Durable Electrocatalytic Reduction of Nitrate to Ammonia over Defective Pseudobrookite Fe2TiO5 Nanofibers with Abundant Oxygen Vacancies

We propose the pseudobrookite Fe₂TiO₅ nanofiber with abundant oxygen vacancies as a new electrocatalyst to ambiently reduce nitrate to ammonia. Such catalyst achieves a large NH₃ yield of 0.73 mmol h⁻¹ mg⁻¹_cat. and a high Faradaic Efficiency (FE) of 87.6 % in phosphate buffer saline solution with 0.1 M NaNO₃, which is lifted to 1.36 mmol h⁻¹ mg⁻¹_cat. and 96.06 % at −0.9 V vs. RHE for nitrite conversion to ammonia in 0.1 M NaNO₂. It also shows excellent electrochemical durability and structural stability. Theoretical calculation reveals the enhanced conductivity of this catalyst and an extremely low free energy of −0.28 eV for nitrate adsorption at the presence of vacant oxygen.     

Highly efficient and stable electrooxidation of methanol and ethanol on 3D Pt catalyst by thermal decomposition of In_2O_3 nanoshells

In this paper In_2O_3 nanoshells have been synthesized via a facile hydrothermal approach.The nanoshells can be completely cracked into pony-size nanocubes by annealing,which are then used as a support of Pt catalyst for methanol and ethanol electrocatalytic oxidation.The prepared In_2O_3 and supported Pt catalysts(Pt/In_2O_3) were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD),energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(EDS),X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),field effect scanning electron microscopy(FESEM),and transmission electron microscopy(TEM).Cyclic voltammetry(CV),linear sweep voltammetry(LSV),chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS) were carried out,indicating the excellent catalytic performance for alcohol electrooxidation can be achieved on Pt/In_2O_3 nanocatalysts due to the multiple active sites,high conductivity and a mass of microchannels and micropores for reactant diffusions arising from 3D frame structures compared with that on the Pt/C catalysts.     

三维分等级花状Cd0.8Zn0.2S的结构调控及其光催化CO2还原

近年来,光催化CO2还原被视为一种既能解决能源短缺又能减少温室气体,改善人类生存环境的绿色新型技术.然而,由于CO2气体的相对稳定性,构建高催化活性和高选择性的催化体系仍然面临着巨大挑战.锌硫镉固溶体作为一种廉价的固溶类材料,具有吸光范围适宜、化学性质稳定以及能带结构可调控等特点,在光催化还原CO2的方面表现出巨大的潜力.本文发展了一种简单的原位自组装法合成三维分等级花状结构的Cd0.8Zn0.2S,主要包括Cd^2+和Zn^2+离子在含硫氛围下自组装成核状前体,然后以柠檬酸钠作为形貌诱导剂进一步组装生长,同时控制Cd2+/Zn2+摩尔比和反应时间以实现三维分等级花状Cd0.8Zn0.2S的合成.结果表明,三维分等级花状结构的Cd0.8Zn0.2S在光催化还原CO2的过程中表现出优异的催化活性和稳定性.其中,在光照3 h后,CO产量达到41.4μmol g^?1,大约是相同光照条件下Cd0.8Zn0.2S纳米颗粒的三倍(14.7μmol g^?1).此外,三维分等级花状结构的Cd0.8Zn0.2S在光催化过程中展现出对光催化产物CO的较高选择性(89.9%),其中在没有任何牺牲剂或共催化剂作用下的TON为39.6.太赫兹时域光谱(THz-TDS)表明,这种三维分等级花状结构的Cd0.8Zn0.2S相较于Cd0.8Zn0.2S纳米颗粒更有利于对光的吸收,从而提高对光的有效利用率.原位漫反射傅立叶变化红外光谱表征分析揭示了三维分等级花状结构的Cd0.8Zn0.2S在光催化过程中表面吸附物质以及光催化还原中间体的存在及转化.通过实验数据和理论机理预测表明,该种三维分等级花状结构的Cd0.8Zn0.2S具有较高的电流密度和较好的载流子传输能力.基于这种三维的花状结构,使得Cd0.8Zn0.2S具有较大的比表面积和吸附位点,进一步提升体系的CO2吸附性能和光生电子的转移效率,从而有效提高光催化CO2还原的活性.     

