Nitrogen fixation is one of the most important issues but a long-standing challenge in chemistry. Here, we propose FeN3-embedded graphene as the catalyst for nitrogen fixation from first-principles calculations. Results show that in view of the chemical coordination, the FeN3 center is highly spin-polarized with a localized magnetic moment substantially to promote N2 adsorption and activate its inert N-N triple bond. The synergy between the graphene and FeN3 equips the system with novel features for the catalytic conversion of the activated N2 into NH3 via a six-proton and six-electron process, following three possible reaction pathways at room temperature. Our findings provide a rational paradigm for catalytic nitrogen fixation that would be conducive to ammonia production.
By using 7 years optical auroral observations obtained at Yellow River Station (magnetic latitude 76.24°N) at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, we performed the first extensive survey for the dayside diffuse auroras (DDAs) and acquired observational results as follows.(1) The DDAs can be classified into two broad categories, i.e., unstructured and structured DDAs. The unstructured DDAs are mainly distributed in morning and afternoon, but the structured DDAs predominantly occurred around the magnetic local noon (MLN). (2) The unstructured DDAs observed in morning and afternoon present obviously different properties. The afternoon ones are much stable and seldom show pulsating property. (3) The DDAs are more easily observed under geomagnetically quiet times. (4) The structured DDAs mainly show patchy, stripy, and irregular forms and are often pulsating and drifting. The drifting directions are mostly westward (with speed ~5 km/s), but there are cases showing eastward or poleward drifting. ( 5) The stripy DDAs are exclusively observed near the MLN and, most importantly, their alignments are confirmed to be consistent with the direction of ionospheric convection near the MLN. (6) A new auroral form, called throat aurora, is found to be developed from the stripy DDAs. Based on the observational results and previous studies, we proposed our explanations to the DDAs. We suggest that the unstructured DDAs observed in the morning are extensions of the nightside diffuse aurora to the dayside, but that observed in the afternoon are predominantly caused by proton precipitations. The structured DDAs occurred near the MLN are caused by interactions of cold plasma structures, which are supposed to be originated from the ionospheric outflows or plasmaspheric drainage plumes, with hot electrons from the plasma sheet. We suppose that the cold plasma structures for producing the patchy DDAs are in lumpy and are more likely from the plasmaspheric drainage plumes. The cold plasma structure for producing the stripy DDAs should be in wedge like and is generated by conveying the cold plasmas from lower L-shell toward higher L-shell with magnetospheric convection, and that for producing the irregular DDAs is resulted from deforming the wedge-like structure by disturbance. The throat aurora is supposed to be projection of a newly opened flux of reconnection. In addition, we also found that structured DDAs correspond to structured electron precipitations in the ionosphere, which implies that the cold plasma structures in the magnetosphere are magnetically mapped to the ionosphere and act as a duct for producing the structured DDAs. We argue that we have presented some new observational results about DDA in this paper, which will be useful for fully understanding the DDAs.
Nitrogen-doped graphene (N-graphene) has attractive properties that has been widely studied over the years. However, its possible formation process still remains unclear. Here, we propose a highly feasible formation mechanism of the graphitic-N doing in thermally treated graphene with ammonia by performing ab initio molecular dynamic simulations at experimental conditions. Results show that among the commonly native point defects in graphene, only the single vacancy 5–9 and divacancy 555–777 have the desirable electronic structures to trap N-containing groups and to mediate the subsequent dehydrogenation processes. The local structure of the defective graphene in combining with the thermodynamic and kinetic effect plays a crucial role in dominating the complex atomic rearrangement to form graphitic-N which heals the corresponding defect perfectly. The importance of the symmetry, the localized force field, the interaction of multiple trapped N-containing groups, as well as the catalytic effect of the temporarily formed bridge-N are emphasized, and the predicted doping configuration agrees well with the experimental observation. Hence, the revealed mechanism will be helpful for realizing the targeted synthesis of N-graphene with reduced defects and desired properties.
This article reviews the state-of-the-art in the hydroprocessing of microalgae-based biofuels, catalyst development, and the effect of process parameters on hydrotreated algal fuels.
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