Generally, Au electrodes are the preferred top metal electrodes in most perovskite solar cells (PSCs) because of their appropriate work function for hole transportation and their resistance to metal-halide formation. However, for the commercialization of PSCs, the development of alternative metal electrodes for Au is essential to decrease their fabrication cost. Ag electrodes are considered one of the most suitable alternatives for Au electrodes because they are relatively cheaper and can provide the necessary stability for oxidation. However, Ag electrodes require an aging-induced recovery process and react with halides from perovskite layers. Herein, we propose a bilayer Au/Ag electrode to overcome the limitations of single Au and Ag metal electrodes. The performance of PSCs based on bilayer electrodes is comparable to that of PSCs with Au electrodes. Furthermore, by using the bilayer electrode, we can eliminate the aging process, normally an essential process for Ag electrodes. This study not only demonstrates an effective method to substitute for expensive Au electrodes but also provides a possibility to overcome the limitations of Ag electrodes.

We use vdW-corrected density functional theory (DFT) calculations with additional electron distribution correction to study the water binding chemistry of an Au nanoparticle supported on CeO2(111) with a linear step-edge. The initial structural model of Au/CeO2 used for DFT calculations is constructed by stabilizing a Au9 nanoparticle at the linear step-edge on a CeO2(111) slab. The calculated binding energy of a water molecule clearly shows that the interfacial site between Au and CeO2 binds water more strongly than the binding sites at the surface of Au nanoparticle. Subsequent water dissociation calculation result shows that the interface-bound water can be relatively easily dissociated into–OH and –H, providing a hydroxyl group that can be utilized as an oxygen source for CO oxidation. Based on the low dissociation energy of the interface bound water molecule, we suggest that the water at the Au-CeO2 interface can facilitate further oxidation of Au-bound CO. Our results point out that Au-CeO2 interface-bound water is beneficial for low-temperature oxidation reactions such as the water-gas shift reaction or preferential CO oxidation reaction.

This research examines the Ấu học ngũ ngôn thi (幼學五言詩: Pentasyllabic Poetry for Primary Learning) written in Sinographs and Nôm script in Vietnam as a case study of the textbooks in pre-20th century primary education. This paper claims, based on Chinese-origined East Asian Sinological primers of the Shentong Shi (神童詩: Progidy Poetry), the Xunmeng Youxue Shi (訓蒙幼學詩 Initial Teaching Poetry for Primary Learning) and the Zhuangyuan Shi (狀元詩: Poetry for the First-ranked Metropolitan Laureate), a certain Vietnamese scholar reconstructed and rewrote these textbooks to become a new textbook of Vietnam with several newly-composed poems. The new textbook was translated from Literary Sinitic into Vietnamese in both prose and poetry, to adapt to the educational context of two languages (Chinese and Vietnamese) and two scripts (Sinographs and Nôm script) in Vietnam. This reconstruction and translation, on one hand, made Vietnamese primary education integrate with the Sinosphere in East Asia, on the other hand defined Vietnamese own characteristics via the localization of this textbook’s formation, language, and script.

AU(A plus U-shaped) composite beam was developed for reducing the story height in the residential buildings, and saving the cosrtuction cost of floor structures. Structural performance and economic feasibility of the composite beam have been sufficiently approved through the structural experiments and the analytical studies. Fire safety for the practical application of the composite beam has also been verified through the fire resistance tests and the heat transfer analyses. In this study 2-points bending tests were performed on the four specimens already tested for fire resistance to evaluate the residual bending strength of AU composite beam after fire accident. The same bending test was performed on the one fresh specimen having the same section and span of the specimens for practically comparative study.

Core-shell structured nanoparticles are garnering attention because these nanoparticles are expected to have a wide range of applications. The objective of the present study is to improve the coating efficiency of gold shell formed on the surface of silica nanoparticles for SiO2@Au core-shell structure. For the efficient coating of gold shell, we attempt an in-situ synthesis method such that the nuclei of the gold nanoparticles are generated and grown on the surface of silica nanoparticles. This method can effectively form a gold shell as compared to the conventional method of attaching gold nanoparticles to silica particles. It is considered possible to form a dense gold shell because the problems caused by electrostatic repulsion between the gold nanoparticles in the conventional method are eliminated.

