Powering the future, while maintaining strong socioeconomic growth and a cleaner environment, is going to be one of the biggest challenges faced by mankind nowadays. Thus, there is a transition from the use of fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Cellulose, the main component of paper, represents a unique type of bio-based building blocks featuring exciting properties: low-cost, hierarchical fibrous structures, hydrophilicity, biocompatible, mechanical flexibility, and renewability, which make it perfect for use in paper-based sustainable energy storage devices. This review focuses on lithium-ion battery application of celluloses with cellulose at different scales, i.e., cellulose microfibers, and nanocellulose, and high-lights the new trends in the field. Recent advances and approaches to construct high mass loading paper electrodes toward high energy density batteries are evaluated and the limitations of paper-based cathodes are discussed. This will stimulate the use of natural resources and thereby the development of renewable electric energy systems based on sustainable technologies with low environmental impacts and carbon footprints.

The cycling stability of SnO2 anode as lithium-ion battery is poor due to volume expansion. Polyimide coatings can effectively confine the expansion of SnO2. However, linear polyimides are easily dissolved in ester electrolytes and their carbonyls is not fully utilized during charging/discharging process. Herein, the SnO2 enclosed with anthraquinone-based polyimide/reduced graphene oxide composite was prepared by self-assembly. Carbonyls from the anthraquinone unit provide fully available active sites to react with Li+, improving the utilization of carbonyl in the polyimide. More exposed carbonyl active sites promote the conversion of Sn to SnO2 with electrode gradual activation, leading to an increase in reversible capacity during the charge/discharge cycle. In addition, the introduction of reduced graphene oxide cannot only improve the stability of polyimide in the electrolyte, but also build fast ion and electron transport channels for composite electrodes. Due to the multiple effects of anthraquinone-based polyimide and the synergistic effect of reducing graphene oxide, the composite anode exhibits a maximum reversible capacity of 1266 mAh·g−1 at 0.25 A·g−1, and maintains an excellent specific capacity of 983 mAh·g−1 after 200 cycles. This work provides a new strategy for the synergistic modification of SnO2.

The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has resulted in the widespread use of personal protective equipment, particularly face masks. However, the use of commercial disposable face masks puts great pressure on the environment. In this study, nano-copper ions assembled cotton fabric used in face masks to impart antibacterial activity has been discussed. To produce the nanocomposite, the cotton fabric was modified by sodium chloroacetate after its mercerization, and assembled with bactericidal nano-copper ions (about 10.61 mg·g−1) through electrostatic adsorption. It demonstrated excellent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli because the gaps between fibers in the cotton fabric allow the nano-copper ions to be fully released. Moreover, the antibacterial efficiency was maintained even after 50 washing cycles. Furthermore, the face mask constructed with this novel nanocomposite upper layer exhibited a high particle filtration efficiency (96.08% ± 0.91%) without compromising the air permeability (28.9 min·L−1). This green, economical, facile, and scalable process of depositing nano-copper ions onto modified cotton fibric has great potential to reduce disease transmission, resource consumption, and environmental impact of waste, while also expanding the range of protective fabrics.

Coal to ethylene glycol still lacks algorithm optimization achievements for distillation sequencing due to high-dimension and strong nonconvexity characteristics, although there are numerous reports on horizontal comparisons and process revamping. This scenario triggers the navigation in this paper into the simultaneous optimization of parameters and heat integration of the coal to ethylene glycol distillation scheme and double-effect superstructure by the self-adapting dynamic differential evolution algorithm. To mitigate the influence of the strong nonconvexity, a redistribution strategy is adopted that forcibly expands the population search domain by exerting external influence and then shrinks it again to judge the global optimal solution. After two redistributive operations under the parallel framework, the total annual cost and CO2 emissions are 0.61%/1.85% better for the optimized process and 3.74%/14.84% better for the superstructure than the sequential optimization. However, the thermodynamic efficiency of sequential optimization is 11.63% and 10.34% higher than that of simultaneous optimization. This study discloses the unexpected great energy-saving potential for the coal to ethylene glycol process that has long been unknown, as well as the strong ability of the self-adapting dynamic differential evolution algorithm to optimize processes described by the high-dimensional mathematical model.

