SiO2 Coatings Research Articles

Opal‐Inspired SiO2‐Mediated Carbon Dot Doping Enables the Synthesis of Monodisperse Multifunctional Afterglow Nanocomposites for Advanced Information Encryption

AbstractDespite recent advancements in inorganic and organic phosphors, creating monodisperse afterglow nanocomposites (NCs) remains challenging due to the complexities of wet chemistry synthesis. Inspired by nanoinclusions in opal, we introduce a novel SiO2‐mediated carbon dot (CD) doping method for fabricating monodisperse, multifunctional afterglow NCs. This method involves growing a SiO2 shell matrix on monodisperse nanoparticles (NPs) and doping CDs into the SiO2 shell under hydrothermal conditions. Our approach preserves the monodispersity of the parent NP@SiO2 NCs while activating a green afterglow in the doped CDs with an impressive lifetime of 1.26 s. Additionally, this method is highly versatile, allowing for various core and dopant combinations to finely tune the afterglow through core‐to‐CD or CD‐to‐dye energy transfer. Our findings significantly enhance the potential of SiO2 coatings, transforming them from merely enhancing the biocompatibility of NCs to serving as a versatile matrix for emitters, facilitating afterglow generation and paving the way for new applications.

Transparent composite-structure antifogging coating with mechanical abrasion resistance and environmental durability

Superhydrophilic SiO2 coatings offer unparalleled advantages in terms of antifogging properties. However, they show suboptimal mechanical abrasion resistance and environmental durability, limiting their application. Accordingly, research has focused on the trade-off between hydrophilicity and mechanical abrasion resistance as well as between environmental durability and visible transmittance in superhydrophilic SiO2 coatings. Herein, a composite-structure coating with a densely distributed particulate phase and enhanced crosslinking strength is developed without the use of organic compounds. The coating exhibits remarkable transparency and antifogging properties, with an average transmittance similar to that of bare glass and a water contact angle of approximately 0°. Moreover, the coating exhibits impressive hardness and adhesion of up to 4H and 5B, respectively. The coating retained its antifogging properties even after undergoing 500 cycles of wear induced using a 3000-mesh sandpaper, impact of sand (40 g) dropped from a height of 40 cm, 10 weeks of exposure to the outdoor environment, and 25 h of immersion in water. The test results demonstrate that the coating exhibits satisfactory mechanical abrasion resistance and environmental durability, which are essential for its practical applications. The composite structure formed using linear SiO2 molecules as crosslinking agents with spherical SiO2 nanoparticles considerably enhances the adhesion and abrasion resistance of the coatings. Overall, the developed composite-structure coatings will facilitate their commercial viability and expand the application of superhydrophilic materials in various research fields.

Facile In Situ Building of Sulfonated SiO2 Coating on Porous Skeletons of Lithium-Ion Battery Separators.

Polyolefin separators with worse porous structures and compatibilities mismatch the internal environment and deteriorate lithium-ion battery (LIB) combination properties. In this study, a sulfonated SiO2 (SSD) composited polypropylene separator (PP@SSD) is prepared to homogenize pore sizes and in situ-built SSD coatings on porous skeletons. Imported SSD uniformizes pore sizes owing to centralized interface distributions within casting films. Meanwhile, abundant cavitations enable the in situ SSD coating to facilely fix onto porous skeleton surfaces during separator fabrications, which feature simple techniques, low cost, environmental friendliness, and the capability for continuous fabrications. A sturdy SSD coating on the porous skeleton confines thermal shrinkages and offers a superior safety guarantee for LIBs. The abundant sulfonic acid groups of SSD endow PP@SSD with excellent electrolyte affinity, which lowers Li+ transfer barriers and optimizes interfacial compatibility. Therefore, assembled LIBs give the optimal C-rate capacity and cycling stability, holding a capacity retention of 82.7% after the 400th cycle at 0.5 C.

Opal-Inspired SiO2-Mediated Carbon Dot Doping Enables the Synthesis of Monodisperse Multifunctional Afterglow Nanocomposites for Advanced Information Encryption.

