Three-dimensional Interconnected Structure Research Articles

Agarics-derived porous Fe/C material activated by ZnCl2 and its enhanced microwave absorption performance

Biomass-derived carbon materials retain the unique porous structure of biological raw materials and have environmental advantages, making them a popular choice for electromagnetic microwave absorption research. The microwave absorption performance of biomass-derived carbon materials is largely influenced by their pore structure, which can be controlled by chemical activators. In this study, ZnCl2 was chosen as the activator and de-impregnated agarics with Fe(NO3)3·9 H2O for pretreatment. The Fe(NO3)3·9 H2O can provide magnetic Fe particles for the material to enhance the magnetic loss ability. And the weakly acidic ZnCl2 can avoid the pollution of the environment, and its dehydration and dehydroxylation properties can release the hydrogen and oxygen in the biomass char material in the form of water vapor, and release the hydrogen and oxygen in the biomass carbon material in the form of water vapor, and form a porous structure. porous structure. In addition, ZnCl2 will be converted to ZnO during the activation process, and the removal of ZnO by acid washing will increase the internal pore volume, form a conductive network, and form a rich three-dimensional interconnected pore structure. The pretreated samples were vacuum carbonized at high temperature to obtain agarics-derived porous Fe/C material, which is an excellent lightweight and high-performance microwave absorbing material. The resulting material has a wider absorption bandwidth and improved microwave absorption performance. At a thickness of 2.55 mm and a frequency of 8.31 GHz, the RLmin of Fe/C material is −51.14 dB. Furthermore, at a thickness of 2.13 mm, it has an effective absorption bandwidth of 3.63 GHz, covering most of the X-band.

Advancing carbon dioxide capture: Unravelling structure-property-performance dynamics in graphene related two-dimensional materials

Efficient design of adsorbents for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture is imperative in addressing the challenges caused by climate change. In this study, a comprehensive exploration of solid adsorbents derived from graphene-related two-dimensional materials (GR2Ms) with tunable surface chemistry and structures was undertaken to unravel the intricate structural-property-activity relationships essential for optimizing their CO2 adsorption. Nine key GR2Ms and carbon materials, including two types of (few-layer graphene (FLG), graphene oxide (GO) reduced graphene oxide (rGO) materials), expanded graphite (Exp Gft), rGO-Exp Gft and graphite (Gft), were methodically characterized alongside benchmarked materials such as activated carbon (AC) and molecular sieves (MS). Characterization parameters, i.e. morphology, particle size, interlayer distance, crystallite size, defect density, specific surface area (SSA), total pore volume, micropore volume and pore size, are correlated with CO2 adsorption capacity. Results revealed that the dominant properties influencing CO2 adsorption in GR2Ms are hierarchical porous morphology, defect density (up to 2.38 × 1011 cm−2), SSA (up to ∼271 m2/g), total pore volume (up to 0.86 cm3/g), and micropore volume (up to 0.03 cm3/g), all of which have established positive linear relationships. Conversely, crystallite size (0.38–48 nm) exhibited an inverse (non-linear) relationship with CO2 adsorption capacity under ambient conditions (25 °C and 1 atm). Particle size (8–52 μm), interlayer distance (0.33–0.89 nm) and pore size (4.2–13.3 nm) of GR2Ms showed negligible impact on CO2 adsorption capacity. Remarkably, porous rGO emerged as the top-performing CO2 adsorbent with an enhanced adsorption capacity (5.38 mmol/g) , in comparison with activated carbon (AC, 1.79 mmol/g) and molecular sieve (MS, 1.48 mmol/g). This study establishes a comprehensive structure-property-performance relationship, highlighting the significance of a three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical, open and interconnected pore structure within the graphene network, along with the largest pore volume and minimum crystallite size of rGO. These findings underscore the critical role of structural and porosity attributes of GR2Ms in CO2 adsorption, providing fundamental insights into the interplay between the structure and properties on their CO2 adsorption behavior. This study emphasizes the key pillars for effective adsorbent design and underlines the necessity of optimised control over the structural characteristics and porosity of GR2Ms to enhance their CO2 adsorption capabilities, contributing towards the ambitious net-zero target by 2050.

