Atomic tuning of titanium-chromium nitride catalysts unlocks high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries
Peer-Reviewed Publication
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Researchers at Shaanxi Normal University have developed a flexible electrode with atomically tuned TixCr1−xN solid-solution nanoparticles for lithium-sulfur batteries. The catalyst enhances polysulfide trapping and conversion via d-band electronic regulation, achieving high rate capacity (801 mAh g⁻¹ at 3 C) and ultralow decay (0.012% per cycle at 2 C). This work provides a practical strategy for high-energy Li-S batteries.Researchers at Shaanxi Normal University have developed a flexible electrode with atomically tuned TixCr1−xN solid-solution nanoparticles for lithium-sulfur batteries. The catalyst enhances polysulfide trapping and conversion via d-band electronic regulation, achieving high rate capacity (801 mAh g⁻¹ at 3 C) and ultralow decay (0.012% per cycle at 2 C). This work provides a practical strategy for high-energy Li-S batteries.
To address the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in water splitting, a team led by Academician Lan Jiang from Beijing Institute of Technology developed a novel self-supported oxygen electrocatalyst fabricated through femtosecond laser ablation combined with co-deposition. The catalyst features bimetallic CoCu-MOF nanosheets grown on CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy substrate, achieving a low overpotential of 231 mV at 10 mA·cm⁻² and exceptional stability exceeding 300 hours for OER. This strategy provides a promising approach for the rational design of high-performance MOF-based electrocatalysts.To address the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in water splitting, a team led by Academician Lan Jiang from Beijing Institute of Technology developed a novel self-supported oxygen electrocatalyst fabricated through femtosecond laser ablation combined with co-deposition. The catalyst features bimetallic CoCu-MOF nanosheets grown on CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy substrate, achieving a low overpotential of 231 mV at 10 mA·cm⁻² and exceptional stability exceeding 300 hours for OER. This strategy provides a promising approach for the rational design of high-performance MOF-based electrocatalysts.
The synthesized MXene-PVDF textile exhibits synergistic multifunctional properties, including absorption-dominated electromagnetic protection, Joule heating, and infrared thermal shielding. Such integrated characteristics expand the application potential of MXene-based multifunctional textiles in extreme temperatures, maintaining a human-comfortable temperature (10-40°C) in extremely cold and hot environments.
Electromagnetic (EM) wave absorbers with strong attenuation over a broad frequency range are critical for radiation protection and military stealth. However, magnetic alloys with high dissipation capacity remain challenging to achieve satisfactory impedance matching and enhanced high-frequency magnetic loss due to the scarcity of rational design for the distribution and size of magnetic particles. Herein, we design Prussian blue analogue (PBA) derived FeCo magnetoelectric composite nanocages by confinement engineering, achieving strong absorption capacity of -47.4 dB and broad bandwidth of 7.10 GHz at a small thickness of 1.9 mm. This work not only sheds light on the fabrication of FeCo magnetoelectric composite nanocages as efficient and wideband EM wave absorbers, but also propose a confinement engineering strategy for rational design of functional nanocomposites in multiple fields such as electromagnetics, electronics and optoelectronics.
Researchers have developed a programmable, multi-responsive soft actuator based on MXene materials that can reversibly deform under humidity, light, and magnetic fields. By introducing micro-ridge structures into a bilayer MXene/paraffin wax composite, the actuator enables controllable and complex shape transformations, offering new possibilities for soft robotics and intelligent devices.