The Smoluchowski limit for a simple mechanical model

We consider a vertical stick constantly accelerated along thex-axis by a forceF and which elastically collides with point particles of the same mass (atoms). The atoms are initially Poisson distributed and are allowed to have four velocities only. It is shown that under suitable scaling of the system the displacementQ(t) of the stick satisfies a nontrivial CLT:Q(t)=vFt+D ^1/2 W(t) (Smoluchowski equation), where the values ofv andD depend on the fact that one atom may collide several times.     

溶剂热法制备纳米氧化镍及其表征

以乙酰丙酮镍、油酸、油胺为原料，十八烯为溶剂，聚乙烯吡咯烷酮为表面活性剂，采用溶剂热法，在不同反应条件制备了纳米级氧化镍材料.通过X射线衍射（X-ray diffraction，XRD）、透射电子显微镜（Transmission electron microscope，TEM）、紫外-可见光吸收光谱（Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy，UV-Vis）光谱分析以及塔菲尔（Tafel）测试考察了反应物比例、保温时间、表面活性剂（PVP）、油胺的量对产物微结构、粒径、形貌、光学以及电化学活性性能的影响.实验结果表明：在反应物n[Ni（acac）₂]∶n（OA）=1∶2、添加剂PVP质量分数为1.66%、油胺物质的量为30 mmol、200℃下保温8 h时，可获得粒径约为30～40 nm纯相氧化镍，具有最佳电化学活性，交换电流密度为J₀=1.23×10^-2 mA·cm^-2.     

First principles study of small palladium cluster growth and isomerization

Structures and physical properties of small palladium clusters Pd_n up to n = 15 and several selected larger clusters were studied using density functional theory under the generalized gradient approximation. It was found that small Pd_n clusters begin to grow 3‐dimensionally at n = 4 and evolve into symmetric geometric configurations, such as icosahedral and fcc‐like, near n = 15. Several isomers with nearly degenerate average binding energies were found to coexist and the physical properties of these clusters were calculated. For several selected isomers, relatively moderate energy barriers for structural interchange for a given cluster size were found, implying that isomerization could readily occur under ambient conditions. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007     

Nickel surface anodic oxidation and electrocatalysis of oxygen evolution

The processes of nickel surface anodic oxidation taking place within the range of potentials preceding oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in the solutions of 1 M KOH, 0.5 M K₂SO₄, and 0.5 M H₂SO₄ have been analyzed in the present paper. Metallic nickel, thermally oxidized nickel, and black nickel coating were used as Ni electrodes. The methods of cyclic voltammetry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were employed. The study was undertaken with a view to find the evidence of peroxide-type nickel surface compounds formation in the course of OER on the Ni electrode surface. On the basis of experimental results and literature data, it has been suggested that in alkaline solution at E ≈ 1.5 V (RHE) reversible electrochemical formation of Ni(IV) peroxide takes place according to the reaction as follows: This reaction accounts for both the underpotential (with respect to ) formation of O₂ from NiOO₂ peroxide and also small experimental values of dE/dlgi slope (<60 mV) at low anodic current densities, which are characteristic for the two-electron transfer process. It has been inferred that the composition of the γ-NiOOH phase, indicated in the Bode and revised Pourbaix diagrams, should be ∼5/6 NiOOH + ∼1/6 NiOO₂. The schemes demonstrating potential-dependent transitions between Ni surface oxygen compounds are presented, and the electrocatalytic mechanisms of OER in alkaline, acid, and neutral medium have been proposed.     

双功能型嵌入镍纳米颗粒的碳棱柱状微米棒电极用于电化学甲醇氧化助力的节能产氢

With the rapid development of human society, clean energy forms are imperative to sustain the normal operations of various mechanical and electrical facilities under a cozy environment. Hydrogen is considered among the most promising clean energy sources for the future. Recently, electrochemical water splitting has been considered as one of the most efficient approaches to harvest hydrogen energy, which generates only non-pollutant water on combustion. However, the sluggish anodic oxygen evolution reaction significantly restricts the efficiency of water splitting and requires a relatively high cell voltage to drive the electrolysis. Therefore, seeking a thermodynamically favorable anodic reaction to replace the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction by utilizing highly active bifunctional electrocatalysts for the anodic reaction and hydrogen evolution are crucial for achieving energy-efficient hydrogen production for industrial applications. Nevertheless, it is known that the oxygen evolution reaction can be replaced with other useful and thermodynamically favorable reactions to reduce the electrolysis voltage for realizing energy-efficient hydrogen production. Therefore, in this study, we present a bifunctional nickel nanoparticle-embedded carbon (Ni@C) prism-like microrod electrocatalyst synthesized via a two-step method involving the synthesis of a precursor metal-organic framework-74 and subsequent carbonization treatment for methanol oxidation and hydrogen evolution. The interfacial structure consisting of a nickel and carbon skeleton was realized via in situ carbonization. However, the dispersed nickel nanoparticles do not easily aggregate owing to the partition by the surrounding carbon as it would sufficiently expose the active Ni sites to the electrolytes, ensuring fast charge transfer between the catalyst and electrolytes by accelerating the electrochemical kinetics. In the anodic methanol oxidation, the products were detected as carbon dioxide and formate with faradaic efficiencies of 36.2% and 62.5%, respectively, at an applied potential of 1.55 V. Meanwhile, the Ni@C microrod catalyst demonstrated high activity and durability (2.7% current decay after 12 h of continuous operation) toward methanol oxidation, which demonstrates that methanol oxidation precedes oxidation under voltage forces. Notably, the bifunctional catalyst not only exhibits excellent performance toward methanol oxidation but also yields a low overpotential of 155 mV to drive 10 mA∙cm⁻² toward hydrogen evolution in 1.0 mol∙L⁻¹ KOH aqueous solution with 0.5 mol∙L⁻¹ methanol at room temperature, which guarantees the hydrogen production efficiency. More importantly, the constructed two-electrode electrolyzer produced a current density of 10 mA∙cm⁻² at a low cell voltage of 1.6 V, which decreased by 240 mV after replacing the oxygen evolution reaction with methanol oxidation.     