Coordination-based synthesis of Fe single-atom anchored nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibrous membrane for CO2 electroreduction with nearly 100% CO selectivity

Carbon-based materials with single-atom (SA) transition metals coordinated with nitrogen (M-Nx) have attracted extensive attention due to their superior electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) performance. However, the uncontrolled recombination of metal atoms during the typical high-temperature synthesis process in M-Nx causes deterioration of CO2RR activity. Herein, by using electrospinning, we propose a novel strategy for constructing a highly active and selective SA Fe-modified N-doped porous carbon fiber membrane catalyst (Fe-N-CF). This carbon membrane has an interconnected three-dimensional structure and a hierarchical porous structure, which can not only confine Fe to be single atom as active centers, but also provide a diffusion channel for CO2 molecules. Relying on its special structure and stable mechanical properties, Fe-N-CF is directly used for CO2RR, which presents an excellent selectivity (CO Faradaic efficiency of 97%) and stability. DFT calculations reveals that the synthesized Fe-N4-C can significantly reduce the energy barrier for intermediate COOH* formation and CO desorption. This work highlights the specific advantages of using electrospinning method to prepare the optimal SA catalysts.

Production and Characterization of Bacterial Cellulose Synthesized by Komagataeibacter sp. Isolated from Rotten Coconut Pulp

Bacterial cellulose is a naturally occurring polysaccharide that is produced by acetic acid bacteria. It has become increasingly popular due to its numerous biotechnological applications. Bacterial cellulose is free from contaminants that are often associated with plant cellulose. This study aims at isolation of bacterial cellulose producing microbial strains from rotten fruits. The selected bacterial cellulose producer was identified using biochemical tests, including biochemical, carbohydrate fermentation, morphology, gram staining and 16S rRNA sequence analysis. Furthermore, several different media were evaluated for higher production of cellulose. The produced cellulose sheets were washed, purified and characterized using various analytical techniques, including FTIR, XRD and SEM analysis. A potential high bacterial cellulose yielding microbial strain was isolated from coconut pulp waste and identified as Komagataeibacter saccharivorans strain BC-C1 using 16S rRNA sequencing. Effect of media components on bacterial cellulose production was studied. The isolate yielded 0.52 g/100 mL with Hestrin-Schramm (HS) culture media (designated as M1) and 1.10 g/100 mL in M5 media. The physico-chemical characterization demonstrated that produced bacterial cellulose sheets show characteristics IR bands and three-dimensional fibrillar interconnected network structure. The study revealed that isolated Komagataeibacter saccharivorans strain BC-C1 can be utilized for large scale production of bacterial cellulose.

Synthesis of Superelastic, Highly Conductive Graphene Aerogel/Liquid Metal Foam and its Piezoresistive Application.

Graphene aerogel (GA) has important application potential as piezoresistive sensors due to its low density, high conductivity, high porosity, and good mechanical properties. However, the fabrication of GA-based sensors with good mechanical properties and excellent sensing performance is still challenging. Herein, liquid- metal-modified GAs (GA/LM) are proposed for the development of an excellent GA-based sensor. GA/LM with three-dimensional interconnected layered structure exhibits excellent compressive stress of 41 KPa and fast response time (<20 ms). While generally flexible GA composites cannot be compressed beyond 80 % strain without plastic deformation, GA/LM demonstrates a high compressive strength of 60 kPa under a strain of 90 %. A real-time pressure sensor was fabricated based on GA/LM-2 to monitor swallowing, pulse beating, finger, wrist and knee bending, and even plantar pressure during walking. These excellent features enable potential applications in health detection.