Despite recent advancements in inorganic and organic phosphors, creating monodisperse afterglow nanocomposites (NCs) remains challenging due to the complexities of wet chemistry synthesis. Inspired by nanoinclusions in opal, we introduce a novel SiO2-mediated carbon dot (CD) doping method for fabricating monodisperse, multifunctional afterglow NCs. This method involves growing a SiO2 shell matrix on monodisperse nanoparticles (NPs) and doping CDs into the SiO2 shell under hydrothermal conditions. Our approach preserves the monodispersity of the parent NP@SiO2 NCs while activating a green afterglow in the doped CDs with an impressive lifetime of 1.26 s. Additionally, this method is highly versatile, allowing for various core and dopant combinations to finely tune the afterglow through core-to-CD or CD-to-dye energy transfer. Our findings significantly enhance the potential of SiO2 coatings, transforming them from merely enhancing the biocompatibility of NCs to serving as a versatile matrix for emitters, facilitating afterglow generation and paving the way for new applications.

Sol-Gel SiO2 Coatings with Curcumin and Thymol on 3D Printouts Manufactured from Ti6Al4V ELI

Bacterial biofilm on implants may cause inflammation, which disturbs the process of the implant’s integration with the surrounding tissues. Such problems are becoming critical for patients’ health, especially in connection with the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. Among the existing alternatives for drug treatments are natural-based substances. This study focused on the examination of silica coatings with curcumin and thymol, which were deposited using the sol-gel method on 3D printouts made of Ti6Al4V ELI. This substrate material is commonly used in medicine. The selective laser melting technique used for the manufacturing of samples was in line with the existing procedures applied for individual orthopedic implants. The examination involved the assessment of the coatings’ morphology, chemical composition, and biological effect. The antibacterial properties were tested using a flow cytometer using Escherichia coli, and the cytotoxicity on Saos-2 cells was assessed using the LIVE/DEAD test. The obtained results showed that it is possible to produce silica sol-gel coatings with the addition of specific natural substances in concentrations assuring a bacteriostatic effect. The produced coatings did not show any cytotoxic effect, which confirms the possibility of using both curcumin and thymol as additives to coatings used in medicine, e.g., for orthopedic implants.

Enhancing thermal consistency and stability of quantum dots through encapsulation: A study on microscale-structured hybrid for WLEDs

Quantum dots (QDs) are regarded as highly potential materials for color conversion in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and display technologies owing to their distinctive and outstanding optical characteristics. Nevertheless, the energy transfer process occurring among various colored QDs, known as Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), results in a notable redshift in fluorescence emission, restricting the precise control of photoluminescence spectra in fabricated devices. This study presents a dual-impact technique to enhance the stability of CdSe/ZnS colloidal QDs while also preventing the FRET process. This is achieved by encapsulating the QDs within silica (SiO2) and ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) films. The research features two distinct encapsulation methods: enveloping multiple QDs within a SiO2 matrix (MQD) and adsorbing QDs onto SiO2 spheres as a shell (SQD and SQDS). Those hybrid structures are successfully fabricated with their nanostructure, chemical composition, and optical properties extensively analyzed. Moreover, the photo-physical properties of QDs/SiO2/EVA hybrid composite films and their impact on blue lightemitting diodes (LEDs) and White-LEDs have been conducted. Among those formulations explored, the MQD/EVA films stand out, displaying natural sunlight color emission with a color temperature of 4214 K, a color coordinate at (0.37, 0.37), and significant improvements in chromatic and thermal stability under high driving power. The successful integration of high-molecular-weight polymers and SiO2 coatings highlights the effectiveness of this approach in producing robust, high-quality QD-polymer film composites, making them ideal candidates for display technologies.

Haze factor of silver nanowires in variable refractive index environment: experimental and simulation approaches

While silver nanowires (Ag NWs) have been demonstrated as a highly efficient transparent conducting material, they suffer from strong light scattering, which is quantified by a large haze factor (HF) in the optical spectrum. Here we investigate the influence of the dielectric environment on the light scattering of Ag NWs by comparing experimental measurements and simulations. In air, two peaks on the HF spectra are observed experimentally at the wavelength of λ I = 350 nm and λ II = 380 nm and are attributed by simulations to the influence of the Ag NWs pentagonal shape on the localized surface plasmon resonance. The relative intensity between the two peaks is found to be dependent on whether the Ag NWs are in contact with the glass substrate or not. The HF behaviour in the near IR region seems to be dominated by Rayleigh scattering following simulations results. Dielectric environments of Ag NWs with various refractive indexes were obtained experimentally by the conformal deposition of different metal oxide coatings using atomic layer deposition, including Al-doped zinc oxide, Al2O3 and SiO2 coatings. The HF is found to be correlated with the refractive index environment in terms of HF peaks position, intensity and broadening. This trend of HF peaks is supported by a theoretical model to understand the optical mechanism behind this phenomenon.

