Functional Interlayer Research Articles

2D Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Materials for Noble Gas Separation.

Noble gases, notably xenon, play a pivotal role in diverse high-tech applications. However, manufacturing xenon is an inherently challenging task, due to its unique properties and trace abundance in the Earth's atmosphere. Consequently, there is a pressing need for the development of efficient methods for the separation of noble gases. Using mild fluorographene chemistry, nitrogen-doped graphene (GNs) materials are synthesized with abundant aromatic regions and extensive nitrogen doping within the vacancies and holes of the aromatic lattice. Due to the organized interlayer "nanochannels", nitrogen functional groups, and defects within the two-dimensional (2D)structures, GNs exhibits effective selectivity for Xe over Kr at low pressure. This enhanced selectivity is attributed to the stronger binding affinity of Xe to GN compared to Kr. The adsorption is governed by London dispersion forces, as revealed by theoretical calculations using symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT). Investigation of other GNs differing in nitrogen content, surface area, and pore sizes underscores the significance of nitrogen functional groups, defects, and interlayer nanochannels over thesurface area in achieving superior selectivity. This work offers a new perspective on the design and fabrication of functionalized graphene derivatives, exhibiting superior noble gas storage and separation activity exploitable in gas production technologies.

Robust carbon nitride nanosheet interlayered thin-film nanocomposite membrane for enhanced organic solvent nanofiltration

The integration of a nanomaterial interlayer within a thin-film composite membrane can markedly enhance its performance in organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN). However, this enhancement often comes at the expense of membrane integrity due to differential swelling behaviors in diverse solvents. In this study, we present an interlayered thin film nanocomposite (TFNi) membrane that demonstrates both high permeance and robust stability, utilizing green, porous, and reactive crystalline carbon nitride (CCN) nanosheets as the functional interlayer. The results revealed that ascribed to the presence of the CCN interlayer, the membranes retained their rejection towards organic dyes even after 10 h of DMF exposure, while the organic solvent permeance was significantly improved by the DMF treatment. The methanol permeance of the CCN-TFNi-DMF membrane reached an impressive 8.77 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, sustaining stable performance throughout a 72 h test period under a pressure of 10 bar. We attributed this performance enhancement to the extra nanochannels introduced by the CCN nanosheets that bolstered the permeance of the TFNi membrane, as well as the formation of a stable polyamide film resulting from the reaction between the amino groups on the CCN nanosheet surface and trimesoyl chloride during the interfacial polymerization process. This work provides valuable insights into the development of structurally reinforced TFNi membranes with exceptional performance for OSN separation applications.

Ball-Milling-Assisted N/O Codoping for Enhanced Sodium Storage Performance of Coconut-Shell-Derived Hard Carbon Anodes in Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are regarded as cost-effective alternatives or competitors to lithium-ion batteries for large-scale electric energy storage applications. However, their development has been hindered by the high cost of hard carbon (HC) anodes and poor electrochemical performance. To enhance the sodium storage capacity and rate performance of HC, this study accelerated the electrochemical performance of coconut-shell-derived HC anodes for SIBs through N/O codoping using ball milling and pyrolysis. Experimental results demonstrate that the simultaneous introduction of N and O generates a synergistic effect, increasing the surface oxygen-containing functional groups, defects, and interlayer spacing of coconut-shell-derived HC through the codoping of light elements. The excellent strategy has increased the slope capacity and platform capacity of HC, and the synergistic modification of N/O has increased its reversible specific capacity from 272 to 343 mA h g-1 (30 mA g-1), with a retention rate of approximately 92.1% after 100 cycles. In addition, it also exhibits an excellent rate performance, reaching 178 mA h g-1 at 1500 mA g-1. In summary, this study presents an effective strategy for modifying biomass-derived HC.

Boosting Electrochemical Performance via Extra-Role of La-Doped CeO2-δ Interlayer for "Oxygen Provider" at High-Current SOFC Operation.

