NiFe layered double hydroxide as an efficient bifunctional catalyst for electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide and oxygen

Two electron oxygen reduction reaction to produce hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is a promising alternative technique to the multistep and high energy consumption anthraquinone process. Herein, Ni–Fe layered double hydroxide (NiFe-LDH) has been firstly demonstrated as an efficient bifunctional catalyst to prepare H₂O₂ by electrochemical oxygen reduction (2e^? ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Significantly, the NiFe-LDH catalyst possesses a high faraday efficiency of 88.75% for H₂O₂ preparation in alkaline media. Moreover, the NiFe-LDH catalyst exhibits excellent OER electrocatalytic property with small overpotential of 210 mV at 10 mA cm^?2 and high stability in 1 M KOH solution. On this basis, a new reactor has been designed to electrolyze oxygen and generate hydrogen peroxide. Under the ultra-low cell voltage of 1 V, the H₂O₂ yield reaches to 47.62 mmol g_cat^?1 h^?1. In order to evaluate the application potential of the bifunctional NiFe-LDH catalyst for H₂O₂ preparation, a 1.5 V dry battery has been used as the power supply, and the output of H₂O₂ reaches to 83.90 mmol g_cat^?1 h^?1. The excellent electrocatalytic properties of 2e^? ORR and OER make NiFe-LDH a promising bifunctional electrocatalyst for future commercialization. Moreover, the well-designed 2e^? ORR-OER reactor provides a new strategy for portable production of H₂O₂.     

铝空气电池用6061和7075铝合金阳极电化学性能

研究了工业6061铝合金（6061）、航空7075铝合金（7075）和纯铝作为铝空气电池阳极材料的电化学性能，分析其作为阳极的可行性及适用环境。进行了阻抗、极化曲线和恒电流放电实验并进行了表面表征，计算了在40～120mA/cm²电流密度下连续恒流放电的阳极能量密度。用电子探针显微镜（EPMA）对电极表面形貌进行了研究，用波谱分析仪（WDS）进行表面分析。研究结果表明，合金元素在电池放电过程中会改变阳极的表面特性。6061中合金元素含量对电池阳极材料的性能产生了积极影响，使得合金的表面放电面积变大，放电均匀，更适合作为铝空气电池阳极材料。     

甲烷干重整及金属-载体相互作用

CO2和CH4均是温室气体的重要成员并且数量可观，其资源化利用对于应对气候变化和能源危机具有重要意义。甲烷干重整是经典转化方式之一，将CO2 “供氧”还原反应和CH4 “需氧”氧化反应结合起来并相互转化，其产物合成气(H2和CO)可用于费 托合成碳氢化合物液态燃料。近年来，干重整已经成为能源环境领域热点之一，在重整新工艺和催化剂设计策略方面取得了重要进展，推动了高活性和高稳定性催化剂和新工艺研发。详细综述了甲烷干重整工艺和催化剂的研究成果，重点介绍了干重整工艺新发展和催化剂功能设计，结合Ni载体相互作用、双金属协同效应、界面效应、单原子催化等新策略对干重整工艺中的基础科学问题进行了探讨，并对干重整技术现有难点和未来发展方向进行了展望。     

Electrolytic synthesis of TiC/SiC nanocomposites from high titanium slag in molten salt

The molten salt electrolytic method for the preparation of titanium carbide and silicon carbide composites has been subjected to a systematic investigation by experimental analyses and thermodynamic calculations. It has been confirmed that the electrolysis of high titanium slag in the presence of mixed graphite powders generates intermediates CaTiO₃, Ti₂O₃, TiO, Fe₃Si and objective carbonous products TiC/SiC. It has been furthermore found that the deoxidization process depends critically on a number of process parameters, namely, electrolyte composition, graphitic regime, reaction temperature, cell voltage and reaction time. After careful optimization of these parameters, TiC/SiC nanocomposites with particle sizes of 10–174 nm has been produced by electrolysis of high titanium slag and graphite mixtures in molar ratio of 1:2 referred to Ti:C under 3.2 V at 900 °C for 6 h in 1 mol%CaO-CaCl₂-NaCl molten salt and with particle sizes of 12 nm~207 nm in 1 mol%CaO-CaCl₂ electrolyte.     

The effect of the exposed crystal plane on the antioxidant activity of nanoceria

Previous reports have noted that exposed crystal planes could affect the antioxidant activity of nanocerias, although the synthesized nanocerias used in those studies had different exposed crystal planes, as well as different sizes and morphologies. In order to better understand the effect of the crystal planes on the antioxidant activity of the materials, two types of nanocerias with similar morphology and size distribution but different crystal planes were synthesized using the hydrothermal method (CeO₂–H) and the ultrasonic template method (CeO₂–U). The antioxidant activities of the nanocerias were further explored within different ·OH concentrations in the reaction system. The experimental results showed that there is an obvious difference in the antioxidant activity of the two types of nanocerias in the lower free radical concentration system due to the effects of exposed crystal planes. CeO₂–U, with more active crystal planes (100), had stronger antioxidant activity. However, with the increase in the ·OH concentration in the reaction system, the difference in the antioxidant activity of the two nanocerias decreased. This research will increase our understanding of the antioxidant activity of the exposed crystal planes on nanocerias.     

