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Atomically thin two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have been regarded as ideal and promising nanomaterials that bring broad application prospects in extensive fields due to their ultrathin layered structure, unique electronic band structure, and multiple spatial phase configurations. TMDCs with different phase structures exhibit great diversities in physical and chemical properties. By regulating the phase structure, their properties would be modified to broaden the application fields. In this mini review, focusing on the most widely concerned molybdenum dichalcogenides (MoX2: X = S, Se, Te), we summarized their phase structures and corresponding electronic properties. Particularly, the mechanisms of phase transformation are explained, and the common methods of phase regulation or phase stabilization strategies are systematically reviewed and discussed. We hope the review could provide guidance for the phase regulation of molybdenum dichalcogenides nanomaterials, and further promote their real industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous development of the Internet financial industry, its impact on people's daily life is growing. Under the influence of the information technology and the financial innovation, the volatility of the financial market has been significantly enhanced, and the financial risk has become increasingly serious. The COVID-19 in 2020 still has a profound impact on the global financial market. The reasonable measurement of the financial risks is the most important step in the financial risk management. Based on the sample analysis of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index from January 3, 2013 to June 30, 2020, this paper measures the risks by analyzing and calculating the value at risk (VaR) of the sample data by different methods. This paper mainly establishes the ARMA model, the GARCH model based on bayese statistics, and the POT model based on the extreme value theory, and compares and analyzes the VaR values obtained by the three models. Finally, the effectiveness of VaR is tested by VaR backtracking test, and the advantages and disadvantages of the methods are compared and evaluated.

Because of the linear dispersion relation and the unique structure of graphene’s Dirac electrons, which can be tuned the ultra-wide band, this enables more applications in photonics, electronics and plasma optics. As a substrate, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) has an atomic level flat surface without dangling bonds, a weak doping effect and a response in the far ultraviolet area. So the graphene/h-BN heterostructure is very attractive due to its unique optical electronics characteristics. Graphene and h-BN which are stacked in different ways could open the band gap of graphene, and form a moiré pattern for graphene on h-BN and the superlattice in the Brillouin zone, which makes it possible to build photoelectric devices.

The long–term stability of proton conductors is one of the most important factors in evaluating materials. Guest molecules can act as "bridges" for proton conduction channels and reside in the channels of covalent organic frameworks, but they are prone to leakage. Therefore, it is important to develop proton conductors with intrinsic proton conductivity. In this paper, we synthesized an intrinsically sulfonated covalent organic framework, TpPa–SO3H, which has a more stable proton conducting performance than that of TpPa@H2SO4 by loading guest molecules. Meanwhile, the proton conductivity of TpPa–SO3H was further improved by coating a superabsorbent polymer through an in situ reaction to obtain PANa@TpPa–SO3H (PANa: sodium polyacrylate). As a result, the modified composite exhibits an ultrahigh proton conductivity of 2.33 × 10−1 S cm−1 at 80 °C under 95% relative humidity (RH). The stability of PANa@TpPa–SO3H makes it an efficient proton transport platform with excellent proton conductivity and long–term durability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrocatalytic water splitting, as a sustainable, pollution-free and convenient method of hydrogen production, has attracted the attention of researchers. However, due to the high reaction barrier and slow four-electron transfer process, it is necessary to develop and design efficient electrocatalysts to promote electron transfer and improve reaction kinetics. Tungsten oxide-based nanomaterials have received extensive attention due to their great potential in energy-related and environmental catalysis. To maximize the catalytic efficiency of catalysts in practical applications, it is essential to further understand the structure–property relationship of tungsten oxide-based nanomaterials by controlling the surface/interface structure. In this review, recent methods to enhance the catalytic activities of tungsten oxide-based nanomaterials are reviewed, which are classified into four strategies: morphology regulation, phase control, defect engineering, and heterostructure construction. The structure–property relationship of tungsten oxide-based nanomaterials affected by various strategies is discussed with examples. Finally, the development prospects and challenges in tungsten oxide-based nanomaterials are discussed in the conclusion. We believe that this review provides guidance for researchers to develop more promising electrocatalysts for water splitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interfacial atomic configuration plays a