Unveiling the activity origin of electrochemical oxygen evolution on heteroatom-decorated carbon matrix.

Chemical modification via functional dopants in carbon materials holds great promise for elevating catalytic activity and stability. To gain comprehensive insights into the pivotal mechanisms and establish structure-performance relationships, especially concerning the roles of dopants, remains a pressing need. Herein, we employ computational simulations to unravel the catalytic function of heteroatoms in the acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER), focusing on a physical model of high-electronegative F and N co-doped carbon matrix. Theoretical and experimental findings elucidate that the enhanced activity originates from the F and pyridinic-N (Py-N) species that achieve carbon activation. This activated carbon significantly lowers the conversion energy barrier from O* to OOH*, shifts the potential-limiting step from OOH* formation to O* generation, and ultimately optimizes the energy barrier of the potential-limiting step. This wok elucidates that the critical role of heteroatoms in catalyzing the reaction and unlocks the potential of carbon materials for acidic OER.

Enhanced photocatalytic performance of CuS/O,N-CNT composite for solar-driven organic contaminant degradation.

Herein, a hydrothermal etching approach was used to generate an innovative CuS/O,N-CNT composite. The hydrothermal etching of g-C3N4 led to the creation of O,N-CNT, with ethanol as the oxygen source. The SEM and TEM characterizations confirmed the formation of CNT, whereas the XPS analysis proved the doping of oxygen and nitrogen in the CNT matrix along with the incorporation of CuS. Under sun irradiation, the produced CuS/O,N-CNT showed outstanding photocatalytic efficiency, eliminating methyl orange and methylene blue dyes with 97.21% and 98.11% efficacy, respectively. Adding hydrothermally etched O,N-CNT increased light absorption and charge migration kinetics, as can be studied from the UV-DRS and PL analysis; hence, the observed improvements in light absorption and charge transfer pathways contributed to the CuS/O,N-CNT composite's enhanced photocatalytic activity, indicating its potential for efficient elimination of organic contaminants under solar irradiation. The catalyst demonstrated high reusability performance up to six cycles and significantly degraded other dyes. Scavenger analysis, along with VB-XPS and UV-DRS analysis, aid in developing a photocatalytic mechanism that confirms the participation of hydroxyl and superoxide radicals in the degradation process.

Perovskite-Doped Modulated Color-Selective Photosynaptic Transistors for Target Object Recognition.

The processing of multicolor noisy images in visual neuromorphic devices requires selective absorption at specific wavelengths; however, it is difficult to achieve this because the spectral absorption range of the device is affected by the type of material. Surprisingly, the absorption range of perovskite materials can be adjusted by doping. Herein, a CdCl2 co-doped CsPbBr3 nanocrystal-based photosensitive synaptic transistor (PST) is reported. By decreasing the doping concentration, the response of the PST to short-wavelength light is gradually enhanced, and even weak light of 40 µW·cm-2 can be detected. Benefiting from the excellent color selectivity of the PST device, the device array is applied to feature extraction of target blue items and removal of red and green noise, which results in the recognition accuracy of 95% for the noisy MNIST data set. This work provides new ideas for the application of novel transistors integrating sensors and storage computing.

Revealing the Impact of Dual Site Modification on the Phase Transformation and Ion Transport Mechanism of Ni-Rich Cathode Materials.

Ni-rich cathode materials have garnered significant attention attributable to the high reversible capacity and superior rate performance, particularly in the electric vehicle industry. However, the structural degradation experienced during cycling results in rapid capacity decay and deterioration of the rate performance, thereby impeding the widespread application of Ni-rich cathodes. Herein, a Mg/Ti co-doping strategy was developed to boost the structure stability and Li-ion transport kinetics of the Ni-rich cathode material LiNi0.90Co0.05Mn0.05O2 (NCM9055) under long cycle. It is demonstrated that the Mg2+ ions inserted into the lithium layer could serve as pillars, enhancing the stability of the delithiated layer structure. The introduction of robust Ti-O bonding mitigated the detrimental H2-H3 phase transition (∼4.2 V) during cycling. In addition, despite the fact that Mg/Ti co-doping slightly reduces Li+ diffusion coefficient in the modified cathode material (NCM9055-MT), it effectively stabilized the robustness of the layered structure and maintained the Li+ diffusion channel while charging and discharging, thereby improving the Li+ diffusion coefficient after a long cycle. Therefore, the Mg/Ti co-doped cathode materials exhibited an exceptional capacity retention rate of 99.9% (100 cycles, 1 C). Additionally, the Li+ diffusion coefficient of the co-doped NCM9055-MT (2.924 × 10-10 cm2 s-1) after 100 cycles was effectively enhanced compared with the case of undoped NCM9055 (4.806 × 10-11 cm2 s-1). This work demonstrates that the Mg/Ti co-doping approach effectively enhanced the stability of layered Ni-rich cathode materials.

