Discotic liquid crystals are a new class of organic electronic materials, and most of these materials display hole-transporting properties. n-Type discotic materials with electro n-transporting properties are rare. Azatriphenylene is one of the most important discotic materials having similar structure to triphenylene derivatives. The introduction of nitrogen atom(s) into the molecular structure of azatriphenylene enhanced its electron affinity properties, making the azatriphenylene derivatives potential n-type organic semiconductors and important materials in terms of their application in optoelectronic devices. This paper reviews recent research progress towards the development of discotic azatriphenylene derivatives, provides discussion on their synthetic methodologies, and accesses their properties as well as their molecular structures such as di-azatriphenylene, tetra-azatriphenylene, and hexa-azatriphenylene. As potential n-type organic semiconductors, the prospective applications of the azatriphenylene materials in optoelectronic devices are explored.

A detailed reaction mechanism consisting of 287 species and 1569 reactions for gasoline surrogate fuels TRF (toluene reference fuels) with particular emphasis on the development of an accurate model for the formation of large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been researched and developed in this study. Four different types of reaction pathway for the growth of the PAHs were added to the new mechanism with the largest chemical species of this mechanism being pyrene (C₂₀H₁₂). Species, such as acetylene (C₂H₂), propargyl (C₃H₃), vinylacetylene (C₄H₄), and hydrocarbons with odd number of carbon atoms, such as cyclopentadienyl (C₅H₅) and indenyl (C₉H₇), played an important role in the formation and growth of PAH molecules, based on the analysis of PAH rate of production. This mechanism could be used to predict the ignition delay timing, mole fractions of several small important species, such as the PAH precursors C₂H₂ and C₃H₄, and mole fractions of the PAHs in the flames of the primary reference fuels (PRF) and TRF. Comparisons between the calculated and experimental results indicated the od predictability of this mechanism over a wide range of temperatures, pressures, and equivalence ratios. Results showthat this TRF mechanismcan be used to reliably predict the soot precursor PAHs.

Detailed chemical kinetic mechanisms were developed using the automatic mechanismgeneration software ReaxGen to describe the high-temperature combustion processes of n-heptane, n-decane, iso-octane, and n-dodecane, then semi-detailed and skeletal mechanisms were obtained using rate-of-production analysis and path flux analysis, respectively. Both the semi-detailed and skeletal mechanisms were validated against experimental ignition delay time, laminar flame speed, and the concentration profile of the important species over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. Finally, the major reaction pathways during the hightemperature combustion of these alkanes were illustrated using the reaction pathway analysis. Sensitivity analysis for ignition delay time was also carried out. The results indicated that the developed mechanisms provided a reliable description of the fuel auto-ignition characteristics, and therefore demonstrated that this method, which combines the ReaxGen and path flux analysis, could be used to reliably generate mechanisms for high-temperature combustion of other hydrocarbons.

A reduced chemical kinetic model including 20 reactions and 23 species devoted to the gasphase reaction of monomethylhydrazine/nitrogen tetroxide (MMH/NTO) mixtures is presented in this study. It was constructed strictly through the extension of the chemical kinetic and thermochemical parameters used to describe major reactions between MMH and NTO. This mechanism is capable of representing the low temperature auto-ignition and high-temperature combustion of a MMH/NTO bipropellant system. The constructed model was verified using computational and theoretical data from the literature. The od agreement shows that the reduced mechanism can give an accurate prediction of the ignition delay time and the equilibrium temperature of MMH/NTO mixtures over a broad range of initial temperatures and pressures. The mechanism can also reasonably describe the dependence of the MMH/NTO mixture ignition delay time on the initial pressure and the oxygen/fuel ratio. Additionally, important reactions for ignition have been identified through a sensitivity analysis. The influence of different initial pressures and NTO/MMH ratios on the auto-ignition and combustion of MMH/NTO mixtures was investigated. Results show that with an increase in initial pressure, the MMH/NTO ignition delay time decreases while the equilibrium temperature increases. When the NTO/MMH ratio increases within a certain range, the computational ignition delay time increases while the equilibrium temperature increases initially and then decreases.

