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Electrochemical-phosphorization as a cost-effective and ecofriendly approach is proposed to fabricate an amorphous Ni–P shell partially covering the surface of ordered porous Ni (p-Ni) for the first time. The obtained Ni–P/p-Ni shows superior catalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), compared with the Ni2P/p-Ni prepared by a traditional solid-phosphorization process at high temperature. Such enhanced catalytic activity for the Ni–P/p-Ni is contributed to by the high intrinsic activity from a synergistic effect of amorphous Ni–P and the neighbouring nickel containing hydroxides/oxides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a kind of metal-free material, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is widely used in catalytic materials, energy storage materials and other fields. However, the limited light absorption, low conductivity and high recombination rate of the photogenerated electron–hole pairs limit its further application. Constructing g-C3N4 based composite materials by integrating it with carbon materials is an effective and common way to overcome the above shortcomings of g-C3N4. In this paper, carbon materials, such as carbon dots, carbon nanotubes, graphene, and carbon spheres, are integrated with g-C3N4 to construct carbon/g-C3N4 composite materials (CCNCS) and their photoelectrocatalytic performance is reviewed. The effects of those factors such as the categories of carbon materials, carbon content, nitrogen content, the morphology of g-C3N4, and the interfacial interactions between carbon and g-C3N4 on the photo/electrocatalytic performance of CCNCS are carefully analyzed to help researchers to touch the nature of the synergistic effect of g-C3N4 and the carbon ingredient in CCNCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colloidal particles based on self-assembled Cu2+ coordination polymers were fabricated following a one-step process. These particles were shown to be stimuli-responsive. In particular they can be readily disassembled in acidic conditions. This effect originates from a pH-induced fragmentation of the polymer chains into dinuclear Cu2+ complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]