TiNbO (TNO) has been regarded as a promising anode material for high-power lithium-ion batteries because of the high theoretical capacity and rate performance within the operation voltage range of 1.0-3.0 V. Herein, the electrochemical performance and interface evolution of TNO are comprehensively investigated by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The prepared TNO shows a high initial reversible capacity of 256 mA h g and a satisfactory capacity retention of 68.4% after 200 cycles at 0.1 C. It is generally believed that the formation of solid electrolyte interface (SEI) film could be avoided at the high operating voltage beyond 1.0 V. However, we find that the thin SEI layer is formed during the lithium insertion process and partially dissolved during the following lithium extraction process, and subsequently the SEI layer increases gradually during long-term cycles. Most importantly, we find obvious gassing behavior in the TNO/LiFePO pouch cell for the first time and demonstrate effective suppression effects of VC additive on the swelling phenomenon of full batteries.
Sulfuric-acid-promoted tandem reaction of phenols with acetophenones under solvent- and metal-free conditions has been developed, which afforded functional 4H-chromenes in good yields with water as the side product.
ZnO/Si nanowire arrays with hierarchical architecture were synthesized by solution method with ZnO seed layer grown by atomic layer deposition and magnetron sputtering, respectively. The photocatalytic activity of the as-grown tree-like arrays was evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue under ultraviolet light at ambient temperature. The comparison of morphology, crystal structure, optical properties, and photocatalysis efficiency of the two samples in different seeding processes was conducted. It was found that the ZnO/Si nanowire arrays presented a larger surface area with better crystalline and more uniform ZnO branches on the whole sidewall of Si backbones for the seed layer by atomic layer deposition, which gained a strong light absorption as high as 98% in the ultraviolet and visible range. The samples were proven to have a potential use in photocatalyst, but suffered from photodissolution and memory effect. The mechanism of the photocatalysis was analyzed, and the stability and recycling ability were also evaluated and enhanced.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s11671-016-1803-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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