Ion beam induced evolution of surface morphology and optical properties of SnO2–ZnO nanocomposite thin films

SnO₂–ZnO nanocomposite thin films, prepared by a simple carbothermal reduction based vapor deposition method, were irradiated with 8 MeV Si³⁺ ions for engineering the morphological and optical properties. The surface morphology of the nanocomposites was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM), while the optical properties were investigated by photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and Raman spectroscopy. AFM studies on the irradiated samples revealed growth of nanoparticles at lower fluence and a significant change in surface morphology leading to the formation of nanosheets and their aggregates at higher fluences. A tentative mechanism underlying the observed ion induced evolution of surface morphology of SnO₂–ZnO nanocomposite is proposed. PL studies revealed strong enhancement in the UV emissions from the nanocomposite thin film at lower fluence, while a drastic decrease in the UV emissions along with a significant enhancement in the defect emissions has been observed at higher fluences.     

Solid acid-catalyzed conversion of furfuryl alcohol to alkyl tetrahydrofurfuryl ether

The acidic zeolite HZSM-5 (Si/Al = 25) achieved 58.9% selectivity of methyl furfuryl ether (MFE) and 44.8% selectivity of ethyl furfuryl ether (EFE) from etherification of furfuryl alcohol with methanol and ethanol. MFE and EFE were quantitatively hydrogenated into methyl tetrahydrofurfuryl ether (MTE) and ethyl tetrahydrofurfuryl ether (ETE) using a Raney Ni catalyst.     

EPMDA: an efficient privacy-preserving multi-dimensional data aggregation scheme for edge computing-based IoT system

In order to perform multi-dimensional data aggregation operations efficiently in edge computing-based Internet of things (IoT) systems, a new efficient privacy-preserving multi-dimensional data aggregation (EPMDA) scheme is proposed in this paper. EPMDA scheme is characterized by employing the homomorphic Paillier encryption and SM9 signature algorithm. To improve the computation efficiency of the Paillier encryption operation, EPMDA scheme generates a pre-computed modular exponentiation table of each dimensional data,and the Paillier encryption operation can be implemented by using only several modular multiplications. For the multi-dimensional data, the scheme concatenates zeros between two adjacent dimensional data to avoid data overflow in the sum operation of ciphertexts. To enhance security, EPMDA scheme sets random number at the high address of the exponent. Moreover, the scheme utilizes SM9 signature scheme to guarantee device authentication and data integrity. The performance evaluation and comparison show that EPMDA scheme is more efficient than the existing multi-dimensional data aggregation schemes.     

不同流固耦合方法进行轮胎滑水性能仿真研究的对比分析

对比不同流固耦合方法对轮胎滑水性能进行仿真分析的结果。在Workbench平台中分别采用单向、双向流固耦合方法，对轮胎滑水模型在相同工况下的胎面动水压力分布和轮胎变形进行计算，并将两种方法仿真预测的临界滑水速度与经验公式计算值进行比对。结果表明，相对于单向流固耦合方法，双向流固耦合方法计算的相同时刻的动水压力峰值和轮胎变形量峰值较低，压力分布更均匀，临界滑水速度精确度较高，表明双向流固耦合方法更适用于轮胎滑水性能仿真研究。     

Enhanced propene/ethene selectivity for methanol conversion over pure silica zeolite: Role of hydrogen-bonded silanol groups

Pure silica zeolite with MEL structure (Si-ZSM-11) was firstly reported as an efficient Methanol-to-Propene (MTP) catalyst in methanol conversion, with higher propene yield (14.0 wt.%) and propene/ethene ratio (5.9) than H-ZSM-11 zeolite with a Si/Al ratio of 26 (7.4 wt.% and 1.9, respectively). Hydrogen-bonded silanol groups in Si-ZSM-11 are weakly acidic and act as active sites in methanol conversion, predominantly promoting propene production and inhibiting side reactions.     

Enhanced properties for visible-light-driven photocatalysis of Ag nanoparticle modified Bi2MoO6 nanoplates

The visible light driven Bi₂MoO₆ photocatalyst doped with different contents of Ag nanoparticles was successfully synthesized by a combination of hydrothermal and sonochemical methods. The as-synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) and UV–visible spectroscopy to investigate crystalline structure, morphology, composition and photocatalytic properties. XRD patterns and TEM images of the samples revealed pure phase orthorhombic Bi₂MoO₆ nanoplates without any detection of Ag dopant due to its low concentration and very tiny particle size. TEM images showed that Ag nanoparticles with the size of 10–15 nm were dispersed randomly on the surface of Bi₂MoO₆. The XPS analysis of Ag/Bi₂MoO₆ nanocomposites revealed the presence of additional metallic Ag. Photocatalytic activities of the Ag/Bi₂MoO₆ nanocomposites were evaluated by determining the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light radiation. In this research, the 10 wt% Ag/Bi₂MoO₆ nanocomposites showed the best photocatalytic activity. The results suggest that the dispersion of Ag nanoparticles on the surface of Bi₂MoO₆ significantly enhances its photocatalytic activity.     

A new perspective of co-doping and Nd segregation effect on proton stability and transportation in Y and Nd co-doped BaCeO3

Bulk and surface properties of proton stability and transportation in Y and Nd co-doped BaCeO₃ (BCYN), especially the effect of Nd segregation, were investigated by first-principles calculations. Since the structure of doped BaCeO₃ at the operating temperature of proton-conducting has been unclear for a long time, we have summarized the latest experimental results and calculated the structure of the asymmetric BCYN for the first time. The results show that compared with Y, Nd doping promotes oxygen vacancy formation, however reduces proton stability. Our calculation can also provide a possible explanation for the formation of space charge layer at the grain boundary of doped BaCeO₃ in experiment. Unlike the stable Y in BCYN, Nd is calculated to be easily segregated, which can facilitate both proton hydration and proton transportation near the surface. Moreover, Nd segregation at the grain boundary is predicted to be beneficial for proton transportation between grains.     

Enhanced photocatalytic activity of nonstoichiometric crystalline TaO2F and Ta2O5 with carbon coating

Pure and carbon-coated tantalum-based oxides photocatalysts were synthesized via the mesocrystalline precursor transformation method by annealing pure and polydopamine-coated (NH₄)₂Ta₂O₃F₆ mesocrystals in Ar. The oxygen-poor atmosphere thermal annealing process assisted the formation of nonstoichiometric TaO₂F mesocrystals with more F and Ta₂O₅ nanorods with oxygen vacancies and the associated lower valence state Ta ions (Ta⁴⁺). Furthermore, the carbon coating, decomposed from coated polydopamine, helped to control their particle size within 100 nm by isolating the connection of (NH₄)₂Ta₂O₃F₆ subunits. Hence, as-synthesized products, particularly carbon-coated Ta₂O₅ nanosheets, owning large surface area (67.6 m² g^?1), fine particle size (<100 nm), excellent electronic conductivity, decreased bandgap energy, enhanced and extended absorption in the visible range, exhibited preferable photocatalytic activity in the photodegradation of methylene blue, reaching a 76.54 % and 41.71 % removal under ultraviolet and visible light illumination, suggesting a promising candidate for wide-range responsive photocatalytic applications.