Based on numerical simulations and experimental studies, we show that a composite material which consists of a sheet of graphene on a Au(111) surface exhibits both an excellent conductivity and the ability to stably adsorb biomolecules. If we use this material as a substrate, the signal-to-noise ratios can be greatly enhanced. The key to this unique property is that graphene can stably adsorb carbon-based rings, which are widely present in biomolecules, due to pi-stacking interactions while the substrate retains the excellent conductivity of gold. Remarkably, the signal-to-noise ratio is found to be so high that the signal is clearly distinguishable for different nucleobases when an ssDNA is placed on this graphene-on-Au(111) material. Our finding opens opportunities for a range of bio/nano-applications including single-DNA-molecule-based biodevices and biosensors, particularly, high-accuracy sequencing of DNA strands with repeating segments.

Intercalation of ions in electrode materials has been explored to improve the rate capability in lithium batteries and supercapacitors, due to the enhanced diffusion of Li(+) or electrolyte cations. Here, we describe a synergistic effect between crystal structure and intercalated ion by experimental characterization and ab initio calculations, based on more than 20 nanomaterials: five typical cathode materials together with their alkali metal ion intercalation compounds A-M-O (A = Li, Na, K, Rb; M = V, Mo, Co, Mn, Fe-P). Our focus on nanowires is motivated by general enhancements afforded by nanoscale structures that better sustain lattice distortions associated with charge/discharge cycles. We show that preintercalation of alkali metal ions in V-O and Mo-O yields substantial improvement in the Li ion charge/discharge cycling and rate, compared to A-Co-O, A-Mn-O, and A-Fe-P-O. Diffraction and modeling studies reveal that preintercalation with K and Rb ions yields a more stable interlayer expansion, which prevents destructive collapse of layers and allow Li ions to diffuse more freely. This study demonstrates that appropriate alkali metal ion intercalation in admissible structure can overcome the limitation of cyclability as well as rate capability of cathode materials, besides, the preintercalation strategy provides an effective method to enlarge diffusion channel at the technical level, and more generally, it suggests that the optimized design of stable intercalation compounds could lead to substantial improvements for applications in energy storage.

The calcium-ion battery is an emerging energy storage system that has attracted considerable attention recently. However, the absence of high-performance cathode materials is one of the main challenges for the development of calcium-ion batteries. Herein, a bilayered Mg0.25V2O5·H2O as a stable cathode for rechargeable calcium-ion batteries is identified. Remarkably, an unexpected stable structure of the material for Ca2+ storage is demonstrated. It is found that the interlayer spacing shows only a tiny variation of ∼0.09 Å during Ca2+ insertion/extraction, which results in its outstanding cycling stability (capacity retention of 86.9% after 500 cycles) for Ca2+ storage. On the basis of in situ/ex situ experimental characterizations and ab initio simulation, the origin of such superior structural stability is revealed. This ultrastable cathode together with the understanding lays a strong foundation for developing high-performance calcium-ion batteries.