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) has attracted growing interest due to its renewability, biodegradability and enhanced printability. In this study, we developed novel transparent and luminescent nanopaper with excellent mechanical flexibility by grafting graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheets with TEMPO-mediated oxidation CNF (TCNF) using a pressured extrusion paper-making technique. The carboxyl groups on the TCNF surface acting as active sites are covalently cross-linked with –NH2 or –NH groups of g-C3N4 nanosheets via EDC/NHS coupling chemistry, and then the g-C3N4@TCNF nanopaper with heterogeneous network structures is finally assembled. The hybrid nanopaper combines the advantages of TCNF and g-C3N4, exhibiting outstanding transparency and luminescent properties. Moreover, the transparent luminescent nanopaper possesses excellent thermal stability and mechanical flexibility. The intelligent design of high-performance nanopaper based on TCNF grafted with g-C3N4 nanosheets provides a potential strategy for applications in the easily identifiable and difficult-to-copy anti-counterfeiting fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction mechanism of the selective catalytic reduction of NO by NH3 (NH3-SCR) on an oxotitanium-porphyrin catalyst was systematically investigated by using density functional theory calculations with the M06L functional. The reaction was proposed to follow the nitrite mechanism over the two forms of active sites; the oxotitanium-porphyrin Lewis acid site (TiO-por) and the Brønsted acid site (TiOH-por). The reaction path consisted of (i) nitrite formation, (ii) NH3 oxidation, (iii) formation of NH2NO and NHNOH intermediates, and (iv) N2 and H2O product formation. The obtained calculations showed that the formation of the NHNOH intermediate was the rate determining step for both active sites with the energy barriers (Ea) of 32.2 and 36.2 kcal mol−1 for the Lewis and Brønsted acid sites, respectively. It is worth noting that the activation energy for NHNOH formation over the oxotitanium-porphyrin active sites was found to be in the same range as that of vanadium oxide cluster models. Furthermore, the product formations of N2 and H2O over the Lewis and Brønsted acid sites of oxotitanium-porphyrin were exothermic processes with reaction energies (Er) of −67.1 and −39.0 kcal mol−1, respectively. Thus, in conclusion, the oxotitanium-porphyrin could theoretically act as an alternative catalyst for NH3-SCR of NO and it would be challenging to test it in experimental studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a prospective technique for desalination of saline water on account of its lower cost, lower energy-consumption, and absence of secondary pollution. In this work, capacitive deionization of saline water using N, P, S co-doped hollow carbon polyhedra derived from MOF-based core–shell nanocomposites has been demonstrated. N, P, S co-doped hollow carbon polyhedra were rationally designed and originally synthesized from MOF-based core–shell nanocomposites by using poly(cyclotriphosphazene-co-4,4′-sulfonyldiphenol) coated zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (denoted as ZIF-8@PZS-C). Choosing poly(cyclotriphosphazene-co-4,4′-sulfonyldiphenol) as an N, P, S co-doping source and carbon source, and ZIF-8 as a structural template which also acts as an additional N-doping source, ZIF-8@PZS-C was created with a superior hollow structure, high surface area, improved electrical conductivity and an excellent hydrophilic surface. Due to the multi-synergy of these characteristics, the ZIF-8@PZS-C electrodes have lower internal impedance, larger specific capacitance and great cycling stability. What's more, the ZIF-8@PZS-C electrodes display a high salt electrosorption performance of 22.19 mg g−1 at 1.2 V in a NaCl solution of 500 mg L−1. Furthermore, the as-prepared electrodes exhibit good stability and regeneration performance. Hence, the N, P, S co-doped hollow carbon polyhedra should be considered as a promising alternative electrode material for capacitive deionization. This work may open the door for the application of multiple heteroatom co-doped hollow carbon materials for the deionization of saline water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of miniaturized and highly integrated of microelectronic products, it has become particularly important to fabricate a thermally conductive, electrically insulating and environment-friendly composite as a thermal interface material (TIM) for heat dissipation. Here, we designed the structure of a multilayer thermally conductive hybrid film based on nanofibrillated cellulose and fillers (graphene and boron nitride) using the vacuum-assisted layer-by-layer (VA-LBL) self-assembly technique. Fully unifying the advantages of the thermally conductive three-layer electrically insulating film and an antistatic film, the ordered five-layer thermally conductive film (7.04 W m−1 K−1 with 8 wt% fillers) exhibits a comprehensive performance with electrically