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Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of critical significance in the advancement of fuel cells and zinc-air batteries. The iron-nitrogen (Fe−Nx) sites exhibited exceptional reactivity towards ORR. However, the task of designing and controlling the local structure of Fe species for high ORR activity and stability remains a challenge. Herein, we have achieved successful immobilization of Fe species onto the highly curved surface of S, N co-doped carbonaceous nanosprings (denoted as FeNS/Fe3C@CNS). The induction of this twisted configuration within FeNS/Fe3C@CNS arose from the assembly of chiral templates. For electrocatalytic ORR tests, FeNS/Fe3C@CNS exhibits a half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.91 V in alkaline medium and a E1/2 of 0.78 V in acidic medium. The Fe single atoms and Fe3C nanoparticles are coexistent and play as active centers within FeNS/Fe3C@CNS. The highly curved surface, coupled with S substitution in the coordination layer, served to reduce the energy barrier for ORR, thereby enhancing the intrinsic catalytic activity of the Fe single-atom sites. We also assembled a wearable flexible Zn-air battery using FeNS/Fe3C@CNS as electrocatalysts. This work provides new insights into the construction of highly curved surfaces within carbon materials, offering high electrocatalytic efficacy and remarkable performance for flexible energy conversion devices.

In this paper an analysis of hydromagnetic turbulent fluid flow over an immersed curved surface is carried out. The curved surface was a circular infinite vertical cylinder. The fluid was considered to be electrically conducting while the surface was assumed to be insulated. The fluid flows along the axis of the cylinder. The flow is impulsively started and the flow problem analysed thereafter. A mathematical formulation of the problem is done using the conservation equations of momentum and energy. The Reynolds stress terms were resolved using Prandtl mixing length hypothesis. The arising governing nonlinear partial differential equations are subsequently presented as finite difference schemes and simulated using a computer programme. The results were presented graphically showing velocity and temperature profiles. The rates of heat transfer are presented in a table. It is observed that increase in both Grashof number and Prandtl number leads to an increase in rate of heat transfer.

The catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO) on transition metals, such as platinum (Pt), is commonly viewed as a sharp transition from the CO-inhibited surface to the active metal, covered with oxygen (O). However, we find that minor amounts of O are present in the CO-poisoned layer that explain why, surprisingly, CO desorbs at stepped and flat Pt crystal planes at once, regardless of the reaction conditions. Using near-ambient pressure X-ray photoemission and a curved Pt(111) crystal we probe the chemical composition at surfaces with variable step density during the CO oxidation reaction. The systematic analysis of carbon and oxygen core levels across the curved crystal reveals that, right before light-off, subsurface O builds up within (111) terraces. This is key to trigger the simultaneous ignition of the catalytic reaction at different Pt surfaces, as indicated by ab-initio theory: a CO-Pt-O complex is formed that equals the CO chemisorption energy at terraces and steps, leading to the abrupt desorption of poisoning CO from all crystal facets at the same temperature.

In most technological applications, nanoparticles are immersed in a liquid environment. Understanding nanoparticles/liquid interfacial effects is extremely relevant. This work provides a clear and detailed picture of the type of chemistry and physics taking place at the prototypical TiO2 nanoparticles/water interface, which is crucial in photocatalysis and photoelectrochemistry. We present a multistep and multiscale investigation based on hybrid density functional theory (DFT), density functional tight-binding, and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations. We consider increasing water partial pressure conditions from ultra-high vacuum up to the bulk water environment. We first investigate single water molecule adsorption modes on various types of undercoordinated sites present on a realistic curved nanoparticle (2-3 nm) and then, by decorating all the adsorption sites, we study a full water monolayer to identify the degree of water dissociation, the Brønsted-Lowry basicity/acidity of the nanoparticle in water, the interface effect on crystallinity, surface energy, and electronic properties, such as the band gap and work function. Furthermore, we increase the water coverage by adding water multilayers up to a thickness of 1 nm and perform molecular dynamics simulations, which evidence layer structuring and molecular orientation around the curved nanoparticle. Finally, we clarify whether these effects arise as a consequence of the tension at the water drop surface around the nanosphere by simulating a bulk water up to a distance of 3 nm from the oxide surface. We prove that the nanoparticle/water interfacial effects go rather long range since the dipole orientation of water molecules is observed up to a distance of 5 Å, whereas water structuring extends at least up to a distance of 8 Å from the surface.

The heat transfer and flow characteristics of air jet impingement on a curved surface are investigated with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. The first applied model is a one-equation SGS model for large eddy simulation (LES) and the second one is the SST-SAS hybrid RANS-LES. These models are utilized to study the flow physics in impinging process on a curved surface for different jet-to-surface (h/B) distances at two Reynolds numbers namely, 2960 and 4740 based on the jet exit velocity (Ue) and the hydraulic diameter (2B). The predictions are compared with the experimental data in the literature and also the results from RANS k-epsilon model. Comparisons show that both models can produce relatively good results. However, one-equation model (OEM) produced more accurate results especially at impingement region at lower jet-to-surface distances. In terms of heat transfer, the OEM also predicted better at different jet-to-surface spacings. It is also observed that both models show similar performance at higher h/B ratios. (C) 2015 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press. All rights reserved.

The wear of star wheel teeth is an importance issue in the single screw compressor. In order to enhance the wearresistance of star wheel teeth, some new profiles of the meshing pair were proposed to replace the currently used straight line envelope profile, such as single column envelope, multi-straight line (or multi-column) envelope. In this paper, a curved surface of the tooth flank is suggested. The groove flank is the envelope surface corresponding to the curved surface of the tooth flank. Section profile of the new tooth flank is a curved line, which could be elliptical, hyperbolic or involute. During the tooth meshing with the groove, the contact line between the tooth flank and the groove flank could move back and forth in the whole area of the tooth flank. This design is expected to improve the lubricating between the tooth flank and the groove flank, and to prolong the service life of the single screw compressor. Geometric and kinematic investigation of the star wheel and the screw rotor is established. And a new designed tooth flank of the meshing pair is introduced in this paper. Numerical control high-velocity cutting technology is suggested to fabricate the new star-wheel and the screw rotor.

We demonstrate the nontrivial scaling behavior of Ising models defined on (i) a donut-shaped surface and (ii) a curved surface with a constant negative curvature. By performing Monte Carlo simulations, we find that the former model has two distinct critical temperatures at which both the specific heat C(T) and magnetic susceptibility chi(T) show sharp peaks. The critical exponents associated with the two critical temperatures are evaluated by the finite-size scaling analysis; the result reveals that the values of these exponents vary depending on the temperature range under consideration. In the case of the latter model, it is found that static and dynamic critical exponents deviate from those of the Ising model on a flat plane; this is a direct consequence of the constant negative curvature of the underlying surface.