Antibacterial and photocatalytic behaviour of green synthesis of Zn0.95Ag0.05O nanoparticles using herbal medicine extract

The present work aimed to synthesize Zn_0.95Ag_0.05O (ZnAgO) nanoparticles using rosemary leaf extracts as a green chemistry method. The characterization of Ag-doped ZnO nanoparticles was performed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry (UV–visible). The XRD, FTIR, and UV–visible spectra confirmed the formation of the presence of hexagonal ZnAgO nanoparticles. FESEM micrograph shows that the nanoparticles have been distributed homogeneously and uniformly. The morphology of ZnAgO nanoparticles is quasi-spherical configuration. Also, the mean particle size is in the range of 22–40 nm. The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue in the presence of Ag-doped ZnO nanoparticles is nearly 98.5% after exposing 100 min. The ultraviolet lamp was used as the light source for photocatalyst degradation. The disc diffusion method was chosen to study the antibacterial activity of as-synthesized ZnAgO nanoparticles. Antibacterial activity of Zn_0.95Ag_0.05O nanoparticles against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli revealed that the as-synthesized ZnAgO nanoparticles were efficient in inhibition of bacterial growth.     

Mixed-dimensional niobium disulfide-graphene foam heterostructures as an efficient catalyst for hydrogen production

Besides developing a large number of catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline electrolytes, its conversion efficiency remained low. Herein, we have developed mixed-dimensional heterostructures of niobium disulfide (NbS₂) with graphene foam grown on nickel foam (NbS₂-Gr-NF). The strong lateral fusion results in activating the catalytic sites of NbS₂, the three-dimensional substrate provides easy access of electrolyte to active sites and increased electrochemically active surface area, while enhanced conductivity provides faster transfer of electrons to and from active sites. Therefore, NbS₂-Gr-NF heterostructures resulted in an exceptionally high current density of 500 mA cm⁻² at a very low overpotential of 306 mV in 1 M KOH solution and even can achieve the current density values of 914 mAcm⁻² at 338 mV only at a slight increase in overpotential (32 mV). Moreover, a Tafel value of ~72 mV dec⁻¹ confirms that as-developed heterostructure provides fast reaction kinetics where the reaction is mainly controlled by the Volmer step. Achieving such high current density at a faster rate with high stability makes NbS₂-Gr-NF heterostructures a potential candidate for water-splitting, especially in alkaline electrolytes.     

晶界扩散Dy–Al–Ga对钕铁硼磁体的磁性能和微观组织的影响

通过晶界扩散Dy₇₀Al₁₀Ga₂₀合金研究了烧结Nd-Fe-B磁体的磁性能和热稳定性能.用NIM-500C高温永磁测量仪和MLA650扫描电镜测出了磁体在扩散前后的磁性能和微观组织的变化.结果表明，在Dy₇₀Al₁₀Ga₂₀合金扩散热处理后，磁体矫顽力从原始的1 080.968 kA/m显著提升到1 671.600 kA/m，提升幅度约为55 %，而剩磁下降很少. Dy、Al、Ga元素在晶界处扩散，很好地隔绝了磁交换作用，提升矫顽力. SEM图显示在扩散Dy₇₀Al₁₀Ga₂₀合金后，可以很明显地看到晶粒外延层有一层灰色的壳层包覆着主相晶粒，很好地起到了隔离晶粒的磁交换作用. XRD显示主相的峰普遍往右偏移，这归因于重稀土元素Dy进入晶粒外延层形成（Nd, Dy）₂Fe₁₄B核壳结构. Dy的原子半径比Nd小，导致峰往右移.      

