scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question

Showing papers in "Chinese Science Bulletin in 2018"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reported the successful preparation of a purely honeycomb, graphene-like borophene, by using an Al(1/1/ε) surface as the substrate and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth in ultrahigh vacuum.
Abstract: We report the successful preparation of a purely honeycomb, graphene-like borophene, by using an Al(1 1 1) surface as the substrate and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth in ultrahigh vacuum. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images reveal perfect monolayer borophene with planar, non-buckled honeycomb lattice similar as graphene. Theoretical calculations show that the honeycomb borophene on Al(1 1 1) is energetically stable. Remarkably, nearly one electron charge is transferred to each boron atom from the Al(1 1 1) substrate and stabilizes the honeycomb borophene structure, in contrast to the negligible charge transfer in case of borophene/Ag(1 1 1). The existence of honeycomb 2D allotrope is important to the basic understanding of boron chemistry, and it also provides an ideal platform for fabricating boron-based materials with intriguing electronic properties such as Dirac states.

358 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a cobalt disulphide encapsulated in self-catalyzed carbon nanotubes (S, N-CNTs/CoS2@Co) serving as a bifunctional catalyst, which exhibits excellent hydrogen evolution reaction performance (10.0
Abstract: Hydrogen, serving as a clean, sustainable energy source, may be mainly produced from electrolysis water. Herein, we report cobalt disulphide encapsulated in self-catalyzed carbon nanotubes (S, N-CNTs/CoS2@Co) serving as a bifunctional catalyst, which exhibits excellent hydrogen evolution reaction performance (10.0 mA cm−2 at 0.112 V, and low Tafel slope for 104.9 mV dec−1) and oxygen evolution reaction performance (10.0 mA cm−2 at 1.57 V, and low Tafel slope for 76.1 mV dec−1), meanwhile with a strong stability at various current densities. In-depth study reveals that the excellent catalytic properties can be mainly attributed to the increased catalytic sites induced by S, N co-doping, the improved electronic conductivity derived from the carbon nanotubes, and Mott-Schottky effect between the metal cobalt and semiconductive cobalt disulfide. Notably, when the bifunctional catalysts are applied to overall water splitting, a low potential of 1.633 V at the current density of 10.0 mA cm−2 is achieved, which can compete with the precious metal catalyst benchmarks in alkaline media, demonstrating its promising practicability in the realistic water splitting application. This work elucidates a practicable way to the design of transition metal and nano-carbon composite catalysts for a broad application in the fields of energy chemistry.

206 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an atomically dispersed Au1 catalyst is synthesized and applied in electrochemical synthesis of ammonia under ambient conditions, achieving a high NH4+ Faradaic efficiency of 11.1%.
Abstract: Tremendous efforts have been devoted to explore energy-efficient strategies of ammonia synthesis to replace Haber-Bosch process which accounts for 1.4% of the annual energy consumption. In this study, atomically dispersed Au1 catalyst is synthesized and applied in electrochemical synthesis of ammonia under ambient conditions. A high NH4+ Faradaic efficiency of 11.1% achieved by our Au1 catalyst surpasses most of reported catalysts under comparable conditions. Benefiting from efficient atom utilization, an NH4+ yield rate of 1,305 μg h−1 mgAu−1 has been reached, which is roughly 22.5 times as high as that by supported Au nanoparticles. We also demonstrate that by employing our Au1 catalyst, NH4+ can be electrochemically produced directly from N2 and H2 with an energy utilization rate of 4.02 mmol kJ−1. Our study provides a possibility of replacing the Haber-Bosch process with environmentally benign and energy-efficient electrochemical strategies.

206 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a few-layer Tellurium (Te) is shown to have a covalent-like quasi-bonding (CLQB) where wavefunction hybridization does occur.
Abstract: Few-layer Tellurium, an elementary semiconductor, succeeds most of striking physical properties that black phosphorus (BP) offers and could be feasibly synthesized by simple solution-based methods. It is comprised of non-covalently bound parallel Te chains, among which covalent-like feature appears. This feature is, we believe, another demonstration of the previously found covalent-like quasi-bonding (CLQB) where wavefunction hybridization does occur. The strength of this inter-chain CLQB is comparable with that of intra-chain covalent bonding, leading to closed stability of several Te allotropes. It also introduces a tunable bandgap varying from nearly direct 0.31 eV (bulk) to indirect 1.17 eV (2L) and four (two) complex, highly anisotropic and layer-dependent hole (electron) pockets in the first Brillouin zone. It also exhibits an extraordinarily high hole mobility (∼105 cm2/Vs) and strong optical absorption along the non-covalently bound direction, nearly isotropic and layer-dependent optical properties, large ideal strength over 20%, better environmental stability than BP and unusual crossover of force constants for interlayer shear and breathing modes. All these results manifest that the few-layer Te is an extraordinary-high-mobility, high optical absorption, intrinsic-anisotropy, low-cost-fabrication, tunable bandgap, better environmental stability and nearly direct bandgap semiconductor. This "one-dimension-like" few-layer Te, together with other geometrically similar layered materials, may promote the emergence of a new family of layered materials.

