Carbon Cloth Substrate Research Articles

Dual-Metal Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework Derived Highly Ordered Hierarchical Nanoarrays on Self-Supported Carbon Fiber for Oxygen Evolution

The construction of highly ordered hierarchical nanoarrays is crucial for obtaining effective transition metal carbon nanomaterial electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in water splitting. Herein, we adopted a Co metal zeolitic imidazolate framework (Co-ZIF) as a precursor by ion-exchange/etching reaction with Fe(NO3)3 to obtain hierarchical N-doped Co-Fe layered double hydroxide (CoFe-LDH) in situ generated in Co-ZIF nanoarrays based on a self-supported carbon cloth (CC) substrate noted as CoFe-LDH@Co-ZIF@CC. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of these species and their highly ordered self-supported nanoarray structure, the catalytic active sites were fully exposed and highly protected in alkaline electrolyte, which significantly promoted electron transport and improved electrochemical performance. The CoFe-LDH@Co-ZIF@CC exhibited the low overpotentials of about 225 and 319 mV at 10 and 100 mA cm−2 with a small Tafel slope of 81.8 mV dec−1 recorded in a 1.0 M KOH electrolyte. In addition, it also showed a long-term durability without obvious decay after 30 h. Therefore, its remarkable OER activity demonstrates this material’s promising application in the green hydrogen energy industry.

Phase engineering activation of low-cost iron-containing sulfide minerals for advanced electrocatalysis

• A phase transformation strategy was designed for activating natural minerals. • These activated minerals could be used for advanced electrocatalysis. • The haycockite phase showed the best performance for acidic HER and alkaline OER. • Further optimization was performed by loading iridium clusters for alkaline OER. Sustainable energy conversion and storage provide feasible approaches towards green energy solutions and carbon neutralization. The high cost and complex fabrication process of advanced energy nanomaterials, however, has impeded the practical application of emerging sustainable technologies. The direct use of earth-abundant natural minerals which contain active elements for effective catalysis and energy storage should be a promising approach to achieve affordable sustainable energy supply and green fuel generations. Herein, as typical examples of activating natural minerals for electrocatalysis, two common minerals, pyrite and chalcopyrite, are activated via a one-step phase transformation strategy. Through a facile thermal reduction process, the minerals are completely transformed into active pyrrhotite (FeS) and haycockite (Cu 4 Fe 5 S 8 ) phases. The thermal reduction resulting phase transformation can lead to significant surface disordering and can contribute to the catalytic activity by offering favourable electronic structure for intermediates adsorption, abundant surficial active centres, and substantial surface redox pairs. The activated minerals are examined for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysis. The obtained haycockite phase delivers the best performance towards acidic HER and alkaline OER. Further phase optimization is performed via loading a low percentage of iridium nanoclusters on the haycockite phase deposited onto a carbon cloth substrate, through which an overpotential as low as 310 mV for achieving 10 mA cm −2 and a small Tafel slope of 55.6 mV dec −1 are recorded for alkaline OER. This work demonstrates the feasibility of the direct use of cost-effective natural resources for addressing the current energy-related issues and paves a way to reach affordable practical emerging sustainable technologies.

Assembly and Photocatalytic Degradation Activity of Spherical ZnO/CdSe Heterostructures on Flexible Carbon Cloth Substrates.

With the increasing water pollution, traditional treatments cannot sufficiently remove pollutants, thereby prompting the development of photocatalysts. In this study, ZnO–carbon cloth (CC) and spherical ZnO/CdSe–CC heterostructures with different CdSe loadings were synthesized using an ultrasonic-hydrothermal method on flexible CC. Z20CdSe–CC (ZnO with 20 mg CdSe loaded on CC) exhibited the best visible-light-responsive photocatalytic performance, with approximately 83.5% methylene blue reduced in 180 min. In addition, the degradation efficiency of Z20CdSe–CC was maintained at 70.9% after three cycles in relation to that of the ZnO powder. The synergistic effect of CdSe and CC not only effectively widened the light absorption range of ZnO/CdSe–CC but also further promoted the effective transfer of carriers and realized an efficient photocatalytic degradation process. Therefore, the ZnO/CdSe–CC photocatalytic material with CC as the flexible substrate exhibited high photocatalytic activity and stability in environmental remediation. This provides a design idea for the development of an efficient and flexible photocatalytic material in line with the concept of green chemistry.

