As a new type of word-of-mouth information, online consumer product review is an emerging market phenomenon that is playing an increasingly important role in consumers' purchase decisions. This paper ...argues that online consumer review, a type of product information created by users based on personal usage experience, can serve as a new element in the marketing communications mix and work as free "sales assistants" to help consumers identify the products that best match their idiosyncratic usage conditions.
This paper develops a normative model to address several important strategic issues related to consumer reviews. First, we show when and how the seller should adjust its own marketing communication strategy in response to consumer reviews. Our results reveal that if the review information is sufficiently informative, the two types of product information, i.e., the seller-created product attribute information and buyer-created review information, will interact with each other. For example, when the product cost is low and/or there are sufficient expert (more sophisticated) product users, the two types of information are complements , and the seller's best response is to increase the amount of product attribute information conveyed via its marketing communications after the reviews become available. However, when the product cost is high and there are sufficient novice (less sophisticated) product users, the two types of information are substitutes , and the seller's best response is to reduce the amount of product attribute information it offers, even if it is cost-free to provide such information. We also derive precise conditions under which the seller can increase its profit by adopting a proactive strategy, i.e., adjusting its marketing strategies even before consumer reviews become available. Second, we identify product/market conditions under which the seller benefits from facilitating such buyer-created information (e.g., by allowing consumers to post user-based product reviews on the seller's website). Finally, we illustrate the importance of the timing of the introduction of consumer reviews available as a strategic variable and show that delaying the availability of consumer reviews for a given product can be beneficial if the number of expert (more sophisticated) product users is relatively large and cost of the product is low.
Development of cost-effective and efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is of prime importance to emerging renewable energy technologies. ...Here, we report a simple and effective strategy for enhancing ORR and OER electrocatalytic activity in alkaline solution by introducing A-site cation deficiency in LaFeO3 perovskite; the enhancement effect is more pronounced for the OER than the ORR. Among the A-site cation deficient perovskites studied, La0.95FeO3‑δ (L0.95F) demonstrates the highest ORR and OER activity and, hence, the best bifunctionality. The dramatic enhancement is attributed to the creation of surface oxygen vacancies and a small amount of Fe4+ species. This work highlights the importance of tuning cation deficiency in perovskites as an effective strategy for enhancing ORR and OER activity for applications in various oxygen-based energy storage and conversion processes.
Perovskite oxides are demonstrated for the first time as efficient electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline solutions. A‐site praseodymium‐doped ...Pr0.5(Ba0.5Sr0.5)0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3–δ (Pr0.5BSCF) exhibits dramatically enhanced HER activity and stability compared to Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3–δ (BSCF), superior to many well‐developed bulk/nanosized nonprecious electrocatalysts. The improved HER performance originates from the modified surface electronic structures and properties of Pr0.5BSCF induced by the Pr‐doping.
Consumers' purchase decisions can be influenced by others' opinions, or word of mouth (WOM), and/or others' actions, or observational learning (OL). Although information technologies are creating ...increasing opportunities for firms to facilitate and manage these two types of social interaction, to date, researchers have encountered difficulty in disentangling their competing effects and have provided limited insights into how these two social influences might differ from and interact with each other. Using a unique natural experimental setting resulting from information policy shifts at the online seller Amazon.com, the authors design three longitudinal, quasi-experimental field studies to examine three issues regarding the two types of social interaction: (1) their differential impact on product sales, (2) their lifetime effects, and (3) their interaction effects. An intriguing finding is that while negative WOM is more influential than positive WOM, positive OL information significantly increases sales, but negative OL information has no effect. This suggests that reporting consumer purchase statistics can help mass-market products without hurting niche products. The results also reveal that the sales impact of OL increases with WOM volume.
Layered LiCo0.8Fe0.2O2 demonstrates dramatically enhanced oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity and durability in an alkaline solution over LiCoO2 and other reported state‐of‐the‐art catalysts, ...including benchmark IrO2. This superior performance is attributed to Fe‐doping‐induced synergistic effects.
The proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis is one of the most promising hydrogen production techniques. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) occurring at the anode dominates the overall ...efficiency. Developing active and robust electrocatalysts for OER in acid is a longstanding challenge for PEM water electrolyzers. Most catalysts show unsatisfied stability under strong acidic and oxidative conditions. Such a stability challenge also leads to difficulties for a better understanding of mechanisms. This review aims to provide the current progress on understanding of OER mechanisms in acid, analyze the promising strategies to enhance both activity and stability, and summarize the state‐of‐the‐art catalysts for OER in acid. First, the prevailing OER mechanisms are reviewed to establish the physicochemical structure–activity relationships for guiding the design of highly efficient OER electrocatalysts in acid with stable performance. The reported approaches to improve the activity, from macroview to microview, are then discussed. To analyze the problem of instability, the key factors affecting catalyst stability are summarized and the surface reconstruction is discussed. Various noble‐metal‐based OER catalysts and the current progress of non‐noble‐metal‐based catalysts are reviewed. Finally, the challenges and perspectives for the development of active and robust OER catalysts in acid are discussed.