Near-infrared plasmons in N-doped hexa nal graphene nanostructures were investigated using time-dependent density functional theory. Along a certain direction, N-doped hexa nal graphene nanostructures with a side length of 1 nm have more intense plasmon resonances throughout the nearinfrared spectral region. The electrons that participate in these near-infrared plasmon resonances oscillate back and forth between the center and edge regions of the hexa nal nanostructures. The formation of a near-infrared plasmon resonance mode depends on the nitrogen-doping position and the scale size of the graphene nanostructure. It is only when the nitrogen-doped location is close to the edge of the nanostructures, near-infrared plasmon resonance mode of the graphene nanostructure will be formed. For N-doped hexa nal graphene nanostructures with a side length of less than 1 nm, there is no plasmon resonance in the nearinfrared spectral region.

Using the classical Monte Carlo method and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, various stable adsorption configurations for the Ni/yttria-stabilized zirconia anode (Ni/YSZ) were predicted. Compared with previously reported results, more stable triple phase boundary structures were found. Based on these optimized configurations, charge transfer is discussed in detail, as O ion migration occurs where electron transfer from YSZ to Ni is important in describing the electrochemical reaction at the anodes of the solid oxide fuel cells. We thus analyzed the possible factors that affect the degree of electron transfer. The results indicate that a new electrochemical mechanism is at work in the Ni/YSZ system.

The reaction mechanism and rate constant of the H₂O₂+Cl reaction, with and without a single water molecule, was investigated theoretically at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ//B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ level of theory. The calculated results show that there is only one channel for the formation of HO₂+HCl in the naked H₂O₂+Cl reaction with an apparent activation energy of 10.21 kJ·mol^-1. When one water molecule is added, the product of the reaction does not change, but the potential energy surface of the reaction becomes complex, yielding three different channels RW1, RW2, and RW3. The single water molecule in the RW1 and RW2 reaction channels has a negative influence on reducing the reaction barrier for the formation of HO₂+HCl, whereas it has a positive influence in Channel RW3. Additionally, to estimate the importance of these processes in the atmosphere, their rate constants were evaluated using conventional transition state theory with the Wigner tunneling correction. The result shows that the rate constant for the naked H₂O₂+Cl reaction is 1.60×10^-13 cm³ ·molecule^-1 ·s^-1 at 298.2 K, which is in od agreement with experimental values. Although the rate constant of channel RW3 is predicted to be 46.6-131 times larger than that of the naked H₂O₂+Cl reaction, its effective rate constant is smaller by 10-14 orders of magnitude than that of the naked reaction, that is, for the H₂O₂ + Cl reaction the naked reaction almost exclusively occurs under tropospheric conditions.

The hybrid density functional theory (DFT) methods M062X and X3LYP with the TZVP and 6-311++G(2d, p)+LANL2DZ basis sets were used to calculate the complexes formed between fifteen proline (Pro) conformers and Zn^2+/1+/0. The geometrical structures, energetics, vibrational frequencies, and electronic structures were investigated in detail. We obtained 19, 21, and 24 stable complexes for Pro-Zn^2+/1+/0 at the four levels. The most stable Pro-Zn²⁺ structure was a four-membered ring with Zn²⁺ bound to both oxygen ends (OO) of the zwitterionic proline, and the next stable compound was a five-membered ring with Zn²⁺ coordinated to both the amino nitrogen and carbonyl oxygen (NO) of proline, but Zn⁺ showed opposite behavior. The relative energy difference and the deformation energy of coordinated Pro decreased gradually with a reduction in the charge number of Zn. The binding energy of the Pro-Zn^2+/1+/0 systems are in the -620 to -936, -139 to -325, and -1.5 to -22 kJ·mol^-1 ranges, respectively. The properties of the Pro-Zn²⁺ system were significantly different when using different methods and basis sets. Both cationic systems indicated some charge transfer from Pro to Zn. The energy difference values for the frontier orbitals of all the complexes are lower than those of the corresponding fragments.

