2025 Vol. 10, No. 3

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Review articles
Research progress on lithium isotopes separation by chemical exchange with crown ethers decorated materials
Yi Fang, Rui Ha, Jun Sun, Xue Liu, XiangDong Ding, WeiQun Shi
2025, 10(3): 441-451. doi: 10.1016/j.gee.2024.06.009
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The separation of lithium isotopes (6Li and 7Li) is of great importance for the nuclear industry. The lithium amalgam method is the only lithium isotopes separation process in industry, and the extensive use of mercury has raised concerns about its potential environmental hazards, which have prompted the search for more efficient and environmentally friendly alternatives. Crown ethers can bind lithium ions highly selectively and separate lithium isotopes effectively. A chemical exchange-based lithium isotopes separation method using crown ether decorated materials could be a viable and cost-effective alternative to the lithium amalgam method. In this review, we provide a systematic summary of the recent advances in lithium isotopes separation using crown ethers decorated materials.
Transformation of discarded biomass into value-added flexible electronic materials
Sijia Bao, Xuenan Yang, Ziqi Yu, Yuanbo Shi, Yuan Lu
2025, 10(3): 452-470. doi: 10.1016/j.gee.2024.06.005
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The development of electronic products and increased electronic waste have triggered a series of ecological problems on Earth. Meanwhile, amidst energy crises and the pursuit of carbon neutrality, the recycling of discarded biomass has attracted the attention of many researchers. In recent years, the transformation of discarded biomass into value-added electronic products has emerged as a promising endeavor in the field of green and flexible electronics. In this review, the attempts and advancements in biomass conversion into flexible electronic materials and devices are systematically summarized. We focus on reviewing the research progress in biomass conversion into substrates, electrodes, and materials tailored for optical and thermal management. Furthermore, we explore component combinations suitable for applications in environmental monitoring and health management. Finally, we discuss the challenges in techniques and cost-effectiveness currently faced by biomass conversion into flexible electronic devices and propose improvement strategies. Drawing insights from both fundamental research and industrial applications, we offer prospects for future developments in this burgeoning field.
Microfluidic reactors for paired electrosynthesis: Fundamentals, applications and future prospects
Hao Xue, Zhi-Hao Zhao, Menglei Yuan, Guangjin Zhang
2025, 10(3): 471-499. doi: 10.1016/j.gee.2024.06.006
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Paired electrosynthesis has received considerable attention as a consequence of simultaneously synthesizing target products at both cathode and anode, whereas the related synthetic efficiency in batch reactors is still undesirable under certain circumstances. Encouragingly, laminar microfluidic reactor offers prospective options that possess controllable flow characteristics such as enhanced mass transport, precise laminar flow control and the ability to expand production scale progressively. In this comprehensive review, the underlying fundamentals of the paired electrosynthesis are initially summarized, followed by categorizing the paired electrosynthesis including parallel paired electrosynthesis, divergent paired electrosynthesis, convergent paired electrosynthesis, sequential paired electrosynthesis and linear paired electrosynthesis. Thereafter, a holistic overview of microfluidic reactor equipment, integral fundamentals and research methodology as well as channel extension and scale-up strategies is proposed. The established fundamentals and evaluated metrics further inspired the applications of microfluidic reactors in paired electrosynthesis. This work stimulated the overwhelming investigation of mechanism discovery, material screening strategies, and device assemblies.
Facilitated transport membranes in post-combustion carbon capture: Recent advancements in polymer materials and challenges towards practical application
Zihan Wang, Zhien Zhang, Mohamad Reza Soltanian, Ruizhi Pang
2025, 10(3): 500-517. doi: 10.1016/j.gee.2024.04.010
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Facilitated transport membranes for post-combustion carbon capture are one of the technologies to achieve efficient and large-scale capture. The central principle is to utilize the affinity of CO2 for the carrier to achieve efficient separation and to break the Robson upper bound. This paper reviews the progress of facilitated transport membranes research regarding polymer materials, principles, and problems faced at this stage. Firstly, we briefly introduce the transport mechanism of the facilitated transport membranes. Then the research progress of several major polymers used for facilitated transport membranes for CO2/N2 separation was presented in the past five years. Additionally, we analyze the primary challenges of facilitated transport membranes, including the influence of water, the effect of temperature, the saturation effect of the carrier, and the process configuration. Finally, we also delve into the challenges and competitiveness of facilitated transport membranes.
