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A simple and effective method to upcycle waste EPS to UV-excited dual-mode multicolor luminescent membranes for advanced anti-counterfeiting was developed.

A robust macroscopic disk-like nanowire membrane was prepared through a graphene oxide assisted self-assembly strategy, enabling high efficiency for both nanosolid capture and small molecule separation.

A multi-channel photothermal rod with anti-gravity water supply has been reported, which has the advantages of omnidirectional solar energy collection and minimized heat dissipation area, making it promising in the field of photothermal conversion.

Facile fabrication of low cost photocatalyst with enhanced activity and high atomic utilization has been in increasing demand for solar energy usage and/or conversion. In this work, a series of mesoporous carbon nitride nanosheets with enlarged specific surface area were synthesized via an inorganic acid-assisted exfoliation method without any soft or hard templates. Ultralow loading of downsized noble metal Pt was anchored on these porous nanosheets and warranted enhanced photocatalytic activity. The formation of mesoporous nanosheets in carbon nitride was expected to boost mass transfer and shorten charge carrier transfer route during photocatalytic reaction. Characterizations revealed that the enlarged conductivity and photocurrent of carbon nitride nanosheets also contributed to the enhanced H2 evolution. The maximum H2 production rates of 172.92 μmol/h and 321 μmol/h could be achieved over these nanosheets derived from melamine and urea under visible light irradiation, which are 10.92 and 2.22 folds as high as that of corresponding bulk carbon nitride, respectively. This exfoliation method was demonstrated to be an efficient and universal method for the preparation of carbon nitride nanosheets with mesoporous structure and high atomic utilization of co-catalyst for H2 evolution from water.

An organotemplate-free synthesis of Al-rich ZSM-35 (Si/Al ratio at about 5) and ZSM-22 (Si/Al ratio at about 20) zeolites has been successfully shown with the addition of ZSM-57 zeolite seeds in the absence of organic templates.

Rationally designed, universal and durable PdPtAg alloy nanowire-based direct glycerol fuel cells (DGFCs) could generate both electricity and formate.

Rapid synthesis of Si-rich (SiO

Basic requirements for advanced and practical supercapacitors need electrode materials with strong stability, high surface area, well-defined porosity, and enhanced capability of ion insertion and electron transfer. It is worth mentioning that the two-dimensional cluster-based Ni/Co-organic layer (

Metal–CO2 batteries represent a potential new technology for environmental protection, as they can effectively reduce CO2 emissions while ensuring energy production. However, the design of active, selective, and cost-efficient electrocatalysts remains a challenge. Herein, we report two tubular cathodes (CNTs@Cu and CNTs@Ni, CNTs = carbon nanotubes) that are used to assemble two primary Zn–CO2 flow batteries with zinc wire and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate as the anode and electrolyte, respectively. Interestingly, CO2 conversion with quite high selectivity could be realized over the different cathodes in these two Zn–CO2 flow batteries. These two batteries exhibit the advantages of high operating voltages, excellent stability, and continuous and selective product outputs. The flow battery based on the tubular CNTs@Cu cathode can convert CO2 into CH4 with a faradaic efficiency of up to 93.3%. Concurrently, electricity is generated at an energy density of 376 Wh kg−1. This battery remains stable for more than 18 days. Surprisingly, the flow battery with a tubular CNTs@Ni cathode can reduce CO2 to syngas (CO and H2, faradaic efficiencies for CO and H2 of up to 50% and 48%, respectively) while generating electricity at an energy density of 208.7 Wh kg−1, and it is stable for up to 9 days. These excellent performances are attributed to a synergistic effect involving CNTs and the metal substrate, and the differences between these two batteries are mainly ascribed to metal substrate effects. Excitingly, low concentrations of CO2 released by humans and simulated vehicle emissions could also be converted. This work demonstrates that Zn–CO2 flow batteries are green, selective, efficient, and promising devices for producing value-added chemicals, and they are worthy of further theoretical studies and practical application.

