Good dielectric performance and broadband dielectric polarization in Ag,Nb co-doped TiO2

Due to the demand of miniaturization and integration for ceramic capacitors in electronic components market, TiO₂-based ceramics with colossal permittivity has become a research hotspot in recent years. In this work, we report that Ag⁺/Nb⁵⁺ co-doped (Ag_1/4Nb_3/4)_xTi_1−xO₂ (ANTOx) ceramics with colossal permittivity over a wide frequency and temperature range were successfully prepared by a traditional solid–state method. Notably, compositions of ANTO0.005 and ANTO0.01 respectively exhibit both low dielectric loss (0.040 and 0.050 at 1 kHz), high dielectric permittivity (9.2 × 10³ and 1.6 × 10⁴ at 1 kHz), and good thermal stability, which satisfy the requirements for the temperature range of application of X9R and X8R ceramic capacitors, respectively. The origin of the dielectric behavior was attributed to five dielectric relaxation phenomena, i.e., localized carriers' hopping, electron–pinned defect–dipoles, interfacial polarization, and oxygen vacancies ionization and diffusion, as suggested by dielectric temperature spectra and valence state analysis via XPS; wherein, electron-pinned defect–dipoles and internal barrier layer capacitance are believed to be the main causes for the giant dielectric permittivity in ANTOx ceramics.     

Cu-template-dependent synthesis of PtCu nanotubes for oxygen reduction reactions

The development of electrocatalysts with high activity and durability for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in acidic electrolyte environments remains a serious challenge for clean and efficient energy conversion. Synergistic effects between Pt and inexpensive metals, the d band center of Pt and catalyst morphology could adjust the adsorption and desorption of oxygen intermediates by the Pt. All the factors affect the catalytic performance of Pt-based nanocrystals. Here, we prepared Cu@PtCu₃ NWs with an average diameter of 74.9 nm for Cu and about 10 nm PtCu₃ layer. After etching, the Cu@PtCu₃ nanowires is transformed into PtCu nanotube structure, due to the removal of copper from the surface and interior. PtCu NTs for ORR shows excellent activities and durability due to the integration of structural advantages and synergistic effects. Notably, the mass activity and specific activity of PtCu NTs (0.105 A mg^?1_Pt and 0.230 mA cm^?2_Pt) are 2.0 and 3.8 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C (0.053 A mg^?1_Pt and 0.06 mA cm^?2_Pt). The etching process to change the morphology of the catalyst and alter the electronic structure of the catalyst is expected to be useful for the design of future structured Pt-based alloy nanocatalysts.     

Surface Reconstruction Engineering with Synergistic Effect of Mixed-Salt Passivation Treatment toward Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells

Surface passivation treatment is a widely used strategy to resolve trap-mediated nonradiative recombination toward high-efficiency metal-halide perovskite photovoltaics. However, a lack of passivation with mixture treatment has been investigated, as well as an in-depth understanding of its passivation mechanism. Here, a systematic study on a mixed-salt passivation strategy of formamidinium bromide (FABr) coupled with different F-substituted alkyl lengths of ammonium iodide is demonstrated. It is obtained better device performance with decreasing chain length of the F-substituted alkyl ammonium iodide in the presence of FABr. Moreover, they unraveled a synergistic passivation mechanism of the mixed-salt treatment through surface reconstruction engineering, where FABr dominates the reformation of the perovskite surface via reacting with the excess PbI₂. Meanwhile, ammonium iodide passivates the perovskite grain boundaries both on the surface and top perovskite bulk through penetration. This synergistic passivation engineer results in a high-quality perovskite surface with fewer defects and suppressed ion migration, leading to a champion efficiency of 23.5% with mixed-salt treatment. In addition, the introduction of the moisture resisted F-substituted groups presents a more hydrophobic perovskite surface, thus enabling the decorated devices with excellent long-term stability under a high humid atmosphere as well as operational conditions.     