Utilizing rare earth doped ceria in solid oxide cells (SOCs) engineering is indeed a strategy aimed at enhancing the electrochemical devices' durability and activity. Particularly, Gd-doped ceria (GDC) is actively used for barrier layer and catalytic additives in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). In this study, experiments are conducted with La-doped CeO2 (LDC), in which the Ce sites are predominantly occupied by La, to prevent the formation of the Ce-Zr solid solution. This LDC is comparably used as a functional interlayer between the electrolyte and cathode if sintered at lower temperatures to avoid La2Zr2O7 impurity. In addition, the high substitution of La3+ into the ceria lattice improves the oxygen non-stoichiometry of LDC, leading to accelerated electrochemical high performance by the additional role of LDC for oxygen supplier capacitance at high current operation. Thus, it is confirmed that the improved SOFC high performance is achieved at the maximum power density (MPD) of ≈2.15W cm-2 at 800°C when the optimized LDC buffer layer is hired at the anode-supported typed-Samsung's SOFC by lowering the sintering temperature to prevent LDC's impurity reaction.

The collaborative effect of Ni3S2-NiO heterojunction and porous carbon network modified lithium-sulfur battery separator for effectively inhibiting polysulfides shuttle

As an important part of lithium-sulfur battery (LSB), separator not only provides ion transport channel but also plays a key role in ensuring battery safety. However, the aperture of the commercial separator polypropylene (PP) is relatively large, which cannot effectively inhibit the migration of polysulfides generated during the charging and discharging process between the positive and negative electrodes, resulting in a decrease in the cycle stability of LSB. In this work, a modified LSB separator Ni3S2-NiO@AC-4@PP is designed, which is anchored by Ni3S2-NiO heterojunction on volcanic rock-like three-dimensional porous carbon network (AC) as the functional interlayer. The AC possesses a large specific surface area and excellent electrical conductivity, creating sufficient space for the physical and chemical adsorption of insoluble polysulfides. The Ni3S2-NiO heterojunction is embedded and attached to the AC, which helps to hinder the diffusion of polysulfides and accelerate the redox reaction. It is also confirmed by density functional theory (DFT) calculation that Ni3S2-NiO heterojunction inhibited the shuttle of polysulfides through the adsorption capacity of NiO and the catalytic activity of Ni3S2. Thus, the Ni3S2-NiO@AC-4@PP battery exhibits an elevated initial specific capacity of 1027.8 mAh g−1 at 0.2C, maintaining long-term stability after 200 cycles with the capacity retention rate of 81.4 %. At the higher current density (2C), Ni3S2-NiO@AC@PP battery demonstrates durable cycle with the capacity retention rate of 91.3 %. This study proposes a new feasible strategy to obtain high-performance, low-cost modified separators by designing functional interlayers with excellent adsorption and catalytic properties.

Ultrathin titanium carbide-modified separator for high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries

Despite a high theoretical capacity, the practical application of lithium-sulfur batteries has been primarily limited by the migration of long-chained polysulfide species during the charge/discharge processes. One effective approach to address the issues is to design a functional separator or interlayer. Here, we prepared a modified separator with an ultrathin layer of titanium carbide (TiC) using radio-frequency sputtering on a commercial Celgard polypropylene membrane. The 240-nm TiC coating layer can enhance the interfacial properties of Celgard separators in porosity, wettability, roughness, etc. Hence, via experimental and theoretical investigation, we discovered that TiC can efficiently adsorb polysulfides and boost charge transfer via strong covalent C–S bonds. Using a TiC-modified separator can impede the shuttle effect and improve the kinetics of sulfur conversion reactions. Thus, the Li–S batteries with TiC separator deliver excellent electrochemical performances with a good rate capability (717 mAh g−1 at 7.0C) and an ultra-low decay rate of 0.058 % per cycle over 800 cycles at a C-rate of 2.0C. Furthermore, a high areal capacity of 4.3 mAh cm−2 was achieved with a high mass-loading of sulfur cathode up to 7.0 mg cm−2.

A sulfur-infiltrated mesoporous silica/CNT composite-based functional interlayer for enhanced Li–S battery performance

The design and construction of functional interlayers for lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries has attracted much attention and was demonstrated to be effective to alleviate the notorious “shuttle effect.” An often neglected issue is that the introduction of interlayer will reduce the overall energy density of the battery. In this work, we report a sulfur-infiltrated mesoporous silica/carbon nanotube (CNT) composite as an interlayer for Li–S batteries. The mesoporous silica with large surface area (842 m2 g−1) and pore volume (0.85 cm3 g−1) can not only ensure abundant exposed sites for polysulfide capture but also accommodate a large amount of sulfur inside the pore structure. CNT was composited with silica to enhance the electronic conductivity of the interlayer, which is beneficial for fast sulfur redox reaction kinetics and improved utilization of sulfur. Compared to the pristine and CNT-modified separator, the mesoporous silica/CNT composite-modified separator enables better cycling stability and rate performance. More importantly, it was demonstrated that separately incorporating sulfur into a cathode and interlayer enables better battery performance than locating all the sulfur in the cathode. At a total sulfur loading of 4 mg cm−2 (3 mg cm−2 sulfur on the cathode and 1 mg cm−2 on the mesoporous silica/CNT interlayer), a high initial discharge capacity of 1410 mAh g−1 and a retained capacity of 952 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles were exhibited. This work provides important guidance for future design of functional interlayers for practical Li–S batteries.

