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The development of multifunctional electrocatalysts with high performance for electrocatalyzing urea oxidation-assisted water splitting is of great significance for energy-saving hydrogen production. In this work, we demonstrate a novel heteroatom engineering strategy for development of B-doped Co as a multifunctional electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and urea oxidation reaction (UOR). Density functional theory (DFT) results suggest that a B dopant can efficiently adjust the electron reconstruction of the exposure of Co sites nearby and facilitate electron transfer, resulting in an optimal d-band center along with a lower Gibbs free energy barrier. Ultimately, the obtained B-Co exhibits pH-universal HER properties in various electrolytes. A highly efficient HER performance with overpotentials as low as 27, 163, and 430 mV to -10, -100, and -500 mA cm -2 in 1.0 M KOH, respectively, is observed for the B-Co electrode. More importantly, the UOR-assisted electrolyzer only requires a voltage input of 1.55 V to produce the current densities of 50 mA cm -2 , resulting in a 200 mV saving-energy potential compared to water electrolysis, demonstrating its high efficiency of hydrogen production in industrial applications.

The development of heterogeneous supported nanocatalysts with a high kinetics combined with low cost is off importance but remains still challenged for hydrazine hydrate served as a promising hydrogen storage material. Herein, by virtue of surficial functional groups, ultrafine NiRh NPs were monodispersed on the two-dimensional V 2 C surface via a conventional wet chemical co-reduction. The optimized NiRh/V 2 C system demonstrates an excellent catalytic performance toward selectively catalyzing dehydrogenation of hydrazine hydrate, affording 100% H 2 selectivity with the turnover frequency (TOF) value of 987.5 h -1 at 323 K. Such an enhancement is mainly attributed to synergistic effect of nanosystem, which will optimize local surface energy and promote electron transfer in NiRh/V 2 C system, thereby improving the kinetic selectivity of catalytic hydrazine hydrate decomposition. This work has provided a facile strategy for developing nanocatalysts with high kinetics that could enable huge industrial applications in the future., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

PbS films grown on quartz substrates by the chemical bath deposition method were annealed in an O 2 atmosphere to investigate the role of oxygen in the sensitization process at different annealing temperatures. The average grain size of the PbS films gradually increased as the annealing temperature increased from 400 °C to 700 °C. At an annealing temperature of 650 °C, the photoresponsivity and detectivity reached 1.67 A W -1 and 1.22 × 10 10 cm Hz 1/2 W -1 , respectively. The role of oxides in the sensitization process was analyzed in combination with X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy results, and a three-dimensional network model of the sensitization mechanism of PbS films was proposed. During the annealing process, O functioned as a p-type impurity, forming p + -type PbS layers with high hole concentrations on the surface and between the PbS grains. As annealing proceeds, the p + -type PbS layers at the grain boundaries interconnect to form a three-dimensional network structure of hole transport channels, while the unoxidized p-type PbS layers act as electron transport channels. Under bias, photogenerated electron-hole pairs were efficiently separated by the formed p + -p charge separation junction, thereby reducing electron-hole recombination and facilitating a higher infrared response.

Phosphorene nanoribbons (PNRs) combine the flexibility of one-dimensional (1D) nanomaterials with the large specific surface area and the edge and electron confinement effects of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials. In spite of the substantial advances in bulk black phosphorus (BP) manufacturing, achieving PNRs without degradation is still a big challenge. In this work, we present a strategy for the space-confined chemical vapor transport synthesis of quasi-one-dimensional surface-passivated monocrystalline PNRs on a silicon substrate. The growth mechanism of the PNRs is proposed by combining experimental results and DFT calculations, indicating that the P 4 molecules can break, restructure, and epitaxially nucleate on the surface of the Au 3 SnP 7 catalyst, and finally prefer to grow along the zigzag (ZZ) direction to form PNRs. The low gas flow rate and an appropriate phosphorus molecule concentration allow the growth of PNRs with structural integrity, which can be regulated by the amount of red phosphorus and the confined space.