Study on the pathway of performance improvement and mechanism of Gd2O2S:Tb3+ green phosphor

To improve the luminescence performance of Gd2O2S:Tb3+, Gd2O2S:Tb3+, Tm3+, Gd2O2S:Tb3+, Dy3+, Tm3+ and Gd2O2S:Tb3+, Dy3+, Tm3+@SiO2 phosphors have been prepared by molten salt method. The samples are characterized using XRD, SEM, TEM, FT-IR, UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, photoluminescence, cathodoluminescence and thermal stabilization tests. XRD tests and refinement results show that the crystal structure of the phosphor is still the hexagonal Gd2O2S crystalline phase and the lattice parameter decrease due to Dy3+/Tm3+ occupying the Gd3+ sites. SEM images and mapping of each element show that the particle grain and all expected elements distribute uniformly. TEM results illustrate that SiO2 coating is in an amorphous form on the surface of the powder grains. FT-IR tests indicate that SiO2 is present on the powder surface through Si-O-Gd bonding. The results of photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence show that the luminescence intensity increase 50% while adding Tm3+ into Gd2O2S:Tb3+, Gd2O2S:Tb3+, Dy3+ phosphors caused mainly by the energy transfer from Dy3+/Tm3+ to Tb3+. The core-shell structure of Gd2O2S:Tb3+, Dy3+, Tm3+@SiO2 has better photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence and the fluorescence lifetime remains unchanged while SiO2 coats phosphor. And it has good thermal stability. Its luminescence intensity at 425 K reaches 71.4% of that at room temperature, which is better than the corresponding value (46.4%) for the uncoated sample.

Improved oxidation resistance and infrared emissivity of tantalum disilicide particles with sol-gel derived SiO2 coatings

As an important high-temperature structural material, tantalum disilicide (TaSi2) suffers from performance degradation associated with high temperature oxidation due to the poor oxygen diffusion barring effect of the mixed Ta2O5/SiO2 oxidation scale. In this work, silica coating was prepared on the surface of TaSi2 powder by a sol-gel method. The oxidation resistance was studied by thermogravimetric tests in non-isothermal oxidation and isothermal oxidation, as well as by oxidation treatment in a tube furnace at temperatures ranging from 800 °C to 1400 °C. The spectral emissivity of raw TaSi2, coated TaSi2 and the oxidized ones was compared and analyzed. The amorphous SiO2 coating is composed of numerous nanoparticles and covers most of the surface of TaSi2 particles. The oxidation weight gain of coated TaSi2 during heating from RT to 1200 °C and 1400 °C decreases from 29.8% and 30.9–3.0% and 8.6%, respectively. And the oxidation is controlled by diffusion in the overall process. The coated TaSi2 combines the advantageous radiation property of TaSi2 core and SiO2 coating. Compared with that of raw TaSi2, the emissivity of coated TaSi2 at the wavelength range of 200–2500 nm and 2.5–25 µm has increased by 7.5% and 13.2%, respectively, and the property did not deteriorate after oxidation at 1200 °C, suggesting that the coated TaSi2 is an excellent emitting agent during the entire service life.

Influence of tetraethyl orthosilicate coating on dielectric, impedance, and modulus properties of barium hexaferrite nanoparticles prepared by a modified sol–gel method

This work is devoted to study the comparison of the conduction mechanism in bare barium hexaferrite (BaFe12O19) nanoparticles and tetraethyl orthosilicate-coated (SiO2)x/BaFe12O19 (x = 5, 10, 15 and 20 wt. %) nanoparticles. The modified sol–gel method was adopted for the synthesis of these nanoparticles. The structures, morphologies, elemental composition, vibrational modes, and dielectric properties of these nanoparticles were studied by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and dielectric measurements, respectively. The crystallite size and particle size of BaFe12O19 nanoparticles decreased with SiO2 coatings, which can be attributed to the confinement of crystal growth of these nanoparticles with the coating. It was found that these (SiO2)x/BaFe12O19 nanoparticles have a uniform spherical shape, are non-agglomerated, and have a narrow particle size distribution. At room temperature, these (SiO2)x/BaFe12O19 nanoparticles showed distinctive behavior with varying frequency and SiO2 coatings. The experimental results in this work may provide fundamental support to the research and development of materials for energy storage devices.

Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Coatings by Using Spraying and Analysis of Their Anti-Icing Properties

Ice accumulation on glass insulators is likely to cause faults such as flashover, tripping and power failure, which interfere with the normal operation of the power grid. Accordingly, superhydrophobic coatings with great anti-icing potential have received much attention. In this study, three superhydrophobic coatings (PTFE, Al2O3 and SiO2) were successfully prepared on glass surfaces by using one-step spraying. The microscopic morphology, wettability, anti-icing and anti-glaze icing properties of the superhydrophobic coatings were comparatively analyzed. The results indicated that the PTFE coating had a densely distributed rough structure, showing a contact angle of 165.5° and a sliding angle of 3.1°. The water droplets on the surface could rebound five times. Compared with the Al2O3 and SiO2 coatings, the anti-icing performance of the PTFE coating was significantly improved. The freezing time was far more than 16 times that of glass (4898.7 s), and the ice adhesion strength was 9 times lower than that of glass (27.5 kPa). The glaze icing test in the artificial climate chamber showed that the icing weight of the PTFE coating was 1.38 g, which was about 32% lower than that of the glass. In addition, the icing/melting and abrasion cycles destroyed the low-surface-energy substances and nanostructures on the surface, leading to the degradation of the anti-icing durability of the PTFE coatings. However, the PTFE coating still maintained excellent hydrophobicity and anti-icing properties after UV irradiation for up to 624 h. The superhydrophobic coatings prepared in this work have promising development prospects and offer experimental guidance for the application of anti-icing coatings on glass insulators.

Ultrafast Decay, Ultrahigh Spatial Resolution, and Stable γ-CuI Single Crystal Treated by Iodine Annealing and SiO2 Coating.

The demand for scintillators with ultrafast decay times, high spatial resolutions, and high stabilities is increasing due to the development of ultrafast hard X-ray detection, hard X-ray imaging, and high-energy physics facilities. γ-CuI single crystals, which exhibit ultrafast luminescence and high stopping power for hard X-rays, hold great promise for such applications. However, slow luminescence and poor stability caused by surface iodine deficiencies hinder the practical use of γ-CuI. Herein, we treated a γ-CuI single crystal by iodine annealing and SiO2 coating and investigated its crystal structure and luminescence properties in detail. Iodine annealing significantly enhanced the near-band-edge emission of the γ-CuI crystal with an ultrafast decay time of less than 1 ns, while completely suppressing the slow luminescence. Moreover, the SiO2 film effectively prevented the oxidation and decomposition of surface iodine, leading to substantial improvement in luminescence stability. The γ-CuI crystal demonstrated an ultrahigh spatial resolution of 1.5 μm in X-ray imaging, highlighting its potential for ultrafast hard X-ray imaging applications. This study provides insight into the growth, optimization, and application of γ-CuI crystals, advancing the field of scintillator materials.

Durability of antireflective SiO2 coatings with closed pore structure

The use of antireflective coatings to increase the transmittance of the cover glass is a central aspect of achieving high efficiencies for solar collectors and photovoltaics alike. Considering an expected lifetime of 20–30 years for solar energy installations, the durability of the antireflective surfaces is essential. Here, a novel antireflective SiO2 coating with a hexagonally ordered closed pore structure, produced with an aerosol-based sol-gel method is benchmarked against two commercial coatings; produced with acid etching and sol-gel roll coating. The optical and mechanical properties together with contact angle characteristics were evaluated before and after various durability tests, including climate chamber tests, outdoor exposure, and abrasion. Compared to the commercial antireflective coatings with open pore structures, the novel coating performed in parity, or better, in all tests. Based on the results of humidity freeze and industrial climate chamber tests, it appears that the coating with closed pore structure has a better ability to prevent water adsorption. Additionally, the closed pore structure of the coating seems to minimize the accumulation of dirt and deposits. The abrasion and cleanability test further confirm the advantages of a closed pore structure, showcasing the coating's mechanical durability. While the coatings exhibit similar hardness and reduced elastic modulus, the closed pore coating proves to be even harder after undergoing the industrial climate chamber test, but also slightly more brittle, as indicated by the probability of crack initiation. In summary the closed pore structure is well suited for tempered and arid climates, making it a truly competitive alternative to existing antireflective coatings.