A stable and recyclable of BiOBr/silk fibroin-cellulose acetate composite film was prepared by blending-wet phase transformation and in situ precipitate technology. The cellulose acetate film modified by silk fibroin formed a finger-shaped porous structure, which provided a large space for the uniform growth of BiOBr nanosheets and facilitated the shuttle flow of dyes in film. The morphology, phase structure, and optical properties of the composite films were characterized using various techniques, and their photocatalytic performance for dye wastewater was evaluated under visible light irradiation. Results showed that the BiOBr/SF-CA composite film exhibited efficient photocatalytic activity with 99.9% of rhodamine B degradation rate. Moreover, the composite film maintained high catalytic stability because Bi as the active species deposited on the film showed almost no loss. Finally, the possible photocatalytic mechanisms in the BiOBr/SF-CA composite film were speculated through radical-trapping experiments and electron spin resonance testing.

Direct dehydrogenation with high selectivity and oxidative dehydrogenation with low thermal limit has been regarded as promising methods to solve the increasing demands of light olefins and styrene. Metal-based catalysts have shown remarkable performance for these reactions, such as Pt, CrOx, Co, ZrOx, Zn and V. Compared with metal-based catalysts, carbon materials with stable structure, rich pore texture and large surface area, are ideal platforms as the catalysts and the supports for dehydrogenation reactions. In this review, carbon materials applied in direct dehydrogenation and oxidative dehydrogenation reactions including ordered mesoporous carbon, carbon nanodiamond, carbon nanotubes, graphene and activated carbon, are summarized. A general introduction to the dehydrogenation mechanism and active sites of carbon catalysts is briefly presented to provide a deep understanding of the carbon-based materials used in dehydrogenation reactions. The unique structure of each carbon material is presented, and the diversified synthesis methods of carbon catalysts are clarified. The approaches for promoting the catalytic activity of carbon catalysts are elaborated with respect to preparation method optimization, suitable structure design and heteroatom doping. The regeneration mechanism of carbon-based catalysts is discussed for providing guidance on catalytic performance enhancement. In addition, carbon materials as the support of metal-based catalysts contribute to exploiting the excellent catalytic performance of catalysts due to superior structural characteristics. In the end, the challenges in current research and strategies for future improvements are proposed.

In situ encapsulation is an effective way to synthesize enzyme@metal-organic framework biocatalysts; however, it is limited by the conditions of metal-organic framework synthesis and its acid-base stability. Herein, a biocatalytic platform with improved acid-base stability was constructed via a one-pot method using bismuth-ellagic acid as the carrier. Bismuth-ellagic acid is a green phenol-based metal-organic framework whose organic precursor is extracted from natural plants. After encapsulation, the stability, especially the acid-base stability, of amyloglucosidases@bismuth-ellagic acid was enhanced, which remained stable over a wide pH range (2–12) and achieved multiple recycling. By selecting a suitable buffer, bismuth-ellagic acid can encapsulate different types of enzymes and enable interactions between the encapsulated enzymes and cofactors, as well as between multiple enzymes. The green precursor, simple and convenient preparation process provided a versatile strategy for enzymes encapsulation.

Vanadium oxides as cathode for zinc-ion batteries have attracted much attention because of their high theoretical capacity, flexible layered structure and abundant resources. However, cathodes are susceptible to the collapse of their layered structure and the dissolution of vanadium after repeated long cycles, which worsen their capacities and cycling stabilities. Herein, a synergistic engineering of calcium-ion intercalation and polyaniline coating was developed to achieve the superior electrochemical performance of vanadium pentoxide for zinc-ion batteries. The pre-intercalation of calcium-ion between vanadium pentoxide layers as pillars increase the crystal structure’s stability, while the polyaniline coating on the cathodes improves the conductivity and inhibits the dissolution of vanadium. This synergistic engineering enables that the battery system based-on the polyaniline coated calcium vanadate cathode to deliver a high capacity of 406.4 mAh·g−1 at 1 A·g−1, an ultralong cycle life over 6000 cycles at 10 A·g−1 with 93% capacity retention and high-rate capability. The vanadium oxide cathode with synergistic engineering of calcium-ion intercalation and polyaniline coating was verified to effectively improve the electrochemical performance of zinc-ion batteries.

