Novel biological carbon materials with highly ordered microstructure and large pore volume have caused great interest due to their multifunctional properties. Herein, we report the preparation of an interconnected porous carbon material by carbonizing the organic matrix of mollusc shell. The obtained three-dimensional carbon skeleton consists of hexangular and tightly arranged channels, which endow it with efficient electrolyte penetration and fast electron transfer, enable the mollusc shell based macroporous carbon material (MSBPC) to be an excellent conductive scaffold for supercapacitor electrodes. By growing NiCo2O4 nanowires on the obtained MSBPC, NiCo2O4/MSBPC composites were synthesized. When used on supercapacitor electrode, it exhibited anomalously high specific capacitance (∼1696 F/g), excellent rate performance (with the capacity retention of 58.6% at 15 A/g) and outstanding cycling stability (88% retention after 2000 cycles). Furthermore, an all-solid-state symmetric supercapacitor was also assembled based on this NiCo2O4/MSBPC electrode and showed good electrochemical performance with an energy density of 8.47 Wh/kg at 1 A/g, good stability over 10000 cycles. And we believe that more potential applications beyond energy storage can be developed based on this MSBPC.

The TOC includes a TEM image of the Sn4P3 nanotops, the brief reaction mechanism, and the electrochemical performance.

This study explores a bottom-up approach toward negatively curved carbon allotropes from octabenzo[8]­circulene, a negatively curved nanographene. Stepwise chemical reduction reactions of octabenzo[8]­circulene with alkali metals lead to a unique highly reduced hydrocarbon pentaanion, which is revealed by X-ray crystallography suggesting a local view for the reduction and alkali metal intercalation processes of negatively curved carbon allotropes. Polymerization of the tetrabromo derivative of octabenzo[8]­circulene by the nickel-mediated Yamamoto coupling reaction results in a new type of porous carbon-rich material, which consists of a covalent network of negatively curved nanographenes. It has a specific surface area of 732 m2 g–1 and functions as anode material for lithium ion batteries exhibiting a maximum capacity of 830 mAh·g–1 at a current density of 100 mA·g–1. These results indicate that this covalent network presents the key structural and functional features of negatively curved carbon allotropes.

Supercapacitors have attracted lots of attentions for energy storage because of their outstanding electrochemical properties, and various kinds of carbon materials have been used to improve the performance. In this work, we innovatively elevate a natural rose-based continuous 3D porous carbon skeleton. The as-prepared carbon skeleton is graphited to some extent and possesses hierarchical interconnected 3D porous structures, providing a high electrical conductive and electrolyte easy-infiltrated substrate for the fabrication of ideal monolithic composite electrodes. Then, we utilized it as scaffold to prepare mesoporous CoO nanocubes @ continuous 3D porous carbon skeleton of rose composite-based electrode for supercapacitor via hydrothermal approach. The obtained material exhibits a noticeable pseudocapacitive performance with a brilliant capacitance of 1672 F/g at 1 A/g and as high as 521 F/g at 40 A/g. It also should be noted that ∼82% of the capacitance was maintained after 3000 cycles at 5 A/g, and only 40% capacitance loss after 1500 cycles at a relatively high current density of 10 A/g.

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New generation biomaterials should be designed to bear long-term antibacterial activity, biocompatibility and even osteogenesis facilitation. In this study, the bifunctional regulation of antibiosis and osteogenesis is realized by the highly-ordered and interconnecting Zn-incorporated ZrO2 nanoarrays, which are prepared by a hydrothermal approach with the precursor hydrolyzed in situ and allow long-term controllable Zn release. The content of incorporated Zn can be easily controlled by pH of the HCl solution used for etching. All Zn-incorporated nanoarrays show good antibacterial properties against both Escherichia coli (E. coli, Gram-negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus, Gram-positive), as indicated by high antibacterial rates and the apparent inhibition zone. Analysis of the biocompatibility confirms that the hybrid nanoarrays could cause varying degrees of promotion for the adhesion and spreading of MC3T3-E1 cells. Zn incorporated ZrO2 nanotubes balance antibiosis and osteogenesis delicately, as proved by the up-regulated MTT and ALP activities, as well as the increase of bone-related gene expression (the mRNA level of OCN, OPN and BMP-2). The novel bone implant materials with better antibacterial properties can promote the osteogenesis, and have promising applications in biomedical devices and antibacterial control systems.