Lutetium-Induced Ultrafine PtRu Nanoclusters with a High Electrochemical Surface Area for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells at Alleviated Temperatures.

PtRu alloys have been recognized as the state-of-the-art catalysts for the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). However, their applications in DMFCs are still less efficient in terms of both catalytic activity and durability. Rare earth (RE) metals have been recognized as attractive elements to tune the catalytic activity, while it is still a world-class challenge to synthesize well-dispersed Pt-RE alloys.

Enhancing Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells with Ionic Liquids: A Review.

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) represent a promising clean energy solution. However, their widespread adoption faces hurdles related to component optimization. This review explores the pivotal role of ionic liquids (ILs) in enhancing PEMFC performance, focusing on their role in polymer electrolyte membranes, catalyst modification, and other components.

Multifunctional PtRh-CoO alloy nanoparticles with Pt-enriched surface and induced synergistic effect for improved performance in ORR, OER, and HER.

Engineering high-performance electrocatalysts to improve the kinetics of parallel electrochemical reactions in low-temperature fuel cells, water splitting, and metal-air battery applications is important and inevitable. In this study, by employing a chemical co-reduction method, we developed multifunctional PtRh-CoO alloy with uniformly distributed ultrafine nanoparticles (2-3 nm), supported on carbon. The presence of CoO and the incorporation of Rh led to a strong electronic and ligand effect in the Pt lattice environment, which caused the d-band center of Pt to shift.

Improving Performance of an Integrated Solar Flow Battery by Cr- and Cu-Doped TiO Photoelectrodes.

This work reports on the preparation of Cr-doped TiO2 (Cr−TiO2), Cu-doped (Cu-TiO2), and its utilization in the photoanode of a solar redox flow battery (SRFB). A pure TiO2 electrode, Cr-doped TiO2 electrode, and Cu-doped TiO2 electrode coated with different layers are prepared by the sol-gel method. XRD, XPS, and SEM are used to characterize the relevant data of the electrode.

Model development of bioelectrochemical systems: A critical review from the perspective of physiochemical principles and mathematical methods.

Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) are promising devices for wastewater treatment and bio-energy production. Since various processes are interacted and affect the overall performance of the device, the development of theoretical modeling is an efficient approach to understand the fundamental mechanisms that govern the performance of the BES. This review aims to summarize the physiochemical principle and mathematical method in BES models, which is of great importance for the establishment of an accurate model while has received little attention in previous reviews.

Polyhedron shaped palladium nanostructures embedded on MoO/PANI-g-CN as high performance and durable electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction.

A hybrid catalyst support anchoring a noble metal catalyst could be a promising material for building interfacial bonding between metallic nanostructures and polymer functionalized carbon supports to improve the kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). This study successfully prepared a polyhedron nanostructured Pd and MoO-embedded polyaniline-functionalized graphitized carbon nitride (PANI-g-CN) surface using a chemical reduction method. The Pd-Mo/PANI-g-CN achieved an ORR activity of 0.

Nano-Graphene Layer from Facile, Scalable and Eco-Friendly Liquid Phase Exfoliation Strategy as Effective Barrier Layer for High-Performance and Durable Direct Liquid Alcohol Fuel Cells.

Graphene, in spite of exceptional physio-chemical properties, still faces great limitations in its use and industrial scale-up as highly selective membranes (enhanced ratio of proton conductivity to fuel cross-over) in liquid alcohol fuel cells (LAFCs), due to complexity and high cost of prevailing production methods. To resolve these issues, a facile, low-cost and eco-friendly approach of liquid phase exfoliation (bath sonication) of graphite to obtain graphene and spray depositing the prepared graphene flakes, above anode catalyst layer (near the membrane in the membrane electrode assembly (MEA)) as barrier layer at different weight percentages relative to the base membrane Nafion 115 was utilized in this work. The 5 wt.

Fabrication of polyoxometalate-modified palladium-nickel/reduced graphene oxide alloy catalysts for enhanced oxygen reduction reaction activity.

Designing advanced nanocatalysts for effectively catalyzing the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of great importance for practical applications of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). In this work, the reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-supported palladium-nickel (Pd-Ni/rGO) alloy modified by the novel polyoxometalate (POM) with Keggin structure (Pd-Ni/rGO-POM) is efficiently fabricated an impregnation technique. The physical characterizations such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), field emission scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (FESEM-EDX), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are utilized to confirm the structure, morphology, and chemical composition of the fabricated samples.

Ordered mesoporous Pt-Ru-Ir nanostructures as superior bifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction/oxygen evolution reactions.

An efficient oxygen bifunctional catalyst Pt-Ru-Ir with ordered mesoporous nanostructures (OMNs) was successfully synthesized by chemical reduction using KIT-6 mesoporous silica as a template. The crystallographic behavior, electronic effects, and microstructure of the catalysts were investigated by XRD, XPS, SEM, and TEM analysis. The influence of OMNs and the effect of Ir content in Pt-Ru-Ir catalyst on both oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) were investigated.

Pt-based (Zn, Cu) nanodendrites with enhanced catalytic efficiency and durability toward methanol electro-oxidation via trace Ir-doping engineering.

Pt-based alloy nanomaterials with nanodendrites (NDs) structures are efficient electrocatalysts for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR), however their durability is greatly limited by the issue of transition metals dissolution. In this work, a facile trace Ir-doping strategy was proposed to fabricate Ir-PtZn and Ir-PtCu alloy NDs catalysts in aqueous medium, which significantly improved the electrocatalytic activity and durability for MOR. The as-prepared Ir-PtZn/Cu NDs catalysts showed distinct dendrites structures with the averaged diameter of 4.

Numerical study of mass transfer and desorption behaviors in deformable porous media using a coupling lattice Boltzmann model.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the pore-scale mass transfer and desorption behaviors in deformable porous media using a coupling immersed boundary method (IBM)-lattice Boltzmann (LB) scheme. In this numerical model, a three-dimensional multiple-relaxation-time LB model is used to simulate fluid flow in porous media consisting of movable rigid adsorbent particles. To consider the effect of dynamic deformation of a porous structure, an improved immersed boundary method scheme is introduced to describe the fluid-structure interaction at the interface between the carrier gas and moving absorbent particles.

Electrochemical Characteristics and Transport Properties of V(II)/V(III) Redox Couple in a Deep Eutectic Solvent: Magnetic Field Effect.

Compared with conventional aqueous electrolytes, deep eutectic solvent (DES) has a wider electrochemical stability window, simple preparation, potential biodegradability, and lower cost, leading to its utilization as electrolyte for non-aqueous redox flow batteries (RFB). However, the large viscosity and inferior transport properties hinder the wide spread of DES electrolyte. To circumvent these issues, various additives as well as external fields can be applied separately or synergistically.

Scalable Synthesis of Micromesoporous Iron-Nitrogen-Doped Carbon as Highly Active and Stable Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalyst.

Micromesoporous metal-nitrogen-doped carbons have attracted incremental attention owning to their high activities for the electrocatalyzing oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, scalable synthesis of micromesoporous metal-nitrogen-doped carbons having superior electrocatalytic activity and stability remains a challenge. Here, an iron-nitrogen-doped carbon with highly electrocatalytic properties was simply prepared by ZnCl activation of an in situ polymerized iron-containing polypyrrole (PPy@FeCl) at high temperature.