CeO2修饰Ni3S2纳米片用于高效电催化析氧

电化学水分解制氢作为重要的生产氢能的新能源技术,包括氢气析出反应(HER)和氧气析出反应(OER).然而,OER进行的是多步电子转移过程,动力学过程缓慢且过电位高,严重制约了电解水制氢的发展.因此开发低成本、高效稳定的非贵金属催化剂替代贵金属催化剂(RuO2,IrO2)来降低过电位,减少能源消耗十分必要.Ni₃S₂由于其高导电性、高活性、低成本等优点,具有作为贵金属催化剂替代品的广阔应用前景,但其OER性能仍需进一步提高.对已有的有效OER催化剂进行表界面调控是提高催化剂性能的一种有效策略.CeO₂中的Ce3+和Ce4+价态之间可以灵活过渡,使其具有良好的电子/离子导电性、可逆的表面氧离子交换和较高的储氧能力.CeO₂的多价性使其有机会与其它基质产生强烈的电子相互作用,良好的电子/离子导电性和较高的储氧能力是提高催化剂析氧活性的有利因素.因此,用CeO₂对Ni₃S₂进行修饰是提高其析氧活性的有效途径.基于此,本文运用水热和电沉积相结合的方法将CeO₂修饰到Ni₃S₂纳米片上,制备得到生长于泡沫镍上的Ni₃S₂-CeO₂纳米片阵列(Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF),并运用X射线粉末衍射(XRD)、扫描电镜(SEM)、透射电镜(TEM)、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)等手段进行了表征,以三电极系统测试了其电催化析氧性能及稳定性,并通过密度泛函理论计算进行了验证.XRD结果表明,复合材料中确实存在Ni₃S₂和CeO₂.通过SEM发现,泡沫镍基底上均匀分布着Ni₃S₂纳米片阵列;电沉积CeO₂后,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂仍保持其纳米片特性,但表面变得粗糙.Ni₃S₂-CeO₂的TEM结果也证实了纳米片结构的形成,高分辨率TEM图像清晰的显示出Ni₃S₂和CeO₂之间具有明显的界面.XPS结果表明,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂的Ni 2p的结合能与Ni₃S₂相比出现负位移.与纯CeO₂的Ce 3d谱图相比,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂杂化体系中Ce4+的比例明显增加,表明Ce的价态发生了重排,部分电子转移给了Ni元素.这些结果均说明Ni₃S₂与CeO₂之间存在着较强的电子相互作用.相应的电催化测试结果显示,在1.0 M KOH中,当电流密度达到20 mA cm^–2时,Ni₃S₂/NF需提供356 mV的过电位,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF只需264 mV的过电位,仅次于RuO2/NF.而且,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF在中性条件下也显示出了较理想的析氧活性.Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF的Tafel斜率明显低于CeO₂/NF和Ni₃S₂/NF,表明其具有良好的OER反应动力学.循环伏安法和计时电位法结果均表明,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF具有良好的电化学稳定性.电化学阻抗谱测试结果表明,与Ni₃S₂/NF和CeO₂/NF相比,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF明显具有更小的半圆直径,说明其电荷转移阻抗更小,进一步表明CeO₂的修饰有助于催化过程中电子的快速转移.在非法拉第区域的循环伏安扫描曲线以及拟合扫描速度对电容电流曲线结果显示,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF的最大电容值大于CeO₂/NF和Ni₃S₂/NF,表明其暴露了更多的活性位点,具有更大的电化学活性表面积;而且,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF在400和500 mV时的电催化析氧转换频率明显高于Ni₃S₂/NF和CeO₂/NF,进一步说明Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF具有更高的本征催化活性.密度泛函理论计算表明,由于^*OH,^*O和^*OOH与Ni₃S₂-CeO₂中的Ni和Ce原子相互作用的存在,使得反应中间产物与Ni₃S₂-CeO₂之间的结合强度较纯Ni₃S₂或CeO₂强,使其显示出了更高的OER性能.在经过24 h连续电解后,SEM和TEM结果均表明,Ni₃S₂-CeO₂/NF材料仍保持了其纳米片形貌.稳定性测试后的XPS结果表明,Ni 2p对应的峰强度降低,而与氧化镍物种对应的峰强度增强;S元素在Ni₃S₂-CeO₂表面的信号强度明显降低.根据文献报道,在强烈的氧化环境下,过渡金属硫化物会部分转化为氧化物或氢氧化物,这通常被认为是OER过程的实际催化物种.     

