NiCo2O4 nanowire array on carbon cloth (NiCo2O4/CC) is proposed as a highly active electrocatalyst for ambient nitrate (NO3−) reduction to ammonia (NH3). In 0.1 m NaOH solution with 0.1 m NaNO3, such NiCo2O4/CC achieves a high Faradic efficiency of 99.0% and a large NH3 yield up to 973.2 µmol h−1 cm−2. The superior catalytic activity of NiCo2O4 comes from its half‐metal feature and optimized adsorption energy due to the existence of Ni in the crystal structure. A Zn‐NO3− battery with NiCo2O4/CC cathode also shows a record‐high battery performance.

Recently, the MXene itself and its composites with various metal oxides have shown excellent electrochemical performance due to the presence of multiple oxidation states. However, the restacking of MXene layers and poor electrical conductivity of metal oxides are major bottlenecks in their effective electrochemical transport, when they are applied individually. Herein, we report a novel manganese oxide/MXene (MnO 2 /MXene) composite material to overcome these critical issues. Sub-50 nm-thick MnO 2 nanowires (NWRs) were introduced inside the MXene to effectively stop the restacking as well as to increase the surface area of the supercapacitor (SC) electrode material. The special control on the thickness of NWRs is not only providing an opportunity to adjust them inside the MXene layers but also giving a high surface area. Electrochemical studies suggested that the MnO 2 /MXene composite behaves as an excellent electrode material for hybrid SCs, as compared to individual MXene and MnO 2 . Maximum specific capacitance (C sp ) of MXene, MnO 2 NWRs, and MnO 2 /MXene composite was observed to be about 527.8, 337.5, and 611.5 F/g, respectively. The calculated specific capacity of the MnO 2 /MXene composite was about 489.5 C/g at 1 A/g, which shows better performance as an electrode material for energy storage devices. The synthesized electrode material demonstrated excellent capacitance retention of about 96% up to 1000 cycles.

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Recently, a new class of two-dimensional (2D) materials, called MXene, consisting of layers of transition-metal carbides and nitrides/carbonitrides has been introduced. MXene, a multifunctional material with hydrophilic nature and excellent electrical conductivity and chemical stabilities, can be applied in diverse research areas such as energy harvesting and its storage, water purification, thermal dissipation, and gas sensing. To achieve the best quality of MXene, optimization of some important synthetic parameters is highly required such as an optimized etchant concentration to remove an “A” element from the MAX phase and sonication time for the efficient exfoliation of MXene flakes. Besides, there is a need to disclose that particular solvent through which intercalation can easily be achieved. In this work, we optimized the abovementioned critical parameters for the synthesis of good-quality MXene. Our results clearly explain the variations in the quality of MXene under applied etchant concentrations, solvents for better intercalation, and optimization of sonication time for better exfoliation. The obtained results suggest that 30% HF as an etchant, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as a solvent, and 135 min as the sonication time are effective parameters for the synthesis of good-quality MXene. We expect that this report will be helpful for the young research community to synthesize good-quality MXene with the required properties.

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