With the dramatic developments of flexible and wearable electronics, a future energy storage device concentrates on the continuous miniaturization and diversified integration of micro-scale power sources. However, the conventional energy storage devices, such as lithium ion batteries and supercapacitors, are usually configured with sandwich-like stacked geometries. They poorly miniaturize in size and are not well compatible with planar integrated circuits on single substrate. Therefore, the supercapacitors with multiple functionalities, flexibility, miniaturization, planarization and integration are urgently considered in the developing process of electronics.
　　Schematic illustration of SHBC-derived SG films for planar MSCs on a Si/SiO2 wafer. (Image by ZHAO Xuejun)
　　To achieve this goal, the scientists WU Zhongshuai and BAO Xinhe et al from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, and their cooperative scientists from Germany and UK, reported the bottom-up fabrication of continuous, uniform, ultrathin sulfur-doped graphene films derived from sulfur-annulated nanographene for ultrahigh volumetric capacitance Micro-Supercapacitors (MSCs). This work has been published online in high-profile Journal of the American Chemical Society (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b00805).
　　The wafer-scale sulfur-doped graphene (SG) film was produced by thermal annealing of the spray-coated sulfur-annulated nanographene film under a thin Au protecting layer, at 800 oC for 30 mins. Remarkably, their planar MSCs presented outstanding pseudocapacitive behavior (~582 F cm-3), excellent rate capability (8.1 F cm-3 even at ultrahigh rate of 2000 V s-1), extremely short time constant (0.26 ms), and ultrahigh power density (~1191 W cm-3). By using nanographene molecule as precursor, this fabrication strategy provided a new scaffold for constructing large-area carbon films with assistance of a thin Au layer as 2D confining cover. Meanwhile, the as-produced SG film will offer numerous opportunities as an outstanding carbon-based material for advanced supercapacitors, metal-free oxygen reduction catalysts, batteries, and sensors. (Text and Image by ZHAO Xuejun)
　　Funder: The National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 51572259), Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant 2016YBF0100100 and 2016YFA0200200), Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province (Grant 201602737), DICP (Grant Y5610121T3), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant 2016M601349), dedicated funds for methanol conversion from DICP.
　　Dr. LU Xinyi
　　Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
　　457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian, 116023, China,
　　Tel: 86-411-84379201
　　E-mail: luxinyi@dicp.ac.cn 

　　With the dramatic developments of flexible and wearable electronics, a future energy storage device concentrates on the continuous miniaturization and diversified integration of micro-scale power sources. However, the conventional energy storage devices, such as lithium ion batteries and supercapacitors, are usually configured with sandwich-like stacked geometries. They poorly miniaturize in size and are not well compatible with planar integrated circuits on single substrate. Therefore, the supercapacitors with multiple functionalities, flexibility, miniaturization, planarization and integration are urgently considered in the developing process of electronics.
　　Schematic illustration of SHBC-derived SG films for planar MSCs on a Si/SiO2 wafer. (Image by ZHAO Xuejun)
　　To achieve this goal, the scientists WU Zhongshuai and BAO Xinhe et al from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, and their cooperative scientists from Germany and UK, reported the bottom-up fabrication of continuous, uniform, ultrathin sulfur-doped graphene films derived from sulfur-annulated nanographene for ultrahigh volumetric capacitance Micro-Supercapacitors (MSCs). This work has been published online in high-profile Journal of the American Chemical Society (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b00805).
　　The wafer-scale sulfur-doped graphene (SG) film was produced by thermal annealing of the spray-coated sulfur-annulated nanographene film under a thin Au protecting layer, at 800 oC for 30 mins. Remarkably, their planar MSCs presented outstanding pseudocapacitive behavior (~582 F cm-3), excellent rate capability (8.1 F cm-3 even at ultrahigh rate of 2000 V s-1), extremely short time constant (0.26 ms), and ultrahigh power density (~1191 W cm-3). By using nanographene molecule as precursor, this fabrication strategy provided a new scaffold for constructing large-area carbon films with assistance of a thin Au layer as 2D confining cover. Meanwhile, the as-produced SG film will offer numerous opportunities as an outstanding carbon-based material for advanced supercapacitors, metal-free oxygen reduction catalysts, batteries, and sensors. (Text and Image by ZHAO Xuejun)
　　Funder: The National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 51572259), Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant 2016YBF0100100 and 2016YFA0200200), Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province (Grant 201602737), DICP (Grant Y5610121T3), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant 2016M601349), dedicated funds for methanol conversion from DICP.
　　Dr. LU Xinyi
　　Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
　　457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian, 116023, China,
　　Tel: 86-411-84379201
　　E-mail: luxinyi@dicp.ac.cn 

　　China has successfully created the world's first production line to turn coal into ethanol, or drinking alcohol, the Chinese Academy of Sciences said on Friday.
　　Created by Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum and the academy's Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in Liaoning province, the production line went into operation in January and has the capacity to make more than 100,000 metric tons of pure ethanol every year, according to Liu Zhongmin, the institute's deputy director.
　　By 2020, China will build a factory capable of producing 1 million tons of ethanol each year using the same technology, he said.
　　The country currently produces 7 million tons of ethanol each year using other methods, which can "hardly satisfy" its industrial and energy needs, according to Liu.
　　"Most countries produce ethanol using food, such as corn or sugar cane, but this is not a viable option for China given its massive population," he said.
　　"By turning China's abundant coal resources into ethanol, the technology will help safeguard our energy and food security,"
　　Moreover, ethanol is a green fuel and versatile ingredient. "Utilizing it could reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, and make our industrial production and energy structure more environmental friendly," Liu said.
　　In addition to alcoholic beverages, ethanol can be used to produce thousands of everyday products from plastics to detergents. It can also replace more toxic ingredients, such as methanol, during industrial production.
　　Other uses include mixing it with petroleum to increase its fuel efficiency and reduce pollution. An abundant supply of ethanol would also make ethanol-fueled vehicles more viable, Liu said.(Ecns)
　　Dr. LU Xinyi
　　Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
　　457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian, 116023, China,
　　Tel: 86-411-84379201
　　E-mail: luxinyi@dicp.ac.cn 

