Boron‐ and nitrogen‐doped penta‐graphene as a promising material for hydrogen storage: A computational study

We fulfill a comprehensive study based on density functional theory (DFT) computations to cast insight into the dissociation mechanism of hydrogen molecule on pristine, B‐, and N‐doped penta‐graphene. The doping effect has been also illustrated by varying the concentration of dopant from 4.2 at% (one doping atom in 24 host atoms) to 8.3 at% (two doping atoms in 24 host atoms) and by contemplating different doping sites. Our theoretical investigation shows that the adsorption energy of H₂ molecule and H atom on the substrate can be substantially enhanced by incorporating boron or nitrogen into penta‐graphene sheet. The B‐ and N‐doped penta‐graphene can effectively decompose H₂ molecule into two H atoms. Our results demonstrate that activation energies for H₂ dissociation and H diffusion on the B‐ and N‐doped penta‐graphene are much smaller than the pristine penta‐graphene. Further investigation of increasing concentration dopants of the penta‐graphene sheet gives sufficiently low activation barrier for H₂ dissociation process. This investigation reveals that the boron and nitrogen dopants can act as effective active site for H₂ dissociation and storage.     

Linear discharge model,power losses and overall efficiency of the solid oxide fuel cell with thin film samarium doped ceria electrolyte. Part II: Power losses and overall efficiency

Samarium doped ceria (SDC) shows obvious electronic conduction in a reducing atmosphere, which results in internal short-circuiting of the SOFC. In this work, we initiatively combine the Gorelov modified electromotive force (EMF) method and the Liu modified EMF method to determine the internal electronic resistance of the SOFC with 60 μm SDC film electrolyte. The internal electronic resistance determined with the Gorelov modified EMF method is a little larger than that determined with the Liu modified EMF method. The power loss of the SOFC is mainly resulted from the internal short-circuiting, oxygen ionic resistance and electrode polarization resistance. At low external current density, the internal short-circuiting power loss is predominant, while at high current density the oxygen ionic resistance power loss is predominant. Temperature has little effect on the maximum efficiency of the SOFC. When the SOFC works at the maximum power output, the efficiency of the cell is about 30%, but if the electronic conduction of the SDC electrolyte could be eliminated, the efficiency could be improved by 2.5 times.     

Rare earth (RE) doped phosphors and their emerging applications: A review

The evolution of luminescent materials has witnessed rapid advancement in research and development. Solid inorganic light-emitting materials or phosphors are the optoelectronic material of the 21st century because of their power-efficient potential over various illumination sources, eco-friendliness and resourceful display perspectives. The inorganic phosphors have been extensively explored to meet the demand of low voltage stimulated lighting sources owing to increased global energy consumption. Due to environmental friendliness, advantages long lifetime, lower energy consumption, reliability and high luminous efficiency, modern white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) have replaced less effective incandescent and mercury-enclosing conventional fluorescent lighting sources. This review highlights the developments in preparation, luminescence and potential perceptions of rare-earth activated phosphors for solid-state lighting technologies. The role of RE ions as an activator as well as a sensitizer in doped materials and possible transitions within their energy levels are reviewed in detail. The paper reviews the substantial influence of host lattices such as aluminate, oxide, phosphate, silicate, sulfide, etc on the optical transitions of doped RE ions. Studies on the advancement into the design of novel phosphors are very crucial as they will provide an opportunity to boom prospects in the course of promising applications. The sustainable energy facilities include clean technologies providing a cheaper lighting source which can produce significant indirect economic benefits via limiting the deforestation and use of scrubbing technology to mitigate air pollution.     

Fabrication of Nd-doped Ni–Zn ferrite/multi-walled carbon nanotubes composites with effective microwave absorption properties

The electromagnetic materials are featured by good magnetic permeability and dielectric constant characteristics, which are of significant importance in solving the pollution problem of electromagnetic. In this study, after the complete of the use of sol-gel method, argon gas was then introduced for calcination, and eventually a new type of MWCNTs/Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Nd_0.04Fe_1.96O₄ composites was synthesized after the above mentioned procedures. The synthesized MWCNTs were able to be adsorbed on the surface of Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Nd_0.04Fe_1.96O₄ and could form a good conductive work of 3D. Also, the effect of additional MWCNTs on microwave absorption properties of MWCNTs/Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Nd_0.04Fe_1.96O₄ composites were also observed in this study. The results indicate that the additional MWCNTs function to significantly improve the microwave absorption property of MWCNTs/Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Nd_0.04Fe_1.96O₄. Through altering the amount of MWCNTs, the microwave attenuation performance and impedance matching coefficient of this electromagnetic materials can be effectively improved. The S2 sample presented a minimum reflection loss of ?35.05 dB when its thickness reached 1.6 mm, meanwhile, the effective absorption bandwidth achieved 4.55 GHz. The prepared composites perform well in microwave absorption, which can attribute to the reasonable ratio of composites as well as its interaction with both of the magnetic and dielectric components. This research paved the way for novel ideas to be put in the electromagnetic absorption materials with high-efficient.     