Synthesis and characterization of Ketotifen Fumarate Intercalated Zn–Al Layered Double Hydroxides as sustained-release carriers

The present study seeks to synthesize, characterize, and sustain the release of properties of Ketotifen Fumarate Intercalated Zn–Al Layered Double Hydroxides (Zn-Al-KF-LDHs) by the chemical co-precipitation method. A variety of techniques were used to analyze the synthesized products, including Elemental Analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), and Thermogravimetry Differential Thermal Analysis (TG-DTA). The XRD patterns successfully highlighted the remarkable crystallinity of the typical hydrotalcite-like materials, Zn-Al-KF-LDHs. While the FT-IR analysis indicates the chemical functional groups and interlayer anions of Zn-Al-KF-LDHs, the elemental analysis determines the content of Zn, Al, S, C, H, and N. The TG-DTA results show that Zn-Al-KF-LDHs possess improved thermal stability. These findings provide an empirical understanding of the supramolecular structure of Zn-Al-KF-LDHs, enabling its comprehensive structural analysis. Additionally, the sustained-release properties of simulated gastric juice and intestinal juice, which followed the theoretical models of Higuchi and Riger-Peppas, indicated that the layered double hydroxides have potential applications as sustained-release carriers for ketotifen fumarate.

A Multifunctional Secondary Based on Heterogeneous Co-MnO@NC for Depth-Induced Deposition and Conversion of Polysulfides in Li─S Batteries.

The conductive carbon-based interlayer, as the secondary current collector in the self-dissolving battery system, can effectively capture escaping cathode active materials, inducing deep release of remaining capacity. In the multi-step reactions of Li─S batteries, the environmental tolerance of the conductive carbon-based interlayer to polysulfides determines the inhibition of shuttle effects. Here, a modified metal-organic framework (Mn-ZIF67) is utilized to obtain nitrogen-doped carbon-coated heterogeneous Co-MnO (Co-MnO@NC) with dual catalytic center for the functional interlayer materials. The synergistic coupling mechanism of NC and Co-MnO achieves rapid deposition and conversion of free polysulfide and fragmented active sulfur on the secondary current collector, reducing capacity loss in the cathode. The Li─S battery with Co-MnO@NC/PP separator maintains an initial capacity of 1050mAhg-1 (3C) and excellent cycle stability (0.056% capacity decay rate). Under extreme testing conditions (S load = 5.82mgcm-2, E/S=9.1µLmg-1), a reversible capacity of 501.36mAhg-1 is observed after 200 cycles at 0.2C, showing good further practical reliability. This work demonstrates the advancement application of Co-MnO@NC bimetallic heterojunctions catalysts in the secondary current collector for high-performance Li─S batteries, thereby providing guidance for the development of interlayer in various dissolution systems.

Geometric design of carbon-based interlayer for advanced lithium-sulfur batteries

Interlayer engineering is considered as an innovative and efficient approach to constrain the shuttle effect of polysulfides while elevating sluggish redox reaction kinetics in lithium‑sulfur (LiS) batteries. However, the principles for functional interlayer design have not been scientifically established yet, as very few works have focused on the investigation of parameters (e.g., geometrical structure) that affect the electrochemical performance of interlayer. In this study, interlayers with identical chemical compositions but different micromorphologies are fabricated by polyacrylonitrile, including nanofiber, short stick, and powder. Multiphysics simulation and experimental results reveal that the distinctions in the microcrystalline interlayers lead to completely different suppression effects on polysulfides. Notably, the 3D carbon nanofiber-modified interlayer (NF) prepared from electrospinning technology forms a higher specific area and continuous electron access compared to short sticks and powder. Accordingly, the NF-based LiS battery exhibited excellent cycling performance at 1.0 C, with a reversible capacity of 660 mAh g−1 after 300 cycles and a decay rate of about 0.10 %. Even at a high sulfur loading of 8.2 mg cm−2, it achieves a high areal capacity of 5.1 mAh cm−2 after 100 cycles at 0.2 C. This study clearly elucidates a design strategy for high-performance interlayer in LiS batteries from a mesoscale perspective.

