Niobium Doping in BiVO4: Interplay Between Effective Mass,Stability, and Pressure

We have applied density functional theory to study the electronic structure changes caused by Nb incorporation in BiVO₄ and the application of external pressure. The overall solubility of Nb in BiVO₄ is usually high, and the presence of oxygen vacancies affect the dopability of Nb in BiVO₄. Through the analyses of the chemical-potential landscape, we have determined the single-phase stability zone of BiVO₄ with the Nb doping. The most favorable Nb doping is simultaneous substitutions at both V- and Bi-sites. Even though Nb substitution at only V-site is next favorable, the band gap change is not very significant which agrees with an earlier experiment. However, it does change the electron effective mass by 20 % owing to the presence of Nb 4d bands in the conduction bands, which explains better catalytic activity by Nb-doped BiVO₄. In addition, application of external pressure the single-phase stability zone in the chemical-potential landscape. We have also focused on the local structural distortions near the Nb doping site, especially on the BiO₈ octahedra. We have shown here that pressure-induced symmetrization of BiO₈ dodecahedron lowers the electron's effective mass further and therefore can help to improve the photoconduction property of BiVO₄.     

One-Pot Hydrothermal Synthesis of Ternary 1T-MoS2/Hexa-WO3/Graphene Composites for High-Performance Supercapacitors

A new ternary composite of 1T-molybdenum disulfide, hexagonal tungsten trioxide, and reduced graphene oxide (M-W-rGO) is synthesized by using a one-pot hydrothermal process. The synergetic effect of 1T-MoS₂ and hexa-WO₃ nanoflowers improves the electrochemical performance for supercapacitors by inducing additional active sites and hexagonal tunnels, respectively, which lead to high storage capacity and easy transfer of electrolyte ions. The ternary M-W-rGO composite has a high specific capacitance of 836 F g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹, which is nearly twice that of binary composites of M-rGO and W-rGO with high capacitance retention of 86.35 % after 3000 cycles at a high current density of 5 A g⁻¹. This study provides a new ternary composite that can be used as an electrode material for high-performance supercapacitors.     

Plant‐supported silver nanoparticles: Efficient,economically viable and easily recoverable catalyst for the reduction of organic pollutants

Ginger rhizome powder was used for the synthesis of supported metallic nanoparticle catalysts. A simple and novel adsorption method was used for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles loaded on ginger powder (Ag/GP), copper on ginger powder (Cu/GP) and nickel on ginger powder (Ni/GP). Among these, Ag/GP showed selective reduction of methyl orange and was used for further reactions. The prepared nanomaterials were characterized through X‐ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy. The prepared Ag/GP catalyst was employed in the catalytic reduction of 4‐nitrophenol (4‐NP), 2‐nitrophenol (2‐NP), rhodamine B, methyl red and congo red. Ag/GP showed excellent catalytic reduction activity, the rate constants being 1.26 × 10^?3 and 2.38 × 10^?3 s^?1 for 2‐NP and 4‐NP, respectively. The turnover frequency reached 1.06 min^?1 for 2‐NP and 1.16 min^?1 for 4‐NP when using the Ag/GP catalyst. The prepared Ag/GP catalyst demonstrated outstanding activity for the degradation of a mixed solution of dyes. Also, stability and reusability of the prepared catalyst were investigated, which showed outstanding reusability up to five times and was stable up to five days.     

Reactive kinetics of carbon dioxide loaded aqueous blend of 2-amino-2-ethyl-1,3-propanediol and piperazine using a pressure drop method

In this study, a new pressure drop method has been used to investigate the kinetics of carbon dioxide reaction with aqueous blend of 2-amino-2-ethyl-1,3-propanediol (AEPD) with piperazine (PZ). The blending of a small amount of PZ with AEPD has a significant effect on the observed rate constant, k_obs. It was observed that k_obs values of the blend increased more than twice than the summation of k_obs values of individual alkanolamines. The reaction kinetics in this study were modeled by assuming a termolecular mechanism. The addition of 0.1 mol/L of PZ to 1 mol/L AEPD exhibited an observed rate constant, k_obs of 8824.1 s⁻¹, which is comparable to other alkanolamine mixtures. Hence, PZ/AEPD mixtures can be potentially used for rapid carbon dioxide capture.     

