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To develop electrode materials for supercapacitor with superior electrochemical performance and simple preparation process, the purpose of this study is to prepare flexible CC/NiS/a-NiS electrodes with self-supporting structure by loading hydrothermally synthesized a-NiS particles along with nano-NiS on carbon cloth by electroplating method.

The effects of current densities, temperatures and pH values on the loading amount and uniformity of the active substances during the plating process were investigated on the basis of optimization of surface morphology, crystalline structure and electrochemical evaluation as the cyclic voltammetry curves, constant current charge–discharge curves and AC impedance.

The a-NiS particles on CC/NiS/a-NiS were mostly covered by the plated nano-NiS, which behaved as a bulge and provided a larger specific surface area. The CC/NiS/a-NiS electrode prepared with the optimized parameter exhibited a specific capacitance of 115.13 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g and a Coulomb efficiency of 84% at 5 A/g, which is superior to that of CC/NiS electrode prepared by electroplating at a current density of 10 mA/cm², a temperature of 55°C and a pH of 4, demonstrating its fast charge response of the electrode and potential application in wearable electronics.

This study provides an integrated solution for the development of specifically structured NiS-based electrode for supercapacitor with simple process, low cost and high electrochemical charge/discharge performance, and the simple and easy-to-use method is also applicable to other electrochemically active composites.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of the four tautomeric forms of 2-amino-5-mercatpo-1,3,4-thiadizole (AMT) absorbed on copper surface by the polar or non-polar groups. Polar group of AMT is mostly electronegative with larger N and S atoms as central atoms. 5-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2(3H)-thion (AMT-c) has the highest adsorption energy and is easy to react with copper. The interaction between AMT-c and copper conforms to chemisorption, which is to be further verified by the experiment on the weight loss measurement.

Adsorption behavior of AMT as corrosion inhibitor on copper surface in oil field was studied by weight loss measurement, and the corrosion inhibition mechanism was analyzed. Reactive sites and distributions of tautomeric forms of AMT as inhibitor on Cu(100) crystal plane were calculated by density functional theory.

All atoms of AMT are in the same plane, and AMT is an aromatic ring structure by large p-chain adsorbed on the metal surface by a plane configuration. AMT-c has the highest adsorption energy and also the most stable isomerized product. The determinate locations of AMT on the Cu(100) surface are the bridge and the hollow sites using molecular dynamics. Corrosion of copper can be effectively inhibited by AMT, which is a kind of excellent corrosion inhibitor, and this property is attributed to the polar groups and non-polar groups of AMT that play a role as absorption and shielding on copper surface, respectively. Inhibition efficiency is increased with the increase in the concentration of the inhibitor. The maximum efficiency of 92 per cent is obtained for 50 ppm AMT concentration at 373 K, which is attributed to the presence of extensively delocalized electrons of the phenyl rings, planarity and the presence of lone pair of electrons on N and S atoms, which favored a greater adsorption of inhibitors on copper surface.

Corrosion of copper can be effectively inhibited by AMT, which is a kind of excellent corrosion inhibitor, and this property is attributed to the polar groups and non-polar groups of AMT that play a role as absorption and shielding on copper surface, respectively. Adsorption of AMT as corrosion inhibitor on copper surface obeys Langmuir isotherm. The interaction between AMT and copper conforms to chemisorption, which is to be further verified by the experiment on the weight loss measurement.

Firms often encounter complicated external relationships and conflicts in inbound and outbound open innovation (OI). Conflict management significantly affects innovation results. Guided by resource dependence theory (RDT), this study aims to examine the moderating effects of conflict management styles in the relationship between OI and organizational performance (OP).

This study focuses on manufacturing and service firms in China, with the respondents composed of senior managers. Using hierarchical regression analysis, data from 270 firm samples are used to empirically test the hypotheses.

Inbound and outbound OI openness positively affects OP. Cooperative conflict management positively moderates the relationship between inbound OI openness and OP, whereas it negatively moderates the impact of outbound OI openness on OP. By contrast, competitive conflict management positively moderates the relationship between outbound OI openness on OP.

