New article published on the exploration of high entropy materials in the digital age in Advanced Energy Materials. This work was done in collaboration with the KIT (via Ben Breitung and Leonardo Velasco) and is being featured on the front title page.
New paper published in the AAAS journal Research on the use of hollow / nanosheet / needle-like cobalt hydroxide for the use for high performance electrochemical desalination. This material architecture allows for rapid ion removal and high stability in absence of strain-build-up. This work was done in collaboration with the team of Jie Ma at Tongji University.
New paper published in Journal of Physical Chemistry C on the origin of better long-term electrochemical performance of silica-pillared MXene. This unique material provides enhanced performance as an lithium-ion battery electrode (ca. 300 mAh/g at 20 mA/g rate). Although larger volume changes are seen for the pillared MXene, this is not a detriment to the cycling stability. This work was done in collaboration with the teams of Nuria Tapia-Ruiz (Lancaster University) and Nuno Bimbo (now: University of Southampton).
New paper published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials on the use of redox-responsive 2-aminoanthraquinone core-shell particles for structural colors and carbon capture. This work was done in collaboration with the group of Markus Gallei (Saarland University), Karin Jacobs (Saarland University), and T. Alan Hatton (MIT).
New paper published in Current Opinion in Electrochemistry on three generations of electrochemical desalination. Starting with capacitive deionization with carbon in the 1960s to desalination batteries in the 2010 to now including electrocatalytical processes, the field of electrochemical desalination has become truly diverse.
New paper published in Sustainable Energy & Fuels on the degradation processes of lithium iron phosphate during electrochemical lithium recovery. Removal of dissolved oxygen suppresses the degradation but also coating of LFP with a thin layer of carbon. This work was done in collaboration with the group of Guido Kickelbick at Saarland University.
New paper published in ACS Nano on the significantly reduced wear on a metal surface after electro-spray coating with MXene. The work was spearheaded by colleages from Austria (TU Vienna) and Saarland University (MECS), and capitalized on the synergy of collaboration between Austria, Chile, China, Germany, and the United States of America. Our work also was featured in the news, for example:
https://www.tuwien.at/tu-wien/aktuelles/news/2d-nanomaterial-mxene-der-perfekte-schmierstoff
https://cen.acs.org/materials/2-d-materials/MXenes-make-durable-solid-lubricants/99/web/2021/04
New paper published in Cell Reports Physical Science on the use of a conventional fuel cell concept, enhanced by an additional flow channel, for the facile and continuous desalination of seawater. The device consumes oxygen and hydrogen gas and produced electricity, desalted water, and an acid/base couple which conveniently can be used to generate heat.
Our collaborative MXene tribology work to-be-published in ACS Nano tracks media attention:
https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000125999939/neues-2d-wundermaterial-ist-der-perfekte-schmierstoff
https://cen.acs.org/materials/2-d-materials/MXenes-make-durable-solid-lubricants/99/web/2021/04
https://www.tuwien.at/tu-wien/aktuelles/news/2d-nanomaterial-mxene-der-perfekte-schmierstoff
New paper published in Macromolecular Rapid Communications. Our collaborative with with colleagues from Saarland University (teams of Markus Gallei and Andre Schäfer) and TU Darmstadt shows the synthesis of polyferocenylmethylene and its properties (showcasing reversible electrochemistry).
New paper published in Chemical Communications on the synthesis and electrochemical application of titania-loaded carbon spherogels. This work continues our collaboration on spherogels with many scientists, foremost with Michael Elsaesser (see his website www.carbon-spherogels.com)
New paper published in Chemical Engineering Journal on the correlation of ion size / hydrated ion / pore size of sub-1-nm carbon pores. The work was done in collaboration with the team of Guang Feng (HUST, China). The work demonstrates how ion selectivity in mixed ionic systems cannot reliably be predicted by single-salt baseline testing. Also, we demonstrate the importance of durability testing since effects such as ion sieving may very well vary and change over time.
I gratefully acknowledge that today, my google scholar h-index reached a new, round number: 60! This is a great achievement and testament the hard work of our team and to our many collaborators!
New paper published in Macromolecular Rapid Communications on mechanochromic and pH dependend properties of dye loaded opal structures. This work was done in collaboration with Markus Gallei (Saarland University).
New paper published in ChemSusChem on the use of carbide-derived oxide for high performance lithium-ion battery application. The mechanochemical synthesis of the carbide is of particular interest because of potentially environmentally friendly processing route. This work was done in collaboration with Lars Borchardt (RUB).
New paper published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A on the use of antimony for water desalination. This may sound, at first, like a contradiction when considering that Sb is not stable in water; yet, the use of a ceramic membrane and an organic electrolyte environment engulfing the antimony electrode allows the stable and high-performance removal of sodium via the antimony – sodium – alloying reaction.
New paper published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A on the use of metal sulfide / graphene electrodes for use in ionic liquid supercapacitors. This work was done in collaboration with colleagues from the Czech Republic (among others: Palacky University and University of Pardubice) and spearheaded by Aristides Bakandritsos and his Ph.D. student Smita V. Talande. We are grateful to be featured on the back cover.
New paper published in Carbon on the effect of pore geometry on hydrogen storage. This work was done in collaboration with several groups from UK, France, and Singapore and lead by the team from University of Bristol (Velaska Ting).
New paper published in Nature Communications on the ion transport in carbon nanopores. The charge storage kinetics (and discharge process) of ionic liquid supercapacitors can significantly be enhanced when employing non-conventional charge/discharge profiles – and: slower is faster! This work was done in collaboration with colleagues from Stuttgart (both MPI for Intelligent Systems and University of Stuttgart), Slavko Kondrat (Institute of Physical Chemistry, Poland), and Layla Mehdi (University of Liverpool, UK).
New paper published in Energy Technology on the benefits (and design considerations) of carbon onion / lithium titanate hybrid electrodes for advanced lithium-ion battery applications.