Potential industrial applications of photo/electrocatalysis: Recent progress and future challenges

Nowadays,the rapid development of the social economy inevitably leads to global energy and environmental crisis.For this reason,more and more scholars focus on the development of photocatalysis and/or electrocatalysis technology for the advantage in the sustainable production of high-value-added products,and the high efficiency in pollutants remediation.Although there is plenty of outstanding research has been put forward continuously,most of them focuses on catalysis performance and reaction mechanisms in laboratory conditions.Realizing industrial application of photo/electrocatalytic processes is still a challenge that needs to be overcome by social demand.In this regard,this review comprehensively summarized several explorations in thefield of photo/electrocatalytic reduction towards potential industrial applications in recent years.Special attention is paid to the successful attempts and the current status of photo/electrocatalytic water splitting,carbon dioxide conversion,resource utilization from waste,etc.,by using advanced reactors.The key problems and challenges of photo/electrocatalysis in future industrial practice are also discussed,and the possible development directions are also pointed out from the industry view.

Step‑by‑Step Modulation of Crystalline Features and Exciton Kinetics for 19.2%Efficiency Ortho‑Xylene Processed Organic Solar Cells

With plenty of popular and effective ternary organic solar cells(OSCs)construction strategies proposed and applied,its power conversion efficiencies(PCEs)have come to a new level of over 19%in single-junction devices.However,previous studies are heavily based in chloroform(CF)leaving behind substantial knowledge deficiencies in understanding the influence of solvent choice when introducing a third component.Herein,we present a case where a newly designed asymmetric small molecular acceptor using fluoro-methoxylated end-group modification strategy,named BTP-BO-3FO with enlarged bandgap,brings different morphological evolution and performance improvement effect on host system PM6:BTP-eC9,processed by CF and ortho-xylene(o-XY).With detailed analyses supported by a series of experiments,the best PCE of 19.24%for green solvent-processed OSCs is found to be a fruit of finely tuned crystalline ordering and general aggregation motif,which furthermore nourishes a favorable charge generation and recombination behavior.Likewise,over 19%PCE can be achieved by replacing spin-coating with blade coating for active layer deposition.This work focuses on understanding the commonly met yet frequently ignored issues when building ternary blends to demonstrate cutting-edge device performance,hence,will be instructive to other ternary OSC works in the future.

Nonlinear interaction of head-on solitary waves in integrable and nonintegrable systems

This study numerically investigates the nonlinear interaction of head-on solitary waves in a granular chain(a nonintegrable system)and compares the simulation results with the theoretical results in fluid(an integrable system).Three stages(the pre-in-phase traveling stage,the central-collision stage,and the post-in-phase traveling stage)are identified to describe the nonlinear interaction processes in the granular chain.The nonlinear scattering effect occurs in the central-collision stage,which decreases the amplitude of the incident solitary waves.Compared with the leading-time phase in the incident and separation collision processes,the lagging-time phase in the separation collision process is smaller.This asymmetrical nonlinear collision results in an occurrence of leading phase shifts of time and space in the post-in-phase traveling stage.We next find that the solitary wave amplitude does not influence the immediate space-phase shift in the granular chain.The space-phase shift of the post-in-phase traveling stage is only determined by the measurement position rather than the wave amplitude.The results are reversed in the fluid.An increase in solitary wave amplitude leads to decreased attachment,detachment,and residence times for granular chains and fluid.For the immediate time-phase shift,leading and lagging phenomena appear in the granular chain and the fluid,respectively.These results offer new knowledge for designing mechanical metamaterials and energy-mitigating systems.

