One stone, two birds: an impregnated net-like layer boosts oxygen reduction activity by removing and transforming surface segregation.

Alkaline-earth segregation and low electronic conductivity restrict the practical applications of high-performance cathodes in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs). To address these issues, a unique electrode structure with a sintered active backbone coated with an in situ-formed porous net-like PrCoO (PCO) layer is developed. The effectiveness of this strategy is demonstrated using BaSrCoFeO (BSCF), known for unprecedented oxygen reduction activity but with a great tendency to cause segregation and low electrical conductivity.

Decorated and reconstructed perovskite-oxide electrodes for oxygen electrocatalysis and Zn-air batteries.

Although decorated nanoparticles offer a great potential to generate extra active sites, their preparation usually requires time- and energy-consuming approaches. We report the remarkable activity and durability augmentation for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) via effective and facile on-site electrochemical manipulation, using LaNiO as a model catalyst. When compared to the pristine LaNiO, the electrochemically manipulated LaNiO cycled in Fe-containing 0.

Multiple Na transport pathways and interfacial compatibility enable high-capacity, room-temperature quasi-solid sodium batteries.

Sodium-metal batteries (SMBs) are ideal for large-scale energy storage due to their stable operation and high capacity. However, they have safety issues caused by severe dendrite growth and side reactions, particularly when using liquid electrolytes. Therefore, it is critically important to develop electrolytes with high ionic conductivity and improved safety that are non-flammable and resistant to dendrites.

Manipulating the ionic conductivity and interfacial compatibility of polymer-in-dual-salt electrolytes enables extended-temperature quasi-solid metal batteries.

Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) have shown great promise in the development of lithium-metal batteries (LMBs), but SPEs' interfacial instability and limited ionic conductivity still prevent their widespread applications. Herein, high-concentration hybrid dual-salt "polymer-in-salt" electrolytes (HDPEs) through formulation optimization were facilely prepared to simultaneously boost ionic conductivity, improve interfacial compatibility, and ensure a wide-temperature-range operation with high safety. An optimized electrolyte (HDPE-0.

An excellent bismuth-doped perovskite cathode with high activity and CO resistance for solid-oxide fuel cells operating below 700 °C.

Lowering the operating temperatures of solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is critical, although achieving success in this endeavor has proven challenging. Herein, BiSrCoFeO (BiSCF) is systematically evaluated as a carbon dioxide (CO)-tolerant and highly active cathode for SOFCs. BiSCF, which features Bi with an ionic radius similar to Ba, exhibits activity (e.

Improving Room-Temperature Li-Metal Battery Performance by In Situ Creation of Fast Li Transport Pathways in a Polymer-Ceramic Electrolyte.

Composite polymer-ceramic electrolytes have shown considerable potential for high-energy-density Li-metal batteries as they combine the benefits of both polymers and ceramics. However, low ionic conductivity and poor contact with electrodes limit their practical usage. In this study, a highly conductive and stable composite electrolyte with a high ceramic loading is developed for high-energy-density Li-metal batteries.

Electrochemical properties and facile preparation of hollow porous VO microspheres for lithium-ion batteries.

Vanadium pentoxide (VO) has shown great potential to be used in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), but it has limited applications because it has cycle instability and poor rate capability, and its lithiation mechanism is not well understood. In this work, hollow porous VO microspheres (HPVOM) were obtained by a facile poly(vinylpyrrolidone) and ethylene glycol-assisted soft-template solvothermal method. Half cells with HPVOM exhibited good capacity, rate capability, and stability, delivering 407.

Simultaneously Improved Surface and Bulk Participation of Evolved Perovskite Oxide for Boosting Oxygen Evolution Reaction Activity Using a Dynamic Cation Exchange Strategy.

Perovskite oxides are intriguing electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction, but both surface (e.g., composition) and bulk (e.

Nonflammable, robust and flexible electrolytes enabled by phosphate coupled polymer-polymer for Li-metal batteries.

Liquid organic electrolytes commonly employed in commercial Li-ion batteries suffer from safety issues such as flammability and explosions. Replacing liquid electrolytes with nonflammable electrolytes has become increasingly attractive in the development of safe, high-energy Li-metal batteries (LMBs). In this work, nonflammable, robust, and flexible composite polymer-polymer electrolytes (PPEs) were successfully fabricated by flame-retardant solution casting with polyimide (PI) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF).