ZnO semiconductors have been widely used as photocatalysts. However, the weak photodegradation under solar light restrains their further application. In this study, porous zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), which has a high specific surface, was combined with ZnO nanorods to fabricate ZnO@ZIF-8 core–shell heterostructures, with the ZnO nanorods and ZIF-8 as the core and the shell, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy measurements revealed that the ZnO nanorods were wrapped by a ZIF-8 shell. The pore size distribution of these ZnO@ZIF-8 nanocomposites included micropores, mesopores, and macropores. Moreover, a Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis showed an increase compared with the ZnO nanorods in the overall specific surface area. Due to a synergistic effect of ZnO and ZIF-8, the as-synthesized ZnO@ZIF-8 heterostructures exhibited high photocatalytic activity and completely degraded methylene blue in ∼4.5 min under solar light irradiation. Furthermore, stability experiments proved that the as-prepared ZnO@ZIF-8 nanocomposites retain over 95% of their photocatalytic activity after four cycles.

For electrochemical energy conversion, highly efficient and stable electrocatalysts are required, which are principally designed and synthesized by virtue of structural regulation. Two-dimensional cluster-based metal–organic layers (CMOLs) would have good performance in oxygen evolution reaction (OER) because of their stable and layered structure. Here, we first report the synthesis of CoNi bimetal two-dimensional CMOLs directly grown on Ni foam, which show excellent catalytic activity for the OER under alkaline conditions. Co0.6Ni0.4-CMOLs exhibited the best OER performance, compared with Co-CMOLs and Ni-CMOLs. The findings are expected to help understand the fundamental concept of enhanced electrochemical activity based on pristine metal–organic frameworks with high stability.

Activated carbon (AC) particles sandwiched reduced graphene oxide sheets (rGO) film has been successfully fabricated via a facile self-assemble approach. The as-formed AC/rGO film is self-standing, flexible and mechanically robust, allowing to be transferred to any substrate on demand without rupture. Since AC particles effectively suppressed the restacking of the rGO sheet, AC/rGO film exhibits loose layer-by-layer stacking structures with various gaps between AC particles and rGO sheets, which is different from compact structures of pure graphene films. The as-formed gaps provide fast diffusion channels for electrolyte ions and enhanced accessible surface area of rGO. Therefore, the AC/rGO electrode delivers improved electrochemical performance over the voltage range of 0.0—3.0 V. This work offers a promising strategy to design free-standing supercapacitor electrodes based on traditional nanocarbon materials.

Fluoride-free synthesis of beta zeolite with enrichment of polymorph B is successfully achieved by using raw materials of solid silica gel, organic templates, sodium hydroxide, and zeolite seeds in the absence of any solvents.

The electrochemically oxidative upgrading reaction (OUR) of organic compounds has gained enormous interest over the past few years, owing to the advantages of fast reaction kinetics, high conversion efficiency and selectivity, etc., and it exhibits great potential in becoming a key element in coupling with electricity, synthesis, energy storage and transformation. On the one hand, the kinetically more favored OUR for value-added chemical generation can potentially substitute an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and integrate with an efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) or CO2 electroreduction reaction (CO2RR) in an electricity-input mode. On the other hand, an OUR-based cell or battery (e.g., fuel cell or Zinc–air battery) enables the cogeneration of value-added chemicals and electricity in the electricity-output mode. For both situations, multiple benefits are to be obtained. Although the OUR of organic compounds is an old and rich discipline currently enjoying a revival, unfortunately, this fascinating strategy and its integration with the HER or CO2RR, and/or with electricity generation, are still in the laboratory stage. In this minireview, we summarize and highlight the latest progress and milestones of the OUR for the high-value-added chemical production and cogeneration of hydrogen, CO2 conversion in an electrolyzer and/or electricity in a primary cell. We also emphasize catalyst design, mechanism identification and system configuration. Moreover, perspectives on OUR coupling with the HER or CO2RR in an electrolyzer in the electricity-input mode, and/or the cogeneration of electricity in a primary cell in the electricity-output mode, are offered for the future development of this fascinating technology.

The facile fabrication of low-cost photocatalysts with enhanced activity and high atomic utilization is becoming increasingly necessary for solar energy usage and/or conversion. In this work, a series of mesoporous carbon nitride nanosheets with an enlarged specific surface area was synthesized

The fabrication of noble-metal-free and low-cost photocatalysts with high efficiency has been under increasing demand for solar energy usage and conversion. In this work, a series of surface-modified Ni/graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) photocatalysts derived from metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) were synthesized by the in situ pyrolysis of Ni-based benzenedicarboxylic acid Ni2(BDC)2 in the presence of graphitic carbon nitride under Ar protection. The as-prepared samples displayed highly efficient H2 evolution under visible-light irradiation, with a maximum H2 production rate of 2989.5 μmol g−1 h−1, which was about 22.1 times higher than the value of carbon nitride (135.2 μmol g−1 h−1). This exceptionally enhanced photocatalytic activity originated from the tight bonding between the Ni-based cocatalyst and g-C3N4 as well as fast and efficient electron transfer with the help of conductive carbon loaded on the surface of the Ni species during Ni2(BDC)2 pyrolysis.