Heterocyclic molecules play a crucial role in health care and in pharmaceutical drug design. A large number of drugs used in Western medical practice are heterocyclic molecules. In this study, a set of norm indexes of the extended distance matrix are proposed. From these a stable and accurate structureproperty relationship model was developed for the prediction of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor binding affinity (pEC₅₀) of dibenzofurans and the mutagenic potency (lnR) of aromatic and heteroaromatic amines. Our results indicate that the new model, based on these norm indexes, provides very satisfactory results, and that the average absolute differences for pEC₅₀ prediction and lnR prediction were 0.403 and 0.702 with r² (square correlation coefficient) values of 0.876 and 0.779, respectively. A comparison of these results with other methods demonstrates that our method, based only on the same mathematical model, performed better in terms of both accuracy and stability.

Folding rate prediction plays an important role in clarifying the protein folding mechanism. In this work, we collected 115 protein samples with known folding rates including two-, multi-, and mixed-state proteins. To characterize the primary structure information of the protein molecules more comprehensively, we considered sequence length, residue components with different scales, k-space features for pair residues, and geostatistics association features among different locations of the residues substituted with corresponding physical-chemical properties. Each protein sequence was represented by a numeric vector containing 9357 numbers. We selected 23 features with a clear meaning from the above-mentioned high-dimensional features for each sample, after conducting an improved binary matrix shuffling filter and a worst descriptor elimination multi-round method. We constructed a nonlinear support vector regression (SVR) model based on the folding rate and the 23 retained features. The correlation coefficient of the Jackknife cross validation was 0.95. Our prediction accuracy was superior to other results from the literature and other reference feature selection methods. Finally, we established an interpretability system for SVR, and our data showed that the nonlinear regression relationship between the folding rates and the reserved features was highly significant. By further analyzing the effects of each retained descriptor on protein folding rates, the results showed that the protein folding rate might be closely related to the sequence length, the features associated with the medium-and short-range, the triplet residues component features, etc.

The effects of HF treatment on the photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of sol-gel prepared hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) thin films were investigated. Pores and interstices between the grains developed on the film surface as the HF etching time increased. The photocurrent density of the α-Fe₂O₃ photoanode decreased within the first 5 min of etching, and then increased quickly as the etching time increased. At longer time than 15 min the photocurrent density deteriorated. Re-annealing the etched samples significantly enhanced the photocurrent density. Based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, we propose that two factors contribute to photocurrent density reversely: the porosity and the lowered crystallinity of the α-Fe₂O₃ surface because of HF treatment.Aschematic model was compiled to explain the enhanced PEC activities of the etched plus re-annealed α-Fe₂O₃ photoanode. The PEC and water splitting measurements showed that the etched plus re-annealed photoanode is more stable than the as-prepared one.

Mesoporous TiO₂ microspheres (MSs) were successfully synthesized by the direct hydrolysis of TiCl₄ in ethanol aqueous solution using cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as a template. X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed a rutile structure for TiO₂ in all the products. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the TiO₂ microspheres had an average diameter of 700 nm, and they were composed of packed nanoparticles that had a mean size of about 16 nm. Films with or without TiO₂ microspheres, as a scattering layer on top of the TiO₂ nanocrystalline layer, were prepared by the doctor-blade method. CdS/ CdSe quantum dots (QDs) were grown on films by chemical bath deposition (CBD) to form QD sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). Ultraviolet-visible and diffuse reflectance spectra showed that these micro-spherical structures were favorable for the deposition of QDs and a relatively higher light scattering effect was observed. This effectively enhanced light harvesting and led to an increase in the photocurrent of the QDSCs. As a result, a power conversion efficiency of 4.5% was obtained, which is 27.7% higher than that of QDSCs without scattering layers and 10.2% higher than that of QDSCs with traditional scattering layers composed of 20 and 400 nm TiO₂ solid particles. We attribute this improvement to their higher light scattering effect and longer electron lifetimes.

