A visible-light responsive C, N and Ce co-doped TiO 2 mesoporous membrane has been synthesized via a weakly alkaline sol-gel route using P123 template. The co-doping of C, N and Ce resulted in a lowered band gap of 2.14 eV which improved the photocatalytic activity in visible light. The Ce-dopant was found to strengthen the Ti-O bond that stabilized the anatase phase as well as the assembled interconnected mesoporous structure during high temperature calcination. The stabilization of the crystal phase and pore structure resulted in a higher surface area, smaller and more uniform pore size in the membrane. The membrane exhibited a low cut-off molecular weight of 3300 Da and a water flux of 4.05 L m À2 h À1 per bar.
As an emerging post‐lithium battery technology, aluminum ion batteries (AIBs) have the advantages of large Al reserves and high safety, and have great potential to be applied to power grid energy storage. But current graphite cathode materials are limited in charge storage capacity due to the formation of stage‐4 graphite‐intercalated compounds (GICs) in the fully charged state. Herein, we propose a new type of cathode materials for AIBs, namely polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which resemble graphite in terms of the large conjugated π bond, but do not form GICs in the charge process. Quantum chemistry calculations show that PAHs can bind AlCl4− through the interaction between the conjugated π bond in the PAHs and AlCl4−, forming on‐plane interactions. The theoretical specific capacity of PAHs is negatively correlated with the number of benzene rings in the PAHs. Then, under the guidance of theoretical calculations, anthracene, a three‐ring PAH, was evaluated as a cathode material for AIBs. Electrochemical measurements show that anthracene has a high specific capacity of 157 mAh g−1 (at 100 mA g−1) and still maintains a specific capacity of 130 mAh g−1 after 800 cycles. This work provides a feasible “theory guides practice” research model for the development of energy storage materials, and also provides a new class of promising cathode materials for AIBs.
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