Metal-Doped Catalysts for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

The highly efficient electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) provides a promising way to solve energy and environment problems. In this work, various transition metals (Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Ag, and Pt) were selected to support on molybdenum carbides by a simple organic-inorganic precursor carburization process. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis results indicated that the ß-MO₂C phase was formed in all metal-doped samples. X-ray photo­electron spectroscopy analysis indicated that the binding energy of MO₂+ species (MO₂C) shifted to a lower value after metal was doped on the molybdenum carbide surface. Comparing with pure ß-MO₂C, the elec­trocatalytic activity for HER was improved by transition metal doping on the surface. Remarkably, the catalytic activity improvement was more obvious when Pt was doped on molybdenum carbide (2% Pt-MO₂C). The 2% Pt-MO₂C required a ?_10 of 79 mV, and outperformed that of pure ß-MO₂C (?10 = 410 mV) and other transition metal doped molybdenum carbides, with a small Tafel slope (55 mV/dec) and a low onset overpo­tential (32 mV) in 0.5 M H₂SO₄. Also, the 2% Pt-MO₂C catalyst demonstrated a high stability for the HER in 0.5 M H₂SO₄. This work highlights a feasible strategy to explore efficient electrocatalysts with low cost via engineering on the composition and nanostructure

Nanosheets of CuCo₂O₄ as a High-Performance Electrocatalyst in Urea Oxidation

The urea oxidation reaction (UOR) is a possible solution to solve the world’s energy crisis. Fuel cells have been used in the UOR to generate hydrogen with a lower potential compared to water splitting, decreasing the costs of energy production. Urea is abundantly present in agricultural waste and in industrial and human wastewater. Besides generating hydrogen, this reaction provides a pathway to eliminate urea, which is a hazard in the environment and to people’s health. In this study, nanosheets of CuCo₂O₄ grown on nickel foam were synthesized as an electrocatalyst for urea oxidation to generate hydrogen as a green fuel. The synthesized electrocatalyst was characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The electroactivity of CuCo₂O₄ towards the oxidation of urea in alkaline solution was evaluated using electrochemical measurements. Nanosheets of CuCo₂O₄ grown on nickel foam required the potential of 1.36 V in 1 M KOH with 0.33 M urea to deliver a current density of 10 mA/cm2. The CuCo₂O₄ electrode was electrochemically stable for over 15 h of continuous measurements. The high catalytic activities for the hydrogen evolution reaction make the CuCo₂O₄ electrode a bifunctional catalyst and a promising electroactive material for hydrogen production. The two-electrode electrolyzer demanded a potential of 1.45 V, which was 260 mV less than that for the urea-free counterpart. The study suggests that the CuCo₂O₄ electrode can be a promising material as an efficient UOR catalyst for fuel cells to generate hydrogen at a low cost

Molybdenum Oxides for Energy Generation and Storage Using Efficient Clean Method

To solve the growing energy issues, significant efforts have been focused on the search of earth-abundant ele­ments that can provide multifunctional behavior for both energy generation and storage. Due to the low-cost and rich chemical nature, transition metal oxide nanostructures have been used in the fabrication of energy devices, such as fuel cells and lithium batteries. In this work, nickel, cobalt and iron molybdates were synthesized via a simple hydrothermal method in order to fabricate electrodes for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and a superca­pacitor. FeMoO₄ required an overpotential of 294 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA/cm2 for oxygen evolution reaction, which is lower than the overpotential required for NiMoO₄ and CoMoO₄ to do the same process. For the energy storage properties, the highest specific capacitance was achieved by FeMoO₄ electrode (11.5 F/cm2 at a current density of 1 mA/cm2). Galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements were performed and showed a better discharge time for iron molybdate. The capacitance retention and coulombic efficiency ex­hibited excellent performance over 5,000 cycles. In conclusion, molybdates, mainly FeMoO₄, could be a promis­ing material for the advancement of energy generation and storage devices

Artificial intelligence for smart patient care: transforming future of nursing practice

Artificial intelligence (AI) in today’s era has been described as “the new electricity” as it continually transforms today’s world by affecting our way of living in many different spheres. Extensive government programs in most countries and enhanced technology investments thereof are set to rapidly advance AI. Consequently, healthcare teams will be majorly affected by intelligent tools and systems to be launched into healthcare and patient homecare settings. AI represents a variety of functions under an umbrella of terms like machine learning (ML), deep learning, computer vision, natural language processing (NLP) and automated speech recognition (ASR) technologies. Each of these when used individually or in combination has the potential to add intelligence to applications. Understanding of AI in medical field is crucial for nurses. Utilization of AI in nursing will accelerate innovation and fasten up decision making for them thus saving their time and improving patient outcome plus satisfaction with nursing care provided. Of utmost importance while partnering with AI is the requirement for AI to be safe and effective. A major concern for AI practitioners in the current scenario is managing bias. To realize the full potential of AI, stakeholders (AI developers and users) need to be confident about two aspects: (1) reliability and validity of the datasets used and (2) transparency of AI based system. Issues encompassing AI are novel yet complex, and there is still much to be learnt about it. Nursing experience, knowledge, and skills will transit into new ways of thinking and processing information. This will give new roles to nurses-like information integrators, data managers, informatics specialists, health coaches and above all deliverers of compassionate caring-not replaced by AI technologies yet supported by them

