Improved electrochemical hydrogen storage properties of Mg-Y thin films as a function of substrate temperature

Pd-capped Mg_(78)Y_(22) thin films have been prepared by direct current magnetron co-sputtering system at different substrate temperatures and their electrochemical hydrogen storage properties have been investigated.It is found that rising substrate temperature to 60 ℃ can coarsen the surface of thin film,thus facilitating the diffusion of hydrogen atoms and then enhancing its discharge capacity to ~1725 mAh·g~(-1).Simultaneously,the cyclic stability is effectively improved due to the increased adhesion force between film and substrate as a function of temperature.In addition,the specimen exhibits a very long and flat discharge plateau at about —0.67 V,at which nearly 60%of capacity is maintained.The property is favorable for the application in metal hydride/nickel secondary batteries.The results indicate that rising optimal substrate temperature has a beneficial effect on the electrochemical hydrogen storage of Mg-Y thin films.     

Influence of Reverse Pressure on the Shear Viscosity of Hydrophilic Poly（ethylene terephthalate） Melt

The effect of reverse pressure.on rheological behavior has been studied. The apparatus is a capillary rheometer with counter pressure chamber being held at a high reverse pressure by means of a cock. The results show that with the increase in temperature, the shear viscosity of hydrophilic PET is reduced. It is different that the effect of temperature on shear viscosity is varied under the condition of all shear rates or all pressures, and the effect is more prominent at 50 MPa or at 216 s-1. At the same time, the pressure coefficients decrease with increasing the shear rate and the temperature and tend to reach a constant value nearly at the temperature of 290 °C.     

Selective oxidation of ethane to aldehydes over SBA-15 supported molybdenum catalyst

SBA-15 supported Mo catalysts （Moy/SBA-15） were prepared by an ultrasonic assisted incipient-wetness impregnation method. The physical and chemical properties of the catalysts were characterized by means of N2-adsorption-desorption, XRD, TEM, UV-Vis, Raman, XANES and H2-TPR. The results showed that a trace amount of MoO3 was produced on high Mo content samples. Tum-over frequency （TOF） and product selectivity are dependent on the molybdenum content. Both Mo0.75/SBA-15 and Mo1.75/SBA-15 catalysts give the higher catalytic activity and the selectivity to the total aldehydes for the selective oxidation of C2H6. At the reaction temperature of 625℃, the maximum yield of aldehydes reached 4.2% over Mo0.75/SBA-15 catalyst. The improvement of the activity and selectivity was related with the state of MoOx species.     

Effect of Functionalized Magnetite Nanoparticles and Diaminoxanthone on the Curing,Thermal Degradation Kinetic and Corrosion Property of Diglycidyl Ether of Bisphenol A-Based Epoxy Resin

To prepare a high-performance epoxy resin with excellent thermal, chemical and corrosion stability, diaminoxanthone（DAX） was used to cure diglycidylether of bisphenol-A（DGEBA）-based epoxy resin and blend of DGEBA with functionalized Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Kinetic parameters of curing and thermal degradation of epoxy resin systems were estimated by differential scanning calorimetry（DSC） and thermogravimetric analysis（TGA）, respectively. The 10% weight loss temperature has been increased from 340 °C to 366 °C and there was an increase in the char yield from 32.6% to 45.3% for the above systems. The corrosion performance of epoxy coated carbon steel was examined by potentiodynamic polarization, along with immersion test in 1.0 mol/L HCl solution. The results showed that epoxy resins cured with DAX had low tendency to corrosion. In addition, the cured epoxy resin containing 10% Fe3O4 had higher anticorrosion activity than bare DGEBA system. The results showed that functionalized Fe3O4 nanoparticles enhanced char formation and improved the thermal stability as well as anticorrosion activity of the resin.     

