Special features of heating and melting electrodes with an exothermic mixture in the coating

Experimental results show that exothermic reactions in the heating and melting stages of electrode coating take place when the coating contains more than 35% of the exothermic mixture. Data for the effect of the amount of exothermic mixture in the electrode coating on heating and melting of the electrodes are presented. The thermal balance of melting the electrodes with the exothermic mixture in the coating is calculated. The results show that the temperature of 1273 K at which the efficiency of the exothermic reaction is high is reached at a distance of approximately 1 mm from the electrode tip. It is confirmed that the addition of up to 53.4% of the exothermic mixture to the electrode coating increases the effective efficiency of heating the parent metal (η_m) from 0.715 to 0.815 and of the electrode (η_el) from 0.28 to 0.415.     

The development of semiconductor-ionic conductor composite electrolytes for fuel cells with symmetrical electrodes

Lowering the operational temperature of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is a vital research challenge for achieving broad commercialization of SOFCs. However, there is currently a lack of suitable electrolyte materials with sufficient ionic conductivity. In this review, the recent progress in semiconductor-ionic conductor composite strategies and related key technologies for low temperature SOFCs (LT-SOFCs) applications is highlighted, in particular, emphasizing the demonstration of such composite materials sandwiched between semiconductor electrodes in a symmetrical configuration that has delivered a potent solution. Despite the co-existence of electronic and ionic conduction in the composite membrane, no electronic short-circuiting was displayed, but rather an enhanced device power output was achieved. Here, the recent progresses in the development of SOFCs, from single-layer fuel cells, to two-phase semiconductor-ionic conductor membrane fuel cells with symmetrical electrodes, are discussed. This review will furnish researchers within the SOFC community and beyond with a broader understanding of the theory, development and significance of composite materials for LT-SOFCs.     

Low‐cost dye‐sensitized solar cells with ball‐milled tellurium‐doped graphene as counter electrodes and a natural sensitizer dye

This paper presents a facile and economic development of dye‐sensitized solar cells using a nonprecious counter electrode made from ball‐milled tellurium‐doped graphene (Te‐Gr) and a natural sensitizer extracted from Calotropis gigantea leaves. The prepared materials were characterized using various techniques, such as Raman spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), impedance spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy with built‐in energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (SEM with EDS). The electrochemical activity of the produced counter electrodes and the impedance of the fabricated cells were examined and discussed to devise plans for future enhancement of cell performance. A clear pattern of improvement was found when using cost‐effective Te‐Gr relative to the costly platinum counter electrodes, especially when compared with cells employing another natural sensitizer. The results show approximately 51% enhancement over chlorophyll‐based cells made from spinach, where the added advantage in our approach is the utilization of an abundant plant extract with little nutritional appeal.     

Role of oxygen vacancies on the energy storage performance of battery-type NiO electrodes

In this study, the influence of the surface oxygen vacancies on the energy storage performance of electrodes based on nickel oxide (NiO) nanoparticles was investigated. NiO samples were synthesized by three facile and low-cost syntheses routes: nitrate calcination, citrate, and combustion methods. The concentration of surface defects in NiO powders was determined using XPS analyses, which showed a higher amount of oxygen vacancies for the sample obtained by nitrate calcination. According to the cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) curves, NiO-based electrodes were classified as battery-like. CV results suggest that redox reactions are diffusion-controlled processes with a faster diffusion rate for the sample obtained by the nitrate calcination method. This is in accordance with the GCD and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results, with higher specific capacity and higher electrical conductivity (lower equivalent series resistance) for the sample obtained by nitrate calcination. The results indicate that oxygen vacancies play an important role in the electrochemical performance of battery-type NiO electrodes.     

