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[Display omitted] The creation of high-performance thermal insulation and flame-retardant materials is of great importance for minimizing energy consumption and reducing fire risk for modern buildings. Herein, we report the creation of a new composite aerogel, which was prepared by incorporation of 9,10-Dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene 10-Oxide-3-Aminopropyl triethoxysilane (DOPO-KH550) modified hollow glass microspheres (HGM) into polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) using citric acid as a cross-linker, as a kind of thermal insulation and flame retardant materials (abbreviated as PVA-DKHGM). The as-synthesized PVA-DKHGM composite exhibits superior thermal conductivity of 0.0187 W m−1 K−1, owing to the hollow structure of the hollow glass microspheres and rich porosity. Besides, it reaches V-0 level at the UL-94 test and the peak heat release rate (pHRR) was measured to be 114.93 (kW/m2) which is lower than most composites now. These results are attributed to the synergy effect of the hollow glass microsphere and DOPO-KH550 which offers the composites aerogel excellent flame retardancy. Owing to its advantages such as lightweight, highly porous, thermally stable, simple to prepare, high mechanical strength, and can be further scaled up, our PVA-DKHGM aerogel may hold great potential for practical applications in construction of energy-saving modern buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] The development and preparation of multifunctional photothermal conversion materials has far-reaching significance for the utilization of solar energy resources in response to the energy crisis. Herein, we propose a Janus membrane for interfacial solar evaporation and phase change energy storage. The membranes were fabricated via combining the PVA film with multi-shelled hollow spheres (MHS). The membranes have asymmetric wettability, that is, one side is hydrophilic and the other side is hydrophobic. The as-resulted membranes obtain outstanding light absorption without further processing. According to these two advantages, the membranes were applied to solar evaporation. The evaporation rate of the membrane is 1.41 kg*m−2h−1 and the evaporation efficiency is 92.4 % under 1sun irradiation. Moreover, the membrane prepared by impregnating 1-Hexadecanamine (HDA) into MHS possesses excellent tensile strength (2.21 MPa) and photothermal conversion ability. The light-to-thermal conversion efficiency can reach 81.9 % under 1sun irradiation. Therefore, the membranes have broad application prospects in the field of photothermal conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Water environmental pollution especially caused by bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms always would accelerate the spread of infectious diseases and has been one of the issues highly concerned by the World Health Organization for a long time. The development of novel antibacterial materials with high activity for water cleanness was of great importance for public health and ecological sustainable development. In this work, we developed two really free-standing conjugated microprous polymers (CMPs) film with large size and processibility by a simple and convenient solid surface-assisted polymerization between bromo- and aryl-acetylene monomers. With the solid interfacial orientation from silica nanofibers, the resulting CMPs film exhibited nanotube-liked morphology with BET surface area of 379.5 m2 g−1 and 480.1 m2 g−1. The introduction of antibacterial isocyanurate and acetanilide group into polymer skeleton brings the resulting CMPs film intrinsically antimicrobial capability and durability. The growth of E. coli can be completely inhibited by the resulting CMPs film even after several cycles. Our work was suggested to provide a new route for rational design of CMPs film or membrane with antibacterial activity for water treatment and sterilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] The inevitable intermittency of solar illumination during the interfacial evaporation process can cause a reduction in the evaporation performance of solar evaporators. Here, we report the fabrication of a new solar-driven interfacial evaporator using MXene nanosheets as the photothermal layer, modifying them with conjugated microporous polymer hollow microspheres, and then compounding them with the phase change material, in this case, cetyl alcohol, to form a composite evaporator (CE) that can perform all-weather solar interfacial evaporation. By combining interfacial evaporation photothermal conversion with energy storage, the evaporator achieves an evaporation rate of 1.57 kg⋅m−2⋅h−1 at a light intensity of 1 kW⋅m−2 and 2.79 kg⋅m−2⋅h−1 at a light intensity of 2 kW⋅m−2. In addition, the evaporator attains an excellent solar evaporation efficiency of over 91% in both cases and even in salt water. In addition, interestingly, our CE exhibits excellent continuous evaporation ability, e.g., the mass of evaporated water was increased by 0.36 kg⋅m−2 at a light intensity of 2 kW⋅m−2 compared to the cavity evaporator without the phase change material (PCM) when solar light was turned off. These results could be attributed to the fact that the energy released by the incorporated phase change material allows the evaporator to maintain stable evaporation under conditions of insufficient or intermittent solar irradiation, potentially providing a new opportunity for addressing the intermittent problem of evaporation at the solar interface due to unstable light intensity, thus showing great potential for practical continuous desalination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Catalytic partial oxidation (CPOX) processing experimentally investigated to use Methane in SOFC. • Reynolds number effects on electrochemical performance of the SOFCs. • Carbon deposition prevented by utilizing oxygen with methane in favorable operating conditions. • Investigation of the carbon deposition through the NiO-YSZ anode by EDAX and SEM. The development of high-performance non-precious metal electrocatalysts is of great importance for construction of next generation fuel cells. Herein, we report for the first time the creation of new metal-free porous carbon framework catalysts derived from N -rich hypercrosslinked polymers (HCPs) using pyrrole as building blocks for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) (denoted as PCF-HCPs). The PCF-HCPs obtained at the pyrolysis temperature of 900 °C (PCF-HCP-900), displayed outstanding catalytic activity towards the ORR compared with other PCF-HCPs pyrolysis temperature. Due to PCF-HCP-900 with large specific surface, excellent porosity and, importantly, exposed active sites caused by N doping with high density, the catalysts exhibited outstanding ORR activity in alkaline medium, i.e., the PCF-HCP-900 yielded a half-wave potential of 0.84 V, which was 10 mV higher than that of the state of-the-art Pt/C catalyst (0.83 V), and onset potential of 0.95 V (vs. RHE), a high diffusion limiting current density of 4.8 mA cm−2, better methanol tolerance and long-term stability (2 mV negative shift after 3000 potential cycles) than commercial Pt/C. Furthermore, PCF-HCP-900 shows a favorable 4-electron transfer process (n ≈ 3.96) and lower H 2 O 2 yield. Based on these merits, the PCF-HCP-900 may open a new possibility for design of ORR metal-free catalyst of fuel-cell technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]