We report the synthesis of a novel multiwalled carbon nanotube-Na₃V₂(PO₄)₃ (MWCNT-NVP) composite with excellent electrochemical performance. The composite material was prepared by a hydrothermal process combined with a sol-gel method. The MWCNT-NVP composite consists of Na₃V₂(PO₄)₃ (NVP) and a small amount of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) (8.74%(w)). The MWCNTs were successfully dispersed between the NVP nanoparticles, which was confirmed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and served as a kind of "electronic wire". Electrochemical measurements show that the MWCNTNVP composite has enhanced capacity and cycling performance compared with pristine Na₃V₂(PO₄)₃. At a current rate of 0.2C (35.2 mA·g^-1), the initial reversible discharge capacity of the MWCNT-NVP was 82.2 mAh·g^-1, and 72.3 mAh·g^-1 was maintained after 100 cycles when cycled between 3.0 and 4.5 V. od cycling performance was also observed when cycling between 1.0 and 3.0 V. The initial reversible capacity was 100.6 mAh·g^-1 and the capacity retention was 90% after 100 cycles. Additionally, electrochemical AC impedance showed that the electronic conductivity of MWCNT-NVP was significantly improved in the presence of the MWCNTs. These results indicate that the MWCNT-NVP composite has outstanding properties, and is thus a promising alternative for lithium-ion batteries with relatively low lithium consumption.

For advanced performance lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) various novel electrode materials with high energy density have been extensively investigated. Cobaltosic oxide (Co₃O₄), commonly used as an anode in LIBs, has attracted much interest because of its high theoretical specific capacity (890 mAh·g^-1), high tap density, and stable chemical properties. However, its practical use has been hindered because of its low electronic conductivity and poor rate capability. To address these problems, we investigated a liquid phase precipitation method followed by thermal treatment and obtained a unique lamellar Co₃O₄ powder. Its X-ray diffraction (XRD) diffraction peaks match the standard pattern for cubic phase Co₃O₄ with od crystallinity. We found that the Co₃O₄ powder consists of many irregular sheets (1.5-3.0 μm in diameter, 100-300 nm in thickness) with numerous poles by scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM).Additionally, the surface area was about 30.5 m²·g^-1, and this was calculated from BET nitrogen adsorption isotherm measurement data. Remarkably, perfect performance was obtained as evaluated by electrochemical measurements, including a high initial discharge capacity (1444.5 mAh·g^-1 at 0.1C) and excellent capacity retention (charge capacity after 50 cycles was still greater than 1100.0 mAh·g^-1 at 0.1C). However, its rate capability was still not adequate (75.3% of the first charge capacity after 50 cycles at 1C). To improve the rate capability, commercial carbon nanotubes (CNTs) mixed with the Co₃O₄ powder was used to enhance the electronic conductivity. The charge capacity retention ratios were 96.3% after 70 cycles at 1C and 97.0% after 50 cycles at 2C. Therefore, enhanced electrochemical performance with impressive rate capability was obtained, as expected.

B/N co-doped porous carbons have been synthesized by heat treatment at different temperatures using asphaltene from coal liquefaction residue as a carbon precursor, nitric acid as a nitrogen source, H₃BO₃ as a boron source and a pore-forming agent. The influence of the heat treatment temperature on the porestructure and surface chemical properties was investigated, and the electrochemical performance in relation to the pore-structure and surface chemical properties was discussed. The crystal structure, morphology, porestructure, composition and electrochemical performance were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen adsorption, element analysis, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and an electrochemical workstation. The results of these analyses indicated that the crystal structure, pore-structure and surface properties were influenced significantly by the heat treatment process. Increases in the heat treatment temperature led to improvements in the degree of graphitization, as well as gradual increases in the boron content. In contrast, the nitrogen content decreased and the specific surface area and total pore volume increases gradually and then decline. The electrochemical performance was found to be dependent on the pore-structure and suitable surface chemical properties. The sample synthesized at 900 ℃ had a specific surface area of 1103 m²·g^-1, pore volume of 0.921 cm³·g^-1, nitrogen content of 5.256% (w), boron content of 1.703% (w), and a maximal specific capacitance of 349 F·g^-1 at 100 mA·g^-1 in 6 mol·L^-1 aqueous solution of KOH. The sample subjected to a heat treatment at 1000 ℃ had the best rate capability, with a capacity retention of 75% when the current density increased from 100 mA·g^-1 to 10 A·g^-1.

