Li-ion batteries (LIBs) are advantageous energy storage devices due to their higher specific energy density, lower self-discharge, and lower memory effect. Among the components of batteries, electrode materials play a key role in enhancing electrochemical properties. Thus, the development of advanced electrode materials for high-performance LIBs is a major objective in related research fields.
Scientists have developed a catalyst that can simplify the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen to produce clean energy. The electrolytic film is a three-layer structure of nickel, graphene and a compound of iron, manganese and phosphorus. The foamy nickel gives the film a large surface, the conductive graphene protects the nickel from degrading and the metal phosphide carries out the reaction.
Discoveries surrounding a new class of impossibly small and improbably powerful compounds could reshape the materials industry — and the world around us.
Researchers reported the synthesis of a large sheet of monolayer single-crystal graphene. This result allows a leap forward in graphene production to an optimized method of fabricating an almost-perfect (> 99.9 % aligned) 5 × 50 cm2 single-crystal graphene in just 20 minutes.
The use of graphene in electronic devices requires a band gap, which can be achieved by creating nanostructures such as graphene nanoribbons. A wide variety of atomically precise graphene nanoribbons can be prepared through on-surface synthesis, bringing the concept of graphene nanoribbon electronics closer to reality.