In this report, vulcan XC-72 supported PtNi alloy catalyst nanoparticles were synthesized by electroless deposition method using NaBH4 as a reduction agent. The properties of the synthesized Pt-Ni/C catalysts were investigated and evaluated. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results showed that PtNi alloy catalysts dispersed well on the carbon supports and their particle size was in the range of 4–8 nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed that the crystal lattice of Pt and PtNi alloy is face centered cubic. In the presence of Ni atom, an XRD pattern showed that structure of PtNi alloy crystal was contracted, which affected the catalyst’s properties. The activity of the catalyst was estimated by electrochemical methods including cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The electrochemical results indicated that the activity of PtNi/C alloy catalysts toward oxygen reduction reaction on cathode of PEMFC was higher in comparison with Pt/C catalysts.

An illusory correlation (IC) is the erroneous perception that two actually uncorrelated categories are correlated. The Shared Distinctiveness Approach (SDA) explains ICs with heightened accessibility of distinctive category combinations in episodic memory. However, empirical evidence for this approach is heterogeneous. In the present event-related potential (ERP) study, we exploited the fact that more distinctive items elicit larger P300 responses than less distinctive items, which potentially predict subsequent memory performance differences for such items. Distinctiveness at encoding was created by presenting words that differed from frequently presented, positive words in valence, font color, or both. We hypothesized that shared distinctiveness (deviation in both color and valence) would lead to an enhanced P300 subsequent memory effect (SME), better source memory performance, and an overestimation of the frequency of shared distinctive items. Behavioral results indicated the presence of shared distinctiveness effects on source memory and frequency estimation. Unexpectedly, memory also was enhanced for positive items in the frequent color. This pattern also was reflected in the P300 for highly positive and negative items. However, shared distinctiveness did not modulate the P300 SME, indicating that the processing of distinctive features might only indirectly contribute to better encoding. This study shows that shared distinctiveness indeed is associated with better source memory and ICs. Because effects were observed for the most frequent and the least frequent category combination, our results imply that the processing of distinctiveness might involve attention allocation to diametrical category combinations, thereby accentuating the differences between the categories.

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Normally in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE), the anode has the largest overpotential at typical operating current densities. By development of the electrocatalytic material used for the oxygen evolving electrode, great improvements in efficiency can be performed. In electrochemistry, rare metallic oxides RuO 2 and IrO 2 exhibit the best catalytic properties for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in acid electrolytes compared to other noble metals. RuO 2 is the most active catalyst and IrO 2 is the most stable catalyst. An oxide containing both elements is therefore expected to be a good catalyst for the OER. In this study Ir x Ru 1−x O 2 nanosized powder electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction is synthesized by hydrolysis method. Cyclic voltammetry, anodic polarization and galvanostatic measurements were conducted in solution of 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 to investigate electrocatalytic behavior and stability of the electrocatalyst. The mechanisms of the thermal decomposition process of RuCl 3 .nH 2 O and IrCl 3 . mH 2 O precursors to form oxide powders were studied by means of thermal gravity analysis (TGA). X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used analysis for determination of the crystallographic structure, morphology and catalysts particle size. Based on the given results, the Ir x Ru 1−x O 2 (x = 0.5; 0.7) compounds were found to be more active than pure IrO 2 and more stable than pure RuO 2 .

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