Electron Transfer Channels Research Articles

Bifunctional catalysts AC/Cu2O/CuO for removal of organic pollutant with enhanced visible light photocatalysis

A novel floating activated carbon/Cu2O/CuO(AC/Cu2O/CuO) heterojunction was synthesized by chemical method. It was used as new photocatalyst for adsorption simultaneous photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in water in visible light. The degradation rate of AC/Cu2O/CuO to the simulated pollutant methyl orange reaches 96.73%. And absorption wavelength of AC/Cu2O/Cu to sunlight extended from 662 nm to 765 nm. The relative molar ratio of Cu2+ to Cu+ affects its photocatalytic activity. When the relative molar ratio of Cu+ to Cu2+ is 1:1, the heterojunction impedance is reduced by 64% and gap width reduced by 0.31 eV. AC/Cu2O/CuO heterojunction improved the dissociation of photo-generated electron-hole pair. Activated carbon has PI bonds that provide fast electron and medium transfer channel. Characterization analysis show AC/Cu2O/CuO heterojunction reduced photocorrosion of Cu2O and the resistance of the carrier transportation improving visible light utilization.

Engineering FeS2 nanoparticles on tubular g-C3N4 for photo-Fenton treatment of paint wastewater

An efficient photo-Fenton catalyst (FeS2@HTCN) was designed by maximizing the synergistic effect of FeS2 nanoparticles and hollow tubular g-C3N4 (HTCN). Molecule self-assembly and molten salts-assisted calcination were used to engineering the hollow structured g-C3N4 before anchoring FeS2 nanoparticles on the walls of HTCN via reflux method. Compared to bulk g-C3N4, the unique structure of HTCN and heterojunction in the composite endowed FeS2@HTCN with more active sites and abundant channels for electron transfer and charge separation. The enriched electrons can improve the Fe3+ recycling and boost Fe2+ catalyzed •OH production via H2O2. As-prepared photo-Fenton catalyst was successfully applied to the treatment of industrial paint wastewater. The paint wastewater with its COD as high as 8200 mg/L can be effectively degraded with 0.2 mol/L H2O2 in 90 min under visible light irradiation. The photo-Fenton system was further evaluated according to the process stability and economic benefit, proving that the strategy presented in this work would be applicable to the treatment of real wastewater.

In situ synthesis of 2D/2D MXene-COF heterostructure anchored with Ag nanoparticles for enhancing Schottky photocatalytic antibacterial efficiency under visible light

It is a major challenge to combine the advantages of two kinds of two-dimensional materials to construct a heterojunction and achieve efficient photocatalytic antifouling. In this work, we covalently connected two materials MXenes and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) through the Schiff base reaction and anchored Ag nanoparticles (NPs) to prepare a Ti3C2/TpPa-1/Ag composite material with high efficiency bactericidal properties. The covalent bonding between MXene and COF greatly improved the stability of the material. Ti3C2/TpPa-1/Ag composite showed an excellent antibacterial property against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. The fluorescence spectra of Ti3C2/TpPa-1/Ag proved that the electron transfer channels formed between the ternary materials could greatly improve the efficiency of carrier separation and prolong the life of photogenerated carriers. Density functional theory calculations showed that the synergistic catalytic effect of Ag and Ti3C2 could greatly reduce the work function along the interface, and the built-in electric field between the layers drive carrier fast migration, which effectively improve the catalytic performance.

Electronic structure and enhanced photoelectrocatalytic performance of RuxZn1\u2212xO/Ti electrodes

Modification is one of the most important and effective methods to improve the photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) performance of ZnO. In this paper, the RuxZn1−xO/Ti electrodes were prepared by thermal decomposition method and the effect of Ru content on those electrodes’ electronic structure was analyzed through the first-principles calculation. Various tests were also performed to observe the microstructures and PEC performance. The results showed that as the Ru4+ transferred into ZnO lattice and replaced a number of Zn2+, the conduction band of ZnO moved downward and the valence band went upward. The number of photogenerated electron-hole pairs increased as the impurity levels appeared in the band gap. In addition, ZnO nanorods exhibited a smaller grain size and a rougher surface under the effect of Ru. Meanwhile, the RuO2 nanoparticles on the surface of ZnO nanorods acted as the electron-transfer channel, helping electrons transfer to the counter electrode and delaying the recombination of the electron-hole pairs. Specifically, the RuxZn1−xO/Ti electrodes with 9.375 mol% Ru exhibited the best PEC performance with a rhodamine B (RhB) removal rate of 97%, much higher than the combination of electrocatalysis (EC, 12%) and photocatalysis (PC, 50%), confirming the synergy of photoelectrocatalysis.

