Role and prospects of green quantum dots in photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation: A review

Eco-friendly quantum dots (QDs) can be termed green QDs which stand as an attractive choice to modify the properties of known semiconductors in the direction of getting efficient photoelectrodes for solar-induced photoelectrochemical (PEC) splitting of water, due to their peculiar properties. Thus, it is of high significance to analyze their merit/demerit as an effective scaffold in PEC cell. QDs are known for their excellent optical properties however, the coupling of green QDs with semiconductor is not only useful in improving absorption characteristics but also promotes charge transfer. This review has undertaken the critical analysis on the worldwide research going on the green QDs modified photoelectrode with respect to their optical, electrical & photoelectrochemical properties, role, usefulness, efficiency, and finally the success in PEC system for hydrogen production. Various methods on the facile synthesis & sensitization techniques of green QDs available in the literature have also been discussed. Further, recent advances on the development of green QDs based photo-electrode, along with major challenges of using green QDs in this field have also been presented.     

应变纤锌矿ZnO/MgxZn1-xO量子点中离子施主束缚激子的光学性质

Within the framework of the effective-mass approximation and the dipole approximation, considering the three-dimensional confinement of the electron and hole and the strong built-in electric field(BEF) in strained wurtzite Zn O/Mg0:25Zn0:75O quantum dots(QDs), the optical properties of ionized donor-bound excitons(D+, X)are investigated theoretically using a variational method. The computations are performed in the case of finite band offset. Numerical results indicate that the optical properties of(D+, X) complexes sensitively depend on the donor position, the QD size and the BEF. The binding energy of(D+, X) complexes is larger when the donor is located in the vicinity of the left interface of the QDs, and it decreases with increasing QD size. The oscillator strength reduces with an increase in the dot height and increases with an increase in the dot radius. Furthermore, when the QD size decreases, the absorption peak intensity shows a marked increment, and the absorption coefficient peak has a blueshift. The strong BEF causes a redshift of the absorption coefficient peak and causes the absorption peak intensity to decrease remarkably. The physical reasons for these relationships have been analyzed in depth.     

Secure lightweight password authenticated key exchange for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks

Several three-party password authenticated key exchange (3-PAKE) protocols have recently been proposed for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (HWSN). These are efficient and designed to address security concerns in ad-hoc sensor network applications for a global Internet of Things framework, where a user may request access to sensitive information collected by resource-constrained sensors in clusters managed by gateway nodes. In this paper we first analyze three recently proposed 3-PAKE protocols and discuss their vulnerabilities. Then, based on Radio Frequency Identification technologies we propose a novel 3-PAKE protocol for HWSN applications, with two extensions for additional security features, that is provably secure, efficient and flexible.     

Achieving Rich and Active Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Heterostructures via Interface Engineering on 2D 1T‐MoS2 Quantum Sheets

Large‐scale production of hydrogen from water‐alkali electrolyzers is impeded by the sluggish kinetics of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts. The hybridization of an acid‐active HER catalyst with a cocatalyst at the nanoscale helps boost HER kinetics in alkaline media. Here, it is demonstrated that 1T–MoS₂ nanosheet edges (instead of basal planes) decorated by metal hydroxides form highly active ${\text{edge}}_{{\text{1T‐MoS}}_{\text{2}}}$/ ${\text{edge}}_{\text{Ni}{(\text{OH})}_{\text{2}}}$ heterostructures, which significantly enhance HER performance in alkaline media. Featured with rich ${\text{edge}}_{{\text{1T‐MoS}}_{\text{2}}}$/ ${\text{edge}}_{\text{Ni}{(\text{OH})}_{\text{2}}}$ sites, the fabricated 1T–MoS₂ QS/Ni(OH)₂ hybrid (quantum sized 1T–MoS₂ sheets decorated with Ni(OH)₂ via interface engineering) only requires overpotentials of 57 and 112 mV to drive HER current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm^?2, respectively, and has a low Tafel slope of 30 mV dec^?1 in 1 m KOH. So far, this is the best performance for MoS₂‐based electrocatalysts and the 1T–MoS₂ QS/Ni(OH)₂ hybrid is among the best‐performing non‐Pt alkaline HER electrocatalysts known. The HER process is durable for 100 h at current densities up to 500 mA cm^?2. This work not only provides an active, cost‐effective, and robust alkaline HER electrocatalyst, but also demonstrates a design strategy for preparing high‐performance catalysts based on edge‐rich 2D quantum sheets for other catalytic reactions.     