Perovskite nanoparticles@N-doped carbon nanofibers as robust and efficient oxygen electrocatalysts for Zn-air batteries.

We applied a novel solid-liquid co-electrospinning approach to synthesize hybrid LaCoO perovskite nanoparticles@nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers (LCNP@NCNF) as an effective and robust electrocatalyst for Zn-air batteries. LCNP@NCNF featured an integrated structure with well-crystallized perovskite nanoparticles uniformly distributed in micro/mesoporous NCNF. In addition, LCNP@NCNF exhibited a high specific surface area of ~183.

Graphene Oxide-IPDI-Ag/ZnO@Hydroxypropyl Cellulose Nanocomposite Films for Biological Wound-Dressing Applications.

In this work, we proposed a feasible approach to prepare multifunctional composite films by introducing a nanoscaled filler into a polymer matrix. Specifically, thanks to isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) acting as a coupling agent, the hydroxyl groups and carboxyl groups on the surface of graphene oxide (GO) and the hydroxyl groups on the surface of silver-coated zinc oxide nanoparticles (Ag/ZnO) are covalently grafted, forming GO-IPDI-Ag/ZnO (AGO). The prepared AGO was then introduced into the hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) matrix to form AGO@HPC nanocomposite films by solution blending.

Enhanced ionic conductivity in halloysite nanotube-poly(vinylidene fluoride) electrolytes for solid-state lithium-ion batteries.

Solid composite electrolytes have gained increased attention, thanks to the improved safety, the prolonged service life, and the effective suppression on the lithium dendrites. However, a low ionic conductivity (<10 S cm) of solid composite electrolytes at room temperature needs to be greatly enhanced. In this work, we employ natural halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) to fabricate composite polymer electrolytes (CPEs).

Boosting oxygen reduction/evolution reaction activities with layered perovskite catalysts.

Layered PrBaMn2O5+δ (H-PBM) was simply prepared by annealing pristine Pr0.5Ba0.5MnO3-δ in H2.

Novel Approach for Developing Dual-Phase Ceramic Membranes for Oxygen Separation through Beneficial Phase Reaction.

A novel method based on beneficial phase reaction for developing composite membranes with high oxygen permeation flux and favorable stability was proposed in this work. Various Ce0.8Sm0.

Compositional engineering of perovskite oxides for highly efficient oxygen reduction reactions.

Mixed conducting perovskite oxides are promising catalysts for high-temperature oxygen reduction reaction. Pristine SrCoO(3-δ) is a widely used parent oxide for the development of highly active mixed conductors. Doping a small amount of redox-inactive cation into the B site (Co site) of SrCoO(3-δ) has been applied as an effective way to improve physicochemical properties and electrochemical performance.

A molecular dynamics study of oxygen ion diffusion in A-site ordered perovskite PrBaCo(2)O(5.5): data mining the oxygen trajectories.

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been widely used to study oxygen ion diffusion in crystals. In the data analysis, one typically calculates the mean squared displacements to obtain the self-diffusion coefficients. Further information extraction for each individual atom poses significant challenges due to the lack of general methods.

Surprisingly high activity for oxygen reduction reaction of selected oxides lacking long oxygen-ion diffusion paths at intermediate temperatures: a case study of cobalt-free BaFeO(3-δ).

The widespread application of solid oxide fuel cell technology requires the development of innovative electrodes with high activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at intermediate temperatures. Here, we demonstrate that a cobalt-free parent oxide BaFeO(3-δ) (BF), which lacks long-range oxygen-ion diffusion paths, has surprisingly high electrocatalytic activity for ORR. Both in situ high-temperature X-ray diffraction analysis on room-temperature powder and transmission electron microscopy on quenched powder are applied to investigate the crystal structure of BF.

Modeling the impedance response of mixed-conducting thin film electrodes.

In this paper a novel numerical impedance model is developed for mixed-conducting thin films working as electrodes for solid oxide fuel cells. The relative importance of interfaces is considered by incorporating double layer contributions at the film/gas boundary. Simulations are performed on a model system, namely doped ceria, in a symmetric cell configuration using geometrically well-defined patterned metal current collectors.