Mitigating Lattice Distortion of High‑Voltage LiCoO_(2)via Core‑Shell Structure Induced by Cationic Heterogeneous Co‑Doping for Lithium‑Ion Batteries

Inactive elemental doping is commonly used to improve the structural stability of high-voltage layered transition-metal oxide cathodes.However,the one-step co-doping strategy usually results in small grain size since the low diffusivity ions such as Ti^(4+)will be concentrated on grain boundaries,which hinders the grain growth.In order to synthesize large single-crystal layered oxide cathodes,considering the different diffusivities of different dopant ions,we propose a simple two-step multi-element co-doping strategy to fabricate core–shell structured LiCoO_(2)(CS-LCO).In the current work,the high-diffusivity Al^(3+)/Mg^(2+)ions occupy the core of single-crystal grain while the low diffusivity Ti^(4+)ions enrich the shell layer.The Ti^(4+)-enriched shell layer(~12 nm)with Co/Ti substitution and stronger Ti–O bond gives rise to less oxygen ligand holes.In-situ XRD demonstrates the constrained contraction of c-axis lattice parameter and mitigated structural distortion.Under a high upper cut-off voltage of 4.6 V,the single-crystal CS-LCO maintains a reversible capacity of 159.8 mAh g^(−1)with a good retention of~89%after 300 cycles,and reaches a high specific capacity of 163.8 mAh g^(−1)at 5C.The proposed strategy can be extended to other pairs of low-(Zr^(4+),Ta^(5+),and W6+,etc.)and high-diffusivity cations(Zn^(2+),Ni^(2+),and Fe^(3+),etc.)for rational design of advanced layered oxide core–shell structured cathodes for lithium-ion batteries.

MOF-Derived Iron-Cobalt Phosphide Nanoframe as Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Overall Water Splitting

Transition metal phosphides(TMPs)have emerged as an alternative to precious metals as efficient and low-cost catalysts for water electrolysis.Elemental doping and morphology control are effective approaches to further improve the performance of TMPs.Herein,Fe-doped CoP nanoframes(Fe-CoP NFs)with specific open cage configuration were designed and synthesized.The unique nano-framework structured Fe-CoP material shows overpotentials of only 255 and 122 mV at 10 mA cm^(−2)for oxygen evolution reaction(OER)and hydrogen evolution reaction(HER),respectively,overwhelming most transition metal phosphides.For overall water splitting,the cell voltage is 1.65 V for Fe-CoP NFs at a current density of 10 mA cm^(−2),much superior to what is observed for the classical nanocubic structures.Fe-CoP NFs show no activity degradation up to 100 h which contrasts sharply with the rapidly decaying performance of noble metal catalyst reference.The superior electrocatalytic performance of Fe-CoP NFs due to abundant accessible active sites,reduced kinetic energy barrier,and preferable*O-containing intermediate adsorption is demonstrated through experimental observations and theoretical calculations.Our findings could provide a potential method for the preparation of multifunctional material with hollow structures and offer more hopeful prospects for obtaining efficient earth-abundant catalysts for water splitting.

Predicted Critical State Based on Invariance of the Lyapunov Exponent in Dual Spaces

Critical states in disordered systems,fascinating and subtle eigenstates,have attracted a lot of research interests.However,the nature of critical states is difficult to describe quantitatively,and in general,it cannot predict a system that hosts the critical state.We propose an explicit criterion whereby the Lyapunov exponent of the critical state should be 0 simultaneously in dual spaces,namely the Lyapunov exponent remains invariant under the Fourier transform.With this criterion,we can exactly predict a one-dimensional quasiperiodic model which is not of self-duality,but hosts a large number of critical states.Then,we perform numerical verification of the theoretical prediction and display the self-similarity of the critical state.Due to computational complexity,calculations are not performed for higher dimensional models.However,since the description of extended and localized states by the Lyapunov exponent is universal and dimensionless,utilizing the Lyapunov exponent of dual spaces to describe critical states should also be universal.Finally,we conjecture that some kind of connection exists between the invariance of the Lyapunov exponent and conformal invariance,which can promote the research of critical phenomena.