205 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a rod-like metal-organic framework (MOF-5) was synthesized by a solvothermal method and applied to efficiently adsorb radionuclide 235U(VI) from aqueous solutions.
Abstract: With the widespread application of radionuclide 235U(VI), it is inevitable that part of U(VI) is released into the natural environment. The potential toxicity and irreversibility impact on the natural environment has become one of the most forefront pollution problems in nuclear energy utilization. In this work, rod-like metal-organic framework (MOF-5) nanomaterial was synthesized by a solvothermal method and applied to efficiently adsorb U(VI) from aqueous solutions. The batch experimental results showed that the sorption of U(VI) on MOF-5 was strongly dependent on pH and independent of ionic strength, indicating that the dominant interaction mechanism was inner-sphere surface complexation and electrostatic interaction. The maximum sorption capacity of U(VI) on MOF-5 was 237.0 mg/g at pH 5.0 and T = 298 K, and the sorption equilibrium reached within 5 min. The thermodynamic parameters indicated that the removal of U(VI) on MOF-5 was a spontaneous and endothermic process. Additionally, the FT-IR and XPS analyses implied that the high sorption capacity of U(VI) on MOF-5 was mainly attributed to the abundant oxygen-containing functional groups (i.e., C O and C O). Such a facile preparation method and efficient removal performance highlighted the application of MOF-5 as a candidate for rapid and efficient radionuclide contaminations elimination in practical applications.

141 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a dynamical topological invariant measured from an emergent dynamical spin-texture field on band inversion surfaces (BISs) is proposed to detect topological phases.
Abstract: Topological phase of matter is now a mainstream of research in condensed matter physics, of which the classification, synthesis, and detection of topological states have brought excitements over the recent decade while remain incomplete with ongoing challenges in both theory and experiment. Here we propose to establish a universal non-equilibrium characterization of the equilibrium topological quantum phases classified by integers, and further propose the high-precision dynamical schemes to detect such states. The framework of the dynamical classification theory consists of basic theorems. First, we uncover that classifying a d-dimensional (dD) gapped topological phase of generic multibands can reduce to a ( d - 1 )D invariant defined on so-called band inversion surfaces (BISs), rendering a bulk-surface duality which simplifies the topological characterization. Further, we show in quenching across phase boundary the (pseudo) spin dynamics to exhibit unique topological patterns on BISs, which are attributed to the post-quench bulk topology and manifest a dynamical bulk-surface correspondence. For this the topological phase is classified by a dynamical topological invariant measured from an emergent dynamical spin-texture field on the BISs. Applications to quenching experiments on feasible models are proposed and studied, demonstrating the new experimental strategies to detect topological phases with high feasibility. This work opens a broad new direction to classify and detect topological phases by non-equilibrium quantum dynamics.

126 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This protocol eradicates the security vulnerabilities associated with the measurement device, and greatly enhances the practical security of quantum secure direct communication, and has an extended communication distance, and a high communication capacity.
Abstract: Security in communication is vital in modern life. At present, security is realized by an encryption process in cryptography. It is unbelievable if a secure communication is achievable without encryption. In quantum cryptography, there is a unique form of quantum communication, quantum secure direct communication, where secret information is transmitted directly over a quantum channel. Quantum secure direct communication is drastically distinct from our conventional concept of secure communication, because it does not require key distribution, key storage and ciphertext transmission, and eliminates the encryption procedure completely. Hence it avoids in principle all the security loopholes associated with key and ciphertext in traditional secure communications. For practical implementation, defects always exist in real devices and it may downgrade the security. Among the various device imperfections, those with the measurement devices are the most prominent and serious ones. Here we report a measurement-device-independent quantum secure direct communication protocol using Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen pairs. This protocol eradicates the security vulnerabilities associated with the measurement device, and greatly enhances the practical security of quantum secure direct communication. In addition to the security advantage, this protocol has an extended communication distance, and a high communication capacity.

