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Graphical abstract Obtained by a solution-based acid-pasting approach, the composite of perylene diimide and carbon black (PTCDI/CB) exhibits excellent electrochemical performances as the organic cathode material in both lithium and sodium ion batteries. Abstract An acid-pasting approach is developed in this work to fabricate the composite of perylenetetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI) and carbon black in concentrated sulfuric acid. Different from traditional mechanical mixing, the solution-based fabrication strategy enables the sufficient blending of PTCDI as active component and carbon black as conductive agent in the PTCDI/CB composite. Serving as the cathode material, the PTCDI/CB composite shows excellent electrochemical performances in both lithium ion battery (137 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 and 110 mAh g−1 at 2000 mA g−1) and sodium ion battery (134 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 and 99 mAh g−1 at 1000 mA g−1), which are comparable to the state-of-art organic/inorganic cathode materials. Considering the simplicity of the processing procedures and the low cost of the starting materials, the acid-pasting approach is a highly attractive method for the solution-based manufacturing of organic secondary battery electrodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Heteroatom doped mesoporous carbon/graphene (HMCG) were fabricated by nano-casting technology. [•] In HMCGs, graphene is sandwiched in two heteroatom-doped mesoporous carbon layers. [•] HMCGs exhibited excellent electrochemical performance for the oxygen reduction reaction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Prepared via a solution-based fabrication strategy, the PDI-EDA/CB composites rendered the zinc ion batteries with them as the cathodes obvious performance improvement in rate capability and cycling stability. [Display omitted] Organic electroactive compounds can be applied as alternative cathodes in rechargeable zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) instead of using inorganic cathode materials with low stability or high toxicity. However, many reported organic ZIB cathodes have some limitations, which are their tedious synthesis processes and low yields. In this work, perylene diimide-ethylenediamine/carbon black (PDI-EDA/CB) composites are prepared with a high yield of over 88% under mild conditions via a solution-based processing method. As the organic cathodes in aqueous ZIBs, the PDI-EDA/CB composites have a high specific capacity of 118.0 mA h g−1 at 0.05 A g−1; this capacity can be maintained as 95.0 mA h g−1 even at a high current density of 5.00 A g−1. Also, PDI-EDA/CB has good cycling stability by reserving 70.5% of its initial capacity after 1500 charge-discharge cycles at 1.00 A g−1, outperforming many recently reported ZIB cathodes. As disclosed by the structural and electrochemical characterization of PDI-EDA/CB, its excellent electrochemical performance is due to the zinc ion storage mechanism of PDI-EDA and the solution-based fabrication method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon nanosheets (NMCNs) with uniform hexagonal structures are fabricated via the thermal treatment of polyaniline enwrapped cobalt hydroxide (Co(OH) 2 ) nanosheets and the subsequent acid etching of the resulting composites. It is found that the morphologies, poroisties and compositions of the NMCNs are greatly dependent on the ratio of the added aniline and Co(OH) 2 nanosheets, which can in turn affect the electrochemical behavior of the NMCNs. As the electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline media, the NMCNs obtained with the aniline/Co(OH) 2 ratio of ∼1.2 manifest excellent perfromance with the onset potential of −0.119 V, the half-wave potential of −0.182 V and the limiting current density of 5.06 mA cm −2 , which are superior to most of the previously reported N-doped porous carbon nanosheets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, leaf-like hybrid with Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 nanotubes as the “veins” and graphene sheet as the “laminae” is fabricated via a facile one-pot reaction of bismuth nitrate and graphene oxide in alkaline aqueous solution. With the uniform distribution of Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 nanotubes on the graphene substrate, the obtained Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 -NT/G manifests high specific surface area (90.4 m 2 g −1 ) and large pore volume (0.197 cm 3 g −1 ), which are favorable for the efficient light capturing together with the rapid transfer of mass and charge carriers. In comparison with the pure Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 nanotubes and commercial Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 , Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 -NT/G exhibits much enhanced activity and long-term stability towards the photocatalytic degradation of organic dye pollutant, which is owing to its unique leaf-like structural features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen-doped graphene aerogels with hierarchically porous architectures (N-Gs) are fabricated through the co-assembly of graphene oxide and o -phthalonitrile in a solvothermal process and the thermal treatment of the obtained composites at different temperatures. The structural characterizations indicate that both mesopores and macropores exist in the monolithic N-Gs. More importantly, the architectures, porosities and compositions show obvious dependence on the thermal treatment temperature. As the metal-free catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction in basic media, the sample thermally treated at 750 °C shows the best catalytic performances among the three N-Gs, which is owing to its advantages in the surface areas and content of active N species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enforce the interactions between polyaniline (PANI) and graphene, a facile strategy is developed in this work to fabricate the strongly coupled hybrids of PANI nanofibers and graphene (named as PAGs) by introducing different diamines to functionalize graphene oxide. As the electrode material in a two-electrode supercapacitor (SC), the ethylenediamine-functionalized hybrid (PAG-EDA) deliveries an excellent volumetric specific capacitance of 810 F cm −3 at 5 mV s −1 . The SC also manifests high cycling stability by maintaining 84.4% of the initial capacitance after 10,000 cycles. More importantly, PAG-EDA renders the SC to have both high energy density (92.15 W h kg −1 ) and high power density (182.28 kW kg −1 ), superior to most of the previously reported PANI based SC electrode materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a novel electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), nitrogen-doped graphene aerogel supported cobalt nanoparticles (Co-NGA) is archived by a hybrid-assembly of graphene oxide (GO), o-phthalonitrile and cobalt acetate and the following thermal treatment. The hybrid-assembly process successfully combines the ionic assembly of GO sheets and Co ions with the coordination between o-phthalonitrile and Co ions, which can be converted to nitrogen doped carbon and Co nanoparticles in the pyrolysis process under nitrogen flow. Remarkable features of Co-NGA including the macroporous graphene scaffolds, high surface area, and N/Co-doping effect can lead to a high catalytic efficiency for ORR. As the results, the composites pyrolyzed at 600 °C (Co-NGA 600 ) shows excellent electrocatalytic activities and kinetics for ORR in basic media, which are comparable with those of Pt/C catalyst, together with superior durability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Magnetic mesoporous graphitic composite (MMGC) is prepared by a co-assembly method. [•] It exhibits uniform pore size, high surface area and stable magnetic properties. [•] It shows excellent adsorption ability for the removal of contaminants in solution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]