Characterization of a convection-based support microstructure through a flow resistance parameter

Modern convection-based supports differ substantially in pore size, porosity, and microstructure topology. Due to such variability, it is challenging to evaluate the contribution of a particular microstructure topology on flow resistance. We demonstrated that the flow resistance parameter ($\varphi$) introduced decades ago can be used as a criterion to evaluate the effect of microstructure topology on a pressure drop when the pore size is used as a characteristic support dimension. Furthermore, the $\varphi$ value of simple cubic packing was calculated over the entire range of open porosity and compared to the $\varphi$ values determined for pressure drop models derived for particular convection-based supports and experimental values of various convection-based supports from the literature. It was shown that different convection-based supports become clustered into distinct groups when plotted according to their $\varphi$ and open porosity values, allowing their discrimination.     

Synthesis and characterization of poly(L-lactide-co-ε- caprolactone) copolymers: influence of sequential monomer addition on chain microstructure

A series of copolymers with various compositions were synthesized by one-step and two-step bulk ring-opening polymerizations of L -lactide (LA) and ε-caprolactone (CL) using stannous octoate [Sn(Oct)₂] and 1-hexanol as the initiating system. For the sequential two-step polymerization, a poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) prepolymer was polymerized first to a percent conversion of approximately 70% and LA then added in order to produce a copolymer with a chain microstructure different from that obtained from the corresponding one-step reaction. The resulting copolymers were characterized using a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H- and ¹³C-NMR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The average sequence lengths of the lactidyl ( ) and caproyl ( ) units, the degree of randomness (R) and the transesterification coefficient (T_(II)) were calculated from the ¹³C-NMR spectra. The appearance of a signal due to CapLCap sequences was directly attributable to transesterification of lactidyl (LL) units. It was found that both and values from the two-step syntheses were significantly longer than from the corresponding one-step syntheses, leading to different semi-crystalline morphologies and chain microstructures. The copolymers all showed at least some blocky chain structure as a result of the significant difference in monomer reactivity (LA > CL) between LA and CL. Thermal properties including stability depended on both composition and chain microstructure which could be controlled by the method of synthesis. From their DSC curves, the two-step copolymers were seen to be semi-crystalline whereas the one-step copolymers were mainly amorphous. A more blocky microstructure, as obtained from the two-step method, appeared to result in a lower thermal stability. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MECHANICS AND THE EVOLUTION AND FUNCTIONAL MORPHOLOGY OF CONCHOSTRACAN CARAPACE MECHANICS AND THE EVOLUTION AND FUNCTIONAL MORPHOLOGY OF CONCHOSTRACAN CARAPACE

Conchostracans, with a laterally compressed body enclosed between two symmetric valves, live swimming in fresh or brackish water. The carapace valve has a number of growth bands with various sculptures. The general trend of sculptural evolution is from smooth to punctate-minute polygon-medium reticulation-large reticulation, while these punctate, polygonal and various reticulate patterns may separately develop into various radial ridges. The development of sculpture can be well explained by mechanical principle. Functional morphology of carapace is discussed in the light of mechanics in this paper.     

La2O3对钛合金表面镍基喷焊涂层组织和性能的影响

采用火焰喷焊技术在钛合金基体上制备了不加La2O3和加4％(质量分数)La2O3两种镍基涂层，分析了它们的显微组织、合金元素的扩散、显微硬度以及耐磨性能。结果表明：La2O3的加人，改善了涂层合金的流动性和显微组织的均匀性，并使涂层与基体的熔合更加明显，结合性能得到进一步提高；虽然一定程度上减弱了基体Ti元素对喷焊层的强化作用，使表层显微硬度略有下降，但磨损失重却较未加La2O3的喷焊涂层下降了20％。     

Structural Efficiency and Microstructural Modeling of Wet Gels and Aerogels

We present a microstructural model of aerogels that includes the effect of particle necks, tortuosity and dangling ends on the scaling of elastic moduli with density. Relative neck radii can be determined for sintering series of silica aerogels and for Resorcinol Formaldehyde (RF) aerogels produced with different catalyst concentrations. The density of elastically ineffective dangling ends and the tortuosity can be estimated using information from thermal conductivity and elastic modulus measurements in silica aerogels. Typical values for the load bearing mass range from >50% for high density and heat treated aerogels to <10% of the total mass for low density wet-gels.