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The development of fast rechargeable lithium ion batteries (LIBs) is highly dependent on the innovation of advanced high-power electrode materials. In this work, for the first time, we report a sacrificial NiO arrays template method for controllable synthesis of self-supported hierarchical porous Li4Ti5O12/C (LTO/C) nanoflakes arrays, for use as fast rechargeable anodes for LIBs. The ultrathin (2–3 nm) carbon layer was uniformly coated on the LTO forming arrays architecture. The hierarchical porous LTO/C nanoflakes consisted of primary cross-linked nanoparticles of 50–100 nm and showed large porosity. Because of the enhanced electrical conductivity and accelerated ion transfer channels, the well-designed binder-free porous LTO/C nanoflakes arrays exhibited notable high-rate lithium ion storage performance with smaller polarization, better electrochemical reactivity, higher specific capacity (157 mAh g−1 at the current density of 20C) and improved long-term cycling life (96.2% after 6000 cycles at 20 C), superior to the unmodified porous LTO arrays counterpart (126 mAh g−1 at 20C and 88.0% after 6000 cycles at 20 C). Our work provides a new template for the construction of high-performance high-rate electrodes for electrochemical energy storage.

Most of the intrinsic photocatalysts with visible light response can only generate one active radical due to the limitation of their band structures, which is immediate cause limiting their photocatalytic degradation performance. In this work, ZnIn

Lithium (Li) metal is considered as one of the most promising anode materials for next‐generation high‐energy‐density storage systems. However, the practical application of Li metal anode is hindered by interfacial instability and air instability due to the highly reactivity of Li metal. Unstable interface in Li metal batteries (LMBs) directly dictates Li dendrite growth, “dead Li” and low Coulombic efficiency, resulting in inferior electrochemical performance of LMBs and even safety issues. In addition, its sensitivity to ambient air leads to the severe corrosion of Li metal anode, high requirements of production and storage, and increased manufacturing cost. Plenty of efforts in recent years have overcome many bottlenecks in these fields and hastened the practical applications of high‐energy‐density LMBs. In this review, we focus on emerging methods of these two aspects to fulfill a stable and low cost electrode. In this perspective, design artificial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layers, construct three‐dimensional conductive current collectors, optimize electrolytes, employ solid‐state electrolytes, and modify separators are summarized to be propitious to ameliorate interfacial stability. Meanwhile, ex situ/in situ formed protective layers are highlighted in favor of heightening air stability. Finally, several possible directions for the future research on advanced Li metal anode are addressed.

The advancement of power-type lithium ion batteries (LIBs) mainly depends on the construction of electrodes with superior electronic & ionic conductivity. In this work, a synergistic combination of nitrogen doped Li4Ti5O12 (N-LTO) nanoparticles and highly conductive vertical graphene (VG) skeleton is proposed to obtain ultrafast Li ion storage performance via a facile hydrothermal-nitridation method. The as-synthesized composite nanosheets are composed of interconnected N-LTO shell and VG core to form the final N-LTO/VG core-shell arrays, which are systematically studied as the anodes of LIBs. In virtue of the positive synergistic effect of high conductive VG backbone and nitrogen doping, overwhelming advantages including high specific surface area, superb structural stability and enhanced conductivity are achieved in the well-designed N-LTO/VG electrodes. Accordingly, the as-synthesized N-LTO/VG electrode shows outstanding high rate capacity (142.5 mAh g−1 at 20 C) and superior long-term cycling stability (capacity retention of 98.9% after 10000 cycles at 5 C), better than LTO/VG electrode without N doping. Our research provides a new strategy for the synthesis of high-performance hybrid electrodes for application in power-type LIBs.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have a wide range of applications in adsorption and catalysis because of their high specific surface areas and large number of surface active sites. In this paper, bulk ZnAl layered double hydroxides (ZnAl-LDHs or bulk-LDHs) and 2D monolayer ZnAl-LDHs (monolayer-LDHs) were constructed and used for CO2 capture at temperatures of 298-573 K. The experimental results show that monolayer-LDHs have a large specific surface area (455 m2 g-1) and shows an excellent CO2 capture performance (4.5 mmol g-1). The CO2 adsorption capacity of monolayer-LDHs decreases greatly with an increase of the temperature, while bulk-LDHs are less affected by the temperature. Moreover, the parameters of charge distribution, density of states, and charge transfer of bulk-LDHs and monolayer-LDHs were studied in detail by density functional theory, and the difference of the adsorption mechanism between two LDH materials in CO2 capture was compared. It is found that monolayer-LDHs have better electronic activity than bulk-LDHs. At low temperature, CO2 is more likely to be physically adsorbed on the surface of monolayer-LDHs, and the adsorption process is more likely to occur. CO2 is more easily adsorbed on the surface of bulk-LDHs in the form of chemisorption, the adsorption energy is larger (-1.01 eV), but the CO2 capture capacity is quite stable at high temperature.