Electrocatalytic Properties of Lanthanum-based Perovskites for Water Splitting and Energy Storage Applications

Recent changes in global weather patterns have punctuated the need for mollification through a cleaner energy option. As part of the plan, hydrogen production for fuel cells offers substantial power without carbon emissions. Overall water splitting, with the aid of a low cost electrocatalyst could prove to be an abundant green fuel source. Utilizing readily available transition metals, three perovskite nanostructures were studied as a multifunctional material for hydrogen production as well as energy storage. LaCoO₃ (LCO), LaFeO₃ (LFO), and LaMnO₃ (LMO) were synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction and then dip coated onto nickel foam as electrodes in a standard three electrode system. The electrochemical properties were analyzed with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), line scan voltammetry (LSV), and cyclic voltammetry (CV) for its electro-catalytic activity towards both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) as well as its effectiveness as a supercapacitor. It was shown that electrocatalytic activity toward OER was highly dependent on the material composition. Accordingly, LFO had the lowest overpotential voltage of 316 mV at 10 mA/cm2 compared with 376 mV (LCO) and 419 mV (LMO). Toward HER, LMO showed overpotential voltage of 176 mV at 10 mA/cm2, while LCO and LFO showed 221 mV and 230 mV, respectively. Measured at a common current density of 0.5 A/g, the specific capacitance of LMO was 105 F/g over LCO (45 F/g) and LFO (35 F/g). Further investigation for fabrication of devices for energy storage and water splitting electrolyzer application has been considered

Almond Based Electrocatalyst for Fuel Cell Applications

Hydrogen is considered one of the cleanest energy sources. Water spitting is one of the efficient ways to produce hydrogen as a fuel at the industrial level. Water splitting via electrolysis requires an efficient electrocatalyst to reduce the voltage required for water splitting. Currently, precious metals such as platinum are considered as one of the most efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen production via electrolysis of water. The current challenge is to find a cost-effective alternative for this process. Molybdenum and carbon are low cost and abundant mate­rials which could be used for the synthesis of cost-effective electrocatalysts for hydrogen production. In this work, we used almond as a source for carbon for the synthesis of molybdenum carbide for sustainable and affordable hydrogen production. X-ray diffraction confirmed the phase purity of the synthesized molybdenum carbide. Electrocatalytic activities of molybdenum carbide were investigated in detail. It was observed that molybdenum carbide needs a small voltage to generate hydrogen via electrolysis process. Molybdenum carbide showed an overpotential of 117 mV and 180 mV in alkaline and acidic media, respectively to achieve a current density of 10 mA/cm2, which are among the best-reported results. Our study suggests that earth-abundant materials could be used for the synthesis of highly efficient electrocatalysts for electrochemical water splitting to generate hydrogen as a clean fuel

Construction of High-Performance 3D Nanostructured Flower-Like Iron-Nickel Sulfide for Supercapacitor

The global energy crisis and environmental pollution have stimulated increasing attention to developing clean and renewable alternative energy sources. One of the most efficient and greenest energy storage devices is supercapacitor which could store energy via electrical double layer and redox reactions. Supercapacitors are widely employed for many portable electronics and hybrid electric vehicles due to their high-power density, fast charge-discharge rate, and good cycle stability. In this work, 3D nanostructured flower-like iron-nickel sulfide was synthesized on the nickel foam using a facile hydrothermal method. The iron-nickel sulfide electrode showed out­standing performance for supercapacitor with a high areal capacitance of 13.2 F/cm2 at the scan rate of 1 mV/s and 4.9 F/cm2 at the current density of 5 mA/cm2, respectively. The specific capacitance of iron-nickel sulfide was 11 and 54 times higher than that of iron-nickel oxide and nickel foam at 5 mA/cm2, respectively. Further­more, the iron-nickel sulfide electrode displayed good rate capability in the charge-discharge study. Our research suggests that designing a highly porous and 3D nano-flower like iron-nickel sulfide material could be a way to improve the charge storage capacity of energy storage devices