Luminescence at 2.8 μm: Er3+-doped chalcogenide micro-waveguide

This paper reports the fabrication of luminescent optical rib/ridge waveguides made of erbium doped Ga-Ge-Sb-S films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. Several fluorescence emissions of Er³⁺ ions from the visible to the middle infrared spectral domain were clearly observed within the films. The study of the ⁴I_13/2 level lifetime enabled development of a suitable annealing treatment of the films to reach the value of the bulk counterpart while the variation in surface roughness was limited, thus ensuring reasonable optical losses (0.7–0.9 dB/cm). Amplification experiments were carried out at 1.54 μm leading to complete characterization of the erbium-doped micro-waveguide with ∼3.4 dB/cm on/off gain. A demonstration of mid-IR photoluminescence from Er³⁺-doped chalcogenide micro-waveguide was recorded at ∼2.76 μm. The multi-luminescence from the visible to mid-IR generated using erbium doped chalcogenide waveguiding micro-structures might find easy-to-use applications concerning telecommunication technologies or on-chip optical sensors for which luminescent sources or amplifiers operating at different wavelengths are required.     

Imidazole polymerized ionic liquid as a precursor for an iron-nitrogen-doped carbon electrocatalyst used in the oxygen reduction reaction

A class of non-precious metal and highly efficient catalysts (Fe–N(PIL)/C) for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR)were prepared by a two-step reaction involving polymerization and one-pot high-temperature pyrolysis reaction. The characteristics of Fe–N(PIL)/C electrocatalyst samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Additionally, the electrocatalytic properties were tested by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Under alkaline conditions, the Fe–N(PIL)/C catalyst exhibited a 2D-mesoporous structure with prominent catalytic activity. The E_on and E_1/2 reached 1.08 V and 0.93 V (vs. a reversible hydrogen electrode), respectively. The catalyst showed excellent ORR catalytic performance and stability and is superior to a 20 wt% Pt/C catalyst. This could be attributed to its mesoporous structure and the high content of Fe–N activity sites that enable it to carry out a nearly 4e⁻ reaction pathway for the ORR.     

Preparations and tailoring of structural,magnetic properties of rare earths (REs) doped nanoferrites for microwave high frequency applications

Rare earths (Res) doped Mn spinel nanoferrites with nominal composition MnR_0.2Fe_1·8O₄ (REs = Tb, Pr, Ce, Y and Gd) were synthesized using sol gel method. FTIR, XRD and FESEM were employed to evaluate the structure, phase, vibrational bands, morphology, grain size and microstructure respectively. VSM was employed to investigate the magnetic features of the Mn nanoferrite and REs doped Mn nanoferrites. XRD confirmed the single-phase cubic structure of Mn nanoferrite whereas tetragonal phase was observed for all REs doped Mn nanoferrites. Unit cell software was used to determine the structural features such as lattice parameter, cell volume, ‘da’, ‘db’, ‘dc’ and ‘dv’ respectively. FTIR results demonstrated the absorption peaks of Mn and REs doped Mn ferrite at 647-674 cm⁻¹. FESEM results depicted the irregular shapes of the particles with large agglomerations in the prepared samples. The grain size evaluated by LIM (line intercept method) found in the range of 94 to 213 nm respectively. Saturation magnetization was increased from 1.332 to 38.097 emu/g whereas remanence was increased from 1.096 to 25.379 emu/g respectively. In addition, other magnetic parameters such as initial permeability, magnetic anisotropy and magnetic moments were also increased. Moreover, Y–K angles showed significant response with REs doping in Mn ferrites. Furthermore, high frequency response and switching field distribution (SFD) of Mn ferrite and REs doped Mn ferrites were also determined. It is found that Y doped Mn ferrite depicted better high frequency and SFD response as compared to Mn ferrite and REs doped Mn ferrites. The coercivity of all these pure Mn ferrite and rare earth's substituted Mn ferrites (425–246 Oe) was higher as compared to the pure Mn and yttrium substituted Mn ferrite (107–217 Oe. Therefore, it was suggested that Y doped Mn ferrite was more suitable candidate for switching, and high frequency absorption applications in microwave regime.     

Mixed precipitants derived nanocrystalline powders and RE doped LuAG transparent ceramics

Lu₃Al₅O₁₂ (LuAG) nanocrystalline powders were synthesized by using ammonium hydroxide (NH₄OH, AH) and ammonium hydrogen carbonate (NH₄HCO₃, AHC) as mixed precipitant. In the absence of sintering aids such as TEOS, MgO or ZrO₂, the obtained LuAG powders showed good sinterability in H₂ atmosphere (PLSH) at low temperature. The in-line transmittance of LuAG ceramic reached 81% in the whole visible light band from 400 nm to 800 nm. The average grain size of obtained transparent ceramics was ranged in 1–6 μm at different sintering temperatures by PLSH. Various kinds of rare earth ions, such as Nd, Yb, Ce, Pr, and Tm doped RE:LuAG transparent ceramics could be prepared by PLSH technology without sintering aids and HIP post-treatment. Through PLSH technology, RE:LuAG transparent ceramics show high optical quality and large aperture size.