Effect of Ni,Fe and Fe-Ni alloy catalysts on the synthesis of metal contained carbon nano-onions and studies of their electrochemical hydrogen storage properties

Three types of carbon nano-onions(CNOs) including Ni@CNOs.Fe_3C@CNOs and Fe_(0.64)Ni_(0.36)@CNOs nanoparticles have been synthesized by catalytic decomposition of methane at 850 ℃ using nickel,iron and iron-nickel alloy catalysts.Comparative and systematic studies have been carried out on the morphology,structural characteristics and graphitic crystallinity of these CNOs products.Furthermore,the electrochemical hydrogen storage properties of three types of CNOs have been investigated.Measurements show that the Ni@CNOs have the highest discharge capacity of 387.2 mAh/g,coiTesponding to a hydrogen storage of 1.42%.This comparison study shows the advantages of each catalyst in the growth of CNOs.enabling the controllable synthesis and tuning the properties of CNOs by mediating different metals and their alloy for using in the fuel cell system.     

Gas-phase electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide using electrolytic cell based on phosphoric acid-doped polybenzimidazole membrane

Carbon dioxide transformation to fuels or chemicals provides an attractive approach for its utilization as feedstock and its emission reduction. Herein, we report a gas-phase electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 in an electrolytic cell, constructed using phosphoric acid-doped polybenz- imidazole （PBI） membrane, which allowed operation at 170 ℃ Pt/C and PtMo/C with variable ratio of Pt/Mo were studied as the cathode catalysts. The results showed that PtMo/C catalysts significantly enhanced CO formation and inhibited CH4 formation compared with Pt/C catalyst. Characterization by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy revealed that most Mo species existed as MoO3 in PtMo/C catalysts and the interaction between Pt and MoOx was likely responsible for the enhanced CO formation rate although these bicomponent catalysts in general had a larger particle size than Pt/C catalyst.     

Investigation of Co304 nanorods supported Pd anode catalyst for methanol oxidation in alkaline solution

A CO3O4 nanorod supported Pd electro-catalyst for the methanol electro-oxidation （MEO） has been fabricated by the combination of hydrother- mal synthesis and microwave-assisted polyol reduction processes. The crystallographic property and microstructure have been characterized using XRD, SEM and TEM. The results demonstrate that Pd nanoparticles （PdNPs） with a narrow particle size distribution （3-5 nm） are uni- formly deposited onto the surface of Co304 nanorods. Electrochemical measurements show that this catalyst having a larger electrochemically active surface area and a more negative onset-potential exhibits enhanced catalytic activity of 504 mA/mg Pd for MEO comparing with the Pd/C catalyst （448 mA/mg Pd）. The dependency of log/against logv reveals that MEO on Pd-CO304 electrode is under a diffusion control. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy （EIS） measurement agrees well with the CV results. The minimum charge transfer resistance of MEO on Pd-CO304 is observed at -0.05 V, which coincides with the potential of MEO peak.     

TiO2 nanocrystals/graphene hybrids with enhanced Li-ion storage performance

TiO_2 nanocrystals/graphene hybrids(TiO_2-G) with ultrafine TiO_2 nanocrystals(~7 nm in size) conformally coated on ultrathin graphene nanosheets(~ 2 layers thick) were successfully prepared via a facile one-pot solvothermal route under mediated conditions.With the feature of large surface area,abundant mesopores and high thermal stability,the TiOi-G nanohybrids exhibited large reversible Li-ion storage capacity with excellent cycling stability(629 mAh·g~(-1) after 400 cycles at a current of 60 mA·g~(-1)) and good rate capability(184 mAh·g~(-1) at a current density of 3 A·g~(-1)) due to the synergetic effects and strong interactions between the components,showing great promise in applications for advanced energy storage devices.     

Preferential oxidation of CO in excess H2 over the CeO2/CuO catalyst： Effect of initial support

Three series of CeO2/CuO samples were prepared by impregnation method and characterized by XRD, N2adsorption-desorption, temperatureprogrammed reduction(TPR), XPS and TEM techniques. In comparison with the samples prepared with CuO as initial support, the samples with Cu(OH)2as initial support have higher reducibilities and smaller relative TPR peak areas, and also larger specific surface areas at calcination temperatures of 400℃–600℃. As a result, Cu(OH)2is better than CuO as initial support for preferential oxidation of CO in excess H2(CO-PROX). The best catalytic performance was achieved on the sample calcined at 600℃ and with an atomic ratio of Ce/Cu at 40%. XPS analyses indicate that more interface linkages Ce-O-Cu could be formed when it was calcined at 600℃. And the atomic ratio of Ce/Cu at 40%led to a proper reducibility for the sample as illustrated by the TPR measurements.     

