IrRuOx/TiO2 a stable electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction in acidic media

Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolysis of Water (PEMWE) stands out as a scalable, CO₂-free process to produce H₂ for energy delivery and industrial applications. Due to the limited Ir and Ru worldwide availability, one of the main challenges for the GW-scale PEMWE implementation is the loading reduction of these metals in the anodic catalytic layer. Here, Ir–Ru loading (5 wt%Ir-40 wt%Ru) was deposited through their impregnation over TiO₂, followed by a thermal-oxidative treatment, obtaining IrRuO_x/TiO₂ catalyst. SEM-EDS and HR-TEM confirmed the homogeneous dispersion of IrRuO_x on TiO₂. The supported catalyst showed a 1.4-fold higher mass activity (85 mA/mg Ir–Ru) for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) than a mechanical mixture of IrO₂–RuO₂ 1:3 (54 mA/mg_Ir+Ru) in H₂SO₄ 0.5 M, at 1.52 V/RHE. Furthermore, the supported catalyst retains 90% of its catalytic activity after 100 reaction cycles suggesting the RuO₂ intermediate species stabilization by IrO_x, which can avoid its irreversibly transform into hydrous RuO_x.     

Artificial microcracking of granites subjected to salt crystallization aging test

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - Salt crystallization-induced decay of Vardavard granodiorite and Shirkouh monzogranite, two Iranian building stones, were assessed with two...     

Mezcal: indigenous Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains and their potential as starter cultures

Food Science and Biotechnology - In this study, 19 indigenous mezcal Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains were screened for their tolerance to grow under different stress conditions and their potential...     

Partial removal of protein associated with arabinoxylans: Impact on the viscoelasticity,crosslinking content,and microstructure of the gels formed

Arabinoxylans (AX) treated with protease and dialyzed (AXP) or only dialyzed (AXD) formed gels showing an increase in the elastic modulus G′ (1291 and 1419 Pa, respectively) and the ferulic acid dimers (3.34 and 3.10 μg/mg polysaccharide, respectively) and trimers (0.51 and 0.53 μg/mg polysaccharide, respectively) in comparison to AX gels (767 Pa, 0.56 and 0.12 μg/mg polysaccharide, respectively). Nevertheless, the G′ values and crosslinking contents were not different among the AXP and AXD gels, suggesting that the amount of protein removed (54%) does not affect these parameters. Confocal laser scanning microscopy analysis showed that AXP treatment promotes the homogeneity of the gels. In addition, scanning electron microscopy observations indicated that AXD and particularly AXP gels had a more compact microstructure. Thus, the partial removal of protein associated with AX does not impact the viscoelasticity and crosslinking content of the gels formed but could improve their microstructural characteristics. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47300.     

Effect of ICT integration on SC flexibility,agility and company’ performance: the Mexican maquiladora experience

Wireless Networks - This article reports a structural equation model (SEM) with four latent variables to measure the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICT)...     

On argument acceptability change towards legal interpretation dynamics

Artificial Intelligence and Law - We propose a formal theory built upon an abstract argumentation framework for handling argumentation dynamics. To that end, we analyze the acceptability dynamics...