The surface structure of supports is crucial to fabricate efficient supported catalysts for water-gas shift (WGS). Here, hardly reducible ZrO2 was etched with hydrogen (H), aiming to modify surface...

Metal-free heteroatom-doped porous carbons such as N, P co-doped nanoporous carbon materials with designed properties are attracting increased attention for metal-air battery applications. Herein, we report a general approach to synthesizing highly branched N, P co-doped carbon nanotube cluster (NPCTC) derived from metal-organic frameworks as a bifunctional electrocatalyst. NPCTC were obtained by treating ZIF-8 with butyl methylphosphinate, followed by two-step pyrolysis. Benefiting from the cross-linking polymerization and self-aggregation between ZIF-8 and the monomer, the resulting NPCTC exhibited higher mechanical stability and strength. Although the wall thickness was

Fiber-shaped supercapacitors integrating energy storage and electrical conduction are new forms of energy supplying devices that would occupy minimum space and would be of minimum cost. The bottleneck in this field is the lack of structurally innovative electrode materials. Herein, we describe a fully flexible cable with excellent mechanical strength and conductivity. The sheath of the cable is composed of an interconnected carbon nanotube (CNT) network with a packing density comparable to highly aligned CNT forests, which is directly coupled to the underlying Ni wire core via a spontaneous solution process with scalability on an industrial scale. The wire-shaped capacitors using two parallel CNT@Ni cables and KOH/polyvinyl alcohol gel electrolyte offer remarkable electrochemical performances, including a wide voltage window (>1.4 V), high volumetric capacitance (13.8 mF cm−3 at 95 mA cm−3), and long cycle life. Moreover, the device can deliver an energy density of 3.8 mW h cm−3 and a power density of 1590 mW cm−3. The energy density is comparable to that of a 4 V/500 μA h thin-film lithium battery, while the power density is two orders of magnitude higher than that of the battery. More impressively, the CNT@Ni cable-based supercapacitor can utilize the Ni wire to transport the energy while storing charges in the CNT sheath simultaneously.

Exploring appropriate supports is a key step to prepare efficient water-gas shift (WGS) catalysts. In this sense, supports with some oxygen vacancies are preferable, but there have been no efficient methods to obtain abundant stable surface oxygen vacancies. Here, a black TiO2−x support rich in stable surface oxygen vacancies was prepared by hydrogen-etching technology. More impressively, compared with the gold catalyst supported on traditional white TiO2, the gold catalyst supported on black TiO2−x has been proven to be an efficient and stable WGS catalyst. According to the in-depth characterization of its structural properties, the disordered layer and abundant stable surface oxygen vacancies of the black TiO2−x support lead to higher microstrain and more metallic Au0 species, respectively, which are all in favor of higher WGS catalytic activities. Furthermore, we successfully linked the WGS thermocatalytic activities with the optoelectronic properties, and then tried to understand the WGS pathway from the view of an electron flow process. Hereinto, the Ohmic barrier has been decreased because of the narrowed forbidden band gap, which improves the transmission efficiency of “hot-electron flow”. Meanwhile, the abundant surface oxygen vacancies function as electron traps, thus promoting the flow of “hot-electrons” and reduction reaction of H2O. As a consequence, the WGS catalytic activity is enhanced. The involved hydrogen-etching method resulting in abundant stable surface oxygen vacancies can be extended to other supported catalysts for WGS reaction or other thermocatalytic reactions.

Heteroatom-doped nanoporous carbons are now emerging as alternatives to platinum and its alloys as electrocatalysts to facilitate oxygen reduction reaction in metal-air batteries and fuel cells. However, the synthesis of nanoporous carbons usually involve in complicated procedures and intensive chemicals, which may dramatically raise their manufacture cost that even surpasses that of precious platinum. Herein, we demonstrate the single-step, chemical-free fabrication of N, P dualdoped honeycomb carbon that has hierarchically porous structure and oxygen electrocatalysis activity close to the benchmark Pt/C. This material was fabricated through the direct pyrolysis of popcorn in a static, semi-opened environment. With this strategy, nitrous and phosphoric groups from proteins and phosphates within the popcorn are condensed with graphitic matrix to form N C and P C bonds, and pyrolysis byproducts (such as H2O and CO2) can etch disordered carbon domains to form hierarchical pores and edge carbons. Practical test of this honeycomb carbon as air electrode of a primary Zn-air battery shows an open-circuit potential of 1.44 V and peak power density of 36.6 mW cm−2 that is even better than Pt/C. The impact of this work is that it will facilitate the targeted design and cost-saved fabrication of metal-free catalysts for electrocatalytic applications.