The advancement of supercapacitors largely relies on the innovation of electrode materials with high-rate performance and ultra-long cycling stability. In this work, unique N-doped nanofibers on carbon cloth (N-CNFs/CC) are prepared by an electrodeposition-annealing method for application in supercapacitors. The as-prepared N-doped nanofibers (N-CNFs) show diameters of 100−150 nm and cross-link with each other forming porous conductive network. Due to enhanced conductivity and reinforced structural stability, the N-CNFs/CC arrays are demonstrated with better electrochemical performance than CNFs/CC counterpart, including higher specific capacitance (195.2 F g-1 at a current density of 2.5 A g-1), excellent rate capability (80.5.% capacity retention as the rate increases from 2.5–20 A g-1) and good cycling stability (99.5.% retention after 10,000 cycles). These reinforced electrochemical properties are attributed to N-doped conductive architecture with faster ion/electron transfer paths and more active sites. Our findings may offer a new way for construction of advanced high-rate electrodes for energy storage.

This work presents a mechanistic interpretation of hot carrier-driven photoreduction of Au NPs coupled with the oxidative photodegradation of thiol-containing capping ligands on Au/TiO2 catalysts u...

Tailored design and synthesis of high-quality electrocatalysts is vital for the advancement of oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, we report a powerful puffing method to fabricate hierarchical porous N-doped carbon with numerous embedded Ni nanoparticles. Interestingly, during the puffing and annealing process, rice precursor with N and Ni sources can be in-situ converted into Ni-embedded N-doped porous carbon (N-PC/Ni) composite. The obtained N-PC/Ni composite possesses a cross-linked porous architecture containing conductive carbon backbone and active Ni nanoparticles electrocatalysts for OER. The pore formation in N-PC/Ni composite is also proposed because of carbothermic reduction. The N-PC/Ni composite is fully studied as electrocatalysts for OER. Due to increased active surface area, enhanced electronic conductivity and reactivity, the designed N-PC/Ni composite exhibits superior OER performance with a low Tafel slope (∼88 mV/dec) and a low overpotential as well as excellent long-term stability in alkaline solution. Our proposed rational design strategy may provide a new way to construct other advanced metal/heteroatom-doped composites for widespread application in electrocatalysis.

Controllable construction of advanced Mn-based cathodes is of great importance for the development of flexible rechargeable Zn-MnO2 batteries. Herein we report an effective flexible composite strategy to construct integrated arrays cathodes by rationally anchoring active MnO2 on novel N-doped porous carbon nanosheets (N-CNSs) arrays grown on carbon cloth. Typically, hydrothermal-synthesized MnO2 nanoflakes are strongly anchored on the conductive N-CNSs skeleton forming flexible N-CNSs@MnO2 core/shell arrays. Interestingly, active Zn anode is also compatible with N-CNSs skeleton forming flexible integrated anode. Positive effects are demonstrated in the above N-CNSs@MnO2 core/shell arrays including good flexibility, high electrical conductivity, large porosity & specific surface area, and strong mechanical stability. Accordingly, the Zn ion storage kinetics is optimized in the obtained N-CNSs@MnO2 cathodes, which can deliver a high capacity of 303.7 ​mAh g−1 ​at 0.2 ​A ​g−1 and superior long-term lifespan (91.6% retention after 1800 cycles at 2 ​A ​g−1) in aqueous electrolyte. More importantly, the as-assembled flexible quasi-solid-state N-CNSs@MnO2//N-CNSs@Zn battery can exhibit a high energy density of 150.6 ​Wh kg−1 with a power density of 7.9 ​kW ​kg−1. Our work shows a novel carbon-based flexible design for construction of high-performance Zn-MnO2 devices.

Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) is one of the most promising high-power anodes for lithium ion batteries, but its large-current performance is still undermined due to relatively poor ion/electron transfer. In this...

