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Very-Low-Frequency (VLF) transmitters operate worldwide mostly at frequencies of 10-30 kilohertz for submarine communications. While it has been of intense scientific interest and practical importance to understand whether VLF transmitters can affect the natural environment of charged energetic particles, for decades there remained little direct observational evidence that revealed the effects of these VLF transmitters in geospace. Here we report a radially bifurcated electron belt formation at energies of tens of kiloelectron volts (keV) at altitudes of ~0.8-1.5 Earth radii on timescales over 10 days. Using Fokker-Planck diffusion simulations, we provide quantitative evidence that VLF transmitter emissions that leak from the Earth-ionosphere waveguide are primarily responsible for bifurcating the energetic electron belt, which typically exhibits a single-peak radial structure in near-Earth space. Since energetic electrons pose a potential danger to satellite operations, our findings demonstrate the feasibility of mitigation of natural particle radiation environment.

Naturally occurring chorus emissions are a class of electromagnetic waves found in the space environments of the Earth and other magnetized planets. They play an essential role in accelerating high-energy electrons forming the hazardous radiation belt environment. Chorus typically occurs in two distinct frequency bands separated by a gap. The origin of this two-band structure remains a 50-year old question. Here we report, using NASA's Van Allen Probe measurements, that banded chorus waves are commonly accompanied by two separate anisotropic electron components. Using numerical simulations, we show that the initially excited single-band chorus waves alter the electron distribution immediately via Landau resonance, and suppress the electron anisotropy at medium energies. This naturally divides the electron anisotropy into a low and a high energy components which excite the upper-band and lower-band chorus waves, respectively. This mechanism may also apply to the generation of chorus waves in other magnetized planetary magnetospheres.

Designing highly active oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts is crucial to boost the fuel cell economy. Previous research has mainly focused on Pt-based alloy catalysts in which surface Pt is the solely active site and the activity improvement was challenged by the discovered scaling relationship. Herein we report a new concept of utilizing dual active sites for the ORR and demonstrate its effectiveness by synthesizing a SnO x/Pt-Cu-Ni heterojunctioned catalyst. A maximum of 40% enhancement in the apparent specific activity, which corresponds to 10-fold enhancement on interface sites, is measured compared with pure Pt-Cu-Ni. Detailed investigations suggest an altered dual-site cascade mechanism wherein the first two steps occur on SnO x sites and the remaining steps occur on adjacent Pt sites, allowing a significant decrease in the energy barrier. This study with the suggested dual-site cascade mechanism shows the potential to overcome the ORR energy barrier bottleneck to develop highly active catalysts.

Designing highly active oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts is crucial to boost the fuel cell economy. Previous research has mainly focused on Pt-based alloy catalysts in which surface Pt is the solely active site and the activity improvement was challenged by the discovered scaling relationship. Herein we report a new concept of utilizing dual active sites for the ORR and demonstrate its effectiveness by synthesizing a SnO x/Pt-Cu-Ni heterojunctioned catalyst. A maximum of 40% enhancement in the apparent specific activity, which corresponds to 10-fold enhancement on interface sites, is measured compared with pure Pt-Cu-Ni. Detailed investigations suggest an altered dual-site cascade mechanism wherein the first two steps occur on SnO x sites and the remaining steps occur on adjacent Pt sites, allowing a significant decrease in the energy barrier. This study with the suggested dual-site cascade mechanism shows the potential to overcome the ORR energy barrier bottleneck to develop highly active catalysts.

Understanding the growth pathway of faceted alloy nanoparticles at the atomic level is crucial to morphology control and property tuning. Yet, it remains a challenge due to complexity of the growth process and technical limits of modern characterization tools. We report a combinational use of multiple cutting-edge in situ techniques to study the growth process of octahedral Pt3Ni nanoparticles, which reveal the particle growth and facet formation mechanisms. Our studies confirm the formation of octahedral Pt3Ni initiates from Pt nuclei generation, which is followed by continuous Pt reduction that simultaneously catalyzes Ni reduction, resulting in mixed alloy formation with moderate elemental segregation. Carbon monoxide molecules serve as a facet formation modulator and induce Ni segregation to the surface, which inhibits the (111) facet growth and causes the particle shape to evolve from a spherical cluster to an octahedron as the (001) facet continues to grow.