Difunctional carbon quantum dots/g-C3N4 with in-plane electron buffer for intense tetracycline degradation under visible light: Tight adsorption and smooth electron transfer

In this study, a lateral heterostructures material (LCCN) of carbon quantum dot (CQDs) and carbon nitride (CN) was designed via the thermal polymerization of freeze-dried precursor. The special lateral heterostructures (LHSs) increased the bond length of O–O to fleetly active dissolved oxygen (DO), which exhibits 14-fold increased for tetracycline (TC) visible-light degradation compared to CN. In addition, the electrons of activated DO came from both TC and LCCN, which trapped the oxygen to generate multitudinous superoxide radical (•O2–), while the hole (h+) showed a negligible role in photocatalytic system. A rapid electron transfer channel was speculated between TC and photocatalyst by experiments and density functional theory. Furthermore, DFT and LC/MS predicted four degradation pathways of TC with the Fukui index (f0), and LCCN exhibited a favorable hinder on various environmental interferences. This work presented a novel perspective for the relationship of pollutant and material in photocatalysis.

Boosted visible-light photocatalytic performance of Au/BiOCl/BiOI by high-speed spatial electron transfer channel

To improve the visible-light photocatalytic performance of BiOI, it is extremely desired to boost charge transfer and separation. Herein, a novel ternary Au/BiOCl/BiOI photocatalyst with enhanced separation efficiency and prolonged lifetime of photogenerated carrier was successfully in-situ prepared via a facile thermal reduction method. The Au nanoparticles uniformly distributed on BiOI and BiOCl acted as an electron-bridge, which could promote the transfer of electron from BiOI to BiOCl, forming a high-speed spatial electron transfer channel. In addition, BiOCl provided a high-energy-level platform to prolong charge lifetime by receiving high-energy electrons of BiOI to alleviate the relaxation to the valence band and recombination with the holes on the valence band. The synergistic effect of Au and BiOCl largely improved the separation efficiency of BiOI photogenerated carrier, ultimately the photocatalytic performances of Au/BiOCl/BiOI nanocomposites for RhB degradation in static system (97%) and dynamic system (85.52%) and NO removal (65.4%) were enhanced by 1.52, 1.71 and 1.32 times compared to BiOI, respectively. Thus, this work can provide new insights into understanding the important role of electron-bridge in accelerating electron transfer and designing the suitable high-energy-level platform to prolong charge lifetime.

Fabrication of Al2O3/CaO with anti-sintering for efficient removal of As2O3 in simulated flue gas: Experimental and DFT study

Calcium oxide (CaO), as a high temperature sorbent, has been widely applied in the field of heavy metal removal due to its low price and stable chemical properties, but CaO tends to sinter at high temperature, which affects the adsorption performance. In this work, Al2O3/CaO sorbent with resistance to sintering was synthesized via citric acid and calcine method, which was innovatively employed to the adsorption of As2O3 combining experiment and theoretical analysis. The experimental results demonstrate that the adsorption capacity of untreated CaO reduces immensely with the temperature rising from 1073 to 1273 K, and arsenic adsorption capacity reduces from 303 to 50 mg/kg. Whereas, arsenic adsorption capacity of Al2O3/CaO almost maintains at high level and reaches to 534 mg/kg at 1173 K, which proves that the addition of Al2O3 can improve the anti-sintering ability of CaO. Meanwhile, through density functional theory (DFT), the adsorption sites of Al2O3/CaO was further studied. Al site of Al2O3/CaO was found to be the main adsorption active site and electron transfer channel, which effectively facilitates the separation of lattice oxygen. Finally, the adsorption mechanism of As2O3 on Al2O3/CaO was proposed.

