Flexible Hybrid Membrane with Synergistic Exciton Dynamics for Excessive 280 h of Durably Piezo-Photocatalytic H2O-to-H2 Conversion.

Solar-driven H2O-to-H2 conversion is a feasible artificial photoconversion technology for clean energy production. However, low photon utilization efficiency has become a major obstacle limiting the practical application of this technology. Herein, a metal atomic replacement (Sb→Ni) is conducted to disintegrate bulk Sb2S3 nanorods and synchronously grow the NiS nanolayers, and a flower-like Sb2S3-NiS nanocomposite with high BET specific surface area and synergistic exciton dynamics is constructed for simulated solar (SSL)-driven H2O-to-H2 conversion. The optimal Sb2S3-NiS nanocomposite is compounded with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) to prepare a flexible PVDF/Sb2S3-NiS (PSN) hybrid membrane with stable structure and excellent recyclability via an electrospinning method. Due to the synergistically interacted organic-inorganic interface and high porosity, it is conducive to the exposure of effective active sites, exciton conduction and mass transfer and exchange, thereby an outstanding alkaline (Ph = 13.0) H2O-to-H2 conversion activity with a 0.06% of solar-to-hydrogen efficiency and over 280 h (70 cycles) of durable recycling is achieved under the collaborative drives of SSL and weak ultrasound (40 Hz). This study raises a state-of-the-art membrane material for solar-driven panel reaction technology.

Construction of Core-shell Sb2 s3 @Cds Nanorod with Enhanced Heterointerface Interaction for Chromium-Containing Wastewater Treatment.

How to collaboratively reduce Cr(VI) and break Cr(III) complexes is a technical challenge to solve chromium-containing wastewater (CCW) pollution. Solar photovoltaic (SPV) technology based on semiconductor materials is a potential strategy to solve this issue. Sb2 S3 is a typical semiconductor material with total visible-light harvesting capacity, but its large-sized structure highly aggravates disordered photoexciton migration, accelerating the recombination kinetics and resulting low-efficient photon utilization. Herein, the uniform mesoporous CdS shell is in situ formed on the surface of Sb2 S3 nanorods (NRs) to construct the core-shell Sb2 S3 @CdS heterojunction with high BET surface area and excellent near-infrared light harvesting capacity via a surface cationic displacement strategy, and density functional theory thermodynamically explains the breaking of SbS bonds and formation of CdS bonds according to the bond energy calculation. The SbSCd bonding interaction and van der Waals force significantly enhance the stability and synergy of Sb2 S3 /CdS heterointerface throughout the entire surface of Sb2 S3 NRs, promoting the Sb2 S3 -to-CdS electron transfer due to the formation of built-in electric field. Therefore, the optimized Sb2 S3 @CdS catalyst achieves highly enhanced simulated sunlight-driven Cr(VI) reduction (0.154 min-1 ) and decomplexation of complexed Cr(III) in weakly acidic condition, resulting effective CCW treatment under co-action of photoexcited electrons and active radicals. This study provides a high-performance heterostructured catalyst for effective CCW treatment by SPV technology.

Multisite Cocatalysis: Single atomic Pt2+/Pt0 active sites synergistically improve the simulated sunlight driven H2O-to-H2 conversion performance of Sb2S3 nanorods.

Single atomic metal (SAM) cocatalysis is a potential strategy to improve the performance of photocatalytic materials. However, the cocatalytic mechanism of SAM sites in different valence states is rarely reported. Herein, single atomic Pt2+/Pt0 active sites were anchored on Sb2S3 nanorods to synergistically improve the photoactivity for hydrogen production under simulated sunlight. Experimental results and density functional theory calculations indicated that the coexistence of single atomic Pt2+/Pt0 sites synergistically improves the broadband light harvesting and promotes the Sb2S3-to-Pt electron transfer following inhibited photoexciton recombination kinetics and enhanced H proton adsorption capacity, resulting higher and more durable photoactivity for hydrogen production. Therefore, the optimal Sb2S3-Pt0.9‰ composite catalyst achieved remarkably enhanced hydrogen evolution rate of 1.37 mmol∙g-1∙h-1 (about 105-fold greater of that of Sb2S3 NRs) under faintly alkaline condition, and about 5.41 % of apparent quantum yield (AQY700 nm) was achieved, which shows obvious superiority in hydrogen production by contrasting with the reported Sb2S3-based photocatalysts and conventional semiconductor photocatalytic materials modified with noble metals. This study elucidate a well-defined mechanism of multisite cocatalysis for photoactivity improvement.

