Insights on advanced substrates for controllable fabrication of photoanodes toward efficient and stable photoelectrochemical water splitting

Conversion of solar energy into H_(2) by photoelectrochemical(PEC)water splitting is recognized as an ideal way to address the growing energy crisis and environmental issues.In a typical PEC cell,the construction of photoanodes is crucial to guarantee the high efficiency and stability of PEC reactions,which fundamentally rely on rationally designed semiconductors(as the active materials)and substrates(as the current collectors).In this review work,we start with a brief introduction of the roles of substrates in the PEC process.Then,we provide a systematic overview of representative strategies for the controlled fabrication of photoanodes on rationally designed substrates,including conductive glass,metal,sapphire,silicon,silicon carbide,and flexible substrates.Finally,some prospects concerning the challenges and research directions in this area are proposed.

Performance and Application of Double-layered Microcapsule Corrosion Inhibitors

Double-layered microcapsule corrosion inhibitors were developed by sodium monofluorophosphate as the core material,polymethyl methacrylate as the inner wall material,and polyvinyl alcohol as the outer wall material combining the solvent evaporation method and spray drying method.The protection by the outer capsule wall was used to prolong the service life of the corrosion inhibitor.The dispersion,encapsulation,thermal stability of microcapsules,and the degradation rate of capsule wall in concrete pore solution were analyzed by ultra-deep field microscopy,scanning electron microscopy,thermal analyzer,and sodium ion release rate analysis.The microcapsules were incorporated into mortar samples containing steel reinforcement,and the effects of double-layered microcapsule corrosion inhibitors on the performance of the cement matrix and the actual corrosion-inhibiting effect were analyzed.The experimental results show that the double-layered microcapsules have a moderate particle size and uniform distribution,and the capsules were completely wrapped.The microcapsules as a whole have good thermal stability below 230 ℃.The monolayer membrane structure microcapsules completely broke within 1 day in the simulated concrete pore solution,and the double-layer membrane structure prolonged the service life of the microcapsules to 80 days in the simulated concrete pore solution before the core material was completely released.The mortar samples containing steel reinforcement incorporated with the double-layered microcapsule corrosion inhibitors still maintained a higher corrosion potential than the monolayer microcapsule corrosion inhibitors control group at 60 days.The incorporation of double-layered microcapsules into the cement matrix has no significant adverse effect on the setting time and early strength.

Jet formation and penetration performance of a double-layer charge liner with chemically-deposited tungsten as the inner liner

This paper proposes a type of double-layer charge liner fabricated using chemical vapor deposition(CVD)that has tungsten as its inner liner.The feasibility of this design was evaluated through penetration tests.Double-layer charge liners were fabricated by using CVD to deposit tungsten layers on the inner surfaces of pure T2 copper liners.The microstructures of the tungsten layers were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope(SEM).The feasibility analysis was carried out by pulsed X-rays,slug-retrieval test and static penetration tests.The shaped charge jet forming and penetration law of inner tungsten-coated double-layer liner were studied by numerical simulation method.The results showed that the double-layer liners could form well-shaped jets.The errors between the X-ray test results and the numerical results were within 11.07%.A slug-retrieval test was found that the retrieved slug was similar to a numerically simulated slug.Compared with the traditional pure copper shaped charge jet,the penetration depth of the double-layer shaped charge liner increased by 11.4% and>10.8% respectively.In summary,the test results are good,and the numerical simulation is in good agreement with the test,which verified the feasibility of using the CVD method to fabricate double-layer charge liners with a high-density and high-strength refractory metal as the inner liner.