　　China has successfully created the world's first production line to turn coal into ethanol, or drinking alcohol, the Chinese Academy of Sciences said on Friday.
　　Created by Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum and the academy's Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in Liaoning province, the production line went into operation in January and has the capacity to make more than 100,000 metric tons of pure ethanol every year, according to Liu Zhongmin, the institute's deputy director.
　　By 2020, China will build a factory capable of producing 1 million tons of ethanol each year using the same technology, he said.
　　The country currently produces 7 million tons of ethanol each year using other methods, which can "hardly satisfy" its industrial and energy needs, according to Liu.
　　"Most countries produce ethanol using food, such as corn or sugar cane, but this is not a viable option for China given its massive population," he said.
　　"By turning China's abundant coal resources into ethanol, the technology will help safeguard our energy and food security,"
　　Moreover, ethanol is a green fuel and versatile ingredient. "Utilizing it could reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, and make our industrial production and energy structure more environmental friendly," Liu said.
　　In addition to alcoholic beverages, ethanol can be used to produce thousands of everyday products from plastics to detergents. It can also replace more toxic ingredients, such as methanol, during industrial production.
　　Other uses include mixing it with petroleum to increase its fuel efficiency and reduce pollution. An abundant supply of ethanol would also make ethanol-fueled vehicles more viable, Liu said.(Ecns)
　　Dr. LU Xinyi
　　Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
　　457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian, 116023, China,
　　Tel: 86-411-84379201
　　E-mail: luxinyi@dicp.ac.cn 

　　On March 11th of 2017, the Fourth Members' Meeting of the Second Academic Committee for Key Laboratory of Separation Science for Analytical Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences was held in Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics. More than 150 people including Academician WANG Erkang, Academician CHEN Hongyuan, Academician CHAI Zhifang, Academician JIANG Guibin, Academician LIU Zhongmin, Prof. ZHANG Xianen, Prof. LIU Huwei, Prof. ZHAO Yuliang, Vice Director BAI Xuerui from key laboratory department of bureau of frontier sciences and education of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the staff from administration section of our institute, research staff and postgraduate students of key laboratory attended the meeting. The meeting was chaired by director of Academic Committee, Academician ZHANG Yukui.
　　Academician LIU Zhongmin made a welcome speech. He expressed heartfelt thanks to the members of the Committee for their concern, support and assistance to the laboratory for many years and claimed that our institute will continue to support the development of key laboratory as in the past. After that, Director of key laboratory, Prof. XU Guowang reported the major scientific achievements, research progress and existing problems of key laboratory in 2016 as well as the future mission. The academic backbone Prof. QIN Jianhua, Prof. FENG Liang, Prof. XU Zhaochao, Prof. YANG Kaiguang, Assoc. Prof. QIN Hongqiang, Assoc. Prof. CHEN Chuang and Assoc. Prof. YIN Peiyuan reported the newest scientific achievements of key laboratory from different research directions respectively.
　　Afterwards, the experts discussed about the current status and future development of key laboratory. The academic committee members gave full recognition to the innovative research of the laboratory during the past year. Besides, they generously offered pertinent recommendations on the expansion of research directions and introduction of talents. Finally, Academician ZAHNG Yukui expressed his sincere gratitude to the committee members for their valuable suggestions and proposed specific requirements for the development of our Key Laboratory, CAS.
　　(Text/Image by LIANG Zhen and YANG Chao)
　　

　　On March 11th of 2017, the Fourth Members' Meeting of the Second Academic Committee for Key Laboratory of Separation Science for Analytical Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences was held in Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics. More than 150 people including Academician WANG Erkang, Academician CHEN Hongyuan, Academician CHAI Zhifang, Academician JIANG Guibin, Academician LIU Zhongmin, Prof. ZHANG Xianen, Prof. LIU Huwei, Prof. ZHAO Yuliang, Vice Director BAI Xuerui from key laboratory department of bureau of frontier sciences and education of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the staff from administration section of our institute, research staff and postgraduate students of key laboratory attended the meeting. The meeting was chaired by director of Academic Committee, Academician ZHANG Yukui.
　　Academician LIU Zhongmin made a welcome speech. He expressed heartfelt thanks to the members of the Committee for their concern, support and assistance to the laboratory for many years and claimed that our institute will continue to support the development of key laboratory as in the past. After that, Director of key laboratory, Prof. XU Guowang reported the major scientific achievements, research progress and existing problems of key laboratory in 2016 as well as the future mission. The academic backbone Prof. QIN Jianhua, Prof. FENG Liang, Prof. XU Zhaochao, Prof. YANG Kaiguang, Assoc. Prof. QIN Hongqiang, Assoc. Prof. CHEN Chuang and Assoc. Prof. YIN Peiyuan reported the newest scientific achievements of key laboratory from different research directions respectively.
　　Afterwards, the experts discussed about the current status and future development of key laboratory. The academic committee members gave full recognition to the innovative research of the laboratory during the past year. Besides, they generously offered pertinent recommendations on the expansion of research directions and introduction of talents. Finally, Academician ZAHNG Yukui expressed his sincere gratitude to the committee members for their valuable suggestions and proposed specific requirements for the development of our Key Laboratory, CAS.
　　(Text/Image by LIANG Zhen and YANG Chao)