Porous Molybdenum Carbide Nanostructures Synthesized on Carbon Cloth by CVD for Efficient Hydrogen Production

Molybdenum carbide (Mo₂C) is a promising noble-metal-free electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), due to its structural and electronic merits, such as high conductivity, metallic band states and wide pH applicability. Here, a simple CVD process was developed for synthesis of a Mo₂C on carbon cloth (Mo₂C@CC) electrode with carbon cloth as carbon source and MoO₃ as the Mo precursor. XRD, Raman, XPS and SEM results of Mo₂C@CC with different amounts of MoO₃ and growth temperatures suggested a two-step synthetic mechanism, and porous Mo₂C nanostructures were obtained on carbon cloth with 50 mg MoO₃ at 850 °C (Mo₂C-850(50)). With the merits of unique porous nanostructures, a low overpotential of 72 mV at current density of 10 mA cm⁻² and a small Tafel slope of 52.8 mV dec⁻¹ was achieved for Mo₂C-850(50) in 1.0 m KOH. The dual role of carbon cloth as electrode and carbon source resulted into intimate adhesion of Mo₂C on carbon cloth, offering fast electron transfer at the interface. Cyclic voltammetry measurements for 5000 cycles revealed that Mo₂C@CC had excellent electrochemical stability. This work provides a novel strategy for synthesizing Mo₂C and other efficient carbide electrocatalysts for HER and other applications, such as supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries.     

Surface modification of hollow microsphere Li1.2Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 cathode by coating with CoAl2O4

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Li1.2Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 was synthesized as a cathode material for lithium-ion batteries and coated with various amounts of CoAl2O4 (0–5 wt%)...     

Population Transfer in a Nitrogen-Vacancy Spin Qutrit via Shortcuts to Adiabaticity with Simplified Drivings

JETP Letters - Optimal control of quantum system is significant for information science and technology. Here, an efficient scheme is proposed for implementing fast population transfer in a spin...     

零误差计算

研究采用有误差的数值计算来获得无误差的准确值具有重要的理论价值和应用价值.这种通过近似的数值方法获得准确结果的计算被称为零误差计算.本文首先指出,只有一致离散集合中的数才能够开展零误差计算,即有非零隔离界的数集,这也是"数"可以进行零误差计算的一个充要条件.以此为基本出发点,本文分析代数数零误差计算的最低理论精度,该精度对应于恢复近似代数数的准确值时必要的误差控制条件,但由于所采用恢复算法的局限性,这一理论精度往往不能保证成功恢复出代数数的准确值.为此,本文给出采用PSLQ (partial-sum-LQ-decomposition)算法进行代数数零误差计算所需的精度控制条件,与基于LLL (Lenstra-Lenstra-Lovász)算法相比,该精度控制条件关于代数数次数的依赖程度由二次降为拟线性,从而可降低相应算法的复杂度.最后探讨零误差计算未来的发展趋势.     

Photons can hide where they have been

Recently,the nested Mach–Zehnder interferometer[Phys.Rev.Lett.111,240402(2013)]was modified by adding Dove prisms in a paper[Quantum Stud.:Math.Found.2,255(2015)],and an interesting result is that,after the Dove prisms were inserted,a signal at the first mirror of the nested interferometer was obtained.But,according to the former original paper,the photons have never been present near that mirror.In this work,we interpret this result naturally by resorting to the three-path interference method.Moreover,we find that even though the photons have been somewhere,they can hide the trace of being there.     

A mixed virtual element method for the time-fractional fourth-order subdiffusion equation

Numerical Algorithms - We propose and analyze a mixed virtual element method for time-fractional fourth-order subdiffusion equation involving the Caputo fractional derivative on polygonal meshes,...     

Practical algorithm substitution attack on extractable signatures

Designs, Codes and Cryptography - An algorithm substitution attack (ASA) can undermine the security of cryptographic primitives by subverting the original implementation. An ASA succeeds when it...     

Afterglow Implant for Arterial Embolization and Intraoperative Imaging

Transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) is wildly used in clinical treatments. However, the online monitoring of the thrombosis formation is limited due to the challenges of the direct visualization of embolic agents and the real-time monitoring of dynamic blood flow. Thus, we developed a photochemical afterglow implant with strong afterglow intensity and a long lifetime for embolization and imaging. The liquid pre-implant injected into the abdominal aorta of mice was rapidly transformed into a hydrogel in situ to embolize the blood vessel. The vascular embolism position can be observed by the enhanced afterglow of the fixed implant, and the long lifetime of afterglow can also be used to monitor the effect of embolization. This provides an excellent candidate in bio-imaging to avoid the autofluorescence interference from continuous light excitation. The study suggests the potential usefulness of the implant as an embolic agent in TAE and artery imaging during a surgical procedure.     

Hitherto-Unexplored Photodynamic Therapy of Ag2S and Enhanced Regulation Based on Polydopamine In Vitro and Vivo

Given their superior penetration depths, photosensitizers with longer absorption wavelengths present broader application prospects in photodynamic therapy (PDT). Herein, Ag₂S quantum dots were discovered, for the first time, to be capable of killing tumor cells through the photodynamic route by near-infrared light irradiation, which means relatively less excitation of the probe compared with traditional photosensitizers absorbing short wavelengths. On modification with polydopamine (PDA), PDA-Ag₂S was obtained, which showed outstanding capacity for inducing reactive oxygen species (increased by 1.69 times). With the addition of PDA, Ag₂S had more opportunities to react with surrounding O₂, which was demonstrated by typical triplet electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis. Furthermore, the PDT effects of Ag₂S and PDA-Ag₂S achieved at longer wavelengths were almost identical to the effects produced at 660 nm, which was proved by studies in vitro. PDA-Ag₂S showed distinctly better therapeutic effects than Ag₂S in experiments in vivo, which further validated the enhanced regulatory effect of PDA. Altogether, a new photosensitizer with longer absorption wavelength was developed by using the hitherto-unexplored photodynamic function of Ag₂S quantum dots, which extended and enhanced the regulatory effect originating from PDA.