A Comprehensive Classification and Analysis of Geomagnetic Storms Over Solar Cycle 24

A geomagnetic storm is a global disturbance of Earth?s magnetosphere,occurring as a result of the interaction with magnetic plasma ejected from the Sun.Despite considerable research,a comprehensive classification of storms for a complete solar cycle has not yet been fully developed,as most previous studies have been limited to specific storm types.This study,therefore,attempted to present complete statistics for solar cycle 24,detailing the occurrence of geomagnetic storm events and classifying them by type of intensity(moderate,intense,and severe),type of complete interval(normal or complex),duration of the recovery phase(rapid or long),and the number of steps in the storm?s development.The analysis was applied to data from ground-based magnetometers,which measured the Dst index as provided by the World Data Center for Geomagnetism,Kyoto,Japan.This study identified 211 storm events,comprising moderate(177 events),intense(33 events),and severe(1 event)types.About 36%of ICMEs and 23%of CIRs are found to be geoeffective,which caused geomagnetic storms.Up to four-step development of geomagnetic storms was exhibited during the main phase for this solar cycle.Analysis showed the geomagnetic storms developed one or more steps in the main phase,which were probably related to the driver that triggered the geomagnetic storms.A case study was additionally conducted to observe the variations of the ionospheric disturbance dynamo(Ddyn)phenomenon that resulted from the geomagnetic storm event of 2015July 13.The attenuation of the Ddyn in the equatorial region was analyzed using the H component of geomagnetic field data from stations in the Asian sector(Malaysia and India).The variations in the Ddyn signatures were observed at both stations,with the TIR station(India)showing higher intensity than the LKW station(Malaysia).

Refinement of the Proposed Gamma-Ray Burst Time Delay Model

This paper is the second instalment in our study of the observed time delay in the arrival times of radio photons emanating from Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). The mundane assumption in contemporary physics as to the cause of these pondersome time delays is that they are a result of the photon being endowed with a non-zero mass. While we do not rule out the possibility of a non-zero mass for the photon, our working assumption is that the major cause of these time delays may very well be that these photons are travelling in a rarefied cosmic plasma in which the medium’s electrons interact with the electric component of the Photon, thus generating tiny currents that lead to dispersion, hence, a frequency-dependent speed of Light (FDSL). In the present instalment, we “improve” on the model presented in the first instalment by dropping the assumption that the resultant pairs of these radio photons leave the shock front simultaneously. The new assumption of a non-simultaneous— albeit systematic—emission of these photon pairs allows us to obtain a much more convincing and stronger correlation in the time delay. This new correlation allows us to build a unified model for the four GRBs in our sample using a relative distance correction mechanism. The new unified model allows us to obtain as our most significant result a value for the frequency equivalence of the interstellar medium (ISM)’s conductance ν* ~ 1.500 ± 0.009 Hzand also an independent distance measure to the GRBs where we obtain for our four GRB samples an average distance of: ~69.40 ± 0.10, 40.00 ± 0.00, 58.40 ± 0.40, and 86.00 ± 1.00 Mpc, for GRB 030329, 980425, 000418 and 021004 respectively.

Extraterrestrial Life in the Thermosphere: Plasmas, UAP, Pre-Life, Fourth State of Matter

“Plasmas” up to a kilometer in size and behaving similarly to multicellular organisms have been filmed on 10 separate NASA space shuttle missions, over 200 miles above Earth within the thermosphere. These self-illuminated “plasmas” are attracted to and may “feed on” electromagnetic radiation. They have different morphologies: 1) cone, 2) cloud, 3) donut, 4) spherical-cylindrical;and have been filmed flying towards and descending from the thermosphere into thunderstorms;congregating by the hundreds and interacting with satellites generating electromagnetic activity;approaching the Space Shuttles. Computerized analysis of flight path trajectories documents these plasmas travel at different velocities from different directions and change their angle of trajectory making 45°, 90°, and 180° shifts and follow each other. They’ve been filmed accelerating, slowing down, stopping, congregating, engaging in “hunter-predatory” behavior and intersecting plasmas leaving a plasma dust trail in their wake. Similar life-like behaviors have been demonstrated by plasmas created experimentally. “Plasmas” may have been photographed in the 1940s by WWII pilots (identified as “Foo fighters”);repeatedly observed and filmed by astronauts and military pilots and classified as Unidentified Aerial—Anomalous Phenomenon. Plasmas are not biological but may represent a form of pre-life that via the incorporation of elements common in space, could result in the synthesis of RNA. Plasmas constitute a fourth state of matter, are attracted to electromagnetic activity, and when observed in the lower atmosphere likely account for many of the UFO-UAP sightings over the centuries.

