Rhenium Sulfide Incorporated in Molybdenum Sulfide Nanosheets for High-Performance Symmetric Supercapacitors with Enhanced Capacitance.

Supercapacitors are considered potential energy storage devices and have drawn significant attention due to their superior intrinsic advantages. Herein, we report the synthesis of ReS2 embedded in MoS2 nanosheets (RMS-31) by a hydrothermal technique. The prepared RMS-31 electrode material demonstrated superior pseudocapacitive behavior in 1 M KOH electrolyte solution, which is confirmed by the heterostructure of RMS-31 nanosheet architectures. RMS-31 has a specific capacitance of 244 F g-1 at a current density of 1 A g-1 and a greater areal capacitance of 540 mF cm-2 at a current density of 5 mA cm-2. The symmetric supercapacitor device with the RMS-31 electrode delivers an energy density of 28 W h cm-2 with a power density of 1 W cm-2 and reveals long-term stability at a constant current density of 5 mA cm-2 for 10,000 cycles while accomplishing a retention of 66.5%. The high performance of this symmetric device is attributed to the synergistic effect of ReS2 and MoS2 and the presence of the metallic 1T-MoS2 phase in the RMS-31 electrode. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of increasing the interlayer spacing of 2H-MoS2 by incorporating ReS2 for symmetric supercapacitor applications.

Facile ultrasonic preparation of a polypyrrole membrane as an absorbent for efficient oil-water separation and as an antimicrobial agent.

Polypyrrole (PPY) spherical particles synthesized using carbon dots as an efficient catalyst were strongly embedded on fluorinated nonwoven fabric by ultrasonication to form a membrane with high hydrophilicity. An optimal amount of PPY adhered to the membrane after 30 min of sonication enhanced the overall membrane area with high hydrophilicity. Oil with high hydrophobicity was repelled by the resulting membrane, whereas water was freely penetrated and diffused from the membrane. The membrane exhibited good reusability and efficiency for the recovery of oil from a cooking oil-water mixture within 30 s. The incorporation of PPY in the fluorinated fabric imparts significant antibacterial properties against two common pathogens, Escherichia coli (Gram-negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive). The anti-biofouling membrane could pave the way for its potential application to separate spilled oil from contaminated waters, comprising different microorganisms and living species. The novelty of this manuscript is described in a new system, the fabrication of PPY membranes with two important properties: biocidal and oil/water separation.