Carbonized wood membrane decorated with AuPd alloy nanoparticles as an efficient self-supported electrode for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction

Efficient electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to value-added chemicals and fuels is a promising technology for mitigating energy shortage and pollution issues yet highly relay on the development of high-performance electrocatalysts. Herein, we develop an effective strategy to fabricate carbonized wood membrane (CW) decorated with AuPd alloy nanoparticles with tunable composition (termed as AuPd@CW) as self-supported electrodes for efficient electrocatalytic CO2 reduction. The uniformly distributed AuPd nanoparticles on wood matrix are first achieved through the in-situ reduction of metal cations by the lignin content in wood. Subsequently, two-step carbonization was employed to promote the alloying of AuPd nanoparticles and the formation of CW. The AuPd@CW membrane electrode features an integrated macroscopic structure with numerous open and aligned channels for rapid electron transfer and mass diffusion and well-dispersed AuPd alloy nanoparticles as active sites for the CO2 reduction. The optimal Au95Pd5@CW electrode affords a high selectivity for CO2 electroreduction with a maximum CO faradaic efficiency (FECO) of 82% at an overpotential of 0.49 V, much higher than those obtained on Au@CW and Pd@CW electrodes. The CO current density and FECO remain relatively stable during a 12 h electrolysis reaction. In addition, density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that alloying Au with Pd enables a balance between the formation of intermediate COOH* and the desorption of CO on the surface of AuPd nanoparticles, thus enhancing the selectivity of CO production. This work offers an effective strategy for the fabrication of bimetallic alloys supported on wood-based carbon membrane as a practical electrode for electrochemical energy conversion.

Bimetallic MOF-derived CoSe2 embedded within N-doped carbon with enhanced lithium storage properties

Transition metal selenides are considered to be a potential anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their excellent electronic conductivity and high theoretical capacity. However, the application of transition metal selenides electrodes is still limited by their large volume expansion and sluggish kinetics during cycling. Herein, CoSe2 nanoparticles embedded in N-doped carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon layer (CoSe2@NC) were constructed by pyrolysis of CoZn-based zeolitic imidazolate framework (CoZn-ZIFs) and melamine mixtures followed by selenization. During the pyrolytic process, the volatilization of zinc derived from CoZn-ZIFs, the retardation of the complete decomposition of g-C3N4 derived from melamine by Zn species played important roles in the formation of enriched N-doped carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and amorphous carbon layer. As a result, CoSe2@NC could show a large reversible lithium-ion storage capacity of 395 mAh g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 over 200 cycles, good rate capabilities of 367 mAh g−1 even at 2 A g−1, which outperformed CoSe2@NC-1 and CoSe2@NC-2 derived from carbonization of Co-Zn-ZIFs and Co-ZIF/melamine precursors followed by selenization, respectively. The enhanced lithium storage performance of CoSe2@NC could owe to the unique structure, where the N-doped CNTs and amorphous carbon layer can provide a rapid electron transfer channel and enable surface-dominated pseudocapacitive lithium storage, and the robust interface between CoSe2 and carbon can also effectively alleviate the volume expansion and enhance the integrity during the charge-discharge process.

In situ synthesis of Ti3C2Tx MXene/CoS nanocomposite as high performance counter electrode materials for quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

Low electrocatalytic activity and/or high charge transfer resistance of counter electrodes (CEs) in quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) are the main reasons for the low photovoltaic performance. Herein, the CoS nanoparticles are anchored on the MXene (Ti3C2Tx) via a simple in-situ hydrothermal reaction process. It is the first attempt to use the MXene/CoS as a highly electrocatalytic CE for QDSSCs. The QDSSCs with a MXene/CoS CE shows a significant enhancement in cell performances and yields a promising power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.09% compared with that of the QDSSCs with bare CoS (5.77%) and bare MXene (4.25%) CEs. The significant enhancement of PCE value is mainly attributed to the synergistic effects of the unique layered morphology of conductive MXene nanosheets and its cocatalysis with CoS nanoparticles. The coupling of layered MXene with small CoS nanoparticles (~15 nm) provides abundant catalytic active sites. The improved mesoporous morphology contributes a high specific surface area and fast electron transfer channels for Sx2− reduction. Consequently, the MXene/CoS nanocomposite can be utilized as an effective agent to boost up the photovoltaic performance of QDSSCs.

Construction of Direct Z-Scheme Heterojunction NiFe-Layered Double Hydroxide (LDH)/Zn0.5Cd0.5S for Photocatalytic H2 Evolution.

