A metal–organic-framework-engaged strategy is proposed for the fabrication of cobalt-tipped carbon nanotube/Ti3C2 nanosheet composites for an efficient oxygen reduction reaction.

A fast and efficient microwave-assisted strategy is developed to prepare high-quality CsPbX3 nanocrystals with controllable morphologies (nanoplate, nanocube, and nanorod).

Developing high-performance electrocatalysts for the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) is critical to the commercialization of direct ethanol fuel cells. However, current EOR catalysts suffer from high cost, low activity, and poor durability. Here we report the preparation of PdBi-Bi(OH) 3 composite nanochains with outstanding EOR activity and durability. The incorporation of Bi can tune the electronic structure and downshift the d-band center of Pd while the surface decoration of Bi(OH) 3 can facilitate the oxidative removal of CO and other carbonaceous intermediates. As a result, the nanochains manifest an exceptional mass activity (5.30 A mg Pd −1 , 4.6-fold higher than that of commercial Pd/C) and outstanding durability (with a retained current density of ∼1.00 A mg Pd −1 after operating for 20 000 s). More importantly, the nanochain catalyst can be reactivated, and negligible activity loss has been observed after operating for 200 000 s with periodic reactivation, making it one of the best EOR catalysts.

The promise and challenge of electrochemical mitigation of carbon dioxide calls for innovations at the catalyst material level as well as at the reactor level. In this work, enabled by our high-performance and earth-abundant electrocatalyst materials for carbon dioxide reduction reactions, we developed alkaline micro-flow electrolytic cells for energy-efficient, selective, fast and durable carbon dioxide conversion to carbon monoxide and formate. With a cobalt phthalocyanine-based cathode catalyst, the carbon monoxideselective cell starts to operate at a 0.26 V overpotential and reaches a Faradaic efficiency of 94% and a partial current density of 31 mA/cm 2 at a 0.56 V overpotential. With a tin dioxide-based cathode catalyst, the formate-selective cell starts to operate at a 0.76 V overpotential and reaches a Faradaic efficiency of 82% and a partial current density of 113 mA/cm 2 at a 1.36 V overpotential. In contrast to previous studies, we found that the overpotential reduction from using the alkaline electrolyte is mostly contributed by a pH gradient near the cathode surface.