Preprogramming Floating Time of Liquid Marble

Non-sticking droplets wrapped with fine hydrophobic particles, namely liquid marbles, can be transported both on solid and water pool without an undesired spill of the inner encapsulated liquid. While the stimuli-responsive release of the inner liquid in the target area is proposed, the time-programmed release is not yet achieved. Herein, the hydrophobicity of nanoclay is modulated via a catalyst-free 1,4-conjugate addition reaction to form liquid marbles. This nanoclay liquid marble is robust and stable in air but collapses on the liquid pool with a specific lifetime. The lifetime of the liquid marble can be modulated over seconds to hours scale depending on the selection of chemically modulated wettability of the nanoclay. The critical mechanism of lifetime modulation is responsible for controlling the coalescence kinetics between the water pool and inner liquid by nanoclays’ high diffusion length and chemically varied water spreading potential. The NC liquid marble's programmable lifetime to ‘time-bomb’ type drug release and cascade chemical reaction is applied—without requiring any external intervention.     

5G-ZOOM-Game: small cell zooming using weighted majority cooperative game for energy efficient 5G mobile network

Wireless Networks - The rapid escalation of user traffic and service innovation has made the deployment of small cell base stations essential for eventually decreasing energy consumption in future...     

Fluorene‐Based Asymmetric Bipolar Universal Hosts for White Organic Light Emitting Devices

Two new bipolar host molecules composed of hole‐transporting carbazole and electron‐transporting cyano ( CzFCN ) or oxadiazole ( CzFOxa )‐substituted fluorenes are synthesized and characterized. The non‐conjugated connections, via an sp³‐hybridized carbon, effectively block the electronic interactions between electron‐donating and ‐accepting moieties, giving CzFCN and CzFOxa bipolar charge transport features with balanced mobilities (10^?5 to 10^?6 cm² V^?1 s^?1). The meta–meta configuration of the fluorene‐based acceptors allows the bipolar hosts to retain relatively high triplet energies [E_T = 2.70 eV ( CzFOxa ) and 2. 86 eV ( CzFCN )], which are sufficiently high for hosting blue phosphor. Using a common device structure – ITO/PEDOT:PSS/DTAF/TCTA/host:10% dopants (from blue to red)/DPPS/LiF/Al – highly efficient electrophosphorescent devices are successfully achieved. CzFCN ‐based devices demonstrate better performance characteristics, with maximum η_ext of 15.1%, 17.9%, 17.4%, 18%, and 20% for blue (FIrpic), green [(PPy)₂Ir(acac)], yellowish‐green [m‐(Tpm)₂Ir(acac)], yellow [(Bt)₂Ir(acac)], and red [Os(bpftz)₂(PPhMe₂)₂, OS1], respectively. In addition, combining yellowish‐green m‐(Tpm)₂Ir(acac) with a blue emitter (FIrpic) and a red emitter (OS1) within a single emitting layer hosted by bipolar CzFCN , three‐color electrophosphorescent WOLEDs with high efficiencies (17.3%, 33.4 cd A^?1, 30 lm W ^?1), high color stability, and high color‐rendering index (CRI) of 89.7 can also be realized.     

Iron-Doped,Mullite-Impregnated PVDF Composite: An Alternative Separator for a High Charge Storage Ceramic Capacitor

In this communication, the formation mechanism of the electroactive β phase, morphology and the dielectric activities of increasing doping concentration (0–1.2 M.W % of mullite) of Fe²⁺ ion-doped, mullite-impregnated polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanocomposite have been investigated. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) confirms the formation of an electroactive β phase, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showed that the β phase increases simultaneously and attains the maximum increment of 2.6 times compared to pristine PVDF. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra also agreed well with the β-phase increment behaviour and also confirmed the presence of required mullite phases. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images indicate the strong interaction between the polymer matrix and different concentrations of Fe²⁺ ion-doped mullite particles, resulting in enhanced electroactive β phase formation and large dielectric constant of the nanocomposite films followed by significant low dielectric loss with high ac conductivity compared to pristine PVDF films at room temperature. This doped polymer composite can be used as a high dielectric separator and, using this separator, we have successfully fabricated a high-charge-storage device. This paper also demonstrates that the loading of conductive Fe²⁺ ions within the highly insulating mullite matrix has a critical concentration for the enhancement and nucleation of the electroactive β phase of the PVDF polymer. In this critical concentration, the highest formation of a β network and maximum numbers of homogeneously distributed iron-doped mullite (FeM) particles in PVDF matrix improves the effective interfacial polarization by Maxwell–Wagner–Sillar (MWS) polarization effect which is responsible for the enhancement of dielectric constant and ac conductivity followed by significant tangent loss. So, it can be concluded that the incorporation of Fe²⁺-doped mullite into PVDF matrix is an effective way to fabricate a high dielectric separator of high-charge-storage electronic devices.     