GHz bursts in MHz burst(BiBurst) enabling high-speed femtosecond laser ablation of silicon due to prevention of air ionization

For the practical use of femtosecond laser ablation, inputs of higher laser intensity are preferred to attain high-throughput material removal. However, the use of higher laser intensities for increasing ablation rates can have detrimental effects on ablation quality due to excess heat generation and air ionization. This paper employs ablation using BiBurst femtosecond laser pulses, which consist of multiple bursts(2 and 5 bursts) at a repetition rate of 64 MHz, each containing multiple intra-pulses(2–20 pulses) at an ultrafast repetition rate of 4.88 GHz, to overcome these conflicting conditions. Ablation of silicon substrates using the BiBurst mode with 5 burst pulses and 20 intra-pulses successfully prevents air breakdown at packet energies higher than the pulse energy inducing the air ionization by the conventional femtosecond laser pulse irradiation(single-pulse mode). As a result, ablation speed can be enhanced by a factor of23 without deteriorating the ablation quality compared to that by the single-pulse mode ablation under the conditions where the air ionization is avoided.

Modified Masses and Parallaxes of Close Binary Systems: HD 39438

We present the detailed fundamental stellar parameters of the close visual binary system HD 39438 for the first time. We used Al-Wardat's method for analyzing binary and multiple stellar systems. The method implements Kurucz's plane parallel model atmospheres to construct synthetic spectral energy distributions(SEDs) for both components of the system. It then combines the results of the spectroscopic analysis with the photometric analysis and compares them with the observed ones to construct the best synthetic SED for the combined system. The analysis gives the precise fundamental parameters of the individual components of the system. Based on the positions of the components of HD 39438 on the H-R diagram, and evolutionary and isochrone tracks, we found that the system belongs to the main sequence stars with masses of 1.24 and 0.98 solar masses for the components A and B, respectively, and age of 1.995 Gyr for both components. The main result of HD 39438 is new dynamical parallax, which is estimated to be 16.689 ± 0.03 mas.

Analytic equation of state for solids with multi-exponential potential based on analytic mean field potential approach and applied to the epsilon phase of solid oxygen

The thermodynamic properties of the ε phase of solid oxygen are studied by using the analytic mean field approach （AMFP）. Analytic expressions for the Helmholtz free energy, internal energy and equation of state of solid oxygen have been derived based on the multi-exponential potential. The formulism for the case of double-exponential （DE） model is applied to the ε phase of solid oxygen. Its four potential parameters are determined through fitting the experimental compression data of the ε phase of solid oxygen. Numerical results of the pressure dependence of the volume calculated by using the AMFP are in good agreement with the original experimental data. This suggests that the AMFP is a useful approach to study the thermodynamic properties of the ε phase of solid oxygen. Furthermore, we predict the variation of the volume, lattice parameters and intermolecular distances with pressure, and some thermodynamic quantities versus volume, at several higher temperatures.