The advancement of high-power solid-state lithium ion batteries (LIBs) is closely in connection with the breakthrough of electrode materials. In this work, for the first time, we report a popcorn-like niobium oxide with cloned hierarchical architecture via sacrificial puffed rice carbon (PRC) template and solvothermal method. The popcorn-like Nb2O5 (PL-Nb2O5) shows a tertiary hierarchical macrocellular structure with cross-linked 2D secondary Nb2O5 nanoflakes, which are composed of primary self-assembled Nb2O5 nanocrystals. Impressively, this exquisite hierarchical architecture offers continuous fast transport paths for ion/electron and improves the specific surface area & porosity, resulting in accelerated reaction kinetics and good compatibility with gel polymer electrolyte (GPE). Accordingly, the popcorn-like Nb2O5 electrode is endowed with superior lithium ion storage performance in gel polymer electrolyte with good high-rate capacities (126 mA h g-1 at 5C and 103 mA h g-1 at 10C) and stable long-term cycling performance (75 mA h g-1 after 1000 cycles at 5C). Our findings propose a new bioinspired template way for construction of cloned metal oxides architectures for solid-state energy storage systems.

Dual enhancement on electronic & ionic conductivity of Ti2Nb10O29 (TNO) electrodes is the key point to achieve high performance by promoting reaction kinetics with accelerated ion/electron transfer when applied in Li-ion batteries (LIBs). Herein, a powerful synergistic trinity strategy is proposed to construct integrated N-doped TNO@TiC/C-NC hierarchical electrodes, in which novel designed TiC/C-NC core-branch skeleton is used to load N-doped TNO (N-TNO) nanoparticles with symbiotic oxygen vacancy. The conductive hierarchical TiC/C-NC core-branch skeleton can not only enhance the electronic conductivity of the whole electrode, but also provide more active loading sites and ensure the structure stability. Moreover, the oxygen defect and N-doping in TNO could narrow the band-gap and enlarge the lattice, both improving the intrinsic electronic and ionic conductivity. The above internal & external synergistic strategies work together to accelerate reaction kinetics of N-TNO@TiC/C-NC to realize a long cycle life (up to 10000 cycles) and preeminent high-rate capability both in liquid batteries (165 mAh g−1 at 100C) and solid-state batteries (108 mAh g−1 at 40C). Furthermore, the excellent high-rate performance is also verified in TNO//LFP (LiFePO4) batteries. Our strategy provides valid routes to achieve fast reaction kinetics in LIBs for advanced high-power energy storage.

Controllable fabrication of advanced electrode materials is critical for the development of lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Herein, for the first time, we report novel hierarchical porous chromium niobium oxide (Cr0.5Nb24.5O62) microspheres prepared by a facile one-step solvothermal method. The as-prepared Cr0.5Nb24.5O62 microspheres present 3D hierarchical porous structure consisting of cross-linked nanoparticles, high electronic conductivity and large specific surface area. Accordingly, the Cr0.5Nb24.5O62 microspheres show noticeable lithium ion storage performance with superior high-rate capability (199 mAh g−1 at 20C) and good cycling stability with a capacity retention of 95% over 1000 cycles, much better than the bulk Cr0.5Nb24.5O62 and TiNb24O62 counterparts. Our work demonstrates a new high-rate electrode material for high-power energy storage.

High-performance anodes of sodium ion batteries (SIBs) largely depends on rational architecture design and binder-free smart hybridization. Herein, we report TiC/C core/shell nanowires arrays prepared by a one-step chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method and apply it as the anode of SIBs for the first time. The conductive TiC core is intimately decorated with carbon shell. The as-obtained TiC/C nanowires are homogeneously grown on the substrate and show core/shell heterostructure and porous architecture with high electronic conductivity and reinforced stability. Owing to these merits, the TiC/C electrode displays good rate performance and outstanding cycling performance with a capacity of 135.3 mAh/g at 0.1 A/g and superior capacity retention of 90.14% after 1000 cycles at 2 A/g. The reported strategy would provide a promising way to construct binder-free arrays electrodes for sodium ion storage.

Development of low-cost, high-efficiency, and environmentally benign adsorbents for mercury removal is of significant importance for environmental remediation. Herein, we report a novel porous puff...

