Preparation of graphite nanosheets in different solvents by sand milling and their enhancement on tribological properties of lithium-based grease

Graphite nanosheets with the average thicknesses ranging from 24.4 to 48.9 nm were prepared with the use of expanded graphite as the raw material by sand milling in deionized water,anhydrous ethanol,glycerol,and 1,4-butanediol,respectively.Anhydrous ethanol favored the formation of graphite nanosheets with a smaller average thickness.When the graphite nanosheets with the content of 2 wt%were added in lithium-based grease,the average friction coefficient decreased by 27%as compared with the pure lithium-based grease.The weld point and load wear index were 1.6 and 1.4 times those of the pure lithium-based grease,respectively.The tribological properties of the graphite nanosheet-containing lithium-based grease were comparable with those of the graphene-containing lithium-based grease.

S/N-co-doped graphite nanosheets exfoliated via three-roll milling for high-performance sodium/potassium ion batteries

Due to its larger ionic radius,further studies are needed before graphite can be used as an anode for sodium/potassium-ion batteries(SIBs/KIBs).It is believed that doping and increasing the layer spacing can improve the Na+/K+storage.Herein,S/N co-doped graphite nanosheets(GNS)with an enlarged interlayer spacing of 0.39 nm were prepared via exfoliation with three-roll milling(TRM)combined with thiourea heated at different temperatures.This method generates abundant defects and active sites for GNS,as well as facilitates rapid access and transport of electrolytes and electrons/ions.The electrochemical results show that the S/N-doped GNS exfoliated 15 times and heated at 600°C(SNGNS15-600)with thiourea as the electrode delivers a discharge capacity of 94 mAh g–1 over 6000 cycles at 10 A g–1 with an enhanced rate capability and stable performance for application in SIBs.Calculations using density functional theory show that the increased interlayer spacing by TRM and S,N co-doping enhances the adsorption energies of Na+on graphite,thus improving the Na+storage.As the anode for KIBs,the SNGNS15-600 electrode has a capacity of 142 mAh g–1 after 5000 cycles at 0.5 A g–1.This study provides an essential theoretical basis for the effective exfoliation of layered graphite-based materials and their applications in energy storage.

Fluorinated graphite nanosheets for ultrahigh-capacity lithium primary batteries

For better performances of Ni-based catalysts at low temperatures,Ni/SiC catalyst doped with a little amount of additive La was successfully prepared.The catalytic CO methanation activity tests showed that 3%La-Ni/SiC catalyst was excellent at a low reaction temperature(95.9%CO conversion and 85.1%CH4 selectivity at250℃)with a superior stability compared with Ni/SiC(3.4%CO conversion and 0%CH4 selectivity at 250℃).This can be attributed to that the addition of La can markedly improve the dispersibility of active metal Ni and reduce the particle sizes of Ni nanoparticles or clusters,and can also regulate the interaction between active components and supports.Moreover,the high thermal conductivity and thermal stability could avoid the generation of hot spots in the catalyst bed.These results will promote the development of highly active Ni-based catalysts for the low-temperature methanation reaction.

Composite polymer electrolyte reinforced by graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets for room-temperature all-solid-state lithium batteries

By virtue of the flexibility and safety, polyethylene oxide(PEO) based electrolytes are regarded as an appealing candidate for all-solid-state lithium batteries. However, their application is limited by the poor ionic conductivity at room temperature, narrow electrochemical stability window and uncontrolled growth of lithium dendrite. To alleviate these problems, we introduce the ultrathin graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets(GCN) as advanced nanofillers into PEO based electrolytes(GCN-CPE). Benefiting from the high surface area and abundant surface N-active sites of GCN, the GCN-CPE displays decreased crystallinity and enhanced ionic conductivity. Meanwhile, Fourier transform infrared and chronoamperometry studies indicate that GCN can facilitate Li+migration in the composite electrolyte. Additionally, the GCN-CPE displays an extended electrochemical window compared with PEO based electrolytes. As a result, Li symmetric battery assembled with GCN-CPE shows a stable Li plating/stripping cycling performance, and the all-solid-state Li/LiNi_(0.6)Co_(0.2)Mn_(0.2)O_(2)(NCM622) batteries using GCN-CPE exhibit satisfactory cyclability and rate capability in a voltage range of 3-4.2 V at 30 ℃.

Band Engineering and Morphology Control of Oxygen‑Incorporated Graphitic Carbon Nitride Porous Nanosheets for Highly Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Graphitic carbon nitride(g-C3N4)-based photocatalysts have shown great potential in the splitting of water.However,the intrinsic drawbacks of g-C3N4,such as low surface area,poor diffusion,and charge separation efficiency,remain as the bottleneck to achieve highly efficient hydrogen evolution.Here,a hollow oxygen-incorporated g-C3N4 nanosheet(OCN)with an improved surface area of 148.5 m2 g^−1 is fabricated by the multiple thermal treatments under the N2/O2 atmosphere,wherein the C–O bonds are formed through two ways of physical adsorption and doping.The physical characterization and theoretical calculation indicate that the O-adsorption can promote the generation of defects,leading to the formation of hollow morphology,while the O-doping results in reduced band gap of g-C3N4.The optimized OCN shows an excellent photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity of 3519.6μmol g^−1 h^−1 for~20 h,which is over four times higher than that of g-C3N4(850.1μmol g^−1 h^−1)and outperforms most of the reported g-C3N4 catalysts.

Er-doped all-fiber laser mode-locked by graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets

Few-layer graphitic carbon nitride （g-C-N-） nanosheets were fabricated and utilized as a saturable absorber for mode-locking in an Er-doped fiber laser with net normal dispersion. Tile g-CaN,-/polyvinyl alcohol （PVA） hybrid-film-based saturable absorber has a modulation depth of 4.01% and a saturation intensity of 7.5 MW/cm2. By integrating g-C3N4-PVA mode-locker into the laser cavity, a mode-locked operation could be obtained. The achieved mode-locking pulse centered at 1530.3 nm has a pulse width of 530 ps. Its repetition rate is 40.8 MHz, and the corresponding signal-to-noise ratio is about 55 dB.