T-shaped non-symmetrical twin liquid crystalline compounds

New unconventional T-shaped non-symmetrical dimeric liquid crystalline compounds have been synthesised and their thermotropic properties studied on the hot-stage of a polarising microscope. These compounds consist of an azo-ester mesogenic unit with a range of terminal substituents (–CH₃, –OCH₃, –NO₂ or –Cl) at one end, interconnected by a flexible spacer (n?=?4, 5 or 10) via ether and ester linking units to a biphenyl moiety at the lateral hydroxyl position of the azo-ester. All the compounds were characterised using a combination of elemental analysis and standard spectroscopic methods. The compounds were found to exhibit enantiotropic nematic and smectic mesophases. The effect of different terminal substituents on mesomorphism is discussed.     

Effects of combining of different flexible spacers in liquid crystal trimers and tetramers on transition properties

Liquid crystal trimers and tetramers containing two kinds of flexible spacers, namely O(CH₂) _m O and COO(CH₂) _n O, were divided into four classes according to the odd/even nature of the number of atoms in the flexible spacers: specifically, even–even, odd–odd, even–odd, and odd–even trimers, and even–even–even, odd–odd–odd, odd–even–odd, and even–odd–even tetramers. The transition properties of the four types of trimers and of tetramers were compared. Although the nematic–isotropic transition temperature and the associated entropy changes were primarily related to the number of the even-membered flexible spacers in these molecules, the different combinations of the flexible spacers significantly affected their transition properties.     

液压四足机器人的实时分散解耦控制

针对液压驱动四足机器人单腿协调性难以保证的问题,开发了一种实时分散解耦控制系统：基于PC-Based控制系统架构,在RTX环境下模块化了实时控制子任务,并对多任务的处理进行了实时调度,搭建出了机器人的实时分散控制系统框架;针对单腿系统设计了基于PID神经元网络的广义解耦控制算法,并将其嵌入到整体程序框架中,实现了多腿联动的分散解耦控制。物理样机实验表明开发的控制系统能够满足分散解耦控制算法的实时性要求,提高了四足机器人运动的协调性,进而保证其连续稳定地行走,具有一定的独创性与实用价值。     

挖掘机器人视觉目标定位

为实现挖掘机器人的自动挖掘,在挖掘机实验模型基础上进行了电路改造,构建了以单片机为核心的控制电路,通过无线蓝牙与上位机进行通讯,实现对挖掘机操作装置的控制。通过视觉传感器采集挖掘机铲斗、目标物的实时图像,经图像处理后,对目标物中心及铲斗标记中心进行提取、定位,计算出二者之间的实时距离,进而控制挖掘机铲斗对目标物进行挖掘。     

溶液法制备柔性压阻式传感器的研究进展

柔性压阻式传感器具有结构简单、易于制备、检测范围广等优势, 在可穿戴电子器件领域中扮演着非常重要的角色. 在制备柔性压阻式传感器的众多方法中, 溶液法由于操作简单、反应条件温和、材料的适用性广泛、易于规模化制备等优势, 成为极具发展前景的制备工艺. 在此基础上, 如何进一步提高柔性压阻式传感器的力学与电学性能也成为研究者们更加关注的话题. 另外, 制备图案化、微型化、规模化的传感器阵列为柔性压阻式传感器的应用范围拓展了新的道路. 本综述首先介绍了柔性压阻式传感器的工作原理与性能指标, 同时讨论了其性能指标对传感器在实际应用中的影响. 随后, 简单介绍了其构成材料, 并通过梳理近年来溶液法制备柔性传感器的研究成果, 选取了几种典型的溶液法制备方法进行重点介绍, 指出其具备的优势及目前存在的问题. 最后, 对溶液法制备柔性传感器的发展方向进行总结与展望.     

Flexible strain sensor with ridge-like microstructures for wearable applications

The flexible stretchable sensors have great potential for implementation in various applications, such as intelligent soft robots, health monitoring, and motion detection. However, most of the flexible stretchable sensors with microstructures and high sensitivities are fabricated by expensive templates and complex processes. In consideration of large-scale fabrication, a low cost and efficient way is in great demand. Herein, electroless plating on Nafion films with decent swelling ratios are proposed to fabricate stretchable sensors with wrinkle-structured electrodes. By adding isopropanol (IPA) to the electroless plating process, the H₂O-IPA sensor with larger swelling ratio shows deeper surface wrinkles, higher surface roughness, and better sensitivity to strain. At the same time, the H₂O-IPA sensor exhibit good durability (500 cycles). By mounting the sensor on the joint of human finger, the motion of the finger bending and even the bending degree can be accurately detected, indicating the potential use in the field of wearable devices and soft electronic skins.     

