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As the importance of additional capacity beyond the theoretical limitation of lithium-ion batteries has been recognized, extensive research into effectively utilizing the extra lithium accommodation is being conducted. One of the most effective strategies to increase capacity is the use of catalytic materials well-known to promote electrochemical reactivity. Herein, we adopt platinum (Pt) metal as an electrode material to take advantage of dual charge storage properties: (i) the Li–Pt alloying reaction and (ii) additional Li storage reaction induced by catalytic properties. The prepared Pt electrode yields an initial capacity of ∼863 mA h g−1 during the 1st cycle and a reversible capacity of ∼600 mA h g−1, which is much larger compared to the previously reported capacity of 137 mA h g−1. Additionally, the complex Li-ion storage in Pt metal involving alloying reaction and catalytic effect induced charge storage reactions shows high reversibility, realizing a stable electrochemical performance upon cycling. This study holds great promise for understanding the origin of additional capacities from the catalytic effect of alloying type anodes and could be a trendsetter for designing high-capacity anode materials for next-generation lithium rechargeable batteries.

Anion conducting polymers (ACPs) are essential materials for alkaline electrochemical energy technology such as anion-exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) and water electrolysers (AEMWEs). The aforementioned polymers are promising alternatives for proton exchange membrane-based systems due to the possibility of using platinum group metal-free electrocatalysts. However, there are still no reliable ACPs possessing the desired performance and stability, which is a major challenge for developing alkaline energy systems. Herein, we highlight an anion-exchange membrane and ionomer based on quaternised poly-carbazole (QPC-TMA) with a rigid ether-free and curved backbone structure comprised of carbazole monomers. The developed ACP exhibits excellent ionic conductivity, as well as chemical and mechanical stability. Moreover, the AEMFC using QPC-TMA shows excellent performance (1.61 W cm−2) compared with the other best-performing AEMFCs. In addition, the AEMWE using QPC-TMA demonstrates outstanding stability and state-of-the-art performance (3.5 A cm−2 at 1.9 V), which is the first report of an AEMWE that outperforms the best-performing proton-exchange membrane water electrolysers.

The large-area membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) has been fabricated using the decal transfer method with a methanol (MeOH)-based PtRu/C catalyst slurry. The stability of slurry dispersion is important when using a large-area decal transfer method to ensure the integrity of the electrode. In order to prepare stable and well dispersed catalyst slurry, a suitable solvent for the PtRu/C catalyst should be selected. We considered the physical properties of various organic solvents, including ionomer solubility, dielectric constant, and catalyst particle surface physical properties. We found that the MeOH-based PtRu/C slurry dispersion showed the best stability and dispersibility of catalyst–ionomer agglomerates. It was also confirmed that the MeOH-based slurry has the most suitable characteristics for coating the slurry on the substrate film. The decal technique-based MEA using this slurry showed excellent performance when compared with the spray method-based MEA. Furthermore, the large-area PtRu/C MEA with an active area of 51.84 cm2 was fabricated and excellent performance was realized even when a reforming gas was used.

Core–shell structured Au–PtPd/C and Au–Pt/C nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared using a successive reduction process on carbon supported Au with PtPd and Pt particles. Structural analyses of the core–shell NPs revealed uniformly distributed fine particles (

In recent years, gold nanoparticles have been increasingly utilized as a promising material for biomedical analysis. We report here for the first time the synthesis of ultrasmall gold nanoparticles with core diameter of 1.2 nm functionalized with hydrazide groups and their use in isolation/enrichment of N-glycosylated peptides. Hydrazide-functionalized gold nanoparticles showed excellent stability in biological samples and exhibited a large capacity for peptide capturing. The captured peptides from tested standard glycoproteins were found to be highly specific as determined by Agilent HPLC chip and quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometer. The hydrazide-functionalized gold nanoparticles were successfully utilized in the isolation of a real proteome complex, which showed that more than 90% of captured product was glycopeptide. These results demonstrate that the ultrasmall gold nanoparticles can be used for a high-throughput analysis platform of glycoproteins.