Cu,N codoped carbon nanosheets encapsulating ultrasmall Cu nanoparticles for enhancing selective 1,2-propanediol oxidation

In the selective oxidation of biomass-based 1,2-propanediol(PDO)with oxygen as the terminal oxidant,it is challenging to improve the lactic acid(LA)selectivity for nonnoble metal nanoparticles(NPs)due to their limited oxygen reduction rate and easy C-C cleavage.Given the high economic feasibility of nonnoble metals,i.e.,Cu,in this work,copper and nitrogen codoped porous carbon nanosheets encapsulating ultrafine Cu nanoparticles(Cu@Cu-N-C)were developed to realize highly selective of PDO oxidation to LA.The carbon-encapsulated ultrasmall Cu^(0)NPs in Cu@Cu-N-C have high PDO dehydrogenation activity while N-coordinated Cu(Cu-N)sites are responsible for the high oxygen reduction efficacy.Therefore,the performance of catalytic PDO conversion to LA is optimized by a proposed pathway of PDO→hydroxylacetone→lactaldehyde→LA.Specifically,the enhanced LA selectivity is 88.5%,and the PDO conversion is up to 75.1%in an O_(2)-pressurized reaction system(1.0 MPa O_(2)),superior to other Cu-based catalysts,while in a milder nonpressurized system(O_(2)flow rate of 100 mL min-1),a remarkable LA selectivity(94.2%)is obtained with 39.8%PDO conversion,2.2 times higher than that of supported Au nanoparticles(1%Au/C).Moreover,carbon encapsulation offers Cu@Cu-N-C with strong leaching resistance for better recycling.

Preparation and photocatalytic performance of Cu-doped TiO_2 nanoparticles

Cu-doped TiO2 nanoparticles with different doping contents from 0 to 2.0% （mole fraction） were synthesized through sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction （XRD）, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） and field emission scanning electron microscope （FE-SEM） were used to characterize the crystalline structure, chemical valence states and morphology of TiO2 nanoparticles. UV-Vis absorption spectrum was used to measure the optical absorption property of the samples. The photocatalytic performance of the samples was characterized by degrading 20 mg/L methyl orange under UV-Vis irradiation. The results show that the Cu-doped TiO2 nanoparticles exhibit a significant increase in photocatalytic performance over the pure TiO2 nanoparticles, and the TiO2 nanoparticles doped with 1.0% Cu show the best photocatalytic performance. The improvement in photocatalytic performance is attributed to the enhanced light adsorption in UV-Vis range and the decrease of the recombination rate of photoinduced electron-hole oair of the Cu-doped TiO2 nanoparticles.

Oxygen vacancy defects engineering on Cu-doped Co_(3)O_(4) for promoting effective COS hydrolysis

The activation of H_(2)O is a key step of the COS hydrolysis,which may be tuned by oxygen vacancy defects in the catalysts.Herein,we have introduced Cu into Co_(3)O_(4) to regulate the oxygen vacancy defect content of the catalysts.In situ DRIFTS and XPS spectra reveal that COS and H_(2)O are adsorbed and activated by oxygen vacancy.The 10 at%Cu doped Co_(3)O_(4) sample(10Cu-Co_(3)O_(4))exhibits the optimal activity,100%of COS conversion at 70℃.The improved oxygen vacancies of CueCo_(3)O_(4) accelerate the activation of H_(2)O to form active -OH.COS binds with hydroxyl to form the intermediate HSCO^(-)_(2),and then the activated-OH on the oxygen vacancy reacts with HSCO^(-)_(2) to form HCO^(-)_(3).Meanwhile,the catalyst exhibits high catalytic stability because copper species(Cu+/Cu^(2+))redox cycle mitigate the sulfation of Co_(3)O_(4)(Co^(2+)/Co^(3+)).Our work offers a promising approach for the rational design of cobalt-related catalysts in the highly efficient hydrolysis COS process.

Meso-macroporous Fe-doped Cu O: Synthesis, characterization, and structurally enhanced adsorption and visible-light photocatalytic activity

The meso-macroporous Fe-doped Cu O was prepared by a simple hydrothermal method combined with post-annealing. The samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller N2 adsorption-desorption analyses and UV-vis diffuses reflectance spectroscopy. The Fe-doped Cu O sample shows higher adsorption capacity and photocatalytic activity for xanthate degradation than pure Cu O under visible light irradiation. In addition, the adsorption process is found to fit Langmuir isotherms and pseudo-second-order kinetics. The the first order kinetic Langmuir Hinshelwood model was used to study the reaction kinetics of photocatalytic degradation, and the apparent rate constant( k) was calculated. The value of k for Fe-doped Cu O is 1.5 times that of pure Cu O. The higher photocatalytic activity of Fe-doped Cu O is attributed to higher specific surface area together with stronger visible light absorption.