insulating and antistatic properties, which simultaneously has an excellent tensile strength (172 MPa). Therefore, it could be applied as a TIM for various thermal management applications with diverse requirements in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we demonstrate a facile strategy for tuning the dimensions and structures of nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials via regulating the ratio of Co/Zn in zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) arrays in situ grown on g-C3N4 nanosheets, followed by a pyrolysis process. One-dimensional nitrogen-doped bamboo-like carbon nanotube encapsulated Co nanoparticle (Co/N-BCNTs), two-dimensional nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheet (N-CNS) and three-dimensional nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube framework encapsulated Co nanoparticle (Co/N-CNTFs) electrocatalysts are successfully fabricated from Zn/Co-ZIF@g-C3N4, ZIF-8@g-C3N4 (Co free) and ZIF-67@g-C3N4 (Zn free), respectively. The resulting Co/N-BCNTs electrocatalyst exhibits a better oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity than the other two catalysts, with a half-wave potential of 0.83 V (versus the reversible hydrogen electrode) in alkaline solutions, which is superior to that of a commercial Pt/C catalyst. More importantly, the Co/N-BCNTs show much higher stability and better methanol-tolerance than the Pt/C catalyst in a 0.1 M KOH solution. It has been demonstrated that the enhanced catalytic performance of Co/N-BCNTs is attributed to their suitable surface area, well-dispersed N dopants, and Co encapsulated inside carbon nanotubes. The presented strategy offers new prospects in developing highly active electrocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesoporous 3D MnxCo3−xO4 nanospheres with an open structure were fabricated through a template-free and facile approach. The MnxCo3−xO4 achieved a specific surface area as high as 143.7 m2 g−1. The process was systematically studied via TEM, HRTEM, EDS, ICP, XRD, TG, pH and FTIR. A two-step formation mechanism, namely the formation of CoOOH and MnO2 by a redox reaction between KMnO4 and Co(NO3)2·6H2O, followed by a calcination process in air, was proposed. The synthesis conditions including the reaction duration, reaction temperature, reactant concentration, feeding ratio, calcination temperature and the types of cobalt precursor used were also carefully investigated. This indicates that the approach is universal, green, facile, controllable and effective. The MnxCo3−xO4 catalysts exhibited outstanding performance in the application of low-temperature selective catalytic reduction of NOx with NH3. A wide working temperature window of 75 to 325 °C (NOx conversion above 80%) was achieved. The good performance benefited from the high BET surface area, a strong adsorption capacity, abundant acid sites, robust redox properties, abundant oxygen vacancies and metal–metal interactions in MnxCo3−xO4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparent conductive cellulose nanopaper (TCCNP) with excellent mechanical robustness and enhanced chemical stability offers the potential for diverse applications under severely humid conditions. Herein, the flexible freestanding TCCNP was successfully designed using TEMPO-oxidized nanocrystalline cellulose (ONC) crosslinked with chitosan (CS) as a fibrous skeletons and silver nanowires (AgNWs) as conductive networks. Due to their structural similarity, the CS molecules conjugated with ONC microstructures, leading to an effective crosslinking reaction between ONC and CS, thus effectively improving the mechanical properties of TCCNP in dry state and chemical corrosion stability of TCCNP in wet state. With the addition of CS, the mechanical stress of TCCNP (ONC/CS 70/30 w/w) increased from 14.5 MPa to 30.8 MPa, and the sheet resistance remained largely unchanged after immersion in strong acidic solution, alkali solution, alkaline salt solution, and neutral salt solution for 180 min. Furthermore, the well-constructed TCCNP with weight ratio of ONC/CS (70/30 w/w) achieved excellent transparent conductive performance with a low sheet resistance of 4.43 Ohm sq−1 at high transparency (89.56%@550 nm). This discovery would open the way for further development of high-end flexible paper-electronics using the high performance polysaccharide-based TCCNP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Li-rich layered metal oxides (LNMO) receive significant attention as cathode materials of lithium-ion batteries owing to their higher specific energy density and lower cost compared with current commercial cathode materials. However, the stability of the structure during the cycle becomes a fatal weakness. In order to reduce the collapse of the structure during the cycle, previous researchers usually use cationic doping means, but all reported works have ignored the adverse effects from the destruction of the oxide layers that damages the structural integrity of the materials. In this work, from the perspective of