On-demand ride service platform with differentiated services.

The rapid growth of on-demand ride service platforms has made it increasingly important for these platforms to efficiently match services by understanding driver characteristics and consumer preferences. This paper aims to investigate the pricing strategy by considering the impact of consumer preference heterogeneity and the different service types offered by drivers. The findings of this study reveal the need for the platform to strike a balance between service cost and the benefits of high-quality drivers, which can be referred to as the "cost-performance ratio". If the "cost-performance ratio" that attracts high-quality drivers is high, the platform will attract high-quality drivers or drivers of all types to participate while offering differentiated services. Otherwise, the platform will only provide services through low-quality drivers. Furthermore, the platform will also consider when to offer differentiated services based on network externalities and service quality. When the network externalities of the two types of services are similar, the platform will differentiate them based on service quality differences. Overall, considering consumer preference heterogeneity, drivers of service types, and network externalities, this paper provides guidance for platforms to make optimal decisions that enhance their service offerings and improve overall customer satisfaction.

Assembly of Cobalt Layered Double Hydroxide on Cuprous Phosphide Nanowire with Strong Built-In Potential for Accelerated Overall Water Splitting.

Heterostructure plays an important role in boosting the overall water splitting (OWS) performance of nonprecious metal electrocatalysts. However, rational design and synthesis of semiconductor heterojunctions especially for Cu-based ones as efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) still face challenges, and the in-depth study of catalytic mechanisms is urgently needed. Herein, n-type cobalt layered double hydroxide nanosheets are assembled on p-type cuprous phosphide nanowire to form p-n junction. This heterostructure with a strong built-in potential (EBI ) of 1.78 V provides enlarged electrochemical active surface area, enhanced active site, facilitated electron separation and transfer, and accelerated formation of superoxide radical. As expected, the heterogeneous electrocatalyst exhibits significantly improved activities for OWS, achieving an overpotential of 111 mV for HER and 221 mV for OER and an applied voltage of 1.575 V for OWS at 10 mA cm-2 in 1 m KOH. Moreover, the overpotentials are further decreased under visible light irradiation. This work represents a new insight into Cu-based catalysts toward OWS and an approach based on EBI to design semiconductor heterostructure promising for renewable energy applications.

Supramolecular Tessellations at Surfaces by Vertex Design.

Assembly and tessellation of organic species at surfaces are important for the design of advanced materials, particularly for the development of spontaneous self-assemblies of supramolecular systems of increasing complexity. However, there are few examples where the ability to steer the system between supramolecular tessellations has been achieved. Here, we demonstrate a series of steps to reduce and then restore molecular symmetry; those variations impact vertex symmetry and thus generate a series of tessellations that reflect the molecular symmetry. We deposit 4,4'-dihydroxybiphenyl on the Ag(111) surface, then anneal at specific temperatures to achieve stepwise dehydrogenation of the terminal hydroxyls. The symmetry of tessellation vertices in the self-assembled structure also changes, as characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy and synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy. This control over vertex geometry and spontaneous tessellation structure extends our understanding of supramolecular design control and advances architectural complexity for the development of functional surfaces.

Kinetic Strategies for the Formation of Graphyne Nanowires via Sonogashira Coupling on Ag(111).

The selection of a reaction pathway with high energy barrier in a multipath on-surface reaction system has been challenging. Herein, we report the successful control of the reaction system of 1,1'-biphenyl-4-bromo-4'-ethynyl (BPBE) on Ag(111), in which three coupling reactions (Glaser, Ullman, Sonogashira) are involved. Either graphdiyne (GDY) or graphyne (GY) nanowires can be formed by distinct kinetic strategies. As the energetically favorable pathway, the formation of a GDY nanowire is achieved by hierarchical activation of Glaser (with lowest energy barrier) and Ullman coupling of BPBE. On the other hand, the formation of a GY nanowire originates from the high selectivity of the high-barrier Sonogashira coupling, whose indispensable kinetic parameters are high surface temperature, low molecular coverage, and low precursor evaporation rate, as derived from a series of control experiments. This work achieves the fabrication of GY nanowires via on-surface Sonogashira coupling for the first time and reveals mechanistic control strategies for potential syntheses of other functional nanostructures via cross-couplings on surfaces.

Construction of molecular regular tessellations on a Cu(111) surface.

Three types of molecular regular tessellations, i.e., hexagonal, square and triangular tessellations, were constructed on Cu(111) by using 4,4'-dihydroxydiphenyl as the precursor through molecular assembly. These tessellations are stabilized by multiple intermolecular hydrogen bonds and the proportion of each tessellation can be tuned by thermal treatment.

Chiral Kagome Lattices from On-Surface Synthesized Molecules.

Kagome lattices have attracted much attention owing to their potential applications in spin-frustrated magnetism and host-guest chemistry. Examples toward the fabrication of 2D Kagome lattices reported previously have in common that the precursor molecules were typically deposited on the surface structurally intact with no chemical reactions accompanied. Herein, by using a combination of synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy (SRPES) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we demonstrated the fabrication of two types of chiral Kagome lattices from on-surface synthesized organometallic compounds, which are known as intermediates of Glaser coupling on silver single crystal surfaces. These Kagome lattices are stabilized by the interplay of various intermolecular interactions, including Br⋅⋅⋅Br bonds, C-Br⋅⋅⋅π bonds and π-π stacking. The chiral transference and host-guest supramolecular structure in the novel Kagome lattices were also studied. Our studies may pave a new way to engineer complex supramolecular networks through on-surface reactions.