Constructing novel GO microcomposite membranes with β-CD based microporous nanosheets for efficient dye/salt separation

Graphene oxide (GO) membrane is considered as one of the preferred choice for textile wastewater treatment thanks to its unique 2D interlayer channel features. However, GO laminar stacking is inclined to water-induced structure instability, and the narrow interlayer spacing limit mass transport efficiency, hampering its effectiveness in water treatment applications. Herein, a layer-by-layer stacked microcomposite membrane based on GO and highly microporous β-cyclodextrin based nanosheets (β-CDNS) served as intercalator was developed. The distinctive layered structure was further stabilized by covalent cross-linking with glutaraldehyde (GA). The microporous β-CDNS offered additional nanochannels that facilitated the rapid penetration of water molecules, while the abundant -OH groups provided sites for chemical cross-linking, enhancing membrane stability. The optimal GO/β-CDNS1 membrane exhibited a superior water permeance of up to 83.5 LMH/bar, with >99 % rejection for dyes such as Congo red (CR), methyl blue (MB), and chrome black T (CBT), 95.5 % for acid fuchsin (AF). Meanwhile, the GO/β-CDNS1 membrane demonstrated ultra-low (<5 %) retention for inorganic salts (MgSO4, MgCl2 and NaCl), with a separation factor as high as 194 for MB/NaCl mixtures. Therefore, employing functional interlayer nano-additives to well regulate the GO interlayer structure offers a promising guideline for developing high-performance GO-based membranes.

Quaternary functional semiconductor devices

Al/(Zn:Cd:Ni:TiO2)/p-Si diodes with (4:2:2:2), (5:2:2:1) and (6:4:4:0) ratios were named as D1, D2, D3, and Al/(CdO:ZnO:NiO:Ti)/p-Si diodes with of (4:2:2:2), (5:2:2:1) and (6:4:4:0) ratios were named as D4, D5 and D6, respectively. The functional interlayer was deposited via sol-gel spin coating method to develop new diodes/structures. Whereas the Ln(I)–V plot shows two linear sections for D1, D2, D3, and D5 structures, D2 and D6 revealed only one linear section in the forward-bias voltages. Therefore, D1, D2, D3, and D5 structures were found to exhibit two-exponential or two-parallel diode behavior in literature. The main electric parameters such as zero-bias barrier height, BH, (Φbo), ideality factor (n), reverse saturation-current (Is or Io)), rectification ratio at ±4.5 V, series resistance (Rs) and shunt resistance (Rsh) were extracted from the current-voltage (I-V) measurements. The number of surface sates (Nss) and their energy distribution were obtained using forward-bias I-V data by considering the voltage dependence of n and Φbo for each diode. The capacitance/conductance-voltage (C/G–V) plots at 1 MHz were used for extracting some of the other basic electrical parameters. The comparison of all the experimental results suggests that D1 and D3 structures have good performance in terms of lower leakage current, Nss and higher RR and so could be successfully used instead of conventional metal/insulator/semiconductor (MIS) structures.

A novel smart hybrid multimorph piezoelectric spherical shell cloak for broadband near-perfect underwater acoustic camouflage applications

Non-visual auditory camouflage plays a major role in the art of underwater deception. In this work, a hybrid active/semi-active omnidirectional cloaking shell structure composed of alternate complementary piezoelectric and smart viscoelastic (PZT/SVE) actuator layers is proposed that can effectively conceal a three dimensional underwater macroscopic object from broadband incident sound waves. The smart hybrid structure incorporates a finite sequence of fully active parallel-connected multimorph PZT constraining layers inter-stacked with semi-active SVE core layers both of which are collaboratively operative in the framework of a Particle Swarm Optimized (PSO) multiple-input multiple-output active damping control (MIMO-ADC) scheme. The elasto-acoustic modeling of the problem is conducted by coupling the spatial state space methodology based on the classical three-dimensional exact piezoelasticity theory with the wave equations for the inner and outer acoustic domains. The acoustic cloaking performance of proposed configuration is evaluated for four distinct classes of highly functional SVE interlayer materials with tunable (field-dependent) rheological properties, namely, magnetorheological elastomer (MRE), shape memory polymer (SMP), electrorheological fluid (ERF), and magnetorheological shear thickening polishing fluid (MRSTPF). Extensive numerical results reveal significant broadband reductions of the far-field backscattering amplitude in the (f∞θ=π,kexRex)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\left|{f}_{\\infty }\\left(\ heta =\\pi ,{k}_{\ ext{ex}}{R}_{\ ext{ex }}\\right)\\right|)$$\\end{document} as well as the percentage error of external cloaked field (%Err)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$(\\%\ ext{Err})$$\\end{document} by incorporating a sufficient number of smart multimorph PZT/SVE material layers. Furthermore, it is concluded that comparable low frequency acoustic cloaking effects is possible without expenditure of any external energy just by employing the entirely inactive MRSTPF-based cloak as an alternative to the semiactive or fully active multimorph PZT/SVE cloaks. The outcome of proposed study can advantageously serve as the first step towards practical development and experimental implementation of future high performance smart acoustic cloaking devices with expanded broadband near-perfect omnidirectional invisibility for three dimensional objects of diverse geometries.