STUDI KASUS CACING NEMATODA (NEMATODIASIS) PADA SAPI DI DISTRIK SEMANGGA KABUPATEN MERAUKE

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah mengetahui dan mengidentifikasi jenis penyakit parasit cacing golongan nematoda yang ada pada ternak sapi Peranakan Ongole (PO) di Distrik Semanga Kabupaten Merauke  dengan waktu 1 bulan mulai dari bulan Februari sampai dengan bulan Maret 2015. Studi Kasus Penyakit Cacing Nematoda pada Sapi Peranakan Ongole (PO) sangat tinggi di Distrik Semangga.  Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui hubungan dari gejala klinis dan hasil pemeriksaan di laborotorium, jenis-jenis cacing dan faktor-faktor yang menyebabkan infeksi Cacing Nematode (nematodiasis) di Distrik Semangga. Sampel yang diambil dalam penelitian ini sebanyak 200 ekor sapi Peranakan Ongole (PO) terdiri dari jantan dan betina produktif. Metode pemeriksaan tinja digunakan metode Native dan Centrifuge. Hasil penelitian menujukkan di Distrik Semangga terlihat tingginya infeksi cacing golongan nematoda (Trichostrongylus sp )  yaitu 86 % dari jumlah Sampel, dan faktor penyebabnya yaitu faktor iklim dan pola pemeliharaanPenyakit layu fusarium yang disebabkan oleh  jamur Fusarium oxysporum (Fo) merupakan penyakit penting yang menjadi salah satu kendala dalam kualitas dan produksi tanaman anggrek (Palmer, 2011). Kerugian akibat penyakit ini sangat tinggi yaitu dapat menyebabkan kematian tanaman hingga 50% bahkan bisa mencapai 80% (Hadisutrisno, 2001). Penggunaan kultivar S. plicata yang tahan Fo diharapkan dapat menjadi alternatif dalam mengendalikan penyakit tersebut. Penelitian pengimbasan ketahanan anggrek tanah tahan terhadap Fo telah dilakukan secara in vitro dalam medium Vacin & Went (VW) padat yang ditambahkan dengan asam fusarat pada konsentrasi 10 ppm, 20 ppm, 30 ppm, dan 40 ppm dibandingkan dengan kontrol (0 ppm). Anggrek S. plicata hasil seleksi asam fusarat selanjutnya diinokulasi dengan Fo. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis kandungan klorofil total pada daun planlet S. plicata hasil induce resistance terhadap Fo. Penelitian dilaksanakan di Laboratorium Kultur Jaringan, Jurusan Biologi, Fakultas Matematika dan Ilmu Pengetahuan Alam, Universitas Lampung. Penelitian  menggunakan rancangan acak lengkap. Data dianalisis ragam (Anova) dan jika berbeda nyata dilanjutkan dengan uji BNT taraf nyata 5%. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa semakin meningkat konsentrasi asam fusarat, maka meningkat pula kandungan klorofil total pada planlet anggrek tanah tahan Fo. Pada konsentrasi 40 ppm, kandungan klorofil total paling tinggi yaitu 9,592 ± 2,226x10-1

STUDI KASUS PENYAKIT CACING Trichostrongylus Sp PADA SAPI DI DISTRIK SEMANGGA KABUPATEN MERAUKE

This study revealed the type of parasitic worm disease in Ongole Peranakan (PO) cattle in Semanga District of Merauke Regency with a period of 1 month starting from February to March 2015. Study of Trichostrongylus Sp Worm Disease in Cow Ongole Breeds (PO) is very high in the District Semangga. The samples taken in this study were 200 Ongole Breeds (PO) consisting of productive males and females. The fecal examination method uses the Original and Centrifuge methods. The results of the study showed that in Semangga District nematode worm infection results (Trichostrongylus sp) The number of worm cases in bulls was 85 (42%) and in females as many as 87 tails (43.5%) Keywords: Merauke; Ongole Cross Breeds (PO); Trichostrongylus s

ESR, raman and conductivity studies on fractionated poly(2-methoxyaniline-5-sulfonic acid)

Synthesis methods used to produce poly(2-methoxyaniline-5-sulfonic acid) (PMAS), a water soluble, self-doped conducting polymer, have been shown to form two distinctly different polymer fractions with molecular weights of approximately 2 kDa and 8 -10 kDa. The low molecular weight (LMWT) PMAS fraction is redox inactive and non-conducting while the high molecular weight (HMWT) PMAS is electro-active with electrical conductivities of 0.94 0.05 S cm-1. Previous investigations have illustrated the different photochemical and electrochemical properties of these fractions, but have not correlated these properties with the structural and electronic interactions that drive them. Incomplete purification of the PMAS mixture, typically via bag dialysis, has been shown to result in a mixture of approximately 50:50 HMWT:LMWT PMAS with electrical conductivity significantly lower at approximately 0.10 to 0.26 S cm-1. The difference between the electrical conductivities of these fractions has been investigated by the controlled addition of the non-conducting LMWT PMAS fraction into the HMWT PMAS composite film with the subsequent electronic properties investigated by solid-state ESR and Raman spectroscopies. These studies illustrate strong electronic intereactions of the insulating LMWT PMAS with the emeraldine salt HMWT PMAS to substantially alter the population of the electronic charge carriers in the conducting polymer. ESR studies on these mixtures, when compared to HMWT PMAS, exhibited a lower level of electron spin in the presence of LMWT PMAS indicative of the the formation of low spin bipolarons without a change the oxidation state of the conducting HMWT fraction