Zheng‐Ze Pan

Honeycomb structures have been attracting attention from researchers mainly for their high strength-to-weight ratio. As one type of structure, honeycomb monoliths having microscopically dimensioned channels have recently gained many achievements since their emergence. Inspired by the microhoneycomb structure that occurs in natural tree xylems, we have been focusing on the assembly of such a structure by using the major component in tree xylem, cellulose, as the starting material. Through the pat

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are considered as one of the most promising energy storage systems for next-generation electric vehicles because of their high-energy density. However, the poor cyclic stability, especially at a high sulfur loading, is the major obstacles retarding their practical use. Inspired by the nacre structure of an abalone, a similar configuration consisting of layered carbon nanotube (CNT) matrix and compactly embedded sulfur is designed as the cathode for Li-S batteries,

Controlling the microstructure of biomass-derived carbon is of essential importance for directing its use. Herein, a hollow spherical carbon (HSC) was prepared from corncob lignin through spray drying and subsequent heat treatment. The HSC, which is characterized by its hierarchically porous structure, delivers high rate capability when it is directly used as electrode material for supercapacitors. This strategy that uses lignin as the precursor avoids the intrinsic difficulty in tuning the micr

Abstract The ice-templating (IT) approach has become a popular way to prepare macroporous monoliths due to environmental friendliness and low cost, as well as the controllability of the macroporosity and exterior structures. In particular, a directional freezing process induces the formation of aligned ice-crystals that afford a brand-new material genre: aligned macroporous monoliths (AMMs). This short review gives an overview of the IT technique and the preparation of AMMs, with a subsequent un

The precise control of the ice crystal growth during a freezing process is of essential importance for achieving porous cryogels with desired architectures. The present work reports a systematic study on the achievement of multi-structural cryogels from a binary dispersion containing 50 wt% 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-oxyl, radical-mediated oxidized cellulose nanofibers (TOCNs), and 50 wt% graphene oxide (GO) via the unidirectional freeze-drying (UDF) approach. It is found that the increase i

Abstract High-temperature annealing is an effective way to heal the defects of graphene-based nanocarbons and enhance their crystallinity. However, the thermally induced vibration of the graphene building blocks often leads to unfavorable micro-, nano-structural evolution including layer stacking. Herein, the key structural factors to achieve highly crystalline graphene frameworks with desired microstructures upon annealing at 1800 °C is revealed. The structural changes of fullerenes, single-wal

In recent decades, catalysis has witnessed increasing interests in many catalytic reactions with bulk phase and interface charge transfer steps as a distinguished feature. Here, the charge can be cations, anions, electrons or holes. Research into both bulk phase and interface charge transfer has changed our understanding and in-focus design of catalysts and reactors, due to the clear difference in kinetics from those classical catalytic reactions, where only surface steps are concerned. This per

Rechargeable lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) batteries have been regarded as a promising energy storage device, but its practical use is impeded by its low energy efficiency. Herein, a bi-functional catalytic perovskite LaNi0.5Co0.5O3 (LNCO) is employed as the cathode of an efficient Li-O2 battery with a molten nitrate salt electrolyte at 160 °C. It displays a stable low charge–discharge overpotential 50 mV with a high energy efficiency (EE) 98.2 % at 0.1 mA cm−2 for over 100 cycles. The excellent perfor

Due to the manufacturability of highly well-defined structures and wide-range versatility in its microstructure, SiO₂ is an attractive template for synthesizing graphene frameworks with the desired pore structure. However, its intrinsic inertness constrains the graphene formation via methane chemical vapor deposition. This work overcomes this challenge by successfully achieving uniform graphene coating on a trimethylsilyl-modified SiO₂ (denote TMS-MPS). Remarkably, the onse

Abstract This study proposes a next‐generation model membrane electrode for fundamental electrochemical research of amorphous‐based porous carbon materials. This novel electrode is fabricated by the uniform carbon coating of anodic aluminum oxide formed on an Al substrate and free from a barrier layer. The conformally carbon‐coated layer forms vertically aligned giant carbon nanotubes, and their walls comprise low‐crystalline stacked graphene sheets. The diameter and the length of the nanopores

In lithium-oxygen batteries, although the porous carbon cathodes are widely utilized to tailor the properties of discharged Li₂O₂, the impact of nanopore size on the Li₂O₂ formation and decomposition reactions remain incompletely understood. Here, we provide the straightforward elucidation on the effect of pore size in a range of 25-200 nm, using a highly ordered porous cathode matrix based on the carbon-coated anodic aluminum oxide membrane formed on

Electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) have attracted significant attention in the field of energy storage due to their high specific power, superior safety, and long cycle life. However, commercially available electrode materials, such as activated carbons, are still facing the challenge of low energy density. Graphene mesosponge (GMS) has shown promise as an electrode material for EDLCs due to its mesoporous structure, large specific surface area, and edge-free properties that allow operatio

Monolithic honeycomb structures have been attractive to multidisciplinary fields due to their high strength-to-weight ratio. Particularly, microhoneycomb monoliths (MHMs) with micrometer-scale channels are expected as efficient platforms for reactions and separations because of their large surface areas. Up to now, MHMs have been prepared by a unidirectional freeze-drying (UDF) method only from very limited precursors. Herein, we report a protocol from which a series of MHMs consisting of differ

Mesoporous carbon materials, known as graphene mesosponges (GMS), exhibit remarkable flexibility. These materials are expected to advance the field of physical chemistry through the investigation of phenomena induced by significant deformation of mesopores when mechanical forces are applied. In this work, GMS has been synthesized in the form of spherical microparticles, namely micro-spherical GMS (ms-GMS). The remarkable flexibility of ms-GMS has been validated through mercury intrusion tests, a

Allergic reactions can profoundly influence the quality of life. To address the health risks posed by allergens and overcome the permeability limitations of the current filter materials, this work introduces a novel microhoneycomb (MH) material for practical filter applications such as masks. Through a synthesis process integrating ice-templating and a gas-phase post-treatment with silane, MH achieves unprecedented levels of moisture resistance and mechanical stability while preserving the highl