Search

Designing efficient multifunctional electrocatalysts for water and urea splitting to produce green hydrogen presents a significant yet worthwhile challenge. Herein, the morphology and electronic structure of cobalt metaphosphate (Co2P4O12) by vanadium (V) doping, resulting in improved electrocatalytic activity and stability for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and urea oxidation reaction (UOR) are simultaneously regulated. Theory calculations show that V‐doped Co2P4O12 (V‐Co2P4O12) can boost the kinetics of catalytic reactions by optimizing the d‐band center of Co atoms and the binding strength of intermediates, as well as enhancing the density of states. Moreover, the doping of V into Co2P4O12 crystalline structure benefits the formation of a thicker amorphous layer during the catalytic process, which could enhance its alkaline corrosion resistance and stability. Additionally, the multilevel nanostructures of V‐Co2P4O12 provide rich active sites for catalytic reactions. As a result, a two‐electrode electrolyzer assembled by V‐doped Co2P4O12 delivers low voltages for overall water and urea splitting. The superior performance suggests that the proposed V‐doping strategy is a promising way to regulate electrocatalytic activity for catering to green electrocatalytic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic osteomyelitis is a painful and serious disease normally caused by infected surgical prostheses or infected fractures. Currently, antibiotic‐loaded cements are extensively used as the treatment in clinical practice. However, the quick emergence of antibiotic‐resistant bacteria has resulted in a formidable challenge in treating chronic osteomyelitis, such as the chronic osteomyelitis caused by methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Aiming to address MRSA‐infected chronic osteomyelitis, an antibacterial peptide polymer doped polymethylmethacrylate bone cement pellets (PMMA@polymer) is prepared. The peptide polymer is designed as the synthetic mimic of host defense peptide and enables PMMA@polymer to have notable advantages, including complete release of antibacterial agent from PMMA, potent and robust activity against MRSA even after autoclave and enzymatic treatment, and low susceptibility to antibacterial resistance. PMMA@polymer showed potent in vitro activities against MRSA, superior in vivo therapeutic efficacy in a rabbit chronic osteomyelitis model, and low toxicity during the treatment. These advantages and the easy preparation of PMMA@polymer altogether suggest the great potential of PMMA@polymer as an effective treatment of MRSA‐infected chronic osteomyelitis. This study opens new avenues in developing antibacterial biomaterials for the treatment of chronic orthopedic infections, frequently caused by drug‐resistant bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are expected to profoundly impact the photovoltaic society on account of its high‐efficiency and cost‐saving manufacture. As a key component in efficient PSCs, the hole transport layer (HTL) can selectively collect photogenerated carriers from perovskite absorbers and prevent the charge recombination at interfaces. However, the mainstream organic HTLs generally require multi‐step synthesis and hygroscopic dopants that significantly limit the practical application of PSCs. Here, a self‐organized percolative architecture composed of narrow bandgap oxides (e.g., Co3O4, NiO, CuO, Fe2O3, and MnO2) and wide bandgap SrCO3 oxysalt as efficient HTLs for PSCs is presented. The percolation of dual phases offers nanosized hole transport pathways and optimized interfacial band alignments, enabling significantly improved charge collection compared with the single phase HTLs. As a consequence, the power conversion efficiency boosted from 8.08% of SrCO3 based device and 15.47% of Co3O4 based device to 21.84% of Co3O4‐SrCO3 based one without notable hysteresis. The work offers a new direction by employing percolative materials for efficient charge transport and collection in PSCs, and would be applicable to a wide range of opto‐electronic thin film devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instead of carbon, Mo2C is used to modify the MoO2 material for the first time. The presence of highly conductive and electrochemical inactive Mo2C decreases the resistance of the charge transport and enhances the structural stability of MoO2 nanoparticles upon lithiation and delithiation, ensuring the superior cycling stability and high rate capability of the heteronanotubes. Cycled at 200 and 1000 mA g−1 for 140 cycles, the discharge capacities of the MoO2/Mo2C heteronanotubes remain to be 790 and 510 mAh g−1, respectively. This work demonstrates the potential of the novel heteronanotubes for application as an electrode material for high-performance Li-ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]