Achieving highly selective electrochemical CO_(2) reduction to C_(2)H_(4) on Cu nanosheets

The conversion of CO_(2)into value-added chemicals coupled with the storage of intermittent renewable electricity is attractive.CuO nanosheets with an average size and thickness of~30 and~20 nm have been developed,which are in situ reduced into Cu nanosheets during electrochemical CO_(2)reduction reaction(ECO_(2)RR).The derived Cu nanosheets demonstrate much higher selectivity for C2H4production than commercial CuO derived Cu powder,with an optimum Faradaic efficiency of 56.2%and a partial current density of C_(2)H_(4)as large as 171.0 mA cm^(-2)in a gas diffusion flow cell.The operando attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectra measurements and density functional theory simulations illustrate that the high activity and selectivity of Cu nanosheets originate from the edge sites on Cu nanosheets with a coordinate number around 5(4–6),which facilitates the formation of^(*)CHO rather than^(*)COH intermediate,meanwhile boosting the C-C coupling reaction of^(*)CO and^(*)CHO intermediates,which are the critical steps for C_(2)H_(4)formation.

Structural engineering of cathodes for improved Zn-ion batteries

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries(ZIBs) are attracting considerable attention because of their low cost,high safety and abundant anode material resources.However,the major challenge faced by aqueous ZIBs is the lack of stable and high capacity cathode materials due to their complicated reaction mechanism and slow Zn-ion transport kinetics.This study reports a unique 3 D ’flower-like’ zinc cobaltite(ZnCo_(2)O_(4-x)) with enriched oxygen vacancies as a new cathode material for aqueous ZIBs.Computational calculations reveal that the presence of oxygen vacancies significantly enhances the electronic conductivity and accelerates Zn^(2+) diffusion by providing enlarged channels.The as-fabricated batteries present an impressive specific capacity of 148.3 mAh g^(-1) at the current density of 0.05 A g^(-1),high energy(2.8 Wh kg^(-1)) and power densities(27.2 W kg^(-1)) based on the whole device,which outperform most of the reported aqueous ZIBs.Moreover,a flexible solid-state pouch cell was demonstrated,which delivers an extremely stable capacity under bending states.This work demonstrates that the performance of Zn-ion storage can be effectively enhanced by tailoring the atomic structure of cathode materials,guiding the development of low-cost and eco-friendly energy storage materials.