Optimization of Active Sites via Crystal Phase,Composition, and Morphology for Efficient Low-Iridium Oxygen Evolution Catalysts

Reducing the amount of iridium in oxygen evolution electrocatalysts without compromising their catalytic performances is one of the major requirements in proton-exchange-membrane water electrolyzers. Herein, with the help of theoretical studies, we show that anatase-type TiO₂-IrO₂ solid solutions possess more active iridium catalytic sites for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) than IrO₂, the benchmark OER catalyst. Note that the same is not observed for their rutile-type counterparts. However, owing to their thermodynamic metastability, anatase-type TiO₂-IrO₂ solid solutions are generally hard to synthesize. Our theoretical studies demonstrate that such catalytically active anatase-type solid-solution phases can be created in situ on the surfaces of readily available SrTiO₃-SrIrO₃ solid solutions during electrocatalysis in acidic solution as the solution can etch away Sr atoms. We experimentally show this with porous SrTiO₃-SrIrO₃ solid-solution nanotubes synthesized by a facile synthetic route that contain 56 % less iridium than IrO₂ yet show an order of magnitude higher apparent catalytic activity for OER in acidic solution.     

Templated synthesis and assembly with sustainable cellulose nanomaterial for functional nanostructure

Cellulose - Templated synthesis and assembly for nanostructured materials with tailored properties have received considerable attention. The powerful templates with predefined structures can guide...     

On the rainbow matching conjecture for 3-uniform hypergraphs

Aharoni and Howard and, independently, Huang et al. (2012) proposed the following rainbow version of the Erdős matching conjecture: For positive integers n, k and m with n ⩾ km, if each of the families \(F_{1},\ldots,F_{m}\subseteq\left(\begin{array}{c}[n]\\ k\end{array}\right)\) has size more than \(\max\{\left(\begin{array}{c}n\\ k\end{array}\right)-\left(\begin{array}{c}n-m+1\\ k\end{array}\right),\left(\begin{array}{c}km-1\\ k\end{array}\right)\}\), then there exist pairwise disjoint subsets e₁,…,e_m such that e_i ∈ F_i for all i ∈ [m]. We prove that there exists an absolute constant n₀ such that this rainbow version holds for k = 3 and n ⩾ n₀. We convert this rainbow matching problem to a matching problem on a special hypergraph H. We then combine several existing techniques on matchings in uniform hypergraphs: Find an absorbing matching M in H; use a randomization process of Alon et al. (2012) to find an almost regular subgraph of H − V(M); find an almost perfect matching in H − V(M). To complete the process, we also need to prove a new result on matchings in 3-uniform hypergraphs, which can be viewed as a stability version of a result of Łuczak and Mieczkowska (2014) and might be of independent interest.

     

A novel synthetic route to rac-(Z)-recifeiolide from cyclooctanone and acetaldehyde

A novel synthetic approach to (±)-Z-recifeiolide 6, a 12-membered-ring lactone which can be selectively isomerized into (E)-recifeiolide, a natural antibiotic product isolated from fungus (Cephalosporium recifei) is reported. The synthesis is accomplished in five steps starting from readily available cyclooctanone and acetaldehyde based on the Lewis acid-catalyzed TMS-directed oxy-2-oxonia-Cope rearrangement. The work represents a novel strategy to assemble related macrolides.     

Synthesis and Herbicidal Activities of 3‐(4‐Chloro‐2‐fluoro‐5‐substituted phenyl)benzo[d][1,2,3]triazin‐4(3H)‐one Derivatives

A series of 3‐phenyl benzo[d][1,2,3]triazin‐4(3H)‐one derivatives were synthesized through the condensation of phenol E and alkyl (alkenyl, alkynyl) chlorides (bromides, iodide) or alkyl chloroacetates or N‐alkyl chloroacetamides using K₂CO₃ as the acid acceptor in N,N‐dimethylformamide. Phenol E was prepared from starting material, 5‐amino‐2‐chloro‐4‐fluorophenyl ethyl carbonate, in four steps involving in amidation, reduction, diazotization, and deprotecting‐group reaction. The herbicidal activities of the title compounds were tested against two dicotyledonous plants and two monocotyledonous plants, in which some of them exhibited high herbicidal activities against two dicotyledonous plants in preemergence and postemergence treatments. Moreover, when the dosage was decreased to 180 and 90 g/ha, compounds F1 , F8 , and F9 showed highly selective inhibitory activities against amaranth pigweed, alfalfa, asteraceae, field sowthistle, morning glory, purslane, and velvetleaf in postemergence treatment but had no herbicidal efficacy on rape except F1 , suggesting that it be possible to find a kind of herbicides to inhibit dicotyledonous weeds in the field of dicotyledonous crops with the same genus as aforementioned weeds.     

On a Predator–Prey System with Digestion Delay and Anti-predation Strategy

Journal of Nonlinear Science - Predator–prey interactions are among the most complicated interactions between biological species, in which there may be both direct effect (through predation)...