Current research on the effects of macromolecular hydrocolloids on sweetness is mainly focused on the properties of hydrocolloids and their texture-taste interactions. In this paper, the influence of two kinds of nonionic food hydrocolloids, Guar gum (GG) and Locust bean gum (LBG) on the taste of aspartame (APM) was studied. Sensory evaluation revealed high concentrations of GG and LBG significantly inhibited the sweetness intensity of APM, especially when their concentrations were higher than C^* (coil overlap concentration). The mechanism of this phenomenon was investigated using an artificial taste receptor model and isothermal titration calorimetry. The association constant for APM, determined by the artificial taste receptor model, decreased in the presence of GG and LBG. More bound water was found in GG and LBG with an increase in the hydrocolloid concentration, especially at higher than C^*. Additionally, water diffusion was hampered and this contributed to the lower sweetness intensity. We thus determined the influence of the hydrocolloid on the binding of sweeteners with the receptor, its water mobility as well as its diffusion behavior in the hydrocolloidal texture. The information obtained enables an understanding of the mechanism behind the effects of macromolecular hydrocolloids on taste.

The effects of different salts on the self-assembly of the carboxylate Gemini surfactant O,O'-bis (sodium 2-dodecylcarboxylate)-p-dibenzenediol (referred to as C₁₂φ₂C₁₂) were studied using dynamic light scattering measurements. The results showed that the addition of salts induced the transition of the networklike aggregates into two new aggregates with small (hydrodynamic radii R_h,app of several nanometers) and large (R_h,app>100 nm) sizes, which coexisted in solution. A solubilization test using a 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) probe confirmed that the small aggregates were spherical micelles with a core-shell structure. Rheological measurements suggested that the large aggregates were threadlike micelles. The aggregate transition was attributed to the instability of the initially formed network-like aggregates. The added counter-ions associated with the head-groups of C₁₂φ₂C₁₂, which destroyed the hydrophile-lipophile balance and resulted in the aggregate transition. The salt effect followed the order: MgCl₂>NaCl, Bu₄NBr>Me₄NBr>Et₄NBr>Pr₄NBr, where Bu₄NBr is special and not in the order of electrostatic attraction since it provides an additional force through the hydrophobic interaction of its butyls with the alkyl tails of C₁₂φ₂C₁₂.

ZSM-5-supported transition metal catalysts were prepared and used to catalyze the conversion of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) into methanethiol (MT). Test results indicated that the activities of the catalysts for the conversion of DMS increased as follows: Co/ZSM-5>Mo/ZSM-5>Ni/ZSM-5>W/ZSM-5. The decrease in MT selectivity followed the same trend. The characterization results showed that transition metal cations (W⁶⁺, Ni²⁺, Co³⁺, Mo⁶⁺) replaced some Al³⁺ sites leading to more active in chemiadsorption of DMS and MT since transition metal cations are more active than A^l3+. The incorporation of transition metals into ZSM-5 enhances the total acidity of ZSM-5 and increases its capacity to rupture C―S bonds. This subsequently improves its catalytic behavior in the conversion of DMS. We found that the metal active sites and closely situated acidic sites have a strong synergistic effect when converting DMS.

