A novel all-inorganic Cu(OH)2 nanowire-haired membrane with superhydrophilicity and underwater ultralow adhesive superoleophobicity is fabricated by a facile surface oxidation of copper mesh that allows effective separation of both immiscible oil/water mixtures and oil-in-water emulsions solely driven by gravity, with extremely high separation efficiency. The all-inorganic membrane exhibits superior solvent and alkaline resistance and antifouling property compared to organic-based membranes.

Nanowire-Haired Inorganic Membranes with Superhydrophilicity and Underwater Ultralow Adhesive Superoleophobicity for High-Efficiency Oil/Water Separation

Oil/water separation, especially emulsified oil/water mixture separation, has become a widespread concern because of the severe fouling problem caused by the easy adsorption of oil droplets onto the surfaces of filtration membranes. Many strategies have been employed to eliminate the fouling problem, but it remains a challenge and impedes the development of membrane technology. In this short review, we discuss the recent development of membrane technology for emulsified oil/water separation. As shown in the image, in addition to polymer- and ceramic-dominated traditional membranes, nanomaterial-based membranes have recently demonstrated their superiority and have achieved high performance.

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Recent progress in developing advanced membranes for emulsified oil/water separation

Single Atoms and Clusters Based Nanomaterials for Hydrogen Evolution, Oxygen Evolution Reactions, and Full Water Splitting

Designing and constructing bifunctional electrocatalysts is vital for water splitting. Particularly, the rational interface engineering can effectively modify the active sites and promote the electronic transfer, leading to the improved splitting efficiency. Herein, free-standing and defect-rich heterogeneous MoS2/NiS2 nanosheets for overall water splitting are designed. The abundant heterogeneous interfaces in MoS2/NiS2 can not only provide rich electroactive sites but also facilitate the electron transfer, which further cooperate synergistically toward electrocatalytic reactions. Consequently, the optimal MoS2/NiS2 nanosheets show the enhanced electrocatalytic performances as bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting. This study may open up a new route for rationally constructing heterogeneous interfaces to maximize their electrochemical performances, which may help to accelerate the development of nonprecious electrocatalysts for overall water splitting.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/advs.201900246

Defect-Rich Heterogeneous MoS2/NiS2 Nanosheets Electrocatalysts for Efficient Overall Water Splitting.

Photoreduction of CO2 into reusable carbon forms is considered as a promising approach to address the crisis of energy from fossil fuels and reduce excessive CO2 emission. Recently, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted much attention as CO2 photoreduction-related catalysts, owing to their unique electronic band structures, excellent CO2 adsorption capacities, and tailorable light-absorption abilities. Recent advances on the design, synthesis, and CO2 reduction applications of MOF-based photocatalysts are discussed here, beginning with the introduction of the characteristics of high-efficiency photocatalysts and structural advantages of MOFs. The roles of MOFs in CO2 photoreduction systems as photocatalysts, photocatalytic hosts, and cocatalysts are analyzed. Detailed discussions focus on two constituents of pure MOFs (metal clusters such as Ti-O, Zr-O, and Fe-O clusters and functional organic linkers such as amino-modified, photosensitizer-functionalized, and electron-rich conjugated linkers) and three types of MOF-based composites (metal-MOF, semiconductor-MOF, and photosensitizer-MOF composites). The constituents, CO2 adsorption capacities, absorption edges, and photocatalytic activities of these photocatalysts are highlighted to provide fundamental guidance to rational design of efficient MOF-based photocatalyst materials for CO2 reduction. A perspective of future research directions, critical challenges to be met, and potential solutions in this research field concludes the discussion.

Metal-Organic-Framework-Based Catalysts for Photoreduction of CO 2

Recently, the development of high-performance non-platinum electrocatalysts for fuel cell applications has been gaining attention. Palladium-based nanoalloys are considered as promising candidates to substitute platinum catalysts for cathodic and anodic reactions in fuel cells. Here, we develop a facile route to synthesize dendritic palladium-copper-cobalt trimetallic nanoalloys as robust multifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction and formic acid oxidation. To the best of our knowledge, the mass activities of the dendritic Pd59Cu30Co11 nanoalloy toward oxygen reduction and formic acid oxidation are higher than those previously reported for non-platinum metal nanocatalysts. The Pd59Cu30Co11 nanoalloys also exhibit superior durability for oxygen reduction and formic acid oxidation as well as good antimethanol/ethanol interference ability compared to a commercial platinum/carbon catalyst. The high performance of the dendritic Pd59Cu30Co11 nanoalloys is attributed to a combination of effects, including defects, a synergistic effect, change of d-band center of palladium, and surface strain.

