Mild polarization electric field in ultra-thin BN-Fe-graphene sandwich structure for efficient nitrogen reduction

The electrocatalytic N_(2)reduction reaction(NRR)is expected to supersede the traditional Haber-Bosch technology for NH3 production under ambient conditions.The activity and selectivity of electrochemical NRR are restricted to a strong polarized electric field induced by the catalyst,correct electron transfer direction,and electron tunneling distance between bare electrode and active sites.By coupling the chemical vapor deposition method with the poly(methyl methacylate)-transfer method,an ultrathin sandwich catalyst,i.e.,Fe atoms(polarized electric field layer)sandwiched between ultrathin(within electron tunneling distance)BN(catalyst layer)and graphene film(conducting layer),is fabricated for electrocatalytic NRR.The sandwich catalyst not only controls the transfer of electrons to the BN surface in the correct direction under applied voltage but also suppresses hydrogen evolution reaction by constructing a neutral polarization electric field without metal exposure.The sandwich electrocatalyst NRR system achieve NH3 yield of 8.9μg h^(−1)cm^(−2)and Faradaic Efficiency of 21.7%.The N_(2)adsorption,activation,and polarization electric field changes of three sandwich catalysts(BN-Fe-G,BN-Fe-BN,and G-Fe-G)during the electrocatalytic NRR are investigated by experiments and density functional theory simulations.Driven by applied voltage,the neutral polarized electric field induced by BN-Fe-G leads to the high activity of electrocatalytic NRR.

Self-screening of the polarized electric field in wurtzite gallium nitride along[0001]direction

The strong polarization effect of GaN-based materials is widely used in high-performance devices such as white-lightemitting diodes(white LEDs),high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs),and GaN polarization superjunctions.However,the current researches on the polarization mechanism of GaN-based materials are not sufficient.In this paper,we studied the influence of polarization on electric field and energy band characteristics of Ga-face GaN bulk materials by using a combination of theoretical analysis and semiconductor technology computer-aided design(TCAD) simulation.The selfscreening effect in Ga-face bulk GaN under ideal and non-ideal conditions is studied respectively.We believe that the formation of high-density two-dimensional electron gas(2 DEG) in GaN is the accumulation of screening charges.We also clarify the source and accumulation of the screening charges caused by the GaN self-screening effect in this paper and aim to guide the design and optimization of high-performance GaN-based devices.

Influence of the channel electric field distribution on the polarization Coulomb field scattering in In_(0.18) Al_(0.82) N/AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors

By making use of the quasi-two-dimensional （quasi-2D） model, the current-voltage （l-V） characteristics of In0AsA10.82N/A1N/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors （HFETs） with different gate lengths are simulated based on the measured capacitance-voltage （C-V） characteristics and I-V characteristics. By analyzing the variation of the electron mobility for the two-dimensional electron gas （2DEG） with electric field, it is found that the different polarization charge distributions generated by the different channel electric field distributions can result in different polarization Coulomb field scatterings. The difference between the electron mobilities primarily caused by the polarization Coulomb field scatterings can reach up to 1522.9 cm2/V.s for the prepared In0.38AI0.82N/A1N/GaN HFETs. In addition, when the 2DEG sheet density is modulated by the drain-source bias, the electron mobility presents a peak with the variation of the 2DEG sheet density, the gate length is smaller, and the 2DEG sheet density corresponding to the peak point is higher.

Review of ionospheric irregularities and ionospheric electrodynamic coupling in the middle latitude region

This paper briefly reviews ionospheric irregularities that occur in the E and F regions at mid-latitudes. Sporadic E(ES) is a common ionospheric irregularity phenomenon that is first noticed in the E layer. ES mainly appears during daytime in summer hemispheres, and is formed primarily from neutral wind shear in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere(MLT) region. Field-aligned irregularity(FAI) in the E region is also observed by Very High Frequency(VHF) radar in mid-latitude regions. FAI frequently occurs after sunset in summer hemispheres, and spectrum features of E region FAI echoes suggest that type-2 irregularity is dominant in the nighttime ionosphere. A close relationship between ES and E region FAI implies that ES may be a possible source of E region FAI in the nighttime ionosphere. Strong neutral wind shear, steep ES plasma density gradient, and a polarized electric field are the significant factors affecting the formation of E region FAI. At mid-latitudes, joint observational experiments including ionosonde, VHF radar, Global Positioning System(GPS) stations, and all-sky optical images have revealed strong connections across different scales of ionospheric irregularities in the nighttime F region, such as spread F(SF), medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances(MSTID), and F region FAI.Observations suggest that different scales of ionospheric irregularities are generally attributed to the Perkins instability and subsequently excited gradient drift instability. Nighttime MSTID can further evolve into small-scale structures through a nonlinear cascade process when a steep plasma density gradient exists at the bottom of the F region. In addition, the effect of ionospheric electrodynamic coupling processes, including ionospheric E-F coupling and inter-hemispheric coupling on the generation of ionospheric irregularities, becomes more prominent due to the significant dip angle and equipotentiality of magnetic field lines in the mid-latitude ionosphere. Polarized electric fields can map to different ionospheric regions and excite plasma instabilities which form ionospheric irregularities. Nevertheless,the mapping efficiency of a polarized electric field depends on the ionospheric background and spatial scale of the field.

Enhanced Fenton-like process over Cu/L(+)-ascorbic acid co-doping mesoporous silica for toxicity reduction of emerging contaminants

Effective removal of emerging contaminants(ECs)to minimize their impacts on human health and the natural environment is a global priority.For the removal of ECs in water,we fabricated a seaweed spherical microsphere catalyst with Cu cation-πstructures by in situ doping of Cu species and ascorbic acid in mesoporous silica(Cu-C-MSNs)via a hydrothermal method.The results indicate that bisphenol A(BPA)is substantially degraded within 5 min under natural conditions,with its biological toxicity considerably weakened.Moreover,industrial wastewater could also be effectively purified by Cu-C-MSNs/H_(2)O_(2) system.The presence of metal sites and the complexation of ECs via cation-πinteraction andπ-πstacking on the catalyst surface were directly responsible for the polarization distribution of electrons,thus activating H_(2)O_(2) and dissolved oxygen(DO).The removal of contaminants could be attributed primarily to 1)the activation of H_(2)O_(2) into ^(·)OH to attack the contaminants and 2)self-cleavage because of the transfer of electrons from the contaminants to the catalysts.This study provides an innovative solution for the effective treatment of ECs and has positive implications for easing global environmental crises.

Large electrocaloric effect in BaTiO_3 based multilayer ceramic capacitors

The electrocaloric effect(ECE) of multilayer ceramic capacitor(MLCC) of Y5 V type was directly measured via a differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) method and a reference resistor was used to calibrate the heat flow due to the heat dissipation. The results are compared with those calculated from Maxwell relations by using the polarization data obtained from the polarization–electric field hysteresis loops. The direct method shows a larger ECE temperature change, which is accounted for the situation approaches an ideal condition. For the indirect method using Maxwell relations, only the polarization projection along the electric field was taken into account, which will be less than the randomly distributed real polarizations that contribute to the ECE. The MLCCs exhibit a broad peak of ECE around 80 C, which will be favorite for the practical ECE cooling devices.