In-plane β-Co(OH)2/Co3O4 hybrid nanosheets for flexible all-solid-state thin-film supercapacitors with high electrochemical performance

Recent advances in the pre-oxidation process in electrocatalytic urea oxidation reactions

The electrocatalytic urea oxidation reaction (UOR) has attracted substantial research interests over the past few years owing to its critical role in coupled electrochemical systems for energy conversion, for example, coupling with the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) to realize urea-assisted hydrogen production and assembling direct urea fuel cells (DUFC) by coupling with the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The UOR process has been proved to be a two-step process which involves an electrochemical pre-oxidation reaction of the metal sites and a subsequent chemical oxidation of the urea molecules on the as-formed high-valence metal sites. Hence, designing advanced (pre-)catalysts with a boosted pre-oxidation reaction is of great importance in improving the UOR performance and thus accelerating the coupled reactions. In this feature article, we discuss the significant role of the pre-oxidation process during the urea electro-oxidation reaction, and summarize detailed strategies and recent advances in promoting the pre-oxidation reaction, including the modulation of the crystallinity, active phase engineering, defect engineering, elemental incorporation and constructing hierarchical nanostructures. We anticipate that this feature article will offer helpful guidance for the design and optimization of advanced (pre-)catalysts for UOR and related energy conversion applications.

A novel electrochemiluminescence immunosensing strategy fabricated by Co(OH)2 two-dimensional nanosheets and Ru@SiO2-Au NPs for the highly sensitive detection of enrofloxacin

In this work, a novel sensitive electrochemiluminescence immunosensor based on Ru@SiO₂-Au NPs and Co(OH)₂ two-dimensional nanosheets (2D Co(OH)₂) is constructed for the detection of enrofloxacin (ENR). Ruthenium bipyridine silica spheres and modified gold nanoparticles were synthesized as immune probe materials, which were combined with ENR antibodies (Abs) to form the immune probe part. 2D Co(OH)₂ with a large specific surface area and good catalytic effect was firstly used as an immune substrate material, and at the same time, it was conjugated with the coating antigen (Ae) of ENR to form an immune substrate. Based on the principle of competitive immunity, ENR and ENR coated antigen could jointly compete for the specific binding sites on the ENR antibody, so as to achieve efficient detection of ENR. Under optimal conditions, the prepared immunosensor exhibited high sensitivity with a wide linear range from 0.0001 to 1000 ng mL^-1 and a low detection limit (LOD) of 0.063 pg mL^-1. The proposed immunosensor has been successfully applied to the detection of ENR residues in poultry, aquatic products and lake water.

Facile assembly of 2D Ni-based coordination polymer nanosheets as battery-type electrodes for high-performance supercapacitors

Large-scale Ni-based nano-sized coordination polymers (Ni-nCPs) are facilely constructed by a self-assembled approach at room temperature and atmosphere pressure. In this strategy, we use only the environmentally friendly solvents of water and ethanol, and the synthesis of 2D Ni-nCPs via a self-assembly route appears close to the "green chemistry" concept. In addition, the morphologies of the Ni-nCPs can be easily adjusted by the water/ethanol ratio. Owing to its unique 2D ultrathin nature and large specific surface area, Ni-nCPs-1 achieves a great number of channels for the transport of electrons and ions and electrochemically redox active sites for a faradaic reaction. Therefore, battery-type Ni-nCPs-1 electrodes have a bright prospect in energy storage, and can reach an outstanding specific capacitance value as high as 1066.9 F g^-1 at 1 A g^-1. Additionally, the asymmetric supercapacitor (Ni-nCPs-1//active carbon) displays a high energy density of 47.9 W h kg^-1 at a power density of 440 W kg^-1 and an excellent long-term cycle stability. This work may open up a new path in advanced electrode materials for efficient and real-time energy storge applications.

In situ synthesis of hierarchical NiCo-MOF@Ni1−xCox(OH)2 heterostructures for enhanced pseudocapacitor and oxygen evolution reaction performances

A novel 3D hierarchical NiCo-MOF@Ni_1−xCo_x(OH)₂ heterostructure with ultrathin nanosheets was prepared, which could take full advantage of the two components and their unique heterostructure, resulting in superior pseudocapacitor and OER performances.