Ultra-high space utilization of wood/phenolic resin-derived thick carbon electrode for advanced storge devices

The thick electrode design with high packing density of active materials can increase the capacity in a limited space. However, the key challenge is still to develop a system with high space utilization and ensure electron/ion transport in thick electrode. This work proposes an interesting “rebar-concrete” structure, which successfully prepared wood/phenolic resin-derived thick electrode with high space utilization by in-situ polymerization of phenolic resin (concrete) in the wood (rebar) channel. The electrode exhibits an excellent three-dimensional interconnected hierarchical pore structure due to the uniform activation of in-situ anchored KOH particles. The mass loading (35 mg cm−2) and areal capacitance (11F cm−2) of the obtained composite electrode are increased to 446 % and 1257 % of the original balsa wood, respectively. The assembled symmetric supercapacitor (SSC) exhibits a high energy density of 0.63 mWh cm−2 (3.91 mWh cm−3) and an excellent cycle stability (95 % retention after 50 000 cycles), showing good practicability in lighting LEDs or driving a fan. This strategy achieves effective coupling of self-supporting skeleton and powder materials, providing more insights and possibilities for the preparation of high energy density thick electrodes.

Dealloying-derived nanoporous Sn-doped copper with prior selectivity toward formate for CO2 electrochemical reduction.

We report nanoporous Cu-Sn catalysts fabricated by chemically dealloying rapid solidified Al-Cu-Sn alloys for the CO2RR. The np-Cu11Sn1 catalyst exhibits a three-dimensional interconnected ligament-channel network structure, which can efficiently convert CO2 to formate with a Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 72.1% at -1.0 V (vs. RHE).

A novel binder-free cathode catalyst Cu@NCNF/CP with three-dimensional self-supporting structure for Li-CO2 battery

The Li-CO2 battery is an emerging energy storage device that has garnered significant attention due to its high theoretical energy density and remarkable CO2 capture ability. However, the low reaction activity of Li2CO3 formation and decomposition may result in large overpotentials and poor cycling performance. In this work, a novel three-dimensional self-supporting high-performance cathode catalyst (Cu@NCNF/CP) was prepared. The Cu@NCNF/CP cathode catalyst is composed of Cu nanoparticles loaded on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube fibers (NCNF) deposited on carbon paper (CP). The three-dimensional interconnected self-supporting structure of Cu@NCNF/CP eliminates the need for binders and can facilitate efficient electrolyte diffusion and electron transfer. Moreover, the nitrogen doping introduces enrichment active sites, and boosts the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) activity, while the uniformly loaded Cu nanoparticles facilitate the adsorption and precipitation of CO2 molecules, thereby playing a crucial role in enhancing the electrocatalytic activity of the CO2 evolution reaction (CO2ER). Importantly, the Li-CO2 battery utilizing Cu@NCNF/CP as a cathode catalyst exhibits a large discharge capacity of 10.59 mAh cm−2 at a current density of 0.05 mA cm−2. When the cutoff capacity is limited to 0.15 mAh cm−2, the first-cycle overpotential is merely 1.28 V, and the cycle life can reach 1140 h due to the high reversibility of the Li2CO3 formation and decomposition. The successful application of a three-dimensional self-supporting Cu@NCNF/CP cathode catalyst in Li-CO2 battery systems introduces a novel concept for developing high-performance transition metal-based catalysts.

Study on the Performance of Nano-Zinc Oxide/Basalt Fiber Composite Modified Asphalt and Mixture

In order to improve the service quality of roads and resolve the problem of defects in the conventional asphalt pavement in service, this paper uses a 5.3% aluminate coupling agent to modify the surface of nano-ZnO and prepares a composite-modified asphalt with nano-ZnO and basalt fiber (BF) as modifiers. First, the basic performance of different types of asphalt was investigated by means of a rotary film oven experiment. Then, a dynamic shear rheology experiment was carried out to analyze the high-temperature anti-rutting performance of the composite-modified asphalt at different temperatures and frequencies. Then, using a bending creep stiffness test, the low-temperature properties of the composite-modified asphalt were investigated. Finally, the microstructure and modification mechanisms of the composite-modified asphalt were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy and infrared spectroscopy. The results indicate that the anti-aging performance of the nano-ZnO/BF composite-modified asphalt is significantly improved after adding fibers to the modified asphalt. The average mass loss ratio is only 0.192%. At 46 °C, the rutting coefficient of the composite-modified asphalt was increased by 62.3%. The frequency master curve is always at the highest position and continues to rise, indicating a significant improvement in the high-temperature anti-rutting performance of the composite-modified asphalt. At 24 °C, the creep stiffness modulus S value of the composite-modified asphalt increased by 24.9%; moreover, there is no obvious effect of improving low temperature, but the variation range of creep tangent slope m of the modified asphalt after aging is decreased, which further shows that the addition of a modifier can decrease the influence of aging on asphalt. Nanoparticles are uniformly dispersed in the asphalt and form a three-dimensional interconnected structure with BF, which effectively improves the overall performance of the asphalt. Nano-ZnO and fibers have weak chemical reactions in matrix asphalt, but they are physically dispersed and compatible.

Three-dimensional nitrogen and oxygen co-doped hierarchical porous carbons prepared from polyacrylonitrile/polyamic acid composite films for supercapacitors

Porous carbon materials are widely used in energy storage, adsorption, catalysis, and wastewater treatment. Polymer composite films of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and polyamic acid (PAA) were firstly prepared by phase separation with modulation of coagulation bath composition. Using these composite films as precursors, nitrogen and oxygen co-doped porous carbon materials were successfully fabricated by preoxidation, carbonization, and subsequent NaOH activation. The porous carbons had a three-dimensional interconnected structure with a specific surface area of 450–737 m2 g−1. The pore volume was 0.245–0.508 m3 g−1 and the pore size mainly located between 1 and 5 nm. The activated porous carbon obtained from PAN/PAA coagulated at a DMSO to water ratio of 3 showed a high oxygen content of 28.0 wt% and nitrogen content of 3.3 wt%. The resultant porous carbon exhibited a good mass-specific capacitance of 407.7 F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 A g−1, an excellent rate capability (237.7 F g−1 at 20 A g−1) and cyclic stability. Using the material as the electrode, a coin-cell symmetric supercapacitor (CR2032) was assembled, which provided a specific capacitance of 156 F g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 and a maximum energy density of 10.9 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 50 W kg−1. The high number of heteroatoms as well as the textural properties could be beneficial for the improvement of electrochemical performance of the carbon-based supercapacitors.

"Rigid-Flexible" Anisotropic Biomass-Derived Aerogels with Superior Mechanical Properties for Oil Recovery and Thermal Insulation.

Aerogels with low density, high mechanical strength, and excellent elasticity have a wide potential for applications in wastewater treatment, thermal management, and sensors. However, the fabrication of such aerogels from biomass materials required complex preparation processes. Herein, a sustainable and facile strategy was reported to construct lignin/cellulose aerogels (LCMA) with three-dimensional interconnected structures by introducing homologous lignin with a polyphenyl propane structure as a structural enhancer through a top-down directional freezing approach, prompting a 2036% enhancement in compressive modulus and an 8-12-fold increase in oil absorption capacity. In addition, the hydrophobic aerogels with superelasticity were achieved by combining the aligned polygon-like structure and flexible silane chains, which exhibited remarkable compressional fatigue resistance and superhydrophobicity (WCA = 168°). Attributed to its unique pore design and surface morphology control, the prepared aerogel exhibited excellent performance in immiscible oil-water separation and water-in-oil emulsion separation. Due to the ultra-low density (8.3 mg·cm-3) as well as high porosity (98.87%), the obtained aerogel showed a low thermal conductivity (0.02565 ± 0.0024 W·m-1·K-1), demonstrating a potential in insulation applications. The synthetic strategy and sustainability concept presented in this work could provide guidance for the preparation of advanced biomass-based aerogels with unique properties for a wide range of applications.