Research papers
Self-sustaining alkaline seawater electrolysis via forward osmosis membranes
Ke Shi, Hongyi Wan, Keyu Wang, Fumohan Fang, Shiyi Li, Yixing Wang, Linfeng Lei, Linzhou Zhuang, Zhi Xu
2025, 10(3): 518-527. doi: 10.1016/j.gee.2024.04.003
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Seawater electrolysis for hydrogen production faces inherent challenges, including side reactions, corrosion, and scaling, stemming from the intricate composition of seawater. In response, researchers have turned to continuous water splitting using forward osmosis (FO)-driven seawater desalination. However, the necessity of a neutral electrolyte hampers this strategy due to the limited current density and scarcity of precious metals. Herein, this study applies alkali-durable FO membranes to enable self-sustaining seawater splitting, which can selectively withdraw water molecules, from seawater, via concentration gradient. The membranes demonstrates outstanding perm-selectivity of water/ions (∼5830 mol mol-1) during month-long alkaline resistance tests, preventing electrolyte leaching (>97% OH- retention) while maintaining ∼95% water balance (VFO = Velectrolysis) via preserved concentration gradient for consistent forward-osmosis influx of water molecules. With the consistent electrolyte environment protected by the polyamide FO membranes, the NiFe-Ar-P catalyst exhibits promising performance: a sustain current density of 360 mA cm-2 maintained at the cell voltage of 2.10 V and 2.15 V for 360 h in the offshore seawater, preventing Cl/Br corrosion (98% rejection) and Mg/Ca passivation (99.6% rejection). This research marks a significant advancement towards efficient and durable seawater-based hydrogen production.
Interfacial modulation of nano Li7La3Zr2O12 composite electrolytes prepared by solvent-free method
Qigao Han, Yaqing Guo, Fuhe Wang, Xuechun Lou, Fengqian Wang, Jun Zhong, Jinqiao Du, Jie Tian, Weixin Zhang, Shun Tang, Shijie Cheng, Yuancheng Cao
2025, 10(3): 528-536. doi: 10.1016/j.gee.2024.04.009
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Solid-state batteries (SSBs) with high safety are promising for the energy fields, but the development has long been limited by machinability and interfacial problems. Hence, self-supporting, flexible Nano LLZO CSEs are prepared with a solvent-free method at 25 °C. The 99.8 wt% contents of Nano LLZO particles enable the Nano LLZO CSEs to maintain good thermal stability while exhibiting a wide electrochemical window of 5.0 V and a high Li+ transfer number of 0.8. The mean modulus reaches 4376 MPa. Benefiting from the interfacial modulation, the LiLi symmetric batteries based on the Nano LLZO CSEs show benign stability with lithium at the current densities of 0.1 mA cm-2, 0.2 mA cm-2, and 0.5 mA cm-2. In addition, the LiLiFePO4 (LFP) SSBs achieve favorable cycling performance: the specific capacity reaches 128.1 mAh g-1 at 0.5 C rate, with a capacity retention of about 80% after 600 cycles. In the further tests of the LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 (NCM811) cathodes with higher energy density, the Nano LLZO CSEs also demonstrate good compatibility: the specific capacities of NCM811-based SSBs reach 177.9 mAh g-1 at 0.5 C rate, while the capacity retention is over 96% after 150 cycles. Furthermore, the LiLFP soft-pack SSBs verify the safety characteristics and the potential for application, which have a desirable prospect.
Designing carboxymethyl cellulose based hydrogel electrolyte membranes enhanced by inorganic nanoparticle toward stable zinc anode
Xiangye Li, Yuan Li, Yu Jiang, Dahui Wang, Fen Ran
2025, 10(3): 537-550. doi: 10.1016/j.gee.2024.05.012
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Aqueous zinc metal batteries have garnered substantial attention ascribing to affordability, intrinsic safety, and environmental benignity. Nevertheless, zinc metal batteries yet are challenged with potential service life issues resulted from dendrites and side reaction. In this paper, a strategy of nanoparticles doped hydrogel is proposed for constructing carboxymethyl cellulose/graphite oxide hybrid hydrogel electrolyte membranes with exceptional ionic conductivity, anti-swelling property, and simultaneously addressing the dendrites and parasitic reaction. The pivotal functions of the carboxymethyl cellulose/graphite oxide hydrogel electrolyte in mitigating hydrogen evolution and fostering accelerated Zn deposition have been elucidated based on principles of thermodynamic and reaction kinetic. The carboxymethyl cellulose/graphite oxide hydrogel electrolyte endows exceptional cycling longevity (800 h at 1 mA cm-2/1 mAh cm-2) for Zn||Zn battery, as well as high Coulombic efficiency for Zn||Cu battery (averagely 99.14% within 439 cycles at 1 mA cm-2/1 mAh cm-2). The assembled Zn||NH4V4O10 battery delivers a high reversible specific capacity of 328.5 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1. Moreover, the device of Zn||NH4V4O10 pouch battery remains operational under severe conditions like bending and cutting. This work provides valuable reference in developing inorganic nanoparticle hybrid hydrogel electrolyte for realizing high-performance zinc metal batteries.