It is of great significance to construct heterojunctions using industrially produced co-catalysts. The direct Z-scheme composite photocatalyst provides an effective separation of photogenerated carriers. Herein, a kind of novel 2D/3D direct Z-scheme NiFe-LDH/Zn0.5Cd0.5S is prepared. Compared with fresh catalysts, the NiFe-layered double hydroxide (LDH)/Zn0.5Cd0.5S composite exhibits advantages including excellent visible light response ability and photoelectric performance and improved H2 evolution rate by 11.6 times. Combining with theoretical calculations, ESR, XPS, and experimental results, the direct Z-scheme mechanism of the photocatalytic reaction is proposed. There is a channel for electron transfer between Zn0.5Cd0.5S and NiFe-LDH, and the electrons of Zn0.5Cd0.5S directly combine with the valence band holes of NiFe-LDH. Finally, the electrons remaining on NiFe-LDH can reduce H+ to generate H2. This process effectively achieves separation of photogenerated carriers and increases photocatalytic H2 evolution.

Photocatalytic mineralization of indoor VOC mixtures over unique ternary TiO2/C/MnO2 with high adsorption selectivity

Formaldehyde (CH2O) and toluene (C7H8) are typical indoor air pollutants that have high harm to people’s health. Photocatalytic oxidation is a feasible approach, but still remains the problem of incomplete degradation to form refractory intermediates and uncertainty of interaction between multivariant components. This paper used natural proteins from waste shell as the carbon source and template to synthesize the ternary TiO2/C/MnO2 photocatalysts. It exhibited high adsorption selectivity and excellent photocatalytic performance for CH2O and C7H8 mixture mineralization under visible light irradiation. The optimal candidate achieved near completely mineralization within 60 min in the simulated indoor environment and exhibited remarkable stability after 5 cycles. Large amounts of oxygen vacancies, lattice distortions of TiO2, and tailored bandgap structure contributed to these excellent behaviors. Besides, carbon existence as an electron transfer channel dropped the interfacial charge-transfer resistance, thus prolonging the lifetime of charge carriers and making them rapidly go through the surface photo-oxidation reactions. In-situ DRIFTs results indicated that CH2O and C7H8 mixtures possessed the same reaction pathway and rate-determining step with single component. Above all, this paper offered a facile, sustainable, and green approach to synthesize efficient photocatalysts for treating indoor CH2O/C7H8 pollution with visible light irradiation.

Carbon-mediated electron transfer channel between SnO2 QDs and g-C3N4 for enhanced photocatalytic H2 production

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a promising material for photocatalytic water splitting but suffers from the self-agglomeration and fast recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. Tin oxide (SnO2) has a high electron extraction ability and can play a key role in the charge separation and transfer dynamics of composites. Herein, we report a 0D/2D heterostructure of carbon-encapsulated SnO2 quantum dots (SnO2@C QDs) anchored on g-C3N4 nanosheets (SnO2@C/CN). The construction of interface between SnO2@C and g-C3N4 dramatically increases the surface area and the number of active sites for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and provides a driving force for efficient charge separation/transfer kinetics. The carbon layer encapsulating SnO2 QDs acts as a bridge that facilitates electron transfer from g-C3N4 to SnO2 QDs. The champion SnO2@C/CN achieves an exceptional HER rate of 2,544.3 μmol g−1 h−1 (with 3 wt% Pt) with an apparent quantum efficiency of 9.63 % (λ = 420 nm) and excellent photostability. A photoactivity enhancement mechanism is proposed based on the interfacial energy band alignment. This work provides insights into the designing of heterostructured photocatalysts of enhanced charge separation via interface engineering.

Tungsten Oxide/Reduced Graphene Oxide Aerogel with Low-Content Platinum as High-Performance Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.

Designing cost-effective, highly active, and durable platinum (Pt)-based electrocatalysts is a crucial endeavor in electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, the low-content Pt (0.8 wt%)/tungsten oxide/reduced graphene oxide aerogel (LPWGA) electrocatalyst with excellent HER activity and durability is developed by employing a tungsten oxide/reduced graphene oxide aerogel (WGA) obtained from a facile solvothermal process as a support, followed by electrochemical deposition of Pt nanoparticles. The WGA support with abundant oxygen vacancies and hierarchical pores plays the roles of anchoring the Pt nanoparticles, supplying continuous mass transport and electron transfer channels, and modulating the surface electronic state of Pt, which endow the LPWGA with both high HER activity and durability. Even under a low loading of 0.81 μgPt cm-2 , the LPWGA exhibits a high HER activity with an overpotential of 42mV at 10mA cm-2 , an excellent stability under 10000-cycle cyclic voltammetry and 40 h chronopotentiometry at 10mA cm-2 , a low Tafel slope (30mV dec-1 ), and a high turnover frequency of 29.05s-1 at η= 50mV, which is much superior to the commercial Pt/C and the low-content Pt/reduced graphene oxide aerogel. This work provides a new strategy to design high-performance Pt-based electrocatalysts with greatly reduced use of Pt.