Electrochemical bulk synthesis and characterisation of hexagonal-shaped CuO nanoparticles

A simple and efficient two-step hybrid electrochemical–thermal route was developed for the bulk synthesis of CuO nanoparticles using aqueous sodium nitrate electrolyte and Cu electrodes in an undivided cell under galvanostatic mode at room temperature. The influence of electrolyte concentration on the synthesis of CuO nanoparticles was studied at 1.0?A/dm² current density. Electrochemically generated precursor was calcined for an hour at different levels of temperature in the range 200–900°C. The calcined samples were characterised by XRD, TG-DTA, XPS, SEM/EDAX, TEM, FT-IR and UV–Vis spectral methods. The crystallite sizes were estimated and the thermal behaviour of as-prepared compound was examined. Rietveld refinement of X-ray data shows results matching the monoclinic structure with the space group of C2/c (no. 15). The TEM result revealed that the particle sizes were in the order of 30–50?nm diameter and 120–200?nm length. The blue shift was noticed in UV–Vis absorption spectra. All samples of CuO exhibited randomly oriented hexagonal morphology.     

Ni/Fe electrodes prepared by electrodeposition method over different substrates for oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline medium

A series of Ni/Fe electrodes have been prepared by electrodeposition of metal salt precursors on different substrates. The surface morphology, chemical composition and electrochemical characteristics of these electrodes were studied by various physico-chemical techniques such as X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The electrochemical properties of the electrodes were examined by steady-state polarization curves. First, the influence of features such as Ni/Fe composition and type of substrate for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) were determined by electrochemical techniques in a conventional 3-electrodes cell. The overpotential for the OER is lower for the electrodes with the higher concentrations of Ni. The electrodes with a Ni/Fe composition of 75/25 wt.% electrodeposited on steel mesh and/or 75/25 and 50/50 wt.% on nickel foam result in the most active configurations for the OER. These electrodes were further tested as anodes for alkaline water electrolysis during at least 70 h. In order to understand their activity and stability, the used electrodes were also characterized by SEM and compared to the fresh electrodes. Among the compositions and substrates examined, the Ni50Fe50-Nf electrode exhibited the lowest overpotential (2.1 V) for the OER and the higher stability as anode in an alkaline water electrolysis cell.     

Improved performance of lateral GaN-based light emitting diodes with novel buried CBL structure in ITO film and reflective electrodes

In this letter, lateral GaN-based Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) with a SiO₂ current blocking layer (CBL) buried in the indium tin oxide (ITO) film and highly reflective metal materials have been proposed. Compared with the conventional CBL structure which was inserted between ITO film and p-type GaN, simulation results showed that LEDs with a buried CBL in the ITO film effectively facilitated current spreading under the CBL. We demonstrated that buried CBL was beneficial for suppressing current crowding (CC) effect around the edge of CBL and may facilitate higher LED efficiency. Furthermore, experimental results showed that LEDs with the buried structure we proposed showed lower working voltage and higher light output power (LOP) compared with those with conventional CBL structure. These results further confirmed that the buried CBL scheme was effective to reduce current crowding (CC) effect. In addition, highly reflective metal materials of Cr/Al/Pt/Au were employed to reduce light absorption and achieve high light extraction efficiency.     

Gold‐supported activated NiZn coatings: hydrogen evolution and corrosion studies

Gold‐supported Raney‐type NiZn coatings were prepared on a thin Ni film‐modified copper substrate (Cu/Ni/NiZn‐Au). The hydrogen evolution activity, time stability and corrosion behaviour of the electrode was investigated in 1 M KOH solution by electrochemical, microscopic and spectroscopic technique. It was found that Au‐modified activated coatings exhibits good hydrogen evolution activity, electrochemical and physical stability as well as corrosion resistance. The enhanced hydrogen evolution activity of the Au‐modified electrode was related to the larger available surface area and/or a possible synergistic effect between the metals. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

线状电极电容电荷及电场分布数值模拟

根据线状电极的电势,建立了线电荷密度离散方程,通过求解线性方程组,实现了线状电极线电荷的计算。给出了有限长线状电容的计算方法,由线状电极的电荷分布计算了真空状态下空间任意一点的电势分布,实现了由边界元法对线状电极场分布及电容的数值计算。