Statistical physics of human beings in games:Controlled experiments

It is important to know whether the laws or phenomena in statistical physics for natural systems with non-adaptive agents still hold for social human systems with adaptive agents, because this implies whether it is possible to study or understand social human systems by using statistical physics originating from natural systems. For this purpose, we review the role of human adaptability in four kinds of specific human behaviors, namely, normal behavior, herd behavior, contrarian behavior, and hedge behavior. The approach is based on controlled experiments in the framework of market-directed resource-allocation games. The role of the controlled experiments could be at least two-fold： adopting the real human decision-making process so that the system under consideration could reflect the performance of genuine human beings; making it possible to obtain macroscopic physical properties of a human system by tuning a particular factor of the system, thus directly revealing cause and effect. As a result, both computer simulations and theoretical analyses help to show a few counterparts of some laws or phenomena in statistical physics for social human systems： two-phase phenomena or phase transitions, entropy-related phenomena, and a non-equilibrium steady state. This review highlights the role of human adaptability in these counterparts, and makes it possible to study or understand some particular social human systems by means of statistical physics coming from natural systems.

Review on Chemical Stability of Lead Halide Perovskite Solar Cells

Lead halide perovskite solar cells(PSCs) have become a promising next-generation photovoltaic technology due to their skyrocketed power conversion efficiency. However, the device stability issues may restrict their commercial applications, which are dominated by various chemical reactions of perovskite layers. Hence, a comprehensive illustration on the stability of perovskite films in PSCs is urgently needed. In this review article, chemical reactions of perovskite films under different environmental conditions(e.g., moisture,oxygen, light) and with charge transfer materials and metal electrodes are systematically elucidated. Effective strategies for suppressing the degradation reactions of perovskites, such as buffer layer introduction and additives engineering,are specified. Finally, conclusions and outlooks for this field are proposed. The comprehensive review will provide a guideline on the material engineering and device design for PSCs.

Computational design of promising 2D electrode materials for Li-ion and Li–S battery applications

Lithium-ion batteries(LIBs)and lithium-sulfur(Li–S)batteries are two types of energy storage systems with significance in both scientific research and commercialization.Nevertheless,the rational design of electrode materials for overcoming the bottlenecks of LIBs and Li–S batteries(such as low diffusion rates in LIBs and low sulfur utilization in Li–S batteries)remain the greatest challenge,while two-dimensional(2D)electrodes materials provide a solution because of their unique structural and electrochemical properties.In this article,from the perspective of ab-initio simulations,we review the design of 2D electrode materials for LIBs and Li–S batteries.We first propose the theoretical design principles for 2D electrodes,including stability,electronic properties,capacity,and ion diffusion descriptors.Next,classified examples of promising 2D electrodes designed by theoretical simulations are given,covering graphene,phosphorene,MXene,transition metal sulfides,and so on.Finally,common challenges and a future perspective are provided.This review paves the way for rational design of 2D electrode materials for LIBs and Li–S battery applications and may provide a guide for future experiments.

Meta-analysis of CO_(2) conversion,energy efficiency,and other performance data of plasma-catalysis reactors with the open access PIONEER database

This paper brings the comparison of performances of CO_(2)conversion by plasma and plasma-assisted catalysis based on the data collected from literature in this field,organised in an open access online database.This tool is open to all users to carry out their own analyses,but also to contributors who wish to add their data to the database in order to improve the relevance of the comparisons made,and ultimately to improve the efficiency of CO_(2)conversion by plasma-catalysis.The creation of this database and database user interface is motivated by the fact that plasma-catalysis is a fast-growing field for all CO_(2)conversion processes,be it methanation,dry reforming of methane,methanolisation,or others.As a result of this rapid increase,there is a need for a set of standard procedures to rigorously compare performances of different systems.However,this is currently not possible because the fundamental mechanisms of plasma-catalysis are still too poorly understood to define these standard procedures.Fortunately however,the accumulated data within the CO_(2)plasma-catalysis community has become large enough to warrant so-called“big data”studies more familiar in the fields of medicine and the social sciences.To enable comparisons between multiple data sets and make future research more effective,this work proposes the first database on CO_(2)conversion performances by plasma-catalysis open to the whole community.This database has been initiated in the framework of a H_(2)0_(2)0 European project and is called the“PIONEER Data Base”.The database gathers a large amount of CO_(2)conversion performance data such as conversion rate,energy efficiency,and selectivity for numerous plasma sources coupled with or without a catalyst.Each data set is associated with metadata describing the gas mixture,the plasma source,the nature of the catalyst,and the form of coupling with the plasma.Beyond the database itself,a data extraction tool with direct visualisation features or advanced filtering functionalities has been developed and is available online to the public.The simple and fast visualisation of the state of the art puts new results into context,identifies literal gaps in data,and consequently points towards promising research routes.More advanced data extraction illustrates the impact that the database can have in the understanding of plasma-catalyst coupling.Lessons learned from the review of a large amount of literature during the setup of the database lead to best practice advice to increase comparability between future CO_(2)plasma-catalytic studies.Finally,the community is strongly encouraged to contribute to the database not only to increase the visibility of their data but also the relevance of the comparisons allowed by this tool.

