Citizen Journalism at the Margins

Amidst burgeoning literature on citizen journalism, we still know relatively little about how and why genuinely marginalised groups seek to use this form of reporting to challenge their exclusion. In this article, we aim to address this gap by analysing two UK citizen journalism initiatives emanating from The Big Issue Foundation, a national homeless organisation, and Access Dorset, a regional charity for disabled and elderly people. These case studies are united by the authors’ involvement in both instances, primarily through designing and delivering bespoke citizen journalism education and mentoring. Based on over 40 hours of interviews with participants of the workshops and 36 hours of participant observation, we analyse the challenges participants faced in their journey to become citizen journalists. This included: low self-esteem, physical health and mental wellbeing, the need for accessible and adaptable technology, and overcoming fear associated with assuming a public voice. We also analyse marginalised groups’ attitudes to professional journalism and education, and its role in shaping journalistic identity and self-empowerment. Whilst demonstrably empowering and esteem building,our participants were acutely aware of societal power relations that were seemingly still beyond their ability to influence. Those who are marginalised are, nevertheless, in the best position to use citizen journalism as a conduit for social change, we argue - though challenges remain even at the grassroots level to foster and sustain participatory practices

Direct Synthesis of Intermetallic PlatinumAlloy Nanoparticles Highly Loaded on Carbon Supports for Efficient Electrocatalysis

© 2020 American Chemical Society. Compared to nanostructured platinum (Pt) catalysts, ordered Pt-based intermetallic nanoparticles supported on a carbon substrate exhibit much enhanced catalytic performance, especially in fuel cell electrocatalysis. However, direct synthesis of homogeneous intermetallic alloy nanocatalysts on carbonaceous supports with high loading is still challenging. Herein, we report a novel synthetic strategy to directly produce highly dispersed MPt alloy nanoparticles (M = Fe, Co, or Ni) on various carbon supports with high catalyst loading. Importantly, a unique bimetallic compound, composed of [M(bpy)(3)](2+) (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) and [PtCl6](2-) anion, evenly decomposes graphene oxide on carbon surface and forms uniformly sized intermetallic nanoparticles with a nitrogen-doped carbon protection layer. The excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and stability of the representative reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-supported L1(0)-FePt catalyst (37 wt %-FePt/rGO), exhibiting 18.8 times higher specific activity than commercial Pt/C catalyst without degradation over 20 000 cycles, well demonstrate the effectiveness of our synthetic approach toward uniformly alloyed nanoparticles with high homogeneity11sci

Realizing the potential of hydrophobic crystalline carbon as a support for oxygen evolution electrocatalysts

Anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) is a sustainable solution for achieving net-zero carbon emissions and meeting growing energy demands through green H-2 production. However, its commercialization has not been realized thus far owing to inefficient catalyst use and unsatisfactory performance, which are correlated to the inadequacy of current electrode structures. In this study, we developed an efficient electrode structure based on a corrosion-resistant hydrophobic crystalline carbon support, which was incorporated as a support for Fe-Ni-Co layered double hydroxide electrocatalysts. We observed an AEMWE performance greater than that reported in previous studies in terms of activity [mass-specific power (24.1 kW g(metal)(-1))] and durability (-0.06 mV h(-1) for 520 h at 1.0 A cm(-2)). This could be attributed to the improved mass transport because of rapid water diffusion around the hydrophobic carbon and strong metal-carbon interactions. We believe that this study will promote the development of more carbon-supported oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalysts.11Nsciescopu

Direct Synthesis of Intermetallic Platinum-Alloy Nanoparticles Highly Loaded on Carbon Supports for Efficient Electrocatalysis

© 2020 American Chemical Society. Compared to nanostructured platinum (Pt) catalysts, ordered Pt-based intermetallic nanoparticles supported on a carbon substrate exhibit much enhanced catalytic performance, especially in fuel cell electrocatalysis. However, direct synthesis of homogeneous intermetallic alloy nanocatalysts on carbonaceous supports with high loading is still challenging. Herein, we report a novel synthetic strategy to directly produce highly dispersed MPt alloy nanoparticles (M = Fe, Co, or Ni) on various carbon supports with high catalyst loading. Importantly, a unique bimetallic compound, composed of [M(bpy)(3)](2+) (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) and [PtCl6](2-) anion, evenly decomposes graphene oxide on carbon surface and forms uniformly sized intermetallic nanoparticles with a nitrogen-doped carbon protection layer. The excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and stability of the representative reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-supported L1(0)-FePt catalyst (37 wt %-FePt/rGO), exhibiting 18.8 times higher specific activity than commercial Pt/C catalyst without degradation over 20 000 cycles, well demonstrate the effectiveness of our synthetic approach toward uniformly alloyed nanoparticles with high homogeneity11sci