Monodisperse polar NiCo_(2)O_(4) nanoparticles decorated porous graphene aerogel for high-performance lithium sulfur battery

Lithium sulfur battery(LSB)is a promising energy storage system to meet the increasing energy demands for electric vehicles and smart grid,while its wide commercialization is severely inhibited by the"shuttle effect"of polysulfides,low utilization of sulfur cathode,and safety of lithium anode.To overcome these issues,herein,monodisperse polar NiCo_(2)O_(4)nanoparticles decorated porous graphene aerogel composite(NCO-GA)is proposed.The aerogel composite demonstrates high conductivity,hierarchical porous structure,high chemisorption capacity and excellent electrocatalytic ability,which effectively inhibits the"shuttle effect",promotes the ion/electron transport and increases the reaction kinetics.The NCO-GA/S cathode exhibits high discharge specific capacity(1214.1 mAh g^(-1)at 0.1 C),outstanding rate capability(435.7 mAh g^(-1)at 5 C)and remarkable cycle stability(decay of 0.031%/cycle over 1000 cycles).Quantitative analyses show that the physical adsorption provided by GA mainly contributes to the capacity of NCO-GA/S at low rate,while the chemical adsorption provided by polar NiCo_(2)O_(4)contributes mainly to the capacity of NCO-GA/S with the increase of current density and cycling.This work provides a new strategy for the design of GA-based composite with synergistic adsorption and electrocatalytic activity for the potential applications in LSB and related energy fields.

Controllable Synthesis and Magnetic Properties of Monodisperse Fe_3O_4 Nanoparticles

Magnetite （Fe3O4） nanoparticles with different sizes and shapes are synthesized by the thermal decomposition method. Two approaches, non-injection one-pot and hot-injection methods, are designed to investigate the growth mechanism in detail. It is found that the size and shape of nanoparticles are determined by adjusting the precursor concentration and duration time, which can be well explained by the mechanism based on the LaMer model in our synthetic system. The monodisperse Fe3O4 nanoparticles have a mean diameter from 5nm to 16nm, and shape evolution from spherical to triangular and cubic. The magnetic properties are size-dependent, and Fe3O4 nanoparticles in small size about 5 nm exhibit superparamagnetie properties at room temperature and maximum saturation magnetization approaches to 78 emu/g, whereas Fe3O4 nanoparticles develop ferromagnetic properties when the diameter increases to about 16nm.

Facile Preparation and Formation Mechanism of Uniform Silver Nanoparticles Using OP-10 as Emulsifier in Reverse Microemulsion

Using the polymerizable hydrophobic styrene monomer as the dispersion medium and the traditional nonionic surfactant OP-10 as emulsifier, stable silver nanoparticles of narrow size distribution were prepared by a reverse （w/o） microemulsion method. The powder X-ray diffraction （XRD） pattern indicated that the obtained silver nanoparticles were of face-centered cubic structure. The results of the transmission electron microscopy （TEM） show that the final silver nanoparticles are of spherical structure with an average diameter of 15.2 nm and of a Gaussian distribution. The internal high-ordered structure of silver nanoparticles was characterized by the field-emission high-resolution transmission electron microscopy （FEHRTEM）, indicating that the silver is monocrystalline and it has only one nucleation site during the formation process of a nanoparticle. The time-resolved UV-visible absorption spectra was used to monitor the process of the reaction in situ. The results show that the concentration of silver nanoparticles increases but the size changes little and the morphology transforms from obvious ellipsoidal shape to nearly spherical shape during the process. The experimental results indicate that the droplets’ dynamic exchange which is closely related to the nature of surfactant film is the control factor of the kinetics. The dynamic exchange mechanism of silver nanoparticle formation is proposed to involve continual encounter of two separate droplets forming transient fused dimer in which the chemical reaction occurs followed by re-separation without combination. Attributed to the dual role of surfactant in the nanoparticle formation, tailored nanoparticles can be successfully synthesized in control in the premise of a certain stability of reverse microemulsion.