3D-printed channel-aligned core-sheath architecture with high sulfur loading for kinetics-enhanced Li–S battery

Sluggish kinetics in thick cathode with high sulfur (S) loading will lead to low active material utilization and fast capacity decay, thus hampering the practical applications of Li–S batteries. To tackle such issue, a slightly thickness-dependent cathode of activated carbon (AC)-S/single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT)@SWNT with fast reaction kinetics is constructed via continuously printing core-sheath filaments. Such micro-filaments are composed of vertically aligned “thin AC-S/SWNT” in core layer and porous SWNT-strengthened shell layer, which constructs an appealing well-interconnected porous 3D architecture ensuring fast ion/electron/mass transport throughout the whole printed matrix, effectively expediting electrochemical kinetics even under a high S loading. Moreover, the SWNTs located in shell layer and intercalated in-between AC-S phase in core layer crosslink well for acting as the functional interlayer to suppress polysulfide shuttling, thereby enabling high S utilization. As a result, the 3D-printed thick AC-S/SWNT@SWNT cathode delivers outstanding gravimetric/areal capacity (752 mAh g−1/6.41 mAh cm−2 at 0.5C) and cycling performance under high S loading of 8.6 mg cm−2.

Metal Organic Frameworks as Polysulfide Reaction Modulators for Lithium Sulfur Batteries: Advances and Perspectives.

Currently, lithium sulfur (Li-S) battery with high theoretical energy density has attracted great research interest. However, the diffusion and loss process of intermediate lithium polysulfide during charge-discharge hindered the application of the Li-S battery in modern life. To overcome this issue, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and their composites have been regarded as effective additions to restrain the LiPS diffusion process for Li-S battery. Benefiting from the unique structure with rich active sites to adsorb LiPS and accelerate the LiPS redox, the Li-S batteries with MOFs modified exhibit superior electrochemical performance. Considering the rapid development of MOFs in Li-S battery, this review summarizes the recent studies of MOFs and their composites as the sulfur host materials, functional interlayer, separator coating layer, and separator/solid electrolyte for Li-S batteries in detail. In addition, the promising design strategies of functional MOF materials are proposed to improve the electrochemical performance of Li-S battery.

Three-Dimensional Reticulated Fe–Co Sulfide/Graphene/CNTs Composites as Functional Interlayer Capturing and Converting Polysulfide for High-Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Three-Dimensional Reticulated Fe–Co Sulfide/Graphene/CNTs Composites as Functional Interlayer Capturing and Converting Polysulfide for High-Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Multifunctional tri-layer aramid nanofiber composite separators for high-energy-density lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery has attracted much attention due to their high theoretical energy density. However, severe shuttling effect, sluggish reaction kinetics and uncontrolled dendrite formation of Li anode greatly deter their practical applications. Different to conventional separator engineering strategies that are always focused on surface coating of functional interlayer on commercial polyolefin separators, herein, we proposed a structural engineering tactic by rationally tuning the porous structure and composition of the p-aramid nanofiber (ANF) composite separator to address simultaneously the above problems. A two-step film-casting process combined with a phase inversion approach was developed to fabricate a multifunctional tri-layer ANF composite separator. This innovative separator was especially engineered to comprise a conductive and catalytic NiFe2O4 modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes/ANF layer for rapid and efficient conversion of lithium polysulfides, a microporous ANF layer for fast ion transport, and a dense nanoporous ANF layer for lithium dendrite inhibition. This tri-layer ANF-based separator possessed high porosity, excellent thermal stability, and superb electrolyte wettability. Batteries with the tri-layer ANF- based separator exhibited outstanding cyclic stability with high capacity of >3 mAh cm−2 at high sulfur loading (4 mg cm−2) and high current density (4 mA cm−2). This work opens up new opportunities for design of functional separators based on high performance polymers using the structural engineering strategy.