Facile electrochemical surface-alloying and etching of Au wires to enable high-performance substrates for surface enhanced Raman scattering

Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy(SERS)is a nondestructive technique for rapid detection of analytes even at the single-molecule level.However,highly sensitive and reliable SERS substrates are mostly fabricated with complex nanofabrication techniques,greatly restricting their practical applications.A convenient electrochemical method for transforming the surface of commercial gold wires/foils into silver-alloyed nanostructures is demonstrated in this report.Au substrates are treated with repetitive anodic and cathodic bias in an electrolyte of thiourea,in a one-pot one-step manner.X-rays absorption fine structure(XAFS)spectroscopy confirms that the AuAg alloy is induced at the surface.The unique AuAg alloyed surface nanostructures are particularly advantageous when served as SERS substrates,enabling a remarkably sensitive detection of Rhodamine B(a detection limit of 10^(-14)M,and uniform strong response throughout the substrates at 10^(-12)M).

Time-sequenced damage behavior of reactive projectile impacting double-layer plates

The time-sequenced damage behavior of the reactive projectile impacting double-layer plates is discussed.The analytical model considering the combined effect of kinetic and chemical energy is developed to reveal the damage mechanism.The influences of impact velocity and reactive projectile chemical characteristics on the damage effect are decoupled analyzed based on this model.These analyses indicate that the high energy releasing efficiency and fast reaction propagation velocity of the reactive projectile are conducive to enhancing the damage effect.The experiments with various reactive projectiles impact velocity increasing from 702 to 1385 m/s were conducted to verify this model.The experimental results presented that,the damage hole radius of the rear-plate increases with the increase of impact velocity.At the impact velocity of 1350 m/s,the radius of damage hole formed by PTFE/Al/Bi_(2)O_(3),PTFE/Al/MoO_(3),PTFE/Al/Fe_(2)O_(3)projectile on the rear-plate become smaller in sequence.These results are consistent with the analytical model prediction,demonstrating that this model can predict the damage effect quantitatively.This work is of constructive significance to the application of reactive projectiles.

Gas-and plasma-driven hydrogen permeation behavior of stagnant eutectic-solid GaInSn/Fe double-layer structure

Gas-driven permeation(GDP)and plasma-driven permeation(PDP)of hydrogen gas through Ga In Sn/Fe are systematically investigated in this work.The permeation parameters of hydrogen through Ga In Sn/Fe,including diffusivity,Sieverts'constant,permeability,and surface recombination coefficient are obtained.The permeation flux of hydrogen through Ga In Sn/Fe shows great dependence on external conditions such as temperature,hydrogen pressure,and thickness of liquid Ga In Sn.Furthermore,the hydrogen permeation behavior through Ga In Sn/Fe is well consistent with the multilayer permeation theory.In PDP and GDP experiments,hydrogen through Ga In Sn/Fe satisfies the diffusion-limited regime.In addition,the permeation flux of PDP is greater than that of GDP.The increase of hydrogen plasma density hardly causes the hydrogen PDP flux to change within the test scope of this work,which is due to the dissolution saturation.These findings provide guidance for a comprehensive and systematic understanding of hydrogen isotope recycling,permeation,and retention in plasma-facing components under actual conditions.

Preparation and Microwave Absorbing Properties of Double-layer Fine Iron Tailings Cementitious Materials

To develop the microwave absorbing(MA)properties of cementitious material mixed with mine solid waste,the iron tailings cementitious microwave absorbing materials were prepared.The iron tailings was treated into different particle sizes by planetary ball mill,and the physicochemical properties of iron tailings were tested by laser particle size analyzer and scanning electron microscope(SEM).The electromagnetic parameters of iron tailings cementitious materials were characterized by a vector network analyzer and simulated MA properties,and the MA properties of iron tailings-cement composite system with steel fiber as absorber was studied.Based on the design of the single-layer structure,optimum mix ratio and thickness configuration method of double-layer structure were further studied,meanwhile,the mechanical properties and engineering application were analyzed and discussed.The results show that the particle size of iron tailings can afiect its electromagnetic behavior in cementitious materials,and the smaller particles lead the increase of demagnetisation efiect induced by domain wall motion and achieve better microwave absorbing properties in cementitious materials.When the thickness of matching layer and absorbing layer is 5 mm,the optimized microwave absorbing properties of C1/C3 double-layer cementitious material can obtain optimal RL value of-27.61 dB and efiective absorbing bandwidth of 0.97 GHz,which attributes to the synergistic efiect of impedance matching and attenuation characteristics.The double-layer microwave absorbing materials obtain excellent absorbing properties and show great design flexibility and diversity,which can be used as a suitable candidate for the preparation of favorable microwave absorbing cementitious materials.

