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Open Access Review Article Online First
Advances in covalent organic frameworks for photocatalytic CO2 reduction: Strategies and future perspectives
Nano Research Energy
Published: 31 December 2024
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The rapid depletion of fossil fuels and increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly CO2, have amplified global energy and environmental challenges. Converting CO2 into valuable fuels through photocatalytic processes offers a sustainable solution to these issues, especially by utilizing solar energy to drive CO2 reduction into energy-dense compounds. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), a unique class of crystalline and porous organic polymers, have emerged as promising photocatalysts due to their structural stability, tunable porosity, and adaptable functionality. These properties enable COFs to support various catalytic sites, both metallic and non-metallic, facilitating selective and efficient CO2 reduction. This review systematically examines the intrinsic properties of COFs, the synthetic methods used to optimize their structures, and the functional modifications that enhance their photocatalytic capabilities. We explore how COFs with metal and non-metal active sites, as well as hybrid COF catalysts, advance photocatalytic CO2 reduction and analyze the driving forces behind CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). Finally, we summarize recent breakthroughs and offer perspectives on future research directions in COF material synthesis, functional modifications, and mechanistic studies to further improve CO2 reduction efficiency and sustainability.

Open Access Editorial Issue
Editorial for a special issue on: (Photo) electrochemical materials and devices
Nano Materials Science 2023, 5(2): 117-118
Published: 10 July 2023
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Research Article Issue
A high-durability aqueous Cu-S battery assisted by pre-copper electrochemistry
Nano Research 2023, 16(7): 9553-9560
Published: 25 May 2023
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Although research interest in aqueous metal-sulfur batteries (AMSs) has surged due to their intrinsic low cost and high capacity, the practical application of AMSs remains a considerable challenge because of the restrictive cycling stability. To circumvent this issue, we propose an innovative and simple pre-copper strategy to realize a high-durability aqueous Cu-S battery. The pre-copper strategy can effectively promote a stable metal dissolution/deposition, compensate for charge carriers, and facilitate reaction kinetics during the subsequent process. As a result, the aqueous Cu-S battery when coupled with S-decorated porous Ti3C2 (S-d-Ti3C2) exhibits excellent electrochemical performance, delivering a highly reversible capacity of 1805.4 mAh·g−1 in the initial cycle at 0.8 A·g−1, impressive cycling stability with 90.2% capacity retention over 800 cycles, and ultralow polarization ~ 0.08 V even at a high current density of 3.1 A·g−1. The findings obtained in this work could pave the way for the design of high-performance sulfur-based aqueous batteries, which fill the vacancy of the necessary metal anode, delivering merits in both cost and cycle life.

Open Access Research Article Issue
Metal–Organic Framework Enabling Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride)-Based Polymer Electrolyte for Dendrite-Free and Long-Lifespan Sodium Metal Batteries
Energy & Environmental Materials 2024, 7(1): e12511
Published: 17 August 2022
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Sodium dentrite formed by uneven plating/stripping can reduce the utilization of active sodium with poor cyclic stability and, more importantly, cause internal short circuit and lead to thermal runaway and fire. Therefore, sodium dendrites and their related problems seriously hinder the practical application of sodium metal batteries (SMBs). Herein, a design concept for the incorporation of metal–organic framework (MOF) in polymer matrix (polyvinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene) is practiced to prepare a novel gel polymer electrolyte (PH@MOF polymer-based electrolyte [GPE]) and thus to achieve high-performance SMBs. The addition of the MOF particles can not only reduce the movement hindrance of polymer chains to promote the transfer of Na+ but also anchor anions by virtue of their negative charge to reduce polarization during electrochemical reaction. A stable cycling performance with tiny overpotential for over 800 h at a current density of 5 mA cm−2 with areal capacity of 5 mA h cm−2 is achieved by symmetric cells based on the resulted GPE while the Na3V2O2(PO4)2F@rGO (NVOPF)|PH@MOF|Na cell also displays impressive specific cycling capacity (113.3 mA h g−1 at 1 C) and rate capability with considerable capacity retention.

Open Access Review Article Issue
Cathode host engineering for non-lithium (Na, K and Mg) sulfur/selenium batteries: A state-of-the-art review
Nano Materials Science 2023, 5(2): 119-140
Published: 18 February 2022
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Sulfur and selenium have been paid more and more attention in energy storage systems because of their high theoretical specific gravimetric and volumetric capacities. With the increasing scarcity of lithium resources, secondary batteries made of sulfur and selenium coupled with other alkali metal/alkaline earth metals (e.g. Na, K, Mg) are expected to play a vital role in future production and human life. Due to the volume expansion, poor conductivity and shuttle effect, the structure design of cathode, as one of the important roles in metal-S/Se batteries, has always been a hot and difficult point. In the review, various host materials of S and Se are clarified and discussed. Typically, carbonaceous materials are the most widely used hosts, while polar materials are becoming more and more popular in metal-S/Se batteries. Through a comprehensive overview, it is hoped that previous research experiences can provide further reference and guidance for the sustainable development of metal-S/Se batteries.

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