Guided by RDT, this study explores the relationship between OI and OP and the moderating role of conflict management styles. However, it does not measure the level of resource dependence, which is among the future research directions for further validating the results of this study.

This study is among the first to investigate the impact of OI on OP in different conflict management styles. Findings suggest that choosing a suitable conflict management style may strengthen the positive effects of OI on OP.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how abusive supervision affects employee creativity, incorporating departmental identification as a mediator and face as a moderator based on social identity theory.

The study sample consisted of 207 full-time employees in China.

Results indicate that abusive supervision is negatively related to employee creativity and this relationship is fully mediated by departmental identification. In addition, face held by employees plays a moderating role: the direct effect of abusive supervision on departmental identification and the mediating effect of departmental identification are stronger when face is low rather than high.

This study also has major practical implications for organizations. First, the organizations should fully understand the harmfulness of abusive supervision and try to avoid abusive behaviors. Second, the organizations could enhance employee creativity by promoting departmental identification. Third, employees who hold low face should get more attention and support.

This study makes several theoretical implications. First, findings contribute to enriching one’s understanding of the relationship between abusive supervision and employee creativity in China. Second, the domain of abusive supervision is expanded by empirically testing departmental identification as a crucial psychological mechanism explaining the abusive supervision – employee creativity relationship. Third, this study also advances one’s understanding of social identity process by examining empirically moderating effects of cultural value in the relationship between abusive supervision and employee creativity.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how complementors’ marketing capability and technology capability affect their performance. Drawing on social capital theory, the authors examine platform network centrality as a mediator and platform reputation as a moderator of the relationships between these two capabilities and complementor performance.

This study collects data by questionnaire from 154 Chinese firms adopting e-commerce platforms. Hierarchical multiple regression is used to test the hypotheses of this study.

This study finds that complementors’ marketing capability and technology capability positively affect performance by increasing their platform network centrality. Moreover, platform reputation positively moderates the relationship between platform network centrality and complementor performance, and it strengthens the mediating role of platform network centrality.

This paper emphasizes the critical role of marketing capability and technology capability on complementor performance. It explores the improvement path of complementor performance from the perspective of network position, which is a key element for complementors to effectively leverage their capabilities to build competitive advantage.

Corrosion inhibitors for copper immersed in emulsion were investigated by experiments and theoretical calculations, and this study aims to propose a new inhibition mechanism of the inhibitors having protective effects for copper corrosion.

Adsorption behavior of penta-heterocycles (thiophene, 1,2,5-oxadiazole, furan, 2 H-1,2,3-triazole, pyrrole and 1,2,5-thiadiazole) as corrosion inhibitors for copper immersed in oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions was investigated by weight loss, electrochemical tests, morphological characterization and theoretical calculations.

The orders of inhibition effect are furan < pyrrole < thiophene < 1,2,5-oxadiazole < 2H-1,2,3-triazole < 1,2,5-thiadiazole, and 1,2,5-thiadiazole at 0.5 mM has the best inhibition effect for copper immersed in emulsion. The results of scanning probe microscope, scanning electron microscope and electrochemical test show that a protective barrier can be formed on the surface of copper substrate with six corrosion inhibitors, thus effectively inhibiting the corrosion of copper mainly through chemisorption and following Langmuir’s adsorption isotherm.

Quantum chemical and molecular dynamic simulations demonstrate that all these compounds attached to Cu matrix with a flat-adsorption mode to prevent the emulsion corrode copper. Adsorbed inhibitors act as a barrier at Cu matrix to block corrosion and improve hydrophobicity.

This paper aims to identify the role of the wall slip on the dynamic characteristics of the multi-groove water-lubricated bearing considering rough contact, including stiffness and damping coefficients of the water film and contact stiffness coefficient of the asperity contact.

The modified perturbed average Reynolds equations with the wall slip are derived, and the calculated perturbed hydrodynamic pressures are integrated to obtain the stiffness and damping coefficients of the water film. The elastic-plastic contact model of Kogut and Etsion is used to determine the contact stiffness coefficient.