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Dendritic defect-rich palladium-copper-cobalt nanoalloys as robust multifunctional non-platinum electrocatalysts for fuel cells.

Highly selective macromembranes, fabricated by cation-decorated graphene oxide, exhibit an excellent selectivity toward a wide range of solvents. Mixed solvents are successfully separated, based on which a membrane reactor is designed to promote a series of chemical reactions. The cations bonding to the graphene oxide nanosheets are found to be responsible for this selectivity by cation-π, electrostatic interactions, and hydrogen bonding.

Molecule Channels Directed by Cation‐Decorated Graphene Oxide Nanosheets and Their Application as Membrane Reactors

Metal–organic frameworks based on zirconium or hafnium possess tantalizing commercial prospects due to their high stability but require a long reaction time to form crystals. The fast synthesis of uniform Zr-, Hf-MOF nanocrystals at scale is of key importance in the potential commercial application of MOFs. In this work, we have developed a versatile strategy through controlling the hydrolysis and nucleation of metal salts in the presence of acetic acid and water; up to 24 grams of UiO-66-NH2 nanocrystals with a uniform octahedron could be synthesized within 15 minutes using a one step method. The current synthetic strategy could be extended to other Zr-, Hf-MOF nanocrystals [UiO-66-Fast, UiO-66-(OH)2-Fast, UiO-66-2,6-NDC-Fast, UiO-67-Fast, BUT-12-Fast, PCN-222-Ni-Fast, PCN-222-Co-Fast, Hf-UiO-66-Fast, Hf-UiO-66-NH2-Fast, Hf-UiO-66-(OH)2-Fast, Hf-UiO-66-2,6-NDC-Fast and Hf-BUT-12-Fast]. Significantly, when noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) are introduced into MOF precursors, NPs encapsulated in MOFs with excellent dispersion have also been obtained and show outstanding performance in catalysis. This facile procedure is expected to pave the way to expand the commercial applications of MOFs.

Fast and scalable synthesis of uniform zirconium-, hafnium-based metal–organic framework nanocrystals

Designing intricate structures and searching for functional materials has attracted wide interest in nanoscience Herein we have fabricated (NiFe)S2 pyrite mesocrystals in the form of nearly-single crystalline porous cubes, and studied their self-optimization to realize efficient activity toward water oxidation under electrochemical conditions The growth mechanism of the mesocrystals was a non-classical mechanism, which was initiated by the formation of a large quantity of small nickel sulfide clusters, followed by the aggregation and transformation of these small clusters in an oriented manner When these mesocrystals were tested for water oxidation under electrocatalytic conditions, the materials served as pre-catalysts and immediately self-optimized to form amorphous S-doped metal (oxy)hydroxides, which are the real catalytically active materials As a result, the observed overpotential to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2 on glassy carbon electrodes was less than 260 mV The growth mechanism studied here may provide opportunities for constructing intricate sulfide structures, and the self-optimization process during water oxidation can inspire new thoughts on electrocatalysis

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The formation of (NiFe)S2 pyrite mesocrystals as efficient pre-catalysts for water oxidation

Hydrogen bond is a typical noncovalent bond with its strength only one-tenth of a general covalent bond. Because of its easiness to fracture and re-formation, materials based on hydrogen bonds can enable a reversible behavior in their assembly and other properties, which supplies advantages in fabrication and recyclability. In this paper, hydrogen bond nanoscale networks have been utilized to separate water and oil in macroscale. This is realized upon using nanowire macro-membranes with pore sizes ~tens of nanometers, which can form hydrogen bonds with the water molecules on the surfaces. It is also found that the gradual replacement of the water by ethanol molecules can endow this film tunable transport properties. It is proposed that a hydrogen bond network in the membrane is responsible for this switching effect. Significant application potential is demonstrated by the successful separation of oil and water, especially in the emulsion forms.

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Yong Long

Papers

Dendritic defect-rich palladium-copper-cobalt nanoalloys as robust multifunctional non-platinum electrocatalysts for fuel cells.

Molecule Channels Directed by Cation‐Decorated Graphene Oxide Nanosheets and Their Application as Membrane Reactors

Fast and scalable synthesis of uniform zirconium-, hafnium-based metal–organic framework nanocrystals

The formation of (NiFe)S2 pyrite mesocrystals as efficient pre-catalysts for water oxidation

Hydrogen Bond Nanoscale Networks Showing Switchable Transport Performance