Heat-Up Colloidal Synthesis of Shape-Controlled Cu-Se-S Nanostructures—Role of Precursor and Surfactant Reactivity and Performance in N2 Electroreduction

Copper selenide-sulfide nanostructures were synthesized using metal-organic chemical routes in the presence of Cu- and Se-precursors as well as S-containing compounds. Our goal was first to examine if the initial Cu/Se 1:1 molar proportion in the starting reagents would always lead to equiatomic composition in the final product, depending on other synthesis parameters which affect the reagents reactivity. Such reaction conditions were the types of precursors, surfactants and other reagents, as well as the synthesis temperature. The use of ‘hot-injection’ processes was avoided, focusing on ‘non-injection’ ones; that is, only heat-up protocols were employed, which have the advantage of simple operation and scalability. All reagents were mixed at room temperature followed by further heating to a selected high temperature. It was found that for samples with particles of bigger size and anisotropic shape the CuSe composition was favored, whereas particles with smaller size and spherical shape possessed a Cu2−xSe phase, especially when no sulfur was present. Apart from elemental Se, Al2Se3 was used as an efficient selenium source for the first time for the acquisition of copper selenide nanostructures. The use of dodecanethiol in the presence of trioctylphosphine and elemental Se promoted the incorporation of sulfur in the materials crystal lattice, leading to Cu-Se-S compositions. A variety of techniques were used to characterize the formed nanomaterials such as XRD, TEM, HRTEM, STEM-EDX, AFM and UV-Vis-NIR. Promising results, especially for thin anisotropic nanoplates for use as electrocatalysts in nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR), were obtained

Electron beam-formed ferromagnetic defects on MoS2 surface along 1T phase transition

1 T phase incorporation into 2H-MoS2 via an optimal electron irradiation leads to induce a weak ferromagnetic state at room temperature, together with the improved transport property. In addition to the 1T-like defects, the electron irradiation on the cleaved MoS2 surface forms the concentric circletype defects that are caused by the 2 H/1 T phase transition and the vacancies of the nearby S atoms of the Mo atoms. The electron irradiation-reduced bandgap is promising in vanishing the Schottky barrier to attaining spintronics device. The simple method to control and improve the magnetic and electrical properties on the MoS2 surface provides suitable ways for the low-dimensional device applications.ope

Long Distance Movements and Disjunct Spatial Use of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) in the Inland Waters of the Pacific Northwest

BACKGROUND: Worldwide, adult harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) typically limit their movements and activity to <50 km from their primary haul-out site. As a result, the ecological impact of harbor seals is viewed as limited to relatively small spatial scales. Harbor seals in the Pacific Northwest are believed to remain <30 km from their primary haul-out site, one of several contributing factors to the current stock designation. However, movement patterns within the region are not well understood because previous studies have used radio-telemetry, which has range limitations. Our objective was to use satellite-telemetry to determine the regional spatial scale of movements. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Satellite tags were deployed on 20 adult seals (n=16 males and 4 females) from two rocky reefs and a mudflat-bay during April-May 2007. Standard filtering algorithms were used to remove outliers, resulting in an average (± SD) of 693 (± 377) locations per seal over 110 (± 32) days. A particle filter was implemented to interpolate locations temporally and decrease erroneous locations on land. Minimum over-water distances were calculated between filtered locations and each seal's capture site to show movement of seals over time relative to their capture site, and we estimated utilization distributions from kernel density analysis to reflect spatial use. Eight males moved >100 km from their capture site at least once, two of which traveled round trip to and from the Pacific coast, a total distance >400 km. Disjunct spatial use patterns observed provide new insight into general harbor seal behavior. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Long-distance movements and disjunct spatial use of adult harbor seals have not been reported for the study region and are rare worldwide in such a large proportion of tagged individuals. Thus, the ecological influence of individual seals may reach farther than previously assumed

A study on the awareness of an individual, social and financial on PMJDY customers in Tamilnadu

Financial Inclusion has measured to be a serious indicator for development and well-being of the society around the world. On the other hand, introspection is also essential as to whether the account holders who have understand the features and facilities. For this purpose this study has taken 500 PMJDY customers from Tirunelveli District at Tamilnadu to conduct through interview schedule method and to tested hypotheses with MANOVA and its assumptions. The results observed that the existing account holders got awareness about the PMJDY scheme but they are lacking with financial literacy. Moreover, the study has been recommended to conduct financial literacy camps will leads to effective utilization on the scheme

Simulation of supersonic flow through the tip-section turbine blade cascade with a strong shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction

The work was supported by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic under the grant TH02020057. Institutional support RVO 61388998 is also gratefully acknowledged.Numerical simulations of the supersonic flow have shown the significant effect of the prescription of the outlet boundary condition. Simulations carried out for the standard computational domain with the output behind the blade cascade and/or for the computational domain corresponding to the experimental arrangement have shown that numerical results obtained on the basis of the numerical optimization correspond quite well to experimental data (see Louda et al.). The agreement of predicted flow fields and main parameters including energy losses is acceptable

Aerodynamic Research on the Midsection of a Long Turbine Blade

The paper is concerned with experimental aerodynamic research on the midsection of a 1220mm long turbine rotor blade. Optical as well as pneumatic measurements of the midsection blade cascade have been performed in a suction type high-speed wind tunnel. The results of measurements are analyzed and discussed. Interferograms and schlieren pictures taken in a wide range of isentropic exit Mach numbers and incidence angles exhibit the existence of several phenomena occurring in the transonic flow field at certain conditions concerning the exit Mach number and the angle of incidence. A flow separation taking place at an extreme negative incidence has been found to produce an additional loss of 6%. The presence of the reflection of an exit shock wave on the suction side of the neighbouring profile has been found to have a substantial influence on the losses, since the loss coefficient value has increased about 10% in cases without the reflection, i.e. the cases at a high exit Mach number and a high positive angle of incidence. Several reflection types have been observed and described

Numerical and experimental investigation of compressible viscous fluid flow in minichannels

project LO1506 of the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports under the program NPU I, and by the project SGS-2019-00

Use of red fluorescent protein from Discosoma sp (dsRED) as a reporter for plant gene expression

The suitability of the recently described red fluorescent protein dsRED from reef corals for use as a reporter in plant molecular biology was investigated. Based on the clone pDSRED (Clontech), plant expression vectors were constructed for constitutive dsRED expression in the cytosol, the endoplasmic reticulum and the vacuole. Fluorescence microscopy of tobacco BY2 suspension culture cells transiently expressing the plant vectors generated proved that cytosolic expression of the dsRED gives rise to readily detectable levels of red fluorescence, whereas expression in the ER was poor. Vacuolar dsRED expression did not result in any significant fluorescence. dsRED transgenic tobacco SR1 plants were generated to test the sensitivity of dsRED as a reporter in an autofluorescent background, and to identify the possible impact of the introduced fluorescent protein on morphogenesis, plant development and fertility. During the transformation and regeneration phase plants did not show any abnormalities, indicating that dsRED is not interfering with plant development and morphogenesis. Regenerated plants were analysed by PCR, Western blot and fluorescence microscopy for the presence and expression of the transferred genes. The filter sets chosen for fluorescence microscopy proved to be able to block the red chlorophyll fluorescence completely, allowing specific dsRED detection. Best expression levels were obtained with dsRED targeted to the cytosol or chloroplasts. ER-targeted expression of dsRED also gave rise to readily detectable fluorescence levels, whereas vacuolar expression yielded no fluorescence. dsRED transgenic plant lines expressing the protein in the cytosol, ER or chloroplast proved to be fertile. Seed set and germination were normal, except that the seeds and seedlings maintained the red fluorescence phenotype