A detrimental competition between the urea oxidation reaction (UOR) and oxygen evolution reaction is identified. Strategies are proposed to alleviate such competition and boost the performance of the UOR and other organic compound oxidation reactions.

A uniform dendritic NiCo 2 S 4 @NiCo 2 S 4 hierarchical nanostructure of width ≈100 nm is successfully designed and synthesized. From kinetic analysis of the electrochemical reactions, those electrodes function in rechargeable alkaline batteries (RABs). The dendritic structure exhibited by the electrodes has a high discharge-specific capacity of 4.43 mAh cm −2 at a high current density of 240 mA cm −2 with a good rate capability of 70.1% after increasing the current densities from 40 to 240 mA cm −2 . At low scan rate of 0.5 mV s −1 in cyclic voltammetry test, the semidiffusion controlled electrochemical reaction contributes ≈92% of the total capacity, this value decreases to ≈43% at a high scan rate of 20 mV s −1 . These results enable a detailed analysis of the reaction mechanism for RABs and suggest design concepts for new electrode materials.

A simple method is developed to boost the electrochemical performance of graphitic carbon nitride/graphene composites as supercapacitor electrodes.

The harmful nature of high concentrations of antibiotics to humans and animals requires the urgent development of novel materials and techniques for their absorption. In this work, CTAB (Cetyltrimethyl Ammonium Bromide)-assisted synthesis of ZIF-8 (zeolitic imidazolate framework)-derived hollow carbon (ZHC) was designed, prepared, and used as a high-performance adsorbent, and further evaluated by Langmuir and Freundlich isothermal adsorption experiments, dynamic analysis, as well as theoretical calculation. The maximum capacities of ZHC for adsorbing tetracycline (TC), norfloxacin (NFO), and levofloxacin (OFO) are 267.3, 125.6, and 227.8 mg g−1, respectively, which delivers superior adsorptive performance when compared to widely studied inorganic adsorbates. The design concept of ZIF-8-derived hollow carbon material provides guidance and insights for the efficient adsorbent of environmental antibiotics.

The aerobic oxidation of alcohols and aldehydes over supported heterogeneous catalysts can be considered as comprising two complementary and linked processes: dehydrogenation and oxygen reduction. Significant rate enhancements can be observed when these processes are catalyzed by independent active sites, coupled by electron transport between the two catalysts. This effect, termed cooperative redox enhancement (CORE), could significantly influence how researchers approach catalyst design, but a greater understanding of the factors which influence it is required. Herein, we demonstrate that the Au/Pd ratio used in physical mixtures of monometallic catalysts and phase-separated Au and Pd bimetallic catalysts dramatically influences the degree to which CORE effects can promote alcohol oxidation. Perhaps more interestingly, the roles of Au and Pd in this coupled system are determined to be interchangeable. Preliminarily, we hypothesize that this is attributed to the relative rates of the coupled reactions and demonstrate how physical properties can influence this. This deeper understanding of the factors which influence CORE is an important development in bimetallic catalysis.