Preparation of activated carbon with high surface area for high-capacity methane storage

Activated carbon （AC） was fabricated from corncob, which is cheap and abundant. Experimental parameters such as particle size of corncob, KOHlchar weight ratio, and activation temperature and time were optimized to generate AC, which shows high methane sorption capacity. AC has high specific surface area （3227 m^2/g）, with pore volume and pore size distribution equal to 1.829 cm^3/g and ca. 1.7-2.2 nm, respectively. Under the condition of 2℃ and less than 7.8 MPa, methane sorption in the presence of water （Rw = 1.4） was as high as 43.7 wt% methane per unit mass of dry AC. The result is significantly higher than those of coconut-derived AC （32 wt%） and ordered mesoporous carbon （41.2 wt%, Rw = 4.07） under the same condition. The physical properties and amorphous chaotic structure of AC were characterized by N2 adsorption isotherms, XRD, SEM and HRTEM. Hence, the corncob-derived AC can be considered as a competitive methane-storage material for vehicles, which are run by natural gas.

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Core-shell meso/microporous carbon host for sulfur loading toward applications in lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur(Li-S) batteries belong to one of the promising technologies for high-energy-density rechargeable batteries.However,sulfur cathodes suffer from inherent problems of its poor electronic conductivity and the shuttling of highly dissoluble lithium polysulfides generated during the cycles.Loading sulfur into porous carbons has been proved to be an effective approach to alleviate these issues.Mesoporous and microporous carbons have been widely used for sulfur accommodation,but mesoporous carbons have poor sulfur confinement,whereas microporous carbons are impeded by low sulfur loading rates.Here,a core-shell carbon,combining both the merits of mesoporous carbon with large pore volume and microporous carbon with effective sulfur confinement,was prepared by coating the mesoporous CMK-3 with a microporous carbon(MPC) shell and served as the carbon host(CMK-3 @MPC) to accommodate sulfur.After sulfur infusion,the as-obtained S/(CMK-3@MPC) cathode delivered a high initial capacity of up to 1422 mAh·g~(-1) and sustained 654 mAh·g~(-1) reversible specific capacity after 36 cycles at 0.1 C.The good performance is ascribed to the unique core-shell structure of the CMK-3@MPC matrix,in which sulfur can be effectively confined within the meso/microporous carbon host,thus achieving simultaneously high electrochemical utilization.     

Excellent complete conversion activity for methane and CO of Pd/TiOz-Zro.sA10.5O1.75 catalyst used in lean-bum natural gas vehicles

Palladium catalysts are supported on TiO2, ZrO2, A12O3, Zro.sAlo.501.75 and TiO2-Zro.sAlo.501.75 prepared by co-precipitation method, re- spectively. Catalytic activities for methane and CO oxidation are evaluated in a gas mixture that simulated the exhaust from lean-burn natural gas vehicles （NGVs）. Pd/TiO2-Zro.sAlo.501.75 performs the best catalytic activity among the tested five catalysts. For CH4, the light-off temperature （Tso） is 254 ℃, and the complete conversion temperature （Tgo） is 280 ℃; for CO, Tso is 84 ℃, and Tgo was 96 ℃. Various techniques, including N2 adsorption-desorption, X-ray diffraction （XRD）, H2-temperature-programmed reduction （H2-TPR）, X-ray photoelec- tron spectroscopy （XPS）, and scanning electron microscopy （SEM） are employed to characterize the effect of supports on the physicochemical properties of prepared catalysts. N2 adsorption-desorption and SEM show that TiO2-Zro.5Al0.501.75 expresses uniform nano-particles and large meso-pore diameters of 26 nm. H2-TPR and XRD indicate that PdO is well dispersed on the supports and strongly interacted with each other. The results of XPS show that the electron density around PdO and the proportion of active oxygen on TiO2-Zro.sAl0.501.75 are maxima among the five supports.     

