Recent advances in metal oxide-based electrode architecture design for electrochemical energy storage.

Metal oxide nanostructures are promising electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors because of their high specific capacity/capacitance, typically 2-3 times higher than that of the carbon/graphite-based materials. However, their cycling stability and rate performance still can not meet the requirements of practical applications. It is therefore urgent to improve their overall device performance, which depends on not only the development of advanced electrode materials but also in a large part "how to design superior electrode architectures". In the article, we will review recent advances in strategies for advanced metal oxide-based hybrid nanostructure design, with the focus on the binder-free film/array electrodes. These binder-free electrodes, with the integration of unique merits of each component, can provide larger electrochemically active surface area, faster electron transport and superior ion diffusion, thus leading to substantially improved cycling and rate performance. Several recently emerged concepts of using ordered nanostructure arrays, synergetic core-shell structures, nanostructured current collectors, and flexible paper/textile electrodes will be highlighted, pointing out advantages and challenges where appropriate. Some future electrode design trends and directions are also discussed.

Synthesis of micro-sized SnO2@carbon hollow spheres with enhanced lithium storage properties.

Uniform and stable micro-sized SnO(2) hollow spheres are prepared by templating against polystyrene microspheres. After being coated with a thin layer of amorphous carbon, the as-obtained SnO(2)@carbon hollow microspheres are shown to exhibit improved lithium storage properties, delivering a reversible capacity of 570 mA h g(-1) after 50 cycles at a high current density of 400 mA g(-1).

One-pot synthesis of uniform Fe3O4 nanospheres with carbon matrix support for improved lithium storage capabilities.

Poly(acrylic acid) (PAA)-entangled Fe(3)O(4) nanospheres are synthesized via a facile solvothermal method. In this system, ethylenediamine plays a very important role to control the uniformity of the nanospheres, and the PAA molecules serve as the carbon source that transforms into a carbon matrix after the heat treatment under an inert atmosphere. These uniform Fe(3)O(4) nanospheres with carbon matrix support manifest greatly enhanced lithium storage properties over prolonged cycling, with a reversible capacity of 712 mA h g(-1) retained after 60 charge/discharge cycles. However, the carbon-free counterpart can only deliver a much lower capacity of 328 mA h g(-1).

Rewritable multicolor fluorescent patterns for multistate memory devices with high data storage capacity.

We report a branched polyethyleneimine (BPEI)-quantum dot (QD) based rewritable fluorescent system with a multicolor recording mode, in which BPEI is both QD-multicolor patterning "writer" and data erasing "remover". This method could write distinct colors from size-tailored QDs to represent large numbers of logic states for high data storage capacity.

Formation of large 2D nanosheets via PVP-assisted assembly of anatase TiO2 nanomosaics.

We demonstrate an unusual formation of large 2D nanosheets from nanomosaic building blocks of anatase TiO(2) nanosheets with exposed (001) facets. It is proposed that large PVP molecules adsorbed on the (001) facets serve as the linker that brings building blocks together, at the same time prevents them from stacking along the c-axis.

Comprehensive interpretation of gel electrophoresis data.

From temperature analysis of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis data for rigid-rod DNA analytes, it is proposed that an entropic force term is responsible for the discrepancy between Ogston-Morris-Rodbard-Chrambach model predictions and experimental results. This entropic force originates from reduction of the orientational freedom of anisotropic analytes in small pores of polyacrylamide gels. Time-dependent fluorescence anisotropy decay measurements confirm that, even in the absence of an external field, orientation of anisotropic analytes is restricted in polyacrylamide gels. A new comprehensive model is proposed that takes this effect into consideration. Predictions based on this model are found to compare favorably with experimental data for linear and three-arm asymmetrically branched rigid-rod DNA analytes covering a broad range of molecular aspect ratios and sizes. A new length scale is also proposed for describing the effect of analyte topology on electrophoretic mobility. This length scale reduces to the analyte radius of gyration in the limiting cases of spherically symmetric and linear rigid-rod species. Based on these results, a general approach is proposed for interpreting gel electrophoresis data of charged analytes possessing simple and complex topologies.