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Ag 3 PO 4 possesses high photocatalytic activity under visible light, but its application is limited by photogenerated charges recombination, photocorrosion as well as consumption of noble Ag. It is of great interesting to develop new Ag 3 PO 4 -based photocatalysts with high charges separation efficiency, good stability and low content of Ag. In this paper, we report a novel Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 /reduced graphene oxide (Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 /rGO) photocatalyst. It exhibits advantages on both the microstructure and the charges separation. The microstructure shows that TiO 2 spheres of hundreds of nanometers in size are decorated with dense nano-sized Ag 3 PO 4 to form pinecone-liked particles, which are enwrapped by rGO sheets. This novel structure effectively prevents aggregation of nano-sized Ag 3 PO 4 , which not only suppresses the charges recombination in Ag 3 PO 4 but also significantly reduces the content of Ag. Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 /rGO also favors separation of photogenerated charges owing to its two pathways for charges transportation, i.e., the electrons in Ag 3 PO 4 can be transferred to rGO, while the holes in Ag 3 PO 4 can be transferred to TiO 2 . The dual-pathway for charges separation as well as the pinecone-liked Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 microstructure ultimately leads to enhanced photocatalytic activity and stability of Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 /rGO. The photocatalytic performance varies with different contents of Ag 3 PO 4 in the composites, because low content of Ag 3 PO 4 induces weak light absorption while excess Ag 3 PO 4 results in serious charges recombination due to the aggregation of Ag 3 PO 4 nanoparticles. In this work, Ag 3 PO 4 /TiO 2 /rGO with weight ratio of Ag 3 PO 4 against TiO 2 /rGO equals to 0.6 exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity. The percentage of Ag in this composite is around 29 wt%, much lower than 77 wt% in pure Ag 3 PO 4 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CNTs and N-doped carbon decoration can enhance electronic conductivity of Si-based anode. • CoSi 2 can improve the structural stability of Si-based anode. • The introduced Co can catalyze the graphitization of carbon shell. • The designed Si-based anode delivers enhanced electrochemical properties. [Display omitted] Silicon is evaluated as a competitive lithium-ion batteries anode material by virtue of its ultrahigh specific capacity and relatively low discharge potential. However, the large volume change during lithiation/delithiation processes, and the low intrinsic electric conductivity have seriously impeded its widespread practical application. Herein, silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) coated with CNTs-intertwined N-doped porous carbon (NPC) are prepared via a facile solution-phase method, followed by thermal annealing treatment. In this hierarchical structure, the bimetallic ZIF-derived porous carbon can shorten the migration channels of Li+ and electrons. Moreover, the formed Co nanoparticles can not only catalyze the graphitization of carbon, but also propel in-situ growth of CNTs to constitute a 3D interconnected conductive network, thereby improving the electrochemical performance. Benefiting from the unique structure, the as-prepared Si@CoSi 2 /Co-NPC@CNTs electrode exhibits superior electrochemical performance of 1191 mAh g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 after 200 cycles. Meanwhile, the electrode also shows excellent rate capability of 930 mAh g−1 even at a high current density of 6 A g−1. This work provides a new strategy to design exceptionally high electrical conductivity and structure stability of Si-based anode materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]