In this paper, graphene oxide quantum dots with amino groups (NH2-GOQDs) were tailored to the surface of a thin-film composite (TFC) membrane surface for optimizing forward osmosis (FO) membrane performance using the amide coupling reaction. The results jointly demonstrated hydrophilicity and surface roughness of the membrane enhanced after grafting NH2-GOQDs, leading to the optimized affinity and the contact area between the membrane and water molecules. Therefore, grafting of the membrane with a concentration of 100 ppm (TFC-100) exhibited excellent permeability performance (58.32 L·m−2·h−1) compared with TFC membrane (16.94 L·m−2·h−1). In the evaluation of static antibacterial properties of membranes, TFC-100 membrane destroyed the cell morphology of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and reduced the degree of bacterial adsorption. In the dynamic biofouling experiment, TFC-100 membrane showed a lower flux decline than TFC membrane. After the physical cleaning, the flux of TFC-100 membrane could recover to 96% of the initial flux, which was notably better than that of TFC membrane (63%). Additionally, the extended Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek analysis of the affinity between pollutants and membrane surface verified that NH2-GOQDs alleviates E. coli contamination of membrane. This work highlights the potential applications of NH2-GOQDs for optimizing permeability and biofouling mitigation of FO membranes.

The electrochemical reduction of NH4HCO3 to syngas can bypass the high energy consumption of high-purity CO2 release and compression after the ammonia-based CO2 capture process. This technology has broad prospects in industrial applications and carbon neutrality. A zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 precursor was introduced with different Ag contents via colloid chemical synthesis. This material was carbonized at 1000 °C to obtain AgZn zeolitic imidazolate framework derived nitrogen carbon catalysts, which were used for the first time for boosting the direct conversion of NH4HCO3 electrolyte to syngas. The AgZn zeolitic imidazolate framework derived nitrogen carbon catalyst with a Ag/Zn ratio of 0.5:1 achieved the highest CO Faradaic efficiency of 52.0% with a current density of 1.15 mA·cm−2 at −0.5 V, a H2/CO ratio of 1–2 (−0.5 to −0.7 V), and a stable catalytic activity of more than 6 h. Its activity is comparable to that of the CO2-saturated NH4HCO3 electrolyte. The highly discrete Ag-Nx and Zn-Nx nodes may have combined catalytic effects in the catalysts synthesized by appropriate Ag doping and sufficient carbonization. These nodes could increase active sites of catalysts, which is conducive to the transport and adsorption of reactant CO2 and the stability of *COOH intermediate, thus can improve the selectivity and catalytic activity of CO.

Hydrothermal and catalytic stability of UIO-66 MOFs with defective structures are critical aspects to be considered in their catalytic applications, especially under the conditions involving water, moisture and/or heat. Here, we report a facile strategy to introduce the macromolecular acid group to UIO-66 to improve the stability of the resulting UIO-66—PhSO3H MOF in aqueous phase catalysis. In detail, UIO-66—PhSO3H was obtained by grafting benzenesulfonic acid on the surface of the pristine UIO-66 to introduce the hydrophobicity, as well as the Brønsted acidity, then assessed using catalytic hydrolysis of cyclohexyl acetate (to cyclohexanol) in water. The introduction of hydrophobic molecules to UIO-66 could prevent the material from being attacked by hydroxyl polar molecules effectively, explaining its good structural stability during catalysis. UIO-66—PhSO3H promoted the conversion of cyclohexyl acetate at ca. 87%, and its activity and textural properties were basically intact after the cyclic stability tests. The facile modification strategy can improve the hydrothermal stability of UIO-66 significantly, which can expand its catalytic applications in aqueous systems.

Monodispersed nitrogen-doped carbon nanospheres with tunable particle size (100–230 nm) were synthesized via self-polymerization of biochemical dopamine in the presence of hexamethylenetetramine as a buffer and F127 as a size controlling agent. Hexamethylenetetramine can mildly release NH3, which in turn initiates the polymerization reaction of dopamine. The carbon nanospheres obtained exhibited a significant energy storage capability of 265 F·g−1 at 0.5 A·g−1 and high-rate performance of 82% in 6 mol·L−1 KOH (20 A·g−1), which could be attributed to the presence of abundant micro-mesoporous structure, doped nitrogen functional groups and the small particle size. Moreover, the fabricated symmetric supercapacitor device displayed a high stability of 94% after 5000 cycles, revealing the considerable potential of carbon nanospheres as electrode materials for energy storage.

