The carbon supercapacitance strongly relies upon the electrolyte’s nature, but the clear-cut structure–performance nexus remains elusive. Herein, a series of bio-carbons with gradually varied pore structure and surface chemistry are derived using a new salt template protocol (with eco-benign KNO₃ as the template, activator, and porogen, and cheap gelatin as the carbon precursor), and are used as model systems to probe the dependence of the electrochemical mechanism of such nanocarbons on two typical electrolytes (KOH and EMIBF₄). By only adjusting the KNO₃ dosage, two pivotal figures of merit of biochar—multiscale porosity and surface functionalization—were finely modulated to construct electric double layers. Electrochemical data clarify that the combined porosity and doping effects all contribute to enhanced supercapacitance, but with only one of the two factors playing the leading role in different electrolytes. Kinetic analysis corroborates the fact that ample heteroatom doping can effectively compensate capacitance by intensive surface redox insertion in KOH, while a suitable pore size dispersion plays a preponderant part in self-amplifying the ion partitioning, and thus dictating a good charge separation in EMIBF₄. A quasi-quantitative model of performance–structure relevance in EMIBF₄ is judiciously conjectured to hint at a superb ion–pore-size compatibility, in which the bi- and mono-layer ion confinement coupling in integrated single and double ion-sized pores is found to be more useful for curbing notorious over-screening effects and for changing the coordination number, Coulombic ordering, and phase conformation of EMIBF₄ in several nm-sized nanopores. This unique energy storage fashion in ion-matching pores promotes the energy density of optimal samples to a novel level of 88.3 Wh kg⁻¹ at 1 kW kg⁻¹, which rivals the overwhelming majority of the reported carbon materials. In short, the comparison case study here reveals a valuable correlation of carbon’s figure of merit and electrolyte type, which may act as a vital rudder to design electrolyte-contingent state-of-the-art supercapacitor materials.

The chemical wet dust removal method is one of the hot methods for coal dust control, and the key to its success lies in whether the surface of coal dust can be well wetted or not. Nowadays, the wetting mechanism of the coal dust surface is understudied, limiting the further application of chemical wet dust removal. Thus, the exploration of the wetting mechanism based on the microscopic molecular structure characteristics of the coal surface provides a new solution to improve the wet dust removal efficiency. Herein, the bituminous coal collected from 3 groups of coal seams in the Pingdingshan mining area was used as the object of study to reveal the microscopic wetting mechanism. Proximate analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance carbon spectroscopy (¹³C NMR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) can well distinguish the microstructural information of the coal surface, enabling building the molecular structure models of three groups of coal. Joint contact angle experiments were conducted to explore the influencing factors between the molecular structure of coal dust and its wettability. Molecular simulation techniques, combined with indoor experiments, were used to explore the essential causes of the differences in the wetting mechanisms of bituminous coal dust. The results showed that the composition and structure of carbon and oxygen elements on the coal surface has a significant effect on the wettability of coal dust. The higher the relative content of aromatic carbon and oxygen elements, the better the wettability of the coal surface. An opposite trend occurred for the aliphatic carbon. The difference in wettability of coal surfaces mainly stems from the ability of hydrophilic functional groups on coal surfaces to form hydrogen bonds with water molecules. The aromatic hydrocarbon structure has a much greater ability to adsorb water molecules than the aliphatic hydrocarbon structure. The research results can provide scientific guidance for the design of efficient and environmentally friendly dust suppressants to realize clean coal production in mines.

The selective oxidation of organic small molecules not only promotes cathodic hydrogen production, but also acts as an alternative reaction to the anodic oxygen evolution reaction of electrolytic water, producing value-added products at the anode. In this context, a bimetallic Ni–Co based oxide with a controllable ratio is prepared, acting as a high-performance electrocatalyst for the coupling reaction between the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The optimal Ni_0.67Co_0.33O_x nanoparticle (NP) anodic electrode, with Pt wire as the cathode, achieved a current density of 126 mA cm⁻² at a fixed potential of 1.6 V (versus RHE) and an ethanol-to-acetate Faraday efficiency of 85.74%. Additionally, the anodic EOR can be coupled with the hydrogen evolution reaction on the Co₃O₄-based cathode, only requiring a cell voltage of 1.6 V to generate a current density up to 145 mA cm⁻². Further density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that moderate doping of Co atoms helps to reduce the total energy barrier of the dehydrogenation reaction and the energy of the rate-limiting step. Our study provides insightful findings for enhanced hydrogen production with electrochemical conversion into acetate from ethanol in alkaline media.

Pd nanoparticles (NPs) supported on polyaniline (PANI)-coated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesized using a low-cost and simple method for application in the Heck reaction. The effects of the PANI/CNT coating weight ratio on the catalytic stability and recyclability of the composite were determined by using a combination of experimental and computational methods. The results show that through coordination of the N-species in PANI with the Pd NPs, the nitrogen-rich PANI@CNT provides a strong support for the Pd NPs. The thickness of the PANI layer is the key in determining the stability of the catalyst. PANI becomes protonated in the presence of CNTs, as electron transfer from the former to the latter creates strong interactions between the two. Thus, PANI becomes more stable in nanocomposites with a higher CNT content, e.g., PANI/CNT = 0.5 : 1. The catalyst with a PANI/CNT ratio of 0.5 : 1 exhibited the best recycling performance, and only a small loss of activity was observed after 10 cycles. However, upon increasing the PANI content (e.g., PANI/CNT = 4 : 1), the PANI units tend to form bulk structures that are less stable than those that wrap around the CNTs. Such a structure is unstable; therefore, the PANI layers can easily deform or break away from the CNT backbones. Hence, these catalysts deactivate during recycling. Thus, our study demonstrates that the assembly of noble-metal NPs on CNTs bearing a thin coaxial PANI coating is a powerful technique to prepare reusable catalysts for the Heck reaction. Coating thickness is also a key factor affecting the efficiency and stability of the catalyst.

Non-covalent interaction governed supercapacitive energy storage in metal–organic complexes.

Carbon-based materials, as some of the most important electrode materials for supercapacitors (SC), have spurred enormous attentions. Now, it is highly desirable but remains an open challenge to design stable and high-capacity carbons for further enhancing supercapacitive function. Here, a facile chemical activation recipe is introduced to develop biomass-derived functional carbons using cheap and abundant natural resources, anthracite, as the heteroatom-rich carbon sources, and potassium hydroxide (KOH) as activator. These porous carbons have high BET surface areas of roughly 2814 m² g⁻¹, large pore volumes of up to 1.531 cm³ g⁻¹, and a high porosity that combines micro- and small-sized mesopores. The optimal nanocarbon features two additional outstanding virtues: an appropriate N-doping level (2.77%) and a uniform pore size distribution in the narrow range of 1–4 nm. Synergy of the above unique structural traits and desirable chemical composition endows resultant samples with the much boosted supercapacitive property with remarkable specific capacitance at varied current densities (e.g., 325 F g⁻¹ at 0.5 A/g), impressive energy/power density, and long cycling stability over 5000 cycles at 10 A g⁻¹ (92% capacity retention). When constructing the symmetric supercapacitor utilizing a common neutral Na₂SO₄ electrolyte that can strongly circumvent the corrosion effect occurring in the strong acid/alkaline solutions, both an elevated operation voltage at 1.8 V and a fascinating energy density of 23.5 Wh kg⁻¹ are attained. The current study paves the way to explore the stable, efficient, and high-voltage SC assembled by the anthracite-derived porous doped nanocarbons for a wide spectrum of applications like automobiles, vehicle devices, and so on.