Nanostructured catalyst-integrated electrodes with remarkably reduced catalyst loadings,high catalyst utilization and facile fabrication are urgently needed to enable cost-effective,green hydrogen production via proto...Nanostructured catalyst-integrated electrodes with remarkably reduced catalyst loadings,high catalyst utilization and facile fabrication are urgently needed to enable cost-effective,green hydrogen production via proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells(PEMECs).Herein,benefitting from a thin seeding layer,bottom-up grown ultrathin Pt nanosheets(Pt-NSs)were first deposited on thin Ti substrates for PEMECs via a fast,template-and surfactant-free electrochemical growth process at room temperature,showing highly uniform Pt surface coverage with ultralow loadings and vertically well-aligned nanosheet morphologies.Combined with an anode-only Nafion 117 catalyst-coated membrane(CCM),the Pt-NS electrode with an ultralow loading of 0.015 mgPt cm−2 demonstrates superior cell performance to the commercial CCM(3.0 mgPt cm^(−2)),achieving 99.5%catalyst savings and more than 237-fold higher catalyst utilization.The remarkable performance with high catalyst utilization is mainly due to the vertically well-aligned ultrathin nanosheets with good surface coverage exposing abundant active sites for the electrochemical reaction.Overall,this study not only paves a new way for optimizing the catalyst uniformity and surface coverage with ultralow loadings but also provides new insights into nanostructured electrode design and facile fabrication for highly efficient and low-cost PEMECs and other energy storage/conversion devices.展开更多
In many applications, it is important to know the waist of a laser beam. However, it is impossible to measure it directly because the intensity is high at the waist. We have used an optical fiber-scan system to charac...In many applications, it is important to know the waist of a laser beam. However, it is impossible to measure it directly because the intensity is high at the waist. We have used an optical fiber-scan system to characterize the Gauss/an intensity profile of a focused femtosecond laser beam. The measurement system employs a single-mode optical fiber that is fixed on a motorized three-dimensional translation stage to collect the laser energy and the other end is connected to an optical power meter to measure the intensity profile. Using the measure data and geometry formulas, one can calculate the beam waist and far-field divergence angle of a laser beam. The measured beam waist size is essentially consistent with the result of theoretical fit.展开更多
基金The authors greatly appreciate the support from the U.S.Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy(EERE)under the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office Awards DE-EE0008426 and DE-EE0008423National Energy Technology Laboratory under Award DEFE0011585.
文摘Nanostructured catalyst-integrated electrodes with remarkably reduced catalyst loadings,high catalyst utilization and facile fabrication are urgently needed to enable cost-effective,green hydrogen production via proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells(PEMECs).Herein,benefitting from a thin seeding layer,bottom-up grown ultrathin Pt nanosheets(Pt-NSs)were first deposited on thin Ti substrates for PEMECs via a fast,template-and surfactant-free electrochemical growth process at room temperature,showing highly uniform Pt surface coverage with ultralow loadings and vertically well-aligned nanosheet morphologies.Combined with an anode-only Nafion 117 catalyst-coated membrane(CCM),the Pt-NS electrode with an ultralow loading of 0.015 mgPt cm−2 demonstrates superior cell performance to the commercial CCM(3.0 mgPt cm^(−2)),achieving 99.5%catalyst savings and more than 237-fold higher catalyst utilization.The remarkable performance with high catalyst utilization is mainly due to the vertically well-aligned ultrathin nanosheets with good surface coverage exposing abundant active sites for the electrochemical reaction.Overall,this study not only paves a new way for optimizing the catalyst uniformity and surface coverage with ultralow loadings but also provides new insights into nanostructured electrode design and facile fabrication for highly efficient and low-cost PEMECs and other energy storage/conversion devices.
文摘In many applications, it is important to know the waist of a laser beam. However, it is impossible to measure it directly because the intensity is high at the waist. We have used an optical fiber-scan system to characterize the Gauss/an intensity profile of a focused femtosecond laser beam. The measurement system employs a single-mode optical fiber that is fixed on a motorized three-dimensional translation stage to collect the laser energy and the other end is connected to an optical power meter to measure the intensity profile. Using the measure data and geometry formulas, one can calculate the beam waist and far-field divergence angle of a laser beam. The measured beam waist size is essentially consistent with the result of theoretical fit.