Co-doped bismuth vanadate/zinc tungstate heterojunction with dual internal electric fields for efficient photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide.

Enhanced carriers separation on photocatalysts is crucial for improving photocatalytic activity. In this paper, the Co-doped BiVO4/ZnWO4 S-scheme heterojunctions were constructed to induce double internal electric fields (IEFs) for enhancing charges separation and transfer for efficient photocatalytic reduction of CO2. The photocatalytic CO2 reduction efficiencies of the heterojunctions were significantly enhanced as compared with the counterparts. The optimized Co-doped BiVO4/ZnWO4 exhibited the highest CO yield of 138.4 µmol·g-1·h-1, which were 86.5 and 1.4 folds of the BiVO4 and Co-doped BiVO4. Results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electron spin resonance (ESR), and work function demonstrated that charge transfer path of Co-doped BiVO4/ZnWO4 conformed to S-scheme heterojunction mechanism. The kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the differential charge distributions confirmed the existence of double IEFs, which accelerated carrier separation and improved CO2 adsorption and activation. In addition, in-situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ISFT-IR) revealed that HCOO- was the major intermediate during the CO2 reaction. This study provides a feasible means to develop composite photocatalysts with dual IEFs for effective photocatalytic CO2 reduction.

Highly active nitrogen-phosphorus co-doped carbon fiber@graphite felt electrode for high-performance vanadium redox flow battery.

Heteroatom-doped electrodes offer promising applications for enhancing the longevity and efficiency of vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). Herein, we controllably synthesized N, P co-doped graphite fiber electrodes with conductive network structure by introducing protonic acid and combining electrodeposition and high temperature carbonization. H2SO4 and H3PO4 act as auxiliary and dopant, respectively. The synergistic effect between N and P introduces additional defect structures and active sites on the electrodes, thereby enhancing the reaction rate, as confirmed by density functional theory calculations. Furthermore, the conductive network structure of carbon fibers improves electrode-to-electrode connectivity and reduces internal battery resistance. The optimized integration of these strategies enhances VRFB performance significantly. Consequently, the N, P co-doped carbon fiber modified graphite felt electrodes demonstrate remarkably high energy efficiency at 200 mA cm-2, surpassing that of the blank battery by 7.9 %. This integrated approach to in-situ controllable synthesis provides innovative insights for developing high-performance, stable electrodes, thereby contributing to advancements in the field of energy storage.

Efficient rhodamine B dye photocatalytic degradation in aqueous media using novel ZnO nanomaterials co-doped with Ce and Dy.

Water pollution caused by dyes and industrial wastewater poses a significant threat to ecosystems. The purification of such pollutants presents a major challenge. Photocatalysis based on semiconductor materials is a potential wastewater treatment process due to its safety and cost-effectiveness. In the present work, Zn1-2xCexDyxO (x = 0.01-0.05) semiconductors were prepared by the sol-gel auto-ignition method. The samples are denoted CDZO1, CDZO3, and CDZO5 for x  = 0.01-0.05, respectively. The X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy results revealed the formation of ZnO hexagonal phase wurtzite structure for all synthesized compositions. Different structural properties were determined. It was found that the lattice parameters and the unit cell volume increased, while the crystallite size diminished as x varied from 0.01 to 0.05. Transmission electron microscopy observations confirmed the formation of nanoparticles with the desired chemical compositions. The specific surface area (SSA) values are found to be 39.95 m2/g, 48.62 m2/g, and 51.36 m2/g for CDZO1, CDZO5, and CDZO5 samples, respectively. The reflectance spectra were recorded to examine the optical properties of the different nanoparticles. The values of the optical band gap were 3.221, 3.225, and 3.239 eV for CDZO1, CDZO3, and CDZO5 samples, respectively. In addition, the photocatalytic performance towards RhB dye degradation for the different samples was assessed. It was established that the CDZO3 sample with a moderate SSA value exhibited the superior photocatalytic performance among the other as-prepared samples wherein the percentage of degradation efficiency, and kinetic constant rate attained their maximum values of 98.22 % and 0.0521 min-1, respectively within 75 min. As per the obtained findings, it is evident that the Zn1-2xCexDyxO photocatalyst has prominent potential for use in the degradation of dyes and offers a useful route for impeding the recombination of electron-hole pairs of zinc oxide material.

