Nanocatalyst degradation is a serious limiting factor for the commercialization of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Although the degradation has been extensively studied in the past through various ex situ electrochemical methods, employing an in situ technique can greatly improve our understanding of the mechanisms involved during the electrochemical cycling. In this work, we have employed an in situ liquid cell inside a TEM for a simultaneous investigation of the structural evolution and electrochemical response of Pt–Fe nanocatalysts. We demonstrate that the coarsening processes of these nanocatalyst particles, including the nucleation and growth, are not uniform, both in space and in time scale. The growth rate is found to be both site- and potential-dependent. Furthermore, these particles were found to exhibit considerably different behaviors when attached to an electrode as opposed to when isolated in the electrolyte. With Pt–Fe nanoalloy system as a candidate material, this work demonstrates that the in situ structural characterization of nanocatalysts under electrochemical bias and inside the native electrolyte environment provides much deeper insight into the catalyst degradation mechanisms as compared to the routine ex situ electrochemical studies.

Layered Na x MeO 2 (Me = transition metal) oxides, the most common electrode materials for sodium-ion batteries, fall into different phases according to their stacking sequences. Although the crystalline phase is well known to largely influence the electrochemical performance of these materials, the structure-property relationship is still not fully experimentally and theoretically understood. Herein, a couple consisting of P2-Na 0.62 Ti 0.37 Cr 0.63 O 2 and P3-Na 0.63 Ti 0.37 Cr 0.63 O 2 materials having nearly the same compositions is reported. The atomic crystal structures and charge compensation mechanism are confirmed by atomic-scale characterizations in the layered P2 and P3 structures, respectively, and notably, the relationship of the crystal structure-electrochemical performance is well defined in the layered P-type structures for the first time in this paper. The electrochemical results suggest that the P2 phase exhibits a better rate capability and cycling stability than the P3 phase. Density functional theory calculations combined with a galvanostatic intermittent titration technique indicates that the P2 phase shows a lower Na diffusion barrier in the presence of multi-Na vacancies, accounting for the better rate capability of the P2 phase. Our results reveal the relationship between the crystal structure and the electrochemical properties in P-type layered sodium oxides, demonstrating the potential for future electrode advancements for applications in sodium-ion batteries. INTRODUCTIONTo smoothly integrate renewable energy into a smart grid system, an inexpensive and efficient energy storage device is urgently needed for large-scale applications. 1 The increasing costs and limited availability of lithium suggest that an alternative to lithium-ion batteries should be developed to meet the demands of large-scale energy storage. [2][3][4][5][6] Rechargeable sodium-ion batteries have chemical storage mechanisms similar to their lithium-ion counterparts and are expected to be low cost and chemically sustainable as a result of an almost infinite supply of sodium. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Meanwhile, the feasible replacement of Cu with Al current collectors (an alloying reaction does not occur between Na and Al) will further reduce the substantial costs and weight for nextgeneration batteries.Layered sodium oxide Na x MeO 2 (Me = 3d transition metal) materials, owing to their large specific capacity and reversible insertion/

The determination of the atomic structure and the retrieval of information about reconstruction and bonding of metal oxide surfaces is challenging owing to the highly defective structure and insulating properties of these surfaces. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) offers extremely high spatial resolution (less than one ångström) and the ability to provide systematic information from both real and reciprocal space. However, very few TEM studies have been carried out on surfaces because the information from the bulk dominates the very weak signals originating from surfaces. Here we report an experimental approach to extract surface information effectively from a thickness series of electron energy-loss spectra containing different weights of surface signals, using a wedge-shaped sample. Using the (001) surface of the technologically important compound strontium titanate, SrTiO(3) (refs 4-6), as a model system for validation, our method shows that surface spectra are sensitive to the atomic reconstruction and indicate bonding and crystal-field changes surrounding the surface Ti cations. Very good agreement can be achieved between the experimental surface spectra and crystal-field multiplet calculations based on the proposed atomic surface structure optimized by density functional calculations. The distorted TiO(6-x) units indicated by the proposed model can be viewed directly in our high-resolution scanning TEM images. We suggest that this approach be used as a general method to extract valuable spectroscopic information from surface atoms in parallel with high-resolution images in TEM.

Nanoporous bioglass containing silver (n-BGS) was fabricated using the sol-gel method, with cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide as template. The results showed that n-BGS with nanoporous structure had a surface area of 467 m 2 /g and a pore size of around 6 nm, and exhibited a significantly higher water absorption rate compared with BGS without nanopores. The n-BGS containing small amounts of silver (Ag) had a slight effect on its surface area. The n-BGS containing 0.02 wt% Ag, without cytotoxicity, had a good antibacterial effect on Escherichia coli, and its antibacterial rate reached 99% in 12 hours. The n-BGS's clotting ability significantly decreased prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), indicating n-BGS with a higher surface area could significantly promote blood clotting (by decreasing clotting time) compared with BGS without nanopores. Effective hemostasis was achieved in skin injury models, and bleeding time was reduced. It is suggested that n-BGS could be a good dressing, with antibacterial and hemostatic properties, which might shorten wound bleeding time and control hemorrhage.

Quantum nanomagnets exhibit collective quantum behaviors beyond the usual long range ordered states due to the interplay of low dimension, competing interactions and strong quantum fluctuations. Despite numerous theoretical works treating quantum magnetism, the experimental study of individual quantum nanomagnets remains very challenge, greatly hindering the development of this cutting-edge field. Here, we demonstrate an effective strategy to realize individual quantum nanomagnets in metal-free porphyrins by using combined onsurface synthesis and atom manipulation approaches, with the ultimate ability to arrange coupled spins one by one as envisioned by Richard Feynman 60 years ago. A series of metalfree porphyrin nanomagnets have been constructed on Au(111) and their collective magnetic properties have been thoroughly characterized on the atomic scale by scanning probe microscopy together with theoretical calculations. Our results reveal that the constructed S=1/2 antiferromagnets host a gapped excitation in consistent with isotropic Heisenberg antiferromagnets S=1/2 model, while the S=1 antiferromagnets with odd-number units exhibit two zero-mode end states due to quantum fluctuations. Our achieved strategy not only provides a unique testing bed to study the strongly correlated effects of quantum magnetism in purely organic materials, but expands the functionalities of porphyrins with implications for quantum technological applications.

No abstract

No abstract

The interfacial sites of metal-support interface have been considered to be limited to the atomic region of metal/support perimeter, despite their high importance in catalysis. By using single-crystal surface and nanocrystal as model catalysts, we now demonstrate that the overgrowth of atomic-thick Cu2O on metal readily creates a two-dimensional (2D) microporous interface with Pd to enhance the hydrogenation catalysis. With the hydrogenation confined within the 2D Cu2O/Pd interface, the catalyst exhibits outstanding activity and selectivity in the semi-hydrogenation of alkynes. Alloying Cu(0) with Pd under the overlayer is the major contributor to the enhanced activity due to the electronic modulation to weaken the H adsorption. Moreover, the boundary or defective sites on the Cu2O overlayer can be passivated by terminal alkynes, reinforcing the chemical stability of Cu2O and thus the catalytic stability toward hydrogenation. The deep understanding allows us to extend the interfacial sites far beyond the metal/support perimeter and provide new vectors for catalyst optimization through 2D interface interaction.