Environmental pollution caused by the presence of aromatic aldehydes and dyes in wastewater is a serious global concern. An effective strategy for the removal of these pollutants is their catalytic conversion, possibly to valuable compounds. Therefore, the design of efficient, stable and long-lifetime catalysts is a worthwhile research goal. Herein, we used nanofibrous carbon microspheres (NCM) derived from the carbohydrate chitin present in seafood waste, and characterized by interconnected nanofibrous networks and N/O-containing groups, as carriers for the manufacture of a highly dispersed, efficient and stable Pd nano-catalyst (mean diameter ca. 2.52 nm). Importantly, the carbonised chitin’s graphitized structure, defect presence and large surface area could promote the transport of electrons between NCM and Pd, thereby endowing NCM supported Pd catalyst with high catalytic activity. The NCM supported Pd catalyst was employed in the degradation of some representative dyes and the chemoselective hydrogenation of aromatic aldehydes; this species exhibited excellent catalytic activity and stability, as well as applicability to a broad range of aromatic aldehydes, suggesting its potential use in green industrial catalysis.

With the rapid development of industry, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are gaining attention as a class of pollutants that need to be eliminated due to their adverse effects on the environment and human health. Catalytic combustion is the most popular technology used for the removal of VOCs as it can be adapted to different organic emissions under mild conditions. This review first introduces the hazards of VOCs, their treatment technologies, and summarizes the treatment mechanism issues. Next, the characteristics and catalytic performance of perovskite oxides as catalysts for VOC removal are expounded, with a special focus on lattice distortions and surface defects caused by metal doping and surface modifications, and on the treatment of different VOCs. The challenges and the prospects regarding the design of perovskite oxides catalysts for the catalytic combustion of VOCs are also discussed. This review provides a reference base for improving the performance of perovskite catalysts to treat VOCs.

Lignin is the largest natural aromatic biopolymer, but usually treated as industrial biomass waste. The development of lignin/polymer biocomposites can promote the high value utilization of lignin and the greening of polymers. However, the weak interfacial interaction between industrial lignin and polymer induces poor compatibility and serious agglomeration in polymer owing to the strong intermolecular force of lignin. As such, it is extremely difficult to prepare high performance lignin/polymer biocomposites. Recently, we proposed the strategy of in situ construction of interfacial dynamic bonds in lignin/polymer composites. By taking advantage of the abundant oxygen-containing polar groups of lignin, we inserted dynamic bonding connection such as hydrogen bonds and coordination bonds into the interphase between lignin and the polymer matrix to improve the interfacial interactions. Meanwhile, the natural amphiphilic structure characteristics of lignin were utilized to construct the hierarchical nanophase separation structure in lignin/polymer composites. The persistent problems of poor dispersity and interfacial compatibility of lignin in the polymer matrix were effectively solved. The lignin-modified polymer composites achieved simultaneously enhanced strength and toughness. This concise review systematically summarized the recent research progress of our group toward building high-performance lignin/polymer biocomposites through the design of interfacial dynamic bonds (hydrogen bonds, coordination bonds, and dynamic covalent bonds) between lignin and different polymer systems (polar plastics, rubber, polyurethane, hydrogels, and other polymers). Finally, the future development direction, main challenges, and potential solutions of lignin application in polymers were presented.

A novel Z-scheme ZnFe2O4/BiVO4 heterojunction photocatalyst was successfully synthesized using a convenient solvothermal method and applied in the visible light photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin, which is a typical antibiotic contaminant in wastewater. The heterostructure of as-synthesized catalysts was confirmed using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterizations. Compared with the single-phase counterparts, ZnFe2O4/BiVO4 demonstrated considerably enhanced photogenerated charge separation efficiencies because of the Z-scheme transfer mechanism of electrons between the composite photocatalysts. Consequently, the 30% ZnFe2O4/BiVO4 catalyst afforded a degradation rate of up to 97% of 20 mg/L ciprofloxacin under 30 min of visible light irradiation with a total organic carbon removal rate of 50%, which is an excellent activity compared with ever reported BiVO4-based catalysts. In addition, the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and quantitative structure-activity relationships model analyses demonstrated that the toxicity of the intermediates was lower than that of the parent ciprofloxacin. Moreover, the as-synthesized ZnFe2O4/BiVO4 heterojunctions were quite stable and could be reused at least four times. This study thus provides a promising Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst for the efficient removal and detoxication of antibiotic pollutants from wastewater.

