Stable immobilization of lithium polysulfides using three-dimensional ordered mesoporous Mn_(2)O_(3) as the host material in lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur batteries(LSBs)have drawn significant attention owing to their high theoretical discharge capacity and energy density.However,the dissolution of long-chain polysulfides into the electrolyte during the charge and discharge process(“shuttle effect”)results in fast capacity fading and inferior electrochemical performance.In this study,Mn_(2)O_(3)with an ordered mesoporous structure(OM-Mn_(2)O_(3))was designed as a cathode host for LSBs via KIT-6 hard templating,to effectively inhibit the polysulfide shuttle effect.OM-Mn_(2)O_(3)offers numerous pores to confine sulfur and tightly anchor the dissolved polysulfides through the combined effects of strong polar-polar interactions,polysulfides,and sulfur chain catenation.The OM-Mn_(2)O_(3)/S composite electrode delivered a discharge capacity of 561 mAh g^(-1) after 250 cycles at 0.5 C owing to the excellent performance of OM-Mn_(2)O_(3).Furthermore,it retained a discharge capacity of 628mA h g^(-1) even at a rate of 2 C,which was significantly higher than that of a pristine sulfur electrode(206mA h g^(-1)).These findings provide a prospective strategy for designing cathode materials for high-performance LSBs.

Hard-carbon hybrid Li-ion/metal anode enabled by preferred mesoporous uniform lithium growth mechanism

To achieve high energy density in lithium batteries,the construction of lithium-ion/metal hybrid anodes is a promising strategy.In particular,because of the anisotropy of graphite,hybrid anode formed by graphite/Li metal has low transport kinetics and is easy to causes the growth of lithium dendrites and accumulation of dead Li,which seriously affects the cycle life of batteries and even causes safety problems.Here,by comparing graphite with two types of hard carbon,it was found that hybrid anode formed by hard carbon and lithium metal,possessing more disordered mesoporous structure and lithophilic groups,presents better performance.Results indicate that the mesoporous structure provides abundant active site and storage space for dead lithium.With the synergistic effect of this structure and lithophilic functional groups(–COOH),the reversibility of hard carbon/lithium metal hybrid anode is maintained,promoting uniform deposition of lithium metal and alleviating formation of lithium dendrites.The hybrid anode maintains a 99.5%Coulombic efficiency(CE)after 260 cycles at a specific capacity of 500 m Ah/g.This work provides new insights into the hybrid anodes formed by carbon-based materials and lithium metal with high specific energy and fast charging ability.

Non-spherical abrasives with ordered mesoporous structures for chemical mechanical polishing

The chemical mechanical polishing(CMP)technology has been widely used for surface modification of critical materials and components with high quality and efficiency.In a typical CMP process,the mechanical properties of abrasives play a vital role in obtaining the ultra-precision and damage-free surface of wafers for improvement of their performances.In this work,a series of fine structured rod-shaped silica(RmSiO2)-based abrasives with controllable sizes and diverse ordered mesoporous structures were synthesized via a soft template approach,and successfully applied in the sustainable polishing slurry for improving the surface quality of cadmium zinc telluride(CZT)wafers.Compared with commercial silica gel,solid and mesoporous silica spheres,the RmSiO2 abrasives present superior elastic deformation capacity and surface precision machinability on account of their mesoporous structures and rod shapes.Especially,ultra-precision surface roughness and relatively effective material removal speed were achieved by the CMP process using the RmSiO2 abrasives with a length/diameter(L/d)ratio of 1.In addition,a potential CMP mechanism of the developed polishing slurry to CZT wafer was elucidated by analyzing X-ray photoelectron spectra and other characterizations.The proposed interfacial chemical and mechanical effects will provide a new strategy for improving abrasives’machinability and precision manufacture of hard-to-machine materials.

