Universal Zigzag Edge Reconstruction of an α-Phase Puckered Monolayer and Its Resulting Robust Spatial Charge Separation

Deformable Catalytic Material Derived from Mechanical Flexibility for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Deformable catalytic material with excellent flexible structure is a new type of catalyst that has been applied in various chemical reactions, especially electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In recent years, deformable catalysts for HER have made great progress and would become a research hotspot. The catalytic activities of deformable catalysts could be adjustable by the strain engineering and surface reconfiguration. The surface curvature of flexible catalytic materials is closely related to the electrocatalytic HER properties. Here, firstly, we systematically summarized self-adaptive catalytic performance of deformable catalysts and various micro-nanostructures evolution in catalytic HER process. Secondly, a series of strategies to design highly active catalysts based on the mechanical flexibility of low-dimensional nanomaterials were summarized. Last but not least, we presented the challenges and prospects of the study of flexible and deformable micro-nanostructures of electrocatalysts, which would further deepen the understanding of catalytic mechanisms of deformable HER catalyst.

Bottom up approach of metal assisted electrochemical exfoliation of boron towards borophene

Electrochemical exfoliation of nonconductive boron to few-layered borophene is reported. This unique effect is achieved via the incorporation of bulk boron into metal mesh inducing electrical conductivity and opening a venue for borophene fabrication via this feasible strategy. The experiments were conducted in various electrolytes providing a powerful tool to fabricate borophene flakes with a thickness of ~ 3–6 nm with different phases. The mechanism of electrochemical exfoliation of boron is also revealed and discussed. Therefore, the proposed methodology can serve as a new tool for bulk scale fabrication of few-layered borophene and speed up the development of borophene-related research and its potential application.

The quantum confinement effects on the electronic properties of monolayer GeS nanoribbon with tube-edged reconstruction

Monolayer α-phase GeS is promising for many novel applications due to its high carrier mobility and suitable bandgap. Recently, the metal and nonmetal zigzag edges of monolayer α-phase GeS have been predicted to undergo universal ZZ(Ge-Tube)/ZZ(S-R) edge reconstruction. Therefore, studies on GeSNR should be reconsidered. In this paper, we study the quantum confinement effects on the electronic properties of edge reconstructed monolayer GeS nanoribbon by using first-principles calculations. As width of the nanoribbon increases from 10 Å to 41 Å, the band gap keeps indirect and linearly decreases from 1.57 eV to 0.87 eV. Robust spatial separation of valence band maximum and conduction band minimum exist in reconstructed GeS nanoribbon with width larger than 19 Å. Moreover, high carrier mobility is expected in the reconstructed GeS nanoribbon. Our results suggest that reconstructed GeS nanoribbon is an important candidate for optoelectronics and photocatalytic.