Materials Chemistry Frontiers最新文献

Biobased catalysts play a crucial role in sustainable chemistry, using natural resources to support eco-friendly processes. While palladium catalysts are essential for various industrial applications, they often pose environmental challenges due to their non-reusability and tendency to degrade. To address these issues, we developed an innovative phenylalanine-based catalyst containing palladium (C-PhebPd) designed for the Suzuki–Miyaura reaction. The natural amino acids, used as monomers, chelate palladium, preventing leaching, unlike other heterogeneous catalysts that use palladium nanoparticles, which can be released over time, leading to catalyst degradation. Such catalyst exhibits outstanding performance in aqueous media at moderate temperatures, facilitating cross-coupling reactions between various aryl halides and arylboronic acids with high yields of up to 99%. The affordable synthetic procedure and C-PhebPd's stability make it potentially scalable for industrial applications. The robustness of this catalyst was also proved by recyclability tests up to seven cycles. Further investigation into its capabilities could unlock additional insights for various catalytic transformations.

The performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is critically influenced by the quality of interfaces, including grain boundaries and perovskite surfaces. These interfaces are often highly defective, leading to non-radiative recombination and impaired charge transfer. Additionally, operational conditions can induce undesirable chemical reactions, affecting long-term stability. This review summarizes advancements over the past five years in achieving high-efficiency (near or above 25%) through interface passivation. Notably, using two-dimensional/three-dimensional (2D/3D) hybrid perovskites, which combine the stability of 2D perovskites with the efficiency of 3D perovskites, has emerged as a promising strategy. We reviewed recent progress in interface passivation strategies, focusing on the implementation of 2D/3D perovskite passivation across buried interfaces, grain boundaries and top interfaces. Finally, we discussed challenges and future directions for multi-interface cooperative passivation, charge dynamics and degradation mechanisms.

High-quality and brilliant structural colors have been successfully produced using vacuum-based deposition and patterning technology in recent decades. Nevertheless, the major obstacles of high production costs and limited scalability impede the commercialization of these vibrant color products. Solution-processed structural colors, on the other hand, are renowned for their cost-effectiveness, scalability, and versatility. In this review, we provide an overview of prevalent solution-based techniques for structural color synthesis, along with their potential applications. Emphasizing the versatility of solution-processed structural colors, we discuss their capabilities in both color tuning and new ways of modifying refractive indices of dielectrics.

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are promising technology owing to their unique properties such as high transparency, good color tunability, and easy large-area fabrication, which make them attractive candidates for emerging photovoltaic applications. However, conventional DSSCs require high-temperature processing for working and counter electrodes (WEs and CEs, respectively), limiting their diverse applications. Low temperature processing for highly catalytic CEs, particularly using poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) as a conducting and catalytic replacement for platinum, shows potential for increased efficiency under various light conditions. Despite the high catalytic activity of PEDOT, its limited solubility and processing technologies (e.g., electrochemical deposition and spin-coating) have necessitated the interest in composites of PEDOT either with poly(styrene sulfonate), metal compounds, or in combination with carbon materials, aiming to overcome these limitations. With the combined properties of high conductivity, catalytic activity, porosity, and low temperature processability, these CEs based on PEDOT have higher scientific and industrial prospects. Moreover, the highly transparent PEDOT-based CEs can also be used for bifacial application in DSSCs. To continuously draw interest to further research on these materials, this review provided an overview of PEDOT-based CEs for rigid, flexible, and indoor applications of DSSCs. Additionally, we discuss the changes in electronic, chemical, and stability properties associated with the formation of each type of composite material. The challenges and prospects of PEDOT-based materials are further highlighted, which pave the way for performance improvements in the future, as well as identifying other potential applications in the semiconductor industry.

Manganese oxides are considered highly promising as cathode materials for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) owing to their abundant resources, high discharge potential, and substantial theoretical capacity. Nonetheless, MnO is commonly perceived to exhibit insufficient electrochemical activity and is deemed unsuitable for Zn²⁺ storage. Herein, MnO-embedded PDA-derived carbon (MnO/C-PDA) is utilized as the cathode material for ZIBs, and its electrochemical behavior in ZnSO₄ electrolytes with varying MnSO₄ concentrations is investigated. The results indicate that the incorporation of manganese salt electrolyte notably enhances electrode capacity, though excessively high concentrations of manganese salt diminish electrode activity. In the electrolyte containing 0.2 M MnSO₄, MnO-C/PDA exhibits a capacity of 295.4 mA h g⁻¹ at 0.1 A g⁻¹, with negligible capacity degradation even after 100 cycles. Ex situ characterization reveals that during the charging process, MnO transformed into amorphous MnO_x, accompanied by the deposition of manganese salts forming MnO_x, while the discharge process involved the co-insertion of Zn²⁺ and H⁺. This work is anticipated to enhance comprehension regarding the charge and discharge mechanisms of MnO, thus aiding in the development of manganese oxide cathodes tailored for ZIBs.