Electrochemically-induced highly reactive PdO^(*) interface on modulated mesoporous MOF-derived Co_(3)O_(4) support for selective ethanol electro-oxidation

Herein,Pd nanoparticles loaded Co_(3)O_(4)catalysts(Pd@Co_(3)O_(4))are constructed from zeolitic imidazolate framework-67(ZIF-67)for the ethanol oxidation reaction(EOR).It is demonstrated for the first time that the electrochemical conversion of Co_(3)O_(4)support would result in the charge distribution alignment at the Pd/Co_(3)O_(4)interface and induce the formation of highly reactive Pd-O species(PdO^(*)),which can further catalyze the consequent reactions of the intermediates of the ethanol oxidation.The catalyst,Pd@Co_(3)O_(4)-450,obtained under the optimized conditions exhibits excellent EOR performance with a high mass activity of 590 mA mg-1,prominent operational stability,and extraordinary capability for the electro-oxidation of acetaldehyde intermediates.Importantly,the detailed mechanism investigation reveals that Pd@Co_(3)O_(4)-450 could be benefit to the C-C bond cleavage to promote the desirable C1 pathway for the ethanol oxidation reaction.The present strategy based on the metal-support interaction of the catalyst might provide valuable inspiration for the design of high-performing catalysts for the ethanol oxidation reaction.

Synthesis of three-dimensional ordered mesoporous MnO_2 and its catalytic performance in formaldehyde oxidation

Three-dimensional（3D）ordered mesoporous MnO2 was prepared using KIT-6 mesoporous molecular sieves as a hard template.The material was used for catalytic oxidation of HCHO.The material has high surface areas and the mesoporous characteristics of the template,with cubic symmetry（ia3d）.It consists of a β-MnO2 crystalline phase corresponding to pyrolusite,with a rutile structure.Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the 3D-MnO2 catalyst has a large number of exposed Mn4＋ ions on the（110）crystal plane surfaces,with a lattice spacing of 0.311 nm; this enhances oxidation of HCHO.Complete conversion of HCHO to CO2 and H2O was achieved at 130 °C on 3D-MnO2; the same conversions on α-MnO2 and β-MnO2 nanorods were obtained at 140 and 180 °C,respectively,under the same conditions.The specific mesoporous structure,high specific surface area,and large number of surface Mn4＋ ions are responsible for the catalytic activity of 3D-MnO2 in HCHO oxidation.

Effect of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide on morphology and porous structure of mesoporous hydroxyapatite

The mesoporous hydroxyapatite （HA） was synthesized by hydrothermal method utilizing cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide （CTAB） as template. The crystalline phase, morphology and porous structure were characterized respectively by different detecting techniques. The results reveal that the particles are highly crystalline hydroxyapatite phase. The surfactant has little influence on the morphology of the crystals, but affects the porous structure obviously. The sample without CTAB has a low surface area not exceeding 33 m^2/g, and no distinct pores can be observed by TEM. While the samples obtained with the surfactant get better parameters. Numerous open-ended pores centered at 2-7 nm spread unequally on the surface of the hydroxyapatite nanorods. The N2 adsorption-desorption experiments show type IV isotherms with distinct hysteresis loops, illustrating the presence of mesoporous structure. When the mole ratio of CTAB to HA is 1：2, the sample has the largest surface area of 97.1 m^2/g and pore volume of 0.466 cm^3/g.

Grinding sol gel synthesis and electrochemical performance of mesoporous Li_3V_2(PO_4)_3 cathode materials

Li3V2（PO4）3 precursor was obtained with V2Os.nH2O , LiOH＇H2O, NH4H2PO4 and sucrose as starting materials by grinding-sol-gel method, and then the monoclinic-typed Li3Vz（PO4）3 cathode material was prepared by sintering the amorphous Li3V2（PO4）3. The as-sintered samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, N2 adsorption-desorption and electrochemical measurement. It is found that Li3Vz（PO4）3 sintered at 700 ℃ possesses good wormhole-like mesoporous structure with the largest specific surface area of 188 cmZ/g, and the smallest pore size of 9.3 nm. Electrochemical test reveals that the initial discharge capacity of the 700 ℃ sintered sample is 155.9 mA.h/g at the rate of 0.2C, and the capacity retains 154 mA.h/g after 50 cycles, exhibiting a stable discharge capacity at room temperature.

Atomically dispersed Fe sites on hierarchically porous carbon nanoplates for oxygen reduction reaction

