Optimal Rule-of-Thumb Design of Nickel-Vanadium Oxides as an Electrochromic Electrode with Ultrahigh Capacity and Ultrafast Color Tunability

From waste carbonated beverages to high performance electrochromic devices: a green and low-cost synthetic method for self-doped metal oxides

Metal oxides with reversible optical modulation capability are in the spotlight for smart windows and other emerging optoelectronic devices. Improving the electrochromic performance at a low cost is the only way to popularize their applications. Herein, we demonstrate a facile and versatile strategy to synthesize high-performance electrochromic metal oxides, in which waste carbonated beverages are used as the raw materials for the first time. It can not only reduce the production cost of electrochromic materials, but also alleviate the environmental pollution caused by such liquid waste. With an ingenious carbonization pre-step, both nanoscale pores and oxygen vacancies are created in an annealed tungsten oxide thin film. Multiscale structure optimization endows the self-doped WO3-x films with excellent electrochromic properties such as large transmittance modulation (81.2%), high coloration efficiency (98.7 cm2 C-1) and good cycling stability. DFT calculations show that oxygen vacancies reduce the Li+ ion insertion energy barrier, which is conducive to the interfacial reaction in coloring and bleaching processes. Moreover, this approach is universal to other oxides such as vanadium pentoxide, molybdenum oxide and nickel oxide. The waste-to-value concept paves the way for cost-effective electrochromic materials and sheds light on the multiscale optimization of superior metal oxides.

In Situ Nitrogen Functionalization of 2D-Ti3C2Tx-MXenes for High-Performance Zn-Ion Supercapacitor

Zinc (Zn) ion supercapacitors (ZISCs) have attracted considerable attention as a viable energy storage technology because they are cost-effective, safe, and environmentally friendly. However, cathode materials with suitable properties are rare and need to be explored. In this regard, metal carbides (MXenes) are a good choice for capacitive energy storage, but they exhibit low capacitance. The energy storage performance of MXenes can be bossed using functionalization with heteroatom doping, e.g., nitrogen (N), to simultaneously modify ZISCs’ fundamental characteristics and electrochemical properties. Herein, we present an in-situ N-functionalization of Ti₃C₂T_x-MXene via a hydrothermal reaction with urea (denoted as N-Ti₃C₂T_x-MXene). N-functionalization into Ti₃C₂T_x-MXene raised Ti₃C₂T_x-MXene’s interlayer spacing and boosted the Zn-ion storage in 1 M ZnSO₄ electrolyte. The N-Ti₃C₂T_x-MXene electrode delivered an excellent specific capacitance of 582.96 F/g at 1 A/g and retained an outstanding cycle stability of 94.62% after 5000 cycles at 10 A/g, which is 1.8 times higher than pristine Ti₃C₂T_x-MXene at identical conditions. Moreover, the N-Ti₃C₂T_x-MXene//Zn device demonstrated a maximum capacitance of 153.55 F/g at 1 A/g, retained 92% of its initial value after 5000 cycles, and its Coulombic efficiency was ~100%. This strategy considerably reduced Ti₃C₂T_x-MXene nanosheet restacking and aggregation and enhanced electrochemical performance. Further, this research elucidated N-Ti₃C₂T_x-MXene’s charge–storage process and offered a fresh approach to the rational design of novel electrode materials for ZISCs.

rGO functionalized (Ni,Fe)-OH for an efficient trifunctional catalyst in low-cost hydrogen generation via urea decomposition as a proxy anodic reaction

Green hydrogen derived from the water-electrolysis route is emerging as a game changer for achieving global carbon neutrality. Economically producing hydrogen through water electrolysis, however, requires the development of low-cost and highly efficient electrocatalysts via scalable synthetic strategies. Herein, this work reports a simple and scalable immersion synthetic strategy to deposit reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets integrated with Ni-Fe-based hydroxide nanocatalysts on nickel foam (NF) at room temperature. As a result of synergetic interactions among the hydroxides, rGO and NF, enhanced catalytic sites with improved charge transport between the electrode and electrolyte were perceived, resulting in significantly enhanced oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity with low overpotentials of 270 and 320 mV at 100 and 500 mA cm^-2, respectively, in a 1.0 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. This performance is superior to those of the hydroxide-based electrode without incorporating rGO and the IrO₂-benchmark electrode. Furthermore, when the conventional OER is substituted with urea decomposition (UOR) as a proxy anodic reaction, the electrolyzer achieves 100 and 500 mA cm^-2 at a lower potential by 150 and 120 mV, respectively than the OER counterpart without influencing the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity at the cathode. Notably, the rGO-incorporated electrode delivers a spectacularly high UOR current density of 1600 mA cm^-2 at 1.53 V vs. RHE, indicating the decomposition of urea at an outstandingly high rate.