Rational architecture design of yolk/double-shells Si-based anode material with double buffering carbon layers for high performance lithium-ion battery

Among the many strategies to fabricate the silicon/carbon composite,yolk/double-shells structure can be regarded as an effective strategy to overcome the intrinsic defects of Si-based anode materials for Li-ion batteries(LIBs).Hereon,a facile and inexpensive technology to prepare silicon/carbon composite with yolk/double-shells structure is proposed,in which the double buffering carbon shells are fabricated.The silicon/carbon nanoparticles with core-shell structure are encapsulated by SiO_(2)and external carbon layer,and it shows the yolk/double-shells structure via etching the SiO_(2)sacrificial layer.The multiply shells structure not only significantly improves the electrical conductivity of composite,but also effectively prevents the exposure of Si particles from the electrolyte composition.Meanwhile,the yolk/double-shells structure can provide enough space to accommodate the volume change of the electrode during charge/discharge process and avoid the pulverization of Si particles.Moreover,the as-prepared YDS-Si/C shows excellent performance as anode of LIBs,the reversible capacity is as high as 1066 mA h g^(-1) at the current density of 0.5 A g^(-1) after 200 cycles.At the same time,the YDS-Si/C has high capacity retention and good cyclic stability.Therefore,the unique architecture design of yolk/double-shells for Si/C composite provides an instructive exploration for the development of next generation anode materials of LIBs with high electrochemical performances and structural stability.

A novel strategy for loading metal cocatalysts onto hollow nano-TiO_(2)inner surface with highly enhanced H_(2)production activity

The loading strategy of cocatalysts affects its activity exerting and atom utilization.Here,a novel strategy for loading precious metal(Pt)cocatalysts by means of ultrathin N-doped carbon layer is reported.The strategy is based on a pyrolysis process of predesigned N-containing polymers and Pt complexes on hard-template surface,during which Pt can be reduced by carbon from pyrolysis at high temperatures.Finally,the hollow TiO_(2)composite with stable and dispersed Pt on its inner surface was prepared.It shows an ultrahigh photocatalytic H_(2)production activity as high as 25.7 mmol h^(-1)g^(-1)with methanol as sacrificial regent,and displays an apparent quantum yield as 13.2%.The improved photocatalytic activity and stability can be attributed to the highly dispersed and ultrafine Pt nanoparticles,enhanced interaction between Pt-species and carbon support,fast photo-excited electron transport from the high graphitization degree of NC layers,ample oxygen vacancies/defects,as well as the manipulated local charge distribution of Pt/NC-layer configuration.Additionally,the universality of the proposed strategy was demonstrated by replacing metal sources(such as,Ru and Pd).This work presented a promising strategy for the design and development of novel photocatalysts,which shows a broad application prospect.

Effect of composition and structure on specific resistivity of SiC fibers

Four kinds of SiC fibers with different specific resistivities were prepared by the pyrolysis of cured polycarbosilane fiber. The results show that SiC fibers with different specific resistivities can be obtained by changing the curing and pyrolysis conditions. And the free carbon content and the ability to crystallize no longer affect the specific resistivities notably with the time when the fiber is covered with an excess carbon layer, and the fiber has a low specific resistivity. The excess carbon layer in the circular outer part is originated from the re-pyrolysis and deposition of hydrocarbon volatiles. The removal of the carbon by oxidative treatment may affect the surface property and also promote the magnitude of specific resistivity. The influence of the surface property on the specific resistivity can be considerable and should not be neglected.

Facile synthesis of bimetallic N-doped carbon hybrid material for electrochemical nitrogen reduction

Due to the increasingly depleted limited fossil fuel resources,the development of renewable energy is the key to promote sustainable development which is an important part of the energy strategy[1].NH3 is one of most important and largest chemical productions in the world,it can be used as a feedstock for nitrogen fertilizer productions[2,3]or as a carbon-free energy carrier[4,5].

Study on process and mechanism of superplastic diffusion bonding of dissimilar steels

The probability, main effect factors and diffusion theory of structural superplastic diffusion bonding of W6Mo5Cr4V2/45 steel have been observed and analyzed by means of tensile test at the room temperature, scanning electron microscope and microhardness test. Results show that after fine graining treatment and short time superplastic pressing formation under the conditions of superplastic temperature and strain rate, W6Mo5Cr4V2/45 specimens can achieve solid state diffusion bonding and the property of welded area is the same as the other parts in the specimen. The diffusion path of carbon element is intergranular and of dislocation.