Transition metal sulfides are emerging as promising electrode materials for energy storage and conversion. In this work, hierarchical FeS2/C nanospheres are synthesized through a controllable solvothermal method followed by the annealing process. Spherical FeS2 core is homogeneously coated by thin carbon shell. The hierarchical nanostructure and carbon coating can enhance electron transfer and accommodate the stress originated from the volume change as well as suppress the shuttle effect of polysulfide. Consequently, as the cathode material of lithium ion batteries (LIBs), the FeS2/C nanospheres exhibit high reversible capacity of 676 mAh g−1 and excellent cycling life with the capacity retention of 97.1% after 100 cycles. In addition, even at the high current density of 1.8 C, a reversible capacity of 437 mAh g−1 is obtained for the FeS2/C nanospheres, demonstrating its great prospect for practical applications in high-performance LIBs.

The realization of a high efficiency water gas shift reaction (WGSR) at low temperatures has always been a research hotspot and is difficult to achieve. Based on NiCr layered double hydroxides (NiCr-LDHs), a hybrid NiO@NiCr-LDH was prepared by intercalation and surface complexing. The above materials were applied to WGSR at low temperatures, and the catalytic activity and reaction mechanism of WGSR with NiCr-LDHs and LDHs intercalated with organic metal ligands (NiCr–Ni/SB-LDHs) were compared. It was found that the activity of NiO@NiCr-LDHs was about 4 and 2 times higher than that of NiCr-LDHs and NiCr–Ni/SB-LDHs, respectively. At 150 °C, the CO conversion of NiO@NiCr-LDHs is 35.2%, the reaction rate is 19.71 μmol gcat−1 s−1, the TOF value is 0.225 s−1, and the activation energy is 77.4 kJ mol−1. In addition, the complexing NiO content has a great influence on the activity of NiO@NiCr-LDHs for WGSR. In addition, DFT calculations were used to compare the differences in the performance and catalytic mechanism of different nickel containing LDH catalysts for WGSR. According to the calculated results of relative energy barrier and activation energy, a possible reaction pathway and mechanism are discussed. The results show that compared with NiCr-LDHs and NiCr–Ni/SB-LDHs, NiO@NiCr-LDHs can effectively reduce the activation energy of the H2O dissociation step, which is the rate determining step of WGSR.

Flexible energy devices with high energy density and long cycle life are considered to be promising applications in portable electronics. In this study, silicon/carbon nanofiber (Si@CNF) core–shell electrode has been prepared by the coaxial electrospinning method. The precursors of polyimide (PI) were for the first time used to form the core–shell structure of Si@CNF, which depicts outstanding flexibility and mechanical strength. The effect of doping concentrations of silicon (Si) nanoparticles embedded in the fiber is investigated as a binder-free anode for lithium-ion batteries. A 15 wt% doped composite electrode demonstrates superior performance, with an initial reversible capacity of 621 mA h g−1 at the current density of 100 mA g−1 and a high capacity retention up to 200 cycles. The excellent cycling performance is mainly due to the carbonized PI core–shell structure, which not only can compensate for the insulation property of Si but also has the ability to buffer the volume expansion during the repeated charge–discharge process.

The efficient removal of high-concentration volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has been a challenging task. Here, four types of organic-inorganic hybrid layered double hydroxides (MO@MCr-LDHs, M = Co, Ni, Cu, Zn) were synthesized and used for highly efficient photodegradation of p-xylene under visible-light irradiation. The reactivity of the four hybrid MO@MCr-LDHs was found to follow the following general order: CuO@CuCr-LDHs CuCr-LDHs > ZnO@ZnCr-LDHs > NiO@NiCr-LDHs > CoO@CoCr-LDHs. Under the optimized reaction conditions (2.0 g catalyst dosage, 500 W, 50% relative humidity, 40 °C), >87% of p-xylene was removed by hybrid CuO@CuCr-LDHs after a 180 min reaction (from 175 mg m−3 to 22.6 mg m−3), which was triple the reactivity of MCr-LDHs. By comparing the physiochemical structures of the catalysts, we found that the hybridization of MO and MCr narrows the band gap (from 2.84 to 2.29 eV), increases the specific surface area (from 69.5 m2 g−1 to 139.1 m2 g−1) of LDHs, and enhances the photocatalytic property for VOC degradation (including benzene, toluene, o-xylene, and m-xylene), thus leading to more efficient generation of reactive species, decrease in the apparent activation energy, improvement in the electrochemical property, and possible changes in the reaction intermediates and pathways.

Water–gas shift reaction (WGSR) is an industrialized reaction with numerous applications concerning CO removal and H2 generation. Since this process is widely used and occurs at elevated temperatures, the development of high efficiency and stable catalysts for WGSR and investigating their catalytic mechanism is a hot topic. In this paper, we demonstrate Au nanoparticles supported on different layered double hydroxides (LDHs) as highly efficient and stable catalysts for WGSR. The incorporation of Au nanoparticles significantly decreases the activation energy and enhances the catalytic activity of LDHs for WGSR, with Au/ZnCr–LDHs exhibiting the best catalytic performance including: 79.4% CO conversion, 102.1 μmol gcat−1 s−1 of reaction rate, 1.01 s−1 TOF values and 41.7 kJ mol−1 of activation energy. TPR experiments suggest that the addition of Au alters the redox cycle on the surface of the catalyst, a key intermediary step involved in the catalytic process. In situ DRIFTS shows that the production of CO2 during WGSR involves the reaction between CO and adsorbed O, which comes from the dissociation of OH species and not the decomposition of formates. DFT calculations indicate that Au–based catalysts can effectively lower the energy barrier of the kinetically relevant step of H2O dissociation, which is the most probable reason for the enhancement of activity. The calculated activation barriers coincide with the experimentally measured values with the order of Au/ZnCr–LDHs

The use of active sites and reaction kinetics of MoSe2 anodes for sodium ion batteries (SIBs) are highly related to the phase components (1T and 2H phases) and electrode architecture. This study concerns the design and fabrication of wrinkled 1T-MoSe2 nanoflakes anchored on highly conductive TiC@C nanorods to form 1T-MoSe2 /TiC@C branch-core arrays by a powerful chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-solvothermal method. The 1T-MoSe2 branch can be easily transformed into its 2H-MoSe2 counterpart after a facile annealing process. In comparison to 2H-MoSe2 , 1T-MoSe2 has larger interlayer spacing and higher electronic conductivity, which are beneficial for the acceleration of reaction kinetics and capacity improvement. In addition, direct growth of 1T-MoSe2 nanoflakes on the TiC@C skeleton not only enhance the electrical conductivity, but also contribute to reinforced structural stability. Accordingly, 1T-MoSe2 /TiC@C branch-core arrays are demonstrated with higher capacity and better rate performance (184 mAh g-1 at 10 A g-1 ) and impressive durability over 500 cycles with a capacity retention of approximately 91.8 %. This phase modulation plus branch-core design provides a general method for the synthesis of other high-performance electrode materials for application in electrochemical energy storage.

A synergistic N doping plus PO43- intercalation strategy is used to induce high conversion (ca. 41 %) of 2H-MoS2 into 1T-MoS2 , which is much higher than single N doping (ca. 28 %) or single PO43- intercalation (ca. 10 %). A scattering mechanism is proposed to illustrate the synergistic phase transformation from the 2H to the 1T phase, which was confirmed by synchrotron radiation and spherical aberration TEM. To further enhance reaction kinetics, the designed (N,PO43- )-MoS2 nanosheets are combined with conductive vertical graphene (VG) skeleton forming binder-free arrays for high-efficiency hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Owing to the decreased band gap, lower d-band center, and smaller hydrogen adsorption/desorption energy, the designed (N,PO43- )-MoS2 /VG electrode shows excellent HER performance with a lower Tafel slope and overpotential than N-MoS2 /VG, PO43- -MoS2 /VG counterparts, and other Mo-base catalysts in the literature.

Photocatalytic degradation of polluted water by means of minerals, such as clays and oxides, which have surfaces that exhibit catalytic properties, has been suggested to be a useful new strategy to promote both organic and inorganic pollutant degradation. Nevertheless, much still remains to be studied about the capability of mixed metal oxides derived from lanthanum-containing layered double hydroxides to promote pollutant removal by means of photocatalytic degradation with the mineral surfaces. The objective of the present study was to investigate the synthesis of ternary MgAlLa mixed-metal oxides (MgAlLa-M) with various Mg/Al/La molar ratios through a hydrotalcite-like precursor route by co-precipitation of appropriate amounts of metal salts from homogeneous solution, followed by calcination at 600°C. The crystal structure, surface morphology, and optical properties of the samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). Analysis by XRD showed that MgO, La2O3, MgAl2O4, and La10Al4O21 phases coexisted in calcined samples as MgAlLa-M. The samples showed a small band gap of 3.11–3.35 eV according to DRS. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were evaluated by degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. MgAlLa-M had better photocatalytic properties than hydrotalcite precursors, and the MgAlLa-0.5-M possessed the best photocatalytic activity. The photocatalytic degradation efficiency of MB dye with MgAlLa-0.5-M under visible light irradiation for 1 h was 99.89% in the presence of H2O2, which exceeded the binary MgAl-M (84.06%) under the same conditions. The high photocatalytic activity of the sample was attributed to the addition of La(III). In addition, the possible mechanism of photocatalytic degradation of MB by MgAlLa-M was discussed. The results showed that •O2– plays a major role in the MgAlLa-0.5-M/H2O2 system.