126 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a smart thermoresponsive polymer electrolyte that can be incorporated inside batteries to prevent thermal runaway via a fast and reversible sol-gel transition, and successfully combine this smart electrolyte with a rechargeable Zn/α-MnO2 battery system.
Abstract: Thermal runaway has been a long-standing safety issue impeding the development of high-energy-density batteries. Physical safety designs such as employing circuit-breakers and fuses to batteries are limited by small operating voltage windows and no resumption of original working condition when it is cooled down. Here we report a smart thermoresponsive polymer electrolyte that can be incorporated inside batteries to prevent thermal runaway via a fast and reversible sol-gel transition, and successfully combine this smart electrolyte with a rechargeable Zn/α-MnO2 battery system. At high temperature, battery operation is inhibited as a result of the increased internal resistance caused by the gelation of liquid electrolyte. After cooling down, the electrolyte is spontaneously reversed to sol state and the electrochemical performance of the battery is restored. More importantly, sol-gel transition enables the smart battery to experience different charge-discharge rates under various temperature levels, providing a smart and active strategy to achieve dynamic and reversible self-protection.

122 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The advances in on-chip silicon photonic signaling and processing with favorable performance pave the way to integrate complete optical communication systems on a monolithic chip and integrate silicon photonics and silicon nanoelectronics on a chip.
Abstract: The arrival of the big data era has driven the rapid development of high-speed optical signaling and processing, ranging from long-haul optical communication links to short-reach data centers and high-performance computing, and even micro-/nano-scale inter-chip and intra-chip optical interconnects. On-chip photonic signaling is essential for optical data transmission, especially for chip-scale optical interconnects, while on-chip photonic processing is a critical technology for optical data manipulation or processing, especially at the network nodes to facilitate ultracompact data management with low power consumption. In this paper, we review recent research progress in on-chip photonic signaling and processing on silicon photonics platforms. Firstly, basic key devices (lasers, modulators, detectors) are introduced. Secondly, for on-chip photonic signaling, we present recent works on on-chip data transmission of advanced multi-level modulation signals using various silicon photonic integrated devices (microring, slot waveguide, hybrid plasmonic waveguide, subwavelength grating slot waveguide). Thirdly, for on-chip photonic processing, we summarize recent works on on-chip data processing of advanced multi-level modulation signals exploiting linear and nonlinear effects in different kinds of silicon photonic integrated devices (strip waveguide, directional coupler, 2D grating coupler, microring, silicon-organic hybrid slot waveguide). Various photonic processing functions are demonstrated, such as photonic switch, filtering, polarization/wavelength/mode (de)multiplexing, wavelength conversion, signal regeneration, optical logic and computing. Additionally, we also introduce extended silicon+ photonics and show recent works on on-chip graphene-silicon photonic signal processing. The advances in on-chip silicon photonic signaling and processing with favorable performance pave the way to integrate complete optical communication systems on a monolithic chip and integrate silicon photonics and silicon nanoelectronics on a chip. It is believed that silicon photonics will enable more and more emerging advanced applications even beyond silicon photonic signaling and processing.

116 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a scalable one pot solid pyrolysis process was used to synthesize multifunctional electrocatalysts with plentiful active sites from earth-abundant materials.
Abstract: Simple synthesis of multifunctional electrocatalysts with plentiful active sites from earth-abundant materials is especially fascinating. Here, N-doped defective carbon with trace Co (1.5 wt%) was prepared via a scalable one pot solid pyrolysis process. The sample exhibits efficient bifunctional OER/ORR activity in alkaline, mainly ascribed to the unique micro-mesoporous structure (1-3 nm), high population of graphitic-N doping (up to 49.0%), abundant defects and the encapsulated Co nanoparticles with graphitized carbon. The according rechargeable liquid Zn-air batteries showed excellent performance (maximum power density of 154.0 mW cm−2; energy density of 773 Wh kg−1 at 5 mA cm−2 and charging-discharging cycling stability over 100 cycles). As a proof-of-concept, the flexible, rechargeable all-solid-state Zn-air batteries were constructed, and displayed a maximum power density as high as 45.9 mW cm−2, among the top level of those reported previously.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a framework that includes the generation of porous media samples, computation of permeability via fluid dynamics simulations, training of convolutional neural networks (CNN) with simulated data, and validations against simulations.