Cu/Zn/Al/(Zr)/(Y) hydrotalcite-like compounds with Cu:Zn:Al:Zr:Y atomic ratios of 2:1:1:0:0, 2:1: 0.8:0.2:0, 2:1:0.8:0:0.2, and 2:1:0.8:0.1:0.1 were prepared using the coprecipitation method. The mixed oxides were then obtained by the calcination of the precursors at 500 ℃ in air, and subsequently evaluated in terms of their catalytic performance for the synthesis of methanol from the hydrogenation of CO₂. The asprepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, N₂ adsorption, reactive N₂O adsorption, H₂ temperature-programmed reduction (H₂-TPR), and H₂/CO₂ temperature-programmed desorption (H₂/CO₂ TPD) techniques. The results of these analyses showed that the BET specific surface area increased significantly with the introduction of Zr and Y, which was related to the amount of H₂O and CO₂ evolved from the precursors during calcination. The Cu specific surface area and Cu dispersion properties increased in the order of Cu/Zn/Al2 revealed that the CO₂ conversion was dependent on the Cu specific surface area, and the CH₃OH selectivity increased linearly as the proportion of strongly basic sites increased. The introduction of Zr and Y therefore favored the production of methanol and the maximum CH₃OH yield was obtained over the Cu/Zn/Al/Zr/Y catalyst.

K-loaded aluminophosphates prepared by impregnation were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, N₂ adsorption, and NH₃ as well as CO₂ temperatureprogramed desorption (NH₃-TPD, CO₂-TPD). The results show that potassium was highly dispersed on the surface of the aluminophosphates. The amount of surface acidic and basic sites decreased upon adding a small amount of potassium. With an increase in potassium, the amount of surface acid sites decreased and the amount of surface base sites did not obviously change. Vapor-phase O-methylation of catechol with methanol was carried out to investigate the catalytic performance of the K-loaded aluminophosphates. Selectivity toward guaiacol obviously increased when a small amount of potassium was added. With an increase in the potassium content, selectivity toward guaiacol increased further and the conversion of catechol decreased. Combined with the characterization results, the surface weak acidic sites play an important role in improving the conversion of catechol and the surface weak basic sites are suitable for improving selectivity toward guaiacol.

Nitrogen-rich microporous carbon (NMC) was prepared by the carbonization of a melaminebased porous polymer (POP), which was synthesized via a Schiff base condensation using isophthalaldehyde and melamine as starting materials. N₂ adsorption-desorption and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were used to characterize the structural properties of POP and the derived NMC. NMC contains less functional groups and has a higher specific surface area and microporous volume compared to POP. NMC has a N content of up to 12.5% (w), as determined by elemental analysis. Single-component adsorption equilibrium isotherms of CO₂, CH₄, and N₂ on NMC were obtained using a volumetric method. NMC has a od CO₂ capture property and its CO₂ adsorption capacity was 2.34 mmol·g^-1 at 298 K and 100 kPa. Dual-site Langmuir (DSL) or single-site Langmuir (SSL) models appropriately describe the adsorption equilibrium behavior of CO₂, CH₄, and N₂ on NMC. Based on the combined fitting parameters, binary adsorption isotherms were predicted by ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST). Very high adsorption selectivities of CO₂ over N₂ and CH₄ were obtained and the values were 144.9 and 12.8, respectively.

MnO_x-CeO₂-WO₃-ZrO₂ catalysts were prepared by co-precipitation and calcined at various temperatures (500, 600, 700, and 800 ℃). The effect of calcination temperature on their performance in the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO with ammonia in the presence of O₂ and H₂O was investigated. The structural and physicochemical characterization of the catalysts were performed by N₂ adsorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), NH₃ temperature-programmed desorption (NH₃-TPD), and CO pulse reaction. The results show that the low temperature activity decreased with an increase in the calcination temperature, which is due to a decrease in the amount of surface chemisorbed oxygen and acid sites. As the calcination temperature increased the high temperature activity first increased and then decreased, which is contrary to the variation found for the most readily releasable oxygen on the catalyst surface. The catalyst calcined at 700 ℃ exhibited od low temperature activity and had the widest reaction temperature window. The light-off temperature (50% NO conversion) was 189 ℃ for this catalyst and the NO conversion was 80%-100% between 218 and 431 ℃ at a space velocity of 90000 h^-1.