Recently various composite beams in which concrete is filled in the U-shaped steel plate have been developed for saving story height and reducing construction period. Due to the high flexural stiffness and strength, they are widely being used for the building with large loads and long spans. The semi-slim AU composite beam has proven to take highly improved stability compared to the existing composite beams, because it consists of the closed steel section by attaching cap-type shear connectors to the upper side of U-shaped steel plate. In this study the finite element analyses were performed to evaluate the safety of the AU composite beam with unconsolidated concrete which were sustained through the closed steel section during the construction phase. The analyses were performed on the two types of cross section applied to the fabrication of AU composite beams, and the results were compared to the those of 2-point bending tests. In addition, the flexural performance according to the space of intermittent cap-type shear connectors and the location of reinforcing steel bars for compression was comparatively investigated. Through the results of analytical studies, it is preferable to adopt the yield moment of AU composite beam for evaluating the safety in the construction phase, and to limit the space of intermittent shear connectors to 400 mm or less for the construction load.

We perform density functional theory calculations to study the CO and O2 adsorption chemistry of Pt@X core@shell bimetallic nanoparticles (X = Pd, Rh, Ru, Au, or Ag). To prevent CO-poisoning of Pt nanoparticles, we introduce a Pt@X core-shell nanoparticle model that is composed of exposed surface sites of Pt and facets of X alloying element. We find that Pt@Pd, Pt@Rh, Pt@Ru, and Pt@Ag nanoparticles spatially bind CO and O2, separately, on Pt and X, respectively. Particularly, Pt@Ag nanoparticles show the most well-balanced CO and O2 binding energy values, which are required for facile CO oxidation. On the other hand, the O2 binding energies of Pt@Pd, Pt@Ru, and Pt@Rh nanoparticles are too strong to catalyze further CO oxidation because of the strong oxygen affinity of Pd, Ru, and Rh. The Au shell of Pt@Au nanoparticles preferentially bond CO rather than O2. From a catalysis design perspective, we believe that Pt@Ag is a better-performing Ptbased CO-tolerant CO oxidation catalyst.

Recently, composite beams have been developed in which concrete is filled in a U-shaped steel plate for saving height of story. And due to high flexural stiffness and bending strength, it is widely applied in the field where high load and long span are required. The AU composite beam was improved the instability of the existing beams because it makes a closed section by attaching a cover type shear connection to the existing U - shaped composite beam with open upper section. In this study, AU composite beam resisted by composite-section during the using phase was evaluated the safety through the finite element analysis. The analysis is performed on the five specimens of AU composite beams according to applied deck-system and compared with the results of 2 - point bending test. As a result of the analysis, behavior of beam was shown by integrated composite section. And the evaluation of flexible capacity was p

Gas detection is necessary for various reasons, including the prevention of gas leakages and the creation of necessary environmental conditions. Among the gas detection methods, leakage of gas can be confirmed using materials that undergo color changes that are easily distinguished by the naked eye. Metal nanoparticles (NPs) experience variations in their absorption wavelengths under the localized surface plasmon effect (LSPR) with mechanical stresses, which change the distance between NPs. In this study, we attempted to detect the presence of gas utilizing the LSPR-related color change of a chain of Au NPs. The assembly of Au NPs, arranged in a chain shape, experienced a color change from dark blue to purple with a change in the distance between the NPs by applying a physical force, i.e., compression, stretching, and gas pressure. As the force of compression and the degree of stretching increased, the absorption wavelength shifted from doublet peaks at 650 and 550 nm to a singlet peak at 550 nm. Further, applying gas pressure caused an identical color change. With this result, we propose a method that could be applied to all gases that require detection based on gas pressure.

The SLIM AU composite beam consists of U-shaped steel plate, A-shaped steel cap and infilled concrete. The bottom steel plate acts as tension bars, and the top steel cap takes roles of shear connector and compression bars in the conventional reinforced concrete section. In this paper the shear strength of this composite beam with closed steel section has been evaluated through the concentrated loading shear experiments. Test results under the symmetrical and asymmetrical loading conditions were compared with the predicted values based on the KBC 2016. The composite beam showed the greater shear strength capacities than those of the theoretical evaluation.