Herein, polyethersulfone (PES) and sulfonated polysulfone (SPSf) blend membranes were prepared with addition of sulfonated polyethersulfone (SPES) as a hydrophilic polymer and adipic acid as a porogen via non-solvent induced phase separation method for effective fractionation of dyes based on the influence of steric hindrance and charge effect. Raman spectroscopy and molecular dynamic simulation modeling confirmed that hydrogen bonds between PES, SPSf, SPES, and adipic acid were crucial to membrane formation and spatial arrangement. Further addition of hydrophilic SPES resulted in a membrane with reduced pore size and molecular weight cut-off as well as amplified negative charge and pure water permeance. During separation, the blend membranes exhibited higher rejection rates for nine types of small molecular weight (269.3–800 Da) dyes than for neutral polyethylene glycol molecules (200–1000 Da). This was attributed to the size effect and the synergistic effect between steric hindrance and charge repulsion. Notably, the synergistic impact decreased with dye molecular weight, while greater membrane negative charge enhanced small molecular dye rejection. Ideal operational stability and anti-fouling performance were best observed in M2 (PES/SPSf/SPES, 3.1 wt %). Summarily, this study demonstrates that SPES with −SO3− functional groups can be applied to control the microstructure and separation of membranes.

The utilization of sustainable resources provides a path to relieving the problem of dependence on fossil resources. In this context, biomass materials have become a feasible substitute for petroleum-based materials. The development of biomass materials is booming and advanced biomass materials with various functional properties are used in many fields including medicine, electrochemistry, and environmental science. In recent years, ionic liquids have been widely used in biomass pretreatments and processing owing to their “green” characteristics and adjustable physicochemical properties. Thus, the effects of ionic liquids in biomass materials generation require further study. This review summarizes the multiple roles of ionic liquids in promoting the synthesis and application of advanced biomass materials as solvents, structural components, and modifiers. Finally, a prospective approach is proposed for producing additional higher-quality possibilities between ionic liquids and advanced biomass materials.

The shortage of freshwater has become a global challenge, and solar-driven interfacial evaporation for desalination is a promising way to alleviate the crisis. To develop highly efficient and environmentally friendly photothermal evaporator, the hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC)/alkaline lignin (AL)/graphene oxide (GO) hydrogels (CLGs) with remarkable evaporative performance were successfully fabricated by a facile sol–gel method using biomass residues. The influence of AL content on the physicochemical properties of the evaporator was investigated. The increasing content of AL improves the mechanical properties, saturated water content and crosslink density of the hydrogels. The designed materials exhibit outstanding thermal insulation capacity (the thermal conductivity of less than 0.05 Wm−1K−1) and high light absorption capacity of more than 97%. The solar evaporation efficiency and water evaporation rate of the HEC/64 wt % of AL/GO hydrogels (CLG4) achieve 92.1% and 2.55 kgm−2h−1 under 1 sun, respectively. The salt resistance test results reveal that the evaporation rate of the CLG4 can still reach 2.44 kgm−2h−1 in 3.5 wt % NaCl solution. The solar evaporation rate of the CLG4 can maintain in the range of 2.45–2.59 kgm−2h−1 in five cycles. This low-cost lignin-based photothermal evaporator offers a sustainable strategy for desalination.

In this work, the influence of the initial chemical potential gradient, stirring speed, and polymer type on sulfamethoxazole (SMX) crystal growth kinetics was systematically investigated through density functional theory (DFT) calculations, experimental measurements and the two-step chemical potential gradient model. To investigate the influence of different conditions on the thermodynamic driving force of SMX crystal growth, SMX solubilities in different polymer solutions were studied. Four model polymers effectively improved SMX solubility. It was further found that polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) played a crucial role in inhibiting SMX crystal growth. However, polyethylene glycol (PEG) promoted SMX crystal growth. The effect of the polymer on the crystal growth mechanisms of SMX was further analyzed by the two-step chemical potential gradient model. In the system containing PEG 6000, crystal growth is dominated by the surface reaction. However, in the system containing PEG 20000, crystal growth is dominated by both the surface reaction and diffusion. In addition, DFT calculations results showed that HPMC and PVP could form strong and stable binding energies with SMX, indicating that PVP and HPMC had the potential ability to inhibit SMX crystal growth.