One large roadblock to the development of commercially viable hydrogen fuel cells is the cost of the platinum group metal (PGM) oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts used in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Unfortunately, similarly active catalysts, like Fe-N-C catalysts, have suffered from stability issues limiting their use. To better understand these stability issues and design better catalysts a number of degradation mechanisms have been proposed and experimentally tested including demetalation, autocatalysis, and more.

This study systematically examines the interactions of the tetrafluoroborate anion (BF₄^–) with up to four water molecules (BF₄^–(H₂O)_n=1,2,3,4).

There has been a growing interest in nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers as high precision sensors in biology, chemistry, and physics. NV centers are naturally occurring defects in diamonds. They can detect nanoscale perturbations in local temperature, pressure, magnetic and electric fields. These quantum sensors perform optimally in ambient conditions, and their biocompatibility permits their use in vivo. The electronic states of the NV center can be controlled by optical pumping and measured by optical readout.