vital role in the structural stability and functionality of nanocomposites composed of metal nanoparticles (NPs) and two−dimensional semiconductors. In situ transmission electron microscope (TEM) provides a real−time technique to observe the interface structure at atomic resolution. Herein, we loaded bimetallic NiPt truncated octahedral NPs (TONPs) on MoS2 nanosheets and constructed a NiPt TONPs/MoS2 heterostructure. The interfacial structure evolution of NiPt TONPs on MoS2 was in situ investigated using aberration−corrected TEM. It was observed that some NiPt TONPs exhibited lattice matching with MoS2 and displayed remarkable stability under electron beam irradiation. Intriguingly, the rotation of an individual NiPt TONP can be triggered by the electron beam to match the MoS2 lattice underneath. Furthermore, the coalescence kinetics of NiPt TONPs can be quantitatively described by the relationship between neck radius (r) and time (t), expressed as rn = Kt. Our work offers a detailed analysis of the lattice alignment relationship of NiPt TONPs on MoS2, which may enlighten the design and preparation of stable bimetallic metal NPs/MoS2 heterostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructing a heterogeneous interface using different components is one of the effective measures to achieve the bifunctionality of nanocatalysts, while synergistic interactions between multiple interfaces can further optimize the performance of single-interface nanocatalysts. The non-precious metal nanocatalysts MoS2/NiSe2/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) bilayer sandwich-like nanostructure with multiple well-defined interfaces is prepared by a simple hydrothermal method. MoS2 and rGO are layered nanostructures with clear boundaries, and the NiSe2 nanoparticles with uniform size are sandwiched between both layered nanostructures. This multiple-interfaced sandwich-like nanostructure is prominent in catalytic water splitting with low overpotential for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and almost no degradation in performance after a 20 h long-term reaction. In order to simulate the actual overall water splitting process, the prepared nanostructures are assembled into MoS2/NiSe2/rGO||MoS2/NiSe2/rGO modified two-electrode system, whose overpotential is only 1.52 mV, even exceeded that of noble metal nanocatalyst (Pt/C||RuO2~1.63 mV). This work provides a feasible idea for constructing multi-interface bifunctional electrocatalysts using nanoparticle-doped bilayer-like nanostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Highly uniform and well-aligned one-dimensional Ni nanochains with controllable diameters, including 33, 78, and 120 nm, have been synthesized by applying an external magnetic field without any surface modifying agent. The formation can be explained by the interactions of magnetic dipoles in the presence of applied magnetic field. Magnetic measurements demonstrate that the shape anisotropy dominates the magnetic anisotropy. The demagnetization factor, ∆N, is in the range of 0.23–0.36.

Li et al. [[3]] fabricated a CoFe SB 2 sb O SB 4 sb /g-C SB 3 sb N SB 4 sb composite catalyst with CoFe SB 2 sb O SB 4 sb particles supported on the flaky g-C SB 3 sb N SB 4 sb using a scalable facile method. However, currently, Li-S batteries suffer from low volumetric energy density and poor cycling stability due to the intrinsic low conductivity of sulfur and its discharge product, lithium polysulfide shuttle effect, and so on. Developing efficient and low-cost energy conversion and storage devices and technologies is all-important issue in order to achieve a low-carbon society, whose performance essentially depends on the properties of materials. Zhao et al. [[8]] designed a single-atom catalyst Au/WSSe by filling the single Au atom at the S vacancy site in the Janus WSSe monolayer. [Extracted from the article]

Controllable synthesis of carbon nanostructures is expected to achieve high electrical, optical, and mechanical performance for various applications. Despite great progress in this field, controllable synthesis of carbon nanostructures, i.e., graphite shells (GSs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), is still demanded to be deeply revealed. Here, a strategy is demonstrated to achieve GSs and bamboo CNTs by regulating the interface interaction via in situ pyrolysis of Co phthalocyanine (CoPc) in an environmental transmission electron microscopy (ETEM) at atomic resolution. The results indicate that the catalyst involves the nucleation, combination, and reconstruction of Co/Co3C, the growth modes of the carbon, i.e., base‐growth or tip‐growth, and nanostructures are dependent on the interface interaction between catalyst and substrate controlled by temperature. High temperature favors tip‐growth of bamboo CNTs with larger catalyst nanoparticles (NPs) (≈20 nm), while low temperature favors the base‐growth of GSs with smaller NPs (≈10 nm). The average growth rate of 131.3 nm s−1 at 850 °C is about 60 times compared with that at 750 °C. The work provides a comprehensive understanding of distinct growth mode of GSs and CNTs at different temperatures, which would be valuable for the controllable growth of carbon nanostructures by catalyst design and engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important member of the IVA–VIA group compounds, 2D SnSe2 has emerged as a perfect platform for developing diverse applications, especially in high‐performance optoelectronic devices and data storage, etc. However, the