Fabrication of a Covalent Triazine Framework Functional Interlayer for High-Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

The shuttling effect of polysulfides is one of the major problems of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries, which causes rapid capacity fading during cycling. Modification of the commercial separator with a functional interlayer is an effective strategy to address this issue. Herein, we modified the commercial Celgard separator of Li–S batteries with one-dimensional (1D) covalent triazine framework (CTF) and a carbon nanotube (CNT) composite as a functional interlayer. The intertwined CTF/CNT can provide a fast lithium ionic/electronic transport pathway and strong adsorption capability towards polysulfides. The Li–S batteries with the CTF/CNT/Celgard separator delivered a high initial capacity of 1314 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C and remained at 684 mAh g−1 after 400 cycles−1 at 1 C. Theoretical calculation and static-adsorption experiments indicated that the triazine ring in the CTF skeleton possessed strong adsorption capability towards polysulfides. The work described here demonstrates the potential for CTF-based permselective membranes as separators in Li–S batteries.

The Performance of Different AgTiO2 Loading into Poly(3-Nitrothiophene) for Efficient Adsorption of Hazardous Brilliant Green and Crystal Violet Dyes

The in-situ polymerization technology was used to successfully produce nanostructured binary nanocomposites (NCs) made from a poly (3-nitrothiophen) matrix (P3NT) that were loaded effectively with nanoparticles (NPs) of silver titanium dioxide (AgTiO2), of varying percentages (10%, 20%, and 30%). A uniform coating of P3NT covers the AgTiO2 NPs. Various methods were performed to confirm the fabrication of the binary P3NT/AgTiO2 NCs adsorbents, such as FTIR, XRD, SEM, and EDX. Both dyes (brilliant green (B.G.) and crystal violet (C.V.)) were removed from liquid media by using the binary P3NT/AgTiO2 NCs. A range of batch adsorption studies was used to optimize various factors that impact the elimination of B.G. or C.V. dyes, including the pH, weight of the binary P3NT/AgTiO2 NC, proportion of AgTiO2 NP, time, and temperature. The pseudo-second-order kinetics ( R 2 = 0.999 ) was better adapted for the adsorption procedure’s empirical data whereby the maximum adsorption capacity of the C.V. dye was 43.10 mg/g and ( R 2 = 0.996 ) the maximum adsorption potential was 40.16 mg/g for B.G. dye, succeeded by the pseudo-second-order kinetics. Moreover, the adhesion of B.G. and C.V. pigments on the layers of NCs involves an endothermic reaction. In addition, the concocted adsorbent not only exhibited strong adsorption characteristics during four consecutive cycles but also possessed a higher potential for its reuse. According to the findings, the NCs might possibly be used as a robust and reusable adsorbent to remove B.G. and C.V. pigments from an aqueous medium.

Preparation Method of Iron Oxyhydroxide Nanosheets for Treating Organic Dyes

Considering the promoted purification requirement for industry sewage, the discharge of azo dye wastewater will have a serious impact on the environment, iron oxyhydroxide nanosheets were designed and prepared, and the purification effects and application conditions were investigated in this work. We have used its structural advantages to perform adsorption tests on Congo red (CR). It found that it has very excellent properties. It has strong adsorption capacity for Congo red under the condition of low dosage and no adjustment of PH. By employing iron oxyhydroxide nanosheets with optimized molar ratio of reducing agent to Fe, it was found that the adsorption efficiency increase in the removal percentage for CR from industry sewage could be achieved at the large specific surface area and pore volume of B-Fe Nanosheets.

Fabrication, Structure, Performance, and Application of Graphene-Based Composite Aerogel

Graphene-based composite aerogel (GCA) refers to a solid porous substance formed by graphene or its derivatives, graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), with inorganic materials and polymers. Because GCA has super-high adsorption, separation, electrical properties, and sensitivity, it has great potential for application in super-strong adsorption and separation materials, long-life fast-charging batteries, and flexible sensing materials. GCA has become a research hotspot, and many research papers and achievements have emerged in recent years. Therefore, the fabrication, structure, performance, and application prospects of GCA are summarized and discussed in this review. Meanwhile, the existing problems and development trends of GCA are also introduced so that more will know about it and be interested in researching it.

Versatile Strategy for Electrophoretic Deposition of Polyvinylidene Fluoride-Metal Oxide Nanocomposites

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is an advanced functional polymer which exhibits excellent chemical and thermal stability, and good mechanical, piezoelectric and ferroelectic properties. This work opens a new strategy for the fabrication of nanocomposites, combining the functional properties of PVDF and advanced inorganic nanomaterials. Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) has been developed for the fabrication of films containing PVDF and nanoparticles of TiO2, MnO2 and NiFe2O4. An important finding was the feasibility of EPD of electrically neutral PVDF and inorganic nanoparticles using caffeic acid (CA) and catechol violet (CV) as co-dispersants. The experiments revealed strong adsorption of CA and CV on PVDF and inorganic nanoparticles, which involved different mechanisms and facilitated particle dispersion, charging and deposition. The analysis of the deposition yield data, chemical structure of the dispersants and the microstructure and composition of the films provided an insight into the adsorption and dispersion mechanisms and the influence of deposition conditions on the deposition rate, film microstructure and composition. PVDF films provided the corrosion protection of stainless steel. Overcoming the limitations of other techniques, this investigation demonstrates a conceptually new approach for the fabrication of PVDF-NiFe2O4 films, which showed superparamagnetic properties. The approach developed in this investigation offers versatile strategies for the EPD of advanced organic-inorganic nanocomposites.

Study on Dynamics and Cluster Analysis between Carbon-based Nanoparticles and Amino Acids

We research the interaction between six representative carbon-based nanoparticles (CBNs) and 20 standard amino acids through all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. The six carbon-based nanoparticles are fullerene(C60), CNT55L3, CNT1010L3, CNT1515L3, CNT2020L3, and two-dimensional-graphene(Graphene33). Their curvatures decrease sequentially, and all of CNT are single-walled carbon nanotubes. We have observed that as the curvature of CBNs decreases, the adsorption effect of 20 amino acids with them has an increasing trend. In addition, we also used multi-dimensional clustering to analyze the adsorption effects of 20 amino acids on six carbon-based nanoparticles. We observed that the π-π interaction still plays an extremely important role in the adsorption of amino acids on carbon-based nanoparticles. Individual long-chain amino acids and “Benzene-like” Pro also have a strong adsorption effect with carbon-based nanoparticles.

A Fe3N/carbon composite electrocatalyst for effective polysulfides regulation in room-temperature Na-S batteries

The practical application of room-temperature Na-S batteries is hindered by the low sulfur utilization, inadequate rate capability and poor cycling performance. To circumvent these issues, here, we propose an electrocatalyst composite material comprising of N-doped nanocarbon and Fe3N. The multilayered porous network of the carbon accommodates large amounts of sulfur, decreases the detrimental effect of volume expansion, and stabilizes the electrodes structure during cycling. Experimental and theoretical results testify the Fe3N affinity to sodium polysulfides via Na-N and Fe-S bonds, leading to strong adsorption and fast dissociation of sodium polysulfides. With a sulfur content of 85 wt.%, the positive electrode tested at room-temperature in non-aqueous Na metal coin cell configuration delivers a reversible capacity of about 1165 mA h g−1 at 167.5 mA g−1, satisfactory rate capability and stable capacity of about 696 mA h g−1 for 2800 cycles at 8375 mA g−1.

Preliminary experimental research of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for formaldehyde dynamic adsorption

Formaldehyde is a common emission from furniture and indoor decorations. Although the concentration of formaldehyde gas is not too high in the indoor environment, it is highly toxic and carcinogenic. The formaldehyde removal potential of a novel type of green and safe nano-porous materials, Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), with a high surface-to-volume ratio, strong adsorption capacity, and low regeneration temperature was investigated. To date, researchers are mainly focusing on formaldehyde selectivity and detection using MOFs in low moisture circumstances. This study carried out a series of experiments to compare breakthrough curves of formaldehyde dynamic adsorption on MIL-100(Fe), MIL-160(Al), and aluminum fumarate with activated carbon. In experiments, the formaldehyde was evaporated from diluted formalin solution, dried to 30±5 % RH, and driven through different adsorbents by nitrogen. The results indicated that MOFs showed great potential for indoor air formaldehyde removal.