One-Pot Synthesized Biomass C-Si Nanocomposites as an Anodic Material for High-Performance Sodium-Ion Battery

Advanced Anode Materials for Rechargeable Sodium-Ion Batteries

Rechargeable sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have been considered as promising energy storage devices owing to the similar "rocking chair" working mechanism as lithium-ion batteries and abundant and low-cost sodium resource. However, the large ionic radius of the Na-ion (1.07 Å) brings a key scientific challenge, restricting the development of electrode materials for SIBs, and the infeasibility of graphite and silicon in reversible Na-ion storage further promotes the investigation of advanced anode materials. Currently, the key issues facing anode materials include sluggish electrochemical kinetics and a large volume expansion. Despite these challenges, substantial conceptual and experimental progress has been made in the past. Herein, we present a brief review of the recent development of intercalation, conversion, alloying, conversion-alloying, and organic anode materials for SIBs. Starting from the historical research progress of anode electrodes, the detailed Na-ion storage mechanism is analyzed. Various optimization strategies to improve the electrochemical properties of anodes are summarized, including phase state adjustment, defect introduction, molecular engineering, nanostructure design, composite construction, heterostructure synthesis, and heteroatom doping. Furthermore, the associated merits and drawbacks of each class of material are outlined, and the challenges and possible future directions for high-performance anode materials are discussed.

Excellent Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Performances of Partially Graphitized Activated-Carbon Nanobundles Derived from Biomass Human Hair Wastes

Carbonaceous materials play a vital role as an appropriate catalyst for electrocatalytic hydrogen production. Aiming at realizing the highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the partially graphitized activated-carbon nanobundles were synthesized as a high-performance HER electrocatalyst by using biomass human hair ashes through the high-temperature KOH activation at two different temperatures of 600 and 700 °C. Due to the partial graphitization, the 700 °C KOH-activated partially graphitized activated-carbon nanobundles exhibited higher electrical conductivity as well as higher textural porosity than those of the amorphous activated-carbon nanobundles that had been prepared by the KOH activation at 600 °C. As a consequence, the 700 °C-activated partially graphitized activated-carbon nanobundles showed the extraordinarily high HER activity with the very low overpotential (≈16 mV at 10 mA/cm² in 0.5 M H₂SO₄) and the small Tafel slope (≈51 mV/dec). These results suggest that the human hair-derived partially graphitized activated-carbon nanobundles can be effectively utilized as a high-performance HER electrocatalyst in future hydrogen-energy technology.

Surface engineering of silica based materials with Ni-Fe layered double hydroxide for the efficient removal of methyl orange: Isotherms, kinetics, mechanism and high selectivity studies

Herein, low-cost diatomite (DE) and bentonite (BE) materials were surface modified with Ni-Fe layered double hydroxide (LDHs) (represented as NFD and NFB respectively), using a simple co-precipitation procedure for the removal of methyl orange (MO) dye from water. The adsorbents of both before and after MO adsorption have been studied by XRD, N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherm, FTIR, FESEM-EDX and XPS characterization. The zeta potential analysis was used to observe the surface charge of adsorbents within the pH ranges of 4-10. The MO removal efficiency was significantly improved after LDHs modification, showing a 94.7% and 92.6% efficiency for NFD and NFB at pH 6, respectively. Whereas bare DE and BE have shown removal efficiency of 15.5% and 4.9% respectively. The maximum adsorption capacities of NFD and NFB using the Langmuir isotherm model were found to be 246.9 mgg^-1 and 215.9 mgg^-1 respectively. The designed NFD showed high selectivity towards anionic-based dyes from water and also the effect of salts shows the dye removal percentage was increased and decreased for the addition of Na₂SO₄ and NaCl, respectively. The reusability of NFD and NFB have been studied for a maximum of five cycles and they can remove MO up to four cycles. Therefore, the designed adsorbents can be very effective towards the removal of MO from water and they may be useful for dye-based wastewater treatment.

Derivation of Luminescent Mesoporous Silicon Nanocrystals from Biomass Rice Husks by Facile Magnesiothermic Reduction

High-quality silicon (Si) nanocrystals that simultaneously had superior mesoporous and luminescent characteristics were derived from sticky, red, and brown rice husks via the facile and cost-effective magnesiothermic reduction method. The Si nanocrystals were confirmed to comprise an aggregated morphology with spherical nanocrystals (e.g., average sizes of 15-50 nm). Due to the surface functional groups formed at the nanocrystalline Si surfaces, the Si nanocrystals clearly exhibited multiple luminescence peaks in visible-wavelength regions (i.e., blue, green, and yellow light). Among the synthesized Si nanocrystals, additionally, the brown rice husk (BRH)-derived Si nanocrystals showed to have a strong UV absorption and a high porosity (i.e., large specific surface area: 265.6 m2/g, small average pore diameter: 1.91 nm, and large total pore volume: 0.5389 cm3/g). These are indicative of the excellent optical and textural characteristics of the BRH-derived Si nanocrystals, compared to previously reported biomass-derived Si nanocrystals. The results suggest that the biomass BRH-derived Si nanocrystals hold great potential as an active source material for optoelectronic devices as well as a highly efficient catalyst or photocatalyst for energy conversion devices.