Chitosan-based high-performance flexible supercapacitor via "in-situ co-doping/self-regulation-activation" strategy.

The construction of N, P co-doped hierarchically porous carbons (NPHPC) by a facile and green approach is crucial for high-performance energy storage but still an enormous challenge. Herein, an environment-friendly "in-situ co-doping, self-regulation-activation" strategy is presented to one-pot synthesize NPHPC using a phytic acid-induced polyethyleneimine/chitosan gel (PEI-PA-CS) as single precursor. NPHPC displayed a specific surface area of up to 1494 m2 g-1, high specific capacitance of 449 F g-1 at 1 A g-1, outstanding rate capability and cycling durability in a wide temperature range (-20 to 60 °C). NPHPC and PEI-PA-CS electrolyte assembled symmetric quasi-solid-state flexible supercapacitor presents superb energy outputs of 27.06 Wh kg-1 at power density of 225 W kg-1. For capacitive deionization (CDI), NPHPC also exhibit an excellent salt adsorption capacity of 16.54 mg g-1 in 500 mg L-1 NaCl solution at a voltage of 1.4 V, and regeneration performance. This study provides a valuable reference for the rational design and synthesis of novel biomass-derived energy-storage materials by integrating phytic acid induced heteroatom doping and pore engineering.

Preparation and Application of Co-Doped Zinc Oxide: A Review.

Due to a wide band gap and large exciton binding energy, zinc oxide (ZnO) is currently receiving much attention in various areas, and can be prepared in various forms including nanorods, nanowires, nanoflowers, and so on. The reliability of ZnO produced by a single dopant is unstable, which in turn promotes the development of co-doping techniques. Co-doping is a very promising technique to effectively modulate the optical, electrical, magnetic, and photocatalytic properties of ZnO, as well as the ability to form various structures. In this paper, the important advances in co-doped ZnO nanomaterials are summarized, as well as the preparation of co-doped ZnO nanomaterials by using different methods, including hydrothermal, solvothermal, sol-gel, and acoustic chemistry. In addition, the wide range of applications of co-doped ZnO nanomaterials in photocatalysis, solar cells, gas sensors, and biomedicine are discussed. Finally, the challenges and future prospects in the field of co-doped ZnO nanomaterials are also elucidated.

Leveraging doping strategies and interface engineering to enhance catalytic transformation of lithium polysulfides for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries.

The commercialization of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries has faced challenges due to the shuttle effect of soluble intermediate polysulfides and the sluggish kinetics of sulfur redox reactions. In this study, a synergistic catalyst medium was developed as a high-performance sulfur cathode material for Li-S batteries. Termed A/R-TiO2@ Ni-N-MXene, this sulfur cathode material features an in-situ derived anatase-rutile homojunction of TiO2 nanoparticles on Ni-N dual-atom-doped MXene nanosheets. Using in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique, we observed the growth process of the homojunction for the first time confirming that homojunctions facilitated charge transfer, while dual-atom doping offered abundant active sites for anchoring and converting soluble polysulfides. Theoretical calculations and experiments showed that these synergistic effects effectively mitigated the shuttle effect, leading to improved cycling performance of Li-S batteries. After 500 cycles at a 1C rate, Li-S batteries using A/R-TiO2@Ni-N-MXene as cathode materials exhibited stable and highly reversible capacity with a capacity decay of only 0.056 % per cycle. Even after 150 cycles at a 0.1C rate, a high-capacity retention rate of 62.8 % was achieved. Additionally, efficient sulfur utilization was observed, with 1280.76 mA h/g at 0.1C, 694.24 mA h/g at 1C, alongside a sulfur loading of 1.5-2 mg/cm2. The effective strategy based on homojunctions showcases promise for designing high-performance Li-S batteries.

Research on carbon black and cerium co-doped Ti4O7-CB-Ce electrocatalytic oxidation of tetracycline-based antibiotics.

