High-Throughput Pb Recycling for Perovskite Solar Cells Using Biomimetic Whitlockite

Pb contamination in aquatic environments causes severe pollution;therefore,harmless absorbents are required.In this study,we report a novel synthesis of whitlockite(WH,Ca_(18)Mg_(2)(HPO_(4))_(2)(PO_(4))_(12)),which is the second most abundant biomineral in human bone,and its application as a high-performing Pb^(2+)absorbent.Hydroxyapatite(HAP)and WH are prepared via a simple precipitation method.The Pb2+absorption performance and mechanism of the synthesized biominerals are investigated in aqueous solutions at neutral pH.The results demonstrate that WH exhibits an excellent Pb2+absorption capacity of 2339 mg g^(−1),which is 1.68 times higher than the recorded value for HAP.Furthermore,the absorbed Pb^(2+) ions are recycled into high-purity PbI_(2).This is employed as a precursor for the fabrication of perovskite solar cells(PSCs),resulting in a conversion efficiency of 19.00%comparable to that of commercial PbI2 powder(99.99%purity).Our approach provides an efficient way to remove Pb^(2+)ions from water and reuse them in the recycling of PSCs.

Biomimetic Fe_(7)S_(8)/Carbon electrocatalyst from[FeFe]-Hydrogenase for improving pH-Universal electrocatalytic hydrogen production Special Collection:Aggregation-Induced Processes and Functions

Efficient and cost-effective electrocatalysts that can operate across a wide range of pH conditions are essential for green hydrogen production.Inspired by biological systems,Fe_(7)S_(8)nanoparticles incorporated on polydopamine matrix electrocatalyst were synthesized by co-precipitation and annealing process.The resulting Fe_(7)S_(8)/C electrocatalyst possesses a three-dimensional structure and exhibits enhanced electrocatalytic performance for hydrogen production across various pH conditions.Notably,the Fe_(7)S_(8)/C electrocatalyst demonstrates exceptional activity,achieving low overpotentials of 90.6,45.9,and 107.4 mV in acidic,neutral,and alkaline environments,respectively.Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy reveals that Fe_(7)S_(8)/C exhibits the lowest charge transfer resistance under neutral conditions,indicating an improved proton-coupled electron transfer process.Continuous-wave electron paramagnetic resonance results confirm a change in the valence state of Fe from 3+to 1+during the hydrogen evolution reaction(HER).These findings closely resemble the behavior of natural[FeFe]-hydrogenase,known for its superior hydrogen production in neutral conditions.The remarkable performance of our Fe_(7)S_(8)/C electrocatalyst opens up new possibilities for utilizing bioinspired materials as catalysts for the HER.

Tyrosine-mediated analog resistive switching for artificial neural networks

The fourth industrial revolution indispensably brings explosive data processing and storage;thus,a new computing paradigm based on artificial intelligence-enabling device structure is urgently required.Memristors have received considerable attention in this regard because of their ability to process and store data at the same location.However,fundamental problems with abrupt switching characteristics limit their practical application.To address this problem,we utilized the concept of metaplasticity inspired by biosystems and observed gradual switching in the peptide-based memristor at high proton conductivity.An unexpectedly high slope value>1.7 in the logI–V curve at low voltage(≤400 mV)was considered the main origin,and it might arise from the modulatory response of proton ions on the threshold of Ag ion migration in the peptide film.With the obtained gradual switching property at high proton conductivity,the device showed significantly increased accuracy of image recognition(~82.5%).We believe that such a demonstration not only contributes to the practical application of neuromorphic devices but also expands the bioinspired functional synthetic platform.

Humidity-induced synaptic plasticity of ZnO artificial synapses using peptide insulator for neuromorphic computing

Neuromorphic devices inspired by the human brain have attracted significant attention because of their excellent ability for cognitive and parallel computing.This study presents ZnO-based artificial synapses with peptide insulators for the electrical emulation of biological synapses.We demonstrated the dynamic responses of the device under various environmental conditions.The proton-conducting property of the tyrosine-rich peptide enables time-dependent responses under ambient conditions such that various aspects of synaptic behaviors are emulated by the devices.The transition from short-term memory to longterm memory is achieved via electrochemical doping of ZnO by protons.Furthermore,we demonstrate an image classification simulation using a multi-layer perceptron model to evaluate the potential of the device for use in neuromorphic computing.The neural network based on our device achieved a recognition accuracy of 87.47% for the MNIST handwritten digit images.This work proposes a novel device platform inspired by biosystems for brain-mimetic hardware systems.