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H2‐free semi‐hydrogenation at room temperature shows great advantage for replacing the thermocatalytic process in industry owing to the high energy and resource saving, however, remains great challenges. Herein, a tree‐like Pd dendrites array decorated Pd membrane was constructed as the core device in an electrochemistry assisted gas‐fed membrane reactor for butadiene semi‐hydrogenation. It reveals that hydrogen atomic sieving effect of this Pd‐based membrane under electrochemical condition was the key for semi‐hydrogenation. The configuration study of Pd nanostructured membrane demonstrates that the penetration of hydrogen atoms through Pd membrane from electrochemical side to chemical side is affected by the consumption of hydrogen atom in semi‐hydrogenation step. Such atomic sieving property of nanostructured Pd membrane with 5.1 times increase in catalytic active surface area brings above 14 times higher in butadiene conversion than that of bare Pd foil, with ≈90 % of butenes selectivity at butadiene conversion ≈98 % over 300 h of H2‐free reaction under 15 mA cm−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ammonium‐ion batteries (AIBs) have recently attracted increasing attention in the field of aqueous batteries owing to their high safety and fast diffusion kinetics. The NH4+ storage mechanism is quite different from that of spherical metal ions (e.g. Li+, Na+, K+, Mg2+, and Zn2+) because of the formation of hydrogen bonds between NH4+ and host materials. Although many materials have been proposed as electrode materials for AIBs, their performances hardly meet the requirement of future electrochemical energy storage devices. It is thus urgent to design and exploit advanced materials for AIBs. This review highlights the state‐of‐the‐art research on AIBs. The insights into the basic configuration, operating mechanism and recent progress of electrode materials and corresponding electrolytes for AIBs have been comprehensively outlined. The electrode materials are classified and compared according to different NH4+ storage behaviour in the structure. The challenges, design strategies and perspectives are also discussed for the future development of AIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a rapid rise in interest regarding the advantages of support materials to protect and immobilise molecular catalysts for the carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR) in order to overcome the weaknesses of many well‐known catalysts in terms of their stability and selectivity. In this Review, the state of the art of different catalyst‐support systems for the CO2RR is discussed with the intention of leading towards standard benchmarking for comparison of such systems across the most relevant supports and immobilisation strategies, taking into account these multiple pertinent metrics, and also enabling clearer consideration of the necessary steps for further progress. The most promising support systems are described, along with a final note on the need for developing more advanced experimental and computational techniques to aid the rational design principles that are prerequisite to prospective industrial upscaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sodium dual ion battery (Na‐DIB) technology is proposed as highly promising alternative over lithium‐ion batteries for the stationary electrochemical energy‐storage devices. However, the sluggish reaction kinetics of anode materials seriously impedes their practical implementation. Herein, a Na‐DIB based on TiSe2‐graphite is reported. The high diffusion coefficient of Na‐ions (3.21×10−11–1.20×10−9 cm2 s−1) and the very low Na‐ion diffusion barrier (0.50 eV) lead to very fast electrode kinetics, alike in conventional surface capacitive storage systems. In‐situ investigations reveal that the fast Na‐ion diffusion involves four insertion stage compositions. A prototype cell shows a reversible capacity of 81.8 mAh g−1 at current density of 100 mA g−1, excellent stability with 83.52 % capacity retention over 200 cycles and excellent rate performance, suggesting its potential for next‐generation large scale high‐performance stationary energy storage systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structure-forming processes leading to biominerals are well worth learning in pursuit of new synthetic techniques. Strategies that attempt to mimic nature in vitro cannot replace an entire complex natural organism, requiring ingenuity beyond chemists′ hands. A 'bioprocess-inspired synthesis' is demonstrated for fabrication of N-doped TiO2 materials at ambient temperature by direct implantation of precursor into living mussels. The amorphous precursor transforms into N-doped anatase TiO2 with a hierarchical nanostructure. Synthetic TiO2 exhibits high phase stability and enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity as a result of modifications to its band gap during in vivo mineralization. Intracellular proteins were found to be involved in TiO2 mineralization. Our findings may inspire material production by new synthetic techniques, especially under environmentally benign conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structure-forming processes leading to biominerals are well worth learning in pursuit of new synthetic techniques. Strategies that attempt to mimic nature in vitro cannot replace an entire complex natural organism, requiring ingenuity beyond chemists′ hands. A 'bioprocess-inspired synthesis' is demonstrated for fabrication of N-doped TiO2 materials at ambient temperature by direct implantation of precursor into living mussels. The amorphous precursor transforms into N-doped anatase TiO2 with a hierarchical nanostructure. Synthetic TiO2 exhibits high phase stability and enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity as a result of modifications to its band gap during in vivo mineralization. Intracellular proteins were found to be involved in TiO2 mineralization. Our findings may inspire material production by new synthetic techniques, especially under environmentally benign conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]