Composite of graphene and in-situ polymerized polyaniline on carbon cloth substrate for flexible supercapacitor

Flexible and lightweight energy storage is required for powering wearable electronic devices. Among the developed energy storage devices, supercapacitors have gained much interest as energy storage for wearable applications through their long cycle life and high power density. This work presents a flexible supercapacitor based on carbon cloth coated with graphene/polyaniline nanocomposite. Graphene/polyaniline nanocomposite is adopted as active material due to its high stability and the synergistic feature of pseudocapacitive and electrical double layer capacitance. The nanocomposite is synthesized from aniline and graphene in the sulfuric acid solution containing carbon cloth by chemical oxidative method, allowing the aniline to polymerize directly on the carbon cloth and graphene. Flexible supercapacitor devices with PVA/H2SO4 gel electrolyte exhibit an areal capacitance of 194.90 mF/cm2 at a scan rate of 5 mV/s. The device retains 77.21% of its initial capacitance after 500 cycles of cyclic voltammetry tests and exhibits a good performance during bending at 90° and 180°. This work demonstrates the potentials of carbon cloth-based supercapacitors for high-performance wearable supercapacitors.

Silicon nanowire growth on carbon cloth for flexible Li-ion battery anodes

Binder and conductive additive-free Si nanowires (NWs) grown directly on the current collector have shown great potential as next generation Li-ion battery anodes. However, low active material mass loadings and consequentially low areal capacities have remained a challenge in their development. Herein, we report the high-density growth of Si NWs on carbon cloth (CC) for use as Li-ion battery anodes. The NW growth reactions were carried out using a modified, glassware-based solvent vapor growth (SVG) process. Optimized growth conditions were applied to CC substrates to generate flexible Si NW anodes for Li-ion batteries. Battery testing revealed high areal charge and discharge capacities (>2 mAh/cm2) compared to Si NWs grown on stainless steel (SS) substrates (∼0.3 mAh/cm2) and stable long-term cycling with 80% capacity retention after 200 cycles. The findings reported herein represent a significant advancement in the field in terms of achievable areal capacity enabled by a low-cost glassware-based system.

A Kinetically Superior Rechargeable Zinc-Air Battery Derived from Efficient Electroseparation of Zinc, Lead, and Copper in Concentrated Solutions.

Zinc electrodeposition is currently a hot topic because of its widespread use in rechargeable zinc‐air batteries. However, Zn deposition has received little attention in organic solvents with much higher ionic conductivity and current efficiency. In this study, a Zn‐betaine complex is synthesized by using ZnO and betainium bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide and its electrochemical behavior for six organic solvents and electrodeposited morphology are studied. Acetonitrile allowed dendrite‐free Zn electrodeposition at room temperature with current efficiencies of up to 86 %. From acetonitrile solutions in which Zn, Pb, and Cu complexes are dissolved in high concentrations, Zn and Pb/Cu are efficiently separated electrolytically under potentiostatic control, allowing the purification of solutions prepared directly from natural ores. Additionally, a highly flexible Zn anode with excellent kinetics is obtained by using a carbon fabric substrate. A rechargeable zinc‐air battery with these electrodes shows an open‐circuit voltage of 1.63 V, is stable for at least 75 cycles at 0.5 mA cm−2 or 33 cycles at 20 mA cm−2, and allows intermediate cycling at 100 mA cm−2.