Effects of Sn doping on the manufacturing,performance and carbon deposition of Ni/ScSZ cells in solid oxide fuel cells

This work demonstrates the effect of tin (Sn) doping on the manufacturing, electrochemical performance, and carbon deposition in dry biogas-fuelled solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Sn doping via blending in technique alters the rheology of tape casting slurry and increases the Ni/ScSZ anode porosity. In contrast to the undoped Ni/ScSZ cells, where open-circuit voltage (OCV) drops in biogas, Sn–Ni/ScSZ SOFC OCV increases by 3%. The maximum power densities in biogas are 0.116, 0.211, 0.263, and 0.314 W/cm² for undoped Ni/ScSZ, undoped Ni/ScSZ with 3 wt% pore former, Sn–Ni/ScSZ and Sn–NiScSZ with 1 wt% pore former, respectively. Sn–Ni/ScSZ reduces the effect of the drop in the maximum power densities by 26%–36% with the fuel switch. A 1.28–2.24-fold higher amount of carbon is detected on the Sn–Ni/ScSZ samples despite the better electrochemical performance, which may reflect an enhanced methane decomposition reaction.     

Challenges towards large-scale fuel cell production: Results of an expert assessment study

Fuel cell electric vehicles are a promising alternative on the way to emission-free mobility. However, there is still a great deal of uncertainty as to how this change can be implemented technologically. Despite various research and development activities on fuel cells in the past two decades, a real breakthrough of fuel cell technology has not yet been reached. The aim of this paper is therefore to identify barriers to a commercialized production of PEM fuel cell stacks. For this purpose, a comprehensive expert study is performed, consisting of a qualitative, exploratory and a quantitative, hypothesis-confirming step. As a result, technical and non-technical barriers are examined and described in this paper. A cost estimation of today's actual manufacturing cost is presented as identified in the study. Conclusively, future research topics and needs for action are derived.     

Content and diffusion of water and gases in MgAl2O4 spinel crystals synthesized to produce ceramics

Content, evolution and diffusion characteristics of water and gases in fine-crystalline spinel MgAl₂O₄ were studied by kinetic thermodesoption mass spectrometry. Water is the main volatile component by quantity in the spinel structure. From the spinel crystals with an average size of 0.52 μm, water is released in vacuum in three temperature ranges: at 100–200 °C due to desorption from micropores, at 300–600 °C due to near-surface dehydroxylation and at 500–800 °C due to diffusion of water from the crystal bulk. The content of structural water, diffusively released from the crystals, is about 3000 ppm. The coefficients and activation energy of diffusion of water from spinel crystals in the range 500–700 °C were calculated. This allows us to estimate at any temperature the degassing time of the spinel with a certain degree of dispersion and ceramics made of it, and thereby promote the production of high-quality ceramics.     

Heat capacities and standard entropies and enthalpies of some compounds essential for steelmaking and refractory design approximated by Debye-Einstein integrals

Heat capacity data for compounds located in the binary CaO–SiO₂, CaO–Al₂O₃ and MgO–Al₂O₃ systems are fitted by Debye-Einstein integrals. Starting from the fitted heat capacities, the standard values of the thermodynamic functions of these compounds are calculated. In almost all cases investigated, the derived standard entropies are within the uncertainties of the values provided in literature. The Debye-Einstein coefficients obtained in this thermodynamic assessment can be used to approximate the heat capacities, enthalpies and entropies of these compounds in the temperature range from 0 to 298.15 K.     

Cold sintering assisted CaF2 microwave dielectric ceramics for C-band antenna applications

A cold sintering process is adopted to pre-densify CaF₂ ceramics from 85.7% at 300 MPa to 91.7% at 750 MPa. Subsequent post-annealings at 1000–1150 °C lead to further improvements in densification, where great enhancements of grain size and crystallinity are also observed from the scanning and transmission electron micrographs. Significant advances in Qf values are achieved in the post-annealed CaF₂ ceramics. The optimum Qf value (80,522 GHz) is achieved after cold sintering at 750 MPa and post-annealing at 1000 °C, which is three times higher than the conventional sintered one at 1000 °C (26,448 GHz). Moreover, the obtained low-ε_r (5.9–6.5) of CaF₂ ceramics suggests broad application prospects in the high-band microwave communications. A microstrip patch antenna is fabricated using the CaF₂ ceramics as the substrate, which operates at 7.89 GHz in the C-band, with an S₁₁ of ?13.4 dB, simulated high gain and efficiency of 6.41 dBi and ?0.56 dB, respectively.