In this work, uniform Fe3O4@Na2Ti3O7 (FNTO) nanoleafs coated with N-doped C (FNTO-CN) were synthesized through the hydrothermal reaction of Fe nanoparticles and TiO2 powders in concentrated NaOH solution. FNTO exhibited a wider layer spacing and a more fluent Na-ion exchange effect than pure Na2Ti3O7 (NTO). Afterwards, FNTO-CN composites were prepared via a facile solid-state method, with folic acid as C and N sources, as coated C could increase the overall conductivity. When FNTO or FNTO-CN was tested as a working electrode in a half-cell versus Na metal, they exhibited high-capacity densities of 142 and 175 mAh g−1 ​at 5C, respectively. They also showed stability of 1000 cycles owing to the high Na-ion diffusion rate and electron transport capability. Besides, a full cell assembled using the FNTO-CN anode with Na2/3(Ni1/3Mn2/3)O2 cathode afforded an energy density of ~117 ​Wh kg−1 (based on the mass of both electrodes). This interlayer engineering may provide a useful tool to develop high-performance anode materials, and folic acid is a promising dual C and N source for modifying the properties of anode/cathode materials.

Codoping carbon with phosphorus and nitrogen can lead to bifunctional oxygen evolution and oxygen reduction catalyst with improved electrocatalytic activity. In this work, we demonstrate the non-pollution fabrication of porous carbon self-doped with N and P heteroatoms from spirulina, a kind of industrially cultivated microalgae which is rich in proteins and phosphates. The N, P self-doped biocarbon (NPBC) was obtained simply by pyrolyzing spirulina at 950 °C. This single-step process eliminates additional chemicals including nitrogen source, phosphorus source, and pore-forming agents, thus allowing NPBC to become a true sense of potentially low-cost and sustainable oxygen electrocatalysts. NPBC exhibits large specific surface area (786.1 m2/g), improved pore volume (0.73 cm3/g), and doping levels of 2.15% for N and 0.97% for P (atom ratio). And it can deliver bifunctional activity in catalyzing both oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions, with a small OER and ORR metrics (ΔE = 0.82 V). Using NPBC for the air electrodes, we develop primary and rechargeable zinc-air battery with a high discharge power density of 90.7 mW cm−2 and a large energy density of 850 Wh kg−1 in ambient air conditions. Moreover, the rechargeable zinc-air battery shows good rechargeability.

We report the sequential modification of the free-standing TiO 2 nanowires film with Ag nanoparticles and BiOX (X = Cl, Br, and I) nanoplates, for a purpose of achieving an efficient photoelectrochemical cells (PECs). In the resulting BiOX-Ag-TiO 2 film, Ag nanoparticles densely coated on the broad and flat surfaces of TiO 2 nanowires increase the conductivity of TiO 2 by 10 7 and enable the film to propagate electrons rapidly. BiOX nanoplates obliquely grown on the Ag-coated TiO 2 nanowires can move the absorption edge of the film into the region of visible light and endow the film with the anti-reflection property. Especially, when the BiOCl-Ag-TiO 2 , BiOBr-Ag-TiO 2 , and BiOI-Ag-TiO 2 films are overlapped to form a laminated film, the anti-reflection response is further promoted. Besides the above optical and electronic metrics, the band alignment in the multi-component system favors the directed flow of photogenerated electrons from BiOX and TiO 2 to Ag, thus efficiently blocking the recombination of the e − –h + pairs. Therefore, under the illumination of simulated solar light, the photoanode fabricated by the laminated BiOX-Ag-TiO 2 film could yield a small onset potential around 0.7 V vs RHE and a large photocurrent approaching 10 mA/cm 2 at 1.2 V vs RHE, which outperforms the state of the art photoanode based on IrO 2 modified hematite nanorod arrays.