NiS/MoS2 Mott-Schottky heterojunction-induced local charge redistribution for high-efficiency urea-assisted energy-saving hydrogen production

Urea-assisted water electrolysis possesses the prospective prospect for high-efficiency hydrogen production by replacing oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with thermodynamically more favorable urea oxidation reaction (UOR). Modulating the electronic structure of electrocatalysts through constructing metal–semiconductor heterointerface represents an effective strategy to promote the electrochemical performances. Herein, we construct a Mott-Schottky bifunctional electrocatalyst by in-situ growth of NiS/MoS2 hetero-nanoflowers on the conductive carbon cloth (CC) substrate (abbreviated as NiS/MoS2@CC hereafter) for both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and urea oxidation reaction (UOR). Thanks to the Mott-Schottky effect, the self-driven charge transfer occurs across the NiS/MoS2 heterointerfaces, which results in the built-in electric field, the accelerated charge transfer rate, and the modified chemisorption free energies for reaction intermediates, ultimately expediting the dissociation of water and urea molecules. Consequently, the as-fabricated NiS/MoS2@CC electrode only requires an overpotential of 87 mV for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in 1.0 M KOH and a potential of 1.36 V for UOR in 1.0 M KOH solution with 0.5 M urea to attain a current density of 10 mA cm−2, respectively. Moreover, when served as the free-standing anode and cathode simultaneously, the NiS/MoS2@CC-assembled urea electrolyzer requires a cell voltage of 1.46 V at 10 mA cm−2, which is 200 mV smaller than that of the pure water splitting counterpart. This study may deepen the understanding of electronic modulation via Mott-Schottky establishment.

A Pore‐Forming Strategy Toward Porous Carbon‐Based Substrates for High Performance Flexible Lithium Metal Full Batteries

Self‐standing carbon‐based substrates with satisfied structural stability and property adjustability have promising applications in flexible lithium (Li) metal batteries (FLMBs). Current strategies for modifying carbon materials are normally carried out on powder carbon, and very few of them are suitable for self‐standing carbon substrates. Herein, a pore‐forming strategy based on the redox chemistry of metallic oxide nanodots is developed to prepare two porous carbon substrates for anode and cathode. Starting with cotton cloth, the resulting hollow carbon fibers substrate with nanopores effectively prevents from Li dendrites formation and large volume change in lithium metal anode (LMA). Simulations indicate that the porous structure leads to homogeneous ion flux, Li‐ion concentration, and electric field during Li deposition. Li symmetrical cell based on this substrate remains stable for 8300 h with an ultralow voltage hysteresis of 9 mV. Via a similar route, porous carbon cloth substrate is obtained for subsequently seeding V2O5 nanowires to prepare the cathode. The assembled FLMBs pouch cell delivers a capacity of 8.2 mAh with a high capacity retention of ~100% even under dramatic deformation. The demonstrated strategy has far‐reaching potential in preparing free‐standing porous carbon‐based materials for flexible energy storage devices.

Iron doped mesoporous cobalt phosphide with optimized electronic structure for enhanced hydrogen evolution

We report a self-supporting electrode fabricated by covering iron doped mesoporous cobalt phosphide film on carbon cloth substrate (meso-Fe x Co 1-x P/CC) for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In acidic and alkaline electrolytes, the electrode exhibited excellent catalytic activity and fast kinetics towards the HER, only requiring small overpotentials of 61 mV and 67 mV to drive 10 mA cm −2 , respectively. The superior electrocatalytic activity is attributed to the mesoporous structure with high specific surface area (147.5 m 2 g −1 ) and doping of Fe atom. The mesoporous structure grown on the conductive carbon cloth substrate enables the fully exposure of active sites and the rapid penetration of electrolyte. Additionally, density functional theory (DFT) calculation reveals that the doping of Fe enhances the adsorption of H atoms by shifting the d-band center of Co. Meanwhile, the introduction of Fe lowers the energy barrier for water dissociation, which accelerates the catalytic kinetics in alkaline electrolyte. Mesoporous Fe doped CoP with high active sites density and optimized Electronic Structure for hydrogen evolution electrocatalysis. • Mesoporous Fe doped CoP with the optimized electronic structure and high active site density was synthesized. • The doping of Fe upshifts the d-band center, optimizes the ΔG H∗ and lowers the dissociation energy barrier of water. • The catalyst exhibits extremely high intrinsic activity and fast kinetics.