Few‐layer carbon nitride photocatalysts for solar fuels and chemicals:Current status and prospects

Converting sunlight directly to fuels and chemicals is a great latent capacity for storing renewable energy.Due to the advantages of large surface area,short diffusion paths for electrons,and more exposed active sites,few‐layer carbon nitride(FLCN)materials present great potential for production of solar fuels and chemicals and set off a new wave of research in the last few years.Herein,the recent progress in synthesis and regulation of FLCN‐based photocatalysts,and their applications in the conversion of sunlight into fuels and chemicals,is summarized.More importantly,the regulation strategies from chemical modification to microstructure control toward the production of solar fuels and chemicals has been deeply analyzed,aiming to inspire critical thinking about the effective approaches for photocatalyst modification rather than developing new materials.At the end,the key scientific challenges and some future trend of FLCN‐based materials as advanced photocatalysts are also discussed.

In situ grown nanoscale platinum on carbon powder as catalyst layer in proton exchange membrane fuel cells(PEMFCs)

An extensive study has been conducted on the proton exchange membrane fuel cells （PEMFCs） with reducing Pt loading. This is commonly achieved by developing methods to increase the utilization of the platinum in the catalyst layer of the electrodes. In this paper, a novel process of the catalyst layers was introduced and investigated. A mixture of carbon powder and Nafion solution was sprayed on the glassy carbon electrode （GCE） to form a thin carbon layer. Then Pt particles were deposited on the surface by reducing hexachloroplatinic （IV） acid hexahydrate with methanoic acid. SEM images showed a continuous Pt gradient profile among the thickness direction of the catalytic layer by the novel method. The Pt nanowires grown are in the size of 3 nm （diameter） x l0 nm （length） by high solution TEM image. The novel catalyst layer was characterized by cyclic voltammetry （CV） and scanning electron microscope （SEM） as compared with commercial Pt/C black and Pt catalyst layer obtained from sputtering. The results showed that the platinum nanoparticles deposited on the carbon powder were highly utilized as they directly faced the gas diffusion layer and offered easy access to reactants （oxygen or hydrogen）.

Continuous Deformation Monitoring by Polymermatrix Carbon Fiber Sensitive Layer

Composite made of short-cut carbon fiber mat and vinyl ester resin was observed to be an effective sensor for tensile strain up to 6 000με. Based on its strain sensitivity, a skin-like sensitive layer which can continuously cover the structural surface to sense strain in large area was developed. The sensitive layer was applied to continuously monitor the deformation of a simply supported beam. The result indicates that the fractional change in electrical resistance of the sensitive layer reversibly reflects the beam deformation in each section and describes the distribution of the average strain of the beam. The effect of temperature change on the monitoring was studied by monitoring tests conducted at different temperatures ranging from 20 to 80 ℃, which reveals temperature sensitivity in the sensitive layer and the temperature dependence of the piezoresistive behavior when the temperature exceeds 50 ℃. By the application of differential conaection principle, a method for temperature compensation was established and the gauge factor for the monitoring was dramatically increased. This method was verified experimentally.

Aluminum matrix composites reinforced by molybdenum-coated carbon nanotubes

To extend the application of carbon nanotubes （CNTs） and explore novel aluminum matrix composites,CNTs were coated by molybdenum layers using metal organic chemical vapor deposition,and then Mo-coated CNT （Mo-CNT）/Al composites were prepared by the combination processes of powder mixing and spark plasma sintering.The influences of powder mixing and Mo-CNT content on the mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of the composites were investigated.The results show that magnetic stirring is better than mechanical milling for mixing the Mo-CNTs and Al powders.The electrical conductivity of the composites decreases with increasing Mo-CNT content.When the Mo-CNT content is 0.5wt%,the tensile strength and hardness of Mo-CNT/Al reach their maximum values.The tensile strength of 0.5wt% Mo-CNT/Al increases by 29.9%,while the electrical conductivity only decreases by 7.1%,relative to sintered pure Al.The phase analysis of Mo-CNT/Al composites reveals that there is no formation of Al carbide in the composites.

AUGER STUDY OF CARBON LAYER ON ON IMPLANTED STEEL SURFACE

The carbon layers on implanted steel surface have been studied by means of Auger spectra. It is shown that the thickness of the carbon layer is proportional to the dose of implanted ions. By comparison with the results of friction and wear tests, the friction coefficient is smaller than 0.20 at the first part of the friction coefficient curve. It is considered that the graphitic carbon layer on the top of steel is helpful to reducing the surface friction coefficient of steel.

