In this paper, we propose the design of a family of hydrogel electrolytes that featuring freezing resistance, flexibility, safety, superior ionic conductivity and long-term stability to realize anti-freezing flexible aqueous batteries.

A heterogeneous catalyst made of well-defined Co3 O4 hexagonal platelets with varied exposed facets is coupled with [Ru(bpy)3 ]Cl2 photosensitizers to effectively and efficiently reduce CO2 under visible-light irradiation. Systematic investigation based on both experiment and theory discloses that the exposed {112} facets are crucial for activating CO2 molecules, giving rise to significant enhancement of photocatalytic CO2 reduction efficiency.

MXenes are attracting much attention as electrode materials due to their excellent energy storage properties and electrical conductivity, and the energy storage capacities were found to strongly depend on the surface terminal groups. Here S-functionalized TiC as a representative MXene material is designed. Our density functional theory (DFT) calculations are performed to investigate the geometric and electronic properties, dynamic stability, and Na storage capability of TiC, TiCO and TiCS systems. The TiCS monolayer is proved to show metallic behavior and has a stable structure, and meanwhile it also exhibits a low diffusion barrier and high storage capacity (up to TiCSNa stoichiometry) for Na ion batteries (NIBs). The superior properties such as good electrical conductivity, fast charge-discharge rates, low open circuit voltage (OCV), and high theoretical Na storage capacity, make the TiCS monolayer a promising anode material for NIBs compared to the TiCO monolayer. More importantly, similar to the TiCS monolayer, other MXenes with a high charge density difference and suitable lattice constant can be formed, and thus the energy storage properties are worth further study. This finding will be useful to the design of anode materials for NIBs.

Flexible zinc-air batteries (ZABs) have been scrutinized as a type of promising flexible power source for next-generation electronic devices, but the batteries’ temperature adaptability has been a major hurdle due...

Large charge transfer and small lattice mismatch are beneficial for second layer Na atom adsorption.

A monotonical relationship between the binding energies and the lattice constants of M3C2O2 was identified, which indicated that M3C2O2 MXenes with a smaller lattice constant tends to exhibit a stronger anchoring effect.

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An ‘ion reservoir’, from an internal electric field and lower Li+/Na+ adsorption energies at an anatase/TiO2(B) interface, ameliorated Li+/Na+ storage.