Solvent effect on the synthesis of monodisperse amine-capped Au nanoparticles

A remarkable solvent effect in a single-phase synthesis of monodisperse amine-capped Au nanoparticles is demonstrated.Oleylamine-capped Au nanoparticles were prepared via the reduction of HAuCU by an amine-borane complex in the presence of oleylamine in an organic solvent.When linear or planar hydrocarbon（e.g.,n-hexane,n-octane,1-octadecylene,benzene,and toluene） was used as the solvent, high-quality monodisperse Au nanoparticles with tunable sizes were obtained.However,Au nanoparticles with poor size dispersity were obtained when tetralin,chloroform or cyclohexane was used as the solvent.The revealed solvent effect allows the controlled synthesis of monodisperse Au nanoparticles with tunable size of 3-10 nm.

Synthesis and Characterization of Monodisperse Emulsion Copolymer

Monodisperse emulsion copolymer was synthesized by semi-continuous core-shell emulsion polymerization of styrene, butyl acrylate and γ-methacryloxypropyl trimethoxy silane（KH570）. The emulsion particles size and its polydispersion were measured by dynamic light scattering（DLS）. The properties of emulsion copolymer were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry（DSC）, thermogravimetric analysis（TGA） and measurement of contact angle. The particle morphology was observed under a transmission electron microscope（TEM） and atomic force microscopy（AFM）. The results indicate that emulsion nanoparticles containing silicon possess core-shell structures and narrow polydispersity（PDI≤0.08）. The thermal stability and hydrophobicity of emulsion copolymer were improved with KH570 introduced into the system.

Self-magnetic-attracted NixFe(1-x)@NixFe(1-x)O nanoparticles on nickel foam as highly active and stable electrocatalysts towards alkaline oxygen evolution reaction

A facile self-magnetic-attracted approach was developed for highly active and stable NixFe(1-x)@NixFe(1-x)O/NF electrocatalysts towards alkaline oxygen evolution reaction.Firstly,a low-cost and scalable synthesis method was developed to synthesis 4-5 nm hydrophilic NixFe(1-x)@NixFe(1-x)O core-shell nanocrystals with superparamagnetism.Then,these NixFe(1-x)@NixFe(1-x)O nanoparticles(NPs)could be easily supported on nickel foam without any binders or additives.Optimized by the composition effect,the Ni0.7Fe0.3@Ni0.7Fe0.3O/NF exhibits excellent activity for oxygen evolution reaction(OER),requires only 215 mV at 10 mA·cm^-2 and 260 mV at 100 mA-cm-2,with a Tafel slope of 47.4 mV·dec^-1 in 1.0 M KOH.Moreover,the underlying mechanism was carefully studied by X-ray diffraction(XRD),Raman,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)and X-ray absorption near-edge spectra(XANES)analysis and density functional theory(DFT)calculations.Due to the self-magnetic attraction,the catalyst shows outstanding stability throughout the electrocatalysis,surpassing than most self-supported catalysts.This work provides a new strategy for the construction of highly active and stable OER electrocatalysts,the nearly monodisperse magnetic NixFe(1-x)@NixFe(1-x)O NPs also serve an ideal building block for fundamental research of nickel-iron based catalyst.

Recent advances in photonic crystal with unique structural colors:A review

Inspired by special color-forming organisms in nature,photonic crystal materials with structural color function have been developed significantly with great potential applications for displays,sensors,anti-counterfeiting inks,etc.This review aims to summarize the functions,self-assembly modes,and ap-plications of different kinds of photonic crystal materials.The preparation methods and characteristics of monodisperse inorganic nanoparticles,polymer nanoparticles,inorganic/organic core-shell nanoparti-cles,and MOFs are discussed.Subsequently,we summarize the method of assembling colloidal parti-cles into photonic crystals,which is a template induction method,inkjet printing method,drop coating method,etc.Moreover,the potential application of structural color is presented including humidity re-sponse and magnetic field response in sensors fields,as well as the advantages and disadvantages of anti-counterfeiting,fabric coloring,displays,smart windows,and Biomedical Applications.Finally,we present the development prospects and key problems of photonic crystals.