Binders have been reported to play a key role in improving the cycle performance of Si anode materials of lithium‐ion batteries. In this study, the biopolymer guar gum (GG) is applied as the binder for a silicon nano­particle (SiNP) anode of a lithium‐ion battery for the first time. Due to the large number of polar hydroxyl groups in the GG molecule, a robust interaction between the GG binder and the SiNPs is achieved, resulting in a stable Si anode during cycling. More specifically, the GG binder can effectively transfer lithium ions to the Si surface, similarly to polyethylene oxide solid electrolytes. When GG is used as a binder, the SiNP anode can deliver an initial discharge capacity as high as 3364 mAh g−1, with a Coulombic efficiency of 88.3% at the current density of 2100 mA g−1, and maintain a capacity of 1561 mAh g−1 after 300 cycles. The study shows that the electrochemical performance of the SiNP anode with GG binder is significantly improved compared to that of a SiNP anode with a sodium alginate binder, and it demonstrates that GG is a promising binder for Si anodes of lithium‐ion batteries.

High-loading sulfur electrode with ultrahigh areal capacity was easily achieved by exploiting a robust and efficient biopolymer network binder.

Ethyl 2-methyl-2,3-butadienoate acts as a 1,4-dipole synthon and undergoes [4 + 2] annulation with N-tosylimines in the presence of an organic phosphine catalyst. The resulting adducts, ethyl 6-substituted-1-(4-tosyl)-1,2,5,6-tetrahydro-pyridine-3-carboxylates, are formed in excellent yields with complete regioselectivity. Mechanistic reasoning for this new annulation has led to an expansion of the reaction scope by employing ethyl 2-(substituted-methyl)-2,3-butadienoates to give ethyl 2,6-cis-disubstituted-1-(4-tosyl)-1,2,5,6-tetrahydro-pyridine-3-carboxylates with high diastereoselectivities.

The molecular-level motions of a coronene-based supramolecular rotator are amplified into macroscopic changes of crystals by co-assembly of coronene and TCNB (1,2,4,5-tetracyanobenzene) into a charge-transfer complex. The as-prepared cocrystals show remarkable self-healing behavior and thermo-mechanical responses during thermally-induced reversible single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) phase transitions. Comprehensive analysis of the microscopic observations as well as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements and crystal habits reveal that a thermally-reduced-rate-dependent dynamic character exists in the phase transition. The crystallographic studies show that the global similarity of the packing patterns of both phases with local differences, such as molecular stacking sequence and orientations, should be the origin of the self-healing behavior of these crystals.

An alginate hydrogel binder is prepared through the cross linking effect of Na alginate with Ca(2+) ions, which leads to a remarkable improvement in the electrochemical performance of the Si/C anode of a Li-ion battery.