Adsorption desulfurization is a potential new method for deep desulfurization of fuel oil. The development of adsorbents with high adsorption capacity and selectivity is the core of deep adsorption desulfurization. The adsorption behavior of thiophene in MCM-41 mesoporous materials modified by various metal ions was studied in order to understand the adsorption desulfurization process of molecular sieves. The Fe-, Co-, and Zn-modified MCM-41 materials were prepared using a one-step in situ hydrothermal synthesis method. The modified MCM-41 molecular sieves maintained the mesoporous structure, and the metal ions had specific dispersion on the surface of the molecular sieves. Adsorption of thiophene on the surfaces of molecular sieves had both physical and chemical characteristics. The adsorption desulfurization performance of the modified molecular sieve was superior to that of the pure silica molecular sieve. In the simulated gasoline with sulfur content of 220 μg/g, when the amount of adsorbent used was 100 mg, the adsorptive desulfurization performance tended to be in equilibrium, and the optimum adsorption temperature was 30°C. Fe-MCM-41 and MCM-41 molecular sieves reached adsorption equilibrium after ~60 min, but the desulfurization rate of Co-MCM-41 and Zn-MCM-41 still increased slightly. The kinetic simulation results indicated that the pseudo-second-order kinetics adsorption model described well the adsorption process of thiophene on molecular sieves. The molecular sieve Fe-MCM-41 had the best desulfurization performance with an equilibrium adsorption capacity of 14.02 mg/g and the desulfurization rate was ~90%.

To apply hydrotalcites more effectively to the problem of dye wastewater, the effects of divalent metal ions on the structure and stability of hydrotalcites, especially on their photocatalytic activity, were compared. In the present study, M/Cr hydrotalcites (M3Cr-CO3-LDHs) (in which M = Mg, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn), where the M/Cr molar ratio was 3, were prepared by the co-precipitation method. The structures and properties were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), and UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS). The results showed that five kinds of M3Cr-CO3-LDHs were synthesized successfully, and the layered structure of the samples obtained was regular and the crystal phase was single. When methylene blue (MB) solution was exposed to ZnCr-CO3-LDHs, H2O2, and visible light irradiation, more than 90.67% of the methylene blue (MB) was removed after 140 min. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was in the order: Co3Cr-CO3-LDHs > Mg3Cr-CO3-LDHs > Cu3Cr-CO3-LDHs > Zn3Cr-CO3-LDHs > Ni3Cr-CO3-LDHs. The results of a catalytic mechanism study showed that photocatalytic degradation of MB involved a demethylation reaction, with the reactive species containing •O2-, •OH, and h+.

Rational design & modulation of ion/electron transfer paths are critical for achieving high-performance anode materials for lithium ion batteries. In this work, we first time realize smart assembly of oxygen vacancy modulated titanium niobium oxide (Ti2Nb10O29-x, TNOx) onto highly conductive bacterial cellulose carbon (BCC) forming BCC/TNOx electrode through a facile solvothermal-annealing method. BCC consists of interlinked (N, S & P) co-doped carbon fibres uniformly decorated with TNOx nanoparticles. Impressively, the introduction of oxygen vacancy can effectively enhance the internal ion/electron transfer in TNOx and enhancement effect is elaborated by synchrotron radiation technology (XANES and XAFS) and DFT calculation. Meanwhile, with the aid of conductive BCC skeleton, the external ion/electron transfer path on TNOx is also greatly improved leading to better reaction kinetics. The synergistic dual internal plus external modulation on transfer path show positive advantages including smaller band gap with better electrical conductivity, and larger lattice parameters with faster ion/electron transfer. Accordingly, the BCC/TNOx electrode is endowed with outstanding lithium ion storage performance with high-rate capability (281 mA h g−1 at 5 C, and 160.5 mA h g−1 at 40 C). Our finding provides valuable insights into design of other advanced electrodes via dual transfer path modulation strategy.