Unique catalysis of Ni-Al hydrotalcite derived catalyst in CO_2 methanation: cooperative effect between Ni nanoparticles and a basic support

Ni-Al hydrotalcite derived catalyst （Ni-Al2O3-HT） exhibited a narrow Ni particle-size distribution with an average particle size of 4.0 nm. Methanation of CO2 over this catalyst initiated at 225℃ and reached 82.5% CO2 conversion with 99.5% CH4 selectivity at 350℃, which was much better than its impregnated counterpart. Characterizations by means of CO2 microcalorimetry and 27 Al NMR indicated that large amount of strong basic sites existed on Ni-Al2O3-HT, originated from the formation of Ni-O-Al structure. The existence of strong basic sites facilitated the activation of CO2 and consequently promoted the activity. The combination of highly dispersed Ni with strong basic support led to its unique and high efficiency for this reaction.

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Performance of Co/MgO catalyst for C02 reforming of toluene as a model compound of tar derived from biomass gasification

Catalytic performances of the CO2 reforming of toluene on Co/MgO catalysts with different cobalt loadings were evaluated in a fluidized-bed reactor. The results showed that the conversion of toluene and the stability of Co/MgO increased, but the apparent reaction rate decreased at the initial stage with increasing the amount of metallic Co formed from the reduction of Co/MgO catalysts at 700 ~C. The deactivation of Co/MgO catalysts was mainly resulted from that a part of the metallic Co was oxidized by CO2 and could not be re-reduced by H2 at reaction temperature. Therefore, the excess metallic Co on the higher Co loading catalysts was beneficial to the catalyst stability.     

A Novel Sr2CuInO3S p-type semiconductor photocatalyst for hydrogen production under visible light irradiation

A novel Sr2CuInO3 S oxysulfide p-type semiconductor photocatalyst has been prepared by solid state reaction method and it exhibits intriguing visible light absorption properties with a bandgap of 2.3 eV. The p-type semiconductor character of the synthesized Sr2CuInO3 S was confirmed by Hall efficient measurement and Mott-Schottky plot analysis. First-principles density functional theory calculations(DFT) and electrochemical measurements were performed to elucidate the electronic structure and the energy band locations. It was found that the as-synthesized Sr2CuInO3 S photocatalyst has appreciate conduction and valence band positions for hydrogen and oxygen evolution, respectively. Photocatalytic hydrogen production experiments under a visible light irradiation(λ420 nm) were carried out by loading different metal and metal-like cocatalysts on Sr2CuInO3 S and Rh was found to be the best one among the tested ones.     

Co（Ⅱ）-salen complex encapsulated into MIL-100（Cr） for electrocatalytic reduction of oxygen

Co(II)-salen was encapsulated in MIL-100(Cr) metal organic framework by "ship in a bottle" to synthesize a new electrocatalyst, Cosalen@MIL-100(Cr). The material was characterized by XRD, FT-IR, UV-Vis and N2-adsorption. The Cosalen@MIL-100(Cr) modified glassy carbon electrode exhibits a well-defined reduction peak at the potential of –0.21 V toward the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) by cyclic voltammetry(CV) in pH = 6.84 phosphate buffer. Almost 400 mV positive shift of potential at Cosalen@MIL-100(Cr) modified electrode for ORR compared with that at bare glassy carbon, indicates that Cosalen@MIL-100(Cr) possesses excellent electrocatalytic activity. The transferred number of electrons for ORR was determined by chronocoulometry. The result suggests that the introduction of Co(II)-salen complex into MOF increases the electrocatalytic activity via a four-electron reduction pathway. Furthermore, this electrocatalyst exhibits good stability and reproducibility.     