Spiderweb-inspired fabrication of 3D MXene hybrid filler with multilayer and multiscale features for multifunctional polydimethylsiloxane composites

Polymer-based composite with high thermal conductivity and excellent fire safety is urgently desired and required in the field of thermal management of advanced electronic devices. In this study, inspired by the structure of a spiderweb, we reported a polymer composite with three-dimensional (3D) interconnected spiderweb-like structures by assembling adsorption of transition metal carbides/nitrides (MXene) and diethylenetriaminepenta(methylene-phosphonic acid) coordinated cobalt ions complex. In this composite, MXene combined with the coordination complex forms a 3D network structure with multi-layer/-scale features, which enables high cross-plane thermal conductivity (∼0.59 K w-1m−1) and excellent flame retardancy, especially including effective inhibition of toxic CO and asphyxiating CO2 production. Notably, the 3D MXene networks embedded in the polymer matrix impart the composite with an intelligent damage detection function that is able to detect the depth of cracks. This bioinspired strategy provides a promising approach to creating high-performance polymer-based composites.

Enhanced light-to-thermal conversion performance of self-assembly carbon nanotube/graphene-interconnected phase change materials for thermal-electric device

Solar energy conversion and storage technologies have attracted more attention to alleviate the energy crisis and ecological concern. Further improvement on the thermal conductivity and photothermal storage capacity of phase change materials (PCMs) remain a huge challenge. In this work, a new composite PCMs employing carbon-based (CRGO) aerogel as the supporting material and paraffin wax (PW) as the PCM was prepared. We achieve a three-dimensional (3D) porous interconnected structure by cross-linking carbon nanotubes (CNT) with reduced graphene oxide (rGO). This 3D structure could provide more heat transfer channels and effective contact interfaces, resulting in its enhanced thermal conductivity. The aspect ratio of CNT and the ratio of CNT and rGO is regulated to optimize the 3D thermal conductive skeleton for CRGO aerogel. As a result, the multi-layer CRGO aerogel composite PCMs exhibited high solid-liquid phase change enthalpy (146.7 J/g) and excellent phase change stability. Optimal incorporation of 30 % CNT increased the thermal conductivity to 1.27 W/(m·K), which is 452 % higher than that of the pure PW. Meanwhile, a photothermal conversion efficiency of up to 90.3 % was achieved for the composite PCMs. In addition, the output voltage of the solar-thermal-electric device based on composite PCMs (150 mV) is about 3.75 times that of the blank plate (40 mV) under solar radiation. Therefore, CRGO aerogel composite PCMs show great promise for efficient solar-thermal-electric energy conversion utilization.

High-efficiency and all-weather crude oil spill remediation by an eco-friendly self-heating MXene-coated poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) porous monolith

Frequent oil spill incidents have resulted in serious environmental pollution posing a great threat to human health and ecological system, thus developing new absorbents to efficiently remove and recycle high-viscosity crude oil is attracting more attention. We herein report an eco-friendly flexible poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT)-based monolith with MXene (Ti3C2Tx) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coatings (P-MXene@PBAT monolith) by convenient and economical preparation method for self-heating driven fast crude oil cleanup. Due to unique three-dimensional interconnected pore structure and superior hydrophobicity, the P-MXene@PBAT showed high saturated absorption capacity and cyclic separation efficiency for multifarious low-viscosity oils. The P-MXene@PBAT was endowed with excellent photo/electro-thermal performance via wrapping MXene layer. The maximum surface temperature of monolith quickly reached up to 81 °C under 1.0 kW m−2 (1.0 sun) irradiation and 91 °C under 8 V voltage, respectively. Furthermore, the P-MXene@PBAT could self-heat crude oil to dramatically decrease oil viscosity and accelerate separation process. Specially, the P-MXene@PBAT was able to continuously separate crude oil from water with a simple pump-assisted absorption device (crude oil flux of 204 kg m−2 h−1), which adapted to varied working conditions by coupling solar heating and Joule heating. Such environmental-friendly all-weather absorbent design provides a sustainable strategy for efficient remediation of crude oil spill.

Hierarchical SiC-Graphene Composite Aerogel-Supported Ni-Mo-S Nanosheets for Efficient pH-Universal Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution.

