Re-Printable Chiral Photonic Paper with Invisible Patterns and Tunable Wettability

The construction of invisible patterns via high-resolution printing and the independent encoding/decoding of complex information can lead to promising applications in steganography and watermarking for optical encryption. Herein, a rewritable chiral photonic paper formed by cholesteric cellulose nanocrystals and polycation is reported. The chemically crosslinked polycation network interpenetrates in the cholesteric structure while retaining the optical properties of the photonic crystals. The film exhibits controllable wettability via anion exchange, leading to extremely low contrast in the dry state but high contrast by a rapid wetting response. Triple invisible information is independently encoded on the films, including invisible patterns caused by reversible counterion-controlled wettability, permanent fluorescent labels based on fluorescent counterions, and polarization-dependent structural colors based on cholesteric structures. Full color patterns can be reversibly constructed via inkjet printing, with a high resolution of 100 µm. In addition, the circular polarization characteristics of the cellulose nanocrystals, liquid crystals, endow the system with complex and independent responses, realizing a wetting/polarization double-key decryption. This work provides a simple and effective optical technique for coding complex information on a single material platform and expands the techniques available to achieve invisible patterns for sensing and anti-counterfeiting.     

ZnFe2O4@ZnFe2S4 core-shell nanosheet on Ni foam as efficient and novel electrocatalyst for oxygen generation

Due to the augmentation of societies and the need for more energy, attention to clean and renewable energy has increased. One of these alternative energies was the use of water splitting. Since the oxidation reaction of water suffers from a delayed reaction, it is important to use efficient and low-cost electrocatalysts in the process. In this work we report the synthesis of ZnFe₂O₄@ZnFe₂S₄ by the hydrothermal method. Here, we successfully synthesize the ZnFe₂O₄@ZnFe₂S₄ core-shell nanosheet on Ni Foam via a novel and facile process for oxygen evolution reactions (OER). The metal-based electrode made of ZnFe₂O₄@ZnFe₂S₄ is efficient for the electrochemical reaction of water oxidation due to its electrical strength and high catalytic activity. The catalyst is calcined at 400 °C and characterized by XRD, FESEM, TEM, EDS, MAP and RAMAN techniques. The electrolysis of water using ZnFe₂O₄@ZnFe₂S₄/NF a current density of 5 mA cm^?2 can be achieved by cell voltage of 1.45 V (vs. RHE) volts in a solution of 1 M KOH. The catalyst synthesized to reach 5 mA cm^?2 in oxygen evolution reaction only has 222 mV overpotentials.     

Effect of Sm on the cyclic stability of La–Y–Ni-based alloys and their comparison with RE–Mg–Ni-based hydrogen storage alloy

The LaY₂Ni_9.7Mn_0.5Al_0.3 and LaSm_0.3Y_1.7Ni_9.7Mn_0.5Al_0.3 alloys have been synthesized to investigate the effect of Sm partial substitution for Y on the cyclic stability of A₂B₇-type La–Y–Ni-based alloys. Their cyclic properties were also compared with the A₂B₇-type (RE_0.85Mg_0.15)₂(NiAl)₇ (RE = Rare Earth) alloys. The gas-solid and electrochemical cycle lives were tested. The structural stability, pulverization, and oxidation/corrosion performances were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electrochemical methods. The partial substitution of Sm for Y improves anti-corrosion and anti-pulverization performances, thereby increasing the cycle life of A₂B₇-type La–Y–Ni-based hydrogen storage alloys. The A₂B₇-type RE–Y–Ni-based alloys exhibit better crystal structure stability, but the gas-solid and electrochemical cyclic stability is worse than A₂B₇-type (RE_0.85Mg_0.15)₂(NiAl)₇ alloys due to easier pulverization of particles and the oxidation of Y elements.     

