Hemispherical flower-like N-doped porous carbon/NiCo2O4 hybrid electrode for supercapacitors

MOF-derived scaffolds as electrode materials: a mini-review

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have unique properties but suffer from low conductivity and poor stability, limiting their use in energy storage. Transforming MOFs into other materials, like porous carbon or metal oxides/chalcogenides has been explored to overcome these limitations. However, these approaches still face issues such as dead volume and poor attachment due to insulating binders, causing high resistance and detachment. To address this, MOFs and their derived scaffolds directly on conductive substrates without binders have emerged. These electrodes offer simplified preparation, enhanced electron transfer, and improved interface contact. This mini-review focuses on MOF-derived scaffold electrodes using transition metal oxides, sulfides, selenides, and tellurides, which show promise in energy storage applications. Valuable insights, identified opportunities, and future suggestions in the field of MOF-derived scaffold electrodes and their applications in energy storage applications have been discussed.

Recent Progress on Asymmetric Carbon- and Silica-Based Nanomaterials: From Synthetic Strategies to Their Applications

HIGHLIGHTS

The synthetic strategies and fundamental mechanisms of various asymmetric carbon- and silica-based nanomaterials were systematically summarized. The advantages of asymmetric structure on their related applications were clarified by some representative applications of asymmetric carbon- and silica-based nanomaterials. The future development prospects and challenges of asymmetric carbon- and silica-based nanomaterials were proposed.

ABSTRACT

Carbon- and silica-based nanomaterials possess a set of merits including large surface area, good structural stability, diversified morphology, adjustable structure, and biocompatibility. These outstanding features make them widely applied in different fields. However, limited by the surface free energy effect, the current studies mainly focus on the symmetric structures, such as nanospheres, nanoflowers, nanowires, nanosheets, and core–shell structured composites. By comparison, the asymmetric structure with ingenious adjustability not only exhibits a larger effective surface area accompanied with more active sites, but also enables each component to work independently or corporately to harness their own merits, thus showing the unusual performances in some specific applications. The current review mainly focuses on the recent progress of design principles and synthesis methods of asymmetric carbon- and silica-based nanomaterials, and their applications in energy storage, catalysis, and biomedicine. Particularly, we provide some deep insights into their unique advantages in related fields from the perspective of materials’ structure–performance relationship. Furthermore, the challenges and development prospects on the synthesis and applications of asymmetric carbon- and silica-based nanomaterials are also presented and highlighted. [Image: see text]