The Effect of MoS x Nanocoatings on the Water Electrolysis Performance Using a Nickel-Foam-Based Bifunctional Catalyst

The ability to increase the efficiency of electrochemical H2 and O2 evolution reactions in an alkaline solution using nickel-foam-based electrodes has been studied. To improve the catalytic properties of the foam, it was subjected to complex modification via sulfurizing in sulfur-containing gaseous media and the additional formation of amorphous or crystalline MoSx nanolayers. The foam was sulfidized in hydrogen sulfide or sulfur vapor at a temperature of 400°C. Amorphous MoSx films were produced via pulsed laser deposition from a MoS2 target in an H2S atmosphere. To obtain nanocrystalline catalytic MoSx layers, thin-film Mo precursors were preliminarily applied to the foam pre-sulfurized in sulfur vapor at 400°C. The deposition of precursors was carried out in vacuum at 22°C. After deposition, the foam with precursors was oxidized in air at 600°C. The modified samples were probed via scanning electron microscopy involving microanalysis and Raman spectroscopy. The effect of the precursor layer thickness on the sulfurizing efficiency and phase composition of the modified layers was established. The amorphous layer deposition was found to have a strong impact on only the O2 evolution. The crystalline layers obtained via sulfidizing of Mo-containing precursors exerted influence on both the cathodic and anodic reactions. The hydrogen overvoltage at a current density of 10 mA/cm2 was −160 mV, and the oxygen overvoltage was below 150 mV, which corresponded to the best electrocatalysts on the nickel foam after the volume modification via conventional chemical treatment (hydro- and solvothermal synthesis).     

流体力学半径对估算胶体微球聚集速率常数的影响

胶体粒子聚集速率常数实验值远低于理论值一直是被普遍关注的问题.聚集速率常数的理论推导是基于粒子的几何半径来考虑的,但决定粒子扩散速率及聚集速率的应该是粒子的流体力学半径(大于几何半径),因而它是使聚集速率常数实验值低于理论值的因素之一.影响流体力学半径的因素很多,其中,带电粒子在溶液中因表面存在双电层,会明显增大流体力学半径,造成聚集速率减慢.而双电层的厚度又随溶液中离子强度的不同而改变.本工作在聚集速率的公式中引入了修正因子,即几何半径与其流体力学半径之比,以修正由于用几何半径代替流体力学半径带来的误差.其中几何半径和流体力学半径可以分别用扫描电镜(SEM)和动态光散射(DLS)来测定.以两种粒径的聚苯乙烯带电微球为例,考察了在不同离子强度下,该误差的大小.结果发现,对于半径为30 nm的微球,用流体力学半径计算的慢聚集速率常数比理论值偏低约8%.该误差随离子强度增加而减少.对于快聚集情况,流体力学半径对聚集速率基本没有影响.     

Synthetic magnetic opals

We present studies of novel nanocomposites of BiNi impregnated into the structure of opals as well as inverse opals. Atomic force microscopy and high resolution elemental analyses show a highly ordered structure and uniform distribution of the BiNi filler in the matrix. These BiNi-based nanocomposites are found to exhibit distinct ferromagnetic-like ordering with transition temperature of about 675 K. As far as we know there exists no report in literature on any BiNi compound which is magnetic.     

On some properties of bundles of trajectories of a controlled bilinear inclusion

We consider a differential bilinear inclusion with control and present conditions under which the reachability set for this inclusion is compact.Translated from Ukrainskyi Matematychnyi Zhurnal, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 484–494, April, 2004.     

Temperature hysteretic effect and its influence on colossal magnetoresistance of La0.33Nd0.33Ca0.33MnO3

Electrical resistance (R) measurements of a bulk La_0.33Nd_0.33Ca_0.33MnO₃ perovskite in magnetic fields up to 40 kOe have revealed anomalous temperature hysteretic effects both in 0 Oe and 20 kOe magnetic fields. The sharp peak observed in the R vs. T plot indicates the occurrence of metal-to-insulator (M-I) transition at a temperature of T _MI=110 K and 140 K, for cooling and warming paths, respectively. An applied magnetic field of 20 kOe reduces the resistance and shifts T _MI to 160 K and 185 K for cooling and warming, respectively. We have observed a much higher resistance in the cooling path than in the warming path leading to the hysteretic resistance ratio (R _cool/R _warm) of 200 at 110 K and 1.8 at 160 K for 0 Oe and 20 kOe, respectively. Record values of colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) have been achieved. The CMR value reaches nearly 99% in the temperature ranges of 90 K to 140 K and 90 K to 170 K for 20 kOe and 40 kOe magnetic fields in the cooling mode, respectively. The observed unusual behavior is attributed to the co-existence of La-rich and Nd-rich domains assumed to be distributed randomly in the compound.     

Peak effect studies in single crystals CeRu2 and 2H-NbS2

We have studied the peak effect (PE) phenomenon in single crystals of weakly pinned superconductors CeRu₂ and 2H-NbS₂. 2H-NbS₂ is iso-structural and iso-electronic to 2H-NbSe₂, whose similarity with CeRu₂ as regards the PE representing the order-to-disorder transformation of the flux line lattice was claimed some time ago. We report on the step change in equilibrium magnetization across the peak effect in CeRu₂. We also present the vortex phase diagram of 2H-NbS₂ obtained from the magnetization data, and compare the PE phenomenon in 2H-NbS₂ and 2H-NbSe₂.     

Direct one-index transformations in multiconfiguration response calculations

The evaluation of gradient vectors of a general operator with one-index, double-one-index, or higher-order one-index transformed integrals is a key operation in multiconfiguration response theory calculations. We describe an integral-driven direct algorithm that carries out this operation efficiently without pretransforming the integrals. The use of this algorithm leads to a considerable reduction in disk space and timing. © 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.