Abstract: Fast prediction of permeability directly from images enabled by image recognition neural networks is a novel pore-scale modeling method that has a great potential. This article presents a framework that includes (1) generation of porous media samples, (2) computation of permeability via fluid dynamics simulations, (3) training of convolutional neural networks (CNN) with simulated data, and (4) validations against simulations. Comparison of machine learning results and the ground truths suggests excellent predictive performance across a wide range of porosities and pore geometries, especially for those with dilated pores. Owning to such heterogeneity, the permeability cannot be estimated using the conventional Kozeny-Carman approach. Computational time was reduced by several orders of magnitude compared to fluid dynamic simulations. We found that, by including physical parameters that are known to affect permeability into the neural network, the physics-informed CNN generated better results than regular CNN. However, improvements vary with implemented heterogeneity.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors presented a scheme of simulation which can extract a large amount of measurement outcomes within a short time, achieving a 64-qubit simulation of a universal random circuit of depth 22 using a 128-node cluster, and 56-and 42-qubits circuits on a single PC.
Abstract: Classical simulations of quantum circuits are limited in both space and time when the qubit count is above 50, the realm where quantum supremacy reigns. However, recently, for the low depth circuit with more than 50 qubits, there are several methods of simulation proposed by teams at Google and IBM. Here, we present a scheme of simulation which can extract a large amount of measurement outcomes within a short time, achieving a 64-qubit simulation of a universal random circuit of depth 22 using a 128-node cluster, and 56- and 42-qubit circuits on a single PC. We also estimate that a 72-qubit circuit of depth 23 can be simulated in about 16 h on a supercomputer identical to that used by the IBM team. Moreover, the simulation processes are exceedingly separable, hence parallelizable, involving just a few inter-process communications. Our work enables simulating more qubits with less hardware burden and provides a new perspective for classical simulations.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reported the growth of monolayer VSe2 by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) method, which revealed that the as-grown monolayers VSe 2 has magnetic characteristic peaks in its electronic density of states and a lower work-function at its edges.
Abstract: Recent experimental breakthroughs open up new opportunities for magnetism in few-atomic-layer two-dimensional (2D) materials, which makes fabrication of new magnetic 2D materials a fascinating issue. Here, we report the growth of monolayer VSe2 by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) method. Electronic properties measurements by scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) method revealed that the as-grown monolayer VSe2 has magnetic characteristic peaks in its electronic density of states and a lower work-function at its edges. Moreover, air exposure experiments show air-stability of the monolayer VSe2. This high-quality monolayer VSe2, a very air-inert 2D material with magnetism and low edge work function, is promising for applications in developing next-generation low power-consumption, high efficiency spintronic devices and new electrocatalysts.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the in-situ electrochemical activation is proposed as a new pretreating technique for enhanced catalytic performances, which can tune local electronic structures, create more active species, enlarge surface area and thus improve the catalytic performance.
Abstract: Developing transition metal-based electrocatalysts with rich active sites for water electrolysis plays important roles in renewable energy fields. So far, some strategies including designing nanostructures, incorporating conductive support or foreign elements have been adopted to develop efficient electrocatalysts. Herein, we summarize recent progresses and propose in-situ electrochemical activation as a new pretreating technique for enhanced catalytic performances. The activation techniques mainly comprise facile electrochemical processes such as anodic oxidation, cathodic reduction, etching, lithium-assisted tuning and counter electrode electro-dissolution. During these electrochemical treatments, the catalyst surfaces are modified from bulk phase, which can tune local electronic structures, create more active species, enlarge surface area and thus improve the catalytic performances. Meanwhile, this technique can couple the atomic, electronic structures with electrocatalysis mechanisms for water splitting. Compared to traditional chemical treatment, the in-situ electrochemical activation techniques have superior advantages such as facile operation, mild environment, variable control, high efficiency and flexibility. This review may provide guidance for improving water electrolysis efficiencies and hold promising for application in many other energy-conversion fields such as supercapacitors, fuel cells and batteries.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the influence of reduction degree on the structure and separation performance of rGO membranes was studied and it was found that weak reduction retains the good dispersion and hydrophilicity of GO nanosheets.
Abstract: Tailoring the pore structure and surface chemistry of graphene-based laminates is essentially important for their applications as separation membranes. Usually, pure graphene oxide (GO) and completely reduced GO (rGO) membranes suffer from low water permeance because of the lack of pristine graphitic sp2 domains and very small interlayer spacing, respectively. In this work, we studied the influence of reduction degree on the structure and separation performance of rGO membranes. It was found that weak reduction retains the good dispersion and hydrophilicity of GO nanosheets. More importantly, it increases the number of pristine graphitic sp2 domains in rGO nanosheets while keeping the large interlayer spacing of the GO membranes in most regions at the same time. The resultant membranes show a high water permeance of 56.3 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, which is about 4 times and over 104 times larger than those of the GO and completely reduced rGO membranes, respectively, and high rejection over 95% for various dyes. Furthermore, they show better structure stability and more superior separation performance than GO membranes in acid and alkali environments.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a singular vector decomposition (SVD) statistical method was employed to retrieve solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) from TanSat observations at the global scale.
