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[Display omitted] An efficient strategy to construct non-noble metal-base electrocatalysts for water splitting is the direct carbonization of metal–organic aerogel composites. Herein for the first time, a novel tube-like metal–carbon nanocomposite with encapsulated small-size individual Fe, Cr and Ni nanoparticles, is prepared by the carbonization of a FeCr-doped Ni-benzenetricarboxylate aerogel. The slender skeleton of the aerogel, supercritical drying and Cr doping alleviates metal aggregation and facilitates the in-situ growth of carbon tubes. This nanocomposite exhibits remarkably low overpotential of the hydrogen evolution reaction (137 mV) and oxygen evolution reaction (220 mV). Further, the cell voltage could be as low as 1.54 V with the current density of 10 mA cm−2 and illustrates excellent stability under a continuous operation for 50 h. This non-noble metal-base electrocatalyst is comparable to noble metal-based electrocatalysts and the impressive performance is ascribed to the abundant active catalytic sites and short reactant diffusion pathways. This work demonstrates great capability of aerogel derivation in the highly active electrocatalyst design for promising electrochemical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Adsorption of 2-phenylethyl alcohol (PEA) from supercritical CO2 onto silica aerogel was investigated. A monolayer to multilayer adsorption isotherm was observed, measured at 15.0MPa and 323.2K, from the PEA-unsaturated to PEA-saturated supercritical CO2, indicating the potential utility of the solute-saturated supercritical adsorption (SSA). The amount of PEA adsorbed on the silica aerogel with SSA at different temperatures and pressures was measured, and the release of PEA from the aerogel at 303.2K was also evaluated. A theoretical model for the SSA equilibrium was developed with the assistance of the adsorption isotherms of pure CO2 onto the silica and considering a three-phase binary system, where the two-dimensional van der Waals equation of state and the three-dimensional Stryjek–Vera modification of the Peng–Robinson equation of state were used respectively to describe the adsorbed phase and the bulk phases (vapor phase and liquid phase). Results showed that the model was capable of describing the adsorption behavior of the system with an average absolute relative deviation of 3.3%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]