Burning magnesium in carbon dioxide for highly effective phosphate removal

Magnesium oxide was found to have high-phosphate-affinity as an effective component to enhance the phosphate removal ability of common adsorbent materials.However,the currently prepared MgO-based hybrid adsorbents by conventional methods still suffer from the limited low loading of MgO and inferior removal performances,much far away from practical application.In this study,an ingenious carbon coated MgO nanocomposite is designed by directly burning magnesium in CO_(2),a well-known textbook reaction.X-ray diffraction analysis,scanning electron microscope and aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscope demonstrate the sample is well prepared.Consequently,the high content of nanosized MgO combined with defect-rich carbon layer brings unprecedented phosphate removal capacity of 1135.0 mg/g,removal rate of 99% and benign compatibility with coexisting anions and solution pH.Furthermore,the removal mechanism is also investigated in detail by characterizing the sample before and after adsorption.

Effect of activation temperature on the properties of double layer capacitance of diatomite-templated carbon

1 Introduction In recent years porous carbons have been widely used in many fields such as energy storage(Mc Creery,2008;Liu et al,2009;Ho et al,2014;Yang et al,2015),adsorption,wastewater treatment,air purification

Linkages between soil microbial stability and carbon storage in the active layer under permafrost degradation

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP)distributes the largest extent of high-altitude mountain permafrost in the world(Zou et al.,2017),which has different characteristics from high-latitude permafrost(Yang et al.,2010)and stores massive soil carbon.

Thermal Conductance of Cu and Carbon Nanotube Interface Enhanced by a Graphene Layer

Thermal conduetances between Cu and graphene covered carbon nanotubes （gCNTs） are calculated by molecular dynamics simulations. The results show that the thermal conductance is about ten times larger than that of Cu- CNT interface. The enhanced thermal conductance is due to the larger contact area introduced by the graphene layer and the stronger thermal transfer ability of the Cu-gCNT interface. From the linear increasing thermal conductance with the increasing total contact area, an effective contact area of such an interface can be defined.

One-pot Synthesis of Bio-inspired Layered Materials of 3D Graphene Network/Calcium Carbonate

A bio-inspired layered material of reduced graphene oxide（RGOs） and calcium carbonate was synthesized via a one-pot strategy in DMF/H2O mixed solvent. The experimental results show that the product is a layered material of wrinkled RGOs networks and micron-sized calcium carbonate particles with uniform granular diameter and homogeneous morphology, which are distributed between the layered gallery of the graphene scaffold. The polymorph and the morphology of the in-situ produced calcium carbonate particles can be manipulated by simply changing the temperature scheme. Besides, the graphene oxide was reduced to a certain extent, and the hierarchical wrinkles were generated in the RGOs layer by the in-situ formation of the calcium carbonate particles. This work provides a facile and controllable strategy for synthesizing layered material of RGOs and carbonates, and also presents a platform for making three-dimensional porous wrinkled RGOs networks.

Molecular template derived ultrathin N-doped carbon layer on cobalt selenide nanobelts for durable and rapid sodium storage

Sodium-ion batteries(SIBs)are an attractive battery system because of similar characteristics to lithium-ion batteries(LIBs)and large Na element abundance.Nevertheless,exploring stable,high-capacity and high-rate anode materials for SIBs is still challenging now.Herein,diethylenetriamine(DETA)molecular template derived ultrathin N-doped carbon(NC)layer decorated CoSe_(2)nanobelts(CoSe_(2)/NC)are prepared by solvothermal reaction followed by calcination process.The CoSe_(2)/NC exhibits large potential as an anode for SIBs.Experiments and theoretical calculations reveal that the in situ formed conductive ultrathin NC layer can not only relieve the volume change of CoSe_(2)but also accelerate electron and ion transport.In addition,the nanobelt structure of CoSe_(2)/NC with abundant exposed active sites can obviously accelerate the electrochemical kinetics.Under the synergistic effect of special nanobelt structure and NC layer,the rate as well as cycling performances of CoSe_(2)/NC are obviously improved.A superior capacity retention of 94.8%is achieved at 2 A·g^(-1)after 2000 cycles.When using Na3V2(PO4)3 cathodes,the pouch full batteries can work steadily at 0.5 C,verifying the application ability.CoSe_(2)/NC anodes also exhibit impressive performances in LIBs and potassium-ion batteries(PIBs).

