Engineering of Self-Supported Electrocatalysts on a Three-Dimensional Nickel Foam Platform for Efficient Water Electrolysis

Economical water electrolysis requires highly active non-noble electrocatalysts to overcome the sluggish kinetics of the two half-cell reactions,oxygen evolution reaction,and hydrogen evolution reaction.Although intensive efforts have been committed to achieve a hydrogen economy,the expensive noble metal-based catalysts remain under consideration.Therefore,the engineering of self-supported electrocatalysts prepared using a direct growth strategy on three-dimensional(3D)nickel foam(NF)as a conductive substrate has garnered significant interest.This is due to the large active surface area and 3D porous network offered by these electrocatalysts,which can enhance the synergistic eff ect between the catalyst and the substrate,as well as improve electrocatalytic performance.Hydrothermal-assisted growth,microwave heating,electrodeposition,and other physical methods(i.e.,chemical vapor deposition and plasma treatment)have been applied to NF to fabricate competitive electrocatalysts with low overpotential and high stability.In this review,recent advancements in the development of self-supported electrocatalysts on 3D NF are described.Finally,we provide future perspectives of self-supported electrode platforms in electrochemical water splitting.

Ka-band thin film lithium niobate photonic integrated optoelectronic oscillator

Photonics integration of an optoelectronic oscillator(OEO)on a chip is attractive for fabricating low cost,compact,low power consumption,and highly reliable microwave sources,which has been demonstrated recently in silicon on insulator(SOI)and indium phosphide(InP)platforms at X-band around 8 GHz.Here we demonstrate the first integration of OEOs on the thin film lithium niobate(TFLN)platform,which has the advantages of lower Vπ,no chirp,wider frequency range,and less sensitivity to temperature.We have successfully realized two different OEOs operating at Ka-band,with phase noises even lower than those of the X-band OEOs on SOI and InP platforms.One is a fixed frequency OEO at 30 GHz realized by integrating a Mach–Zehnder modulator(MZM)with an add-drop microring resonator(MRR),and the other is a tunable frequency OEO at 20–35 GHz realized by integrating a phase modulator(PM)with a notch MRR.Our work marks the first step of using TFLN to fabricate integrated OEOs with high frequency,small size,low cost,wide range tunability,and potentially low phase noise.

Calculation model for water influx and controlled reserves for CBM wells with high water yield

Compared with conventional gas reservoir,percolation mechanism of coalbed methane(CBM)is completely different,it is remarkably affected by adsorption/desorption performance,pressure variation and coalbed characteristics.Then it is difficult to calculate the controlled reserves of CBM wells.Moreover,the connection of edge-bottom water or interbedded water by fractures or faults may largely increase the water yield and drainage period,leading to obvious water invasion in some CBM wells.There are few literature about the predicted production for CBM wells with high water yield.Focusing on the unconventional CBM reservoir,methods of pseudo geological reserves and production index curves are adopted to establish the calculation model of water influx and controlled reserves.It further confirms that the calculation model is successfully applicated on the CBM wells at the middle part of Qinshui Basin in China.

Iron-catalyzed hydroaminocarbonylation of alkynes:Selective and efficient synthesis of primaryα,β-unsaturated amides

α,β-Unsaturated primary amides are important intermediates and building blocks in organic synthesis.Herein,we report a ligand-free iron-catalyzed hydroaminocarbonylation of alkynes using NH_(4)HCO_(3)as the ammonia source,enabling the highly efficient and regioselective synthesis of linearα,β-unsaturated primary amides.Various aromatic and aliphatic alkynes are transformed into the desired linearα,β-unsaturated primary amides in good to excellent yields.Further studies show that using NH_(4)HCO_(3)as the ammonia source is key to obtain good yields and selectivity.The utility of this route is demonstrated with the synthesis of linearα,β-unsaturated amides including vanilloid receptor-1 antagonist TRPV-1.