7 research outputs found
A quinone-based cathode material for high-performance organic lithium and sodium batteries
With the increased application of batteries in powering electric vehicles as well as potential contributions to utility-scale storage, there remains a need to identify and develop efficient and sustainable active materials for use in lithium (Li)- and sodium (Na)-ion batteries. Organic cathode materials provide a desirable alternative to inorganic counterparts, which often come with harmful environmental impact and supply chain uncertainties. Organic materials afford a sustainable route to active electrodes that also enable fine-tuning of electrochemical potentials through structural design. Here, we report a bis-anthraquinone-functionalized s-indacene-1,3,5,7(2H,6H)-tetraone (BAQIT) synthesized using a facile and inexpensive route as a high-capacity cathode material for use in Li- and Na-ion batteries. BAQIT provides multiple binding sites for Li- and Na-ions, while maintaining low solubility in commercial organic electrolytes. Electrochemical Li-ion cells demonstrate excellent stability with discharge capacities above 190 mAh g–1 after 300 cycles at a 0.1C rate. The material also displayed excellent high-rate performance with a reversible capacity of 142 mAh g–1 achieved at a 10C rate. This material affords high power capabilities superior to current state-of-the-art organic cathode materials, with values reaching 5.09 kW kg–1. The Na-ion performance was also evaluated, exhibiting reversible capacities of 130 mAh g–1 after 90 cycles at a 0.1C rate. This work offers a structural design to encourage versatile, high-power, and long cycle-life electrochemical energy-storage materials
Efficient COD Removal Coinciding with Dye Decoloration by Five-Layer Aurivillius Perovskites under Sunlight-Irradiation
An
absorption edge in the visible region and a slow recombination of
photogenerated electron–hole pairs in semiconductors are desirable
for efficient sunlight-driven photocatalysis. One of the strategies
to harvest visible-light instead of ultraviolet is to identify or
develop new semiconductors with a band gap below 3 eV. The five-layer
Aurivillius phase perovskites, Bi<sub>6–<i>x</i></sub>La<sub><i>x</i></sub>Ti<sub>3</sub>Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>18</sub> (<i>x</i> = 0, 1), where the band gap ranges from
∼2.02–2.57 eV, have been identified as potential members.
The compounds, Bi<sub>6–<i>x</i></sub>La<sub><i>x</i></sub>Ti<sub>3</sub>Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>18</sub> (<i>x</i> = 0, 1), are synthesized by solid state reaction and characterized
by PXD, FE-SEM, EDS, UV–vis DRS, and PL spectroscopy. La-substitution
into Bi<sub>6</sub>Ti<sub>3</sub>Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>18</sub> results
in a sluggish recombination of photogenerated electron–hole
pairs in Bi<sub>5</sub>LaTi<sub>3</sub>Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>18</sub> as compared to the parent. The compounds showed remarkable photocatalytic
performance toward Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation (more than 96%) within
30 min of sunlight-irradiation under mild acidic medium. Dye degradation
is found to be coincident with COD removal. Moreover, the photocatalytic
cycle test demonstrated the catalysts to be highly stable and reusable
after five catalytic cycles without any noticeable decrease in the
activity. Because of the fact that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are
generated by sunlight-irradiation over the layered perovskite catalysts
and that up to 95% COD removal takes place within 30 min, the catalysts
may find practical application in dye/organic contaminant degradation
or waste treatment that is sustainable without incurring any additional
energy cost
Excellent Sun-Light-Driven Photocatalytic Activity by Aurivillius Layered Perovskites, Bi<sub>5–<i>x</i></sub>La<sub><i>x</i></sub>Ti<sub>3</sub>FeO<sub>15</sub> (<i>x</i> = 1, 2)
Aurivillius
phase layered perovskites, Bi<sub>5–<i>x</i></sub>La<sub><i>x</i></sub>Ti<sub>3</sub>FeO<sub>15</sub> (<i>x</i> = 1, 2) are synthesized by solid-state reaction. The compounds
are characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXD), field-emission
scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy
(EDS), UV–vis diffuse reflectance (UV–vis DRS), and
photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. UV–vis DRS data revealed
that the compounds are visible light absorbing semiconductors with
band gaps ranging from ∼2.0–2.7 eV. Photocatalytic activity
studies by Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation under sun-light irradiation
showed that these layered oxides are very efficient photocatalysts
in mild acidic medium. Scavenger test studies demonstrated that the