In order to replace 14K white gold alloys, the properties of 5K white gold alloys (Au20-Ag80) were investigated by changing the contents of In (0.0-10.0 wt%). Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) was used to determine the precise content of alloys. Properties of the alloys such as hardness, melting point, color difference, and corrosion resistance were determined using Vickers Hardness test, TGA-DTA, UV-VIS-NIR-colorimetry, and salt-spray tests, respectively. Wetting angle analysis was performed to determine the wettability of the alloys on plaster. The results of the EDS analysis confirmed that the Au-Ag-In alloys had been fabricated with the intended composition. The results of the Vickers hardness test revealed that each Au-Ag-In alloy had higher mechanical hardness than that of 14K white gold. TGA-DTA analysis showed that the melting point decreased with an increase in the In content. In particular, the alloy containing 10.0 wt% In showed a lower melting temperature (> 70 °C) than the other alloys, which implied that alloys containing 10.0 wt% In can be used as soldering materials for Au-Ag-In alloys. Color difference analysis also revealed that all the Au-Ag-In alloys showed a color difference of less than 6.51 with respect to 14K white gold, which implied a white metallic color. A 72-h salt-spray test confirmed that the Au-Ag- In alloys showed better corrosion resistance than 14K white gold alloys. All Au-Ag-In alloys showed wetting angle similar to that of 14K white gold alloys. It was observed that the 10.0 wt% In alloy had a very small wetting angle, further confirming it as a good soldering material for white metals. Our results show that white 5K Au-Ag-In alloys with appropriate properties might be successful substitutes for 14K white gold alloys.

Through density functional theory calculations, to provide insight into the origins of the catalytic activity of Au nanoparticles (NPs) toward oxidation reactions, we have scrutinized the oxygen adsorption chemistry of 9 types of small unsupported Au NPs of around 1 nm in size (Au13, Au19, Au20, Au25, Au38, and Au55) looking at several factors (size, shape, and coordination number). We found that these NPs, except for the icosahedral Au13, do not strongly bind to O2 molecules. Energetically most feasible O2 adsorption that potentially provides high CO oxidation activity is observed in the icosahedral Au13, our smallest Au NP. In spite of the chemical inertness of bulk Au, the structural fluxionality of such very small Au NP enables strong O2 adsorption. Our results can support recent experimental findings that the exceptional catalytic activity of Au NPs comes from very small Au species consisting of around 10 atoms each.

Nanofibers(NFs), because of their high surface area and nanosized grains, have appropriate morphologies for use in chemiresistive-type sensors for gas detection applications. In this study, a highly sensitive and selective CO gas sensing material based on Au-decorated SnO2 NFs was fabricated by electrospinning. SnO2 NFs were synthesized by electrospinning and subsequently decorated with various amounts of Au nanoparticles(NPs) by sputtering; this was followed by thermal annealing. Different characterizations showed the successful formation of Au-decorated SnO2 NFs. Gas sensing tests were performed on the fabricated sensors, which showed bell-shaped sensing behavior with respect to the amount of Au decoration. The best CO sensing performance, with a response of ~20 for 10 ppm CO, was obtained at an optimized amount of Au (2.6 at.%). The interplay between Au and SnO2 in terms of the electronic and chemical sensitization by Au NPs is responsible for the great improvement in the CO sensing capability of pure SnO2 NFs, suggesting that Au-decorated SnO2 NFs can be a promising material for fabricating highly sensitive and selective chemiresistive-type CO gas sensors.

SLIM AU(A plus U-shaped) composite beam had been developed for not only reducing the story height in residential and commercial building, but also saving the cost of floor construction. The structural performance and economic feasibility was sufficiently approved by means of structural experiments and analytical studies. Even though fire resistance of the SLIM AU composite beam was evaluated throughout furnace fire test, the fire performance of the composite beam using finite element analysis is not analysed yet. Therefore the predictions of fire resistance simulations with loading as well as temperature distribution of the composite beam are summarized in this paper.

SLIM AU(A plus U-shaped) composite beam was developed for reducing the story height in the residential buildings, and saving the cosrtuction cost of floor structures. Structural performance and economic feasibility of the composite beam have been sufficiently approved through the structural experiments and the analytical studies. However, the verification for fire safety is necessary for the practical application of the composite beam. The fire resistance tests with and without loading were performed for the fire safety verification, and the test results were summarized in this paper.

Using current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements, the electrical properties of Au and Cu Schottky contacts to n-Ge were comparatively investigated. Lower values of barrier height, ideality factor and series resistance were obtained for the Au contact as compared to the Cu contact. The values of capacitance showed strong dependence on the bias voltage and the frequency. The presence of an inversion layer at the interface might reduce the intercept voltage at the voltage axis, lowering the barrier height for C-V measurements, especially at lower frequencies. In addition, a higher interface state density was observed for the Au contact. The generation of sputter deposition-induced defects might occur more severely for the Au contact; these defects affected both the I-V and C-V characteristics.