Theoretical Perspectives of Spin Dynamics in Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Physics

Since the first demonstrations of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in condensed matter in 1946, the field of NMR has yielded a continuous flow of conceptual advances and methodological innovations that continues today. Much progress has been made in the utilization of solid-state NMR to illuminate molecular structure and dynamics in systems not controllable by any other way. NMR deals with time-dependent perturbations of nuclear spin systems and solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation is a central problem in quantum physics in general and solid-state NMR in particular. This theoretical perspective outlines the methods used to treat theoretical problems in solid-state NMR as well as the recent theoretical development of spin dynamics in NMR and physics. The purpose of this review is to unravel the versatility of theories in solid-state NMR and to present the recent theoretical developments of spin dynamics.

Domain Suppression in the Negative Differential Conductivity Region of Carbon Nanotubes by Applied AC Electric Field

We study theoretically the electron transport properties in achiral carbon nanotubes under the influence of an external electric field E(t) using Boltzmann’s transport equation to derive the current-density. A negative differential conductivity (NDC) is predicted in quasi-static approximation i.e., ωτ 0 is equal to the amplitude of the AC electric field E1. The peak of the NDC intensity occurs at very weaker fields than that of superlattice under the same conditions. The peak intensity decreases and shifts to right with the increase in the amplitude of the ac field. This mechanism suppresses the domain formation and therefore could be used in terahertz frequency generation.

Calibration of quantitative rescattering model for simulating vortex high-order harmonic generation driven by Laguerre–Gaussian beam with nonzero orbital angular momentum

We calibrate the macroscopic vortex high-order harmonic generation(HHG)obtained by the quantitative rescattering(QRS)model to compute single-atom induced dipoles against that by solving the time-dependent Schr?dinger equation(TDSE).We show that the QRS perfectly agrees with the TDSE under the favorable phase-matching condition,and the QRS can accurately predict the main features in the spatial profiles of vortex HHG if the phase-matching condition is not good.We uncover that harmonic emissions from short and long trajectories are adjusted by the phase-matching condition through the time-frequency analysis and the QRS can simulate the vortex HHG accurately only when the interference between two trajectories is absent.This work confirms that it is an efficient way to employ the QRS model in the single-atom response for precisely simulating the macroscopic vortex HHG.

Mode dynamics of Bose–Einstein condensates in a single-well potential

We investigate dynamics of Bose–Einstein condensates(BECs) in a single-well potential using the mode-coupling method. Symmetry is shown to play a key role in the coupling between modes. A proper mode-coupling theory of the dynamics of BECs in a single-well potential should include at least four modes. In this context, the ideal BEC system can be decomposed into two independent subsystems when the coupling is caused by external potential perturbation and is linear. The mode dynamics of non-ideal BECs with interaction shows rich behavior. The combination of nonlinear coupling and initial condition leads to the different regimes of mode dynamics, from regularity to non-regularity, which also indicates a change of the dependence of coupling on the symmetry of modes.