Nitrogen-doped hierarchically porous carbon obtained via single step method for high performance supercapacitors

In the present work, nitrogen doped hierarchically activated porous carbon (APC) samples have been synthesized via single step scalable method using ethylene di-amine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) as precursor and KOH as activating agent. Activated porous carbons with different pore sizes have been developed by varying the activation temperature. SEM, TEM and SAXS analysis suggest that with variation of activation temperature, a hierarchical porous structure with interconnected meso-pore and micro pores has been achieved. The sufficiently high surface area of the synthesized materials provides active sites to enhance the diffusion of ions between the electrolyte and the carbon electrodes. The electrode prepared at 800 °C activated sample exhibited highest specific capacitance of 274 Fg^-1 in two electrode setup, at a current density of 0.1 Ag^-1 in 1 M aqueous H₂SO₄. Along with this, it showed maximum energy density of 9.5 Whkg^?1 at a power density of 64.5 Wkg^-1. The remarkable electrochemical performance reveals that the synthesized nitrogen doped activated carbon electrodes derived from EDTA can be tuned to have optimum pore structure and pore size distribution for better electrochemical performance, so it can be considered as a potential electrode material for applications in electrochemical energy storage.     

突发疫情对染料行业影响及对策

一场新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情的爆发给染料行业的发展带来了影响,既有负面消极,也有积极影响。疫情将促进染料行业绿色发展,推动染料行业走向信息化、智能化时代,走向高质量发展,指出只要坚持绿色、创新和智能化,就能战胜疫情,推动中国染料行业稳健发展。     

A red code triggers an unintended approach motivation toward sweet ultra-processed foods: Possible implications for front-of-pack labels

Front-of-package labels (FOPL) are recommended to reduce consumer intake of ultra-processed food products (UPP). The multiple traffic-light label is one example of FOPL that indicates the content of target nutrients in products by displaying red (high), amber (medium), and/or green (low) color-coding. The red code may implicitly enhance sweetness perception and approach dispositions toward sweet UPP via cross-modal visual-taste interactions. We conducted two experiments to examine the possibility of contradictory influence of explicitly learned and implicit cross-modal associations on the emotional responses evoked by UPP pictures. In both experiments, we first explicitly associated the color codes with health-related meanings. In Experiment I (n = 78), a psychometric tool estimated the emotional responses (pleasantness and arousal ratings) evoked by UPP pictures when preceded by red, amber, or green color-codes. In Experiment II (n = 24), we recorded participants’ electrocortical brain activity to assess the early posterior negativity (EPN) component as an index of the emotional responses to UPP. The reported pleasantness (Experiment I) and the EPN amplitude (Experiment II) were greater for sweet UPP relative to salty UPP when primed with red codes but not when primed with green or amber. A red code increased positive emotions toward sweet UPP despite its explicit association with increased health-risks. Thus, the use of multiple traffic-lights might lead to an unintended implicit approach behavior toward sweet UPP. Designers, researchers, and policy makers may consider color-taste cross-modal associations when designing, testing, and applying FOPL.     

THE effect of Srandom DOPANT fluctuation on threshold voltage and drain current variation in junctionless nanotransistors

We investigate the effect of dopant random fluctuation on threshold voltage and drain current variation in a two-gate nanoscale transistor. We used a quantum-corrected technology computer aided design simulation to run the simulation (10000 randomizations). With this simulation, we could study the effects of varying the dimensions (length and width), and thicknesses of oxide and dopant factors of a transistor on the threshold voltage and drain current in subthreshold region (off) and overthreshold (on). It was found that in the subthreshold region the variability of the drain current and threshold voltage is relatively fixed while in the overthreshold region the variability of the threshold voltage and drain current decreases remarkably, despite the slight reduction of gate voltage diffusion (compared with that of the subthreshold). These results have been interpreted by using previously reported models for threshold current variability, load displacement, and simple analytical calculations. Scaling analysis shows that the variability of the characteristics of this semiconductor increases as the effects of the short channel increases. Therefore, with a slight increase of length and a reduction of width, oxide thickness, and dopant factor, we could correct the effect of the short channel.     

In-situ TEM observation of structural changes in nano-crystalline CoCrCuFeNi multicomponent high-entropy alloy (HEA) under fast electron irradiation by high voltage electron microscopy (HVEM)

The structural changes induced in a CoCrCuFeNi multicomponent nano-crystalline high-entropy alloy (HEA) under fast electron irradiation were investigated by in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) using a high voltage electron microscope (HVEM). A fine-grained face centered cubic (fcc) single phase was obtained in the sputtered specimens. The fcc solid solution showed high phase stability against irradiation over a wide temperature range from 298 to 773 K, and remained as the main constituent phase even when the samples were irradiated up to 40 displacement per atom (dpa). Moreover, the irradiation did not seem to induce grain coarsening. This is the first report on the irradiation damage in 5-component HEA under MeV electron irradiation.