MoS2 exhibits good prospects in electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Whereas, the electrocatalytic property of MoS2 is restrained by its insufficient active sites, low electrical conductivity, and slow water dissociation processes. Herein, an aerogel composed of silicon carbide (SiC) and graphene (SiCnw-RGO) was constructed by growing SiC nanowires (SiCnw) in the graphene aerogel (RGO) via the CVD method, and then Ni-Mo-S nanosheets were hydrothermally synthesized on the SiCnw-RGO composite aerogel to develop an efficient pH-universal electrocatalyst. Ni-Mo-S nanosheets supported on SiCnw-RGO (Ni-Mo-S@SiCnw-RGO) exhibit an interesting hierarchical three-dimensional interconnected structure of composite aerogel. The optimal Ni-Mo-S@SiCnw-RGO electrocatalyst exhibits excellent catalytic performance with low Tafel slopes of 60 mV/dec under acidic conditions and 90 mV/dec under alkaline conditions. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate a composite catalyst exhibits advantageous hydrogen adsorption free energy and water dissociation energy barrier. This study provides a reference to design an efficient hierarchical aerogel electrocatalyst.

CNN-Cap: Effective Convolutional Neural Network-based Capacitance Models for Interconnect Capacitance Extraction

Accurate capacitance extraction is becoming more important for designing integrated circuits under advanced process technology. The pattern matching-based full-chip extraction methodology delivers fast computational speed but suffers from large error and tedious efforts on building capacitance models of the increasing structure patterns. In this work, we propose an effective method for building convolutional neural network (CNN)-based capacitance models (called CNN-Cap) for two-dimensional (2-D) and three -dimensional (3-D) interconnect structures. With a novel grid-based data representation, the proposed method is able to model 2-D pattern structure and 3-D window structure with a variable number of conductors to largely reduce the number of patterns or increase the accuracy. Based on the ability of ResNet architecture on capturing spatial information and the proposed training skills, the obtained CNN-Cap exhibits much better performance over the multilayer perception neural network-based capacitance model while being more versatile. Extensive experiments on a 55 nm and a 15 nm process technologies have demonstrated that the error of total capacitance produced with 2-D CNN-Cap is always within 1.3%, and the error of produced coupling capacitance is less than 10% in over 99.5% probability. For 3-D structures, CNN-Cap predicts the total capacitance with less than 5% error in 99% probability and with a maximum error of 7.7%. For the tested 2-D and 3-D structures, the CNN-Cap run on a GPU server is more than 4,000× and 12,000×, respectively, faster than the conventional field solver Raphael, while consuming negligible memory.

Preparation of three-dimensionally linked pore-like porous atomized ceramics with high oil and water absorption rates

Ceramic atomization cores are a new application of porous ceramics; however, the challenging regulation of the pore structures of porous ceramics has limited their application. To improve the low liquid absorption rates and low liquid storage capacity of porous ceramics in the field of atomization, this study used three substances, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), starch, and diatomaceous earth, to produce porous ceramics with a three-dimensional interconnected triple-porous structure by sacrificial templating. In the porous ceramics, large pores resulting from PMMA increase liquid storing capacity, medium pores resulting from the starch facilitate the transport of liquid, and small pores resulting from diatomaceous earth enhance capillary action, significantly increasing the rate of liquid absorption. By varying the PMMA contents and type of starch in the preform, water and oil storage capacities of up to 123% and 143%, respectively, can be achieved. We found that an optimized porous ceramic with dimensions of 15 mm × 15 mm × 15 mm absorbs water rapidly (reaching saturation in only 1.67 s), demonstrates good solid–liquid properties and shape stability, and is recyclable (requires drying before reuse). The proposed porous ceramics have promising atomization core and oil–water separation applications.