电喷印刷柔性传感器

柔性传感器因其在弯折、扭曲、拉伸等大变形条件下具有稳定的传感性能,所以在软体机器人、可穿戴电子和生物医疗等领域具有潜在的应用前景,受到了国内外研究者的广泛关注。与传统光刻技术相比,印刷技术制造作为增材制造,具有绿色、低成本和可大面积制造的优势,被广泛应用于柔性电子器件制备。其中,电流体动力喷墨打印(电喷印)技术因其具有多种功能材料的兼容性,被认为最有可能替代传统的光刻技术,实现柔性传感器高分辨率和跨规模制造。近年来,电喷印技术在微型化柔性传感器制造领域显示出广泛的应用潜力。本综述重点介绍了电喷印刷柔性传感器的工艺、材料和应用的最新研究进展。首先,详细介绍了电流体动力喷墨打印技术的工作原理,总结了用于电喷印的各种功能性墨水材料,然后,介绍了电喷印刷中墨水和柔性基底间表界面调控的问题。随后,综述了电喷印方法在柔性压力传感器、柔性气体传感器和柔性电化学传感器等柔性传感器制造的应用进展。最后,总结讨论了下一代电喷印刷技术在柔性传感器领域的机遇与挑战。     

Lignin as a Partial Polyol Replacement in Polyurethane Flexible Foam

This study was focused on evaluating the suitability of a wide range of lignins, a natural polymer isolated from different plant sources and chemical extractions, in replacing 20 wt.% of petroleum-based polyol in the formulation of PU flexible foams. The main goal was to investigate the effect of unmodified lignin incorporation on the foam’s structural, mechanical, and thermal properties. The hydroxyl contents of the commercial lignins were measured using phosphorus nuclear magnetic resonance (³¹P NMR) spectroscopy, molar mass distributions with gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and thermal properties with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. The results showed that incorporating 20 wt.% lignin increased tensile, compression, tear propagation strengths, thermal stability, and the support factor of the developed PU flexible foams. Additionally, statistical analysis of the results showed that foam properties such as density and compression force deflection were positively correlated with lignin’s total hydroxyl content. Studying correlations between lignin properties and the performance of the developed lignin-based PU foams showed that lignins with low hydroxyl content, high flexibility (low T_g), and high solubility in the co-polyol are better candidates for partially substituting petroleum-based polyols in the formulation of flexible PU foams intended for the automotive applications.     

Graphene screen‐printed radio‐frequency identification devices on flexible substrates

Despite the great promise of printed flexible electronics from 2D crystals, and especially graphene, few scalable applications have been reported so far that can be termed roll‐to‐roll compatible. Here we combine screen printed graphene with photonic annealing to realize radio‐frequency identification devices with a reading range of up to 4 meters. Most notably our approach leads to fatigue resistant devices showing less than 1% deterioration of electrical properties after 1000 bending cycles. The bending fatigue resistance demonstrated on a variety of technologically relevant plastic and paper substrates renders the material highly suitable for various printable wearable devices, where repeatable dynamic bending stress is expected during usage. All applied printing and post‐processing methods are compatible with roll‐to‐roll manufacturing and temperature sensitive flexible substrates providing a platform for the scalable manufacturing of mechanically stable and environmentally friendly graphene printed electronics.

     

A Dinuclear Cu(Ⅱ)-based Coordination Framework with Two-fold Interpenetrated 3D pcu Topology Displaying Catalytic Activity

A new Cu(Ⅱ) coordination polymer, [Cu2(mip)2(bmix)]n(bmix = 1,4-bis(2-methylimidazole-1-ylmethyl)benzene, H2 mip = 5-methylisophthalic acid), has been hydrothermally synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, IR, TGA and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The title compound belongs to the triclinic system, space group P1 with a = 9.435(5), b = 12.241(6), c = 13.666(6), β = 94.396(8)o, V = 1565.5(13) 3, Z = 2, C34H30Cu2N4O8, Mr = 749.70, Dc = 1.590 g/cm3, μ = 1.419 mm-1 and F(000) = 768. The title metal-organic coordination polymer exhibits the first two-fold interpenetrated pcu topological structure assembled by two types of dinuclear copper(Ⅱ) clusters and a flexible bis(imidazole)-based ligand. In addition, the fluorescence and catalytic performances of the complex for the degradation of Congo red azo dye in Fenton-like process were presented.