Photoredox‐based C−H bond functionalization constitutes one of the most powerful and atom‐economical approaches to organic syntheses. During this type of reaction, single electron transfer takes ...place between the photocatalyst (PC) and redox‐ active substrates. Electrosynthesis also involves electron transfer between substrates and electrodes. In this paper, we focus upon electrochemical cross‐coupling of C(sp2)−H with aryldiazonium salts and have developed an efficient electrochemical approach to the Minisci‐type arylation reaction. The constant current paired electrosynthesis proceeds in a simple undivided cell without external supporting electrolyte, features a wide range of substrates and is easy to scale‐up. These results demonstrate that photoredox‐based cross‐coupling of C(sp2)−H with aryldiazonium salts can also proceed successfully under paired electrolysis conditions, thereby contributing to understanding of the parallels between photosynthesis and electrosynthesis.
•Population ageing leads to labour scarcity and labour market rigidity.•We find a positive relation between population ageing and corporate innovation.•Labour scarcity encourages labour-saving ...innovation for firms with high labour costs.•Labour market rigidity encourages firm innovation according to Schumpeterian view.•Firms can adapt to population ageing and strategize to innovate.
Population ageing leads to labour scarcity and labour market rigidity. Contrary to supply-side economists’ belief that labour market rigidity tends to suppress firm innovation, we provide novel evidence of a positive relationship between population ageing and firm innovation in China. This enhancement effect is greater for firms with higher labour costs, consistent with the argument that labour scarcity encourages labour-saving innovation in response to demographic shifts. In addition, the observed positive effect is particularly pronounced for state-owned enterprises, which are widely acknowledged to be overstaffed with older workers, and firms in industries that pursue Schumpeter-II innovation and engage in more intense research and development. In addition, population ageing helps firms to generate more exploitative (vs. exploratory) innovation. Overall, our findings suggest that firms facing population ageing can adapt their strategies to innovate successfully.
ABSTRACT
There is an ongoing debate over uniformity versus flexibility in accounting regulation. This study examines the financial reporting consequences of a rigid accounting rule in China under ...which the fiscal year-end is uniform for all companies. Using extensive interviews together with large-sample archival analyses, we find that “mismatched” firms—those whose mandated financial reporting cycles are not aligned with their business cycles—exhibit higher levels of absolute abnormal accruals than their nonmismatched counterparts. Further analyses suggest that the negative association between mismatching and financial reporting quality is mainly driven by unintentional estimation errors rather than intentional earnings manipulation.
Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.
JEL Classifications: M41; M48; K22.
Using surname sharing as a novel measure of social ties, we examine the effect of directors’ surname sharing on firm value. We find that boards with greater surname homogeneity are associated with ...lower firm value. This finding is not driven by familial ties. The negative effect of surname sharing on firm value is more pronounced when directors share rare surnames and when firms operate in regions with stronger clan systems, but is attenuated by stronger corporate governance mechanisms. The market reacts positively to plausibly exogenous director resignations that reduce director surname sharing, and negatively to board appointments that increase director surname sharing. Director surname sharing lowers firm value by reducing director dissension, granting excess executive compensation, and increasing related-party transactions. Overall, our results suggest that directors’ surname sharing, an easy-to-trace but previously neglected social tie, can have significant economic consequences.
A critical challenge in the commercialization of layer‐structured Ni‐rich materials is the fast capacity drop and voltage fading due to the interfacial instability and bulk structural degradation of ...the cathodes during battery operation. Herein, with the guidance of theoretical calculations of migration energy difference between La and Ti from the surface to the inside of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2, for the first time, Ti‐doped and La4NiLiO8‐coated LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 cathodes are rationally designed and prepared, via a simple and convenient dual‐modification strategy of synchronous synthesis and in situ modification. Impressively, the dual modified materials show remarkably improved electrochemical performance and largely suppressed voltage fading, even under exertive operational conditions at elevated temperature and under extended cutoff voltage. Further studies reveal that the nanoscale structural degradation on material surfaces and the appearance of intergranular cracks associated with the inconsistent evolution of structural degradation at the particle level can be effectively suppressed by the synergetic effect of the conductive La4NiLiO8 coating layer and the strong TiO bond. The present work demonstrates that our strategy can simultaneously address the two issues with respect to interfacial instability and bulk structural degradation, and it represents a significant progress in the development of advanced cathode materials for high‐performance lithium‐ion batteries.
Ti‐doped and La4NiLiO8‐coated Ni‐rich layered oxide cathodes are synchronously and in situ synthesized with the guidance of theoretical calculations, which exhibit good surficial stability, fast interfacial kinetic behaviors, suppressed inconsistent structural degradation in combination with markedly improved electrochemical performance. This work opens a new avenue of designing simple modification approaches and advanced cathodes for high‐energy lithium‐ion batteries.
The direct urea fuel cell (DUFC) is an important but challenging renewable energy production technology, it offers great promise for energy‐sustainable developments and mitigating water ...contamination. However, DUFCs still suffer from the sluggish kinetics of the urea oxidation reaction (UOR) owing to a 6 e− transfer process, which poses a severe hindrance to their practical use. Herein, taking β‐Ni(OH)2 nanosheets as the proof‐of‐concept study, we demonstrated a surface‐chemistry strategy to achieve metallic Ni(OH)2 nanosheets by engineering their electronic structure, representing a first metallic configuration of transition‐metal hydroxides. Surface sulfur incorporation successfully brings synergetic effects of more exposed active sites, good wetting behavior, and effective electron transport, giving rise to greatly enhanced performance for UOR. Metallic nanosheets exhibited a much higher current density, smaller onset potential and stronger durability.
Metal as anything: Surface sulfur incorporation into β‐Ni(OH)2 nanosheets gives the first metallic configuration of a transition‐metal hydroxide. The resulting metallic Ni(OH)2 nanosheets have more exposed active sites and metallic electrical conductivity, giving rise to greatly enhanced performance for the urea oxidation reaction (UOR) for direct urea fuel cells.
There has been an urgent need to eliminate toxic lead from the prevailing halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs), but the current lead-free PSCs are still plagued with the critical issues of low ...efficiency and poor stability. This is primarily due to their inadequate photovoltaic properties and chemical stability. Herein we demonstrate the use of the lead-free, all-inorganic cesium tin-germanium triiodide (CsSn
Ge
I
) solid-solution perovskite as the light absorber in PSCs, delivering promising efficiency of up to 7.11%. More importantly, these PSCs show very high stability, with less than 10% decay in efficiency after 500 h of continuous operation in N
atmosphere under one-sun illumination. The key to this striking performance of these PSCs is the formation of a full-coverage, stable native-oxide layer, which fully encapsulates and passivates the perovskite surfaces. The native-oxide passivation approach reported here represents an alternate avenue for boosting the efficiency and stability of lead-free PSCs.
Efficient intermolecular dehydrogenative cross‐coupling of N‐alkyloxyamides with xanthenes is reported. The protocol is carried out in an undivided cell under constant current conditions employing ...simple, cheap and readily available ferrocene (Fc) as a redox catalyst. Cyclic voltammetry and control experiments disclosed that the dehydrogenative cross‐coupling reaction may proceed via an amidyl radical.