Catalyst development for thermocatalytic decomposition of methane to hydrogen

The paper presents the results of the investigation into the development of a robust catalyst for hydrogen production by thermocatalytic decomposition (TCD) of methane. In this paper, we present the results of the development and utilization of an iron-based catalyst for TCD. The effect of catalyst preparation methodology on the activity and robustness of the catalysts is reported. The catalyst was synthesized from magnetite by reduction in the presence of a reducing gas (methane or hydrogen) using a fixed-bed flow reactor at atmospheric pressures and temperatures ranging from 800 to 900 °C. Reduction under methane was found to synthesize a catalyst with the desired properties and smallest preparation time (2 h). The main advantages of these catalysts identified were: their ability to completely decompose methane (as compared to a maximum of 81% by other catalysts) and to maintain high reactivity for a long period of time (more than 75 h). The catalyst was characterized by SEM, TEM, BET, XRD and particle size analysis. TPR was employed to evaluate the activity of the catalysts, to investigate the various mechanisms of methane decomposition reaction for the catalysts and estimate the kinetic parameters by topochemical model postulated by Avrami–Erofeyev. The estimated kinetic parameters from the analysis of this data are presented. Carbon nanofibers were formed as a co-product of the methane decomposition reactions.     

Plasmon‐Induced Hot Carrier Separation across Dual Interface in Gold–Nickel Phosphide Heterojunction for Photocatalytic Water Splitting

Precise control of the topology of metal nanocrystals and appropriate modulation of the metal–semiconductor heterostructure is an important way to understand the relationship between structure and material properties for plasmon‐induced solar‐to‐chemical energy conversion. Here, a bottom‐up wet chemical approach to synthesize Au/Ni₂P heterostructures via Pt‐catalyzed quasi‐epitaxial overgrowth of Ni on Au nanorods (NR) is presented. The structural motif of the Ni₂P is controlled using the aspect ratio of the Au NR and the effective micelle concentration of the C₁₆TAB capping agent. Highly ordered Au/Pt/Ni₂P nanostructures are employed as the photoelectrocatalytic anode system for water splitting. Electrochemical and ultrafast absorption spectroscopy characterization indicates that the structural motif of the Ni₂P (controlled by the outer‐shell deposition of Ni) helps to manipulate hot electron transfer during surface plasmon decay. With optimized Ni₂P thickness, Pt‐tipped Au NR with an aspect ratio of 5.2 exhibits a geometric current density of 10 mA cm^?2 with an overpotential of 140 mV. The photoanode displays unprecedented long‐term stability with continuous chronoamperometric performance of 50 h at an input potential of 1.5 V with over 30 days. This work provides definitive guidance for designing plasmonic–catalytic nanomaterials for enhanced solar‐to‐chemical energy conversion.     

Transition‐Metal Dichalcogenide NiTe2: An Ambient‐Stable Material for Catalysis and Nanoelectronics

By means of theory and experiments, the application capability of nickel ditelluride (NiTe₂) transition‐metal dichalcogenide in catalysis and nanoelectronics is assessed. The Te surface termination forms a TeO₂ skin in an oxygen environment. In ambient atmosphere, passivation is achieved in less than 30 min with the TeO₂ skin having a thickness of about 7 Å. NiTe₂ shows outstanding tolerance to CO exposure and stability in water environment, with subsequent good performance in both hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions. NiTe₂‐based devices consistently demonstrate superb ambient stability over a timescale as long as one month. Specifically, NiTe₂ has been implemented in a device that exhibits both superior performance and environmental stability at frequencies above 40 GHz, with possible applications as a receiver beyond the cutoff frequency of a nanotransistor.     

Managing the Topological Expansion of Computer Networks in an Optimal Way

This article describes a subgradient-based near-optimal heuristic algorithm designed for minimizing the search of links that need to be added to an existing telecommunications network to enhance the survivability and routability of the network.     

Impacts of CO2 emission constraints on technology selection and energy resources for power generation in Bangladesh

This paper examines the impacts of CO₂ emission reduction target and carbon tax on future technologies selection and energy use in Bangladesh power sector during 2005–2035. The analyses are based on a long-term energy system model of Bangladesh using the MARKAL framework. The analysis shows that Bangladesh will not be able to meet the future energy demand without importing energy. However, alternative policies on CO₂ emission constraints reduce the burden of imported fuel, improve energy security and reduce environmental impacts. The results show that the introduction of the CO₂ emission reduction targets and carbon taxes directly affect the shift of technologies from high carbon content fossil-based to low carbon content fossil-based and clean renewable energy-based technologies compared to the base scenario. With the cumulative CO₂ emission reduction target of 10–20% and carbon tax of 2500 Taka/ton, the cumulative net energy imports during 2005–2035 would be reduced in the range of 39–65% and 37%, respectively, compared to the base scenario emission level. The total primary energy requirement would be reduced in the range of 4.5–22.3% in the CO₂ emission reduction targets and carbon tax 2500 Taka/ton scenarios and the primary energy supply system would be diversified compared to the base scenario.