Layered Crystalline and Amorphous Platinum Disulfide (PtS2): Contrasting Electrochemistry

Group 6 transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), such as MoS₂ and WS₂ have been extensively studied for various applications while few studies have delved into other TMDs such as platinum dichalcogenides. In this work, layered crystalline and amorphous platinum disulfide (PtS₂) were synthesized, characterised and their fundamental electrochemical properties were investigated. Both materials exhibited inherent oxidation and reduction reactions which would limit their operating potential window for sensing applications. Amorphous phase materials are considered to be promising electrocatalysts due to the porous, and nanostructured morphology with high concentration of unsaturated active sites. The electrocatalytic performances towards oxygen reduction (ORR) and hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) of crystalline and amorphous PtS₂ were analysed. Amorphous PtS₂ was found to exhibit superior electrocatalytic performances towards ORR and HER as compared to crystalline PtS₂. For HER, amorphous and crystalline PtS₂ have overpotential values of 0.30 V and 0.70 V (vs. RHE) at current density of 10 mA cm⁻², respectively. The influence of electrochemical reduction pre-treatment on their catalytic behaviours was also investigated. Electrochemical reduction pre-treatment on both crystalline and amorphous PtS₂ removed the oxidized sulfate groups and increased the proportion of Pt⁰ oxidation state which exposed more catalytic sites. As such, these materials were activated and displayed improved ORR and HER performances. Electrochemically reduced amorphous PtS₂ outperformed the untreated counterparts and exhibited the best HER performance with overpotential of 0.17 V (vs. RHE) at current density of −10 mA cm⁻². These findings provide insights into the electrochemical properties of noble metal PtS₂ in both crystalline and amorphous states which can be activated by electrochemical reduction pre-treatment.     

Systematic Mapping Study on Energy Optimization Solutions in Smart Building Structure: Opportunities and Challenges

Wireless Personal Communications - Currently building structure sector takes lead in energy consumption across the globe and is expected to increase by 2% every year. Consequently, being a major...     

Simpson and Newton type inequalities for convex functions via newly defined quantum integrals

We first establish two new identities, based on the kernel functions with either two section or three sections, involving quantum integrals by using new definition of quantum derivative. Then, some new inequalities related to Simpson's 1/3 formula for convex mappings are provided. In addition, Newton type inequalities, for functions whose quantum derivatives in modulus or their powers are convex, are deduced. We also mention that the results in this work generalize inequalities given in earlier study.     

A NOMA-Enabled Cellular Symbiotic Radio for mMTC

Wireless Personal Communications - Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme, potentially enabling high spectral efficiency, is one of the key technological innovations in the 5th generation...     

Security & Privacy in Software Defined Networks,Issues, Challenges and Cost of Developed Solutions: A Systematic Literature Review

International Journal of Wireless Information Networks - Due to fast development in digital systems, the traditional network architecture is becoming inadequate for the requirements of new...     

Thermopower Study of GaN-Based Materials for Next-Generation Thermoelectric Devices and Applications

III-nitride InGaN-based solar cells have gained importance because their band gap can potentially cover most of the solar spectrum, spanning 0.7 eV to 3.4 eV. However, to use these materials to harvest additional energy, other properties such as their thermoelectric properties should be exploited. In this work, the Seebeck coefficient and the electrical conductivity of three InGaN alloys with various indium concentrations and Gd-doped GaN (GaN:Gd) were measured, and the power factor was calculated. We report a Seebeck value of ∼209 μV/K for Gd-doped GaN.