Cement hydration is a complex chemical and physical reaction process, which directly determines the microstructure and macro-property of hardened cement paste. Since conventional experimental methods are in general time-consuming, laborious and expensive, computer simulation thus becomes popular in understanding the mechanism of cement hydration and microstructure development in recent years. In this review, existing hydration models were introduced, and their advantages and drawbacks were described. Recent work on the cement hydration simulation were summarized, in which the emphasis is on the hydration of non-spherical cement particles and nano-scale simulation of calcium silicate hydrate. Based on the practical application of relevant models, the effect of mineral admixtures on the hydration process and microstructure of cement paste was discussed. The properties of cement-based materials (i.e., agent transport, chloride diffusion and microcrack propagation) were represented as well.

With the promotion of the national blue ocean strategy, concrete is widely used in various marine engineering facilities (i.e., cross-sea bridges, sub-sea tunnels, harbour terminals, etc.). However, concrete suffers from physical, chemical and biological synergistic effects during its service, eventually leading to its deterioration. The mechanism of concrete deterioration caused by physical and chemical effects is well known. In the marine environment, however, the mechanism of concrete deterioration caused by organisms, especially macro organisms (i.e., plant type and animal type) is still unclear. Therefore, this review represented recent work on the corrosion mechanism of macroscopic organisms in marine concrete, some factors affecting the attachment behavior of macroscopic organisms, and the related protective characterizations as well for more reasonable, efficient, economic and environmentally friendly corrosion management of marine concrete used.

Corrosion behavior and evolution of steel reinforcement in simulated concrete pore solutions subjected to different corrosive ions (i.e., chloride, sulfate, chloride-sulfate, and simulate sea water) were investigated. Corrosion products induced with chloride and sulfate ions were also analyzed, respectively. The results show that the presence of sulfate ions in co-existence scenario of chloride-sulfate ions lead to a lower polarization resistance and a higher corrosion current density. The steel corrosion potential is correlated to the polarization resistance evolution as a power function relationship. Corrosion products induced by chloride and sulfate ions depicts a slight difference, mainly containing γ-FeOOH, α-FeOOH, Fe(OH)₃, Fe₂O₃ and FeO.

Boron (B)-doped LiNi_0.6Co_0.2Mn_0.2O₂ cathode materials were prepared by oxalate co-precipitation and subsequent heat treatment. The effects of doping with different boron sources (B₂O₃, H₃BO₃ and LiBO₂) on the morphology, structure and electrochemical properties of the materials were investigated. The X-ray diffracation and Rietveld refinement revealed that the B element was successfully doped into the material lattice. The electrochemical performance characterization showed that the doping effect of B₂O₃ was the best, with excellent rate performance (the specific discharge capacity was 145.1 mA·h/g at 5 C) and long-term cycle stability (the capacity retention ratio was 84.5% after 300 cycles at 1 C). The enhanced electrochemical performance is attributed to the fact that boron doping effectively reduces the surface residual lithium compound, enhances the structural stability of the material, effectively inhibits the voltage drop and improve the polarization phenomenon, and reduces the charge transfer resistance, thus inhibiting the capacity decay and achieving excellent electrochemical performance.

Platinum (Pt) was encapsulated in ZSM-5 by an one-step hydrothermal method for dehydrogenation of propane to prepare propylene (PDH). The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, specific surface area measurement, H₂-pluse, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Under the optimal reaction conditions, the propane conversion and propylene selectivity are 48% and 57%. In addition, the catalytic system can also resist the toxic effect of DBT, and the propane conversion and propylene selectivity are not reduced with DBT containing a catalytic system.

Organic sulfides are recognized as the most promising cathode materials for lithium-sulfur batteries due to their high capacities, abundant resources and adjustable structures. Organic sulfides have a variety of superior features with respect to the diversity of structural designs, superior lithium storage properties and reaction mechanisms. In this review, recent development on organic sulfides in lithium sulfur batteries was represented, the latest progress of researches on small molecule polysulfides, polysulfides and vulcanized polymers was described, and their structure characteristics and electrochemical mechanisms were illustrated. In addition, the relationship between electrochemical performance of organic sulfides and their structure design as well as functional groups was also summarized. The future prospect of organic sulfides was given for next generation energy storage systems.

The safety and cycling stability issues of lithium-ion battery as a prevalent electrochemical energy storage device have attracted much recent attention. Lithium plating on the anode material is a common failure reason of lithium-ion battery, thus becoming a hot research area in industry. However, some common detection methods are not applied for the batteries due to the closed packed structure. Therefore, the detection of lithium plating becomes a problem in the lithium-ion battery industry. To address this issue, this review represented recent progress on lithium plating detection methods via the following aspects, i.e., building special in-situ cells, prediction according to external properties, and measurement of new physical parameters. In addition, the future developing trend was also prospected.

Compared with the conventional analysis methods for the porous electrode, this paper represents some methods for single particle analysis in battery research, i.e., microeletrode contacting method, single particle collision method, microfluidic analysis method and spectral analysis method. In the single particle analysis methods. some intrinsic properties of the battery materials can be obtained by analyzing directly in single particle scale, thus clarifying the electrochemical reaction mechanism of the material.

Sodium-based layered oxides are a reasearch hotspot due to thier high specific capacity and high ionic conductivity. Different ordering superstructures in these materilas, including Na⁺/vacancy ordering in Na layer, charge ordering and transition metal ordering in transition metal layer, greatly affect the phase transition process, voltage profile and ion diffusion coefficient, etc.. The characteristics of three types of ordering superstructures were introduced, and the effects of ionic interaction, Fermi level and ionic radius on the ordering superstructures were also discussed. Meanwhile, this review summarized some work on the disordering structures and predicted the promising design directions to supress the ordering structures, for providing a guidance for the structural design of high-performance electrode materials.

Compared with conventional organic liquid electrolyte batteries, all-solid-state batteries for next-generation energy storage have attracted recent attention due to their advantages of high safety, high energy density and long cycle life. Organic-inorganic composite solid electrolytes as the most promising electrolyte systems have some advantages of inorganic solid electrolytes with a high strength, a high stability and a high ionic conductivity, and some advantages of solid polymer electrolytes for softness and easy processing as well. This review introduced the fundamentals of Li-ion solid-state electrolytes, and discussed some problems of organic-inorganic composite solid electrolytes (i.e., ionic conductivity, solid-solid interface, electrochemical window and compatibility between organic and inorganic compounds) and optimization strategies. In addition, some challenges and future development on organic-inorganic composite solid electrolytes were also described.