To overcome fatal shortcomings of organic phase change materials (PCMs), such as leakage during work, low thermal conductivity and shortage of multiple driving ways, we propose a novel strategy to synthesize structurally, mechanically, electrically and optically anisotropic graphene aerogels (AN-GAs) by using gaseous hydrogen chloride to in situ solidify ordered graphene oxide liquid crystals followed by chemical reduction, supercritical fluid drying and annealing in an Ar atmosphere in sequence. The confined pore space and aligned wall structure of the resulting AN-GAs have benefited crystallization of organic phase change molecules and thus highly efficient phase change composites (PCCs) are fabricated with long durability and good strength. The resulting PCCs can also be driven either by applying a small voltage (1–3 V) with high electro-heat efficiency (up to 85%) or by irradiating with weak sunlight (0.8–1.0 sun) with high photo-heat efficiency (up to 77%).

Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/graphene nanocomposites have been firstly formed on reduced graphene sheets as cathode material for lithium batteries. The nanocomposites synthesized by the sol–gel process exhibit excellent high-rate and cycling stability performance, owing to the nanoparticles connected with a current collector through the conducting graphene network.

Self-floating polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) based hybrid hydrogels for efficient solar steam generation with a highest production rate of 1.83 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ under 1 sun illumination are designed and synthesized by assembling conducting polymer hollow spheres and aerogel microparticles within the network.

Recently, improvement on cycling stability and rate performance were reported when the electrode materials were supported by graphene. In this work, we report the approaches for fabricating a nano-structure Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/carbon with conventional carbon-coating and Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/graphene with graphene sheets supporting the composite. The crystal structure and morphology, the lithium diffusion behavior and high rates capacities of pure LVP, composites of LVP with conventional carbon and graphene sheets are studied in detail. The conventional carbon or some LVP particles are separately aggregated without effectively compounding with each other, but there is a more efficient carbon coating by graphene because the LVP nanoparticles are grown on or are enwrapped into a 2D network of graphene layers. Minor graphene contained in the Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/graphene nanocomposite can result in a reduction of crystal size, a large surface area, an increase in conductivity (three orders of magnitude), and great improvement in the rate performance and cycling stability. We proposed an effective carbon coating (ECC) model of microstructure of LVP nanoparticles compounded with carbon or graphene to discuss the key roles of graphene on the great improvement of electrochemical performance. It should offer a new idea in the design and synthesis of battery electrodes based on carbon-coated technology.

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries are appealing for next generation efficient energy power systems due to their high energy density and low cost. Yeast cells, as a natural biotemplate, are self-duplicable, nitrogen-rich, inexpensive and regular in morphology. Yeast cells show promising applications in the synthesis of nitrogen-doped hollow porous carbon materials for energy storage and transition systems. In this work, we have developed a green and facile self-templating route through low-cost and renewable yeast cells with hollow structures to fabricate N-doped hollow porous carbon microspheres (NHPCMs) for encapsulating sulfur. The sulfur-loaded NHPCM (NHPCM@S) composite with 65 wt% sulfur is then used as the cathode material for Li–S batteries. These batteries exhibit a reversible specific capacity of 1202 mA h g⁻¹ and a capacity retention of 725 mA h g⁻¹ over 400 cycles at 0.1C with a capacity decay of 0.09% per cycle, as well as an enhanced rate performance of 587 mA h g⁻¹ at 2C. In the NHPCM@S composite, the stable micro/mesoporous carbon shell acts as an efficient reservoir for soluble polysulfide, and the doped nitrogen in the carbon shell can offer exceptional electronic conductivity and strong adsorption for polysulfide species. This work demonstrates that an environmentally friendly, economical, sustainable, and self-templating route for N-doped hollow porous microspheres with natural and reproducible biological resources can lead to exciting developments in Li–S batteries and their practical applications in portable electronic devices, advanced electric vehicles, and energy storage systems.

Capacitive deionization (CDI) removes ions from brine, and is forward-looking technology due to its low energy consumption, low cost and prevention of secondary pollution. Removal capacity is still an issue for CDI technology. It is quite urgent to design a high-performance CDI electrode material with a reasonable porous structure, excellent conductivity and hydrophilic surface. Herein, we originally designed nitrogen-doped rod-like porous carbon derived from dual-ligand metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), in which two ligands, namely 1,4-benzenedicarbocylic acid and triethylenediamine, coordinate with zinc (Zn). 1,4-Benzenedicarbocylic acid can be used as a pore-forming agent to increase the specific surface area of the carbon material, and triethylenediamine is used as a nitrogen doping source to increase the hydrophilicity and conductivity of the carbon material. By adjusting the ratio of the two ligands, the optimal specific surface area and nitrogen doping for the carbon material is obtained, thereby achieving the highest removal capacity for capacitive deionization of brine. The obtained carbon materials possess a hierarchical porous structure with moderate nitrogen doping. The large specific surface area of the electrode materials delivers many adsorption sites for adsorption of salt ions. The hierarchically porous structure provides rapid transport channels for salt ions, and high-level N doping enhances the conductivity and hydrophilicity of the carbon materials to some extent. More importantly, the salt removal capacity of the electrodes is as high as 24.17 mg g⁻¹ at 1.2 V in 500 mg L⁻¹ NaCl aqueous solution. Hence, the moderate nitrogen-doping porous carbon material derived from dual-ligand MOFs is a potential electrode material for CDI application. Such results provide a new method for the preparation of high-performance electrodes to remove ions from saline water.