Elemental doping is a promising way for enhancing the electrocatalytic activity of metal oxides. Herein, we fabricate Ti/ Ti4O7-CB-Ce anode materials by the modification means of carbon black and cerium co-doped Ti4O7, and this shift effectively improves the interfacial charge transfer rate of Ti4O7 and •OH yield in the electrocatalytic process. Remarkably, the Ti4O7-CB-Ce anode exhibits excellent efficiency of minocycline (MNC) wastewater treatment (100% removal within 20 min), and the removal rate reduces from 100 to 98.5% after five cycles, which is comparable to BDD electrode. •OH and 1O2 are identified as the active species in the reaction. Meanwhile, it is discovered that Ti/ Ti4O7-CB-Ce anodes can effectively improve the biochemical properties of the non-biodegradable pharmaceutical wastewater (B/C values from 0.25 to 0.44) and significantly reduce the toxicity of the wastewater (luminescent bacteria inhibition rate from 100 to 26.6%). This work paves an effective strategy for designing superior metal oxides electrocatalysts.

Unlocking the critical roles of N, P Co-Doping in MXene for Lithium-Oxygen Batteries: Elevated d-Band center and expanded interlayer spacing.

The design and fabrication of bifunctional catalysts with high electrocatalytic activity and stability are critical for developing highly reversible Li-O2 batteries (LOBs). Herein, the N, P co-doped MXene (NP-MXene) is prepared by one-step annealing method and evaluated as bifunctional catalyst for LOBs. The results suggest that the P doping plays a crucial role in increasing interlayer distance of MXene, thereby effectively providing more active sites, fast mass transfer, and ample space for the deposition/decomposition of Li2O2. Moreover, the N doping can significantly elevate the d-band center of Ti, thereby remarkably improving the adsorption of reaction intermediates and accelerating the deposition/decomposition of Li2O2 films. Consequently, the MXene-based LOBs deliver an ultrahigh specific capacity of 13,995 mAh/g at 500 mA g-1, a discharge/charge voltage gap of 0.89 V, and a cycle life up to 523 cycles with a limited capacity of 1000 mAh/g at 500 mA g-1. Impressively, the as-fabricated flexible LOBs with NP-MXene cathode display excellent cycling stability and ability to continuously power LEDs even after bending. Our findings pave the road of heteroatom doped MXenes as next-generation electrodes for high-performance energy storage and conversion systems.

High-Energy Earth-Abundant Cathodes with Enhanced Cationic/Anionic Redox for Sustainable and Long-Lasting Na-Ion Batteries.

Layered iron/manganese-based oxides are a class of promising cathode materials for sustainable batteries due to their high energy densities and earth abundance. However, the stabilization of cationic and anionic redox reactions in these cathodes during cycling at high voltage remain elusive. Here, an electrochemically/thermally stable P2-Na0.67Fe0.3Mn0.5Mg0.1Ti0.1O2 cathode material with zero critical elements is designed for sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) to realize a highly reversible capacity of ≈210 mAh g-1 at 20 mA g-1 and good cycling stability with a capacity retention of 74% after 300 cycles at 200 mA g-1, even when operated with a high charge cut-off voltage of 4.5 V versus sodium metal. Combining a suite of cutting-edge characterizations and computational modeling, it is shown that Mg/Ti co-doping leads to stabilized surface/bulk structure at high voltage and high temperature, and more importantly, enhances cationic/anionic redox reaction reversibility over extended cycles with the suppression of other undesired oxygen activities. This work fundamentally deepens the failure mechanism of Fe/Mn-based layered cathodes and highlights the importance of dopant engineering to achieve high-energy and earth-abundant cathode material for sustainable and long-lasting NIBs.

The Still Elusive Role of Lightweight Doping in Carbon-Based Electrocatalysts for the Selective Oxygen Reduction Reaction to Hydrogen Peroxide.

The two-electron electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a valuable alternative to the more conventional and energy-intensive anthraquinone process. From a circularity viewpoint, metal-free catalysts constitute a sustainable alternative for the process. In particular, lightweight hetero-doped C-materials are cost-effective and easily scalable samples that replace - more and more frequently - the use of critical raw elements in the preparation of highly performing (electro)catalysts. Anyhow, their large-scale exploitation in industrial processes still suffers from technical limits of samples upscale and reproducibility other than a still moderate comprehension of their action mechanism in the process. This concept article offers a comprehensive and exhaustive "journey" through the most representative lightweight hetero-doped C-based electrocatalysts and their performance in the 2e- ORR process. It provides an interpretation of phenomena at the triple-phase interface of solid catalyst, liquid electrolyte and gaseous oxygen based on the doping-driven generation of ideal electronic microenvironments at the catalyst surface.

