A series of novel titanium-oxo-clusters (TOCs, including Zn-Ti₁₁ and Cd-Ti₁₁) was designed for supercapacitors, expanding the potential application of TOCs. These materials demonstrate the benefits of titanium-based materials through their excellent pseudocapacitive energy storage capabilities. The prepared supercapacitor exhibited impressive performance, with a maximum power density of 9.5 W·kg^-1 and an energy density of 463 Wh·kg^-1.

To reduce the "shuttle effects" of lithium polysulfides (LIPs) and the lithium dendrites in Li-S batteries, the separator modified by hollow carbon material was prepared by the simple scraping method. It can be found from the contact angle tests that the layers formed by the porous carbon of uniform width exhibited both stronger attractions to LIPs and better permeability of electrolytes than the bare polypropylene (PP) separator. Permeation tests further showed an effective block over LIPs by the modification layers. Cathode symmetrical batteries with Celgard 3501 separator were assembled and the current response tests implied a conversion of LIPs to Li₂S catalyzed by hollow carbon materials. Lithium symmetrical batteries with modified separators were assembled and the voltage-time profile of charge-discharge processes showed better stability owing to the prevention of lithium dendrites. The Li-S batteries were assembled with sulfur loading of 1.8-2.0 mg·cm^-2 and with the bare PP, single-side modified, and double-side modified separators. Calculations of the diffusion coefficient of lithium-ion from galvanostatic intermittent titration technique (GITT) tests and Nyquist plots both indicated the faster ion transportation for the modified separators. Smaller semicircles for impedance were also found in the plots. Nyquist plots after the 1st, 5th, 10th, 50th, and 100th cycles were analyzed to show a stable diffusion behavior of lithium ions, which should be caused by the multichannel from hollow carbon material to provide more paths for Li⁺ ion transportation. Li-S batteries with double-side modified separators presented a high specific capacity of 1 035 mAh·g^-1 in the first cycle and 500 mAh·g^-1 after 700 cycles at the current density of 0.2C, 630 mAh·g^-1 after 100 cycles at 1C, and 505 mAh·g^-1 after 100 cycles at 2C. The rate performance also behaved superior to the cells with bare PP as the separator. The cell assembled with higher sulfur content (3.2 mg·cm^-2) also presented the reverse specific capacity of 500 mAh·g^-1 at 0.2C. These battery performances could be ascribed to the porous hollow carbon materials for their adsorption and conversion of LIPs and their prevention of dendrites. Thus, the physicochemical interaction between hollow carbon and LIPs effectively alleviates the shuttle effect and the bifunctional modification of the separator could prevent the growth of lithium dendrites to improve the safety of the Li-S batteries.

光电化学(PEC)技术作为一种简单的太阳能转换装置，是解决环境和能源挑战最有前途的方法之一。PEC技术主要涉及到在光照射下光活性材料被激发导致载流子生成和电荷转移，进而发生光电转换的过程，活性材料在整个系统中起着核心作用。因此，获得高效PEC性能的关键是设计和合成高光电活性材料。光活性材料的光电转化效率主要取决于较宽的光吸收响应范围和较快的光生载流子分离和传递速率。常见的光敏半导体可以作为光电活性材料，包括金属氧化物、金属硫化物、有机小分子和有机聚合物等。但是由于单个半导体材料的固有局限性，难以满足不断增长的检测需求。探索具有特定结构组成的功能复合材料可以克服单个半导体材料的性能缺陷。此外，太阳光谱中紫外光区仅占约5%，而可见光占比约45%。研发可见光驱动的光电活性材料例如银基、铋基、有机聚合物材料等对于PEC技术的商业应用具有更重要意义。由于BiOX (X = Cl, Br, I)基材料具有带隙可调、独特的层状结构、无毒性、光吸收范围宽、光稳定性优异等特点，基于BiOX (X = Cl, Br, I)的PEC技术已成为研究热点。本文介绍了BiOX (X = Cl, Br, I)基材料的理化性质，从提升太阳光的利用率、抑制光生电子和空穴的复合着手，从表面和界面两个角度讨论了BiOX (X = Cl, Br, I)基材料的改性方法，重点介绍了其在微结构调控、表面缺陷、官能团修饰、金属沉积、杂原子掺杂和异质结构建等方面的研究进展。通过不同的设计策略，可以有效地提高BiOX (X = Cl, Br, I)光生载流子的分离效率，从而提高其PEC性能。介绍了改性BiOX (X = Cl, Br, I)在PEC传感、光电水分解、光电催化降解、CO₂还原、固氮和光催化燃料电池等方面的应用。最后，讨论了BiOX (X = Cl, Br, I)材料在上述应用中面临的挑战，并对BiOX (X = Cl, Br, I)材料未来的研究和实际应用进行了展望。

激发态分子内质子转移(ESIPT)反应是一种重要的基础光化学反应，通常发生在具有分子内氢键的发色团中。3-羟基黄酮类衍生物(3-HFs)由于其广泛的天然来源和对环境极度敏感的荧光发光特性而备受关注。与3-HFs相比，4′-N,N-二乙氨基-3-羟基黄酮(D-HBF)具有扩展的共轭体系和大幅红移的吸收特性，而最新研究表明，由于具有ESIPT特性，它可以用作环境极性敏感的生物荧光探针。本研究通过采用多种光谱和理论计算方法，系统研究了D-HBF在极性不同的三种非质子型溶剂(环己烷、乙醚和四氢呋喃)中的ESIPT反应机制。研究结果显示，在这三种溶剂中均能观测到D-HBF的ESIPT典型双发射峰，而这些峰的相对比率受溶剂极性的调控。荧光动力学分析揭示，随着溶剂极性的增加，激发态中正向和反向的质子转移反应速率都降低，同时反向质子转移变得更占优势。该研究还通过密度泛函理论和含时密度泛函理论计算，比较了三种溶剂中D-HBF的基态和激发态分子内氢键的键长和键角参数，确定了ESIPT反应是激发态分子内氢键增强机制。计算结果表明，增加溶剂极性会导致处于S₁态的D-HBF分子的3-羟基伸缩振动红外吸收频率向高波数移动，这证明了相应的N*态的分子内氢键减弱。此外，电子密度分析显示，引入在4′-位的强给电子官能团(4′-N,N-二乙氨基)使得D-HBF在激发态下具有典型的分子内电荷转移特征。最后，势能曲线计算结果表明，在激发态下质子转移更容易发生，而溶剂极性增加会导致更高的质子转移势垒，从而阻碍了相应的ESIPT反应。吉布斯自由能分析进一步表明，溶剂极性增加使激发态快速质子转移更倾向于向N*态移动。这项研究为D-HBF类衍生物作为环境极性敏感的生物探针的应用提供了理论基础。