Accurate Control of VS 2 Nanosheets for Coexisting High Photoluminescence and Photothermal Conversion Efficiency

2D VS2 @MXene Based Zinc Ion Batteries with SPANI-Contained Electrolyte Enables Dendrite-Free Anode for Stable Cycling

Regarded as one of the popular cathode materials in aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs), VS₂ has unsatisfied cycling stability and relatively low capacity owing to its poor conductivity and low mechanical properties. To this regard, compositing VS₂ with high-conductive 2D transition metal carbide (MXene) has been an effective method recently. However, the Zn dendrite on the anode electrode derived from the uncontrollable sluggish migration of solvated Zn²⁺ /H₂ O ions seriously threatens the application safety of ZIB batteries. To effectively regulate the diffusion of zinc ions, in this work a conductive polymeric electrolyte of sulfonated polyaniline (SPANI) is added in the electrolyte solution. Under the Zn²⁺ /SPANI interactions confirmed by X-ray diffraction, Raman, and zeta potential experiments, the Zn²⁺ /H₂ O combination is weakened, and the deposition rate of Zn²⁺ is increased evaluated by the galvanostatic intermittent titration technique. Theoretical simulation shows that the electrostatic shielding by SPANI combining Zn^2- at the zinc/electrolyte interface has important contribution to the significant suppression of Zn dendrite. Accordingly, the fabricated VS₂ @MXene||ZnSO₄ +SPANI||Zn battery shows high capacity (368.0 mAh g^-1 at 0.1 A g^-1 ), which remains 96% after 5000 cyclic charge-discharge operations. This work develops an available strategic idea for suppressing growth of metallic dendrites to improve the ZIB performances.

Controllable Synthesis of Novel Orderly Layered VMoS2 Anode Materials with Super Electrochemical Performance for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), being an attractive candidate of lithium-ion batteries, have attracted widespread attention as a result of sufficient sodium resource with low price and their comparable suitability in the field of energy storage. However, one of the main challenges for their wide-scale application is to develop suitable anode materials with excellent electrochemical performance. Herein, a novel orderly layered VMoS₂ (OL-VMS) anode material was synthesized through a facile hydrothermal self-assembly approach followed by a heating procedure. As the anode material of the SIBs, the unique structure of OL-VMS not only facilitated the rapid migration of sodium ions between the stacked layers but also provided a stable framework for the volume change in the process of intercalation/deintercalation. In addition, vanadium mediating in the framework caused more defects to produce abundant storage sites for Na⁺. As such, the obtained OL-VMS-based anode exhibited high reversible capacities of 602.9 mAh g^-1 at 0.2 mA g^-1 and 534 mAh g^-1 even after 190-cycle operation at 2 A g^-1. Furthermore, the OL-VMS-based anode delivered an outstanding specific capacity of 626.4 mAh g^-1 after 100-cycle testing at 2 A g^-1 in a voltage range from 0.01 to 3 V. In particular, even in the absence of conductive carbon, it still showed an excellent specific capacity of 260 mAh g^-1 at 1 A g^-1 after 130 cycles in a 0.3-3 V voltage range, which should contribute to the cost reduction and energy density increase.

Light: A Magical Tool for Controlled Drug Delivery

Light is a particularly appealing tool for on-demand drug delivery due to its noninvasive nature, ease of application and exquisite temporal and spatial control. Great progress has been achieved in the development of novel light-driven drug delivery strategies with both breadth and depth. Light-controlled drug delivery platforms can be generally categorized into three groups: photochemical, photothermal, and photoisomerization-mediated therapies. Various advanced materials, such as metal nanoparticles, metal sulfides and oxides, metal-organic frameworks, carbon nanomaterials, upconversion nanoparticles, semiconductor nanoparticles, stimuli-responsive micelles, polymer- and liposome-based nanoparticles have been applied for light-stimulated drug delivery. In view of the increasing interest in on-demand targeted drug delivery, we review the development of light-responsive systems with a focus on recent advances, key limitations, and future directions.