Stabilization of active ultrathin amorphous ruthenium oxide via constructing electronically interacted heterostructure for acidic water oxidation
Xiangxiang Pan, Huidong Qian, Jiansheng Xu, Haifeng Wang, Han-Don Um, Chao Lin, Xiaopeng Li, Wei Luo
2025, 10(3): 551-559. doi: 10.1016/j.gee.2024.05.003
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Amorphous RuOx (a-RuOx) with disordered atomic arrangement and abundant coordinatively unsaturated Ru sites possesses high intrinsic electrocatalytic activity for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). However, the a-RuOx is prone to fast corrosion during OER in strong acid. Here, we realized the stabilization of an ultrathin a-RuOx layer via constructing heterointerface with crystalline α-MnO2 nanorods array (MnO2@a-RuOx). Benefiting from the strong electronic interfacial interaction, the as-formed MnO2@a-RuOx electrocatalyst display an ultralow overpotential of 128 mV to reach 10 mA cm-2 and stable operation for over 100 h in 0.1 mol L-1 HClO4. The assembled proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolyzer reach 1 A cm-2 at applied cell voltage of 1.71 V. Extensive characterizations indicate the MnO2 substrate work as an electron donor pool to prevent the overoxidation of Ru sites and the OER proceeds in adsorbent evolution mechanism process without involving lattice oxygen. Our work provides a promising route to construct robust amorphous phase electrocatalysts.
Constructing ether-rich and carboxylate hydrogen bonding sites in protic ionic liquids for efficient and simultaneous membrane separation of H2S and CO2 from CH4
Ping Zhang, Xingyun Ma, Zhuoheng Tu, Xiaomin Zhang, Xingbang Hu, Youting Wu
2025, 10(3): 560-572. doi: 10.1016/j.gee.2024.05.009
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Removing H2S and CO2 is of great significance for natural gas purification. With excellent gas affinity and tunable structure, ionic liquids (ILs) have been regarded as nontrivial candidates for fabricating polymer-based membranes. Herein, we firstly reported the incorporation of protic ILs (PILs) having ether-rich and carboxylate sites (ECPILs) into poly(ether-block-amide) (Pebax) matrix for efficient separation H2S and CO2 from CH4. Notably, the optimal permeability of H2S reaches up to 4310 Barrer (40 °C, 0.50 bar) in Pebax/ECPIL membranes, along with H2S/CH4 and (H2S + CO2)/CH4 selectivity of 97.7 and 112.3, respectively. These values are increased by 1125%, 160.8% and 145.9% compared to those in neat Pebax membrane. Additionally, the solubility and diffusion coefficients of the gases were measured, demonstrating that ECPIL can simultaneously strengthen the dissolution and diffusion of H2S and CO2, thus elevating the permeability and permselectivity. By using quantum chemical calculations and FT-IR spectroscopy, the highly reversible multi-site hydrogen bonding interaction between ECPILs and H2S was revealed, which is responsible for the fast permeation of H2S and good selectivity. Furthermore, H2S/CO2/CH4 (3/3/94 mol/mol) ternary mixed gas can be efficiently and stably separated by Pebax/ECPIL membrane for at least 100 h. Overall, this work not only illustrates that PILs with ether-rich and carboxylate hydrogen bonding sites are outstanding materials for simultaneous removal of H2S and CO2, but may also provide a novel insight into the design of membrane materials for natural gas upgrading.
Selective hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural triggered by a high Lewis acidic Ni-based transition metal carbide catalyst
Rulu Huang, Jianchun Jiang, Jie Liang, Shanyong Wang, Yuwei Chen, Xianhai Zeng, Kui Wang
2025, 10(3): 573-584. doi: 10.1016/j.gee.2024.05.007
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The high-efficiency conversion of biomass resources to biofuels has attracted widespread attention, and the active sites and synergistic effect of catalysts significantly impact their surface arrangement and electronic structure. Here, a nickel-based transition metal carbide catalyst (Ni/TMC) with high Lewis acidity was prepared by self-assembly of transition metal carbide (TMC) and nickel, which exhibited excellent performance on synergistic hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) into liquid biofuel 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF). Notably, Ni/WC with the highest Lewis acidity (4728.3 μmol g-1) can achieve 100% conversion of HMF to 97.6% yield of DMF, with a turn-over frequency of up to 46.5 h-1. The characterization results demonstrate that the rich Lewis acid sites yielded by the synergistic effect between Ni species and TMC are beneficial for the C＝O hydrogenation and C-O cleavage, thereby accelerating the process of hydrodeoxygenation (HDO). Besides, a kinetic model for the HDO of HMF to DMF process has been established based on the experimental results, which elucidated a significant correlation between the measured and the predicted data (R2 > 0.97). Corresponding to the adsorption configuration of Ni/WC and substrate determined by in-situ FTIR characterization, this study provides a novel insight into the selective conversion of HMF process for functional biofuel and bio-chemicals.
