[en] A series of Ce-doped ZnO (Ce/ZnO) nanostructures were fabricated using the co-precipitation method, then a simply nontoxic hydrothermal approach was proposed for preparation of reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-Ce/ZnO composites. The synthesized composites were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) techniques and Raman pattern. The as-synthesized rGO-Ce/ZnO composites showed high photodecomposition efficiency in comparison with the rGO-ZnO, Ce/ZnO, pure ZnO under UV, visible-light and sunlight irradiation. The degradation of methylene blue (MB) (10 mg/L, 100ml) by 95.8% within 60 min by using rGO-2 (10 mg) under sunlight irradiation was observed. The repeated use of the rGO-2 was investigated, and the results showed almost no decay in the catalytic activity

[en] Acetylene black (AB) was exfoliated and functionalized through a single-pot method then be assembled to a novel porous carbon material by utilizing sulfur as both template and sulfur source. The defect-rich structures of the obtained AB play a critical role in providing more appropriate sites for sulfur atom doping. After a pyrolysis process in the presence of melamine as N doping agent, the sulfur template was decomposed and yielded the N,S-codoped porous carbon material with additional porosity. The synergistic effects between the defect-projecting and heteroatoms-doping boost the activity of electrocatalysts in terms of the enhanced oxygen reduction efficiency and optimized kinetic process, both are better than that of commercial Pt/C. And the improved reactivity between carbon atoms and heteroatoms as well as sulfur and nitrogen atoms greatly suppress the loss of active ingredient of the catalyst, the mechanism yields a striking long-term stability for the unique metal-free OAB@S-N electrocatalyst.

[en] Highlights: • Two novel long-chain indazole derivatives were synthesized and then fabricated on copper surface. • DDIA-SAMs containing double alkyl-chain tails harbor more superior inhibition performance for copper corrosion than DI-SAMs. • The inhibition mechanism was elucidated via DFT calculation. - Abstract: Two novel long alkyl-chain indazole derivatives namely, 1-dodecyl-1H-indazole (DI), N,1-didodecyl-1H-indazol-5-amine (DDIA), were synthesized and fabricated on copper surface. Comprehensive characterizations were used to evaluate the appearance and structural properties of studied SAMs, implying a more stable and hydrophobic film of DDIA than IA. The anticorrosion ability of the SAMs was investigated by electrochemical methods allied to an immersion test, which suggest that DDIA-SAMs harbor more superior inhibition performance than IA ones. Besides, Fukui functions indicates that N2 and N10 in DDIA molecule are likely to form coordinate bonds with Cu atoms, whereas N2 in DI is the active site during absorption process.

[en] Phosphating manganese oxide (PMn) nanosheet arrays were synthesized via a facile and fast cathodic electrodeposition and following cyclic voltammetry phosphating as binder-free electrode materials for supercapacitors application. The morphology, chemical composite and structure characteristic of PMn nanosheets confirm that phosphate ions have been introduced to the surface of Mn₃O₄ nanosheets successfully. The as-prepared PMn electrode shows excellent electrochemical properties in 0.1 M Na₂SO₄ aqueous solution with a three-electrode system. The optimal specific capacitance of the PMn nanosheet arrays electrode at 5 mV s⁻¹ (6.7 mF cm⁻²) is superior to that of the Mn₃O₄ nanosheets electrode (2.7 mF cm⁻²). Furthermore, the specific capacitance of obtained PMn nanosheets electrode reaches a retention of 87.6% after 5000 charge–discharge cycles at 0.08 mA cm⁻², indicating great cycling stability. Therefore, modification of phosphate ions can effectively suppress the dissolution of manganese oxide and achieve a significant improvement in electrochemical property for supercapacitors with a manganese oxide electrode.

