TY - JOUR A1 - Mei, Shilin A1 - Jafta, Charl J. A1 - Lauermann, Iver A1 - Ran, Qidi A1 - Kaergell, Martin A1 - Ballauff, Matthias A1 - Lu, Yan T1 - Porous Ti4O7 Particles with Interconnected-Pore Structure as a High-Efficiency Polysulfide Mediator for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries JF - Advanced functional materials N2 - Multifunctional Ti4O7 particles with interconnected-pore structure are designed and synthesized using porous poly(styrene-b-2-vinylpyridine) particles as a template. The particles can work efficiently as a sulfur-host material for lithium-sulfur batteries. Specifically, the well-defined porous Ti4O7 particles exhibit interconnected pores in the interior and have a high-surface area of 592 m(2) g(-1); this shows the advantage of mesopores for encapsulating of sulfur and provides a polar surface for chemical binding with polysulfides to suppress their dissolution. Moreover, in order to improve the conductivity of the electrode, a thin layer of carbon is coated on the Ti4O7 surface without destroying its porous structure. The porous Ti4O7 and carbon-coated Ti4O7 particles show significantly improved electrochemical performances as cathode materials for Li-S batteries as compared with those of TiO2 particles. KW - lithium-sulfur batteries KW - porous particles KW - poly(styrene-b-2-vinylpyridine) (PS-P2VP) KW - Ti4O7 Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201701176 SN - 1616-301X SN - 1616-3028 VL - 27 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jia, He A1 - Gao, Haitao A1 - Mei, Shilin A1 - Kneer, Janosch A1 - Lin, Xianzhong A1 - Ran, Qidi A1 - Wang, Fuxian A1 - Palzer, Stefan A1 - Lu, Yan T1 - Cu2O@PNIPAM core-shell microgels as novel inkjet materials for the preparation of CuO hollow porous nanocubes gas sensing layers JF - Journal of materials chemistry : C, Materials for optical and electronic devices N2 - There has been long-standing interest in developing metal oxide-based sensors with high sensitivity, selectivity, fast response and low material consumption. Here we report for the first time the utilization of Cu2O@PNIPAM core-shell microgels with a nanocube-shaped core structure for construction of novel CuO gas sensing layers. The hybrid microgels show significant improvement in colloidal stability as compared to native Cu2O nanocubes. Consequently, a homogeneous thin film of Cu2O@PNIPAM nanoparticles can be engineered in a quite low solid content (1.5 wt%) by inkjet printing of the dispersion at an optimized viscosity and surface tension. Most importantly, thermal treatment of the Cu2O@PNIPAM microgels forms porous CuO nanocubes, which show much faster response to relevant trace NO2 gases than sensors produced from bare Cu2O nanocubes. This outcome is due to the fact that the PNIPAM shell can successfully hinder the aggregation of CuO nanoparticles during pyrolysis, which enables full utilization of the sensor layers and better access of the gas to active sites. These results point out great potential of such an innovative system as gas sensors with low cost, fast response and high sensitivity. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c8tc01995a SN - 2050-7526 SN - 2050-7534 VL - 6 IS - 27 SP - 7249 EP - 7256 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER -