Rational Design of 1D Partially Graphitized N-Doped Hierarchical Porous Carbon with Uniaxially Packed Carbon Nanotubes for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries

Facile Aqueous Route to Large-Scale Superhydrophilic TiO2-Incorporated Graphitic Carbon Nitride-Coated Ni(OH)2 and Ni2P Nano-Architecture Arrays as Efficient Electrocatalysts for Enhanced Hydrogen Production

Water splitting by an electrochemical method to generate hydrogen gas is an economic and green approach to resolve the looming energy and environmental crisis. Designing a composite electrocatalyst having integrated multichannel charge separation, robust stability, and low-cost facile scalability could be considered to address the issue of electrochemical hydrogen evolution. Herein, we report a superhydrophilic, noble-metal-free bimetallic nanostructure TiO2/Ni2P coated on graphitic polyacrylonitrile carbon fibers (g-C/TiO2/Ni2P) using a facile hydrothermal method followed by phosphorylation. In an aqueous-based route, PAN is dissolved in water in the presence of ZnCl2, followed by wet-spinning to prepare scalable PAN/ZnCl2 fibers. The nitrogen-contained porous graphitic carbon fibers are prepared via the pyrolysis of PAN/ZnCl2 fibers; now ZnCl2 acts as a volatile porogen to form porous matrix structures. Finally, the as-prepared graphitic carbon fibers are electrochemically activated by incorporating TiO2/Ni2P active sites. The materials formed in this work show excellent electrocatalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction. The as-synthesized g-C/TiO2/Ni2P catalyst shows a low overpotential, its electrocatalytic activity is improved, and its efficiency is better than that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst. At a current density of -10 mA/cm2, the g-C/TiO2/Ni2P catalyst shows an overpotential of 55 mV, while the commercial Pt/C catalyst shows an overpotential of 77 mV. Our work provides a facile aqueous scalable route with no need for noble metals that can be considered as a potential alternative for the commercial Pt/C catalyst.

Preparation of a SiO2 @Carbon Sphere/SiO2 -CNF Multilayer Self-standing Anode Prepared via an Alternate Electrospraying - Electrospinning Technique

The development of flexible lithium-ion batteries (FLIBs) is restrained by traditional rigidity anodes. Carbon nanofiber (CNF) is a promising anode material owing to its high specific surface and superior ion transportation capability. However, the low amount of active material loaded on the CNFs and the poor stability during long cycling restrain their applications. Herein, a SiO₂ @carbon sphere/SiO₂ -CNF self-standing anode was prepared via alternate electrospraying-electrospinning. The SiO₂ content of the anode was increased through the electrospraying SiO₂ @carbon spheres layers, and the electrospun SiO₂ -CNFs as robust layers enhanced the stability of the anode. The self-standing anode exhibited 633 mA h g^-1 in the initial cycle and maintained a 70% Coulomb efficiency for 1000 cycles at a current density of 100 mA g^-1 , which could be applied in FLIB and other electrochemical storage devices.

Hydrophilic and Conductive Carbon Nanotube Fibers for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries

Carbon nanotube fiber (CNTF) is a highly conductive and porous platform to grow active materials of lithium-ion batteries (LIB). Here, we prepared SnO₂@CNTF based on sulfonic acid-functionalized CNTF to be used in LIB anodes without binder, conductive agent, and current collector. The SnO₂ nanoparticles were grown on the CNTF in an aqueous system without a hydrothermal method. The functionalized CNTF exhibited higher conductivity and effective water infiltration compared to the raw CNTF. Due to the enhanced water infiltration, the functionalized CNTF became SnO₂@CNTF with an ideal core-shell structure coated with a thin SnO₂ layer. The specific capacity and rate capability of SnO₂@-functionalized CNTF were superior to those of SnO₂@raw CNTF. Since the SnO₂@CNTF-based anode was free of a binder, conductive agent, and current collector, the specific capacity of the anode studied in this work was higher than that of conventional anodes.

