Henan Normal University

About: Henan Normal University is a education organization based out in Xinxiang, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Ionic liquid. The organization has 10863 authors who have published 11077 publications receiving 166773 citations.

Synthesis, characterization, and antibacterial activities of some rare Earth metal complexes of pipemidic acid.

Abstract: Eight new solid complexes of pipemidic acid (PPA) with trichlorizated rare earth metals LaCl(3), CeCl(3), PrCl(3), NdCl(3), SmCl(3), TbCl(3), DyCl(3), and YCl(3) have been synthesized. The complexes were characterized by elemental analyses, IR, NMR, and molar conductance measurements. The general formulas of the complexes are [M(PPA)(4)]Cl(3) (M=Ce(III), Pr(III), Nd(III), Sm(III), Tb(III), Dy(III), Y(III)), and [La(PPA)(4)Cl]Cl(2). At the same time, the antibacterial activities of PPA and four of its complexes were tested. The results show that PPA and its complexes all have inhibitory action against bacteria of Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa but not Staphylococcus aureus. We compared their antibacterial activities and found that the antibacterial activity of [La(PPA)(4)Cl]Cl(2) against S. pneumoniae is much stronger than that of PPA and the other complexes.

Concentric gravity waves over northern China observed by an airglow imager network and satellites

Abstract: The first no-gap OH airglow all-sky imager network was established in northern China in February 2012. The network is composed of six all-sky airglow imagers that make observations of OH airglow gravity waves and cover an area of about 2000 km east and west and about 1400 km south and north. An unusual outbreak of Concentric Gravity Wave (CGW) events were observed by the network nearly every night during the first half of August 2013. These events were coincidentally observed by satellite sensors from Fengyun-2 (FY-2), Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)/Aqua, and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)/Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP). Combination of the ground imager network with satellites provides multilevel observations of the CGWs from the stratosphere to the mesopause region. In this paper, two representative CGW events in August 2013 are studied in detail: first is the CGW on the night of 13 August 2013, likely launched by a single thunderstorm. The temporal and spatial analyses indicate that the CGW horizontal wavelengths follow freely propagating waves based on a GW dispersion relation within 300 km from the storm center. In contrast, the more distant observed gravity wave field exhibits a smaller horizontal wavelength of ~20 km, and our analysis strongly suggest this wave field represents a ducted wave. A second event, exhibiting multiple CGWs, was induced by two very strong thunderstorms on 9 August 2013. Multiscale waves with horizontal wavelengths ranging from less than 10 km to 200 km were observed.

3D well-ordered porous phosphorus doped carbon as an anode for sodium storage: structure design, experimental and computational insights

Abstract: Carbon materials with a novel structure have been considered to be potential anodes for sodium ion batteries (SIBs). However, the practical utilization of a carbon electrode for SIBs suffers from low initial coulombic efficiency and poor ion diffusion kinetics. Moreover, the sodium storage mechanism still remains controversial. Herein, well-ordered 3D porous phosphorus doped carbon was designed and developed as an anode material for SIBs, which delivers an excellent reversible capacity of 270 mA h g−1 at 0.2 A g−1 and a good rate capability of 140 mA h g−1 even at 10 A g−1. The correlation of experimental results and theoretical calculation confirms that phosphorus doping into the carbon material could increase the interlayer distance, enhance the adsorption of sodium ions and modify the electronic structure, and thus can promote the efficient sodium insertion/extraction and charge transfer kinetics. Moreover, the interconnected porous carbon structure is facile to promote the permeation of the electrolyte for transportation and diffusion of ions and electrons. This synthetic strategy provides an efficient and simple approach to prepare well-ordered 3D porous heteroatom-doped carbon for SIBs and other energy storage devices.

Application of hierarchical TiO2 spheres as scattering layer for enhanced photovoltaic performance in dye sensitized solar cell

Abstract: Hierarchical TiO2 spheres (HTSs) composed of thin nanosheets with a high ratio of exposed (001) facets were prepared by solvothermal reaction of titanium precursor under the mediation of HF and glacial acetic acid (HAc). The size of the spheres and the density of primary nanosheets could be effectively tuned by simply adjusting HAc dosage. The as-prepared HTSs were highly crystallized and demonstrated high BET surface area, but decreased apparently after calcination due to the collapse or fusion of the primary nanosheets. The calcinated HTSs were further applied as scattering layers in photoanodes of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Compared with the monolayered nanospindle (NS) photoanode with similar thickness, the bilayered photoanodes with the HTSs as scattering layers offered dramatically higher photocurrent density (Jsc) and therefore higher energy conversion efficiency (η). Due to the highest scattering effect and the lowest charge transfer resistance (Rct) at TiO2–dye–electrolyte interface, the DSSC with H2 (synthesized with HAc volume of 2 mL) as scattering layer offered η of 7.72%, which is 42% higher than that based on the monolayered NS photoanode.

Screening effective single-atom ORR and OER electrocatalysts from Pt decorated MXenes by first-principles calculations

Abstract: The ORR and OER properties of a series of recombinant single atom catalysts (SACs) prepared by recombining Pt single atoms on 26 representative MXenes were comprehensively studied by first-principles calculations. The stability of Pt atoms on the MXene surface was studied using formation energies and diffusion energy barriers. Charge transfer analysis showed that the Pt atoms not only acted as the catalytic center of the SACs but also behaved as a charge transfer medium between the MXene substrate and the reactants. The catalytic properties of the recombinant SACs were dependent on several interacting factors including the Pt-5d states, the work functions of the recombinant systems, the electronegativity of the submetals, and the vacant electron orbitals of the C/N and O/F elements of the MXenes. In all the recombinant SACs under investigation, V-, Ti-, Nb-, and Cr-based MXenes, including Ti2CF2-VF-Pt, Ti3C2F2-VF-Pt, V2CO2-VO-Pt, Nb2CF2-VF-Pt, Nb4C3F2-VF-Pt, Cr2TiC2F2-VF-Pt, Ti3(C,N)2-CO2-VO-Pt, and Ti3(C,N)2-NO2-VO-Pt, were screened as promising ORR catalysts. In particular, three F-terminated ones (Nb2CF2-VF-Pt, Nb4C3F2-VF-Pt, and Cr2TiC2F2-VF-Pt) were proposed as effective ORR/OER bifunctional catalysts. The results revealed the highly active nature of the selected SACs and highlighted the great potential of MXenes as efficient ORR and OER catalysts.