![]() ![]() It’s hardly surprising that there was no consensus. This past November, physicists, mathematicians and computer scientists came together with evolutionary and molecular biologists to talk-and sometimes argue-about these ideas at a workshop at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico, the mecca for the science of “complex systems.” They asked: Just how special (or not) is biology? Meaning and intention-thought to be the defining characteristics of living systems-may then emerge naturally through the laws of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. In other words, there appears to be a kind of physics of things doing stuff, and evolving to do stuff. Looking ahead, the group hopes to expand this platform into practical electrocatalysis by using Pt-HEA-nanoparticles that seek to increase electrochemical surface areas.Once we regard living things as agents performing a computation-collecting and storing information about an unpredictable environment-capacities and considerations such as replication, adaptation, agency, purpose and meaning can be understood as arising not from evolutionary improvisation, but as inevitable corollaries of physical laws. The platform is applicable not only to electrocatalysis but also in various fields of functional nanomaterials." It is valid for clarifying the precise correlations among the atomic-level, surface microstructure and electrocatalytic properties of HEAs of any constituent elements and ratios and, thus, would provide reliable training datasets for materials informatics. "Our newly constructed experimental study platform provides us with a powerful tool to elucidate the detailed relationship between multi-component alloy surface microstructures and their catalytic properties. Wadayama and his group stress the wide applicability of their findings, both for any constituent elements and to other nanomaterials. This indicates that the atomic arrangement and distribution of elements near the surface, which creates a 'pseudo-core-shell-like structure,' contributes to the excellent catalytic properties of Pt-HEAs. They discovered that the Pt-HEAs' surfaces performed better in ORR compared to surfaces made of a platinum-cobalt alloy. Using advanced imaging techniques, the group examined the atomic-level structure of the Pt-HEAs' surfaces and studied their ORR properties. "This produced a model surface for studying a specific reaction called the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR)." "In our study we made thin layers of an alloy called a Cantor alloy, which contains a mix of elements (Cr-Mn-Fe-Co-Ni), on platinum (Pt) substrates," explains Toshimasa Wadayama, co-author of the paper and a professor at Tohoku University's Graduate School of Environmental Studies. ![]() Their breakthrough was reported in the journal Nature Communications on July 26, 2023. Now, a collaborative research team has created a new experimental platform that enables the control of the atomic-level structure of HEAs' surfaces and the ability to test their catalytic properties. Hence why researchers are seeking to understand the correlation between the atomic arrangement and the catalytic properties exhibited by HEAs. But unravelling this complexity is crucial, since the surface properties of materials often dictate their catalytic activity. Because they are made up of differing constituent elements, HEAs' atomic-level surface designs can be complex. ![]()
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