[en] Highlights: • Co(OH)₂ nanosheets have been surface modified by a facile immersion method. • Phosphatized Co(OH)₂ shows a superior specific capacitance to pure Co(OH)₂. • Phosphatized Co(OH)₂ electrode exhibits outstanding cycling stability. Recently, surface engineering has attracted immense interest to improve the electrochemical performance of electrode materials. In this work, a simple method is presented to functionalize the surface of the electrode materials for supercapacitors. The functionalized process can be described that the Co(OH)₂ nanosheets are electrodeposited on nickel substrate, followed by immersed in the phosphate ion solution. The structures, morphologies and electrochemical properties of the functionalized Co(OH)₂ nanosheets are investigated. XRD, EDX and FTIR analysis indicate that the phosphate ion has successfully been adsorbed on the surface of the Co(OH)₂ nanosheets. And the electrochemical tests show that through the phosphate ion functionalization, the Co(OH)₂ nanosheets exhibit the remarkably enhanced supercapacitive performance with a specific capacitance of 740 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g in 6 M KOH as compared to the bare Co(OH)₂ (433 F/g). In particular, the functionalized Co(OH)₂ electrode has an excellent long-term cycling stability with 82.7% capacitance retention after 10000 cycles. In addition, further analysis shows that the enhanced electrochemical performance can be attributed to the functionalized Co(OH)₂ nanosheets providing large reaction surface area, more active sites, and fast ion and electron transfer.

[en] Highlights: • A facile one-step H₂O₂-induced method was employed to controllably tune the phase and composition of nickel sulfides. • Changing the amount of H₂O₂ in precursor can achieve the phase transformation of nickel sulfides without great change of morphology. • The H₂O₂-induced tactic shows high “adaptability” for different sulfur sources. It is widely accepted that the property of material is closely related to their morphology, phase, and composition. Nickel sulfides (NSs) possess various phases and morphologies, which enriches their electrochemical performance, but the difficulty in controlled synthesis of NSs poses a huge challenge for optimizing their property. Especially, it is extremely challenging to effectively control the phase and composition without changing the morphology. Herein, we for the first time demonstrate a facile one-step H₂O₂-induced method to controllably tune the phase and composition of NSs. We found that changing the amount of H₂O₂ in precursor can achieve the phase transformation from sulfur-deficient to sulfur-rich component, while the shape of obtained products would not be greatly changed. It is worth noting that this result would benefit us to study the phase-related properties independently. Also, the H₂O₂-induced tactic shows high “adaptability” for different sulfur sources, such as the conventional L-cysteine, glutathione, thiourea, and thioacetamide. When tested in KOH electrolyte, we found that the performance of NSs have no obvious relation with their phase and composition, but mainly correlate with morphology. Among which, the optimum TU-400 with polyhedron-like shows a highest specific capacity of 197.8 mAh g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹.

[en] As silicon bipolar devices and circuits have different radiation effects from other types of circuits, such as enhanced low dose rate sensitivity, this article analyzes the space radiation environment, Al shield effect, the total ionizing dose radiation damage mechanism and the principle, rule, and electrical parameters change by enhanced low dose rate radiation sensitivity of bipolar devices and circuits. The radiation experiment in lab with several typical bipolar devices and circuits indicates that the important parameters of the bipolar devices and circuits are greatly influenced by total ionizing dose radiation, especially by low dose rate radiation, with the enhancement factors of low dose rate radiation mostly more than 1.5. Different bipolar devices and circuits have different enhanced low dose rate sensitivity, which is mainly due to device types and manufacture process (such as oxidation layer thickness). (authors)

