Government of the Republic of Korea

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a promising technology for water desalination that has seen tremendous advances over the past five years.

Solar water splitting is a promising approach to transform sunlight into renewable, sustainable and green hydrogen energy. There are three representative ways of transforming solar radiation into molecular hydrogen, which are the photocatalytic (PC), photoelectrochemical (PEC), and photovoltaic-electrolysis (PV-EC) routes. Having the future perspective of green hydrogen economy in mind, this review article discusses devices and systems for solar-to-hydrogen production including comparison of the above solar water splitting systems. The focus is placed on a critical assessment of the key components needed to scale up PEC water splitting systems such as materials efficiency, cost, elemental abundancy, stability, fuel separation, device operability, cell architecture, and techno-economic aspects of the systems. The review follows a stepwise approach and provides (i) a summary of the basic principles and photocatalytic materials employed for PEC water splitting, (ii) an extensive discussion of technologies, procedures, and system designs, and (iii) an introduction to international demonstration projects, and the development of benchmarked devices and large-scale prototype systems. The task of scaling up of laboratory overall water splitting devices to practical systems may be called "an artificial photosynthetic leaf-to-farm challenge".

The inverted CH₃NH₃PbI₃ planar hybrid solar cells exhibited better device efficiency and stability and lower hysteresis than the normal cells.

Herein, we describe simple, fast and reproducible halide ion exchange reactions in CsPbX3 (X = Cl, Br, I) nanocrystals (NCs) at room temperature. Through the simple adjustment of the halide ion concentration, the photoluminescence of these NCs can be tuned over the entire visible region (425-655 nm). Photodetector devices based on entirely inorganic CsPbI3 NCs are demonstrated for the first time. The photodetectors exhibited a good on/off photocurrent ratio of 10(5).

Microplastics have become a major global environmental issue in recent decades due to their ubiquity in the oceans, bioavailability and ability to carry toxic chemicals.

Metal cations and anions are essential for versatile physiological processes. Dysregulation of specific ion levels in living organisms is known to have an adverse effect on normal biological events. Owing to the pathophysiological significance of ions, sensitive and selective methods to detect these species in biological systems are in high demand. Because they can be used in methods for precise and quantitative analysis of ions, organic dye-based ratiometric fluorescent probes have been extensively explored in recent years. In this review, recent advances (2015-2019) made in the development and biological applications of synthetic ratiometric fluorescent probes are described. Particular emphasis is given to organic dye-based ratiometric fluorescent probes that are designed to detect biologically important and relevant ions in cells and living organisms. Also, the fundamental principles associated with the design of ratiometric fluorescent probes and perspectives about how to expand their biological applications are discussed.

To accelerate the deployment of hydrogen produced by renewable solar energy, several technologies have been competitively developed, including photoelectrochemical (PEC), photocatalytic, and photovoltaic-electrolysis routes. In this review, we place PEC in context with these competing technologies and highlight key advantages of PEC systems. After defining the unique performance metrics of the PEC water splitting system, recently developed strategies for enhancing each performance metric, such as the photocurrent density, photovoltage, fill factor, and stability are surveyed in conjunction with the relevant theoretical aspects. In addition, various advanced characterization methods are discussed, including recently developed in situ techniques, allowing us to understand not only the basic properties of materials but also diverse photophysical phenomena underlying the PEC system. Based on the insights gained from these advanced characterization techniques, we not only provide a resource for researchers in the field as well as those who want to join the field, but also offer an outlook of how thin film-based PEC studies could lead to commercially viable water splitting systems.

Oxide perovskites and their derivatives are attractive candidates for the diverse applications in renewable energy conversions due to their unique structural and compositional flexibility and high material stability.

The vanadium redox flow battery, which was first suggested by Skyllas-Kazacos and co-workers in 1985, is an electrochemical storage system which allows energy to be stored in two solutions containing different redox couples.

Despite the prevalence of lithium ion batteries in modern technology, the search for alternative electrochemical systems to complement the global battery portfolio is an ongoing effort. The search has resulted in numerous candidates, among which mildly acidic aqueous zinc ion batteries have recently garnered significant academic interest, mostly due to their inherent safety. As the anode is often fixed as zinc metal in these systems, most studies address the absence of a suitable cathode for reaction with zinc ions. This has led to aggressive research into viable intercalation cathodes, some of which have shown impressive results. However, many investigations often overlook the implications of the zinc metal anode, when in fact the anode is key to determining the energy density of the entire cell. In this regard, we aim to shed light on the importance of the zinc metal anode. This perspective offers a brief discussion of zinc electrochemistry in mildly acidic aqueous environments, along with an overview of recent efforts to improve the performance of zinc metal to extract key lessons for future research initiatives. Furthermore, we discuss the energy density ramifications of the zinc anode with respect to its weight and reversibility through simple calculations for numerous influential reports in the field. Finally, we offer some perspectives on the importance of optimizing zinc anodes as well as a future direction for developing high-performance aqueous zinc ion batteries.

