Graphitic Carbon Nitride as a Platform for the Synthesis of Silver Nanoclusters

Graphitic carbon nitride (CN) synthetized by the thermal polycondensation of melamine at 550 °C for 4 h was further exfoliated by heating at 500 °C for 3 h. Silver cations were adsorbed on the exfoliated graphitic carbon nitride (CNE) and then reduced by sodium borohydride forming silver nanoclusters (NCs) with a size of less than 1 nm. The NCs were located on the CNE surface and did not change the CNE properties except for its pore size distribution and thereby specific surface area (SSA). The Ag NCs were able to collect the photoinduced electrons of CNE and thus reduce their recombination with the holes. It was also documented by the increase in the CNE photocatalytic activity in terms of the degradation of antibiotic Ofloxacin. This study demonstrates the ability of CNE to serve as a platform for a simple and fast synthesis of Ag NCs without any stabilizing compounds. Graphic Abstract

The preparation of Li7La3Zn2O12(LLZO) battery ceramic and its conductivity

For Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) solid electrolytes, higher density usually means higher ionic conductivity. Researchers tried many preparation methods to get high density samples and at same times to realize industrial production, low cost, scalable and fast synthesis techniques. In this paper, the mainstream preparation methods of LLZO was given, as polymerized complex method, sol-gel method, field assisted sintering, combustion technique, auto-consolidation method, water-based solvent method. Among these methods, the last four methods can always increase the density to more than 93%. Especially the field assisted sintering method can make the relative density to be high as 99.8%. And all of these methods can make the ion conductivity to be higher than 1.4 × 10-4 S cm-1. Also, most of these methods introduced the Al element into LLZO to realize the liquid sintering.

Fast ion transport for synthesis and stabilization of β-Zn4Sb3

Mobile ion-enabled phenomena make β-Zn4Sb3 a promising material in terms of the re-entry phase instability behavior, mixed electronic ionic conduction, and thermoelectric performance. Here, we utilize the fast Zn2+ migration under a sawtooth waveform electric field and a dynamical growth of 3-dimensional ionic conduction network to achieve ultra-fast synthesis of β-Zn4Sb3. Moreover, the interplay between the mobile ions, electric field, and temperature field gives rise to exquisite core-shell crystalline-amorphous microstructures that self-adaptively stabilize β-Zn4Sb3. Doping Cd or Ge on the Zn site as steric hindrance further stabilizes β-Zn4Sb3 by restricting long-range Zn2+ migration and extends the operation temperature range of high thermoelectric performance. These results provide insight into the development of mixed-conduction thermoelectric materials, batteries, and other functional materials.