The nanocomposite preparation procedure plays an important role in achieving a well-established heterostructured junction, and hence, an optimized photocatalytic activity. In this study, a series of g-C3N4/ZnO nanocomposites were prepared through two distinct procedures of a low-cost, environmentally-friendly, in-situ fabrication process, with urea and zinc acetate being the only precursor materials. The physicochemical properties of synthesized g-C3N4/ZnO composites were mainly characterized by XRD, UV&ndash, VIS diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), N2 adsorption-desorption, FTIR, TEM, and SEM. These nanocomposites&rsquo, photocatalytic properties were evaluated in methylene blue (MB) dye photodecomposition under UV and sunlight irradiation. Interestingly, compared with ZnO nanorods, g-C3N4/ZnO nanocomposites (x:1, obtained from urea and ZnO nanorods) exhibited weak photocatalytic activity likely due to a &ldquo, shading effect&rdquo, while nanocomposites (x:1 CN, made from g-C3N4 and zinc acetate) showed enhanced photocatalytic activity that can be ascribed to the effective establishment of heterojunctions. A kinetics study showed that a maximum reaction rate constant of 0.1862 min-1 can be achieved under solar light illumination, which is three times higher than that of bare ZnO nanorods. The photocatalytic mechanism was revealed by determining reactive species through adding a series of scavengers. It suggested that reactive ∙O2&minus, and h+ radicals played a major role in promoting dye photodegradation.

Supercapacitors possess an essential application in storing intermittent energy and powering electric vehicles or wearable electronics. It should be a promising approach by combining carbon nanomaterials with metal oxides to promote energy density and maintain high power density and durable stability. Herein, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were firstly organized on the surface of nickel foam (NF) by a facile and mild (room temperature) metal-induced self-assembly process. Afterward, NiCoO2 nanosheets are bonded by CNTs films via hydrothermal method, and then the integrated NiCoO2@CNTs@NF electrodes were successfully fabricated. The kinds of self-supporting electrodes have some advantages of hierarchical three-dimensional (3D) network structure, strong binding force between NiCoO2 nanosheets and Ni foam substrate, excellent conductivity tunnel for ions and electrons transport, and abundant active sites for ions adsorption and fast faradic redox reaction. Accordingly, the NiCoO2@CNTs@NF integrated electrode present the superior capacitive properties and stabilities because of outstanding synergistic effect between CNTs as electric double-layer capacitance (EDLC) materials and NiCoO2 nanosheets as Faradic pseudocapacitance materials. Asymmetric supercapacitors (ASCs) were also fabricated based on NiCoO2@CNTs@NF electrodes and active carbon supported on Ni foam electrodes. The ASCs show prominent performances of a high special capacitance (151 F g−1 at 5 mA cm−2), an outstanding rate capability (83.8% when current densities changed from 5 to 50 mA cm−2), durable stability (above 90% after 5000 cycles), and a high energy density (56.0 Wh kg−1). Such three ASCs devices connected in series can light up four blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that operates at a minimum voltage of 2 V. The presented work provides an efficient approach to design an outstanding electrode by combining active materials with a metal substrate.

Many current treatments for brine wastewaters are energy-intensive, chemical-intensive, and involve independent process in the removal of salts and contaminants. We demonstrate that through the integration of capacitive deionization and photocatalysis reactions within carbon nanotubes (CNTs) based membrane system, we are able to realize the purification and desalination of wastewaters via single-step, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly route. We firstly designed the membrane system consisting of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), CNTs membrane, and poly(vinyl alcohol)-formaldehyde (PVF) foam. Then, two identical membrane systems were used as permeable electrodes and photocatalytic microreactors to construct the flow-through setup. The tests of the setup with a variety of dye solution, antibiotics solution, and actual wastewaters prove that wastewaters passing through the setup promptly turn to clean water with significantly decreased salinity. This is because the setup can use C3N4 modified CNTs membrane to adsorb organic contaminants and inorganic ions and decompose contaminants via photocatalysis reactions. In addition, by discharging the setup, its adsorption capacity towards salts is easily recovered. Consequently, the flow-through setup is observed to exhibit stable performance for concurrent removal of organic contaminants and inorganic salts in multiple cycles.

