Tribological behavior and in vitro biocompatibility of powder metallurgical Ti-15Mo/HA composite for bone repair.

Ti-15Mo/HA composite was prepared by powder metallurgy, and the influence of Hydroxyapatite (HA) on the microstructure, tribological behavior and in vitro biocompatibility was studied by comparison with TC4. The results show that the Ti-15Mo/HA composite consists of increased α-Ti, decreased ß-Ti and a variety of ceramic phases (CaTiO3, Ca3(PO4)2, CaO, etc.) with the increase of HA content. The friction coefficient and wear rate of Ti-15Mo/HA composite is apparently lower than those of TC4 due to solid solution strengthening of Mo in Ti and dispersion strengthening of ceramic phases. Ti-15Mo/5HA displays more excellent wear resistance than the other composite. TC4 alloy is dominated by adhesive wear, however, Ti-15Mo alloy is a combination of adhesive wear and abrasive wear. Ti-15Mo/HA composite is mainly subjected to abrasive wear, together with adhesive wear. The viability and the number of mouse osteoblasts in Ti-15Mo/5HA extract are higher than that of Ti-15Mo. The morphology of the osteoblasts is clear and full, and the growth and proliferation are satisfactory with the increased cell pseudopodia with the culture time. The Ti-15Mo/HA composite displays good wear resistance and biocompatibility, and accordingly has a potential application in bone repair materials.

NiRu-Mo2Ti2C3O2 as an efficient catalyst for alkaline hydrogen evolution reactions: the role of bimetallic site interactions in promoting Volmer-step kinetics.

The Volmer step in alkaline hydrogen evolution reactions (HERs), which supplies H* to the following steps by cleaving H-O-H bonds, is considered the rate-determining step of the overall reaction. The Volmer step involves water dissociation and adsorbed hydroxyl (*OH) desorption; Ru-based catalysts display a compelling water dissociation process in an alkaline HER. Unfortunately, the strong affinity of Ru for *OH blocks the active sites, resulting in unsatisfactory performance during HER processes. Hence, this study investigates a series of key descriptors (ΔG*H2O, ΔG*H-OH, ΔG*H, and ΔG*OH) of TM (Fe, Co, Ni, Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, or Pt)-Ru/Mo2Ti2C3O2 to systematically explore the effects of bimetallic site interactions on the kinetics of the Volmer step. The results indicate that bimetallic catalysts effectively reduced the strong adsorption of *OH on Ru sites; especially, the NiRu diatomic state shows the highest electron-donating ability, which promoted the smooth migration of *OH from Ru sites to Ni sites. Therefore, Ru, Ni and MXenes are suitable to serve as water adsorption and dissociation sites, *OH desorption sites, and H2 release sites, respectively. Ultimately, NiRu/Mo2Ti2C3O2 promotes Volmer kinetics and has the potential to improve alkaline HERs. This work provides theoretical support for the construction of synergistic MXene-based diatomic catalysts and their wide application in the field of alkaline HERs.

Single atom supported on MXenes for the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction: species, coordination environment, and action mechanism.

The electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline media provides an environmentally friendly industrial application approach to replace traditional fossil energy. The search for efficient, low-cost, and durable active electrocatalysts is central to the development of this area. Transition metal carbides (MXenes) have been emerging as a new family of two-dimensional (2D) materials that have great potential in the HER. Herein, density functional theory calculations are performed to systematically explore the structural and electronic properties and alkaline HER performances of Mo-based MXenes, as well as the influence of species and the coordination environment of single atoms on the improvement of the electrocatalytic activity of Mo2Ti2C3O2. The results show that Mo-based MXenes (Mo2CO2, Mo2TiC2O2, and Mo2Ti2C3O2) exhibit excellent H binding ability, while slow water decomposition kinetics hinders their HER performance. Replacing the O-terminal of Mo2Ti2C3O2 with a Ru single-atom (RuS-Mo2Ti2C3O2) could promote the decomposition of water owing to the stronger electron-donating ability of the atomic state Ru. In addition, Ru could also improve the binding ability of the catalyst to H by adjusting the surface electron distribution. As a result, RuS-Mo2Ti2C3O2 exhibits excellent HER performance with a water decomposition potential barrier of 0.292 eV and a H adsorption Gibbs free energy of -0.041 eV. These explorations bring new prospects for single atoms supported on Mo-based MXenes in the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction.

In Situ Formation ZnIn2 S4 /Mo2 TiC2 Schottky Junction for Accelerating Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Kinetics: Manipulation of Local Coordination and Electronic Structure.

Regulating electronic structures of the active site by manipulating the local coordination is one of the advantageous means to improve photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (PHE) kinetics. Herein, the ZnIn2 S4 /Mo2 TiC2 Schottky junctions are designed to be constructed through the interfacial local coordination of In3+ with the electronegative O terminal group on Mo2 TiC2 based on the different work functions. Kelvin probe force microscopy and charge density difference reveal that an electronic unidirectional transport channel across the Schottky interface from ZnIn2 S4 to Mo2 TiC2 is established by the formed local nucleophilic/electrophilic region. The increased local electron density of Mo2 TiC2 inhibits the backflow of electrons, boosts the charge transfer and separation, and optimizes the hydrogen adsorption energy. Therefore, the ZnIn2 S4 /Mo2 TiC2 photocatalyst exhibits a superior PHE rate of 3.12 mmol g-1 h-1 under visible light, reaching 3.03 times that of the pristine ZnIn2 S4 . This work provides some insights and inspiration for preparing MXene-based Schottky catalysts to accelerate PHE kinetics.