Double-Layer-Optimizing Method of Hybrid Energy Storage Microgrid Based on Improved Grey Wolf Optimization

To reduce the comprehensive costs of the construction and operation of microgrids and to minimize the power fluctuations caused by randomness and intermittency in distributed generation,a double-layer optimizing configuration method of hybrid energy storage microgrid based on improved grey wolf optimization(IGWO)is proposed.Firstly,building a microgrid system containing a wind-solar power station and electric-hydrogen coupling hybrid energy storage system.Secondly,the minimum comprehensive cost of the construction and operation of the microgrid is taken as the outer objective function,and the minimum peak-to-valley of the microgrid’s daily output is taken as the inner objective function.By iterating through the outer and inner layers,the system improves operational stability while achieving economic configuration.Then,using the energy-self-smoothness of the microgrid as the evaluation index,a double-layer optimizing configuration method of the microgrid is constructed.Finally,to improve the disadvantages of grey wolf optimization(GWO),such as slow convergence in the later period and easy falling into local optima,by introducing the convergence factor nonlinear adjustment strategy and Cauchy mutation operator,an IGWO with excellent global performance is proposed.After testing with the typical test functions,the superiority of IGWO is verified.Next,using IGWO to solve the double-layer model.The case analysis shows that compared to GWO and particle swarm optimization(PSO),the IGWO reduced the comprehensive cost by 15.6%and 18.8%,respectively.Therefore,the proposed double-layer optimizationmethod of capacity configuration ofmicrogrid with wind-solar-hybrid energy storage based on IGWO could effectively improve the independence and stability of the microgrid and significantly reduce the comprehensive cost.

Evaluation of Different Substrates Compositions for Acclimatization of Tissue Culture Taro Plantlets in a Propagator

Taro is cultivated in most Regions of Cameroon and it is affected by taro leaf blight disease since 2010 which has decreased its production. Lack of disease-free planting materials has been a main problem to farmers. This study was carried out at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Yaounde and Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD) Bambui to assess different substrates for acclimatization of tissue culture taro plantlets in apropagator. No information is available on acclimatization of Cameroonian taro plantlets in different substrates. Taro plantlets from tissue culture were acclimatised in a propagator for six weeks under different substrates, the first substrate consisted of sterile three parts of soil and one part of river sand mixed together (3:1), the second substrate consisted of sterile two parts of soil and two parts of river sand mixed together (2:2), the third substrate consisted of sterile two parts of soil, one part of rice husk and one part of river sand mixed together (2:1:1) and the fourth substrate consisted of sterile one part of soil and three parts of river sand mixed together (1:3). After acclimatisation of the different taroplantlets (Dark green petiole with small leaves (L1), Red petiole with small leaves (L2), Light green petiole with large leaves (L3) and Light green petiole with small leaves (L4) in these four substrates, it was observed that the best growth rate of plant was recorded on substrate sand + soil (1:3). The other substrates showed moderate growth of plants. Substrate sand + soil (1:3) can be recommended for acclimatization of Cameroonian taro plantlets.

Structure of Cu-Phthalocyanine Vacuum Deposited on Inclined Glass Substrates

Cu-phthalocyanine is widely studied as a hole-transport layer in organic electronic devices. Since Cu-phthalocyanine is a molecular solid, the crystal structure depends on a circumstance to a great extent. Vacuum deposited layers were known to consist of two consecutive layers. In this article, Cu-phthalocyanine was deposited on the glass substrate inclined at several angles. The thickness of the first layer was found to be dependent on the substrate angle.