Polydopamine‐derived carbon layer anchoring NiCo‐P nanowire arrays for high‐performance binder‐free supercapacitor and electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution

AbstractTransition metal phosphides (TMPs) have been extensively and deeply researched as electrode materials for energy‐related applications. However, the inferior stability is still a bottleneck restricting their substantive development. Herein, a freestanding three‐dimensional hierarchical nanostructure (marked as CC@NC/NiCo‐P) is delicately designed for high‐performance supercapacitors and electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution, where the nitrogen‐doped carbon (NC) layer derived from polydopamine serves as an interface coupling bridge for anchoring electroactive nickel cobalt phosphide (NiCo‐P) nanowire arrays on flexible carbon cloth (CC) substrate. Thanks to the robust interaction between the conductive carbon support and NiCo‐P nanowires, the resultant CC@NC/NiCo‐P electrode delivers an ultrahigh capacitance (2175.5 F/g at 1 A/g) and a distinguished rate capability with a capacity retention of 85.8%. The assembled asymmetric supercapacitor can achieve a superior energy density of 28.47 Wh/kg and an ultralong lifespan of 10 000 cycles. In addition, the CC@NC/NiCo‐P electrode shows favorable electrocatalytic activity toward the hydrogen evolution reaction. These results indicate that the strong binding between the NC layer and metal species in TMPs notably improves the stability and electrochemical activity of CC@NC/NiCo‐P. It is expected that this effective strategy to design innovative electrode materials may be promising for the applications in energy‐related fields.

Engineering 2D NiO/Ni3S2 heterointerface electrocatalyst for highly efficient hydrogen production coupled with benzyl alcohol oxidation

• CC@NiO/Ni 3 S 2 was efficiently developed by a facile one-step electrodeposition. • NiO/Ni 3 S 2 interfaces induce the charge redistribution to enhance catalytic activity. • CC@NiO/Ni 3 S 2 shows a bifunctional catalytic activity for HER and Ph-CH 2 OH oxidation. • A two-electrode electrolyzer with an electrical energy saving of 10.0 % is constructed. Coupling electrocatalytic water splitting (EWS) with benzyl alcohol (Ph-CH 2 OH) oxidation can efficiently suppress the sluggish water oxidation and boost hydrogen production efficiency. However, it remains an enormous challenge to design the corresponding bifunctional electrocatalysts with high activity, high selectivity, and long-term stability. Herein, 2D Ni-based nanoarrays grown directly on carbon cloth (CC) substrate (CC@NiO/Ni 3 S 2 ) were synthesized using a facile one-step electrodeposition technique. The CC@NiO/Ni 3 S 2 consists of ultrathin nanosheets (∼3.4 nm) with rich NiO/Ni 3 S 2 heterointerfaces, which not only efficiently exposes more active sites and accelerates mass/charge diffusion, but also provides unique interfacial interactions for charge redistribution to activate the formation of key reaction intermediates. As a result, the CC@NiO/Ni 3 S 2 exhibits a low overpotential of 91 mV at 10 mA cm −2 with high catalytic stability for catalyzing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). When the Ph-CH 2 OH oxidation is chosen as the corresponding anodic half-reaction instead of water oxidation, the CC@NiO/Ni 3 S 2 also shows an excellent catalytic activity as well as a high selectivity (over 98%) towards benzoic acid (Ph-COOH), which is a value-added chemical and can be easily separated by crystallization. A two-electrode electrolyzer was accordingly constructed using CC@NiO/Ni 3 S 2 as the cathode and anode electrocatalysts for HER and Ph-CH 2 OH oxidation, respectively, showing stable production of hydrogen fuels and value-added Ph-COOH. More importantly, the H 2 generation rate is boosted by 2.6 times at 1.609 V by replacing water oxidation with Ph-CH 2 OH oxidation, which can also save electrical energy of 10.0 % at 50 mA cm −2 . This work offers a facile strategy to develop advanced bifunctional electrocatalysts with abundant heterointerfaces for practical applications in energy-saving hydrogen production.

