Metal porphyrin intercalated reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite utilized for electrocatalytic oxygen reduction

In this paper, we report a simple and facile self-assembly method to successfully fabricate cationic metal porphyrin-MtTMPyP(Mt= Cobalt(Ⅱ), Manganese(Ⅲ), or Iron(Ⅲ); TMPyP = 5, 10, 15, 20-tetrakis(N-methylpyridinium-4-yl) porphyrin) intercalated into the layer of graphene oxide(GO) by the cooperative effects of electrostatic and π-π stacking interaction between positively charged metal porphyrin and negatively charged GO sheets. Followed by reduction with hydrazine vapor, a series of novel 2 D MtTMPyP/rGO_n were fabricated. The as-prepared 2 D hybrids were fully characterized and tested as non-noble metal catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) in an alkaline medium. The MtTMPyP/rGO_n hybrids, especially CoTMPyP/rGO_5, demonstrated an improved electrocatalytic activity for ORR and a number of exchanged electrons close to 4-electron reaction, increased stability and excellent tolerance to methanol, showing a potential alternative catalyst for ORR in fuel cells and air batteries.

Recent progress in 2D materials for flexible supercapacitors

High performance supercapacitors coupled with mechanical flexibility are needed to drive flexible and wearable electronics that have anesthetic appeal and multi-functionality. Two dimensional（2D） materials have attracted attention owing to their unique physicochemical and electrochemical properties, in addition to their ability to form hetero-structures with other nanomaterials further improving mechanical and electrochemical properties. After a brief introduction of supercapacitors and 2D materials, recent progress on flexible supercapacitors using 2D materials is reviewed. Here we provide insights into the structure–property relationships of flexible electrodes, in particular free-standing films. We also present our perspectives on the development of flexible supercapacitors.

Scale up of reactors for carbon dioxide reduction

In recent times there has been a great deal of interest in the conversion of carbon dioxide into more useful chemical compounds.On the other hand,the translation of these developments in electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide from the laboratory bench to practical scale remains an underexplored topic.Here we examine some of the major challenges,demonstrating some promising strategies towards such scale-up,including increased electrode area and stacking of electrode pairs in different configurations.We observed that increasing the electrode area from 1 to 10 cm^(2) led to only a 4%drop in current density,with similarly small penalties realised when stacking sub-cells together.