Use of oxidation roasting to control NiO reduction in Ni-bearing limonitic laterite

Use of limonitic laterite as an iron source in conventional ironmaking is restricted due to its gangue composition and small particle size. Even direct reduction cannot effectively produce direct reduced iron (DRI) because NiO would be reduced together with iron oxide to form Fe–Ni. A small amount of Ni (about 2 wt.%) in DRI degrades the physical properties of final steel products. The current study investigated how oxidation roasting of limonitic laterite ores affected NiO reduction, with the goal of producing Ni-free DRI and Ni-bearing slag. Ni-bearing slag can be a good secondary Ni resource. Oxidation roasting made NiO inert under H₂ reduction at 900 °C by forming Ni-olivine. Optimum roasting temperature was proposed by examining phase transformation of limonitic laterite ores during heating and by FactSage calculation of the equilibrium Ni fraction in Ni-bearing phases. Furthermore, the effect of Mg–silicate forming additives on the control of NiO reducibility was clarified to maximize the suppression of NiO reduction. Among various additives such as MgSiO₃, Mg₂SiO₄ and Fe–Ni smelting slag, Ni-free olivine-typed flux was found to be the most effective form of Ni-olivine because Ni–Mg ion exchange between Ni-bearing phase and Ni-free olivine occurs more readily than other Ni-olivine formation schemes. Finally, the mechanism of Ni-olivine formation during roasting was studied using a diffusion couple test. Calculated diffusivity values of Ni in Mg₂SiO₄ indicated that the two major routes of Ni-olivine formation while roasting limonitic laterite ore are (1) Ni partitioning within Mg–Ni silicate before crystallization and (2) Ni diffusion from spinel to Ni free olivine after crystallization.     

Theoretical analysis and experimental verification of thermal decomposition mechanism of CuSe

Experiments on the thermal decomposition of CuSe were carried out by using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) at different heating rates. The kinetic parameters and mechanisms were discussed based on model-free and model-based analyses. The decomposition rate and decomposition behavior of CuSe were investigated by using a vacuum thermogravimetric furnace. The results showed that the R3 model was identified as the most probable mechanism function under the present experimental conditions. The average values of activation energy and the pre-exponential factor were 12.344 J/mol and 0.152 s^-1, respectively. The actual decomposition rate of CuSe was found to be 0.0030 g/(cm²·min).     

熔盐电解CuO/SiO2制备铜硅合金

以质量比为1∶1的CuO、SiO2混合氧化物为反应原料,熔融的CaCl2-NaCl为电解液,在槽电压2.8 V、电解温度700℃下,电解5 h制备得到Cu3Si/Si复合物。热力学计算结果表明,在700℃下,CuO优先被电解还原生成单质Cu,SiO2在SiO2/CaCl2-NaCl电解质/Cu三相反应界面进行电解还原,生成的单质Si与Cu自发进行合金化反应,生成Cu3Si。新生成的Cu3Si合金作为新的导电集流体,推进SiO2的电解反应。电解产物Cu3Si/Si的微观形貌为粒径在0.1~1.9μm之间的多孔颗粒堆积,Si颗粒覆盖在Cu3Si合金颗粒表面。     

Highly dispersed MnO nanoparticles supported on N-doped rGO as an efficient oxygen reduction electrocatalyst via high-temperature pyrolysis

Transition metal-based compounds, due to their excellent ORR catalytic performance under alkaline condition, have recently emerged as one of the most promising alternatives to noble metal-based ORR catalysts. It is worth noting that manganese oxide can take an unique advantage for decomposition of intermediate adsorption products H₂O₂ and can effectively reduce O₂ to OH⁻. However, most research has focused on MnO₂, while attention has rarely been paid to MnO catalysts. In addition, under high-temperature pyrolysis condition, MnO is the most stable manganese oxide but MnO nanoparticles easily agglomerate. Hence, it is very difficult to obtain well-dispersed and small-sized MnO nanoparticles. Herein, on the basis of pre-synthesizing uniformly distributed manganese complexes on the reduced graphene oxide (rGO), we innovatively prepare highly dispersed and small-sized MnO nanoparticles (~3.94 nm) via high-temperature pyrolysis, which are uniformly anchored on N-doped reduced graphene oxide (NrGO) as an efficient oxygen reduction electrocatalyst. The as-obtained MnO/NrGO (1050 °C) electrocatalyst achieves satisfactory onset potential (0.942 V) and half-wave potential (0.820 V) under alkaline condition. And the limiting current density is 4.17 mA cm⁻², which is very close to that of Pt/C (20 wt%, JM). Meanwhile, MnO/NrGO (1050 °C) catalyst presents superior longstanding durability and methanol resistance than Pt/C (JM). This work indicates that high-temperature pyrolysis can improve the purity of manganese oxide, simultaneously the defects of NrGO can reduce particle size of MnO nanoparticles, which are greatly beneficial to improve ORR performance. This work provides a new idea for research of MnO catalysts for ORR in the future.