Landau-Zener模型中纠缠演化及转移的研究

研究了受外场驱动的两个二能级系统分别与两个单模量子化光场相互作用模型中纠缠演化及转移问题。该工作主要是对外场驱动的Landau-Zener模型进行了研究，采用旋转波近似的方法，通过数值计算详细分析了二能级系统初始状态、能级间的耦合常数以及驱动外场的参数对子系统间纠缠和转移特性的影响。结果表明，适当调节模型中的参数，可以使系统初始纠缠完全转移为光腔场间的纠缠，实现二能级系统与光场间的最大纠缠转移。     

Resistive switching characteristics of ZnO–graphene quantum dots and their use as an active component of an organic memory cell with one diode-one resistor architecture

We investigated the resistive switching characteristics of a polystyrene:ZnO–graphene quantum dots system and its potential application in a one diode-one resistor architecture of an organic memory cell. The log–log I–V plot and the temperature-variable I–V measurements revealed that the switching mechanism in a low-current state is closely related to thermally activated transport. The turn-on process was induced by a space-charge-limited current mechanism resulted from the ZnO–graphene quantum dots acting as charge trap sites, and charge transfer through filamentary path. The memory device with a diode presented a ∼10³ I_ON/I_OFF ratio, stable endurance cycles (10² cycles) and retention times (10⁴ s), and uniform cell-to-cell switching. The one diode-one resistor architecture can effectively reduce cross-talk issue and realize a cross bar array as large as ∼3 kbit in the readout margin estimation. Furthermore, a specific word was encoded using the standard ASCII character code.     

Low complexity quantum private queries protocol

Private information retrieval(PIR) is an important privacy protection issue of secure multi-party computation, but the PIR protocols based on classical cryptography are vulnerable because of new technologies,such as quantum computing and cloud computing. The quantum private queries(QPQ) protocols available, however, has a high complexity and is inefficient in the face of large database. This paper, based on the QKD technology which is mature now, proposes a novel QPQ protocol utilizing the key dilution and auxiliary parameter. Only N quits are required to be sent in the quantum channel to generate the raw key, then the straight k bits in the raw key are added bitwise to dilute the raw key, and a final key is consequently obtained to encrypt the database. By flexible adjusting of auxiliary parameters θ and k, privacy is secured and the query success ratio is improved. Feasibility and performance analyses indicate that the protocol has a high success ratio in first-trial query and is easy to implement, and that the communication complexity of O(N) is achieved.     

Graphite Oxide and Aromatic Amines: Size Matters

Experimental and theoretical studies are performed in order to illuminate, for first time, the intercalation mechanism of polycyclic aromatic molecules into graphite oxide. Two representative molecules of this family, aniline and naphthalene amine are investigated. After intercalation, aniline molecules prefer to covalently connect to the graphene oxide matrix via chemical grafting, while napthalene amine molecules bind with the graphene oxide surface through π–π interactions. The presence of intercalated aromatic molecules between the graphene oxide layers is demonstrated by X‐ray diffraction, while the type of interaction between graphene oxide and polycyclic organic molecules is elucidated by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical calculations describe the intercalation mechanism and the aniline grafting, rationalizing the experimental data. The present work opens new perspectives for the interaction of various aromatic molecules with graphite oxide and the so‐called “intercalation chemistry”.     

结合公钥加密和关键字可搜索加密的加密方案

带关键字搜索的公钥加密(PEKS)是一种有用的加密原语，它允许用户将在加密数据上搜索的功能委托给不可信的第三方服务器，而不影响原始数据的安全性和隐私性。但是，由于缺乏对于数据的加密以及解密能力，PEKS方案不能单独进行使用，必须与标准的公钥加密方案(PKE)相结合。因此，Baek等人在2006年引入了一种新的加密原语，称为结合PKE和PEKS的加密方案(PKE+PEKS)，它同时提供了PKE和PEKS的功能。目前，已有文献提出了几种PKE+PEKS方案。然而，他们都没有考虑关键字猜测攻击的问题。本文提出一个新的高效且能够抵抗关键字猜测攻击的PKE+PEKS方案，与已有方案相比，该方案在性能上有很大的提升，并且在生成关键字和数据密文时，不需要使用双线性对，极大地降低了计算和存储成本。安全性分析表明，本文中所提出的方案能够满足密文隐私安全性、陷门不可区分性和抗关键字猜测攻击的安全性。效率分析表明，本分提出的方案更加高效。