Crystalline-amorphous heterostructure on the phosphatized P-CoS2/CNT for augmenting the catalytic conversion kinetics of Li-S batteries

Crystalline-amorphous heterostructure catalyst is employed to conquer the notorious shuttle effect and sluggish redox kinetics of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) intermediates of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Herein, crystalline-amorphous heterostructure on the phosphatized cobalt disulfide/carbon nanotube (designated as P-CoS2/CNT) are served as the functional interlayer for Li-S batteries. Crystalline-amorphous heterostructure of P-CoS2/CNT is composed of high crystalline CoS2 core and amorphous Co(PO3)2 (a-Co(PO3)2) shell along with abundant active Co-O-P bonds. The crystalline CoS2 core and grain boundary defects on the heterostructure can prop up the well-pleasing electron conductivity when a-Co(PO3)2 accelerates the catalytic conversion kinetics of the polysulfides through the comprehensive survey in terms of chemical anchoring capability, nucleation barrier for Li2S, In-situ Raman for monitoring the shuttle case of polysulfides, and the analysis of inactive sulfur species on Li anode. In consequence, the Li-S battery using the P-CoS2/CNT functional separator delivers an outstanding low-capacity decay of only 0.048 % per cycle for 1000 cycles at 2C, and the LiPSs's shuttle effect is efficaciously restrained. Even with a high sulfur loading of 3.6 mg cm−2, the cell still maintains an outstanding areal capacity of 1.75 mAh cm−2 after 200 cycles at 1C. This work develops a scalable crystalline-amorphous heterostructure strategy using the conventional heteroatom modulation in aspire of accurately guiding the high-efficiency electrocatalyst served for the Li-S electrochemistry.

A difunctional interlayer of an activated carbon cloth supported with MoO2 catalyst for high-rate magnesium–sulfur batteries

The main challenges faced by magnesium-sulfur (Mg–S) batteries are the polysulfide shuttle effect and slow kinetics of S cathode, causing the severe self-discharge behavior and rapid capacity decay. Herein, we elaborately design a MoO2-loaded activated carbon cloth (denoted as MoO2@ACC) functional interlayer to realize high-performance Mg–S batteries. The ACC possesses a remarkable adsorption effect, which can effectively mitigate the polysulfide shuttle effect and enable the Mg–S batteries with a high voltage plateau. Besides, the MoO2 can observably reduce the polarization during charge/discharge process attributed by the fast reaction kinetics due to the catalytic effect. The Mg–S battery with this MoO2@ACC interlayer achieves a high energy density and good capacity retention (80.3 %) after 100 cycles (0.5 C) and effectively mitigates the Mg–S battery's self-discharge as well. This work illustrates the significant role of the interlayer with both adsorption and catalytic functions to boost the usability of the Mg–S batteries.

In Situ Constructing Metal-Organic Complex Interface Layer Using Biomolecule Enabling Stabilize Zn Anode.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are considered as a promising candidate for next-generation large-scale energy storage due to their high safety, low cost, and eco-friendliness. Unfortunately, commercialization of ZIBs is severely hindered owing to rampant dendrite growth and detrimental side reactions on the Zn anode. Herein, inspired by the metal-organic complex interphase strategy, the authors apply adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to in situ construct a multifunctional film on the metal Zn surface (marked as ATP@Zn) by a facile etching method. The ATP-induced interfacial layer enhances lipophilicity, promoting uniform Zn2+ flux and further homogenizing Zn deposition. Meanwhile, the functional interlayer improves the anticorrosion ability of the Zn anode, effectively suppressing corrosion and hydrogen evolution. Consequently, the as-prepared ATP@Zn anode in the symmetric cell exhibits eminent plating/stripping reversibility for over 2800h at 5.0mA cm-2 and 1 mAh cm-2. Furthermore, the assembled ATP@Zn||MnO2 full cells are investigated to evaluate practical feasibilities. This work provides an efficient and simple strategy to prepare stabilized Zn anode toward high-performance ZIBs.