Phosphorous Vacancy and Built-In Electric Field Effect of Co-Doped MoP@MXene Heterostructures to Tune Catalytic Activity for Efficient Overall Water Splitting.

Developing cost-effective, durable bifunctional electrocatalysts is crucial but remains challenging due to slow hydrogen/oxygen evolution reaction (HER/OER) kinetics in water electrolysis. Herein, a combined engineering strategy of phosphorous vacancy (Vp) and spontaneous built-in electric field (BIEF) is proposed to design novel highly-conductive Co-doped MoP@MXene heterostructures with phosphorous vacancy (Vp-Co-MoP@MXene). Wherein, Co doping regulates the surface electronic structure and charge re-distribution of MoP, Vp induces more defects and active sites, while BIEF accelerates the interfacial charge transfer rate between Vp-Co-MoP and MXene. Therefore, the synergistic integration of Vp-Co-MoP/MXene efficiently decreases activation energy and kinetic barrier, thus promoting its intrinsically catalytic activity and structural stability. Consequently, the Vp-Co-MoP@MXene catalyst displays low overpotentials of 102.3/196.5 and 265.0/320.0 mV at 10/50 mA cm-2 for HER and OER, respectively. Notably, two-electrode electrolyzers with the Vp-Co-MoP@MXene bifunctional catalysts to achieve 10/50 mA cm-2, only need low-cell voltages of 1.57/1.64 V in alkaline media. Besides, experimental and theoretical results confirm that the hetero-structure effectively reduces hydrogen adsorption free energy and rate-determining-step energy barrier of OER intermediates, thereby greatly boosting its intrinsically catalytic activity. This work verifies an effective strategy to fabricate efficient non-precious bifunctional electro-catalysts for water splitting via combination engineering of phosphorous vacancy, cation doping, and BIEF.

Sulfur/zinc co-doped biochar for stabilization remediation of mercury-contaminated soil: Performance, mechanism and ecological risk.

In this study, a novel sulfur/zinc co-doped biochar (SZ-BC) stabilizer was successfully developed for the remediation of mercury-contaminated soil. Results from SEM, TEM, FTIR and XRD revealed that biochar (BC) was successfully modified by sulfur and zinc. In the batch adsorption experiments, the sulfur-zinc co-pyrolysis biochar displayed excellent Hg(II) adsorption performance, with the maximum adsorption capacity of SZ-BC (261.074 mg/g) being approximately 16.5 times that of BC (15.855 mg/g). Laboratory-scale static incubation, column leaching, and plant pot experiments were conducted using biochar-based materials. At an additional dosage of 5 % mass ratio, the SZ-BC exhibits the most effective stabilization of mercury in soil, leading to a significant reduction in leaching loss compared to the control group (CK) by 51.30 %. Following 4 weeks of incubation and 2 weeks of leaching with SZ-BC, the residual mercury in the soil increased by 27.84 %. As a result, potential ecological risk index of mercury decreased by 92 % compared to the CK group. In the pot experiment, SZ-BC significantly enhanced the growth of Chinese cabbage, with biomass and root dry weight reaching 3.20 and 2.80 times that of the CK group, respectively. Additionally, the Translocation Factor (TF) and Bioconcentration Factor (BF) were reduced by 44.86 % and 74.43 %, respectively, in the SZ-BC group compared to the CK group. Moreover, SZ-BC can effectively improve enzyme activities and increase microbial communities in mercury-contaminated soils. The mechanisms of adsorption and stabilization were elucidated through electrostatic adsorption, ion exchange, surface complexation, and precipitation. These findings provide a potentially effective material for stabilizing soils contaminated with mercury.

Biotemplated Fe/La-co-doped TiO2 for photocatalytic depth treatment of compressed leachate from refuse transfer station.