Electrochemical performance of binder-free and flexible spinel NiCo2O4 electrode

This research aims to study the one-step hydrothermal synthesis of a binder-free and flexible spinel nickel cobaltite (NiCo2O4) electrode for supercapacitor application. The hydrothermal synthesis method is well known to generate highly crystalline products, with high purity, narrow size distribution, and low aggregation of particles. The spinel NiCo2O4 nanoparticles were grown on a flexible carbon cloth substrate under hydrothermal conditions at 130°C for various reaction times (1, 3 and 6 h). The morphology of NiCo2O4 nanoparticles was tuned from nanosheet to nanowire by varying the hydrothermal reaction time from 1 h to 6 h. The electrochemical properties of NiCo2O4 electrodes were investigated. The NiCo2O4 electrode prepared for 6 h exhibited the highest anodic and cathodic current density and the lowest charge transfer resistance compared with the other electrodes.

Interface engineering of nickel Hydroxide-Molybdenum diselenide nanosheet heterostructure arrays for efficient alkaline hydrogen production

The stacking of Molybdenum Diselenide (MoSe2) nanomaterials as well as its poor intrinsic conductivity lead to sluggish water dissociation kinetics, which limit the performance of the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we constructed Nickel Hydroxide Ni(OH)2-MoSe2 heterostructures directly on 3D self-supporting carbon cloth (CC) substrate via a simple hydrothermal and the subsequent chemical bath deposition process, then systemically studied the effect of the Ni(OH)2 deposition time on the HER performance. The synergistic effect between Ni(OH)2 and MoSe2 in the Ni(OH)2-MoSe2 heterostructures optimizes the poor conductivity and Gibbs free energy for water adsorption, thus improving the water dissociation kinetics and giving rise to fast electron transfer in the HER process. The Ni(OH)2-MoSe2/CC constructed in this way with a Ni(OH)2 deposition times of 30 min performs good catalytic activities with a low overpotential of 130 mV at -10 mA cm-2, a low Tafel slope of 78.2 mV dec-1 and good stability. Our results suggest that interface engineering combining with conductive substrate are conducive to enhance alkaline HER activity of MoSe2 and other similar transition metal dichalcogenides.

Construction of Desirable NiCoTe2 Nanosheet Arrays on a Carbon Cloth Substrate as a Positive Electrode Material for a High-Performance Asymmetric Supercapacitor

Construction of Desirable NiCoTe2 Nanosheet Arrays on a Carbon Cloth Substrate as a Positive Electrode Material for a High-Performance Asymmetric Supercapacitor

Improvement of Biomimetic Calcium Phosphates Coated on a Carbon Cloth Substrate to Enhance Osteoblast Viability

Improvement of Biomimetic Calcium Phosphates Coated on a Carbon Cloth Substrate to Enhance Osteoblast Viability

NiCo2O4 nanoneedle-nanosheet hybrid structure on CC substrate for high-performance flexible supercapacitors

