Solar Driven 15.7% Hydrogen Conversion by Harmony of Light Harvesting,Electron Transporting Bridge,and S-Defection in a Self-Assembled Microscale CuS/rGO/CP Photoanode

CuS is an encouraging photoelectrode candidate that meets the essential requirements for efficient solar-to-hydrogen production,but it has not been thoroughly studied.A CuS light absorber layer is grown by the self-assembly of copper and sulfur precursors on a carbon paper(CP)electrode.Simultaneously,rGO is introduced as a buffer layer to control the optical and electrical properties of the absorber.The well-ordered microstructural arrangement suppresses the recombination loss of electrons and holes owing to enhanced charge-carrier generation,separation,and transport.The potential reaching 10 mA cm^(-2)in 1.0 M KOH solution is significantly lowered to 0.87 V,and the photocurrent density at 1.23 V is 94.7 mA cm^(-2).The computational result reveals that the potential-determining step is sensitive to O^(*)stability;the lower stability of O^(*)in the thin layer of CuS/rGO decreases the free-energy gap between the initial and final states of the potential-determining step,resulting in a lowering of the onset potential.The faradaic efficiency for the photoelectrochemical oxygen evolution reaction in the optimized 2CuS/1rGO/CP photoanode is 98.60%,and the applied bias photon-to-current and the solar-to-hydrogen efficiencies are 11.2%and 15.7%,respectively,and its ultra-high performance is maintained for 250 h.These record-breaking achievement indices may be a trigger for establishing a green hydrogen economy.

Hardening effect and precipitation evolution of an isothermal aged Mg-Sm based alloy

The age-hardening behavior and precipitation evolution of an isothermal aged Mg-5Sm-0.6Zn-0.5Zr(wt.%) alloy have been systematically investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and atomic-resolution high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy(HAADF-STEM). The Vickers hardness of the present alloy increases first and then decreases with ageing time. The sample aged at 200 ℃ for 10 h exhibits a peak-hardness of 90.5 HV. In addition to the dominant β_(0)’ precipitate(orthorhombic,a = 0.642 nm, b = 3.336 nm and c = 0.521 nm) formed on {11-20}α planes, a certain number of γ’’ precipitate(hexagonal, a = 0.556 nm and c = 0.431 nm) formed on basal planes are also observed in the peak-aged alloy. Significantly, the basal γ’’ precipitate is more thermostable than prismatic β_(0)’ precipitate in the present alloy. β_(0)’ precipitates gradually coarsened and were even likely to transform into β_(1) phase(face centered cubic, a = 0.73 nm) with the increase of ageing time, which accordingly led to a gradual decrease in number density of precipitates and finally resulted in the decreased hardness and mechanical property in the over-aged alloys.

Surface manipulation of a triple-conducting cathode for protonic ceramic fuel cells to enhance oxygen reduction activity and CO_(2) tolerance

One of the main obstacles limiting the performance of protonic ceramic fuel cells(PCFCs) is the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) at reduced temperatures.Here,the surface manipulation of a triple-conducting cathode BaCe_(0.5)Pr_(0.3)Y_(0.2)O_(3-δ)(BCPY) by an efficient catalyst coating PrNi_(0.5)Co_(0.5)O_(3-δ)(PNC) to enhance the ORR activity and CO_(2) tolerance is reported.The developed PNC-coated BCPY cathode achieves the polarization resistance of 0.25 and 1.00 Ω cm^(2) at 600 and 500 ℃,respectively,approximately 1/5 of that for the pristine BCPY cathode(0.99 and 4.79 Ω cm^(2)),while maintaining an excellent CO_(2) tolerance.The single cell on a BaZr_(0.8)Yb_(0.2)O_(3-δ) electrolyte also exhibits a high peak power density of 0.79 W cm^(-2)at 700 ℃ and a stable operation for 200 h at 600 ℃.Such high ORR activity is mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of BCPY support and PNC nanoparticles.Namely,BCPY provides a tripleconducting path(mainly protons),and PNC nanoparticles facilitates surface oxygen exchange and steam adsorption/desorption processes due to the enriched surface oxygen vacancies.This study will provide a new design strategy for developing high-performance PCFCs cathode.

SELECTIVE NEURITE OUTGROWTH ON SILVER NEGATIVE ION (Ag^- )-IMPLANTED POLYSTYRENE SURFACES

The negative ion implantation technique was applied to modify polymer surfaces of culture dishes for neuronal cells, PC12h. The silver negative ion (Ag-)-implantation was carried out at an ion energy of 20 keV and a dose of 3 × 1015 ions/cm2 with non-treated polystyrene (NTPS), tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS), and collagen-coated TCPS-Iwaki (CCPS). Ag--implanted surfaces of Ag/NTPS, Ag/TCPS, and Ag/CCPS were studied with respect to contact angle and/or chemical composition. The numerical values of contact angles on Ag/NTPS and Ag/TCPS were similar within experimental error, indicating the resemblance in their hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity. The PC12h cells, however, were attached only to the Ag--implanted region of NTPS, but not to the non-implanted NTPS region. Moreover, the neurite outgrowth was also observed to extend specifically along the Ag--implanted region of NTPS but not on the non-implanted NTPS region, although neurites extended towards all directions on collagen-coated TCPS as a control surface. There was no remarkable difference in neurite outgrowth among Ag--implanted regions of TCPS and CCPS. Thus Ag/NTPS region was affirmed to promote highly selective attachment, growth, and differentiation of PC12h cells, although its mechanism is still unknown.