Nanostructured Fe-Doped NiS Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction with High Stability at an Industrially-Relevant Current Density.

A novel oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst was prepared by a synthesis strategy consisting of the solvothermal growth of NiS nanostructures on Ni foam, followed by hydrothermal incorporation of Fe species (Fe-NiS/Ni foam). This electrocatalyst displayed a low OER overpotential of 230 mV at 100 mA·cm, a low Tafel slope of 43 mV·dec, and constant performance at an industrially relevant current density (500 mA·cm) over 100 h in a 1.0 M KOH electrolyte, despite a minor loss of Fe in the process.

Electroactive Thermo-Pneumatic Soft Actuator with Self-Healing Features: A Critical Evaluation.

Soft actuators that operate with overpressure have been successfully implemented as soft robotic grippers. Naturally, as these pneumatic devices are prone to cuts, self-healing properties are attractive. Here, we prepared a gripper that operates based on the liquid-gas phase transition of ethanol within its hollow structure.

Unravelling and overcoming the challenges in the electrocatalytic reduction of fructose to sorbitol.

In this work, we present a comprehensive study of the electrocatalytic reduction of fructose to sorbitol and mannitol, in a mild alkaline medium (pH = 11.3), with a Cu wire as the cathode. Particular attention was paid to the reaction mechanism, investigated by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and chronopotentiometry (CP) coupled with high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC).

An efficient method to prepare supported bismuth nanoparticles as highly selective electrocatalyst for the conversion of CO into formate.

We report a cost-effective, straightforward synthesis of a novel electrocatalyst for the reduction of CO2 to formate, which achieves nearly complete Faradaic efficiency (FE) at an overpotential (η) of 0.88 V under ambient conditions. The electrocatalyst was prepared using bismuth subsalicylate as precursor and consists of bismuth nanoparticles (Bi NPs) with an average diameter of 5.

Structural changes during water-mediated amorphization of semiconducting two-dimensional thio-stannates.

Owing to their combined open-framework structures and semiconducting properties, two-dimensional thio-stannates show great potential for catalytic and sensing applications. One such class of crystalline materials consists of porous polymeric [SnS ] sheets with molecular cations embedded in-between. The compounds are denoted -SnS-1, where is the cation.