Performance of Two Food Substrates in the Mass Rearing of Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel (Diptera: Tephritidae)

The fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel is a major constraint to mango production in Burkina Faso. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of two types of food substrates in optimizing the mass rearing of B. dorsalis larvae. For this purpose, 200 eggs of B. dorsalis were divided into four batches of 50 eggs and incubated in Petri dishes containing the different food substrates (Diet 1 and Diet 2). This method was used to evaluate the rate and duration of egg hatching, as well as the development time of the different larval stages. In addition, 1200 pupae divided into four batches of 300 pupae, contained in PVC tubes, were placed inside the rearing cages to monitor the emergence of B. dorsalis. Ten pairs of B. dorsalis were placed in rearing cages and fed with Enzymatic Yeast Hydrolysate and sugar to evaluate the fecundity of female flies and the survival of both sexes. The developmental cycle length in Diet 1 and Diet 2 was 23.03 days and 23.24 days, respectively. Fecundity duration ranged from 57.75 ± 2.29 to 109.81 ± 3.81 days for females from Diet 1 and Diet 2, respectively. The pupal hatching rate varied significantly (P B. dorsalis, but the spawning index was 4 times higher with Diet 1. Most of the components of Diet 1 are available on the local market and are cheaper. Thus, we recommend the use of Diet 1 for B. dorsalis larvae mass rearing.

11.2 W/mm power density AlGaN/GaN high electron-mobility transistors on a GaN substrate

In this letter,high power density AlGaN/GaN high electron-mobility transistors(HEMTs)on a freestanding GaN substrate are reported.An asymmetricΓ-shaped 500-nm gate with a field plate of 650 nm is introduced to improve microwave power performance.The breakdown voltage(BV)is increased to more than 200 V for the fabricated device with gate-to-source and gate-to-drain distances of 1.08 and 2.92μm.A record continuous-wave power density of 11.2 W/mm@10 GHz is realized with a drain bias of 70 V.The maximum oscillation frequency(f_(max))and unity current gain cut-off frequency(f_(t))of the AlGaN/GaN HEMTs exceed 30 and 20 GHz,respectively.The results demonstrate the potential of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on freestanding GaN substrates for microwave power applications.

High-temperature annealing of(201)β-Ga_(2)O_(3) substrates for reducing structural defects after diamond sawing

A commercial epi-ready(201)β-Ga_(2)O_(3) wafer was investigated upon diamond sawing into pieces measuring 2.5×3 mm^(2).The defect structure and crystallinity in the cut samples has been studied by X-ray diffraction and a selective wet etching technique.The density of defects was estimated from the average value of etch pits calculated,including near-edge regions,and was obtained close to 109 cm^(-2).Blocks with lattice orientation deviated by angles of 1-3 arcmin,as well as non-stoichiometric fractions with a relative strain about(1.0-1.5)×10^(-4)in the[201]direction,were found.Crystal perfection was shown to decrease significantly towards the cutting lines of the samples.To reduce the number of structural defects and increase the crystal perfection of the samples via increasing defect motion mobility,the thermal annealing was employed.Polygonization and formation of a mosaic structure coupled with dislocation wall appearance upon 3 h of annealing at 1100℃ was observed.The fractions characterized by non-stoichiometry phases and the block deviation disappeared.The annealing for 11 h improved the homogeneity and perfection in the crystals.The average density of the etch pits dropped down significantly to 8×10^(6) cm^(-2).

Evolution of microstructure, stress and dislocation of AlN thick film on nanopatterned sapphire substrates by hydride vapor phase epitaxy

A crack-free AlN film with 4.5 μm thickness was grown on a 2-inch hole-type nano-patterned sapphire substrates(NPSSs) by hydride vapor phase epitaxy(HVPE). The coalescence, stress evolution, and dislocation annihilation mechanisms in the AlN layer have been investigated. The large voids located on the pattern region were caused by the undesirable parasitic crystallites grown on the sidewalls of the nano-pattern in the early growth stage. The coalescence of the c-plane AlN was hindered by these three-fold crystallites and the special triangle void appeared. The cross-sectional Raman line scan was used to characterize the change of stress with film thickness, which corresponds to the characteristics of different growth stages of AlN. Threading dislocations(TDs) mainly originate from the boundary between misaligned crystallites and the c-plane AlN and the coalescence of two adjacent c-plane AlN crystals, rather than the interface between sapphire and AlN.

