Advances in the structure design of substrate materials for zinc anode of aqueous zinc ion batteries

Aqueous zinc ion batteries(AZIBs) demonstrate tremendous competitiveness and application prospects because of their abundant resources,low cost, high safety, and environmental friendliness. Although the advanced electrochemical energy storage systems based on zinc ion batteries have been greatly developed, many severe problems associated with Zn anode impede its practical application, such as the dendrite formation,hydrogen evolution, corrosion and passivation phenomenon. To address these drawbacks, electrolytes, separators, zinc alloys, interfacial modification and structural design of Zn anode have been employed at present by scientists. Among them, the structural design for zinc anode is relatively mature, which is generally believed to enhance the electroactive surface area of zinc anode, reduce local current density, and promote the uniform distribution of zinc ions on the surface of anode. In order to explore new research directions, it is crucial to systematically summarize the structural design of anode materials. Herein, this review focuses on the challenges in Zn anode, modification strategies and the three-dimensional(3D) structure design of substrate materials for Zn anode including carbon substrate materials, metal substrate materials and other substrate materials. Finally, future directions and perspectives about the Zn anode are presented for developing high-performance AZIBs.

SUBSTRATE MATERIALS FOR POLY-CSiTF SOLAR CELLS: OPTIMIZATION OF SILICON SHEET FROM POWDER

The optimization of silicon sheet from powder (SSP) technology as polycrystalli ne silicon thin film (poly-CSiTF) solar cells' substrate materials is studied by orthogonal design experimental method. Based on technological optimization of S SP prepared from electronic grade silicon powder, SSP solar cell devices with si mple structure are prepared and the effect of SSP substrate is discussed. Up to now, the conversion efficiency of the prepared solar cells on low purity SSP sub strate with fundamental structure has reached 8.25% (with area of 1cm×1cm).

Kinetic Adsorption of Ammonium Nitrogen by Substrate Materials for Constructed Wetlands

Constructed wetlands （CWs） are engineered systems that utilize natural systems including wetland vegetations, soils, and their associated microbial assemblages to assist in treating wastewater. The kinetic adsorption of ammonium nitrogen （NH＋-N） by CW substrate materials such as blast furnace slag （BFS）, zeolite, ceramsite, vermiculite, gravel, paddy soil, red soil, and turf, was investigated using batch experiments and kinetic adsorption isotherms. Both Freundlich and Lang- muir isotherms could adequately predict the NH＋-N adsorption process. The maximum adsorption capacities of NH＋-N, estimated from the Langmuir isotherm, ranked as： zeolite （33 333.33 mg kg^-1） 〉 turf （29274.01 mg kg^-1） 〉 BFS （5000 mg kg^-1） 〉 vermiculite （3333.33 mg kg^-1） 〉 gravel （769.23 mg kg^-1） 〉 paddy soil （588.24 mg kg^-1） 〉 red soil （555.56 mg kg^-1） 〉 ceramsite （107.53 mg kg^-1）. Some properties of the substrate materials, including bulk density, specific gravity, hydraulic conductivity, uniformity coefficient （K60）, curvature coefficient （Co）, organic matter, pH, exchangeable （or active） Cu, Fe, Zn and Mn, total Cu, and Fe, Mn, Zn, Cd, Pb and Ca, had negative correlations with NH＋-N adsorption. Other properties of the substrate materials like particle diameter values of D10, 030 and 060 （the diameters of particle sizes of a substrate material at which 10%, 30% and 60%, respectively, of the particles pass through the sieve based on the accumulative frequency）, cation exchange capacity （CEC）, exchangeable （or active） Ca and Mg, and total K and Mg had positive correlations with NH＋-N adsorption. In addition, active K and Na as well as the total Na had significant positive correlations with NH＋-N adsorption. This information would be useful for selection of suitable substrate materials for CWs.

Three dimensional carbon substrate materials for electrolysis of water

Water splitting is an important approach for energy conversion to obtain hydrogen and oxygen. Apart from solar water splitting, electrochemical method plays a key role in the booming field, and it is urgent to develop novel and efficient catalysts to accelerate water splitting reaction. Recently, newly emerging self-supported materials, especially three dimensional（3D） carbon substrate electrochemical catalysts, have attracted great attention benefiting from their fantastic catalytic performances, such as large surface area,enhanced conductivity, tunable porosity, and so on. This review summarizes the outstanding materials used for hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction. And catalysts that acted as both anode and cathode in two-electrode systems for overall water splitting are introduced systematically. The opportunities and challenges of 3D carbon substrate materials for electrochemical water splitting are proposed.

Effects of various substrate materials on structural and optical properties of amorphous silicon nitride thin films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

The plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD)technique is well suited for fabricating optical filters with continuously variable refractive index profiles;however,it is not clear how the optical and structural properties of thin films differ when deposited on different substrates.Herein,silicon nitride films were deposited on silicon,fused silica,and glass substrates by PECVD,using silane and ammonia,to investigate the effects of the substrate used on the optical properties and structures of the films.All of the deposited films were amorphous.Further,the types and amounts of Si-centered tetrahedral Si–SivN4-v bonds formed were based upon the substrates used;Si–N4 bonds with higher elemental nitrogen content were formed on Si substrates,which lead to obtaining higher refractive indices,and the Si–SiN3 bonds were mainly formed on glass and fused silica substrates.The refractive indices of the films formed on the different substrates had a maximum difference of0.05(at 550 nm),the refractive index of SiNx films formed on silicon substrates was 1.83,and the refractive indices of films formed on glass were very close to those formed on fused silica.The deposition rates of these SiNx films are similar,and the extinction coefficients of all the films were lower than 10-4.

