Mesoporous nitrogen-doped carbon materials with high surface areas up to 1500 m(2) g(-1) were conveniently made by the carbonization of nucleobases dissolved in an all-organic ionic liquid (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide). Using hard templating with silica nanoparticles, this process yields high-surface-area nitrogen-doped carbon materials with nitrogen contents as high as 12 wt %, narrow mesopore size distribution of ca. 12 nm diameter, and local graphitic carbon structure. It is demonstrated that the resulting nitrogen-doped carbons show very high catalytic activity, even in the metal-free case in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for fuel cells. Specifically, the as-prepared materials exhibit a low onset voltage for ORR in alkaline medium and a high methanol tolerance, compared with those of commercial 20 wt % Pt/C catalyst. We regard this as a first step toward an all-sustainable fuel cell, avoiding noble metals.

A solid electrolyte framework with porous and dense layers for high-energy and safe Li-metal batteries.

Sodium ion batteries (SIBs) have been considered as a top alternative to lithium ion batteries due to the earth abundance and low cost of sodium compared with lithium. Among all proposed anode materials for SIBs, red phosphorus (P) is a very promising candidate because it has the highest theoretical capacity (∼2600 mAh/g). In this study, a red P-single-walled carbon nanotube (denoted as red P-SWCNT) composite, in which red P is uniformly distributed between tangled SWCNTs bundles, is fabricated by a modified vaporization-condensation method. Benefiting from the nondestructive preparation process, the highly conductive and mechanically strong SWCNT network is preserved, which enhances the conductivity of the composite and stabilizes the solid electrolyte interphase. As a result, the red P-SWCNT composite presents a high overall sodium storage capacity (∼700 mAh/gcomposite at 50 mA/gcomposite), fast rate capability (∼300 mAh/gcomposite at 2000 mA/gcomposite), and stable long-term cycling performance with 80% capacity retention after 2000 sodiation-desodiation cycles. The red P-SWCNT composite fabricated by the vaporization-condensation method significantly extends the cycling stability of P/carbon composite from current ∼100 cycles to ∼2000 cycles.