Developing cost-effective,robust and stable non-precious metal catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) is of paramount importance for electrochemical energy conversion devices such as fuel cells and metal-air batteries.Although Fe-N-C single atom catalysts(SACs) have been hailed as the most promising candidate due to the optimal binding strength of ORR intermediates on the Fe-N_(4) sites,they suffer from serious mass transport limitations as microporous templates/substrates,i.e.,zeolitic imidazolate frameworks(ZIFs),are usually employed to host the active sites.Motivated by this challenge,we herein develop a hydrogen-bonded organic framework(HOF)-assisted pyrolysis strategy to construct hierarchical micro/mesoporous carbon nanoplates for the deposition of atomically dispersed Fe-N_(4) sites.Such a design is accomplished by employing HOF nanoplates assembled from 2-aminoterephthalic acid(NH_(2)-BDC) and p-phenylenediamine(PDA) as both soft templates and C,N precursors.Benefitting from the structural merits inherited from HOF templates,the optimized catalyst(denoted as Fe-N-C SAC-950) displays outstanding ORR activity with a high half-wave potential of 0.895 V(vs.reversible hydrogen electrode(RHE)) and a small overpotential of 356 mV at 10 mA cm^(-2) for the oxygen evolution reaction(OER).More excitingly,its application potential is further verified by delivering superb rechargeability and cycling stability with a nearly unfading charge-discharge gap of 0.72 V after 160 h.Molecular dynamics(MD) simulations reveal that micro/mesoporous structure is conducive to the rapid mass transfer of O_(2),thus enhancing the ORR performance.In situ Raman results further indicate that the conversion of O_(2) to~*O_(2)-the rate-determining step(RDS) for Fe-N-C SAC-950.This work will provide a versatile strategy to construct single atom catalysts with desirable catalytic properties.

Synthesis of a new ordered mesoporous NiMoO_4 complex oxide and its efficient catalytic performance for oxidative dehydrogenation of propane

Highly ordered mesoporous NiMoO4 material was successfully synthesized using mesoporous silica KIT-6 as hard template via vacuum nanocasting method. The structure was characterized by means of XRD, TEM, N2 adsorption-desorption, Raman and FT-IR. The mesoporous NiMoO4 with the coexistence of a-NiMoO4 and fl-NiMoO4 showed well-ordered mesoporous structure, a bimodal pore size distribution and crystalline framework. The catalytic performance of NiMoOa was investigated for oxidative dehydrogenation of propane. It is demonstrated that the mesoporous NiMoO4 catalyst with more surface active oxygen species showed better catalytic performance in oxidative dehydrogena- tion of propane in comparison with bulk NiMoO4.

Hydrothermal Synthesis and Properties of Y-zeolite-containing Composite Material with Micro/mesoporous Structure

A Y-zeolite-containing composite material with micro/mesoporous structure had been synthesized from kaolin by means of the in-situ crystallization method. The obtained samples were investigated by XRD and BET methods. Evaluation of catalytic activity of both the commercial Y-zeolite and the novel Y-zeolite-containing composite material was carried out in the pulse micro-chromatography platform with two probe molecules of different molecular sizes： VGO feedstock and 1,3,5 tri-isopropyl benzene. It was found that the Y-zeolite-containing composite material was richer in external surface and meso-/macro-pores; the Y-zeolite-containing composite material demonstrated a smaller rate of deactivation compared to the commercial Y-zeolite.

Spherical FeF3·0.33H2O/MWCNTs nanocomposite with mesoporous structure as cathode material of sodium ion battery

FeF3·0.33H2O crystallizes in hexagonal tungsten bronze structure with more opened hexagonal cavities are considered as next generation electrode materials of both lithium ion battery and sodium ion battery.In this paper the mesoporous spherical FeF3·0.33H2O/MWCNTs nanocomposite was successfully synthesized via a one-step solvothermal approach. Galvanostatic measurement showed that the performances of sodium ion batteries（SIBs） using FeF3·0.33H2O/MWCNTs as cathode material were highly dependent on the morphology and size of the as-prepared materials. Benefitting from the special mesoporous structure features, FeF3·0.33H2O/MWCNTs nanocomposite exhibits much better electrochemical performances in terms of initial discharge capacity（350.4 mAh g-1） and cycle performance（123.5 mAh g-1 after 50 cycles at 0.1 C range from 1.0 V to 4.0 V） as well as rate capacity（123.8 mAh g-1 after 25 cycles back to 0.1 C）. The excellent electrochemical performance enhancement can be attributed to the synergistic effect of the mesoporous structure and the MWCNTs conductive network, which can effectively increase the contact area between the active materials and the electrolyte, shorten the Na＋ diffusion pathway,buffer the volume change during cycling/discharge process and improve the structure stability of the FeF3·0.33H2O/MWCNTs nanocomposite.