Abstract: The first Chinese Carbon Dioxide Observation Satellite Mission (TanSat), which was launched on December 21, 2016, is intended to measure atmospheric CO2 concentration. The high spectral resolution (0.044 nm) and high SNR (360 at 15.2 mW m−1 sr−1 nm−1) measurements in the region of the O2-A band of the Atmospheric Carbon dioxide Grating Spectroradiometer (AGCS) module onboard TanSat make it possible to retrieve solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) from TanSat observations at the global scale. This paper aims to explore the potential of the TanSat data for global SIF retrieval. A singular vector decomposition (SVD) statistical method was employed to retrieve SIF using radiance over a micro spectral window (∼2 nm) around the Fe Fraunhofer lines (centered at 758.8 nm). The global SIF at 758.8 nm was successfully retrieved with a low residual error of 0.03 mW m−1 sr−1 nm−1. The results show that the spatial and temporal patterns of the retrieved SIF agree well with the global terrestrial vegetation pattern. The monthly SIF products retrieved from the TanSat data were compared with other remote sensing datasets, including OCO-2 SIF, MODIS NDVI, EVI and GPP. The overall consistency between TanSat and OCO-2 SIF products (R2 = 0.86) and the consistency of the spatial patterns and temporal variations between the TanSat SIF and MODIS vegetation indices and GPP enhance our confidence in the potential and feasibility of TanSat data for SIF retrieval. TanSat, therefore, provides a new opportunity for global sampling of SIF at fine spatial resolution (2 km × 2 km), thus improving photosynthesis observations from space.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, an observation-based method is used to simulate ozone formation and elucidate its controlling factors for a rural site on the North China Plain, and the instantaneous ozone production rate is calculated utilizing a box model using the dataset obtained from the Wangdu campaign.
Abstract: In the troposphere, ozone is a harmful gas compound to both human health and vegetation. Ozone is produced from the reaction of NOx ( NO + NO2) and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) with light. Due to the highly nonlinear relationships between ozone and its precursors, proper ozone mitigation relies on the knowledge of chemical mechanisms. In this study, an observation-based method is used to simulate ozone formation and elucidate its controlling factors for a rural site on the North China Plain. The instantaneous ozone production rate is calculated utilizing a box model using the dataset obtained from the Wangdu campaign. First, the model was operated in a time-dependent mode to calculate the ozone production rate at each time stamp. The calculated ozone formation rate showed a diurnal average maximum value of 17 ppbv/h (1-h diurnal averaged). The contribution of individual peroxy radicals to ozone production was analyzed. In addition, the functional dependence of calculated P(O3) reveals that ozone production was in a NOx-limited regime during the campaign. Furthermore, the missing peroxy radical source will further extend NOx-limited conditions to earlier in the day, making NOx limitation dominate more of a day than the current chemical model predicts. Finally, a multiple scenarios mode, also known as EKMA (empirical kinetic modeling approach), was used to simulate the response of P(O3) to the imaginary change in precursor concentrations. We found that ozone production was in the NOx-limited region. However, the use of NO2 measured by the molybdenum converter and/or the absence of a peroxy radical source in the current chemical model could over-emphasize the VOC-limited effect on ozone production.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the microstructure and optical properties of the photocatalyst were analyzed with advanced tools and it was revealed that the presence of defective sites favored the adsorption of gas molecules and electronically compensated it leading to promoted formation of the final products.
Abstract: The g-C3N4 with different structures was prepared by heat treatment using urea (CN-U) and thiourea (CN-T) as precursors under the same conditions. The microstructure and optical properties of the photocatalyst were analyzed with advanced tools. The results showed that the CN-U has a porous structure, a high specific surface area and a wide band gap in comparison with CN-T. The in situ FT-IR technique was used to monitor the adsorption and reaction process of visible photocatalytic NO oxidation on g-C3N4. The corresponding reaction mechanism was proposed based on the results of reaction intermediate observation and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) radical scavenging. It was revealed that (1) the presence of defective sites favored the adsorption of gas molecules and electronically compensated it leading to promoted formation of the final products; (2) the high separation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs enhanced the production of radicals during the photocatalytic reaction; (3) the hydroxyl radicals ( OH) are not selective for the decomposition of pollutants, which are favorable to the complete oxidation of the reaction intermediates. The above three aspects are the main reasons for the CN-U possessing the efficient visible light photocatalytic activity. The present work could provide new insights and methods for understanding the mechanism of photocatalysis.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a novel carbon anode made from charcoal with a high capacity of ∼400µmµg−1 was reported, wherein about 85% of its total capacity is derived from the long plateau region below ∼ 0.1µv.