bottom‐up synthesis of large‐area uniform, atomically thin SnSe2 crystals with controlled thicknesses has not yet been realized. Herein, we report the large‐area uniform growth of monolayer (1L), bilayer (2L), and few‐layer (FL) 1T‐SnSe2 single‐crystal flakes on mica substrates via a facile chemical vapor deposition (CVD) route. The feeding amount of Sn precursor and flow rate of hydrogen carrier are found to be the key parameters for the thickness‐controlled growth of uniform SnSe2 flakes. More intriguingly, obvious second harmonic generation (SHG) is revealed in the retained inversion symmetry structure of 1T‐SnSe2, with its intensity showing linear dependence with the thickness from monolayer to multilayers. The new findings reported herein should pave the ways for the thickness‐tunable growth of atomically thin SnSe2 crystals, and their unique optical property explorations and applications in nonlinear optics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient and durable catalysts are crucial for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The discovery of the high OER catalytic activity in Ni12P5 has attracted a great deal of attention recently. Herein, the microscopic mechanism of OER on the surface of Ni12P5 is studied using density functional theory calculations (DFT) and ab initio molecular dynamics simulation (AIMD). Our results demonstrate that the H2O molecule is preferentially adsorbed on the P atom instead of on the Ni atom, indicating that the nonmetallic P atom is the active site of the OER reaction. AIMD simulations show that the dissociation of H from the H2O molecule takes place in steps; the hydrogen bond changes from Oa-H⋯Ob to Oa⋯H-Ob, then the hydrogen bond breaks and an H+ is dissociated. In the OER reaction on nickel phosphides, the rate-determining step is the formation of the OOH group and the overpotential of Ni12P5 is the lowest, thus showing enhanced catalytic activity over other nickel phosphides. Moreover, we found that the charge of Ni and P sites has a linear relationship with the adsorption energy of OH and O, which can be utilized to optimize the OER catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two‐dimensional (2D) materials exhibit unique electronic, optical, magnetic, mechanical, and thermal properties due to their special crystal structure and thus have promising potential in many fields, such as in electronics and optoelectronics. To realize their real applications, especially in integrated devices, the growth of large‐size single crystal is a prerequisite. Up to now, the most feasible way to achieve 2D single crystal growth is the epitaxy: growth of 2D materials of one or more specific orientations with single‐crystal substrate. Only when the 2D domains have the same orientation, they can stitch together seamlessly and single‐crystal 2D films can be obtained. In this view, four different epitaxy modes of 2D materials on various substrates are presented, including van der Waals epitaxy, edge epitaxy, step‐guided epitaxy, and in‐plane epitaxy focusing on the growth of graphene, hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN), and transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC). The lattice symmetry relation and the interaction between 2D materials and the substrate are the key factors determining the epitaxy behaviors and thus are systematically discussed. Finally, the opportunities and challenges about the epitaxy of 2D single crystals in the future are summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanostructured graphitic‐layer‐materials with precise control of the layer‐nanostructure, are known to surpass many benchmarks in electrical, optical, and mechanical properties. The development of such controlled synthesis is, however, stalled by the difficulty in tracking the exact growth mechanism and dynamics of the layer‐structure. Herein, the growth mechanism of onion‐like graphitic‐layer‐structures with an atomic precision is revealed by pyrolysis in an aberration‐corrected environmental transmission electron microscopy (ETEM). Specifically, the time‐evolution of cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc), bearing better contact between carbon atoms and metamorphosizing a graphitization‐catalyst, at 850°C in an ETEM are tracked to an intriguing Co‐Co3C nanocore enveloped by several graphitic layers. The growth dynamics of this onion‐like graphitic shell comprises, rather unexpectedly, out‐diffusion of carbon atoms from the core to fuel the growth of new outermost shell‐layers, plus lateral/inwards and intrashell/intershell diffusion of carbon atoms to amend shell‐defects. Thus, unusual dynamics of seemingly contracting shell‐expansion and shell‐consolidation is revealed, with the surprising phenomenon of a decrease in the number of atomic shell‐layers in exchange for layer‐perfectness towards the end of the controlled synthesis. These results indicate pyrolysis of an organometallic compound in an ETEM is a paradigm for understanding and developing controlled synthesis of novel high‐quality graphitic‐layer‐materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The successful synthesis of one-dimensional (1D) nanoribbons of nickel hydroxide, based on the treatment of freshly precipitated nickel hydroxide with high concentrations of nickel sulfate, crystallized in a new phase is reported. The nanoribbons are very pure single crystals that can be used for studying the physical and chemical properties of 1D nanostructured electrode materials.