[en] Highlights: • The electrochemical activation of Ni(OH)₂ was investigated. • A wet treatment was proposed to fabricate Ni(OH)₂/Ni foam. • The electrochemical performance of Ni(OH)₂ is mainly determined by activation process. • A high-capacity Ni(OH)₂/Ni electrode was fabricated by combining GCD activation and wet treatment. -- Abstract: Nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH)2), as a representative of highly active materials, has been widely studied and applied in the field of energy storage. However, a typical electrochemical activation process is often required before its practical application. Thus, exploring this key activation process is of great significance for the construction of high-capacity Ni(OH)2 electrodes. In this work, we find that the activation of galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) is apparently different from that of cyclic voltammetry (CV). After activation, the composition of Ni(OH)2 deposited on the surface of Ni foam prepared by GCD and CV process is the same, but the morphology is obviously different. The layered porous network Ni(OH)2 nanostructures can be prepared by GCD process, while the spherical stacking nanostructures can be formed by CV process. By combining a wet process, two adhesive Ni(OH)2-coated Ni foam (Ni(OH)2/Ni) electrodes can be successfully fabricated. The results exhibit that the Ni(OH)2/Ni electrode obtained by the GCD process shows super energy storage capacity (2338.9 μA h cm-2 (3402 F g-1)) at a high loading mass of Ni(OH)2, which is almost 1.7 times higher than that of the CV-activated electrode (1380.6 μA h cm-2 (2008 F g-1)).

[en] Highlights: •Three indazole compounds are used as efficient corrosion inhibitors for copper in 3.0 wt% NaCl solution. •The order of inhibition ability obtained from EIS is in perfect agreement with the polarization results. •Theoretical calculations provide favorable support for the experimental results. •The results indicate that the halogenation in IA can improve its inhibitive ability. -- Abstract: In this work, three halogeno-indazole compounds were investigated for corrosion inhibition of copper in 3.0 wt% NaCl solution using potentiodynamic polarization measurement, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The electrochemical results revealed that all of these organics are mixed-type inhibitors with an inhibitive ability order: 4-CIA > 4-BIA > 4-FIA, which was further confirmed by observations with field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). Their favourable performance is ascribed to the formation of inhibitor-adsorption films on copper. Furthermore, theoretical calculations showed the electronic structure of studied compounds and their optimized adsorption configurations on the copper surface.

[en] Highlights: • An facile hydrothermal method is used to synthesis a binder-free electrode material of PVO@C nanorods. • After the introduction of oxygen defects and phosphor doping, the conductivity and capacity have been considerable improvement. The robust PVO@C//Zn battery demonstrates an excellent capacity of 385.34 mA h g⁻¹ and a long-term cyclability of 86.7% capacity retention after 5000 cycles. • A flexible and high capacitance quasi solid-state PVO@C//Zn battery (SS ZIB) is assembled, achieving an excellent volumetric energy density (10.5 mW h cm⁻³) at volumetric power density (33.4 mW cm⁻³) together with a stable cycling capability. • This SS ZIB manifests an extremely high safety, wettability and wear-ability though working well in a variety of safety related experiments, further proving its wide application prospect. The development of earth-abundant, high-capacity and stable cathode materials for robust aqueous Zn-ion batteries (ZIBs) is an ongoing challenge. With the merits of suitable operating voltage window and highly reversible redox reaction, vanadium oxide has recently emerged as an attractive cathode material. Herein, an oxygen defect modulated binder-free V₂O₅ nanorods (named as PVO@C) was constructed for aqueous/quasi-solid-state Zn ion battery. Accompanying the fast electron transport ability, increased concentration of oxygen defect and enhanced active sites, the aqueous PVO@C//Zn battery delivers an excellent high capacity of 385.34 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.13 A g⁻¹ and robust long-term life span of 86.7% capacity retention after 5000 cycles with nearly 100% coulomb efficiency. In particular, the assembled quasi-solid-state ZIBs exhibited the high voltage of 1.3 V, yielding an admirable energy density of 10.5 mWh cm⁻³ at a power density of 33.4 mW cm⁻³ and admirable cycling performance. What’s more, the solid-state ZIB exhibits extremely high safety, wettability and wear-ability over the lithium ion batteries. It performs well even at a variety of severe hazardous conditions, such as punctured, soaked, bent, sewed, washed, cut, and hammered conditions. This work innovatively proposes the synergistic effect of oxygen defect modulation and phosphorus doping to optimize reaction kinetics, which will lead to further improvements in the performance of metal oxides electrode. This strategy can be extended to electrode materials of other battery systems for the construction of highly efficient flexible energy storage devices and accelerated the commercialization of wearable electronics technology.