Microscopy techniques have allowed us to see a world that is entirely invisible to our naked eyes. Here, we look at how advanced microscopy techniques have evolved over the years.
Room temperature sodium-sulfur (RT Na-S) batteries attract many attentions since they endow many overwhelming merits, for instances, resources abundances of S and Na, high theoretical capacity of S (1672 mAh g-1), non-toxicity, and cost-efficiency. Nevertheless, the Na-S batteries are often restrained for their poor cycling performance and inferior Coulombic efficiency, which result from the sodium polysulfide (NaPSs) dissolution and the sluggish kinetics reactions. These issues always result in fast active materials loss and rapid cycling decay. To overcome these challenges, preventing the reactions between NaPSs species on the cathode, long-chain NaPSs dissolution and improving the kinetics reaction are extremely important. Therefore, it is very important to prepare the novel hosts with proper pore structure and enough surface area to embed the active materials and provide enough volume for S expansion during the cell working. Moreover, by decoration of abundant electrocatalytic acti
Abhaya Datye, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at The University of New Mexico, recently presented a talk at a symposium at the Fritz Haber Institut of the Max Planck Society, in Berlin, Germany. Datye.
Developing efficient platinum (Pt)-based electrocatalysts with high tolerance to CO poisoning for the methanol oxidation reaction is critical for the development of direct methanol fuel cells. In this work, cobalt single atoms are introduced to enhance the electrocatalytic performance of N-doped carbon supported Pt (N-C/Pt) for the methanol oxidation reaction. The cobalt single atoms are believed to play a critical role in accelerating the prompt oxidation of CO to CO2 and minimizing the CO blocking of the adjacent Pt active sites. Benefitting from the synergistic effects among the Co single atoms, the Pt nanoparticles, and the N-doped carbon support, the Co-modified N-C/Pt (Co-N-C/Pt) electrocatalyst simultaneously delivers impressive electrocatalytic activity and durability with lower onset potential and superb CO poisoning resistance as compared to the N-C/Pt and the commercial Pt/C electrocatalysts.
Abstract
The electrosynthesis from 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is considered a green strategy to achieve biomass-derived high-value chemicals. As the molecular structure of HMF is relatively complicated, understanding the HMF adsorption/catalysis behavior on electrocatalysts is vital for biomass-based electrosynthesis. The electrocatalysis behavior can be modulated by tuning the adsorption energy of the reactive molecules. In this work, the HMF adsorption behavior on spinel oxide, Co O is discovered. Correspondingly, the adsorption energy of HMF on Co O is successfully tuned by decorating with single-atom Ir. It is observed that compared with bare Co O , single-atom-Ir-loaded Co O (Ir-Co O ) can enhance adsorption with the C-C groups of HMF. The synergetic adsorption can enhance the overall conversion of HMF on electrocatalysts. With the modulated HMF adsorption, the as-designed Ir-Co O exhibits a record performance (with an onset potential of 1.15 V ) for the electrosynthesis