Microstructure evolution and oxidation states of Co in perovskite-type oxide Ba_(1.0)Co_(0.7)Fe_(0.2)Nb_(0.1)O_(3-δ) annealed in CO_2 atmosphere

Ba1.0Co0.7Fe0.2Nb0.1O3-γ（BCFN） oxide with perovskite cubic structure was synthesized by solid state reaction method. COa corrosion of BCFN membrane was investigated by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier- transformed spectroscopy （DRIFT） and X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy （XAFS）. Cobalt （Co） K-edge absorption spectra of BCFN annealed in COa reveal that the oxidation states of Co in all the samples were larger than ＋3 and they decreased with the increase of calcination time. At 800 ℃, 1% CO2 introduced into He could speed up the reduction of Co cations in comparison with pure He. In addition, sulfate ions in the bulk of BCFN membrane preferred to migrate to the surface under CO2 calcination and form monoclinic Ba（CO3）0.9（SO4）0.1 besides orthorhombic witherite. Moreover, SEM results indicate that the nucleation and growth of carbonates grains started at the grain boundary of the membrane.     

Graphene Oxide Doped Poly（hydroxymethylated-3,4- ethylenedioxythiophene）： Enhanced Sensitivity for Electrochemical Determination of Rutin and Ascorbic Acid

A novel graphene oxide doped poly(hydroxymethylated-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)(PEDOT-MeOH/GO) composite film was synthesized and utilized as an efficient electrode material for simultaneous detection of rutin and ascorbic acid(AA). PEDOT-MeOH/GO films were synthesized on glassy carbon electrode(GCE) by a facile one-step electrochemical approach and were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, FTIR spectra and electrochemical methods. Then the PEDOT-MeOH/GO/GCE was applied successfully in the simultaneous detection of rutin and AA. The results showed that the oxidation peak currents of rutin and AA obtained at the PEDOT-MeOH/GO/GCE were much higher than those at the traditional conducting polymer PEDOT/GO/GCE, PEDOT-MeOH/GCE, PEDOT/GCE and bare GCE. Under optimized conditions, the linear ranges for rutin and AA are 20 nmol/L-10 μmol/L and 8 μmol/L-1 mmol/L, respectively. The detection limit is 6 nmol/L for rutin and 2 μmol/L for AA(S/N = 3), which are lower than those of the reported electrochemical sensors.     

Polyelectrolyte Multilayer Patterns Created by Capillary Force and Their Impact on Cell Migration

Cell migration plays a crucial role in a variety of physiological and pathological processes.In this study a method of capillary force lithography was used to treat poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS)/poly(diallyldimethylammonium) chloride (PDADMAC) multilayers with a PDMS stamp before or after etching by NaC1 solution,yielding physical patterns with various features such as double thin lines,double strips,meniscus-shaped ridges,and high ridges.The ridge height is controllable in the range of 25 and 1100 nm.Migration of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) was restrained by the double-line patterns in a ridge height-dependent manner.By contrast,the mobility of SMCs was controlled by both the hydration ratio of the multilayers and the pattern features.     

Influence of aliphatic amide terminals on the thermoresponsive properties of hyperbranched polyethylenimines

Acetamide(C2), propionamide(C3), butyramide(C4), isobutyramide(i-C4), isovaleramide(i-C5) and trimethylacetamide(t-C5) groups each were introduced to the terminals of hyperbranched polyethylenimine(HPEI) through the amidation reaction between HPEI and the corresponding anhydride. Moreover, HPEIs terminated with two kinds of amides were also prepared. The first amide was fixed to be i-C4 with 52% degree of amidation(DA), and the second amide varied from C2, C3, C4, i-C5 to t-C5. All the polymers were characterized by 1H-NMR. Turbidimetry measurements were performed for these polymers in water at different temperatures. With respect to the polymers bearing only one kind of amide group, except C2, all the other amide groups could render thermoresponsive properties to HPEI. The specific ordering of these amide groups to reduce the cloud point temperature(Tcp) was as follows: i-C5 t-C5 C4 i-C4 C3. Moreover, the more branched i-C4 and t-C5 were better groups than their less branched isomers C4 and i-C5 in the Tcp range of 12-51 °C to render the sharper phase transition to the thermoresponsive polymers. As for the polymers bearing two kinds of amide groups, the further introduction of C2, C3, C4, i-C5 or t-C5 could effectively endow HPEI bearing 52% of i-C4 with thermoresponsive properties. The specific ordering of these second amide groups to reduce the Tcp was as follows: i-C5 C4 i-C4 C3 C2. C4, i-C5 and t-C5 were all effective second amide groups to prepare the thermoresponsive polymers with sharper phase transition.