Construction of Bi2WO6 composites with carbon-coated Cu2O for effective degradation of tetracycline

It is of great significance to achieve superior degradation of contaminants by developing efficient and stable photocatalysts. To boost the photocatalytic performance of Bi2WO6 for tetracycline degradation, the Bi2WO6 composites (Bi2WO6/C@Cu2O) were constructed by introducing Cu2O coated by carbon layer (C@Cu2O with 5 wt% of Bi2WO6) in this study. Bi2WO6/C@Cu2O presents an excellent performance on tetracycline degradation because of the generation of more active species as ∙O2- and ∙OH. Its kinetic rate constant k was 2.8 times of pure Bi2WO6 and tetracycline degradation efficiency maintained outstanding stability even after 4 cycles. This benefits from the higher photogenerated charge separation and electron transfer possessed by Bi2WO6/C@Cu2O compared to Bi2WO6. Various intermediates of tetracycline degradation were identified and the possible degradation pathways were proposed. The tetracycline degradation by Bi2WO6/C@Cu2O followed a Z-scheme photocatalysis mechanism. In addition to acting as the protective layer of Cu2O to attenuate the photo-corrosion of Cu2O, the oxygen containing functional groups CO on the surface of carbon layer could provide an electron transfer channel between the interface of Bi2WO6 and Cu2O to reduce the interfacial charge-transfer resistance and accelerate the electron transfer.

Dual-channel D-(π-A)2 phenoxazine/phenothiazine dyes with an auxiliary N-alkoxy benzoic acid anchor for fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells

Research and exploitation of metal free organic photosensitizers with multi-electron transfer channels have attracted extensive attention in recent decade because of these chromophores possess obvious merits comparing to the single electron transfer channel analogues. Herein, four dual-channel D-(π-A)2 dyes (OT6, OT12, TT6, and TP6) with an auxiliary N-alkoxy benzoic acid anchor in side chain have been synthesized and characterized. The variation of structural segments such as donor phenoxazine/phenothiazine, π-bridge thiophene/benzene, and the different length of alkyl branch chain n-hexyl/n-dodecyl embedded in the skeleton of dyes exerts a conspicuous influence on the photophysical, electrochemical, and photoelectrochemical properties of the pristine dyes. The rich electron-donating unit of phenoxazine or thiophene employed as donor or π-bridge is beneficial to broaden the absorption spectra, increase the light-harvesting efficiency, reduce the electron injection voltage loss, and diminish the torsion dihedral angle between donor and π-bridge. These aforesaid factors are conducive to generate a relatively superior short-circuit current for the corresponding devices. Meantime, the longer alkyl side chain of n-dodecyl amalgamated with the auxiliary benzoic acid anchor helps in dominating the adsorption of dyes and hindering the charge recombination processes at the TiO2 interface and thus to achieve the higher open circuit-voltage which derived from the longer excited electron lifetime of the cells. Consequently, a maximal power conversion efficiency of 5.74% for OT12 is attributed to the comparatively higher short-circuit current and open circuit-voltage of the cells in liquid iodide/triiodide redox couple.

Segmented Au/PtCo heterojunction nanowires for efficient formic acid oxidation catalysis

Exploring a new strategy for the removal of adsorbed CO (CO*) on a Pt surface at a low potential is the key to achieving enhanced catalysis for the formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR); however, the development of such a strategy remains a significant challenge. Herein, we report a class of Au/PtCo heterojunction nanowires (HNWs) as efficient electrocatalysts for accelerating the FAOR. This heterojunction structure and the induced Co alloying effects can facilitate formic acid adsorption/activation on Pt with high CO tolerance, generating the FAOR pathway from dehydration to dehydrogenation. The optimized Au23/Pt63Co14 HNWs showed the highest specific and mass activities of 11.7 mA cm−2Pt and 6.42 A mg−1Pt reported to date, respectively, which are considerably higher than those of commercial Pt/C. DFT calculations confirmed that the electron-rich Au segment enhances the electronic activity of the PtCo NWs, which not only allows the construction of a highly efficient electron transfer channel for the FAOR but also suppresses CO formation.