Compressed leachate is a contaminated liquid containing various organic and inorganic pollutants produced in municipal refuse transfer stations, which pollute soil and groundwater, posing serious risks to the environment and human health. The Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, South China) treated compressed leachate obtained from a refuse transfer station. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) (641.2 mg/L) of treated compressed leachate did not meet the wastewater quality standards in China for discharge into municipal sewers (COD ≤ 500 mg/L) and the company's design discharge requirements (COD ≤ 400 mg/L). Therefore, their further in-depth treatment is necessary. To this end, waste tobacco leaves were used as the biotemplate herein, and Fe/La-co-doped TiO2 (xFe,yLa)-TTiO2(g) was synthesized using a solvothermal-assisted biotemplating method. The photocatalytic depth treatment of compressed leachate was performed under simulated solar light using the prepared catalysts. After (3Fe,3La)-TTiO2(g) treatment, the COD of the leachate decreased from 641.2 to 280.1 mg/L, and the COD removal rate was 1.2, 1.1, and 1.6 times higher than that of pure Fe-doped, La-doped and non-biological template TiO2, respectively. Characterization confirmed that the biological template endowed the catalyst with a unique morphology and high specific surface area. Its rich activity sites are conducive to enhancing the adsorption capacity of pollutants and providing an ideal place for photocatalytic reactions. Co-doping with iron and lanthanum ions altered the band structure of TiO2 and promoted the interconversion of Fe3+/Fe2+ and La3+/La2+ during photocatalysis. First-principles density functional theory simulations demonstrated that co-doping Fe and La in TiO2 created impurity levels that facilitated the transfer of photogenerated electrons. This study provides a new purification pathway for the depth treatment of compressed leachate.

Heat-resistant boron-nitrogen doped lignin-derived adsorbent-catalyst for gaseous aromatic pollutants removal.

Lignin-based carbon material can be utilized as carbonaceous adsorbents for the removal of toxic gaseous organic pollutants, while the poor heat-resistance limited its widely application. Here in, B-N co-doped lignin carbon (BN-C) with high thermal stability was synthesized, and the optimized BN-C (1:2) exhibited notably improved heat resistance with the decomposition temperature up to 505 °C, and excellent adsorption capacity for o-dichlorobenzene (o-DCB) (1510.0 mg/g) and toluene (947.3 mg/g), together with good cyclic stability over 10 cycles for o-dichlorobenzene. The existence of abundant hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) with good thermal conductivity contributed to the superior heat-resistance of BN-C (1:2), and the high specific surface area (1764.5 m2/g), enriched hydroxyl functional groups and improved graphitization degree contributed to its enhanced adsorption performance. More importantly, BN-C (1:2) supported Ru could effectively remove o-DCB and toluene at wide temperature range (50-300 °C). The present work guided the development of heat-resistant lignin-derived adsorbent-catalyst for gaseous aromatic pollutants removal, which benefits both environmental protection and resource utilization.

Multifunctional Phosphor with High-Efficient Near-Infrared Emission Based on Antimony-Zinc Halides.

Metal halide-based broadband near-infrared (NIR) luminescent materials face problems such as complicated preparation, high cost, low photoluminescence quantum yield, and high excitation energy. Here, incorporating Sb3+ and Br- into (C20H20P)2ZnCl4 crystals allowed for the achievement of efficient broadband near-infrared emission under 400 nm excitation while maintaining satisfactory environmental and thermal stability. The compounds exhibit a broad range of emission bands from 550 to 1050 nm, with a photoluminescence quantum yield of 93.57%. This is a groundbreaking achievement for organic-inorganic hybrid metal halide NIR luminescent materials. The near-infrared emission is suggested to originate from [SbX5]2-, as supported by the femtosecond transient absorption spectra and density-functional theory calculations. This phosphor-based NIR LEDs successfully demonstrate potential applications in night vision, medical imaging, information encryption, and anticounterfeiting.

Boron and Nitrogen Co-Doped Porous Graphene Nanostructures for the Electrochemical Detection of Poisonous Heavy Metal Ions.

Heavy metal poisoning has a life-threatening impact on the human body to aquatic ecosystems. This necessitates designing a convenient green methodology for the fabrication of an electrochemical sensor that can detect heavy metal ions efficiently. In this study, boron (B) and nitrogen (N) co-doped laser-induced porous graphene (LIGBN) nanostructured electrodes were fabricated using a direct laser writing technique. The fabricated electrodes were utilised for the individual and simultaneous electrochemical detection of lead (Pb2+) and cadmium (Cd2+) ions using a square wave voltammetry technique (SWV). The synergistic effect of B and N co-doping results in an improved sensing performance of the electrode with better sensitivity of 0.725 µA/µM for Pb2+ and 0.661 µA/µM for Cd2+ ions, respectively. Moreover, the sensing electrode shows a low limit of detection of 0.21 µM and 0.25 µM for Pb2+ and Cd2+ ions, with wide linear ranges from 8.0 to 80 µM for Pb2+ and Cd2+ ions and high linearity of R2 = 0.99 in case of simultaneous detection. This rapid and facile method of fabricating heteroatom-doped porous graphene opens a new avenue in electrochemical sensing studies to detect various hazardous metal ions.