A self-supporting binder-free electrocatalyst named Ru–Fe ₃ O ₄ @FeNi–LDH/IF was successfully synthesized, which possesses a unique 3D core–shell structure and excellent water splitting performance and durability under alkaline conditions.

Developing noble-metal-free, high-efficiency, and durable electrocatalysts for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a challenging problem in electrochemical water electrolysis. In this work, a facile continuous two-step hydrothermal method followed by electrodeposition to fabricate NiFe-LDH integrated with CoFe₂O₄@Co₃S₄ nanoflowers supported by carbon fiber paper (NiFe-CoFe₂O₄@Co₃S₄/CFP) as a full water-splitting electrocatalyst was developed. Serving as an anode catalyst, the fabricated heterostructure electrode shows extraordinary OER performance with an overpotential of 233.3 and 244.0 mV to achieve a current density of 50 and 100 mA cm⁻², respectively. Serving as a cathode catalyst, NiFe-CoFe₂O₄@Co₃S₄/CFP exhibits superior electrocatalytic activities with an overpotential of 98 mV to achieve current densities of 10 mA cm⁻². Furthermore, when serving as both the anode and cathode catalyst in an electrolyzer for overall water splitting, the as-prepared electrode only requires a cell potential as low as 1.53 V to reach a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² and excellent durability for more than 48 h in alkaline media.

Adding an external electric field into an energetic material system can increase the energy but the stability may be reduced. In this paper, the effects of external electric fields on the initiation reaction dynamics of CH₃NO₂ (intermolecular and 1,3-intramolecular hydrogen transferences) were investigated using the MP2/6-311++G(2d,p) and CCSD/6-311++G(2d,p) methods. The results show that, when the external electric field is in the −y-direction of the CH₃NO₂ dimer (perpendicular to the O⋯N⋯N plane), the barriers of intermolecular hydrogen transference are lower than the C–NO₂ bond dissociation energies, leading to a preference for the hydrogen transference path over the C–NO₂ bond dissociation, and the sensitivities are higher than in the absence of an external electric field. However, in the other fields (except for the C–NO₂ bond axis direction with a field strength larger than +0.0060 a.u.), the C–NO₂ bond scission is favored and the sensitivities are almost equal to those in the absence of an external electric field. Although due to many obstacles, at present the proposition of adjusting the explosive sensitivity with external electric field does not make any sense in practice, the external-electric-field effect on explosive sensitivity must arouse intense interest in future.