Nanowires: Synthesis and Energy/Environmental Applications

Abstract

Due to various worldwide energy and environmental issues, such as global warming, energy consumption, and pollution, the sustainable development of human society is facing great challenges. Although tremendous efforts have been made to solve these problems, for example, searching for clean energy resources (solar energy, wind, and nuclear energy, etc.), developing efficient energy storage devices (batteries and supercapacitors), exploring new technologies for air/water purification, and replacing products produced by consuming huge natural resources and causing severe pollutions with environmentally friendly ones, more intensive investigations on developing new highperformance materials are in urgent need in the energy and environment-related fields. [1][2][3] As the most stable crystalline phase of calcium phosphates, hydroxyapatite (Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 (OH) 2 , HAP) is the main inorganic component of human bones and teeth. [4] Benefiting from excellent biocompatibility/bioactivity and good biodegradability, HAP biomaterials have been intensively investigated and widely used in the biomedical field, such as drug delivery, protein adsorption, bone regeneration, and bio-imaging. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] There have been some review articles summarizing the biomedical applications of HAP-based biomaterials. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] However, the studies on energy and environmental applications of HAP nanostructured materials have been seldom reported in the literature. [19][20][21] Recently, one great progress was made by the authors' research group. We developed the calcium oleate precursor solvothermal method for the synthesis of ultralong HAP nanowires (HAP NWs) and invented a new kind of fire-resistant inorganic paper using ultralong HAP nanowires as the building material for the first time. [22][23][24] Different from the traditional cellulose fiber paper which is highly flammable and not resistant to high temperatures, this new kind of fire-resistant inorganic paper exhibits high-biocompatibility, high-flexibility, high-whiteness, excellent resistance to both high temperatures and fire, and can be used for writing and printing. The fire-resistant inorganic paper has various promising applications in a variety of fields such as specialty paper, biomedical, environmental and energy areas. Moreover, the HAP NWs have abundant hydroxyl functional groups on the surface that can be functionalized and modified for different purposes. Owing to these unique properties, HAP NWs have attracted considerable attention for applications in various fields such as biomedical, energy and environment, and many exciting results were reported since then. [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] Considering the increasing research interest and growing number of publications, it is desirable to provide a timely and systematic overview of recent advances in the studies on HAP NWs and their energy and environmental applications.In this review, we first provide a brief introduction to the synthesis of HAP NWs (Figu...

Thermal‐Responsive and Fire‐Resistant Materials for High‐Safety Lithium‐Ion Batteries

“…membranes and aerogels. [104][105][106] In 2017, a new fire-resistant separator for safe LIBs was developed based on HAP NWs and cellulose fibers (CFs) (Figure 9A). [94] Both the HAP NWs and CFs possessed abundant functional groups on the fiber surfaces, which were beneficial for their self-assembly.…”

The gorgeous transformation of paper: from cellulose paper to inorganic paper to 2D paper materials with multifunctional properties

“…In recent years, the emerging “paper-like” inorganic materials, including carbon-based paper such as graphene paper 9 and graphene oxide paper, 10 hydroxyapatite (HAP)-based paper, 11 Si-based paper 12 and other inorganic paper, 13,14 have been extensively studied for their potential applications based on their characteristics. For example, HAP-based paper possesses a series of merits such as good biocompatibility, flexibility, flame resistance, and thermal insulating properties, 15 providing potential opportunities for multifunctional applications in flame-retardant paper-making, fire alarms, photothermal paper-making, etc. Recently, the carbon-based composite paper containing CNT, graphene, and graphene oxide also showed promising applications, especially in flexible energy-storage devices 16 and smart actuators.…”

Novel inorganic fillers of 1D hydroxyapatite nanowires induced superior energy storage performances of P(VDF–HFP)-based composite films

“…[36][37][38][39][40] Based on the advantages of 1D nanollers, in the present work, large-aspect-ratio 1D hydroxyapatite nanowires (HAP NWs) as llers were prepared by a hydrothermal method, owing to their mediate-K ($150) and low dielectric loss, mechanical strength, thermal stability, and superior dielectric breakdown strength. [41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] Meanwhile, amorphous Al 2 O 3 with excellent insulating properties (energy band gap $ 6.8 eV, E b $ 800-1000 MV m −1 ) was chosen as the interface layer to reduce the electric eld distortion driven by the large dielectric mismatch between HAP NWs and the polymer matrix, and thus signicantly enhancing E b . 15,16,20,29,35,49 Moreover, 1D core-shell structured hydroxyapatite@Al 2 O 3 nanowires (HAP@Al 2 O 3 NWs) as llers introduced into poly(vinylidene uoride-co-hexauoropropene) P(VDF-HFP) could signicantly improve E b and U d of nanocomposites.…”