The nanocomposite preparation procedure plays an important role in achieving a well-established heterostructured junction, and hence, an optimized photocatalytic activity. In this study, a series of g-C3N4/ZnO nanocomposites were prepared through two distinct procedures of a low-cost, environmentally-friendly, in-situ fabrication process, with urea and zinc acetate being the only precursor materials. The physicochemical properties of synthesized g-C3N4/ZnO composites were mainly characterized by XRD, UV–VIS diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), N2 adsorption-desorption, FTIR, TEM, and SEM. These nanocomposites’ photocatalytic properties were evaluated in methylene blue (MB) dye photodecomposition under UV and sunlight irradiation. Interestingly, compared with ZnO nanorods, g-C3N4/ZnO nanocomposites (x:1, obtained from urea and ZnO nanorods) exhibited weak photocatalytic activity likely due to a “shading effect”, while nanocomposites (x:1 CN, made from g-C3N4 and zinc acetate) showed enhanced photocatalytic activity that can be ascribed to the effective establishment of heterojunctions. A kinetics study showed that a maximum reaction rate constant of 0.1862 min-1 can be achieved under solar light illumination, which is two times higher than that of bare ZnO nanorods. The photocatalytic mechanism was revealed by determining reactive species through adding a series of scavengers. It suggested that reactive ●O2− and h+ radicals played a major role in promoting dye photodegradation.

The surface structure of supports is crucial to fabricate efficient supported catalysts for water-gas shift (WGS). Here, hardly reducible ZrO

We report a solvent-free synthesis of all silica Beta zeolite using a cheap organic template of tetraethylammonium bromide (TEABr). The method includes mixing, grinding and heating solid raw material in the absence of water solvent but the presence of zeolite seeds. The absence of water solvent significantly improves the efficiency of synthesis, while the addition of seeds remarkably enhances the crystallization rate. In addition, the use of a cheap organic template of TEABr greatly decreases the synthesis cost. The effects of the reaction compositions, including the molar ratios of NH4F/SiO2, TEABr/SiO2, and mass ratios of seeds to the silica, on the synthesis of the pure product were investigated using different temperature. Physicochemical characterizations, including XRD, SEM, TG and N2 sorption, show that the zeolitic product has good crystallinity, uniform crystals, and high surface area.

The creation of a suitable inorganic photocatalyst for use in a scalable coating process is a key step in the development of practical photocatalysis. Herein, we present the deterministic synthesis of mixed-phase Fe2O3/ZnO hollow spheres with submicron pores and demonstrate that ink based on these hollow spheres can be used to manufacture stable photocatalytic papers. The hollow spheres are formed through the self-organization of well crystallized Fe2O3 and ZnO nanoparticles, and they are different from traditional hollow spheres in their innovative submicron pores (width ∼ 500 nm). This morphological feature makes the interior and exterior of the hollow spheres readily accessible and enables them to enrich either small or large pollutants rapidly, as visually determined by the adsorption of the fluorescent molecules and nanoparticles. Moreover, the intimate contact of the wide bandgap ZnO to the narrow bandgap Fe2O3 within the hollow spheres leads to the extension of the light-collection range (spanning the full ultraviolet-visible wavelength) and the emergence of the mixed-phase effects (e.g., enhanced charge separation and transfer). As a conceptual demonstration of the target application of the Fe2O3/ZnO hollow spheres as an ink, we manufacture the photocatalytic paper by the spraying method. The hollow spheres show a perfect geometric match to the cellulose networks within the paper due to the similar dimensions. The tests of the performances of the photocatalytic paper demonstrate that it can efficiently degrade 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) under the irradiation of the solar light, with a first order rate constant of 0.014 min−1. After ten recycles of the TCP photodegradation, the photocatalytic paper retains constant activity, proving its high stability and durability. As a whole, the photocatalytic paper can be more readily recycled than conventional powder photocatalysts, and should be promising for various environmental applications, including water and air purification.

VO2 nanoparticles with a dimension of approximately 20 nm were obtained by simple mechanical bead-milling method, which were well dispersed in transparent silica-alumina (Si-Al) gel matrix to form nanocomposites. The VO2/Si-Al gel thermochromic nanocomposite foils were fabricated with various VO2 solid contents and foil thickness. With 10% VO2 loading and 3 μm foil thickness, high luminous transmittance (T(lum(20°C))=63.7% and T(lum(90°C))=54.4%), and large solar modulation ability (ΔTsol=12%) can be obtained which surpasses the best reported results (nanoporous films:T(lum(20°C))=43.3%, T(lum(90°C))=39.9% and ΔTsol=14.1%). This current approach provided a simple and scalable preparation method with the best combined thermochromic performance.