Developing proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers requires a fundamental understanding of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in acid, which is the primary focus of this review. The water electrolyzer in alkaline and acid are compared; and the recent advances in OER mechanisms, the strategies for enhancing activity and stability of electrocatalysts, surface reconstruction, and the state‐of‐the‐art electrocatalysts are discussed.
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have potential to be the cleanest and most efficient electrochemical energy conversion devices with excellent fuel flexibility. To make SOFC systems more durable and ...economically competitive, however, the operation temperature must be significantly reduced, which depends sensitively on the development of highly active electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at low temperatures. Here we report a novel silver nanoparticle-decorated perovskite oxide, prepared via a facile exsolution process from a Sr0.95Ag0.05Nb0.1Co0.9O3‑δ (SANC) perovskite precursor, as a highly active and robust ORR electrocatalyst for low-temperature SOFCs. The exsolved Sr0.95Ag0.05Nb0.1Co0.9O3‑δ (denoted as e-SANC) electrode is very active for ORR, achieving a very low area specific resistance (∼0.214 Ω cm2 at 500 °C). An anode-supported cell with the new heterostructured cathode demonstrates very high peak power density (1116 mW cm–2 at 500 °C) and stable operation for 140 h at a current density of 625 mA cm–2. The superior ORR activity and stability are attributed to the fast oxygen surface exchange kinetics and the firm adhesion of the Ag nanoparticles to the Sr0.95Nb0.1Co0.9O3−δ (SNC0.95) support. Moreover, the e-SANC cathode displays improved tolerance to CO2. These unique features make the new heterostructured material a highly promising cathode for low-temperature SOFCs.
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) represent one of the cleanest and most efficient options for the direct conversion of a wide variety of fuels to electricity. For example, SOFCs powered by natural gas ...are ideally suited for distributed power generation. However, the commercialization of SOFC technologies hinges on breakthroughs in materials development to dramatically reduce the cost while enhancing performance and durability. One of the critical obstacles to achieving high‐performance SOFC systems is the cathodes for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which perform poorly at low temperatures and degrade over time under operating conditions. Here a comprehensive review of the latest advances in the development of SOFC cathodes is presented: complex oxides without alkaline earth metal elements (because these elements could be vulnerable to phase segregation and contaminant poisoning). Various strategies are discussed for enhancing ORR activity while minimizing the effect of contaminant on electrode durability. Furthermore, some of the critical challenges are briefly highlighted and the prospects for future‐generation SOFC cathodes are discussed. A good understanding of the latest advances and remaining challenges in searching for highly active SOFC cathodes with robust tolerance to contaminants may provide useful guidance for the rational design of new materials and structures for commercially viable SOFC technologies.
Recent advances in the development of cathode materials for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are reviewed, focusing on the relationship between crystal structure, composition, catalytic activity, and durability. Various strategies for microstructure optimization and performance enhancement are highlighted, together with challenges and prospects, to provide guidelines for knowledge‐based design of novel cathodes for a new generation of SOFCs.
An efficient and cost-effective oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst is key for electrochemical energy generation and storage technologies. Here, the rational design and in situ formation ...of an antiperovskite-based hybrid with a porous conductive Cu
NNi
(x and y represent defect) core and amorphous FeNiCu (oxy)hydroxide shell is reported as a promising water oxidation electrocatalyst, showing outstanding performance. Benefiting from the unique advantage of core-shell structure, as well as the synergistic effect of Fe, Ni, and Cu and the highly porous hierarchical structure, the hybrid catalyst exhibits highly efficient and robust OER performance in alkaline environments, outperforming the benchmark IrO
catalyst in several aspects. Our findings demonstrate the application potential of antiperovskite-based materials in the field of electrocatalysis, which may inspire insights into the development of novel materials for energy generation and storage applications.
The development of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts remains a major challenge that requires significant advances in both mechanistic understanding and material design. Recent studies ...show that oxygen from the perovskite oxide lattice could participate in the OER via a lattice oxygen-mediated mechanism, providing possibilities for the development of alternative electrocatalysts that could overcome the scaling relations-induced limitations found in conventional catalysts utilizing the adsorbate evolution mechanism. Here we distinguish the extent to which the participation of lattice oxygen can contribute to the OER through the rational design of a model system of silicon-incorporated strontium cobaltite perovskite electrocatalysts with similar surface transition metal properties yet different oxygen diffusion rates. The as-derived silicon-incorporated perovskite exhibits a 12.8-fold increase in oxygen diffusivity, which matches well with the 10-fold improvement of intrinsic OER activity, suggesting that the observed activity increase is dominantly a result of the enhanced lattice oxygen participation.
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