The preliminary test of multi-charged ions generation with a 2.45 GHz microwave-driven ion source.

A 2.45 GHz microwave-driven ion source for the generation of multicharged ions has been designed and built at Peking University recently. The magnetic field configuration of this ion source is a minimum-B type with a combination of a hexapole field and an axial mirror field. Argon was selected as the first tested beam generated by this ion source. A 63 µA Ar4+ ion beam at 35 kV extraction voltage was obtained in the pulsed mode (50 Hz/500 µs). Without the hexapole magnetic field, the highest charge state was only Ar2+, and no Ar4+ ion beam was detected. The comparison between the two sets of experimental results with different magnetic configurations has proven the rationality of the production of multicharged ions with this ion source. Both experimental results and discussion will be presented in this paper.

A miniaturized ECR plasma flood gun for wafer charge neutralization.

In modern ion implanters, a plasma flood gun (PFG) is used to neutralize wafer charge during the doping process, preventing the breakdown of floating wafers caused by the space charge accumulation. Typically, there are two kinds of PFGs, namely, dc arc discharge with filament and RF discharge. As a PFG, the filament one has limited lifetime and cannot avoid metallic contamination because of the thermal emitting filament. RF discharge PFG has been developed to solve these problems, including prolonging the source lifetime and avoiding metal pollution. Recently, a 2.45 GHz electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source is also regarded as a potential choice for PFG. However, the dimension of the 2.45 GHz ECR source system including the size of the source itself and its meter's length RF subsidiary limits its application within an ion implanter. At Peking University, a miniaturized 2.45 GHz permanent magnet electron cyclotron resonance plasma flood gun with a coaxial RF transmission line has been built and tested. The dimensions of the ECR source body are Φ60 mm × Φ88 mm with a Φ30 mm × Φ40 mm plasma chamber. Its RF transmission line consists of a 200 W microwave generator, a 30 cm coaxial line, a 7 cm coaxial-to-waveguide transducer, and a microwave window that also serves as a vacuum seal. In continuous wave experiments, the electron extraction currents can be as high as 8.8 mA at an input RF power of 22 W with argon gas. The gas flow is less than 1.0 SCCM for this test.

Possibility of generating H+, or H2 +, or H3 + dominated ion beams with a 2.45 GHz permanent magnet ECR ion source.

At Peking University (PKU), experimental research as well as theoretical study on how to produce high intense H+, H2 +, or H3 + dominated ion beams with a compact permanent magnet 2.45 GHz electron cyclotron resonance (PMECR) ion source have been continuously carried out in the past few decades. Based on the comprehension of hydrogen plasma processes inside a 2.45 GHz PMECR discharge chamber, a three-phase diagram of ion fraction dominant regions that illustrates the relationship between the H+, H2 +, and H3 + ion species and working parameters was presented. Meanwhile, a numerical model based on the particle population balance equations was developed for quantitative comprehension of electron cyclotron heated hydrogen plasma. Calculated results of H+, H2 +, and H3 + fractions against gas pressure, microwave density, and wall material obtained with this numerical model agree well with the measured ones. Recently, a miniaturized ECR ion source has been developed, and a 52 mA hydrogen beam was extracted. Under the guidance of the model, H+, H2 +, and H3 + beams with a fraction of 88%, 80%, and 82%, respectively, were obtained with this miniaturized ECR ion source under suitable working parameters. A PMECR ion source for a proton therapy facility has been built at PKU recently. A 34 mA beam H+ fraction of 91% was obtained at the first attempt.