The effect of isovalent isomorphism to minimize lithium trapping enables a high initial Coulombic efficiency of Si anode.

In this work, ultra-small Cu₂O nanoparticles have been loaded on TiO₂ nanosheets with {001} facets exposed through a one-pot hydrothermal reaction. These Cu₂O nanoparticles are well-dispersed on TiO₂ nanosheets with narrow size distributions and controllable sizes from 1.5 to 3.0 nm. Through XRD, TEM, N₂ absorption–desorption isotherms and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra, the Cu₂O/TiO₂ nanosheets show similar phase structures, morphologies, pore structures as compared to pure TiO₂ nanosheets. Due to the loading of ultra-small Cu₂O nanoparticles, heterojunctions are formed between Cu₂O and TiO₂, which favors the efficient separation of photo-generated electrons and holes. Caused by the electron transfer from Cu₂O to TiO₂, Cu₂O/TiO₂ nanosheets show excellent visible-light activity, about 3 times that of N-doped TiO₂ nanosheets with {001} facets exposed. Furthermore, charge transfer rate across the interface of Cu₂O and TiO₂ shows great dependence on the size of Cu₂O particles. The charge transfer across the interface may be more efficient between TiO₂ nanosheets and smaller Cu₂O nanoparticles. Therefore, the Ti : Cu = 30 : 1(atomic ratio) sample shows the best activity due to its balance in light harvest and electron transfer rate in the degradation of phenol under visible light.

Nanoporous iron metal foams were synthesized by an improved sol-gel autocombustion method in this report. It has been confirmed to be pure phase iron by X-ray diffraction measurements. The nanoporous characteristics were illustrated through scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope images. Very low density and quite large saturation magnetization has been performed in the synthesized samples.

Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ (HZO) thin films have been deposited on (110)-oriented SrTiO₃ (STO) substrates buffered with epitaxial La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO) by pulsed laser deposition. The HZO/LSMO/STO heterostructures show smooth surface and clear interface. It is observed that ferroelectric orthorhombic HZO is enhanced, as non-polar tetragonal HZO is suppressed with the increasing LSMO thickness or decreasing HZO thickness. Completely orthorhombic HZO films are achieved with desired LSMO and HZO thickness. These HZO films are (111)-oriented with in-plane [$\overline{2}$ 11] and [0$\overline{1}$ 1] directions along LSMO [1$\overline{1}$ 0] and [001], respectively, and exhibit ferroelectric properties at room temperature with an optimized remanent polarization around 26 μC/cm² without the need of a wake-up process, a long retention up to 10⁴ s and a fatigue endurance up to 10⁹ cycles. Epitaxial HfO₂-based films with robust ferroelectric properties deposited on (110)-oriented STO substrates provide additional opportunities to understand the profound effects of orientation, strain, and interface microstructures on the metastable polar phases and ferroelectric properties of HfO₂ thin films.