Pt–Pd bimetallic nanoparticles anchored on uniform mesoporous MnO_(2) sphere as an advanced nanocatalyst for highly efficient toluene oxidation

Improving catalytic performance is a yet still challenge in thermal catalytic oxidation.Herein,uniform mesoporous MnO_(2) nanospheresupported bimetallic Pt–Pd nanoparticles were successfully fabricated via a SiO_(2) template strategy for the total catalytic degradation of volatile organic compounds at low temperature.The introduction of mesopores into the MnO_(2) support induces a large specific surface area and pore size,thus providing numerous accessible active sites and enhanced diffusion properties.Moreover,the addition of a secondary noble metal can adjust the O_(ads)/O_(latt) molar ratios,resulting in high catalytic activity.Among them,the catalyst having a Pt/Pd molar ratio of 7:3 exhibits optimized catalytic activity at a weight hourly space velocity of 36,000 mL g^(-1) h^(-1),reaching 100%toluene oxidation at 175℃ with a lower activation energy(57.0 kJ mol^(-1))than the corresponding monometallic Pt or non-Pt-based catalysts(93.8 kJ mol^(-1) and 214.2 kJ mol^(-1)).Our findings demonstrate that the uniform mesoporous MnO_(2) nanosphere-supported bimetallic Pt–Pd nanoparticles catalyst is an effective candidate for application in elimination of toluene.

Aerobic oxidative desulfurization via magnetic mesoporous silica-supported tungsten oxide catalysts

It is usually difficult to remove dibenzothiophenes from diesel fuels by oxidation with molecular oxygen as an oxidant.In the study,tungsten oxide was supported on magnetic mesoporous silica by calcination to form a magnetically separable catalyst for oxidative desulfurization of diesel fuel.By tuning different calcining temperatures,the catalyst calcined at 500℃showed a high catalytic activity with molecular oxygen as the oxidant.Under optimal reaction conditions,the sulfur removal of DBT reached 99.9%at 120℃after 8 h.Furthermore,the removals of 4-methyldibenzothiophene and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene could also get up to 98.2%and 92.3%under the same conditions.The reaction mechanism was explored by selective quenching experiments and FT-IR spectra.

In situ preparation of mesoporous Fe/TiO_2 catalyst using Pluronic F127-assisted sol-gel process for mid-temperature NH_3 selective catalytic reduction

An Fe/TiO2catalyst with uniform mesopores was synthesized using Pluronic F127as a structuredirecting agent.This catalyst was used for selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH3.The catalytic activity and resistance to H2O and SO2of Fe/TiO2prepared by a template method were better than those of catalysts synthesized using impregnation and coprecipitation.The samples were characterized using N2‐physisorption,transmission electron microscopy,ultraviolet‐visibl spectroscopy,X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy,and in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fouriertransform spectroscopy.The results showed that Pluronic F127acted as a structural and chemical promoter;it not only promoted the formation of a uniform mesoporous structure,leading to a higher surface area,but also improved dispersion of the active phase.In addition,the larger number of Lewis acidic sites,indicated by the presence of coordinated NH3species(1188cm-1)and the N–H stretching modes of coordinated NH3(3242and3388cm-1),were beneficial to mid‐temperature selective catalytic reduction reactions.

Rapid Fabrication of CdS Nanocrystals with Well Mesoporous Structure Under Ultrasound Irradiation at Room Temperature

Sphere-like mesoporous CdS nanocrystals with high crystallinity and big surface area were successfully fabricated by ultrasound irradiation at room temperature. The as-synthesized CdS with and without ultrasound irra diation was investigated by the characterizations of X-ray diffraction（XRD）, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, transmission electron microscopy（TEM）, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller（BET） surface areas. The photocatalytic acti vity of the CdS was evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange under visible light（λ〉420 nm） irradia tion. A possible mechanism for the formation of the CdS nanocrystals with mesoporous structure under ultrasound irradiation was proposed. The results show that both the template role of the triblock copolymer of P123 and the effect of ultrasound-induced aggregation are mainly responsible for the formation of mesoporous structure. On the other hand, the energy generated from acoustic cavitation can effectively accelerate the crystallization process of the amorphous CdS.