Numerical results reveal that the wall slip has the more significant impact on the water film stiffness coefficients compared with the damping and contact stiffness coefficients. When the slip angle lies in a reasonable range, the lubrication performance can be effectively improved, especially in the mixed lubrication condition. In addition, it is worth emphasizing that the abrupt change of the water film stiffness coefficients occurs at the region II (pressure zone) in this study.

The influence mechanism of the wall slip on the dynamic characteristics of the water-lubricated bearing considering rough contact is first revealed.

In the creation of coal consumption reduction policy, the Chinese Government selected eight provinces as key provinces and encouraged them to replace coal with other non-coal energy, involving Kaldor-Hicks improvement. The purpose of this paper is to answer how much coal can be conserved if Kaldor-Hicks improvement is considered.

A DEA model reflecting Kaldor-Hicks improvement is suggested to calculate the potential of coal reduction, and an endogenous directional distance function model is proposed to calculate the energy consumption efficiency.

The results show that the non-key provinces wasted more coal than the key provinces, although the latter are of more concern. From the Kaldor-Hicks criterion, ten non-key provinces in a certain year can save more coal from an energy substitution policy and eight key provinces cannot. Through measurement of coal and energy efficiency, it is also found that provinces with an abundance of coal perform the worst in China.

Previous studies measuring Chinese saving potential of coal mainly focused on Pareto-Koopmans criterion, not consistent to policy practices. This study changes to Kaldor-Hicks criterion, allowing to make some factors better off and other factors worse off.

This research explores the influence of authoritarian leadership on employee creativity as mediated by employee creative self-efficacy, moderated by benevolent leadership and power distance.

A survey sample of 325 employees was collected from Chinese companies in different industries. The hypotheses were tested adopting a hierarchical regression and a bootstrapping test.

Employee creative self-efficacy partially mediated the association between authoritarian leadership and employee creativity. The negative impacts of authoritarian leadership on employee creative self-efficacy can be moderated by benevolent leadership. Additionally, the moderation effects of benevolent leadership can be moderated by power distance, which means that these moderation effects of benevolent leadership are significant only in subordinates with low levels of power distance.

An organization should be conscious of the perniciousness of an authoritarian leader and is better for leaders not to show contradictory behaviors to employees. Moreover, when leaders exhibit inconsistent behaviors, they should be sensitive to employee power distance.

Previous studies have been done to explore the predictors of employee creativity. Yet, studies for the impacts of destructive leadership styles on employee creativity are lacking. This study introduces employee creative self-efficacy as a mediator of the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee creativity. In addition, benevolent leadership and power distance are identified as two boundary conditions to explore the impacts of authoritarian leadership.

In addition to instrumental assumptions, behavioural researchers suggest the study of individual traits such as personal innovativeness (PI), users’ satisfaction and other theoretical beliefs for example quality and general usage patterns as the latent determinants of early and post-adoptions of technological innovations. In the context of Higher Education Commission digital library of Pakistan, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of PI, quality of digital resources and generic usability of digital libraries (DL) with users’ satisfaction.

To guide the conceptual model of this study, five hypothesized relationships were formulated. Adopting a quantitative approach, snowball sampling techniques were used. A total of 464 users of DL enrolled in different programs of study in the universities of Pakistan participated and responded to the survey. For data analyses, partial least squares, a method in the structural equation modeling was used.

Analyses reveal positive and strong relationships of PI, quality of digital resources and generic usability of DL with users’ satisfaction. Thus, the findings of this study established personal traits as the significant determinants of intention to adopt DL.

The decision of effective adoption is manipulated by the extent of users’ willing (PI), level of satisfaction, the image of quality and users’ past experience with the use of related innovations. Thus, librarians in addition to the system features should also focus on individual characteristics and quality of resources that probably influence adequate adoption of DL.

In the Pakistani context, this study is the first attempt that examined the relationship of PI, the usability of DL and quality of digital resources with users’ satisfaction. Research model of this study can be used in future research. Also, this study extended the scope of theories of adoption towards DL.