Magneli phase titanium sub-oxide conductive ceramic Ti_nO_(2n-1) as support for electrocatalyst toward oxygen reduction reaction with high activity and stability

Magneli phase titanium sub-oxide conductive ceramic Tin O2n-1 was used as the support for Pt due to its excellent resistance to electrochemical oxidation, and Pt/Tin O2n-1 composites were prepared by the impregnation-reduction method. The electrochemical stability of Tin O2n-1 was investigated and the results show almost no change in the redox region after oxidation for 20 h at 1.2 V(vs NHE) in 0.5 mol/L H2SO4 aqueous solution. The catalytic activity and stability of the Pt/Tin O2n-1 toward the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) in 0.5 mol/L H2SO4 solution were investigated through the accelerated aging tests(AAT), and the morphology of the catalysts before and after the AAT was observed by transmission electron microscopy. At the potential of 0.55 V(vs SCE), the specific kinetic current density of the ORR on the Pt/Tin O2n-1 is about 1.5 times that of the Pt/C. The LSV curves for the Pt/C shift negatively obviously with the half-wave potential shifting about 0.02 V after 8000 cycles AAT, while no obvious change takes place for the LSV curves for the Pt/Tin O2n-1. The Pt particles supported on the carbon aggregate obviously, while the morphology of the Pt supported on Tin O2n-1 remains almost unchanged, which contributes to the electrochemical surface area loss of Pt/C being about 2times that of the Pt/Tin O2n-1. The superior catalytic stability of Pt/Tin O2n-1 toward the ORR could be attributed to the excellent stability of the Tin O2n-1 and the electronic interaction between the metals and the support.

Reinforcement strength reduction in FEM for mechanically stabilized earth structures

The factor of safety of mechanically stabilized earth(MSE) structures can be analyzed either using limit equilibrium method(LEM) or strength reduction method(SRM) in finite element/difference method. In LEM, the strengths of the reinforcement members and soils are reduced with the same factor. While using the SRM, only soil strength is reduced during the calculation of the factor of safety. This causes inconsistence in calculating the factor of safety of the MSE structures. To overcome this, an iteration method is proposed to consider the strength reduction of the reinforcements in SRM. The method is demonstrated by using PLAXIS, a finite element software. The results show that the factor of safety converges after a few iterations. The reduction of strength has different effects on the factor of safety depending on the properties of the reinforcements and the soil, and failure modes.

Oxygen reduction on polycobaltprotoporphyrin film Ⅰ.Catalytic activity and stability of polycobaltprotoporphyrin film toward oxygen reduction

The catalytic activity of polycobaltprotoporphyrin(PCoPP)was compared with adsorbed cobaltprotoporphyrin monolayer.The results have shown that PCoPP film shows higher catalytic activity and stability than monolayer on glass carbon electrode in both alkaline and acid solution. Catalytic activity of PCoPP goes through a maximum with increase of film thickness.A model was proposed to explain such dependence.The effect of film thickness and solution pH on the stability of PCoPP film was studied.

Unsteady Behavior and Control of Vortices in Centrifugal Compressor

Two examples of the use of vortex control to reduce noise and enhance the stable operating range of a centrifugal compressor are presented in this paper.In the case of high-flow operation of a centrifugal compressor with a vaned diffuser,a discrete frequency noise induced by interaction between the impeller-discharge flow and the diffuser vane,which appears most notably in the power spectra of the radiated noise,can be reduced using a tapered diffuser vane(TDV) without affecting the performance of the compressor.Twin longitudinal vortices produced by leakage flow passing through the tapered portion of the diffuser vane induce secondary flow in the direction of the blade surface and prevent flow separation from the leading edge of the diffuser.The use of a TDV can effectively reduce both the discrete frequency noise generated by the interaction between the impeller-discharge flow and the diffuser surface and the broadband turbulent noise component.In the case of low-flow operation,a leading-edge vortex(LEV) that forms on the shroud side of the suction surface near the leading edge of the diffuser increases significantly in size and blocks flow in the diffuser passage.The formation of an LEV may adversely affect the performance of the compressor and may cause the diffuser to stall.Using a one-side tapered diffuser vane to suppress the evolution of an LEV,the stable operating range of the compressor can be increased by more than 12 percent,and the pressure-rise characteristics of the compressor can be improved.The results of a supplementary examination of the structure and unsteady behavior of LEVs,conducted by means of detailed numerical simulations,are also presented.