Highly Stable CsPbI3 Perovskite Quantum Dots Enabled by Single SiO2 Coating toward Down-Conversion Light-Emitting Diodes

All-inorganic CsPbI3 perovskite quantum dots (PeQDs) have sparked widespread research due to their excellent optoelectronic properties and facile synthesis. However, attaining highly stable CsPbI3 perovskite quantum dots (PeQDs) against heat and polar solvents still remains a challenge and hinders any further practical application. Here, by exploiting (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) as the sole silica (SiO2) precursor, we report a one-step in situ synthesis of single SiO2-coated CsPbI3 (SiO2-CsPbI3) PeQDs, namely that one SiO2 particle only contains one CsPbI3 PeQD particle. The obtained SiO2-CsPbI3 PeQDs are cubic in shape, have a more uniform size distribution, and possess narrow emission, with near unit photoluminescence quantum yields of up to 97.5%. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirm the formation of SiO2 through the hydrolysis of APTES on the CsPbI3 PeQDs surface. Furthermore, they have a significantly improved stability against storage, heat, and ethanol. By combining purple-emission GaN light-emitting diodes, the SiO2-CsPbI3 PeQDs were successfully employed as down-conversion emitters and exhibited considerable enhanced luminous performance and excellent stability, demonstrating their promising future in the practical application of solid-state lighting fields.

Adsorption behavior of SiO2 coatings on CaF2 crystal planes: Molecular dynamics simulation and preparation

In this study, the adsorption effect of SiO2 on the surface of CaF2 nanospheres was studied by molecular dynamics simulation. By analyzing the radial distribution function, relative concentration and adsorption energy, it is determined that SiO2 has a good adsorption effect on the surface of CaF2 nanospheres when the temperature is 313–333 K and the concentration of SiO2 is 1 g/mL. The CaF2 @SiO2 nanomaterials with good surface morphology were prepared by using the temperature and SiO2 concentration determined by the simulation experiment. The CaF2 @SiO2 nanomaterials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction.

Preliminary exploration of the electrical insulation performance of APPJ SiO2 coating on 304 stainless steel pipes

The atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) technique is used to prepare SiO2 insulation coatings onto the outer surface of 304 stainless steel pipes (304-SSPs). The diameter and surface roughness of 304-SSPs increase from 18 to 32 mm and 0.1 to 1.0 μm. The results show that APPJ scanning methods have little influence on the chemical composition, chemical bond structure, crystal structure, and surface morphology of SiO2 coatings, which display Si/O = 1/(1.95 ± 0.02), dominant Si-O bond, amorphous structure, and dense layer structure. However, APPJ scanning methods have obvious influence on the uniformity and electrical insulation resistance (REI) of SiO2 coatings. Only when APPJ is parallel to the normal direction of 304-SSPs outer surface, the balance between APPJ impingement, gravity, and coating surface tension could reach the optimal condition, which improves the uniformity and REI of SiO2 coatings. With the optimal scanning method, REI of SiO2 coatings decrease with the increase of surface roughness of 304-SSPs, which are caused by the decrease of effective thickness of SiO2 coatings. Most importantly, with the other parameters as constant, REI of SiO2 coatings reaches to ∼101 MΩ and displays the better uniformity when the diameter of 304-SSPs is about 5 times the diameter of APPJ tube.

Effect of residual impurities on the behavior and laser-induced damage of oxide coatings exposed to deep space radiation

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is an emerging coating deposition technique filled with potential that is expected to deposit coatings with high laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT). As lasers play an important role in space exploration which are gradually moving to higher orbits and longer lifetimes, a higher demand for space laser coatings has been raising. At the current state of the art, the reliability of ALD-deposited laser coatings for space applications is unclear. This work presents investigations on the stability of three ALD-deposited oxide coatings under space proton and UV radiation at values typical for space environment. Changes in the coatings containing low and high amounts of impurities under space radiation were analyzed through optical parse and composition analysis respectively. Both SiO2 and Al2O3 coatings with few impurities generated color centers after irradiation, which resulted in increased absorption loss and reduced transmittance and optical band gap, and increased probability of damage under laser irradiation. However, the changes in the ZrO2 coating were surprising, when the ZrO2 coating with a large amount of impurities was exposed to radiation, the impurity atoms bound to Zr were displaced first, and the released Zr combined with the oxygen vacancies in the coating, which reduced the number of defects, reduced the absorption loss of the coating, and led to a higher transmittance and an increased optical band-gap. This work provided a novel insight on the impact of the impurities on the stability of the ALD-manufactured oxide coatings against laser-induced damage in effect with space proton and UV radiation. Additionally, we show that high initial LIDT in ALD-prepared oxides may be compromised by the space radiation, while fine tuning of the impurities may result a mitigation approach leading to enhanced laser coatings for space applications.