photogenerated holes and superoxide radicals (O<sub>2</sub><sup>•–</sup>) are the active species responsible for RhB degradation over the
Aurivillius layered perovskites. Comparison of PL intensity, dye adsorption
and ζ-potential suggested that a slow e<sup>–</sup>–h<sup>+</sup> recombination and effective dye adsorption are crucial for
the degradation process over these photocatalysts. Moreover, relative
positioning of the valence and conduction band edges of the semiconductors,
O<sub>2</sub>/O<sub>2</sub><sup>•–</sup>, <sup>•</sup>OH/H<sub>2</sub>O potential and HOMO–LUMO levels of RhB appears
to be responsible for making the degradation hole-specific. Photocatalytic
cycle tests indicated high stability of the catalysts in the reaction
medium without any observable loss of activity. This work shows great
potential in developing novel photocatalysts with layered structures
for sun-light-driven oxidation and degradation processes largely driven
by holes and without any intervention of hydroxyl radicals, which
is one of the most common reactive oxygen species (ROS) in many advanced
oxidation processes
pH-Mediated Collective and Selective Solar Photocatalysis by a Series of Layered Aurivillius Perovskites
Semiconductor photocatalysis under
natural sunlight is an emergent
area in contemporary materials research, which has attracted considerable
attention toward the development of catalysts for environmental remediation
using solar energy. A series of five-layer Aurivillius-phase perovskites,
Bi5ATi4FeO18 (A = Ca, Sr, and Pb),
are synthesized for the first time. Rietveld refinements of the powder
X-ray diffraction data indicated orthorhombic structure for the Aurivillius
phases with Fe largely occupying the central octahedral layer, whereas
the divalent cations (Ca, Sr, and Pb) are statistically distributed
over the cubo-octahedral A-sites of the perovskite. The compounds
with visible-light-absorbing ability (Eg ranging from ∼2.0 to 2.2 eV) not only exhibit excellent collective
photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B–methylene blue (MB)
and rhodamine B–rhodamine 6G mixture at pH 2 but also show
almost 100% photocatalytic selective degradation of MB from the rhodamine
B–MB mixture at pH 11 under natural solar irradiation. The
selectivity in the alkaline medium is believed to originate from the
combined effect of the photocatalytic degradation of MB by the Aurivillius-phase
perovskites and the photolysis of MB. Although a substantial decrease
in MB adsorption from the mixed dye solution (MB + RhB) together with
slower MB photolysis at the neutral pH makes the selective MB degradation
sluggish, the compounds showed excellent photocatalytic degradation
activity and chemical oxygen demand removal efficacy toward individual
RhB (at pH 2) and MB (at pH 11) under sunlight irradiation. The catalysts
are exceptionally stable and retain good crystallinity even after
five successive cyclic runs without any noticeable loss of activity
in both the acidic and alkaline media. The present work provides an
important insight into the development of layered perovskite photocatalysts
for collective degradation of multiple pollutants and selective removal
of one or multiple pollutants from a mixture. The later idea may open
up new possibilities for recovery/purification of useful chemical
substances from the contaminated medium through selective photocatalysis
Photocatalytic Activity Suppression of CdS Nanoparticle-Decorated Cu<sub>2</sub>O Octahedra and Rhombic Dodecahedra
Wurtzite
CdS nanoparticles have been lightly deposited on Cu<sub>2</sub>O cubes,
octahedra, and rhombic dodecahedra to examine facet
effects on the interfacial charge transfer in a photocatalytic reaction.
Instead of an expected photocatalytic activity enhancement on the
basis of a favorable band alignment at the heterojunction, CdS-decorated
Cu<sub>2</sub>O octahedra and rhombic dodecahedra show drastically
reduced photocatalytic activities. Further increasing the CdS deposition
amount leads to complete suppression of photocatalytic activity. Cu<sub>2</sub>O cubes remain inactive even after CdS deposition. Transmission
electron microscopy analysis reveals epitaxial growth of the (101)
planes of CdS on the (110) planes of a Cu<sub>2</sub>O rhombic dodecahedron,
whereas the (110) planes of CdS align parallel to the (111) planes
of a Cu<sub>2</sub>O octahedron. Because facet-dependent photocatalytic
activity can be understood from different degrees of band bending
at the crystal surfaces, significantly upward bending for the CdS-contacting
planes can explain the observed photocatalytic inactivity. This work
demonstrates that strong facet effects tuning the band energies of
both semiconductors at the heterojunctions make the predictions of
an enhanced photocatalytic activity, simply through bulk band energy
alignment analysis, highly unreliable