In this paper, three different morphologies of NiCo2O4 nanoarrays, namely, nanosheet (S-NiCo2O4), nanoneedle (N-NiCo2O4) and their hybrid nanostructure (M-NiCo2O4) were successfully prepared on flexible carbon cloth (CC) by a hydrothermal method. The structures, surface morphologies and compositions of the samples were respectively characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS, and XPS, and the effect of NiCo2O4 morphologies on the electrochemical performances was systematically investigated. It is found that the M-NiCo2O4/CC electrode demonstrates the best supercapacitive performance among the three kinds of samples, typically its specific capacitance is 1347.4 F/g at 1 A/g (1509.1 F/cm2 at 1 mA/cm2), much higher than that of S-NiCo2O4 (938.4 F/g at 1 A/g) and N-NiCo2O4 (1022.4 F/g at 1 A/g). Meanwhile, the M-NiCo2O4/CC sample exhibits excellent rate capability (81.6%, from 1 A/g to 15 A/g) and cycling stability (92.4% retention after 10,000 cycles). In addition, an flexible solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) with M-NiCo2O4/CC as positive electrode manifests great capacity retention (94% after 5000 cycles) and outstanding energy density of 41.7 Wh/kg at the power density of 750 W/kg. Moreover, the charge-discharge time shows no significant change after 2000 bends, demonstrating its application potential in the field of flexible SCs. The excellent performance is attributed to the unique hybrid porous structure of one-dimensional (1D) nanoneedles and two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets.

Enhanced Catalytic Performance of Strontium-Doped Lanthanum Manganites by the Presence of Molybdenum Oxides for Electro-Reduction of Hydrogen Peroxide

In this work, two catalysts, lanthanum manganite strontium-doped perovskite without (LSM) and with (LSMMO) mixed molybdenum oxides, were synthesized by the sol-gel route and deposited by immersion in carbon cloth substrates. Their performance as cathodes in the hydrogen peroxide reduction reaction (HPRR) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) was investigated through cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, the electrocatalytic efficiency of these electrodes in the HPRR was analyzed in KOH and H2O2 medium at 298 K. The performance of the cathodes, in a single compartment, using a nickel plate as an anode was also investigated. The results showed that for the reduction reactions, electrodes developed with LSMMO have more significant catalytic activity than LSM after polarization, resulting in 32% higher current densities, lower electrical resistance after polarization, and a 21% increase in power density.

Fabrication of TiN/CNTs on carbon cloth substrates via a CVD–ALD method as free-standing electrodes for zinc ion hybrid capacitors

A novel fabrication of TiN/CNTs@CC was presented and can be used as electrodes with good flexibility and conductivity in ZIHCs.

Carbon-cloth-supported nickel hydroxide anodes for electrochemical–thermally-activated chemical (E-TAC) water splitting

Carbon cloth substrates outperform their nickel foam counterparts for electrodeposited cobalt-doped nickel hydroxide anodes for ultrahigh efficiency decoupled water splitting in a membraneless electrochemical – thermally activated chemical process.

A thermoelectric generator comprising selenium-doped bismuth telluride on flexible carbon cloth with n-type thermoelectric properties

Carbon cloth was used as a flexible substrate for bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) particles to provide flexibility and improve the overall thermoelectric performance. Bi2Te3 on carbon cloth (Bi2Te3/CC) was synthesized via a hydrothermal reaction with various reaction times. After over 12 h, the Bi2Te3 particles showed a clear hexagonal shape and were evenly adhered to the carbon cloth. Selenium (Se) atoms were doped into the Bi2Te3 structure to improve its thermoelectric performance. The electrical conductivity increased with increasing Se-dopant content until 40% Se was added. Moreover, the maximum power factor was 1300 μW/mK2 at 473 K for the 30% Se-doped sample. The carbon cloth substrate maintained its electrical resistivity and flexibility after 2000 bending cycles. A flexible thermoelectric generator (TEG) fabricated using the five pairs of 30% Se-doped sample showed an open-circuit voltage of 17.4 mV and maximum power output of 850 nW at temperature difference ΔT = 30 K. This work offers a promising approach for providing flexibility and improving the thermoelectric performance of inorganic thermoelectric materials for wearable device applications using flexible carbon cloth substrate for low temperature range application.