A poly(4,4′-thiodiphenol)/carbon composite cathode is used to fabricate Zn-ion hybrid energy storage devices with a high capacity and wide voltage window.
Organic electrode materials have
a large variety of types and could
be a replacement for metal compounds in building high-performance
rechargeable Zn-ion batteries. Polymers with redox activity can be
divided into amino-containing aromatics and quinones, and they show
different electrochemical behaviors. Here, we compare two representative
polymers, poly(1,5-naphthalenediamine) and poly(1,5-dihydroxynaphthalene),
that are electrodeposited onto nanoporous carbon to make cathodes
for Zn-ion batteries. Electrochemical energy storage performances
of the two polymers are tested at different temperatures ranging from
20 to −20 °C, and the influence of low temperature on
their capacity loss, charge transfer resistance, and activation energy
is determined. By combining experiment with theory, we unravel key
factors of the polymer that favor energy storage performance. The
entropy change in the Zn-ion uptake process of an organic electrode
material is found to play a key role in the energy storage performance
in terms of cycling stability and capacity retention in a cold environment.
Artificial
organelles (AOs) are typical microcompartments with
intracellular biocatalytic activity aimed to replace missing or lost
cellular functions. Currently, liposomes or polymersomes are popular
microcompartments to build AOs by embedding channel proteins in their
hydrophobic domain and entrapping natural enzymes in their cavity.
Herein, a new microcompartment is established by using monolayer cross-linked
zwitterionic vesicles (cZVs) with a carboxylic acid saturated cavity.
The monolayer structure endows the cZVs with intrinsic permeability;
the cavity supplies the cZVs ability of in situ synthesis
of artificial enzymes, and the pH-dependent charge-change property
makes it possible to overcome the biological barriers. Typically,
nanozymes of CeO2 and Pt NPs were synthesized in the cZVs
to mimic peroxisome. In vitro experiments confirmed
that the resulting artificial peroxisome (AP) could resist protein
adsorption, endocytose efficiently, and escape from the lysosome. In vivo experiments demonstrated that the APs held a good
therapeutic effect in ROS-induced ear-inflammation.
Aqueous
electrochemical energy storage devices are highly safe,
low cost, and environmentally benign, yet suffer from low energy storage
capacity. Here, we devise a novel cathode material for making aqueous
Zn-ion hybrid energy storage devices with high areal capacitance.
A pseudocapacitive polymer, poly(3,3′-dihydroxybenzidine, DHB),
is electrodeposited onto the surfaces of porous active carbon (AC)
granules to increase the capacitance. This composite coating has high
mass loading, leading to high areal capacitance in F cm–2 scale. The flexible sandwich-structured cell made by combing the
poly(3,3′-DHB)/AC cathode and the Zn foil anode shows stable
electrochemical performance upon bending. The areal capacitance of
this cell is up to 1.3 F cm–2, and the maximum energy
and power densities are 0.18 mWh cm–2 and 4.01 mW
cm–2, respectively. Moreover, a Zn-ion micro cell
is fabricated by combing two sets of carbon-paper-based finger electrodes,
one is plated with Zn and the other is coated with the poly(3,3′-DHB)/AC
composite. The in-plane micro cell shows a high areal capacitance
of 1.1 F cm–2 and a high areal energy density of
152 μWh cm–2. Our research suggests a new
approach to make high-capacitance Zn-ion hybrid energy storage devices
with different forms to meet various applications.
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