Electrical breakdown characteristic of a Ce-doped W-Cu contact material

W-Cu composite powder doped with Ce （1.5 wt.%） was prepared by mechanical alloying （MA）,and the W-Cu contact material was fabricated by hot pressing sintering in an electrical vacuum furnace.The microstructure,electric conductivity,hardness,and breakdown voltage of the Ce-doped W-Cu alloy were measured and compared with a conventional W-Cu alloy prepared by powder metallurgy.The results show that microstructural refinement and uniformity can improve the breakdown behavior and the electric arc stability of the Ce-doped W-Cu contact material.Also,the Ce-doped W-Cu contact material shows the characteristic of spreading electric arc,which is beneficial to electric arc erosion.

Preparation and photocatalytic activity of Cu^(2+)-doped TiO_2/SiO_2

Cu^2＋-doped nanostructured TiO2-coated SiO2 （TiO2/SiO2） particles were prepared by the layer-by-layer assembly technique and their photocatalytic property was studied. TiO2 colloids were synthesized by the sol-gel method using TiOSO4 as a precursor. The experimental results showed that TiO2 nanopowders on the surface of SiO2 particles were well distributed and compact. The amount of TiO2 increased with the increase in coating layers. The shell structure appeared to be composed of anatase titania nanocrystals at 550℃. The 2-layer coated TiO2 particles on the surface showed a higher degradation rate compared with all the different-layer samples. The photocatalytic activity of Cu^2＋-doped TiO2/SiO2 was higher than that ofundoped TiO2/SiO2. The optimum dopant content was about 0.10wt%.

Temperature Effects on Gas Sensing Properties of Electrodeposited Chlorine Doped and Undoped n-Type Cuprous Oxide Thin Films

As one of the most widely used domestic fuels, the detection of possible leakages of Liquefied Petroleum (LP) gas from production plants, from cylinders during their storage, transport and usage is of utmost importance. This article discusses a study of the response of undoped and chlorine doped electrodeposited n-type Cuprous Oxide (Cu2O) films to of LP gas. Undoped n-type Cu2O films were fabricated in an electrolyte bath containing a solution of sodium acetate and cupric acetate whereas n-type chlorine doped Cu2O thin films were prepared by adding a 0.02 M cuprous chloride (CuCl2) into an electrolyte solution containing lactic acid, cupric sulfate and sodium hydroxide. The n-type conductivity of the deposited films was determined using spectral response measurements. The structural and morphological properties of the fabricated films were monitored using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Due to doping, the overall conductivity of the chlorine doped n-type Cu2O films increased by several orders of magnitude. The temperature dependent gas responses of both the undoped and chlorine doped n-type Cu2O thin films to the LP gas was monitored by measuring the electrical resistance (R), and using the contact probe method at a constant gas flow rate of 0.005 ml/s. Upon exposure to gases, both doped and undoped films showed a good response to the gas by increasing/decreasing the electrical resistance by ΔR. The undoped n-type Cu2O thin films showed a negative response (ΔR 2O thin films initially showed a positive response (ΔR > 0) to the LP gas which then reversed its sign to give a negative response which peaked at 52°C. The positive response shown by the chlorine doped Cu2O films vanished completely at 42°C.

Theoretical investigation of lithium ions’ nucleation performance on metal-doped Cu surfaces

Lithium metal batteries(LMBs)of an ultrahigh theoretical energy density have attracted lots of attentions for a wide range of practical applications.However,there are still numerous challenges in LMBs system,such as poor cycling performance,complicated interfacial reactions,low Coulombic efficiency,and uncontrollable lithium dendrites.Understanding Li^+ions’nucleation mechanism is essential to tackle the uncontrolled growth of lithium dendrites.However,the nucleation behavior of Li+ions is interfered by the structural complexities of existing substrates during the reduplicative plating/stripping process and the rational mechanism of uniform nucleation of Li^+ions has not been clearly understood from the theoretical point of view.In our work,first-principles theoretical calculations are carried out to investigate the Li^+ions nucleation performance on metal-doped Cu surfaces(MDCSs)and the key descriptors that determines the properties of various MDCSs are systematically summarized.It is found that the introduction of heterogeneous doping Ag and Zn atoms will induce a gradient adsorption energy on MDCSs,and such gradient deposition sites can reduce the diffusion barriers and accelerate the diffusion rates of Li+ions dynamically.By maneuvering the Li+ions nucleation on MDCSs,a dendrite-free lithium metal anode can be achieved without the use of porous matrixes and complex synthesis process,which can be attributed to suppress the uncontrollable lithium dendrites for realizing the high-efficiency LMBs.

The effects of Zn vacancies on ferromagnetism in Cu-doped ZnO films controlled by oxygen pressure and Li doping

Zn0.99Cu0.01O films were studied experimentally and theoretically. The films were prepared by pulsed-laser deposition on Pt（111）/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates under various oxygen pressures to investigate the growth-dependence of the ferromagnetic properties. The structural, magnetic, and optical properties were studied, and it was found that all the samples possess a typical wurtzite structure, and that the films exhibit room-temperature ferromagnetism. The sample deposited at 600 ℃ and an oxygen pressure of 10 Pa showed a large saturation magnetization of 0.83 μB/Cu. The enhanced ferromagnetism in the （Cu, Li）-codoped ZnO is attributable to the existence of Zn vacancies （Vzn）, as shown by first-principles calcu- lations. The photoluminescence analysis demonstrated the existence of Vzn in both Zn0.99Cu0.01 O and （Cu, Li）-codoped ZnO thin films, and this plays an important role in the increase of ferromagnetism, according to the results of first-principles calculations.

HALL EFFECT IN NIOBIUM DOPED YBa_2Cu_3O_(7-y) SUPERCONDUCTOR

YBa_2Cu_(3-x)Nb_xO_(7-y) superconductors have been prepared. XRD shows that the system remains orthorhombic for all composition. Substitution of Nb^(5+) for Cu^(2+) occurs in the Cu(2) sites. The introduction of the Nb^(5+) ions produces some extra free-electrons. These electrons recombine with the carriers of the system. It makes the mobility and the Hall number of YBa_2Cu_(3-x)Nb_xO_(7-y) decrease and also result in a depression in Tc.

Thermal stability and thermoelectric properties of Cd-doped nano-layered Cu2Se prepared using NaCl flux method

Cu2Se is a promising"phonon liquid-electron crystal"thermoelectric material with excellent thermoelectric performance.In this work,Cd-doped Cu2-xSeCdx(x=0,0.0075,0.01,and 0.02)samples were prepared using NaCl flux method.The solubility of Cd in Cu2Se at room temperature was less than 6%,and a second phase of CdSe was found in the samples with large initial Cd content(x=0.01 and 0.02).Field-emission scanning electron microscopic image showed that the arranged lamellae formed a large-scale layered structure with an average thickness of approximately 100 nm.Transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that doping of Cd atoms did not destroy the crystal integrity of Cu2Se.A small amount of Cd in Cu2Se could reduce the electrical and thermal conductivities of the material,thus significantly enhancing its thermoelectric performance.With the increase in Cd content in the sample,the carrier concentration decreased and the mobility increased gradually.Thermogravimetric differential thermal analysis showed that no weight loss occurred below the melting point.Excessive Cd doping led to the emergence of the second phase of CdSe in the sample,thus significantly increasing the thermal conductivity of the material.A maximum ZT value of 1.67 at 700 K was obtained in the Cu1.9925SeCd0.0075 sample.

Effect on Defect in N or F-Doped Ferromagnetic Zn_1-xCu_xO: First-Principles Study

We investigated the electronic and magnetic properties for O or Zn defect of (Cu, N) or (Cu, F)-co- doped ZnO with the concentration of 2.77% - 8.33% by using the first-principles calculations. The ferromagnetic coupling of Cu atoms in (Cu, N)-codoped ZnO can be attributed to the hole-mediated double-exchange through the strong 2p-3d coupling between Cu and neighboring O (or N) atoms. The ferromagnetism in Cu-doped ZnO is controllable by changing the carrier density. The Cu magnetic moment in low Cu concentration (2.77%) is increased by the N-doping, while for the F-doping it decreases. For two Cu atoms of Zn0.9445Cu0.0555O with O vacancy, the antiferromagnetic state is more energetically favorable than the ferromagnetic state.