Structures and Properties of La_(0.8)Sr_(0.2)MnO_(3+σ)^(-z) SBA-15(z=0, 1, 2, 4) Perovskite Catalysts

Mesoporous La0.8Sr0.2MnO3＋σ/z SBA-15（z = 1, 2, 4） perovskite oxides were synthesized via hard-templating with ordered mesoporous silica SBA-15 as the template. The as-prepared samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, AFM, BET, and XPS and the catalytic activity was tested for CO oxidation. The wide-angle XRD patterns showed that La0.8Sr0.2MnO3＋σ perovskite was formed. The SEM and AFM analyses exhibited that La0.8Sr0.2MnO3＋σ by hard-templating method had much smaller particle size（18 nm） than that（40 nm） by the sol-gel method. The perovskite-type oxides La0.8Sr0.2MnO3＋σ/z SBA-15（z = 1, 2, 4） also displayed a higher BET surface area from 70 to 143.7 m^2/g and a disordered mesostructure from nitrogen sorption analysis, as well as a small-angle XRD pattern. Moreover, the La0.8Sr0.2MnO3＋σ/z SBA-15（z = 1, 2, 4） perovskite exhibited a much higher activity in CO oxidation than the conventional La0.8Sr0.2MnO3＋σ perovskite. Further analysis by the means of XPS techniques indicated that the existence of high content of Oads/Olatt species contributed to the high activity.

A Novel Synthesis of Titania-silica Mixed Oxide with MesoporousStructure

Mixture formed from sonicating TiCl4 and Si(OEt)4 in the absence of water is used as precursor and hydrolyzed by using a long-chain organic ammonium bromide as a structure-directing agent. The product, titania-silica, is of mesoporous structure and characterized with SEM, FT-IR, BET, XRD and so on.

Synergy of mesoporous SnO_(2)and RbF modification for high-efficiency and stable perovskite solar cells

Electron transport layer(ETL)is very critical to the performance of perovskite solar cells(PSCs),and optimization work on ETL has received extensive attentions especially on tin oxide(SnO_(2))since it is an excellent ETL material widely applied in high-efficiency PSCs.Thereinto,introducing mesoporous structure and surface modification are two important approaches which are commonly applied.Herein,based on the previous work in low-temperature fabrication process of mesoporous SnO_(2)(mSnO_(2)),we introduced a modification process with rubidium fuoride(Rb F)to the m-SnO_(2)ETL,and successfully achieved a synergy of the m-SnO_(2)and Rb F modification:not only the shortcoming of the m-SnO_(2)in interfacial traps was overcome,but also the carrier collection efficiency was further improved.The PSCs based on the m-SnO_(2)ETL with Rb F modification demonstrated outstanding performances:a champion power conversion efficiency(PCE)of 22.72%and a stability performance of maintaining 90%of the initial PCE after 300 h of MPP tracking were obtained without surface passivation of perovskite film.Hence,utilizing the abovementioned synergy is a cost-effective and feasible strategy for fabricating high-efficiency and stable PSCs since the fabrication process of the m-SnO_(2)ETL is a kind of low temperature process and RbF is cheap.

Influence of Drying Methods on Fractal Geometric Characteristics of Mesoporous Silica Aerogels

Chemical modification/ambient drying method and freeze drying method were introduced to research the synthesis of mesoporous silica aerogels. By analyzing N2 gas adsorption/desorption isotherms, the fractal geometric characteristics of gels were focused. The overall surface fractal dimensions were determined by analyzing N2 gas adsorption branch and a Frenkel-Halsey-Hill （FHH） equation was empolyed to determine surface fractal dimension Df It is found that, during ambient drying process, VTMCS/VWetgel ratio plays a crucial role in the changes of geometric feature, the key point is 50%, when the ratio is lower, and surface roughness increases with the ratio, when it exceeds 50%, the surface is almost unaffected by the modification. While freeze drying always tends to get larger Df freeze drying process could cause a rough surface of the gels. Compared with traditional porosity and specific surface area analyses, fractal geometry may be expected to be favorable for mesoporous structural analyses of materials.

Mesoporous Structure and Photocatalytic Activity of Doped Polyanilines

Photocatalytic activity of doped polyaniline nanopowders with different molar ratio of An/O （aniline^oxidizer） has been studied in the process of photocatalytic decolorization of aqueous solutions of methylene blue. By means of scanning electron microscopy and low-temperature N2 adsorption method, it was found that doped PANI （polyaniline） nanopowders have the particles size of 30-50 nm with the specific surface area of 20-35 m2.g＂~. It was found that PANI photocatalytic activity essentially depends on molar ratio of An/O and adsorption interactions between the dye molecules and catalytic active centers on PANI surface and these interactions are greatly affected by pH of the solution 9.2. An optimum of the synergetic effect is found for an initial molar ratio of aniline to oxidizer equal to 0.8.