Effects of Scarification and Substrates on Seed Germination Quality for Domestication of Stereospermum kunthianum(Bignoniaceae)

The demand for medicinal plants at the origin of phyto-drugs,like all ethnobotanical plants,threatens their existence today.The aim of this work was to determine suitable methods for optimizing the possibilities of regenerating Stereospermum kunthianum.To achieve this objective,3 levels of mechanical scarification(light scarification,medium scarification and deep scarification)were applied to the seeds of this species using a rough instrument,and 5 days after germination,the seedlings were transplanted into 5 types of substrate to study their effects on seedling growth.The length of the seedlings was measured using a graduated ruler.The results obtained showed that the best latency time was 2 days for average seed scarifications.The highest germination half-time was 4.00±0.06 days observed for average seed scarification,the highest germination speed was 22.50±1.00 and the highest germination rate was 100.00%±0.00%for average scarification.The homogeneous substrate mixes black earth/woodsilk and Fine sand/woodsilk were more effective for seedling growth(1.9 cm/day in the juvenile state)and development.Medium seed scarification is the most effective method for regenerating Stereospermum kunthianum,and the black earth/wood shavings substrate mix is the best for its cultivation.

A Pore-Forming Strategy Toward Porous Carbon-Based Substrates for High Performance Flexible Lithium Metal Full Batteries

Self-standing carbon-based substrates with satisfied structural stability and property adjustability have promising applications in flexible lithium(Li)metal batteries(FLMBs).Current strategies for modifying carbon materials are normally carried out on powder carbon,and very few of them are suitable for self-standing carbon substrates.Herein,a pore-forming strategy based on the redox chemistry of metallic oxide nanodots is developed to prepare two porous carbon substrates for anode and cathode.Starting with cotton cloth,the resulting hollow carbon fibers substrate with nanopores effectively prevents from Li dendrites formation and large volume change in lithium metal anode(LMA).Simulations indicate that the porous structure leads to homogeneous ion flux,Li-ion concentration,and electric field during Li deposition.Li symmetrical cell based on this substrate remains stable for 8300 h with an ultralow voltage hysteresis of 9 mV.Via a similar route,porous carbon cloth substrate is obtained for subsequently seeding V_(2)O_(5)nanowires to prepare the cathode.The assembled FLMBs pouch cell delivers a capacity of 8.2 mAh with a high capacity retention of~100%even under dramatic deformation.The demonstrated strategy has far-reaching potential in preparing free-standing porous carbon-based materials for flexible energy storage devices.

Influence of substrate effect on near-field radiative modulator based on biaxial hyperbolic materials

Relative rotation between the emitter and receiver could effectively modulate the near-field radiative heat transfer(NFRHT)in anisotropic media.Due to the strong in-plane anisotropy,natural hyperbolic materials can be used to construct near-field radiative modulators with excellent modulation effects.However,in practical applications,natural hyperbolic materials need to be deposited on the substrate,and the influence of substrate on modulation effect has not been studied yet.In this work,we investigate the influence of substrate effect on near-field radiative modulator based onα-MoO_(3).The results show that compared to the situation without a substrate,the presence of both lossless and lossy substrate will reduce the modulation contrast(MC)for different film thicknesses.When the real or imaginary component of the substrate permittivity increases,the mismatch of hyperbolic phonon polaritons(HPPs)weakens,resulting in a reduction in MC.By reducing the real and imaginary components of substrate permittivity,the MC can be significantly improved,reaching 4.64 forε_(s)=3 at t=10 nm.This work indicates that choosing a substrate with a smaller permittivity helps to achieve a better modulation effect,and provides guidance for the application of natural hyperbolic materials in the near-field radiative modulator.

