This work outlines a newly developed method that allows electrospun cellulose fibers to be coated with nanoparticles during dry-jet wet electrospinning. Fibers coated with Mg(OH)2 nanoparticles exhibited flame retardant properties, whereas fibers containing Mg(OH)2 nanoparticles exhibited accelerated burning.
Graphite anodes offer low volumetric capacity in lithium‐ion batteries. By contrast, tellurene is expected to alloy with alkali metals with high volumetric capacity (≈2620 mAh cm−3), but to date there is no detailed study on its alloying behavior. In this work, the alloying response of a range of alkali metals (A = Li, Na, or K) with few‐layer Te is investigated. In situ transmission electron microscopy and density functional theory both indicate that Te alloys with alkali metals forming A2Te. However, the crystalline order of alloyed products varies significantly from single‐crystal (for Li2Te) to polycrystalline (for Na2Te and K2Te). Typical alloying materials lose their crystallinity when reacted with Li—the ability of Te to retain its crystallinity is therefore surprising. Simulations reveal that compared to Na or K, the migration of Li is highly “isotropic” in Te, enabling its crystallinity to be preserved. Such isotropic Li transport is made possible by Te's peculiar structure comprising chiral‐chains bound by van der Waals forces. While alloying with Na and K show poor performance, with Li, Te exhibits a stable volumetric capacity of ≈700 mAh cm−3, which is about twice the practical capacity of commercial graphite.
Scalable syntheses of two-dimensional topological insulators are critical to material exploration. We demonstrate a controlled assembly of a two-dimensional V-VI group compound, Sb 2 Te 3 nanoplates (NPs), through a vapor-solid growth process. The physical thickness of Sb 2 Te 3 NPs can be rationally controlled in a wide range, from hundreds of nm down to sub-10 nm. Single-quintuple-layer Sb 2 Te 3 NPs were obtained, with a high domain density of $2.465  10 8 cm À2 over a large surface area (1 cm  1 cm) of a SiO 2 /Si substrate, verifying a scalable synthesis method. Extensive material analyses were conducted to explore the basic properties of Sb 2 Te 3 NPs using SEM and AFM, etc. HRTEM analysis confirms that the NP samples exhibit a highly crystalline structure and XPS analysis confirms the chemical composition and material stoichiometry. The growth of 2D topological insulator nanostructures may open up new opportunities in surface-state studies and potential applications in low-dissipative electronic systems.
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