@article {656, title = {Virus-templated Pt{\textendash}Ni(OH)2 nanonetworks for enhanced electrocatalytic reduction of water}, journal = {Nano Energy}, volume = {58}, year = {2019}, month = {Avr-2019}, pages = {167 - 174}, abstract = {

Clean hydrogen production via water electrolysis is incumbent upon the development of high-performing hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalysts. Despite decades of commercial maturity, however, alkaline water electrolyzers continue to suffer from limitations in electrocatalytic activity and stability, even with noble metal catalysts. In recent years, combining platinum with oxophilic materials, such as metal hydroxides, has shown great promise for improving performance potentially by enabling stronger water dissociation at the surface of electrocatalysts. In this work, we leveraged the nanoscopic proportions and surface programmability of the filamentous M13 bacteriophage in the design, synthesis, and exceptional performance of 3D nanostructured biotemplated electrocatalysts for alkaline hydrogen evolution. We developed a facile synthesis method for phage-templated, Pt\–Ni(OH)2 nanonetworks, relying on scalable techniques like electroless deposition. After optimization of the platinum content, our materials display \–4.9 A mg\–1Pt at \−70 mV versus the reversible hydrogen electrode, the highest reported mass activity in 1 M KOH to date, and undergo minimal changes in overpotential under galvanostatic operation at \−10 mA cm\–2geo. Looking forward, the performance of these catalysts suggests that biotemplating nanostructures with M13 bacteriophage offers an interesting new route for developing high-performing electrocatalysts.

}, issn = {22112855}, doi = {10.1016/j.nanoen.2018.12.083}, url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2211285518309960}, author = {Records, William C. and Yoon, Youngmin and Ohmura, Jacqueline F. and Chanut, Nicolas and Belcher, Angela M.} } @article {263, title = {Viscoinertial regime of immersed granular flows}, journal = {Physical Review E}, volume = {96}, year = {2017}, month = {Oct-10-2017}, pages = {Article Number: 012901}, abstract = {

By means of extensive coupled molecular dynamics\–lattice Boltzmann simulations, accounting for grain dynamics and subparticle resolution of the fluid phase, we analyze steady inertial granular flows sheared by a viscous fluid. We show that, for a broad range of system parameters (shear rate, confining stress, fluid viscosity, and relative fluid-grain density), the frictional strength and packing fraction can be described by a modified inertial number incorporating the fluid effect. In a dual viscous description, the effective viscosity diverges as the inverse square of the difference between the packing fraction and its jamming value, as observed in experiments. We also find that the fabric and force anisotropies extracted from the contact network are well described by the modified inertial number, thus providing clear evidence for the role of these key structural parameters in dense suspensions.

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}, issn = {2470-0045}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevE.96.012901}, author = {L. Amarsid and Jean-Yves Delenne and Patrick Mutabaruka and Yann Monerie and Perales, F. and Farhang Radja{\"\i}} } @article {326, title = {Velocity statistics of the Nagel-Schreckenberg model}, journal = {Physical Review E}, volume = {93}, year = {2016}, month = {Feb-18-2016}, pages = {Article Number: 022305}, abstract = {

The statistics of velocities in the cellular automaton model of Nagel and Schreckenberg for traffic are studied. From numerical simulations, we obtain the probability distribution function (PDF) for vehicle velocities and the velocity-velocity (vv) correlation function. We identify the probability to find a standing vehicle as a potential order parameter that signals nicely the transition between free congested flow for sufficiently large number of velocity states. Our results for the vv correlation function resemble features of a second order phase transition. We develop a 3-body approximation that allows us to relate the PDFs for velocities and headways. Using this relation, an approximation to the velocity PDF is obtained from the headway PDF observed in simulations. We find a remarkable agreement between this approximation and the velocity PDF obtained from simulations.

}, issn = {2470-0045}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevE.93.022305}, author = {Bain, Nicolas and Emig, Thorsten and Franz-Josef Ulm and Schreckenberg, Michael} } @article {92, title = {Validity of the t-plot Method to Assess Microporosity in Hierarchical Micro/Mesoporous Materials}, journal = {Langmuir}, volume = {30}, year = {2014}, month = {Nov-2014}, pages = {13266-13274}, type = {Article}, abstract = {
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The t-plot method is a well-known technique which allows determining the micro- and/or mesoporous volumes and the specific surface area of a sample by comparison with a reference adsorption isotherm of a nonporous material having the same surface chemistry. In this paper, the validity of the t-plot method is discussed in the case of hierarchical porous materials exhibiting both micro- and mesoporosities. Different hierarchical zeolites with MCM-41 type ordered mesoporosity are prepared using pseudomorphic transformation. For comparison, we also consider simple mechanical mixtures of microporous and mesoporous materials. We first show an intrinsic failure of the t-plot method; this method does not describe the fact that, for a given surface chemistry and pressure, the thickness of the film adsorbed in micropores or small mesopores (\< 10\σ, \σ being the diameter of the adsorbate) increases with decreasing the pore size (curvature effect). We further show that such an effect, which arises from the fact that the surface area and, hence, the free energy of the curved gas/liquid interface decreases with increasing the film thickness, is captured using the simple thermodynamical model by Derjaguin. The effect of such a drawback on the ability of the t-plot method to estimate the micro- and mesoporous volumes of hierarchical samples is then discussed, and an abacus is given to correct the underestimated microporous volume by the t-plot method.

}, issn = {0743-7463}, doi = {10.1021/la5026679}, author = {Anne Galarneau and Fran{\c c}ois Villemot and Rodriguez, Jeremy and Fajula, Fran{\c c}ois and Benoit A. Coasne} }