Cobalt nanoparticles (NPs) supported on reduced graphene oxide (R ) were synthesized by a one-step in situ co-reduction of an aqueous solution of cobalt(Ⅱ) chloride and graphene oxide ( ) using ammonia borane (AB) as the sole reductant under ambient conditions. The as-synthesized Co/R catalysts exhibited high catalytic activity for the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of AB at room temperature. The assynthesized Co/R nanocatalysts exhibited much higher catalytic activity than the R -free Co counterpart. Compared with the nanocatalysts reduced by NaBH4, the Co/R nanocatalysts generated by the milder reductant AB exhibited superior catalytic activity. Moreover, kinetic studies indicate that the catalytic hydrolysis of AB by Co/R has zero order kinetics with respect to the substrate concentration. The hydrolysis activation energy is estimated to be about 27.10 kJ·mol^-1, which is lower than most reported data for the same reaction conusing non-noble metal catalysts and some noble metal containing catalysts. Furthermore, the R -supported Co NPs show od recyclability and magnetic reusability for hydrogen generation from an aqueous solution of AB, which enables the practical reuse of the catalysts. Hence, this general method indicates that AB can be used as both a potential hydrogen storage material and an efficient reducing agent, and can be easily extended to the facile preparation of other R -based metallic systems.

In this work, porous SiO₂ was added to the Pt-Pd/CeO₂-ZrO₂-Al₂O₃ (Pt-Pd/CZA) commercial diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) to improve its sulfur resistibility. The SiO₂/Pt-Pd/CeO₂-ZrO₂-Al₂O₃ (SiO₂/Pt-Pd/CZA) catalyst was prepared by surface coating porous SiO₂ onto the Pt-Pd/CZAmonolithic commercial DOC using a multilayer coating method. The as-prepared catalysts were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), H₂ temperature-programmed reduction (H₂-TPR), nitrogen adsorption-desorption, energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). SEM images show that the SiO₂ layer is porous and uniformly covers the surface of the catalyst. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm results imply that the texture properties of the as-added SiO₂ are similar to those of the Pt-Pd/CZA catalyst, and hence the specific surface area and pore structure of the Pt-Pd/CZA catalyst do not obviously change upon cladding with SiO₂. The H₂-TPR results imply that the reduction property of the Pt-Pd/CZA catalyst is not obviously affected by surface cladding with SiO₂. EDX spectroscopy and TGA results demonstrate that the formation and accumulation of sulfur-contained species on the Pt-Pd/CZA catalyst are suppressed by the SiO₂ surface coating. Finally, the as-prepared SiO₂/Pt-Pd/CZA catalyst efficiently retained its high catalytic performance and improved the sulfur resistance of the Pt-Pd/CZA commercial DOC.

Single-crystal BaSO₄ nanofibers and multi-architecture bundles were successfully synthesized in sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT)-based microemulsions containing K₂S₂O₈ and BaCl₂, in which the controlled release of SO₄^2-ions was realized in situ by the radiolytic reduction of S₂O₈^2-ions. The molar ratio of water to surfactant (ω values), the counterions of Ba²⁺, and the addition of aromatic compounds into the oil phase of the microemulsions were used to adjust the yield of hydrated electrons (e_aq^-). This allowed for controlling the reduction of S₂O₈^2- ions and the release of SO₄^2- ions, leading to the shape manipulation of BaSO₄ nanoparticle. With an increase in ω values or dose rate, the yield of e_aq^- increased, which led to a quicker release of SO₄^2- ions, and this did not favor the formation of BaSO₄ nanofibers. When BaCl₂ was replaced with Ba(NO₃)₂ the formation of nanofilaments became possible at a higher dose rate and a higher ω value, because NO₃-effectively decreased the yield of e_aq^- and the rate of S₂O₈^2- ion reduction. When toluene was added into the oil phase of the microemulsions, the excess electrons were effectively scavenged in the oil phase, and the concentration of e_aq^- in the water pool decreased. This favored the formation of nanofibers at higher dose rates. These results showed that the mechanism about morphology control by the yield of e_aq^- was verified in the syntheses of BaSO₄ nanoparticle.