a stable oxygen layer structure, we first dope sulfur into the oxygen layers of a lithium-rich cathode material to improve the structural stability and cycling performance. The preliminary calculation results of VASP prove that a small amount of sulfur doping is beneficial to stabilize the crystal structure of the material and balance the energy of the embedding and deintercalation of lithium ions, which provides theoretical guidance for our study. Further electrochemical results show that the sulfur-doped lithium-rich material released a higher initial efficiency of 96%, a specific capacity of 293.3 mA h g−1, and better cycling stability and rate performance (a capacity of 117 mA h g−1 is maintained at a current density of 5C). This work provides a new manner of doping for developing Li-rich layered metal oxide cathode materials that evade structural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We designed a unique and novel bio-nanoplatform based on Pt–Ni nanoframes (PNnf) functionalized with carbon dots via the EDC/NHS coupling chemistry. The PNnf with open three-dimensional surfaces exhibited excellent water solubility after polyethylenimine modification. Due to low cytotoxicity and excellent biocompatibility, the bio-nanoplatforms were firstly used for MCF-7 cell imaging in vitro. More importantly, the design strategy can be readily generalized to facilitate other multi-functional bio-nanoplatforms for biological and biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, a novel concept for the separation and recovery of heavy metal ions and salt ions from wastewater by 3D graphene-based asymmetric electrodes via capacitive deionization is presented for the first time. Instead of the traditional practice to adsorb heavy metals via the stirring method, we rationally design functional 3D graphene by grafting ethylenediamine triacetic acid (EDTA) and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane on the 3D graphene surface, and take advantage of capacitive deionization for wastewater treatment. In this process, Pb2+ is adsorbed by EDTA through chelation reaction and Na+ is adsorbed into the 3D graphene pores by electrosorption. Meanwhile, 3D graphene aminated with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane is used as an anode to minimize the co-ion effects and improve the removal efficiency. This research investigates the adsorption and desorption behaviors of Pb2+ and Na+ and the influence of operation conditions, such as pH, voltage, concentration and time on Pb2+ and Na+ removal. The removal efficiency is 99.9% at pH 6.0 for Pb2+ and 98.7% for Na+. It is worth noting that Pb2+ and Na+ can be separated and recovered in the desorption process in two steps due to the different adsorption mechanisms of Pb2+ and Na+. The desorption rates are ∼99.6% for Pb2+ and ∼97.2% for Na+, which remain at ∼94.3% and ∼88.2%, respectively, without further degradation after 8 cycles. Overall, CDI with 3D graphene-based asymmetric electrodes is a promising route for the separation and recovery of heavy metals and salt ions from wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capacitive deionization is an emerging technology for energy-efficient water desalination and has attracted more and more attention in recent years. The capacitive deionization technology is based on ion electrosorption at the surface of a pair of electrically charged electrodes, which are commonly composed of carbon materials. Among numerous electrode materials, graphene-based materials are outstanding, playing a vital role during the deionization process due to their intriguing features. After a brief introduction of the theory and instruments of capacitive deionization, we systematically summarize the current progress in graphene nanosheets, porous graphene, graphene-based composites, surface tuned graphene and its composites as electrodes for capacitive deionization. We also present our perspectives on the development of graphene-based electrodes for capacitive deionization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous graphene frameworks were originally and rapidly constructed via a facile photochemical strategy, and feature 3D interconnected porous structures, highly graphitic shells comprised of three-six graphene layers, high available surface area, tunable pore size and superior electrical conductivity. They achieved an enhanced electrosorption capacity and excellent regeneration performance for removal of NaCl from saltwater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the superior chemical and thermal stability of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), we design and synthesize h-BN supported mesoSiO2-confined Ni catalysts with a stable architecture. The as-prepared catalyst exhibits excellent coke- and sintering-resistance performance in the dry reforming of methane, and especially, there is almost no loss of activity even after a 100 h stability test due to the synergistic effects of the h-BN interface and Ni nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]