Atomically Dispersed Ruthenium Catalysts with Open Hollow Structure for Lithium-Oxygen Batteries

Lithium–oxygen battery with ultrahigh theoretical energy density is considered a highly competitive next-generation energy storage device,but its practical application is severely hindered by issues such as difficult decomposition of discharge products at present.Here,we have developed N-doped carbon anchored atomically dispersed Ru sites cathode catalyst with open hollow structure(h-RuNC)for Lithium–oxygen battery.On one hand,the abundance of atomically dispersed Ru sites can effectively catalyze the formation and decomposition of discharge products,thereby greatly enhancing the redox kinetics.On the other hand,the open hollow structure not only enhances the mass activity of atomically dispersed Ru sites but also improves the diffusion efficiency of catalytic molecules.Therefore,the excellent activity from atomically dispersed Ru sites and the enhanced diffusion from open hollow structure respectively improve the redox kinetics and cycling stability,ultimately achieving a high-performance lithium–oxygen battery.

Production of ammonia from plasma-catalytic decomposition of urea: Effects of carrier gas composition

Effects of carrier gas composition（N2/air） on NH3 production, energy efficiency regarding NH3 production and byproducts formation from plasma-catalytic decomposition of urea were systematically investigated using an Al2 O3-packed dielectric barrier discharge（DBD） reactor at room temperature. Results show that the presence of O2 in the carrier gas accelerates the conversion of urea but leads to less generation of NH3. The final yield of NH3 in the gas phase decreased from 70.5%, 78.7%, 66.6% and 67.2% to 54.1%, 51.7%, 49.6% and 53.4% for applied voltages of 17, 19, 21 and 23 kV, respectively when air was used as the carrier gas instead of N2.From the viewpoint of energy savings, however, air carrier gas is better than N2 due to reduced energy consumption and increased energy efficiency for decomposition of a fixed amount of urea. Carrier gas composition has little influence on the major decomposition pathways of urea under the synergetic effects of plasma and Al2 O3 catalyst to give NH3 and CO2 as the main products. Compared to a small amount of N2 O formed with N2 as the carrier gas, however,more byproducts including N2O and NO2 in the gas phase and NH4 NO3 in solid deposits were produced with air as the carrier gas, probably due to the unproductive consumption of NH3, the possible intermediate HNCO and even urea by the abundant active oxygen species and nitrogen oxides generated in air-DBD plasma.

Regulating the Deposition of Insoluble Sulfur Species for Room Temperature Sodium-Sulfur Batteries

Room temperature sodium-sulfur(RT-Na-S) batteries are regarded as promising candidates for next-generation high-energy-density batteries. However, in addition to the severe shuttle effect, the inhomogeneous deposition of the insoluble sulfur species generated during the discharge/charge processes also contributes to the rapid capacity fade of RT-Na-S batteries. In this work, the deposition behavior of the insoluble sulfur species in the traditional slurry-coated sulfur cathodes is investigated using microporous carbon spheres as model sulfur host materials. To achieve uniform deposition of insoluble sulfur species, a self-supporting sulfur cathode fabricated by assembling microporous carbon spheres is designed. With homogeneous sulfur distribution and favorable electron transport pathway, the self-supporting cathode delivers remarkably enhanced rate capability(509 mA·h/g at 2.5 C, 1 C=1675 mA/g), cycling stability(718 mA·h/g after 480 cycles at 0.5 C) and areal capacity(4.98 mA·h/cm2 at 0.1 C), highlighting the great potential of manipulating insoluble sulfur species to fabricate high-performance RT-Na-S batteries.