Co Nanoparticles Decorated MoS2 Nanosheets Grown on Reduced Graphene Oxide as Cathode Catalyst for Li-air Batteries

Background: Li-air batteries have attracted huge attention in recent years due to the ultrahigh theoretical specific energy. The development of high-performance and low-cost cathode electrocatalysts for Li-air batteries is of great importance and has faced great challenges. Objective: This study aimed to design a new kind of cathode catalyst material for Li-air batteries. Methods: In this study, MoS2-rGO-Co was fabricated through a hydrothermal treatment following a chemical reduction process. A series of characterizations, including XRD, SEM, Raman, and XPS, were employed to explore the structure, morphology, and composition information of MoS2-rGOCo. The performance and stability of the MoS2-rGO-Co-based Li-air battery were tested in electrochemical measurements. Results: A composite of Co nanoparticles decorated flower-like MoS2 nanosheets grown on reduced graphene oxide (rGO), denoted as MoS2-rGO-Co, was successfully prepared. The MoS2-rGO-Cobased Li-air battery showed superior electrochemical performance with a capacity of 6591 mAh g-1, a reduced overpotential of ~500 mV, and enhanced cycling stability. Conclusion: Through a combination of hydrothermal method and chemical reduction, the hybrid cathode catalyst of MoS2-rGO-Co was successfully synthesized, which exhibited great electrochemical performance and stability in the Li-air battery. The high electrocatalytic activity of the composite benefits from the synergistic effect of MoS2 and Co as well as the rGO substrate, in which the high conductivity substrate provides the efficient electron transfer channel and the optimized electron structure of active components improves the electrocatalytic activity in battery reaction. All these advantages make great contributions to the superior performance of Li-air batteries. Our strategy paves a new way for exploring excellent electrocatalysts applied to other energy fields.

Two-Channel Model for Electron Transfer in a Dye-Catalyst-Dye Supramolecular Complex for Photocatalytic Water Splitting.

To improve the performance of dye‐sensitized photoelectrochemical cell (DS‐PEC) devices for splitting water, the tailoring of the photocatalytic four‐photon water oxidation half‐reaction represents a principle challenge of fundamental significance. In this study, a Ru‐based water oxidation catalyst (WOC) covalently bound to two 2,6‐diethoxy‐1,4,5,8‐diimide‐naphthalene (NDI) dye functionalities provides comparable driving forces and channels for electron transfer. Constrained ab initio molecular dynamics simulations are performed to investigate the photocatalytic cycle of this two‐channel model for photocatalytic water splitting. The introduction of a second light‐harvesting dye in the Ru‐based dye‐WOC‐dye supramolecular complex enables two separate parallel electron‐transfer channels, leading to a five‐step catalytic cycle with three intermediates and two doubly oxidized states. The total spin S=1 is conserved during the catalytic process and the system with opposite spin on the oxidized NDI proceeds from the Ru=O intermediate to the final Ru‐O2 intermediate with a triplet molecular 3O2 ligand that is eventually released into the environment. The in‐depth insight into the proposed photocatalytic cycle of the two‐channel model provides a strategy for the development of novel high‐efficiency supramolecular complexes for DS‐PEC devices with buildup and conservation of spin multiplicity along the reaction coordinate as a design principle.

Ultralight, flexible and conductive silver nanowire/nanofibrillated cellulose aerogel for multifunctional strain sensor

Wearable strain sensors have drawn growing interest in the field of intelligent electronic devices because of their inherent advantages including miniaturization and portability. For practical applications, strain sensors with lightness, flexibility, and high sensitivity are urgently desired. Herein, the interconnected silver nanowires (AgNWs) are assembled into the nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) aerogel through unidirectional freeze-drying yielding an ultralight and conductive AgNWs/NFC aerogel (SNA) with ordered pore orientation. After thermal welding, the SNA possesses unique electron transfer channels, which can efficiently eliminate the interfacial electrical resistance at the AgNWs junctions and bring an impressive conductivity enhancement for the composite aerogel. Benefiting from the synergy of the desired microstructure and superior conductivity of as-prepared aerogel, the derived sensor shows desirable sensitivity (3.86 kPa−1), fast response time (180 ms), ultralow density (less than 13.58 mg/cm3) and detection limit of 0.5% strain, and exceptional stability and durability (over 10,000 cycles). Significantly, the integrated conductive network in SNA simultaneously offers real-time monitoring of subtle deformations and electrophysiological signals, which enables the designs of wearable device, acoustic sensor, and vehicles’ speed and loading detector. The presented strategy opens up a new possibility for designing and manufacturing next-generation multifunctional strain sensor to bring the technology much closer to commercialization.