Efficient electromagnetic wave absorption and Joule heating via ultra-light carbon composite aerogels derived from bimetal-organic frameworks

Lightweight carbon-based aerogels with fast heat dissipation capability are promising electromagnetic wave absorber materials for developing integrated electronics, artificial intelligence, and human-interaction equipment under harsh thermal environments. Herein, the bimetallic (cobalt (Co) and nickel (Ni)) metal–organic frameworks (CoNi-MOFs), cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), and aramid nanofibers (ANFs) were assembled into a conductive and magnetic CoNi@carbon/ANF/CNF carbon composite aerogel (CoNi@C/ACA) with an ultra-low density of 6.15 mg/cm3 using freeze-drying and subsequent carbonization treatment. Owing to the synergistic effects of multiple reflections inside the three-dimensional interconnected structures, abundant interfacial/dipolar polarizations, and coordinated dielectric and magnetic losses, the CoNi@C/ACA achieved a fascinating minimum reflection loss value of −66.57 dB and broad effective absorption bandwidth up to 6.3 GHz, which were characterized with an ultra-low loading of 1.8 wt%. In addition, it displayed good thermal stability with a super-fast Joule heating (cooling) rate at low driving voltages. These unique characteristics of the ultra-light CoNi@C/ACA make it a promising material for demanding applications, e.g., electromagnetic pollution elimination and thermal management.

A 3D Corncob-based interfacial solar evaporator enhanced by environment energy with salt-rejecting and anti-corrosion for seawater distillation

Biomass-derived, carbon converted from renewable biomass materials via the carbonization process, has been widely investigated for interfacial solar evaporators and is deemed a promising choice for solar desalination. However, salt accumulation at the evaporation interface is a great challenge. Studies show that the surface wetting and antifouling ability of carbonized-biomass, affects solar absorption, water supply, and water evaporation. In this paper, a simple two-step strategy completely different from carbonization is proposed for efficient solar evaporation and seawater desalination. In this regard, an interfacial solar evaporator is prepared based on the corn cob. The evaporator makes the best use of the raw three-dimensional interconnected fiber network structure, which extremely promotes the collection of solar energy, sufficient water supply, and vapor escape at the evaporation interface. Owing to the decrease in evaporation enthalpy and drawing energy from the environment, the evaporation rate and the photothermal conversion efficiency of proposed the evaporator reached 1.68 kg·m−2·h−1 and 99.32 % under solar irradiation intensity of 1 kW·m−2, respectively. The performance of the proposed scheme was investigated under various salinity levels and a great salt-rejecting and anti-corrosion performance was achieved. This simple strategy is a promising candidate for preparing biomass-based interfacial solar evaporators in practical applications.

Interfacial Engineering of Leaf-like Bimetallic MOF-Based Co@NC Nanoarrays Coupled with Ultrathin CoFe-LDH Nanosheets for Rechargeable and Flexible Zn-Air Batteries.

Exploring high-efficiency, low-cost, and long-life bifunctional self-supporting electrocatalysts is of great significance for the practical application of advanced rechargeable Zn-air batteries (ZABs), especially flexible solid-state ZABs. Herein, ultrathin CoFe-layered double hydroxide (CoFe-LDH) nanosheets are strongly coupled on the surface of leaf-like bimetallic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-derived hybrid carbon (Co@NC) nanoflake nanoarrays supported by carbon cloth (CC) via a facile and scalable method for rechargeable and flexible ZABs. This interfacial engineering for CoFe-LDHs on Co@NC improves the electronic conductivity of CoFe-LDH nanosheets as well as achieves the balance of oxygen evolution reduction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity. The unique three-dimensional (3D) open interconnected hierarchical structure facilitates the transport of substances during the electrochemical process while ensuring adequate exposure of OER/ORR active centers. When applied as an additive-free air cathode in rechargeable liquid ZABs, CC/Co@NC/CoFe-LDH-700 demonstrates high open-circuit potential of 1.47 V, maximum power density of 129.3 mW cm-2, and satisfactory specific capacity of 710.7 mAh g-1Zn. Further, the flexible all-solid-state ZAB assembled by CC/Co@NC/CoFe-LDH-700 displays gratifying mechanical flexibility and stable cycling performance over 40 h. More significantly, the series-connected flexible ZAB is further verified as a chain power supply for LED strips and performs well throughout the bending process, showing great application prospects in portable and wearable electronics. This work sheds new light on the design of high-performance self-supporting non-precious metal bifunctional electrocatalysts for OER/ORR and air cathodes for rechargeable ZABs.