Engineering oxygen vacancies on Tb-doped ceria supported Pt catalyst for hydrogen production through steam reforming of long-chain hydrocarbon fuels

Steam reforming of long-chain hydrocarbon fuels for hydrogen production has received great attention for thermal management of the hypersonic vehicle and fuel-cell application.In this work,Pt catalysts supported on CeO_(2)and Tb-doped CeO_(2)were prepared by a precipitation method.The physical structure and chemical properties of the as-prepared catalysts were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction,scanning electron microscopy,transmission electron microscopy,Raman spectroscopy,H_(2)temperature programmed reduction,and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.The results show that Tb-doped CeO_(2)supported Pt possesses abundant surface oxygen vacancies,good inhibition of ceria sintering,and strong metal-support interaction compared with CeO_(2)supported Pt.The catalytic performance of hydrogen production via steam reforming of long-chain hydrocarbon fuels(n-dodecane)was tested.Compared with 2Pt/CeO_(2),2Pt/Ce_(0.9)Tb_(0.1)O_(2),and 2Pt/Ce_(0.5)Tb_(0.5)O_(2),the 2Pt/Ce_(0.7)Tb_(0.3)O_(2)has higher activity and stability for hydrogen production,on which the conversion of n-dodecane was maintained at about 53.2%after 600 min reaction under 700℃at liquid space velocity of 9 ml·g^(-1)·h^(-1).2Pt/CeO_(2)rapidly deactivated,the conversion of n-dodecane was reduced to only 41.6%after 600 min.

Ultralow charge-discharge voltage gap of 0.05 V in sunlight-responsive neutral aqueous Zn-air battery

Rechargeable neutral aqueous zinc-air batteries(ZABs)are a promising type of energy storage device with longer operating life and less corrosiveness compared with conventional alkaline ZABs.However,the neutral ZABs normally possess poor oxygen evolution reactions(OERs)and oxygen reduction reactions performance,resulting in a large charge–discharge voltage gap and low round-trip efficiency.Herein,we demonstrate a sunlight-assisted strategy for achieving an ultralow voltage gap of 0.05 V in neutral ZABs by using the FeOOH-decorated BiVO4(Fe-BiVO4)as an oxygen catalyst.Under sunlight,the electrons move from the valence band(VB)of Fe-BiVO_(4) to the conduction band producing holes in VB to promote the OER process and hence reduce the overpotential.Meanwhile,the photopotential generated by the Fe-BiVO_(4) compensates a part of the charging potential of neutral ZABs.Accordingly,the energy loss of the battery could be compensated via solar energy,leading to a record-low gap of 0.05 V between the charge and discharge voltage with a high round-trip efficiency of 94%.This work offers a simple but efficient pathway for solar-energy utilization in storage devices,further guiding the design of high energy efficiency of neutral aqueous ZABs.

Synthesized All-Pass Waveguide for Ultrafast Electronics

Ultrashort pulse transmission has been recognized as a primary problem that fundamentally hinders the development of ultrafast electronics beyond the current nanosecond timescale.This requires a transmission line or waveguide that exhibits an all-pass frequency behavior for the transmitted ultrashort pulse signals.However,this type of waveguiding structure has not yet been practically developed;groundbreaking innovations and advances in signal transmission technology are urgently required to address this scenario.Herein,we present a synthesized all-pass waveguide that demonstrates record guidedwave controlling capabilities,including eigenmode reshaping,polarization rotation,loss reduction,and dispersion improvement.We experimentally developed two waveguides for use in ultrabroad frequency ranges(direct current(DC)-to-millimeter-wave and DC-to-terahertz).Our results suggest that the waveguides can efficiently transmit picosecond electrical pulses while maintaining signal integrity.This waveguide technology is an important breakthrough in the evolution of ultrafast electronics,providing a path towards frequency-engineered ultrashort pulses for low-loss and low-dispersion transmissions.