Two-dimensional/two-dimensional heterojunction-induced accelerated charge transfer for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution over Bi5O7Br/Ti3C2: Electronic directional transport.

Regulating electron density at the active site by electronic directional transport from special channels is an effective strategy to accelerate the reaction rate in photocatalytic water splitting. Here, a novel two dimensional/two dimensional (2D/2D) Bi5O7Br/Ti3C2 heterojunction with special interfacial charge transfer channel was fabricated successfully via in-situ growth of Bi5O7Br on the surface of ultrathin Ti3C2 by using a convenient hydrolysis method. The electrostatic attraction between Bi3+ cations and electronegative Ti3C2 ensures the construction of 2D/2D heterojunction and a strong intimate interface contact between Ti3C2 and Bi5O7Br, which establishes an electronic transport channel, and shortens the charge transport distance, assuring excellent bulk-to-surface and interfacial charge transfer abilities. Meanwhile, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculation revealed that the local electron density at the Ti3C2 active sites is remarkably increased because of the transfer of interfacial electrons from Bi5O7Br to Ti3C2, which is a key factor for enhancing the photocatalytic performance. Thus, the resultant Bi5O7Br/Ti3C2 exhibits significant improvement on the performance of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiation. The hydrogen evolution reaction rate obtained on the optimized Bi5O7Br/Ti3C2 composite is 1.97 times higher than that of pristine Bi5O7Br. This work provides a new protocol for the construction of 2D/2D heterojunction photocatalytic systems and regulating electron density by electronic directional transporting.

Room-temperature hydrolysis fabrication of BiOBr/Bi12O17Br2 Z-Scheme photocatalyst with enhanced resorcinol degradation and NO removal activity.

BiOBr-based photocatalysts hold great promise in the application of organic wastewater treatment and air purification. However, the catalysis ability of photocatalyst is greatly limited by its poor reduction capacity and intrinsic high recombination rate of photo-generated charge carriers. In this work, a novel direct Z-scheme BiOBr/Bi12O17Br2 photocatalyst is prepared via a facile hydrolysis route at room temperature, which exhibits highly enhanced performance for resorcinol degradation and NO removal than pure Bi12O17Br2 and BiOBr. The formation of the direct Z-scheme heterojunction is substantiated by radical scavenging experiments and the analysis of electronic structure, and it benefits the photocatalytic reaction by accelerating the charge separation and improving the redox ability. Finally, the underlying photocatalytic mechanism is elucidated based on the band structure and radical scavenging experiments. This study provides a facile strategy for bismuth halide Z-scheme heterojunction constructing at room temperature and also sheds light on highly efficient photocatalysts designing.

Synthesis of Bi4O5Br2 from reorganization of BiOBr and its excellent visible light photocatalytic activity.

In this study, a novel visible-light-driven Bi4O5Br2 photocatalyst was successfully synthesized via the structure reorganization of BiOBr at room temperature using NH3·H2O as a structure-controlling agent. The obtained Bi4O5Br2 exhibited outstanding visible light activity and stability compared to BiOBr and P25 for the degradation of resorcinol. The physicochemical properties of Bi4O5Br2 were analyzed and calculated by modern characterization techniques and density functional theory (DFT). The results revealed that the excellent performance could be mainly attributed to the effect of O-richness on the electronic properties of Bi and Br atoms, unique morphology, high visible-light absorption capacity, and prominent oxidation ability of photo-induced holes. Radical trapping experiments demonstrated that h(+) and ˙OH radicals were the dominant active species. Moreover, a structure reorganization mechanism was proposed, revealing that ammonia and the water-steeping process both played important roles in the fabrication of Bi4O5Br2. We believe that this facile method could be extended to fabricate other three component Bi-O-Br nanostructure systems and help elucidate the relationship between BiOBr and BixOyBrz.

Preparation and properties of porous Ti-10Mo alloy by selective laser sintering.

In this study, porous Ti-10Mo alloy was prepared from a mixture of titanium, molybdenum and epoxy resin powders by selective laser sintering preforming, debinding and sintering at 1200 °C under a pure argon atmosphere. The influence of sintering process on the porous, microstructural and mechanical properties of the porous alloy was discussed. The results indicate that the pore characteristic parameters and mechanical properties mainly depend on the holding time at 1200 °C, except that the maximum strain keeps at about 45%. The matrix microstructure is dominated by α phase with a small quantity of ß phase at room temperature. As the holding time lengthens from 2 to 6h, the average pore size and the porosity decrease from 180 to 50 µm and from 70 to 40%, respectively. Meanwhile, the Young's modulus and the compressive yield strength increase in the ranges of 10-20 GPa and 180-260 MPa, respectively. Both the porous structure and the mechanical properties of the porous Ti-10Mo alloy can be adjusted to match with those of natural bone.