Abstract: Sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) show great prospect on the energy storage applications benefiting from their low cost and the abundant Na resources despite the expected lower energy density compared with lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). To further enhance the competitive advantage, especially in energy density, developing the high-capacity carbon anode materials can be one of the effective approaches to realize this goal. Herein, we report a novel carbon anode made from charcoal with a high capacity of ∼400 mAh g−1, wherein about 85% (>330 mAh g−1) of its total capacity is derived from the long plateau region below ∼0.1 V, which differs from those of typical hard carbon materials (∼300 mAh g−1) in NIBs but is similar to the graphite anode in LIBs. When coupled with air-stable Na0.9Cu0.22Fe0.30Mn0.48O2 oxide cathode, a high-energy density of ∼240 Wh kg−1 is achieved with good rate capability and cycling stability. The discovery of this promising carbon anode is expected to further improve the energy density of NIBs towards large-scale electrical energy storage.

Journal ArticleDOI
Kang Xia1, Hao Gao1, Cong Liu1, Jianan Yuan1, Jian Sun1, Hui-Tian Wang1, Dingyu Xing1 
TL;DR: In this article, a superhard tungsten nitride, h-WN6, was designed with single-bonded armchair-like N6 rings and presented ionic-like features, which can be formulated as W2.4+N62.4−.
Abstract: Transition metal nitrides have been suggested to have both high hardness and good thermal stability with large potential application value, but so far stable superhard transition metal nitrides have not been synthesized. Here, with our newly developed machine-learning accelerated crystal structure searching method, we designed a superhard tungsten nitride, h-WN6, which can be synthesized at pressure around 65 GPa and quenchable to ambient pressure. This h-WN6 is constructed with single-bonded armchair-like N6 rings and presents ionic-like features, which can be formulated as W2.4+N62.4−. It has a band gap of 1.6 eV at 0 GPa and exhibits an abnormal gap broadening behavior under pressure. Excitingly, this h-WN6 is found to be the hardest among transition metal nitrides known so far (Vickers hardness around 57 GPa) and also has a very high melting temperature (around 1,900 K). Additionally, the good gravimetric (3.1 kJ/g) and volumetric (28.0 kJ/cm3) energy densities make this nitrogen-rich compound a potential high-energy-density material. These predictions support the designing rules and may stimulate future experiments to synthesize superhard and high-energy-density material.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a 1.63 GHz FGF antenna sensor exhibits significantly high strain sensitivity of 9.8 for compressive bending and 9.36 for tensile bending, which is super than the copper antenna sensor.
Abstract: The use of advanced carbon nanomaterials for flexible antenna sensors has attracted great attention due to their outstanding electromechanical properties. However, carbon nanomaterial based composites have yet to overcome drawbacks, such as low conductivity and toughness. In this work, a flexible multi-layer graphene film (FGF) with a high conductivity of 106 S/m for antenna based wearable sensors is investigated. A 1.63 GHz FGF antenna sensor exhibits significantly high strain sensitivity of 9.8 for compressive bending and 9.36 for tensile bending, which is super than the copper antenna sensor (5.39 for compressive bending and 4.05 for tensile bending). Moreover, the FGF antenna sensor shows very good mechanical flexibility, reversible deformability and structure stability, and thus is well suited for applications like wearable devices and wireless strain sensing.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a semi-empirical model that incorporates forest age and climatic factors for each forest type was presented to estimate the effects of forest age on total forest biomass, under three different scenarios based on the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5).
Abstract: Chinese forests, characterized by relatively young stand age, represent a significant biomass carbon (C) sink over the past several decades. Nevertheless, it is unclear how forest biomass C sequestration capacity in China will evolve as forest age, climate and atmospheric CO2 concentration change continuously. Here, we present a semi-empirical model that incorporates forest age and climatic factors for each forest type to estimate the effects of forest age and climate change on total forest biomass, under three different scenarios based on the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). We estimate that age-related forest biomass C sequestration to be 6.69 Pg C (∼0.17 Pg C a−1) from the 2000s to the 2040s. Climate change induces a rather weak increase in total forest biomass C sequestration (0.52-0.60 Pg C by the 2040s). We show that rising CO2 concentrations could further increase the total forest biomass C sequestration by 1.68-3.12 Pg C in the 2040s across all three scenarios. Overall, the total forest biomass in China would increase by 8.89-10.37 Pg C by the end of 2040s. Our findings highlight the benefits of Chinese afforestation programs, continued climate change and increasing CO2 concentration in sustaining the forest biomass C sink in the near future, and could therefore be useful for designing more realistic climate change mitigation policies such as continuous forestation programs and careful choice of tree species.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of the major progresses of studies in trends in width and strength of the Hadley circulation can be found in this paper, where the authors address answers to these questions, clarify inconsistent results, and propose ideas for future studies.
Abstract: The Hadley circulation is one of the most important atmospheric circulations. Widening of the Hadley circulation has drawn extensive studies in the past decade. The key concern is that widening of the Hadley circulation would cause poleward shift of the subtropical dry zone. Various metrics have been applied to measure the widening of the tropics. What are responsible for the observed widening trends of the Hadley circulation? How anthropogenic and natural forcings caused the widening? How the widening results in regional climatic effects? These are the major questions in studing the widening of the Hadley circulation. While both observations and simulations all show widening of the Hadley circulation in the past few decades, there are no general agreements of changes in the strength of the Hadley circulation. Although some reanalysis datasets show strengthening of the Hadley circulation, it was shown that the strengthening trend could be artificial, and simulations show weakening of the Hadley circulation for global greenhouse warming. In the present paper, we shall briefly review the major progresses of studies in trends in width and strength of the Hadley circulation. We address answers to these questions, clarify inconsistent results, and propose ideas for future studies.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The present guideline includes the underlying diseases of syncope in children and adolescents, the diagnostic procedures, methodology and clinical significance of standing test and head-up tilt test, the clinical diagnosis vasovagal syncope, postural Orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, orthostatic hypotension and orthostatics, and the treatment ofsyncope as well as follow-up.
Abstract: Syncope belongs to the transient loss of consciousness (TLOC), characterized by a rapid onset, short duration, and spontaneous complete recovery. It is common in children and adolescents, accounting for 1% to 2% of emergency department visits.Recurrent syncope can seriously affect children's physical and mental health, learning ability and quality of life and sometimes cardiac syncope even poses a risk of sudden death. The present guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of syncope in children and adolescents was developed for guiding a better clinical management of pediatric syncope. Based on the globally recent development and the evidence-based data in China, 2018 Chinese Pediatric Cardiology Society (CPCS) guideline for diagnosis and treatment of syncope in children and adolescents was jointly prepared by the Pediatric Cardiology Society, Chinese Pediatric Society, Chinese Medical Association (CMA)/Committee on Pediatric Syncope, Pediatricians Branch, Chinese Medical Doctor Association (CMDA)/Committee on Pediatric Cardiology, Chinese College of Cardiovascular Physicians, Chinese Medical Doctor Association (CMDA)/Pediatric Cardiology Society, Beijing Pediatric Society, Beijing Medical Association (BMA). The present guideline includes the underlying diseases of syncope in children and adolescents, the diagnostic procedures, methodology and clinical significance of standing test and head-up tilt test, the clinical diagnosis vasovagal syncope, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, orthostatic hypotension and orthostatic hypertension, and the treatment of syncope as well as follow-up.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an atomically dispersed Pd1/TiO2 catalyst with Ti(III) vicinal to Pd is prepared and used to demonstrate the direct involvement of metal atoms on support in the catalysis of dispersed metal atoms.
Abstract: Atomically dispersing metal atoms on supports has been emerging as an effective strategy to maximize the atom utilization of metals for catalysis. However, due to the lack of effective tools to characterize the detailed structure of metal-support interface, the chemical functions of supports in atomically dispersed metal catalysts are hardly elucidated at the molecular level. In this work, an atomically dispersed Pd1/TiO2 catalyst with Ti(III) vicinal to Pd is prepared and used to demonstrate the direct involvement of metal atoms on support in the catalysis of dispersed metal atoms. Systematic studies reveal that the Ti(III)-O-Pd interface facilitates the activation of O2 into superoxide (O2−), thus promoting the catalytic oxidation. The catalyst exhibits the highest CO turn-over frequency among ever-reported Pd-based catalysts, and enhanced catalysis in the combustion of harmful volatile organic compound (i.e., toluene) and green-house gas (i.e., methane). The demonstrated direct involvement of metal atoms on oxide support suggests that the real active sites of atomically dispersed metal catalysts can be far beyond isolated metal atoms themselves. Metal atoms on oxide supports in the vicinity serve as another vector to promote the catalysis of atomically dispersed metal catalysts.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of cryogenic thermal cycling on deformation behavior and thermal stability of the Zr46Cu46Al8 bulk metallic glass (BMG) were studied.
Abstract: In this paper, effects of cryogenic thermal cycling on deformation behavior and thermal stability of the Zr46Cu46Al8 bulk metallic glass (BMG) were studied. The results show that with the increase of the number of cryogenic thermal cycles (CTC), thermal stability remains almost unchanged, while the plasticity is increased, indicating that the cryogenic thermal cyclic treatment is an effective way to improve plasticity of metallic glasses without distinctly deteriorating thermal stability. Our analysis suggests that the increase in the defect density resulted from the cryogenic thermal treatments are responsible for the plasticity increment. Variation of yield strength can be well interpreted from microstructural percolation which affected by both density and characteristic volume of the defect sites.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a face-centered cubic FeCoNiCrMn high-entropy alloy with different grain sizes was tested to understand the effect of grain size, thus grain boundary volume, on the mechanical properties.
Abstract: In this study, mechanical tests were conducted on a face-centered cubic FeCoNiCrMn high-entropy alloy, both in tension and compression, in a wide range of strain rates (10−4–104 s−1) to systematically investigate its dynamic response and underlying deformation mechanism. Materials with different grain sizes were tested to understand the effect of grain size, thus grain boundary volume, on the mechanical properties. Microstructures of various samples both before and after deformation were examined using electron backscatter diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The dislocation structure as well as deformation-induced twins were analyzed and correlated with the measured mechanical properties. Plastic stability during tension of the current high-entropy alloy (HEA), in particular, at dynamic strain rates, was discussed in lights of strain-rate sensitivity and work hardening rate. It was found that, under dynamic conditions, the strength and uniform ductility increased simultaneously as a result of the massive formation of deformation twins. Specifically, an ultimate tensile strength of 734 MPa and uniform elongation of ∼63% are obtained at 2.3 × 103 s−1, indicating that the alloy has great potential for energy absorption upon impact loading.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a simple self-structural modification strategy to optimize the microstructure of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheets with porous structure was reported.
Abstract: The unmodified graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) suffers from low photocatalytic activity because of the unfavourable structure. In the present work, we reported a simple self-structural modification strategy to optimize the microstructure of g-C3N4 and obtained graphene-like g-C3N4 nanosheets with porous structure. In contrast to traditional thermal pyrolysis preparation of g-C3N4, the present thermal condensation was improved via pyrolysis of thiourea in an alumina crucible without a cover, followed by secondary heat treatment. The popcorn-like formation and layer-by-layer thermal exfoliation of graphene-like porous g-C3N4 was proposed to explain the formation mechanism. The photocatalytic removal performance of both NO and NO2 with the graphene-like porous g-C3N4 for was significantly enhanced by self-structural modification. Trapping experiments and in-situ diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) measurement were conducted to detect the active species during photocatalysis and the conversion pathway of g-C3N4 photocatalysis for NOx purification was revealed. The photocatalytic activity of graphene-like porous g-C3N4 was highly enhanced due to the improved charge separation and increased oxidation capacity of the O2− radicals and holes. This work could not only provide a novel self-structural modification for design of highly efficient photocatalysts, but also offer new insights into the mechanistic understanding of g-C3N4 photocatalysis.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Chinese global carbon dioxide monitoring satellite (TanSat) was launched successfully in December 2016 and has completed its on-orbit tests and calibration as discussed by the authors, and the first scientific results from TanSat measurements are presented.
Abstract: The Chinese global carbon dioxide monitoring satellite (TanSat) was launched successfully in December 2016 and has completed its on-orbit tests and calibration. TanSat aims to measure the atmospheric column-averaged dry air mole fractions of carbon dioxide (XCO2) with a precision of 4 ppm at the regional scale, and in addition, to derive global and regional CO2 fluxes. Progress towards these objectives is reviewed and the first scientific results from TanSat measurements are presented. TanSat on-orbit tests indicate that the Atmospheric Carbon dioxide Grating Spectrometer is in normal working status and is beginning to produce L1B products. The preliminary TanSat XCO2 products have been retrieved by an algorithm and compared to NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) measurements during an overlapping observation period. Furthermore, the XCO2 retrievals have been validated against eight ground-site measurement datasets from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network, for which the preliminary conclusion is that TanSat has met the precision design requirement, with an average bias of 2.11 ppm. The first scientific observations are presented, namely, the seasonal distributions of XCO2 over land on a global scale.