Enhanced resonance frequency in Co2FeAl thin film with different thicknesses grown on flexible graphene substrate

The flexible materials exhibit more favorable properties than most rigid substrates in flexibility,weight saving,mechanical reliability,and excellent environmental toughness.Particularly,flexible graphene film with unique mechanical properties was extensively explored in high frequency devices.Herein,we report the characteristics of structure and magnetic properties at high frequency of Co2FeAl thin film with different thicknesses grown on flexible graphene substrate at room temperature.The exciting finding for the columnar structure of Co2FeAl thin film lays the foundation for excellent high frequency property of Co2FeAl/flexible graphene structure.In-plane magnetic anisotropy field varying with increasing thickness of Co2FeAl thin film can be obtained by measurement of ferromagnetic resonance,which can be ascribed to the enhancement of crystallinity and the increase of grain size.Meanwhile,the resonance frequency which can be achieved by the measurement of vector network analyzer with the microstrip method increases with increasing thickness of Co2FeAl thin film.Moreover,in our case with graphene film,the resonance magnetic field is quite stable though folded for twenty cycles,which demonstrates that good flexibility of graphene film and the stability of high frequency magnetic property of Co2FeAl thin film grown on flexible graphene substrate.These results are promising for the design of microwave devices and wireless communication equipment.

Recess-free enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN RF HEMTs on Si substrate

Enhancement-mode(E-mode)GaN-on-Si radio-frequency(RF)high-electron-mobility transistors(HEMTs)were fabri-cated on an ultrathin-barrier(UTB)AlGaN(<6 nm)/GaN heterostructure featuring a naturally depleted 2-D electron gas(2DEG)channel.The fabricated E-mode HEMTs exhibit a relatively high threshold voltage(VTH)of+1.1 V with good uniformity.A maxi-mum current/power gain cut-off frequency(fT/fMAX)of 31.3/99.6 GHz with a power added efficiency(PAE)of 52.47%and an out-put power density(Pout)of 1.0 W/mm at 3.5 GHz were achieved on the fabricated E-mode HEMTs with 1-μm gate and Au-free ohmic contact.

Split Addition of Nitrogen-Rich Substrate at Thermophilic and Mesophilic Stages of Composting: Effect on Green House Gases Emission and Quality of Compost

Composting as a solution to the increasing generation of municipal solid waste (MSW), also contribute to GHGs emission when not controlled and could lack some basic nutrients, especially nitrogen. This study assessed the split-additions of nitrogen-rich substrate to composting materials and their effect on GHGs emissions as well as the quality of the composts. Nitrogen-rich substrates formulated from pig and goat manure were co-composted with MSW for a 12-weeks period by split adding at mesophilic (˚C) and thermophilic (>50˚C) stages in five different treatments. Representative samples from the compost were taken from each treatment for physicochemical, heavy metals and bacteriological analysis. In-situ CH4, CO2, N2O gas emissions were also analyzed weekly during composting. It was observed that all the treatments showed significant organic matter decomposition, reaching thermophilic temperatures in the first week of composting. The absence affects the suitable agronomic properties. All nitrogen-rich substrate applied at thermophilic stage (Treatment two) recorded the highest N, P and K concentrations of 1.34%, 0.97% and 2.45%, respectively with highest nitrogen retention. In terms of GHG emissions, CO2 was highest at the thermophilic stage when N-rich substrate was added in all treatment, while CH4 was highest in the mesophilic stage with N-rich substrate addition. N2O showed no specific trend in the treatments. Split addition of the N-rich substrate for co-composting of MSW produced compost which is stable, has less nutrient loss and low GHG emissions. Split addition of a nitrogen-rich substrate could be an option for increasing the fertilizer value of MSW compost.