Studies of Photorefractive Crystals of Cu-Doped (K_(0.5) Na_(0.5))_(0.2)(Sr_(0.75)Ba_(0.25))_(0.9)Nb_2O_6

In this paper, photorefractive crystals of Cu-doped (K0.5Na0.5)0.2 (Sr0.75Ba0.25)0.9Nb2O6 (KNSBN) are systematically studied. A series of Cu-doped KNSBN crystals have been grown and the samples with Cu-dopant in different levels and thicknesses have been fabricated. Their photorefractive properties including two-wave coupling gain coefficients and response rate are experimentally studied in details. The results show that (1) with high Cudopant cocentration, the crystal has larger coupling gain coefficient, higher effective charge carrier density, and faster time response; (2) thinner sample shows larger coupling gain coefficientl (3) at shorter wavelength 9 the crystal sample shows larger coupling gain coefficient and faster time response. The Cu-doping mechanisms were briefly referred. The analyses of the relationships among the crystal’s two-wave coupling, absorption property and the self-pumped phase conjugation are given. All the results show that Cu-doped KNSBN crystals are a kind of very promising photorefractive materials.

Structural,optical,and electrical properties of Cu-doped ZrO_2 films prepared by magnetron co-sputtering

Copper （Cu）-doped ZrO2 （CZO） films with different Cu content （0 at.%- 8.07 at.%） are successfully deposited on Si （100） substrates by direct current （DC） and radio frequency （RF） magnetron co-sputtering. The influences of Cu content on structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of CZO films are discussed in detail. The CZO films exhibit ZrO2 monocline （1^-11） preferred orientation, which indicates that Cu atoms are doped in ZrO2 host lattice. The crystallite size estimated form x-ray diffraction （XRD） increases by Cu doping, which accords with the result observed from the scanning electron microscope （SEM）. The electrical resistivity decreases from 2.63 Ω·cm to 1.48 Ω·cm with Cu doping content increasing, which indicates that the conductivity of CZO film is improved. However, the visible light transmittances decrease slightly by Cu doping and the optical band gap values decrease from 4.64 eV to 4.48 eV for CZO fihns.

Fast joining YBCO bulks with melt Ag doped Y-Ba-Cu-O solder

Y-Ba-Cu-O is a promising high temperature superconductor material because of its good electrical and magnetic properties. However, large and complex bulks cannot be made directly, and joining is a good way to solve this problem. Joining Y-Ba-Cu-O with filler material was widely used and reported, but sliced melt solder was rarely reported, especially the one that required relatively short time. In this paper, sliced melt Ag doped Y-Ba-Cu-O was used as filler material and the joining time is relatively shorter compared with mast of the published paper. The melt solder was fabricated and tested, the melting temperature is 975℃and there is much less pores found in the solder compared with the sintered solder. The bonding result is very encouraging： the superconductivity recovery ratio is 97.3%, which is about 5% higher than as sintered filler material. The microstructure in the bonding zone is very similar to that in the base material, no Y2BaCuO5 （ Y211 ） phase accumulated during the joining process, which reveals that high quality superconductive bonding was achieved.

Spectral features and antibacterial properties of Cu-doped ZnO nanoparticles prepared by sol-gel method

Zn（1-x）Cux O（x=0.00, 0.01, 0.03, and 0.05） nanoparticles are synthesized via the sol-gel technique using gelatin and nitrate precursors. The impact of copper concentration on the structural, optical, and antibacterial properties of these nanoparticles is demonstrated. Powder x-ray diffraction investigations have illustrated the organized Cu doping into ZnO nanoparticles up to Cu concentration of 5%（x = 0.05）. However, the peak corresponding to CuO for x= 0.01 is not distinguishable. The images of field emission scanning electron microscopy demonstrate the existence of a nearly spherical shape with a size in the range of 30–52 nm. Doping Cu creates the Cu–O–Zn on the surface and results in a decrease in the crystallite size. Photoluminescence and absorption spectra display that doping Cu causes an increment in the energy band gap. The antibacterial activities of the nanoparticles are examined against Escherichia coli（Gram negative bacteria）cultures using optical density at 600 nm and a comparison of the size of inhibition zone diameter. It is found that both pure and doped ZnO nanoparticles indicate appropriate antibacterial activity which rises with Cu doping.