Mesoporous carbon nitrides (MCNs) with large surface areas and tuneable pore diameters are unique semiconducting materials and exhibit excellent physicochemical properties, which promote their application in diverse fields including photocatalysis, sensing, and energy storage and conversion.

This review addresses the recent developments and progress in the synthesis, structure and properties of MXenes, as well as their energy conversion and storage and related applications.

This tutorial review summarizes the continuing exploration of three prominent water-soluble hosts: cucurbiturils, pillar[<italic>n</italic>]arenes and deep-cavity cavitands.

Highly conductive and intrinsically stretchable electrodes are vital components of soft electronics such as stretchable transistors and circuits, sensors and actuators, light-emitting diode arrays, and energy harvesting devices. Many kinds of conducting nanomaterials with outstanding electrical and mechanical properties have been integrated with elastomers to produce stretchable conductive nanocomposites. Understanding the characteristics of these nanocomposites and assessing the feasibility of their fabrication are therefore critical for the development of high-performance stretchable conductors and electronic devices. We herein summarise the recent advances in stretchable conductors based on the percolation networks of nanoscale conductive fillers in elastomeric media. After discussing the material-, dimension-, and size-dependent properties of conductive fillers and their implications, we highlight various techniques that are used to reduce the contact resistance between the conductive filler materials. Furthermore, we categorize elastomer matrices with different stretchabilities and mechanical properties based on their polymeric chain structures. Then, we discuss the fabrication techniques of stretchable conductive nanocomposites toward their use in soft electronics. Finally, we provide representative examples of stretchable device applications and conclude the review with a brief outlook for future research.

production due to their relatively high cost and scarcity. Therefore, the development of alternative inexpensive earth-abundant electrode materials with excellent electrocatalytic properties is of great urgency. In general, efficient electrocatalysts must possess several key characteristics such as low overpotential, good electrocatalytic activity, high stability, and low production costs. Direct synthesis of nanostructured catalysts on a conducting substrate may potentially improve the performance of the resultant electrocatalysts because of their high catalytic surface areas and the synergistic effect between the electrocatalyst and the conductive substrate. In this regard, three dimensional (3D) nickel foams have been advantageously utilized as electrode substrates as they offer a large active surface area and a highly conductive continuous porous 3D network. In this review, we discuss the most recent developments in nanostructured materials directly synthesized on 3D nickel foam as potential electrode candidates for electrochemical water electrolysis, namely, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). We also provide perspectives and outlooks for catalysts grown directly on 3D conducting substrates for future sustainable energy technologies.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by an imbalance between production and clearance of amyloid-β (Aβ) species. Aβ peptides can transform structurally from monomers into β-stranded fibrils via multiple oligomeric states. Among the various Aβ species, structured oligomers are proposed to be more toxic than fibrils; however, the identification of Aβ oligomers has been challenging due to their heterogeneous and metastable nature. Multiple techniques have recently helped us gain a better understanding of oligomers' assembly details and structural properties. Moreover, some progress on elucidating the mechanisms of oligomer-triggered toxicity has been made. Based on the collection of current findings, there is growing consensus that control of toxic Aβ oligomers could be a valid approach to regulate Aβ-associated toxicity, which could advance development of new diagnostics and therapeutics for amyloid-related diseases. In this review, we summarize the recent understanding of Aβ oligomers' assembly, structural properties, and toxicity, along with inhibitors against Aβ aggregation, including oligomerization.

Conceptual visualization of GO effect on fouling.

An <italic>in situ</italic> constructed VO₂–VN binary host was realized to accomplish smooth immobilization–diffusion–conversion of polysulfides, targeting high-sulfur-load Li–S batteries.

). The battery community has witnessed substantial advances in research on new polymeric binders for silicon anodes mainly due to the shortcomings of conventional binders such as polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) to address problems caused by the massive volume change of Si (300%) upon (de)lithiation. Unlike conventional battery electrodes, polymeric binders have been shown to play an active role in silicon anodes to alleviate various capacity decay pathways. While the initial focus in binder research was primarily to maintain the electrode morphology, it has been recently shown that polymeric binders can in fact help to stabilize cracked Si microparticles along with the solid-electrolyte-interphase (SEI) layer, thus substantially improving the electrochemical performance. In this review article, we aim to provide an in-depth analysis and molecular-level design principles of polymeric binders for silicon anodes in terms of their chemical structure, superstructure, and supramolecular interactions to achieve good electrochemical performance. We further highlight that supramolecular chemistry offers practical tools to address challenging problems associated with emerging electrode materials in rechargeable batteries.

absorbent surface chemicals and the addition of modifiers or nano-materials. Hence in the present review, the synthesis methods of GQDs and CQDs has been summarized and their characterization methods also been analyzed. The applications of carbon-based QDs (GQDs and CQDs) in biological and sensing areas, such as biological imaging, drug/gene delivery, antibacterial and antioxidant activity, photoluminescence sensors, electrochemiluminescence sensors and electrochemical sensors, have also been discussed. This study then covers sensing features of key neurotransmitters, including dopamine, tyrosine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin and acetylcholine. Hence, issues and challenges of the GQDs and CQDs were analyzed for their further development.