In Situ Generating YVO4:Eu3+,Bi3+ Downshifting Phosphors in SiO2 Antireflection Coating for Efficiency Enhancement and Ultraviolet Stability of Silicon Solar Cells

Herein, a solid strategy to prepare bifunctional SiO2 coatings (BSCs) with both antireflection and luminescence downshifting properties by in situ generating YVO4:Eu3+,Bi3+ phosphors in SiO2 antireflection coatings (ARCs) is reported. Namely, a self‐prepared precursor solution of the downshifting phosphors is added to a mixture of commercial SiO2 sol solution and ethanol to uniformly coat the surface of quartz glass; therefore, a novel composite porous SiO2 coating containing in situ generated YVO4:Eu3+,Bi3+ phosphors (labeled SiO2@YVO4:Eu3+,Bi3+ coating) is formed on the glass surface after annealing. The SiO2@YVO4:Eu3+,Bi3+ BSCs can effectively convert ultraviolet (UV) region photons to visible photons that are well absorbed by silicon solar cells and have better transmittance than pure SiO2 ARC. As proof‐of‐concept applications, the as‐prepared optimal SiO2@YVO4:Eu3+,Bi3+ coating can effectively improve the photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of tunnel oxide passivated contact solar cells by 0.18%abs and decrease the UV‐induced degradation value of the PCE of silicon heterojunction solar cells by 0.62%abs compared to the pure SiO2 ARC. The results demonstrate that in situ generating luminescence downshifting phosphors in the SiO2 ARC of photovoltaic glass is a promising way to improve the PCE and UV stability of silicon solar cells.

Effect of SiO2 Coating on Microstructure and Electrochemical Properties of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 Cathode Material

Abstract We present a simple method for producing SiO2-modified LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) cathode materials. Manganese carbonate was directly mixed with nickel nitrate and lithium hydroxide, and a spherical structure LNMO cathode material was prepared by two-step calcination, then ethyl orthosilicate and LNMO powder were simply mixed in solid and liquid phases to prepare SiO2-coated LNMO material. The effect of SiO2 coating on the structure of LNMO was studied by diffraction of X-rays, scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. An amorphous SiO2 coating layer developed on the surface of the LNMO particles in the modification and this could alleviate the strike of hydrogen fluoride (HF) caused by electrolyte decomposition as well as the development of a solid electrolyte interphase. The electrochemical performance of the coated material was as follows: when the amount of SiO2 was 0 wt%, 1 wt%, 2 wt%, and 3 wt%, the initial discharge capacity of the sample was 98.2, 84.1, 101.3, and 89.8mAh/g, respectively. After 50 charge−discharge cycles, the capacity retention rates are 92.7%, 66.8%, 97.9%, and 93.8%, respectively. The cyclic stability of the samples can be significantly improved when the SiO2 coating amount is 2 wt% and 3 wt%, indicating that SiO2 coating can not only improve the discharge-specific capacity of the material but also improve its cyclic stability.

Fabrication of Robust and Effective Oil/Water Separating Superhydrophobic Textile Coatings.

A superhydrophobic (SH) surface is typically constructed by combining a low-surface-energy substance and a high-roughness microstructure. Although these surfaces have attracted considerable attention for their potential applications in oil/water separation, self-cleaning, and anti-icing devices, fabricating an environmentally friendly superhydrophobic surface that is durable, highly transparent, and mechanically robust is still challenging. Herein, we report a facile painting method to fabricate a new micro/nanostructure containing ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid/poly(dimethylsiloxane)/fluorinated SiO2 (EDTA/PDMS/F-SiO2) coatings on the surface of a textile with two different sizes of SiO2 particles, which have high transmittance (>90%) and mechanical robustness. The different-sized SiO2 particles were employed to construct the rough micro/nanostructure, fluorinated alkyl silanes were employed as low-surface-energy materials, PDMS was used for its heat-durability and wear resistance, and ETDA was used to strengthen the adhesion between the coating and textile. The obtained surfaces showed excellent water repellency, with a water contact angle (WCA) greater than 175° and a sliding angle (SA) of 4°. Furthermore, the coating retained excellent durability and remarkable superhydrophobicity for oil/water separation, abrasion resistance, ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation stability, chemical stability, self-cleaning, and antifouling under various harsh environments.