Mechanism of Brønsted-acid-promoted self-photosensitized [2+2] cycloaddition for synthesis of high-performance bio-spiral fuel
Ying Chen, Yumei Shu, Minhua Ai, Wenbiao Chen, Chengwen Liu, Songyi Zhang, Shaojie Wang, Haopeng Shi, Ji-Jun Zou, Lun Pan
2025, 10(3): 585-597. doi: 10.1016/j.gee.2024.05.006
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Photoinduced [2 + 2] cycloaddition of biomass-derived cycloolefin is a promising approach to synthesize high-energy bio-fuels, however, the conversion efficiency and selectivity are still low. Herein, we provide an acid-promoted photocycloaddition approach to synthesize a new kind of spiral fuel from biomass-derived cyclohexanone (CHOE) and camphene (CPE). Brønsted acids show higher catalytic activity than Lewis acids, and acetic acid (HOAc) possesses the best catalytic performance, with CHOE conversion up to 99.1%. Meanwhile, the HOAc-catalytic effect has been confirmed for [2 + 2] photocycloaddition of other biomass-derived ketenes and olefins. The catalytic mechanism and dynamics have been investigated, and show that HOAc can bond with C＝O groups of CHOE to form H-CHOE complex, which leads to higher light adsorption and longer triplet lifetime. Meanwhile, H-CHOE complex reduces the energy gap between CHOE LUMO and CPE HOMO, shortens the distance of ring-forming atoms, and then decreases the energy barrier (from 103.3 kcal mol-1 to 95.8 kcal mol-1) of rate-limiting step. After hydrodeoxygenation, the targeted bio-spiral fuel shows high density of 0.992 g cm-3, high neat heat of combustion of 41.89 MJ L-1, low kinetic viscosity of 5.69 mm2 s-1 at 20 °C, which is very promising to serve as high-performance aerospace fuel.
TiO2–Cu7S4 modified with a carbazole-based conjugated porous polymer for adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of bisphenol A
Wanjun Xu, Xunxun Li, Dongyun Chen, Najun Li, Qingfeng Xu, Hua Li, Jianmei Lu
2025, 10(3): 598-608. doi: 10.1016/j.gee.2024.05.010
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Adsorption-photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in water is an advantageous method for environmental purification. Herein, a feasible strategy is developed to construct a novel dual S-scheme heterojunctions Cu7S4-TiO2-conjugated polymer with a donor-acceptor structure. There are abundant adsorption active sites for adsorption in the porous structure of the composites, which can rapidly capture pollutants through hydrogen bonding and π-π interactions. In addition, the dual S-scheme heterojunctions effectively improve carrier separation while maintaining a strong redox ability. Thus, the optimized 1.5% CST-130 catalysts can adsorb 71% of 20 ppm BPA in 15 min and completely remove it within 30 min with high adsorption capacity and photodegradation efficiency. Therefore, this study provides a new inspiration for synergistic adsorption and degradation of BPA and the construction of dual S-scheme heterojunction.
Improving electrochemical performance of silicon anode through building “soft-hard” double-layer coating
Xiao Zhu, Weibo Feng, Yiman Huang
2025, 10(3): 609-618. doi: 10.1016/j.gee.2024.05.011
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Silicon is believed to be a critical anode material for approaching the roadmap of lithium-ion batteries due to its high specific capacity. But this aim has been hindered by the quick capacity fading of its electrodes during repeated charge-discharge cycles. In this work, a “soft-hard” double-layer coating has been proposed and carried out on ball-milled silicon particles. It is composed of inside conductive pathway and outside elastic coating, which is achieved by decomposing a conductive graphite layer on the silicon surface and further coating it with a polymer layer. The incorporation of the second elastic coating on the inside carbon coating enables silicon particles strongly interacted with binders, thereby making the electrodes displaying an obviously improved cycling stability. As-obtained double-coated silicon anodes deliver a reversible capacity of 2280 mAh g-1 at the voltage of 0.05-2 V, and maintains over 1763 mAh g-1 after 50 cycles. The double-layer coating does not crack after the repeated cycling, critical for the robust performance of the electrodes. In addition, as-obtained silicon particles are mixed with commercial graphite to make actual anodes for lithium-ion batteries. A capacity of 714 mAh g-1 has been achieved based on the total mass of the electrodes containing 10 wt.% double-coated silicon particles. Compared with traditional carbon coating or polymeric coating, the double-coating electrodes display a much better performance. Therefore, the double-coating strategy can give inspiration for better design and synthesis of silicon anodes, as well as other battery materials.

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