A polyimine aerogel separator with electron cloud design to boost Li-ion transport for stable Li metal batteries.

The separator with high Young's modulus can avoid the danger of large-sized dendrites, but regulating the chemical behavior of lithium (Li) at the separator/anode interface can effectively eliminate the dendrite issue. Herein, a polyimine aerogel (PIA) with accurate nitrogen (N) functional design is used as the functional separator in Li metal batteries to promote uniform Li nucleation and suppress the dendrite growth. Specifically, the imine (N1) and protonated tertiary amine (N2) sites in the molecular structure of the PIA are significantly different in electron cloud density (ECD) distribution. The N1 site with higher ECD and the N2 site with lower ECD tend to attract and repulse Li+ through electrostatic interactions, respectively. This synergy effect of the PIA separator accelerates the interfacial Li+ diffusion on the Li anode to sustain a uniform two-dimensional Li nucleation behavior. Meanwhile, the well-defined nanochannels of the PIA separator show high affinity to electrolyte and bring uniform Li+ flux for Li plating/stripping. Consequently, the dendrites are effectively suppressed by the PIA separator in routine carbonate electrolyte, and the Li metal batteries with the PIA separator exhibit high Coulombic efficiency and stable high-rate cycling. These findings demonstrate that the ingenious marriage of special chemical structure designs and hierarchical pores can enable the separator to affect the interfacial Li nucleation behavior.

Eliminating Hydrogen Fluoride through Piperidine-Doped Separators for Stable Li Metal Batteries with Nickel-Rich Cathodes.

Hydrofluoric acid (HF)-induced electrode and interfacial structure degeneration poses a significant challenge for high-voltage lithium metal batteries (LMBs). To address this issue, we propose a separator strategy that involves decorating a regular polyethylene (PE) separator with molecular sieves (TW) impregnated with piperidine (PI). The porous structure of the TW serves as a reaction chamber for PI and HF. As a result, the HF content in the controlled electrolyte with 500 ppm H2O (ELE-500) is notably reduced when using TW@PI-PE separators, thereby shielding nickel-rich cathodes from HF etching. Simultaneously, due to the hydrolysis of Li salts, and the inertness of PI towards H2O, a uniform lithium fluoride (LiF)-rich solid electrolyte interphase can form on the Li metal anode, further mitigating dendrite formation. The lifespan of the symmetric Li cell using the TW@PI-PE separator is doubled in ELE-500, exhibiting stable 500-hour cycles at 3 mA cm-2 and 3 mAh cm-2. Additionally, with the effective limitation of transition metal (TM) dissolution, the 4.6-V LMBs employing a LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 cathode maintain an 81 % capacity retention over 100 cycles, even in ELE-1000. The innovative TW@PI system presented here offers a fresh perspective for future research aimed at eliminating HF in LMBs.

Modified Ti-MWW Zeolite as a Highly Efficient Catalyst for the Cyclopentene Epoxidation Reaction.

The liquid-phase epoxidation of cyclopentene (CPE) was performed in the Ti-zeolite/H2O2 catalytic system for the clean synthesis of cyclopentene oxide. Among all the Ti-zeolites (Ti-Beta, Ti-MOR, Ti-MCM-68, TS-1, TS-2, and Ti-MWW) investigated in the present study, Ti-MWW provided relatively lower CPE conversion of 13% due to the diffusion constrains but a higher CPO selectivity of 99.5%. The catalytic performance of Ti-MWW was significantly enhanced by piperidine (PI) treatment, with the CPE conversion and CPO selectivity increased to 97.8 and 99.9%, respectively. The structural rearrangement upon PI treatment converted the 3-dimensional (3D) MWW structure to a 2D lamellar one, which enlarged the interlayer space and greatly alleviated the diffusion constrains of cyclic cyclopentene. Furthermore, the newly constructed "open site" six-coordinated Ti active sites with PI as the ligand exhibited higher catalytic activity. The two factors contributed to more significant enhancement of the activity upon PI-assisted structural arrangement compared to the cases in linear alkenes.

Urchin-Like Ni1/3Co2/3(CO3)1/2(OH)·0.11H2O for Ultrahigh-Rate Electrochemical Supercapacitors: Structural Evolution from Solid to Hollow.

Portable electronics and electric or hybrid electric vehicles are developing in the trend of fast charge and long electric mileage, which ask us to design a novel electrode with sufficient electronic and ionic transport channels at the same time. Herein, we fabricate a uniform hollow-urchin-like Ni1/3Co2/3(CO3)1/2(OH)·0.11H2O electrode material through an easy self-generated and resacrificial template method. The one-dimensional chain-like crystal structure unit containing the metallic bonding and the intercalated OH- and H2O endow this electrode material with abundant electronic and ionic transport channels. The hollow-urchin-like structure built by nanorods contributes to the large electrode-electrolyte contact area ensuring the supply of ions at high current. CNTs are employed to transport electrons between electrode material and current collector. The as-assembled NC-CNT-2//AC supercapacitor device exhibits a high specific capacitance of 108.3 F g-1 at 20 A g-1, a capacitance retention ratio of 96.2% from 0.2 to 20 A g-1, and long cycle life. Comprehensive investigations unambiguously highlight that the unique hollow-urchin-like Ni1/3Co2/3(CO3)1/2(OH)·0.11H2O electrode material would be the right candidate for advanced next-generation supercapacitors.