As a promising anode for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), cobalt sulfide ( CoS2) has attracted extensive attention due to its high theoretical capacity, easy preparation, and superior electrochemical activity. However, its intrinsic low conductivity and large volume expansion result in poor cycling ability. Herein, nitrogen-doped carbon-coated CoS2 nanoparticles (N–C@ CoS2) were prepared by a C3N4 soft-template-assisted method. Carbon coating improves the conductivity and prevents the aggregation of CoS2 nanoparticles. In addition, the C3N4 template provides a porous graphene-like structure as a conductive framework, affording a fast and constant transport path for electrons and void space for buffering the volume change of CoS2 nanoparticles. Benefitting from the superiorities, the Na-storage properties of the N–C@CoS2 electrode are remarkably boosted. The advanced anode delivers a long-term capacity of 376.27 mAh g− 1 at 0.1 A g− 1 after 500 cycles. This method can also apply to preparing other metal sulfide materials for SIBs and provides the relevant experimental basis for the further development of energy storage materials.

With the rapid development of flexible wearable electronic products, flexible all graphene-based supercapacitors (FGSCs) with reduced graphene oxide rGO//graphene oxide (GO)//rGO structure have attracted substantial attention due to their unique structures and energy storage mechanism. However, restricted by design idea and preparation technology, improvement of capacitance performance for the FGSCs is not obvious recently. Herein, we demonstrate that an interface integration strategy of constructing the high-performance FGSCs with compact structure. Hydroquinone (HQ)-modified rGO (HQ-rGO) films (electrode materials) and sulfuric acid-intercalated GO films (electrolyte/separator) are assembled into the FGSCs utilizing hydrogen bonding and capillary contractility. The HQ further improves the electrochemical capacitance of electrode materials. The synergistic effect of the hydrogen bonding and capillary contractility guarantees compact and stable structure of the device. The resulting FGSCs exhibit an excellent areal capacitance of 804.6 mF cm− 2 (@2 mA cm− 2) and 441 mF cm− 2 (@30 mA cm− 2), and their highest energy and power densities can achieve 109.5 μWh cm− 2 and 21,060 μW cm− 2, respectively. These performances are superior to other all-in-one graphene-based SCs reported. Therefore, the construction technology of the FGSCs is a promising for developing all graphene-based SCs with high-performance.

Transition-metal phosphides (TMPs), a promising anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), are limited in application because of its serious volume effect in the cycle. In this work, a simple electrospinning strategy was proposed to restrict the grain size of CoP nanocrystals by nano-confined effect of carbon nanofibers with ligands. The addition of ligands not only could realize the uniform dispersion of CoP nanocrystals, but also strengthen the bond between the metals and carbon nanofibers. As a result, the CoP/CNF composite exhibits excellent lithium storage performance, and its reversible specific capacity could reach 1016.4 mAh g− 1 after 200 cycles at a current density of 200 mA g− 1. The research is anticipated to provide a new idea for the preparation of anode materials for lithium ion batteries.

Purpose: This research aims to empirically investigate the motivation of corporate voluntary disclosure by exploring the impact of historical loss on corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD). Research design, data, and methodology: This paper takes Chinese A-share listed firms that issued standalone social responsibility reports during the period of 2009-2017 as a sample. Drawing on extant literature, this paper defines historical loss firms as firms with net profit greater than or equal to 0 and undistributed profit less than 0. The tendency score matching method (PSM) is used to find matching samples for historical loss firms. Then OLS regression is conducted to investigate the relationship between historical loss and corporate social disclosure. Results: The results show that historical loss has a significant positive impact on the quality of corporate social responsibility disclosure. After changing the measurement of independent and dependent variables as well as adopting different matching methods to screen the control group, the results still hold. Further research indicates that the relationship between historical loss and CSRD is influenced by corporate financing constraints and industry competition. Conclusions: This research supports the resource motivation hypothesis of corporate social responsibility disclosure, and provides empirical evidence for regulators to strengthen supervision on corporate disclosure.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of corporate anti-corruption practice disclosure (ACPD) from the perspective of rent-seeking theory. Research design, data, and methodology - Data are hand-collected from corporate social responsibility reports (CSRR) issued by 724 A-share listed firms in China. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between ownership structure and corporate ACPD as well as its moderating role in the institutional environment. Results - Our findings indicate that rent-seeking is a key factor in influencing corporate ACPD. State-owned enterprises disclose significantly more anti-corruption information than private ones in order to achieve personal promotion of top executives. Monopoly enterprises reported significantly less anti-corruption information than enterprises in competitive industries due to their rent-seeking behavior. The reduction of government intervention and improvement of legal environment are helpful to curb corporate rent-seeking activities and enhance the level of corporate ACPD. Conclusions - Rent-seeking is an important factor in explaining corporate voluntary disclosure in emerging countries. Institutional environment also plays a moderating role in the relationship between ownership structure and corporate voluntary disclosure. Our results are of interest to policy makers, regulators and market participants that are interested in corporate voluntary disclosure and corruption prevention.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the nature of controlling shareholders and corporate anti-corruption practice disclosure (ACPD) as well as the mediating role of political background of the chairman or CEO of the firm on the relationship between the two. The content analysis was conducted to extract ACPD from standalone corporate social responsibility reports (CSRR) of 703 China’s A-share listed companies. A dummy variable was constructed according to whether a firm disclosed ACPD or not. Logistic regression analysis was used then. Results show that the nature of controlling shareholders has a significant impact on corporate ACPD, with central enterprises disclosing the most frequently, local state-owned enterprises the second and private enterprises the least. Political background of the chairman or CEO has a negative impact on corporate ACPD of state-owned enterprises. These findings have some useful insights in understanding the rent-seeking behavior and information disclosure behavior of corporates in emerging markets. In order to curb the serious corruption problem which is commonplace in developing countries like China, the government should exert certain pressure to strengthen the supervision of information disclosure of listed firms and improve information transparency.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between regional financial development and corporate investment efficiency as well as the relationship between firm-level characteristics and corporate investment efficiency. Using a large sample of A-listed companies in China from CSMAR database between 2003 and 2016, this paper explores corporate investment efficiency and its influencing factors in emerging market on the basis of heterogeneous stochastic frontier model. The results show that: (1) the average investment efficiency of Chinese listed companies is 74.5%, and the investment efficiency of large enterprises, state-owned enterprises and enterprises with relatively high financial development level is significantly higher; (2) compared with average corporate investment efficiency in the year 2003, the investment efficiency of different types of enterprises in 2016 is significantly higher, and the gap is gradually widening; (3) enterprise heterogeneity namely firm size, nature of property right, and institutional environment reflected by the level of regional financial development indirectly affects corporate investment efficiency by influencing the financing constraints and uncertainty. The findings suggest that to improve corporate investment efficiency in emerging market, financial market should be accelerated, regional balance should be restored and the differences among regions, industries and differences between public and private sectors should be eliminated.