A secure communication scheme based on chaotic Duffing oscillators and frequency estimation for the transmission of binary-coded messages

This work presents a new technique to securely transmit and retrieve a message signal via chaotic systems. The main contribution of this paper is two-fold: the way that the message signal is encrypted in the frequency of a sinusoidal term and a novel frequency estimator for retrieving the message. In our system, a two-valued message signal modulates the frequency of the Duffing oscillator sinusoidal term. Then, two chaotic signals generated by the oscillator are encrypted with a Delta modulator and sent through a noisy channel. A Lyapunov-based observer is used in the receiver side to retrieve the sinusoidal term that contains the message and a novel frequency estimator is then used to retrieve the confidential message signal. The system was implemented in Matlab/Simulink in order to analyze its performance.     

Equilibrium,pseudoequilibrium and sliding-mode heteroclinic orbit in a Filippov-type plant disease model

Plant diseases have caused tremendous crop losses and have massive impacts on food security and environment. Modeling the spread of plant diseases and understanding the dynamics of the resulting plant disease models may provide practical insights on designing effective control measures. In this paper, by incorporating cultural strategies and economic threshold policy, we present a Filippov-type plant disease model. The resulting model has state dependent discontinuous right-hand side and thus non-smooth analysis and generalized Lyapunov approach are employed for model analysis. We show that the model exhibits the phenomena of stable equilibrium, unstable pseudoequilibrium as well as sliding-mode heteroclinic orbit. Biological implications of our results in implementing control strategies for plant diseases are also discussed.     

Quantum dot resonant tunneling FET on graphene

At this paper a field effect transistor based on graphene nanoribbon (GNR) is modeled. Like in most GNR-FETs the GNR is chosen to be semiconductor with a gap, through which the current passes at on state of the device. The regions at the two ends of GNR are highly n-type doped and play the role of metallic reservoirs so called source and drain contacts. Two dielectric layers are placed on top and bottom of the GNR and a metallic gate is located on its top above the channel region. At this paper it is assumed that the gate length is less than the channel length so that the two ends of the channel region are un-gated. As a result of this geometry, the two un-gated regions of channel act as quantum barriers between channel and the contacts. By applying gate voltage, discrete energy levels are generated in channel and resonant tunneling transport occurs via these levels. By solving the NEGF and 3D Poisson equations self consistently, we have obtained electron density, potential profile and current. The current variations with the gate voltage give rise to negative transconductance.     

Properties of cat-eye modulating retro-reflector and its application with piezoelectric transducer

Piezoelectric cat-eye modulating retro-reflector (MRR) is the core component of an acousto-optic retro-identification system. The influence of the optical parameters (link distance l, lens focal length f and the detector diameter r) to the cat-eye effect was analyzed theoretically and experimentally. A piezoelectric cat-eye retro-identification (PCERI) system was built, and an information transmission ratio of 2 kHz was achieved which can satisfy an access control system.     

Antenna calibration technique based on channel prediction in time-varying TDD-MIMO system

The traditional antenna calibration for time division duplex multiple input multiple output (TDD-MIMO) systems assume that free-space channel keeps constant during calibration, which is unreasonable under the high-speed rail and other time-varying channel scenarios for time variability can cause calibration error. This paper analyzes the performance of traditional antenna calibration methods, and then proposes an antenna calibration method based on Wiener channel prediction for time-varying TDD-MIMO system. Through theoretical derivation, we get the capacity formula of the TDD-MIMO system using traditional antenna calibration and antenna calibration based on channel prediction. The theoretical analysis and simulation results both indicate that the performance degradation of antenna calibration can be caused by time-varying channel and the prediction algorithm proposed in the paper can well compensate for the performance loss and significantly improve the antenna calibration performance for time-varying TDD-MIMO system.