Integrated MXene and metal oxide electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction: synthesis, mechanisms, and advances.

Electrochemical water splitting is a promising approach to produce H through renewable electricity, but its energy efficiency is severely constrained by the kinetically slow anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which uses about 90% of the electricity in the water-splitting process due to its multistep proton (H)-coupled electron (e) transfer process, high overpotential (), and low energy efficiency. Therefore, the quest for efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective electrocatalysts for hydrogen production through water electrolysis has intensified, highlighting the potential of two-dimensional (2D) MXenes. MXenes have emerged as a promising class of materials characterized by excellent stability, hydrophilicity, and conductivity.

Theoretical prediction on the stability, elastic, electronic and optical properties of MAB-phase MAlB compounds (M = Cr, Mo, W).

This research employs first-principles calculations to address the challenges presented by processing complexity and low damage tolerance in transition metal borides. The study focuses on designing and investigating MAB phase compounds of MAlB (M = Cr, Mo, W). We conduct a comprehensive assessment of the stability, phononic, electronic, elastic, and optical properties of CrAlB, MoAlB, and WAlB.

Using phenolic polymers to control the size and morphology of calcium carbonate microparticles.

Calcium carbonate (CaCO) is a naturally occurring mineral that occurs in biology and is used industrially. Due to its benign nature, CaCO microparticles have found use in the food and medical fields, where the specific size of the microparticles determine their functionality and potential applications. We demonstrate that phenolic polymers with different numbers of hydroxy groups can be used to control the diameter of CaCO microparticles in a range of 2-9 μm, and obtained particles were relatively uniform.

Sound methods for the synthesis of nanoparticles from biological molecules.

The development of simple, green, reproducible, and scalable approaches for synthesizing nanoparticles from biomolecules is important to advance nanomaterials towards therapeutic applications. Microreactors generated by high frequency ultrasound provide a one pot-platform to alter the physiochemical properties and stability of various types of biomolecules to ultimately generate multifunctional nanoparticles with controlled size and morphology. Herein, recent advancements in the field of nanoparticles fabrication from amino acids, phenolics, peptides and proteins using both high and low frequency ultrasound are reviewed.

High Frequency Sonoprocessing: A New Field of Cavitation-Free Acoustic Materials Synthesis, Processing, and Manipulation.

Ultrasound constitutes a powerful means for materials processing. Similarly, a new field has emerged demonstrating the possibility for harnessing sound energy sources at considerably higher frequencies (10 MHz to 1 GHz) compared to conventional ultrasound (⩽3 MHz) for synthesizing and manipulating a variety of bulk, nanoscale, and biological materials. At these frequencies and the typical acoustic intensities employed, cavitation-which underpins most sonochemical or, more broadly, ultrasound-mediated processes-is largely absent, suggesting that altogether fundamentally different mechanisms are at play.

Facile synthesis of Tb-decorated graphene oxide: electrochemical stability, hydrogen storage, and corrosion inhibition of Mg AZ13 alloy in 3.5% NaCl medium.

Magnesium alloys have been broadly used due to their lightweight and high ductility. However, they are subject to corrosion which deteriorates their properties. To develop a novel corrosion inhibitor coating for Mg alloys, we performed functionalization of a graphene oxide (GO) matrix with Tb(iii) to improve the electrochemical behaviour and coating stability of a GO and Tb composite on the metal alloys in corrosive medium.

Microwave spin resonance investigation on the effect of the post-processing annealing of CoFeO nanoparticles.

A novel investigation on the finite-size effects on the spin resonance properties of cobalt ferrite (CoFeO) nanoparticles has been performed using a room temperature ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) technique. A single broad spectrum was obtained for the CoFeO nanoparticle samples, which indicated that all the samples were showing ferromagnetic characteristics. An asymmetric FMR line shape with a hefty trailing section was obtained due to the high magneto-crystalline anisotropy in CoFeO nanoparticles, which changed with the size distribution.

Unveiling the effect of 11-MUA coating on biocompatibility and catalytic activity of a gold-core cerium oxide-shell-based nanozyme.

The biocompatibility and catalytic activity of nanomaterials exhibiting biological enzyme-like functions (nanozymes) are controlled by shape, size, composition, and surface capping molecules. Although synthesis of multifunctional nanozymes for multiple applications has shown tremendous attraction among researchers worldwide, often their biocompatibility is compromised. In this work, we report the replacement of CTAB by 11-MUA from the surface of a Au-core CeO-shell NP-based nanozyme studied for exhibiting multiple enzyme-like activities such as peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase.