Surface Electronic Structure Engineering of Manganese Bismuth Tellurides Guided by Micro-Focused Angle-Resolved Photoemission.

Modification of the electronic structure of quantum matter by ad atom deposition allows for directed fundamental design of electronic and magnetic properties. This concept is utilized in the present study in order to tune the surface electronic structure of magnetic topological insulators based on MnBi Te . The topological bands of these systems are typically strongly electron-doped and hybridized with a manifold of surface states that place the salient topological states out of reach of electron transport and practical applications.

Substrate Strain Engineering of Single-Atomic Sn-N Sites Embedded in Various Carbon Matrixes for Bifunctional Oxygen Electrocatalysis.

It is still a great challenge to design and synthesize high-efficiency and low-cost single-atom catalysts (SACs) as promising bifunctional electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, theoretical insights into Sn-N embedded carbon nanotubes, graphene quantum dots, and graphene nanosheets (denoted as Sn-N-CNTs, Sn-N-GQDs, and Sn-N-Gra, respectively) for the ORR/OER are systematically provided. These results show that the protruding Sn atom creates a Sn-N pyramid and induces varied strain transfer between Sn-N and different carbon substrates prior to adsorption of O intermediates, resulting in the opposite response of the adsorption strengths of O intermediates to the substrate curvature of Sn-N-CNTs and Sn-N-GQDs.

Tailoring the whole-cell sensing spectrum with cyborgian redox machinery.

Whole-cell biosensors are an important class of analytical tools that offer the advantages of low cost, facile operation, and unique reproduction/regeneration ability. However, it has always been quite challenging to expand the sensing spectrum of the host. Here, a new approach to extend the cell sensing spectrum with biomineralized nanoparticles is developed.

Yeast-induced formation of graphene hydrogels anode for efficient xylose-fueled microbial fuel cells.

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are of great interest due to their capability to directly convert organic compounds to electric energy. In particular, MFCs technology showed great potential to directly harness the energy from xylose in the form of bioelectricity and biohydrogen simultaneously. Herein, we report a yeast strain of Cystobasidium slooffiae JSUX1 enabled the reduction and assembly of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets into three-dimensional reduced GO (3D rGO) hydrogels on the surface of carbon felt (CF) anode.

The formation mechanism of bimetallic PtRu alloy nanoparticles in solvothermal synthesis.

An understanding of the nucleation and growth mechanism of bimetallic nanoparticles in solvothermal synthesis is important for further development of nanoparticles with tailored nanostructures and properties. Here the formation of PtRu alloy nanoparticles in a solvothermal synthesis using metal acetylacetonate salts as precursors and ethanol as both the solvent and reducing agent has been studied by in situ synchrotron radiation powder X-ray diffraction (SR-PXRD). Unlike the classical mechanism for the synthesis of monodisperse sols, the nucleation and growth processes of bimetallic PtRu nanoparticles occur simultaneously under solvothermal conditions.

Application of atomic Hirshfeld surface analysis to intermetallic systems: is Mn in cubic CeMnNi4 a thermoelectric rattler atom?

The Mn atom in the cubic polymorph of CeMnNi(4) appears to be located in an oversized cage-like structure, and anomalously large atomic displacement parameters (ADPs) for the Mn atom indicate that it is a potential "rattler" atom. Here, multitemperature synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction data measured between 110 and 900 K are used to estimate ADPs for the Mn "guest" atom and the "host" structure atoms in cubic CeMnNi(4). The ADPs are subsequently fitted with Debye and Einstein models, giving Θ(D) = 301(2) K for the "host" structure and Θ(E) = 165(2) K for the Mn atom.

Biomolecule-assisted hydrothermal synthesis and self-assembly of Bi2Te3 nanostring-cluster hierarchical structure.

A simple biomolecule-assisted hydrothermal approach has been developed for the fabrication of Bi(2)Te(3) thermoelectric nanomaterials. The product has a nanostring-cluster hierarchical structure which is composed of ordered and aligned platelet-like crystals. The platelets are approximately 100 nm in diameter and only approximately 10 nm thick even though a high reaction temperature of 220 degrees C and a long reaction time of 24 h were applied to prepare the sample.

Solvothermal synthesis of nanosized CoSb(3) skutterudite.

Nanostructures enhance phonon scattering and improve the figure of merit of thermoelectric materials. Nanosized CoSb(3) skutterudite was synthesized by solvothermal methods using CoCl(2) and SbCl(3) as the precursors. A "two-step" model was suggested for the formation of CoSb(3) based on the X-ray diffraction analysis.