Enhanced performance of Ni catalysts supported on ZrO2 nanosheets for CO2 methanation: Effects of support morphology and chelating ligands

A series of Ni/ZrO₂ catalysts was prepared by the impregnation method with modification of the morphology of ZrO₂ support as well as the impregnation procedure and tested for CO₂ methanation. The catalysts supported on the ZrO₂ nanosheets displayed superior catalytic performance as compared with that on ZrO₂ nanoparticles, which could be mainly attributed to the abundant oxygen vacancies promoting the adsorption and dissociation of CO₂ molecules as well as the high dispersion of Ni species. With the introduction of ethylenediamine (En) in the impregnation procedure, the resulting Ni-15En/ZrO₂-1.5 catalyst showed the optimal activity with CO₂ conversion of 86% significantly higher than Ni/ZrO₂-0 of 44% and Ni/ZrO₂-1.5 of 79% at 0.5 MPa and 300 °C. The excellent performance was attributed to increased moderately basic sites for CO₂ adsorption in ZrO₂ nanosheets, as well as the enhanced dispersion of nickel caused by the complexation of Ni ions with En, which inhibited the aggregation of nickel particles in the subsequent thermal treatments. In conclusion, the synergistic effects of the morphology of ZrO₂ nanosheets as well as the chelating behavior of En contributed to the enhanced performance of Ni-15En/ZrO₂-1.5 in the CO₂ methanation reaction. The strategy shows good prospects for controlling the size of active metals, especially those that were dispersed on the surface of the two-dimensional (2D) metal oxide materials.     

Density functional theory study on dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane on Ni–Pt(111)

Methylcyclohexane is a very promising liquid organic hydrogen carrier, but its dehydrogenation mechanism on Pt-based bimetallic catalysts is not yet clear. In order to understand the catalytic dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane on Ni–Pt(111), DFT calculations were performed and the calculation results were compared with the corresponding values on Pt(111). It is shown that because the electronegativity of Ni atoms is less than that of Pt atoms, electrons transfer from Ni atoms to Pt atoms. Compared with Pt(111), the binding energy (the absolute value of the adsorption energy) of related species on Ni–Pt(111) surface was smaller, indicating that the binding strength between these species and the surface metal atoms on Ni–Pt(111) is weaker. In the stable adsorption configurations on Ni–Pt(111), almost all the metal atoms forming chemical bonds with the adsorbates were Pt atoms, indicating that Pt was the main active component. Although the actual catalytic reaction is more complicated, this study provided some insights into one of the important aspects.     

Effect of synthesis temperature on catalytic activity and coke resistance of Ni/bio-char during CO2 reforming of tar

Understanding how the synthesis parameters affect nickel particle distribution is critical to the synthesis of Ni/bio-char with excellent catalytic performance. In this work, the influence of synthesis temperature on catalytic activity and coke resistance of Ni/bio-char during CO₂ reforming of tar was explored. With the increase of synthesis temperature from 200 °C to 250 °C, the dispersion of nickel precursor into bio-char was promoted, resulting in an increase in crystallite size of metallic nickel particle from 51.98 nm to 62.45 nm. Besides, parts of the metallic nickel particles were oxidized to nickel oxides, providing more lattice oxygen to oxidize the coke deposited on the catalyst. However, further increasing the synthesis temperature to 300 °C would aggravate the oxidation of active nickel particles. The increase in crystallite size of nickel oxide particle from 23.25 nm to 43.38 nm could block the pore structure and hinder the access of reactants, resulting in a drop in the tar conversion rate from 40-51% to 13–27%.     

Preparation and catalytic activity of thin-film cobalt–tungsten–boron for the hydrolysis of ammonia borane

In this work, cobalt–tungsten–boron nanoparticles (Co–W–B) have been successfully deposited on foam Ni to manufacture thin-film catalysts by electroless plating technique and applied in hydrogen generation from ammonia borane (NH₃BH₃) hydrolysis. Physicochemical properties of Co–W–B nanoparticles are characterized by XRD (Powder X–ray diffraction), SEM (Scanning electron microscopy), and EDS (Energy dispersive X–ray spectroscopy). It is observed that Co–W–B showed irregular spherical structure on the surface of foam Ni substrate. An increase of depositional pH value in the preparation process leads to the change of particle size. When the pH value is equal to 11.5, as-synthesized Co–W–B exhibits the smaller particle size, which suggests that depositional pH value has directly impacted the nucleation and growth of catalysis particles. The optimized Co–W–B catalyst displays higher catalytic activity toward NH₃BH₃ hydrolysis with a specific rate of hydrogen generation of 12933.3 mL min^?1·g^?1 at room temperature. Moreover, the lower apparent activation energy of 47.3 kJ mol^?1 is achieved. Compared with previously reported catalysts, the as-obtained catalytic performance is situated at the better rank. Moreover, the reusability has been investigated under the mild NH₃BH₃ hydrolysis conditions. It reveals that as-fabricated thin-film Co–W–B maintains excellent durability after five cycles. A possible mechanism for the released hydrogen from NH₃BH₃ hydrolysis using Co–W–B catalyst has been proposed.     