Synthesis of Cu-Doped Mixed-Phase TiO_2 with the Assistance of Ionic Liquid by Atmospheric-Pressure Cold Plasma

An atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） gas-liquid cold plasma was employed to synthesize Cu-doped TiO~ nanoparticles in an aqueous solution with the assistance of [C2MIM]BF4 ionic liquid （IL） and using air as the working gas. The influences of the discharge voltage, IL and the amount of copper nitrite were investigated. X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption-desorption measurements and UV-Vis spectroscopy were adopted to characterize the samples. The results showed that the specific surface area of TiO2 was promoted with Cu-doping （from 57.6 m^2.g^-1 to 106.2 m^2.g^-1 with 3% Cu-doping）, and the content of anatase was increased. Besides, the band gap energy of TiO~ with Cu-doping decreased according to the UV-Vis spec- troscopy test. The 3%Cu-IL-TiO2 samples showed the highest eificiency in degrading methylene blue （MB） dye solutions under simulated sunlight with an apparent rate constant of 0.0223 min-1, which was 1.2 times higher than that of non-doped samples. According to the characterization results, the reasons for the high photocatalytic activity were discussed.

Co-Precipitation Synthesis and Characterization of Nanocrystalline Zinc Oxide Particles Doped with Cu²⁺Ions

Nanocrystalline Cu-doped ZnO particles were synthesized by the co-precipitation method. The composition, structural, optical and magnetic characterizations were performed by energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy, X-Ray diffraction, UV-Visible spectrometer, and vibrating sample magnetometer. The results confirmed that nanocrystalline Cu-doped ZnO particles have a hexagonal wurtzite structure with a high degree of crystallization and a crystallite size of 10 - 16 nm. For Cu above 11 at%, the X-Ray diffraction pattern possessed CuO secondary phase which shows the solubility limit of Cu in the ZnO lattice. Up to 11% at Cu, the presence of Cu in the ZnO lattice as Zn substitution indicated by an in- crease in lattice parameter values. Nanoparticles showed weak ferromagnetic characteristics at room temperature. The absence of secondary phase related to magnetic precipitate shown intrinsic ferromagnetic behaviour.

High Sensitivity of Porous Cu-Doped SnO2 Thin Films to Methanol

Porous Cu-doped SnO2 thin films were synthesized by the sol-gel dip-coating method for enhancing methanol sensing performance. The effect of Cu doping concentration on the SnO2 sensibility was investigated. XRD data confirm that the fabricated SnO2 films are polycrystalline with tetragonal rutile crystal structure. AFM and SEM micrographs confirmed the roughness and the porosity of SnO2 surface, respectively. UV-Vis spectrum shows that SnO2 thin films exhibit high transmittance in the visible region ~95%. The band gap (3.80 - 3.92 eV) and the optical thickness (893 - 131 nm) of prepared films were calculated from transmittance data. The sensing results demonstrate that SnO2 films have a high sensitivity and a fast response to methanol. In particular, 3% Cu-SnO2 films have a higher sensitivity (98%), faster response (10-2 s) and shorter recovery time (18 s) than other films.

g-C_(3)N_(4)锚定Cu(Ⅰ)高选择性催化CCl_(4)合成2,4,4,4-四氯丁腈

以尿素和Cu(NO_(3))_(2)·3H_(2)O为前体,采用热缩合法制备了不同Cu负载量的氮化碳(g-C_(3)N_(4))基催化剂Cu/CNn(n=1、2、3),采用X射线衍射仪、傅里叶变换红外光谱、X射线光电子能谱、比表面积测试、扫描电子显微镜及透射电子显微镜对其结构和形貌进行了表征,比较了不同Cu负载量的Cu/CNn催化CCl_(4)与丙烯腈(AN)的原子转移自由基加成(ATRA)反应合成2,4,4,4-四氯丁腈(TBN)的催化性能。结果表明,Cu/CN1呈现优异的催化性能,以乙腈(MeCN)为溶剂,n(Cu/CN1)∶n(AN)=1∶1000,120℃反应12h,TBN的选择性可达96.5%,产率可达83.3%,Cu/CN作为多相催化剂,经过滤处理便可重复利用,使用7次其催化活性仍能稳定保持。基于相关的实验结果,提出了Cu/CN催化CCl_(4)和AN的ATRA反应的氧化-还原循环机理。实验结果揭示了Cu与g-C_(3)N_(4)载体的协同作用机制,为CCl_(4)深加工开发高效的催化体系提供了新的思路。