2D–3D dual carbon layer confined ultrasmall VN nanoparticles for improving lithium-ion storage in hybrid capacitors

Lithium-ion capacitors(LICs) of achieving high power and energy density have garnered significant attention. However, the kinetics unbalance between anode and cathode can impede the application of LICs. Vanadium nitride(VN) with a high theoretical specific capacity(~ 1200 m Ah·g^(-1)) is a better pseudocapacitive anode to match the response of cathode in LICs. However, the insertion/extraction of Li-ions in VN's operation results in significant volume expansion. Herein, the VN/N-r GO-5composite that three-dimentional(3D) dicyandiamidederived-carbon(DDC) tightly wrapped VN quantum dots(VN QDTs) on two-dimentional(2D) reduced graphene oxid(r GO) was prepared by a facile strategy. The VN QDTs can reduce ion diffusion length and improve charge transfer kinetics. The 2D r GO as a template provides support for nanoparticle dispersion and improves electrical conductivity. The 3D DDC tightly encapsulated with VN QDTs mitigates agglomeration of VN particles as well as volume expansion. Correspondingly, the LICs with VN/Nr GO-5 composite as anode and activated carbon(AC) as cathode were fabricated, which exhibits a high energy density and power density. Such strategy provides a perspective for improving the electrochemical properties of LIC anode materials by suppressing volume expansion and enhancing conductivity.

Pt nanocrystallines/TiO_2 with thickness-controlled carbon layers:Preparation and activities in CO oxidation

In this work, a series of Pt nanocrystallines（Pt NCs） supported on TiO2 substrate with controlled thickness of carbon layers（C-Pt/TiO2） were synthesized. Well-dispersed Pt NCs were facilely synthesized at room temperature by a photo-reduction process in lytropic liquid crystal（LCs）. Surface tuning of the carbon layers on Pt/TiO2 catalysts was achieved by varying the calcination atmospheres（in argon, air, and oxygen） and characterized by XPS and HRTEM. The influence of the coated carbon layers on the catalytic activity of catalysts is investigated by CO oxidation reaction which presented the following ranks： C-Pt/TiO2-O2〉 C-Pt/TiO2-Air 〉 C-Pt/TiO2-Ar. It is found that the carbon layer coating can stabilize the Pt NCs and enable them anti-sintering at high temperature. This finding provides new insight into understanding the C-Pt/TiO2 ternary system for tuning their catalytic performance.

Outstanding long-cycling lithium−sulfur batteries by core-shell structure of S@Pt composite with ultrahigh sulfur content

Here we proposed a novel approach to greatly enhance the electrochemical performance of Li-S batteries by designing a composite electrode material composed of a core-shell structure of S@Pt composite(sulfur content,85%)grown on the S surface.The platinum(Pt)nanosheets provide physical barrier and strong chemical binding to anchor LiPSs and improve the electronic conductivity of S.Significantly,by introducing carbon nanofibers(CNFs)as the interlayer,we achieved outstanding Li-S battery with a high initial discharge capacity of 1040 mAh g^(-1)at 1.0C and a reversible capacity of 742 mAh g^(-1)after 350 cycles,demonstrating its excellent long-term cycling stability with a low capacity decay rate of 0.08%per cycle.According to the density functional theory(DFT)calculations,we proposed that the superior performance is attributed to the cooperative effects of the strong interfacial interaction between Pt(111)surface and the S8 molecule,and very low reaction energy of decomposition,−6.4​eV.

Stabilizing nickel sulfide nanoparticles with an ultrathin carbon layer for improved cycling performance in sodium ion batteries

Nanostructured metal sulfides are potential electrode materials for sodium-ion batteries; however, they typically suffer from very poor cycling stability due to large volume changes and dissolution of discharge products. Herein we propose a rational material design strategy for sulfide-based materials to address these problems. Taking nickel sulfide （NiSx） as an example, we demonstrated that its electrochemical performance can be dramatically improved by confining the NiSx nanoparticles in a percolating conductive carbon nanotube network, and stabilizing them with an ultrathin carbon coating layer. The carbon layer serves as a physical barrier to alleviate the effects of both the volume change and dissolution of active materials. The hybrid material exhibited a large reversible specific capacity of 〉500 mAh/g and excellent cycling stability over 200 cycles. Given the traditionally problematic nature of NiSx as a battery anode material, we believe that the observed high performance reported here reflects the effectiveness of our material design strategy.