Thermoacoustic theory of graphene films considering heat transfer of substrate materials

Based on thermoacoustic theory, a coupled thermal-mechanical model for graphene films is established, and the analytical solutions for thermal-acoustic radiation from a graphene thin film are obtained. The sound pressure of the graphene film generator on different substrates is measured, and the measurement data is compared with the theoretical results. The frequency response from the experimental results is consistent with the theoretical ones, while the measured values are slightly lower than the theoretical ones. Therefore, the accuracy of the proposed theoretical model is verified. It is shown that thermal-acoustic radiation from a graphene thin film reveals a wide frequency response. The sound pressure level increases with the frequency in the low frequency range, while the sound pressure varies smoothly with frequency in the high frequency range. Thus it can be used as excellent thermal generator. When the thermal effusivity of the substrate is smaller, then the sound pressure of grapheme films will be higher. Furthermore, the sound pressure decreases with the increase of heat capacity per unit area of grapheme films. Results will contribute to the mechanism of graphene films generator and its applications in the design of loudspeaker and other related areas.

Theoretical studies on alloying of germanene supported on Al (111) substrate

Using density functional theory,we study the alloying of the buckled hexagonal germanene superlattice supported on Al(111)-(3×3),the sheet composed of triangular,rhombic,and pentagonal motifs on Al(111)-(3×3),and the buckled geometry on Al(111)-(√7×√7)(19°),which are denoted,respectively,by BHS,TRP,and SRT7,to facilitate the discussion in this paper.They could be alloyed in the low doping concentration range.The stable configurations BHS,TRP,and SRT7 of the pure and alloyed germanenes supported on both Al(111) and its Al2 Ge surface alloy,except the SRT7 pure germanene on Al2 Ge,could re-produce the experimental scanning tunneling microscopy images.The relatively stable AlGe alloy species are the Al3 Ge5 BHS-2 T,Al3 Ge5 TRP-2 T,and Al3 Ge3 SRT7-1 T on Al(111) while they are the Al4 Ge4 BHS-1 T,Al3 Ge5 TRP-2 T,and A127 Ge27 SRT7-(3×3)-9 T on Al2 Ge(the n in the nT means that there are n Ge atoms per unit which sit at the top sites and protrude upward).In addition,the Al3 Ge5 BHS-2 T and Al4 Ge4 BHS-1 T are the most stable alloy sheets on Al(111) and Al2 Ge,respectively.Comparing with the experimental studies,there exists no structural transition among these alloyed configurations,which suggests that the experimental conditions play a crucial role in selectively growing the pure or the alloyed germanene sheets,which may also help grow the one-atomic thick honeycomb structure on idea Al(111).

Recent progress of MXenes as the support of catalysts for the CO oxidation and oxygen reduction reaction

MXenes,the new family of two-dimensional(2D)transition metal carbides/nitrides,can serve as the substrate materials for the catalysts due to the large specific surface area,tunable electronic structures and thermal stability.The first 2D layered MXene,Ti3C2,was successfully obtained by selective etching of the A element from the MAX phases using hydrofluoric acid(HF)at room temperature in 2011.In this review,we summarize the preparation,structure of MXenes and discuss the recent progress in potential application of MXenes in catalysis,mainly in CO oxidation and oxygen reduction reaction(ORR),from the views of both experimental and theoretical inve stigations.The outlook of the major challenges and future directions on research of MXenes is also included.

Surface effects of liquid metal amoeba

Liquid metals(LM) such as eutectic gallium-indium and gallium-indium-tin are important functional liquid-state metal materials with many unique properties, which have attracted wide attentions especially from soft robot area. Recently the amoeba-like transformations of LM on the graphite surface are discovered, which present a promising future for the design and assemble of self-fueled actuators with dendritically deformable body. It appears that the surface tension of the LM can be significantly reduced when it contacts graphite surface in alkaline solution. Clearly, the specific surface should play a vital role in inducing these intriguing behaviors, which is valuable and inspiring in soft robot design. However, the information regarding varied materials functions underlying these behaviors remains unknown. To explore the generalized effects of surface materials in those intriguing behavior, several materials including glass, graphite, nickel and copper oxides(CuO) were comparatively investigated as substrate surfaces.Important results were obtained that only LM amoeba transformations were observed on graphite and CuO surfaces. In order to identify the proper surface condition for LM transformation, the intrinsic properties of substrate surfaces, such as the surface charge and roughness, as well as the specific interaction with LM like wetting behavior and mutual locomotion etc., were characterized. The integrated results revealed that LM droplet appears more likely to deform on surfaces with higher positive surface charge density, higher roughness and less bubble generation on them. In addition, another surface material,CuOx, is identified to own similar ability to graphite, which is valuable in achieving amoeba-like transformation. Moreover, this study offers a fundamental understanding of the surface properties in realizing LM amoeba transformations, which would shed light on packing and structure design of liquid metal-based soft device within multi-material system.