The stability of Zn anode in various Zn-based energy storage devices is the key problem to be solved. Herein, aromatic aldehyde additives are selected to modulate the interface reactions between the Zn anode and electrolyte. Through comprehensively considering electrochemical measurements, DFT calculations and FEA simulations, novel mechanisms of one kind of aromatic aldehyde, veratraldehyde in inhibiting Zn dendrite/by-products can be obtained. This additive prefers to absorb on the Zn surface than H₂O molecules and Zn²⁺, while competes with hydrogen evolution reaction and Zn plating/stripping process via redox reactions, thus preventing the decomposition of active H₂O near the interface and uncontrollable Zn dendrite growth via a synactic absorption-competition mechanism. As a result, Zn–Zn symmetric cells with the veratraldehyde additive realize an excellent cycling life of 3200 h under 1 mA cm⁻²/1 mAh cm⁻² and over 800 h even under 5 mA cm⁻²/5 mAh cm⁻². Moreover, Zn–Ti and Zn–MnO₂ cells with the veratraldehyde additive both obtain elevated performance than that with pure ZnSO₄ electrolyte. Finally, two more aromatic aldehyde additives are chosen to prove their universality in stabilizing Zn anodes.

Simultaneous determination of ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA) and uric acid (UA) is always of vital importance for clinical diagnosis and healthcare. Hereby, a gold nanoparticle decorated polypyrrole/graphene oxide composite on carbon fiber paper (AuNPs@GO/PPy/CFP) was facilely prepared via a two-step method. Instead of reducing GO to rGO for better conductivity, GO was combined with PPy retaining its abundant oxygen containing functional groups, which is in favor of electrochemical sensing. The as-prepared electrode was evaluated in the simultaneous determination of AA, DA and UA. During the electro-oxidation of these analytes, three well-defined peaks with low overpotentials at −0.02 V, +0.16 V and +0.28 V were observed on the modified electrode. The linear response ranges obtained were 10–1600 μM, 0.2–60 μM and 2–360 μM with the corresponding detection limits of 2.43 μM, 0.115 μM and 1.68 μM (signal/noise = 3), respectively, for AA, DA and UA. This indicates that the as-prepared electrode has an excellent catalytic capability and high selectivity for the simultaneous determination of AA, DA and UA. In addition, the modified electrode showed satisfactory results when applied in real samples, suggesting the promising potential of AuNPs@GO/PPy/CFP for practical application in complex biological systems.

Nanoporous gold (NPG) films were fabricated on Ni foam substrates via a two-step procedure which involves electrodeposition of Au–Sn alloy films on the Ni foam surface, followed by selectively leaching the Sn component through a chemical dealloying process. Pd nanoparticles were then electrochemically deposited on the NPG/Ni foam electrode. The morphology of the Pd-decorated NPG/Ni foam composite electrode (Pd@NPG/Ni foam) was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The catalytic activity of the Pd@NPG/Ni foam composite electrode toward H₂O₂ electroreduction in acid media was evaluated by means of linear scan voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The Pd@NPG/Ni foam composite electrode exhibited high activity and excellent stability for the H₂O₂ electroreduction, generating a current density of 178 mA cm⁻² at 0 V in a 0.5 M H₂SO₄ + 0.6 M H₂O₂ electrolyte, in comparison to 98 mA cm⁻² on the Pd@Ni foam electrode and 36 mA cm⁻² on the NPG/Ni foam electrode. The developed three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical porous Pd@NPG/Ni foam can therefore be considered as a promising type of electrode for fuel cell applications.