We reported the prompt charge selective binding and magnetic separation of mixed proteins by utilizing heterostructured Fe3O4-Na2Ti3O7 nanosheets. Fe3O4-Na2Ti3O7 nanosheets are found to combine a variety of structure and property merits, such as the increased interlayer galleries, exposed exchange sites, flexible framework, and magnetic manipulability. Probing the dissociation dynamics of Na(+) inside the nanosheets reveals that they possess remarkably enhanced Na(+) dissociation capability and the dissociation rate of Na(+) reaches 7.9×10(-)(6)mol g(-)(1)s(-)(1), much superior to titanate nanotubes. In model protein separation experiments, we utilize mixed proteins containing albumin and hemoglobin to assess Fe3O4-Na2Ti3O7 nanosheets. It is found that, by controlling the pH of the sample at 6, positively charged hemoglobin and negatively charged albumin are immediately separated (∼5s) by the nanosheets and the saturated loading capacity of hemoglobin on the nanosheets reaches 4.7±0.61g g(-)(1). Furthermore, hemoglobin bound to the nanosheets can be readily released after buffer wash and is not damaged, while the nanosheets are recyclable and maintain their high efficiency. The outstanding performance of Fe3O4-Na2Ti3O7 nanosheets in separating mixed proteins is attributed to the ultrafast Na(+) dissociation rate, flexible titanate framework, open geometry, and aqueous-like environment to stabilize proteins. These merits, together with the recyclability and cost effectiveness, should make Fe3O4-Na2Ti3O7 nanosheets ideal candidates for biological recognition, isolation, and purification under technologically useful conditions.

The development of the sustainable synthesis of zeolites has become a very hot topic in recent years. Herein, we report a sustainable route for synthesizing all-silica SOD zeolite under solvent-free conditions. The method of solvent-free synthesis includes mixing, grinding, and heating raw solids. The all-silica SOD zeolite obtained was well characterized by multiple measurement techniques (XRD, SEM, IR, thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), and magic angel spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS NMR)). The crystallization process of all-silica SOD zeolite was also investigated in detail by XRD, SEM, UV-Raman, and MAS NMR techniques. In addition, the effects of the crystallization compositions, including the molar ratios of Na2O/SiO2 and ethylene glycol/SiO2, on the synthesis of the pure all-silica SOD zeolite were investigated at different temperatures.

Structurally interlocked multi-armed carbon with a highly extended surface may be conveniently prepared by the deterministic growth of ZIF-8 on ZnO multiarms and the subsequent pyrolysis, which exhibits excellent stability and methanol corrosion resistance for oxygen reduction application.

By taking advantage of the structural affinity between bismuth oxohalide and TiO2, we successfully prepare a family of hybrid frameworks via the designated growth of bismuth oxohalide nanoplates on TiO2 nanoribbons, and propose them as sunlight-driven bifunctional photocatalysts for all-weather removal of pollutants. The structural variability of bismuth oxohalide allows the optical absorption of the hybrid framework to be monotonically tuneable across the visible spectrum. Meanwhile, the hybridization greatly increases the surface roughness of the frameworks and enables the frameworks to harvest more photons to participate in photocatalytic reactions. Furthermore, the hybridization establishes two potential gradients to promote the separation of photo-induced electron–hole pairs: the internal electrical field perpendicular to the wide surfaces of bismuth oxohalide nanoplates and across the semiconductor–semiconductor heterojunction. Owing to the synergetic effects of the permeable mesoporous architecture, the intense visible light absorption, and the efficient charge separation, the hybrid frameworks are capable of all-weather removal of pollutants: they utilize the inter-ribbon pores to gather pollutants in the dark (behaving as collectors) and they rapidly degrade the pollutants in the day (behaving as photocatalysts). In particular, the BiOBr@TiO2 framework exhibits very impressive sunlight-driven photocatalytic activity, which is much higher than commercially available P25 TiO2 under the same conditions.

Growth of crystalline silicon nanowire of controllable diameter directly from Si wafer opens up another avenue for its application in solar cells and optical sensing. Crystalline Si nanowire can be directly grown from Si wafer upon rapid thermal annealing in the presence of the catalyst such as nickel (Ni). However, the accompanying oxidation immediately changes the crystalline Si nanowire to amorphous SiOx. In this study, amorphous carbon layer was sputtered to on top of the catalyst Ni layer to retard the oxidation. Scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were employed to characterize the wires and oxidation process. A model was developed to explain the growth and oxidation process of the crystalline Si nanowire.