Fabrication of CoSe@NC nanocubes for high performance potassium ion batteries

Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) are considered as a promising candidate for large-scale energy storage. While exploring suitable anode materials are of vital need for the practical applications of PIBs. Herein, a well-designed heterostructured anode material CoSe nanocubes wrapped by N-doped carbon (CoSe@NC), has been successfully fabricated by simple annealing ZIF-67 nanocubes followed by in-situ selenization process. It is noted that ZIF-67 nanocubes are used as an effective template for the formation of porous structure, which can facilitate the construction of heterogeneous interface between CoSe and N-doped carbon (NC), effectively stabilizing CoSe with conversion reaction product Co⁰, increasing the diffusion mobility of electrons and K⁺-ions, and alleviating huge volume change. As expected, the heterostructured CoSe@NC nanocubes exhibit excellent K⁺-storage performance, which can display a rather high initial charge capacity (388.7 mAh g^-1 at 0.1 A g^-1 with the columbic efficiency of 70%), superior cyclic stability (309.6 mA h g^-1 after 500 cycles at 2 A g^-1), and exceptional rate capability (365.9 mAh g^-1 at 2 A g^-1). In terms of the low-cost and facile production approach for CoSe@NC, which makes the CoSe@NC a promising anode material for PIBs.

Coaxial spinning fabricated high nitrogen-doped porous carbon walnut anchored on carbon fibers as anodic material with boosted lithium storage performance

Commercial graphite with low theoretical capacity cannot meet the ever-increasing requirement demands of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) caused by the rapid development of electric devices. Rationally designed carbon-based nanomaterials can provide a wide range of possibilities to meet the growing requirements of energy storage. Hence, the porous walnut anchored on carbon fibers with reasonable pore structure, N-self doping (10.2 at%) and novel structure and morphology is designed via interaction of inner layer polyethylene oxide and outer layer polyacrylonitrile and polyvinylpyrrolidone during pyrolysis of the obtained precursor, which is fabricated by coaxial electrospinning. As an electrode material, the as-made sample shows a high discharge capacity of 965.3 mA h g^-1 at 0.2 A g^-1 in the first cycle, retains a capacity of 819.7 mA h g^-1 after 500 cycles, and displays excellent cycling stability (475.2 mA h g^-1 at 1 A g^-1 after 1000 cycles). Moreover, the capacity of the electrode material still keeps 260.5 mA h g^-1 at 5 A g^-1 after 1000 cycles. Therefore, the obtained sample has a bright application prospect as a high performance anode material for LIBs. Besides, this design idea paves the way for situ N-enriched carbon material with novel structure and morphology by coaxial electrospinning.

sp2/sp3 Hybridized Carbon as an Anode with Extra Li-Ion Storage Capacity: Construction and Origin

Doping in carbon anodes can introduce active sites, usually leading to extra capacity in Li-ion batteries (LIBs), but the underlying reasons have not been uncovered deeply. Herein, the dodecahedral carbon framework (N-DF) with a low nitrogen content (3.06 wt %) is fabricated as the anode material for LIBs, which shows an extra value of 298 mA h g^-1 during 250 cycles at 0.1 A g^-1. Various characterizations and theoretical calculations demonstrate that the essence of the extra capacity mainly stems from non-coplanar sp²/sp³ hybridized orbital controlling non-Euclidean geometrical structure, which acts as new Li-ion active sites toward the excess Li⁺ adsorption. The electrochemical kinetics and in situ transmission electron microscope further reveal that the positive and negative curvature architectures not only provide supernumerary Li⁺ storage sites on the surface but also hold an enhanced (002) spacing for fast Li⁺ transport. The sp²/sp³ hybridized orbital design concept will help to develop advanced electrode materials.

Axial Alignment of Carbon Nanotubes on Fibers To Enable Highly Conductive Fabrics for Electromagnetic Interference Shielding

Conductive coatings show great promise for next-generation electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding challenges on textile; however, their stringent requirements for electrical conductivity are difficult to meet by conventional approaches of increasing the loading and homogeneity of conductive nanofillers. Here, the axial alignment of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on fibers that were obtained by spontaneous capillary-driven self-assembly is shown on commercial cotton fabrics, and its great potential for EMI shielding is demonstrated. The aligned CNTs structurally optimize the conductive network on fabrics and yield an 81-fold increase in electrical conductivity per unit of CNT, compared with the disordered CNT microstructure. The high-efficiency electrical conductivity allows a several-micron-thick coating on insulating fabrics to endow an EMI shielding effectiveness of 21.5 dB in the X band and 20.8 dB in the Ku band, which meets the standard shielding requirement in commercial applications. It is among the minimum reported thicknesses for conductive nanocomposite coatings to date. Moreover, the coated fabrics with aligned CNTs possess a desirable stability upon bending, scratching, stripping, and even washing, which is attributed to the dense CNT packing in the aligned microarchitecture. This work presents the anisotropic structure on large areas by self-assembly, offering new opportunities for next-generation portable and wearable electronic devices.

Dendrite-Free Li Metal Plating/Stripping Onto Three-Dimensional Vertical-Graphene@Carbon-Cloth Host

Lithium metal is deemed as an ideal anode material for next-generation lithium ion batteries (LIBs) due to its high specific capacity and low redox potential. However, uncontrolled lithium dendrite formation during electrochemical deposition leads to a low Coulombic efficiency and serious safety issues, dragging metallic lithium anodes out of practical application. One promising strategy to suppress lithium dendrite issues is employing a three-dimensional host with admirable conductivity and large surface area. Herein, a vertical graphene nanosheet grown on carbon cloth (VG/CC) synthesized is adopted as the Li deposition host. The three-dimensional VG/CC with a large surface area can provide abundant active nucleation sites and effectively reduce the current density, leading to homogeneous Li deposition to overcome the dendrite issue. The Li@VG/CC anode exhibits a dendrite-free morphology after a long cycle and superior electrochemical performance to that of planar Cu current collector. It delivers a small voltage hysteresis of 90.9 mV at a high current density of 10 mA cm⁻² and a Coulombic efficiency of 99% over 100 cycles at 2 mA cm⁻². Our results indicate that this all-carbon-based nanostructure host has great potential for next-generation Li metal batteries.

A modified "gel-blowing" strategy toward the one-step mass production of a 3D N-doped carbon nanosheet@carbon nanotube hybrid network for supercapacitors

In this work, we have realized the synchronous and large-scale synthesis of one-dimensional (1D) carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on two-dimensional (2D) N-doped carbon nanosheets (NCNS) by a one-step annealing of a Ni-containing gel precursor. Upon heating, the gel is "blown" into large-sized 2D NCNS with uniformly embedded Ni nanoparticles that can catalyze the in situ CNT growth, forming a three-dimensional (3D) N-doped carbon nanosheet@carbon nanotube (NCNS@CNT) hybrid. Different from our previous "gel-blowing" strategy for 2D nanosheets, the modified "gel-blowing" strategy is capable of producing 3D architecture by employing a new complexing agent and introducing ethanol as a carbon source. Importantly, this method can be easily scaled up by annealing more gel precursors with an increased amount of ethanol. The introduction of CNTs endows NCNS@CNTs with higher quality and larger specific surface area (SSA) than pure NCNS. Consequently, the electrochemical performance of 3D NCNS@CNTs is much superior to that of 2D NCNS and found to be related with the annealing temperature. The optimized NCNS@CNTs can deliver a specific capacitance of 124 F g-1 at 1 A g-1 and maintain 88% of their initial value after 10 000 cycles at 1 A g-1. Furthermore, NiO nanosheets are deposited on the NCNS@CNT framework to study its function as a conductive host. The as-fabricated hybrid electrode exhibits a high specific capacitance of 660 F g-1 at 1 A g-1 and 532 F g-1 at 20 A g-1, which is also better than its counterpart using NCNS as substrates. This method provides a simplified and low-cost way towards the mass production of NCNS@CNTs for energy application and beyond.