The electrochemical performance of MnO 2 nanorods prepared by a precipitation reaction was investigated in 0.5 mol/L Li 2 SO 4 , Na 2 SO 4 , and K 2 SO 4 aqueous electrolyte solutions. Results show that at the slow scan rates, the nanorods show the largest capacitance (201 F/g) in Li 2 SO 4 electrolyte since the reversible intercalation/ deintercalation of Li + in the solid phase produces an additional capacitance besides the capacitance based on the absorption/desorption reaction. At fast scan rates they show the largest capacitance in the K 2 SO 4 electrolyte due to the smallest hydration radius of K + , highest ionic conductivity, and lowest equivalent series resistance (ESR). An asymmetric activated carbon (AC)/K 2 SO 4 /MnO 2 supercapacitor could be cycled reversibly between 0 and 1.8 V with an energy density of 17 Wh/kg at 2 kW/kg, much higher than those of the AC/K 2 SO 4 /AC supercapacitor and AC/Li 2 SO 4 /LiMn 2 O 4 hybrid supercapacitor. Moreover, this supercapacitor exhibits excellent cycling behavior with no more than 6% capacitance loss after 23 000 cycles at 10C rate even when the dissolved oxygen is not removed.

Hydrogen dissociation is a critical step in many hydrogenation reactions central to industrial chemical production and pollutant removal. This step typically utilizes the favorable band structure of precious metal catalysts like platinum and palladium to achieve high efficiency under mild conditions. Here we demonstrate that aluminum nanocrystals (Al NCs), when illuminated, can be used as a photocatalyst for hydrogen dissociation at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, despite the high activation barrier toward hydrogen adsorption and dissociation. We show that hot electron transfer from Al NCs to the antibonding orbitals of hydrogen molecules facilitates their dissociation. Hot electrons generated from surface plasmon decay and from direct photoexcitation of the interband transitions of Al both contribute to this process. Our results pave the way for the use of aluminum, an earth-abundant, nonprecious metal, for photocatalysis.

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