Alkaline oxygen evolution: exploring synergy between fcc and hcp cobalt nanoparticles entrapped in N-doped graphene

Herein, we report a Mott-Schottky catalyst by entrapping cobalt nanoparticles inside the N-doped graphene shell (Co@NC). The Co@NC delivered excellent oxygen evolution activity with an overpotential of merely 248 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^–2 with promising long-term stability. The importance of Co encapsulated in NC has further been demonstrated by synthesizing Co nanoparticles without NC shell. The synergy between the hexagonal close-packed (hcp) and face-centered cubic (fcc) Co plays a major role to improve the OER activity, whereas the NC shell optimizes the electronic structure, improves the electron conductivity, and offers a large number of active sites in Co@NC. The density functional theory calculations have revealed that the hcp Co has a dominant role in the surface reaction of electrocatalytic oxygen evolution, whereas the fcc phase induces the built-in electric field at the interfaces with N-doped graphene to accelerate the H⁺ ion transport.     

Comparative Study of LiInSe2 Single Crystals for Thermal-Neutron Detection

Crystallography Reports - Two LiInSe2 single crystals, grown under different conditions, have been studied. Characteristics of these crystals for neutron detection have been compared using...     

Composition and Antifungal Activity of Lipids from Seeds of Atriplex tatarica

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Study of the Photocatalytic Antimicrobial Activity of Nanocomposites Based on TiO2–Al2O3 under Action of LED Radiation (405 nm) on Staphylococci

Optics and Spectroscopy - We study the photocatalytic activity of nanocomposites based on θ-phase alumina (Al2O3) with different TiO2 concentrations for heterogeneous photocatalysis and...     

On the Tender X-Ray Flat-Field Spectrograph with a Concave VLS Grating

Journal of Russian Laser Research - We analyze the way of advancing to tender X-rays the short-wavelength bound of the operating range of flat-field grating spectrographs. We design two VLS grating...     

STRUCTURAL ISOMERS AND VIBRATIONAL SPECTRUM OF TETRAFLUOROSUBSTITUTED ZINC PHTHALOCYANINE

Journal of Structural Chemistry - Structural parameters and relative Gibbs free energies are calculated by density functional theory methods for four tetrafluoro derivatives of zinc(II)...     

Electron Backscattered Diffraction for the Study of Matrices for Immobilization of Actinides Composed of the Murataite-Type Phases

Crystallography Reports - Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) has been used to analyze structures of natural minerals and artificial compounds for almost three decades. In recent years, it is...     

Boundary Conditions in the Source of an Electron Beam on the Surface of the Anode Plasma with a Supersonic Ion Flow

Russian Physics Journal - A solution for the one-dimensional Poisson problem for a layer on the surface of a plasma ion emitter is obtained. The case of plasma with a directed ion velocity greater...     

Assessment of Noise Exposure of Sawmill Workers in Southwest,Nigeria

Economic wood processing employs the use of industrial machines for cutting, shaping, milling, and sawing timber, thereby leading to the generation of high levels of noise. Published data from empirical studies have categorized noise as an environmental hazard of global significance. Furthermore, noise exposure limits for different industries and all the industrial machines available has not been formally established as it presently exists in developed nations around the world. Therefore, this study assessed the daily exposure of sawmills workers to noise in Southwestern Nigeria. Reconnaissance surveys were first carried out in Osun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti, Lagos, and Ogun States to select sawmills that were fully operational and fit for the study. Two fully functional sawmills in two cities of each State were eventually selected for data collection, making a total of 24 sawmills, while the Circular Machines (CM), Planer Machines (PM), and Band-saw Machines (BM) were the machines in each sawmill considered. Two machines each of CM, PM, and BM were considered in each sawmill, making a total of forty-eight (48) machines each of CM, PM, and BM. Sound data were collected between 7 am and 7 pm each day for six days (between Monday and Saturday) using Extech 407732 sound level meter and all stabilized measurements were taken three times at different intervals. The data collected were in three different periods: Machine No-work Period (NP_m), Machine Idle Period (IP_m), and Machine Working Period (WP_m). A two–way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was carried out at P < 0.05 to determine whether there is a significant difference in the sound level average before and after the break, for both the idle and working periods of the three machines considered. This was also done to determine whether there is a significant difference between the sound level average of the results collected during idle and working periods of the three machines. Noise Pollution Levels (L_np) ranged from 83.20 dB (PM) to 107.65 (BM) and 93.42 (CM and PM) – 116.00 (BM) respectively, while IP_m also gave the least noise pollution level of 95.79 dB and WP_m gave the highest level of 102.88 dB. The results revealed that all the machines’ L_np values in the working period are more than the 90 dB acceptable limit the recommendation value of 90 dB while 89.6% of CMs, 75% of PMs, and 89.6% of BM had their L_np above 90 dB in the idle period respectively. The minimum and the maximum noise dose levels for IP_m, WP_m and overall are 0.09 (BM) and 2.37 (CM), 0.50 (CM), and 4.77 (PM) and 0.69 (BM) and 6.64 (PM) respectively. The study found out that the fundamental contributing factors to the high noise levels in sawmills are poor machine maintenance, use of old and obsolete machines, poor housekeeping strategy, limited space, workers’ negligence, lack of PPE, and lack of occupational safety training. The study recommends that proper workplace practices such as use of personal protective equipment, new and modern machines, training, and occupational safety programmes be implemented in the considered sawmills.