Amidst the global pursuit of clean and sustainable energy, the transition towards a hydrogen economy holds immense promise, yet is encumbered by significant storage challenges. Liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) electrochemistry emerges as a promising solution to enable efficient and sustainable hydrogen storage, meanwhile broadening the horizons of LOHCs for use as clean, renewable, and intense energy carriers to store and generate electricity. In this perspective, we embark on a review of recent trends and progress in LOHC redox electrochemistry, properties, and applications. We categorize electrochemically active, regenerable LOHCs into alcohols, amines, aromatic compounds, aminoxyl species, and others, based on their functional groups, with a keen emphasis on their electrochemical properties. Our examination of electrochemically redoxable LOHCs, with a particular focus on secondary alcohols such as isopropanol and cyclohexanol, primary amines such as ethylamine, aromatic compounds such as quinones, and aminoxyl species such as TEMPO, unveils their vast potential across diverse applications including ambient hydrogen storage, regenerative fuel cells for electricity generation, and rechargeable batteries and flow batteries for intensive electricity storage. Through this exploration, we discern promising avenues for advancing sustainable hydrogen and energy storage solutions by harnessing the diverse capabilities of different LOHC categories, thus paving the way towards a greener and more resilient energy landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photo-enhanced electrocatalytic method of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) shows promise for enhancing the effectiveness of clear energy generation through water splitting by using renewable and sustainable source of energy. However, despite benefits of photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) water splitting, its uses are constrained by its low efficiency as a result of charge carrier recombination, a large overpotential, and sluggish reaction kinetics. Here, we illustrate that Nickel telluride (NiTe) synthesized by hydrothermal methods can function as an extremely effective photo-coupled electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (POER) catalyst. In this study, NiTe was synthesized by hydrothermal method at 145°C within just an hour of reaction time. In dark conditions, the NiTe deposited on carbon cloth substrate shows a small oxygen evolution reaction overpotential (261 mV) at a current density of 10 mA cm-2, a reduced Tafel slope (65.4 mV dec-1), and negligible activity decay after 12 h of chronoamperometry. By virtue of its enhanced photo response, excellent light harvesting ability, and increased interfacial kinetics of charge separation, the NiTe electrode under simulated solar illumination displays exceptional photoelectrochemical performance exhibiting overpotential of 165 mV at current density of 10 mA cm-2, which is about 96 mV less than on dark conditions. In addition, Density Functional Theory investigations have been carried out on the NiTe surface, the results of which demonstrated a greater adsorption energy for intermediate -OH on the catalyst site. Since the -OH adsorption on the catalyst site correlates to catalyst activation, it indicates the facile electrocatalytic activity of NiTe owing to favorable catalyst activation. DFT calculations also revealed the facile charge density redistribution following intermediate -OH adsorption on the NiTe surface. This work demonstrates that arrays of NiTe elongated nanostructure are a promising option for both electrochemical and photoelectrocatalytic water oxidation and offers broad suggestions for developing effective PEC devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnonic crystals with artificial micro/nanomagnetic pattern act as low‐loss information carriers in many microwave devices. The excitation and control of spin waves inside is essential and fundamental in magnonic crystal applications. Herein, permalloy micro‐disk patterns are constructed on a continuous permalloy film, and they succeed in exciting spin waves in this bilayer‐structured magnonic crystal. The spin‐wave modes can be effectively tuned by varying the periodic parameter (P) of upper‐layer disk pattern, which is confirmed by the transition from single‐peak to multi‐peak in ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectra with P decreased from 4 to 0.5 μm. The split in FMR spectra is reconstructed by micromagnetic simulation, revealing that three spin‐wave modes are respectively excited by the domain walls of below‐layer continuous film, geometrical restriction of permalloy micro‐disk, and magnetic coupling between neighboring permalloy micro‐disks. The tunable spin‐wave behavior in this bilayer‐structured magnonic crystal presents broad application prospect in programmable spintronic devices at micro/nanoscale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To eliminate the interference of calcium phosphate on the determination of calcium carbonate in reconstituted tobacco and to develop an accurate method for determining the mass percentage of calcium carbonate, CO2 was applied to react with calcium carbonate in reconstituted tobacco samples to form water-soluble calcium bicarbonate. Following the treatment, the variation of calcium ion concentration after CO2 treatment was determined by ion chromatography to analyze the mass percentage of calcium carbonate. The feasibility of the method was verified based on the repeatability, recovery, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantification (LOQ) . The results showed that: 1) Calcium carbonate could be separated from calcium phosphate by CO2 treatment, and the mass percentage of calcium carbonate in the reconstituted tobacco samples could be accurately determined using three different pretreatment methods. 2) This method showed better repeatability and recovery with a relative standard deviation(RSD, n=5) of 2.69% and recoveries in the range of 95%-102%. The LOD and LOQ were 0.12% and 0.39%, respectively. 3) The variation of the mass percentage of calcium carbonate in different reconstituted tobacco samples was large and varied from 2% to 4% in five reconstituted tobacco samples. In conclusion, this method was convenient, rapid, and suitable for accurate determination of the mass percentage of calcium carbonate in reconstituted tobacco and other complex calcium salt reconstituted tobacco systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]