Glycine-assisted preparation of highly dispersed Ni/SiO2 catalyst for low-temperature dry reforming of methane

Ni-based catalysts have been widely studied in reforming methane with carbon dioxide. However, Ni-based catalysts tends to form carbon deposition at low temperatures (≤600 °C), compared with high temperatures. In this paper, a series of Ni/SiO₂-XG catalysts were prepared by the glycine-assisted incipient wetness impregnation method, in which X means the molar ratio of glycine to nitrate. XRD, H₂-TPR, TEM and XPS results confirmed that the addition of glycine can increase Ni dispersion and enhance the metal-support interaction. When X ≥ 0.3, these catalysts have strong metal-support interaction and small Ni particle size. The Ni/SiO₂-0.7G catalyst has the best catalytic performance in dry reforming of methane (DRM) test at 600 °C, and its CH₄ conversion is 3.7 times that of Ni/SiO₂-0G catalyst. After 20 h reaction under high GHSV (6 × 10⁵ ml/g_cat/h), the carbon deposition of Ni/SiO₂-0.7G catalyst is obviously lower than that of Ni/SiO₂-0G catalyst. Glycine-assisted impregnation method can enhance the metal-support interaction and decrease the metal particle size，which is a method to prepare highly dispersed and stable Ni-based catalyst.     

高效光催化分解水产氢Ni2P/Cd0.5Zn0.5S复合材料的共催化效应

采用沉淀-水热法和低温热磷化法分别制备了Cd0.5Zn0.5S纳米颗粒和Ni2P纳米片，利用超声空化效应合成了价格低廉、分散良好、高效的非贵金属磷化物助催化的Ni2P/Cd0.5Zn0.5S复合材料。通过XRD、SEM、UV-vis、PL以及电化学测试等手段进行了表征测试。以Na2S-Na2SO3为牺牲剂，在可见光(λ ≥ 420 nm)照射下对样品的光催化分解水产氢性能进行评价。结果表明，Ni2P显著提高了Cd0.5Zn0.5S的光催化产氢活性。当Ni2P含量为10 wt%时，复合材料的光催化产氢速率达到19133 μmol?g-1?h-1，为Cd0.5Zn0.5S产氢速率(7865 μmol?g-1?h-1)的2.4倍，且七次光催化循环实验后的产氢速率仍为初始值的91%。这可以归因于复合材料在具有更好的光吸收性能和较低的禁带宽度的同时，Ni2P为Cd0.5Zn0.5S提供的活性中心和界面效应有效地促进了光生载流子的有效分离和快速迁移。     

Ni-hydrotalcite loading on carbon as co-catalyst for fermentative hydrogen production

The influence of Ni-hydrotalcite (HT) loading on the activity and stability of Ni-HT supported on activated carbon (Ni-HT/AC) was investigated for fermentative hydrogen production. The basic sites of Ni-HT loading on AC support significantly boosted the catalytic performance with the initial faster rate. The combined function catalyst of Ni-HT/AC facilitates the rapid decomposition of saccharides and high selectivity to fructose that attained the maximum hydrogen production within 24 h. The optimum dose of Ni-HT/AC at 8.33 g/L showed a 25.84% increment over the control. In addition, shortening the lagging phase time at 1.50 h was achieved. The high adsorption capacity of lactic acid was induced with the basic sites of Ni-HT/AC. However, a deactivation of the Ni-HT/AC during prolonged fermentation was associated with metabolites formation, causing the leaching of Mg²⁺ ions from the surface of AC supported Ni-HT and reducing surface basicity of Ni-HT/AC.