48 research outputs found
Atomically dispersed Pt-N-4 sites as efficient and selective electrocatalysts for the chlorine evolution reaction
Chlorine evolution reaction (CER) is a critical anode reaction in chlor-alkali electrolysis. Although precious metal-based mixed metal oxides (MMOs) have been widely used as CER catalysts, they suffer from the concomitant generation of oxygen during the CER. Herein, we demonstrate that atomically dispersed Pt-N-4 sites doped on a carbon nanotube (Pt-1/CNT) can catalyse the CER with excellent activity and selectivity. The Pt-1/CNT catalyst shows superior CER activity to a Pt nanoparticle-based catalyst and a commercial Ru/Ir-based MMO catalyst. Notably, Pt-1/CNT exhibits near 100% CER selectivity even in acidic media, with low Cl- concentrations (0.1M), as well as in neutral media, whereas the MMO catalyst shows substantially lower CER selectivity. In situ electrochemical X-ray absorption spectroscopy reveals the direct adsorption of Cl- on Pt-N-4 sites during the CER. Density functional theory calculations suggest the PtN4C12 site as the most plausible active site structure for the CER
Radio Emission from Ultra-Cool Dwarfs
The 2001 discovery of radio emission from ultra-cool dwarfs (UCDs), the very
low-mass stars and brown dwarfs with spectral types of ~M7 and later, revealed
that these objects can generate and dissipate powerful magnetic fields. Radio
observations provide unparalleled insight into UCD magnetism: detections extend
to brown dwarfs with temperatures <1000 K, where no other observational probes
are effective. The data reveal that UCDs can generate strong (kG) fields,
sometimes with a stable dipolar structure; that they can produce and retain
nonthermal plasmas with electron acceleration extending to MeV energies; and
that they can drive auroral current systems resulting in significant
atmospheric energy deposition and powerful, coherent radio bursts. Still to be
understood are the underlying dynamo processes, the precise means by which
particles are accelerated around these objects, the observed diversity of
magnetic phenomenologies, and how all of these factors change as the mass of
the central object approaches that of Jupiter. The answers to these questions
are doubly important because UCDs are both potential exoplanet hosts, as in the
TRAPPIST-1 system, and analogues of extrasolar giant planets themselves.Comment: 19 pages; submitted chapter to the Handbook of Exoplanets, eds. Hans
J. Deeg and Juan Antonio Belmonte (Springer-Verlag