Rapid Preparation of Mesoporous Methylsilsesquioxane Aerogels by Microwave Heating Technology

Microwave heating technology is known as an alternative to traditional gas and electric heating sources. In this work, mesoporous methylsilsesquioxane (MSQ) aerogels were prepared via a sol–gel process accompanied by microwave heating technology, and microwave heating was used in the gelation of sol and the drying of wet gels, respectively. The effects of hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) as a surfactant and template, hydrochloric acid (HCl) as a catalyst, ethanol as a solvent, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as a gelation agent, and microwave power on the pore structure of as-prepared MSQ aerogels were investigated in detail. Microwave heating at low power results in the acceleration of sol–gel transition and achieves the gelation within a few minutes. Appropriate amounts of chemical reagents and microwave heating at high power allow the preparation of mesoporous MSQ aerogels with a BET-specific surface area of 681.6 m²·g⁻¹ and a mesopore size of 19 nm, and the resultant MSQ aerogel still has a BET specific surface area as high as 134 m²·g⁻¹ after heat treatment at 600 °C for 2 h, showing high thermal stability. The MSQ aerogels/fibre composite possesses a low thermal conductivity of 0.039 W/(m·k)⁻¹, displaying good thermal insulation. Microwave heating technology is a promising heating method for the preparation of other aerogels.     

Nanoporous silicon flakes as anode active material for lithium-ion batteries

Nanoporous-silicon (np-Si) flakes were prepared using a combination of an electrochemical etching process and an ultra-sonication treatment and the electrochemical properties were studied as an anode active material for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). This fabrication method is a simple, reproducible, and cost effective way to make high-performance Si-based anode active materials in LIBs. The anode based on np-Si flakes exhibited a higher performances (lower capacity fade rate, stability and excellent rate capability at high C-rate) than the anode based on Si nanowires. The excellent performance of the np-Si flake anode was attributed to the hollowness (nanoporous structure) of the anode active material, which allowed it to accommodate a large volume change during cycling.     

板条Nd:YAG晶体的合成盘抛光技术

针对高功率板条激光器核心工作器件——板条Nd:YAG晶体的超精密加工开展研究,分析了具有特殊构型的板条Nd:YAG晶体元件的加工性能及工艺难点,提出了一种新的基于合成盘抛光的板条Nd:YAG晶体加工工艺,并对规格为100mm×30mm×3mm的板条Nd:YAG晶体进行了加工实验。实验结果表明,合成盘抛光可以很好地控制元件的塌边现象;通过磨料的优化选择,在合成盘抛光工艺中匹配合适粒度的Al2O3磨料能够实现元件的低缺陷加工,元件下盘后的全反射面平面度达0.217λ(1λ=632.8nm),端面平面度达到0.06λ,表面粗糙度达0.55nm(RMS),端面楔角精度可达2″。     

Development of ionomer membranes for fuel cells

In this contribution an overview is given about the state-of-the-art at the membrane development for proton-conductive polymer (composite) membranes for the application membrane fuel cells, focusing on the membrane developments in this field performed at ICVT.For preparation of the polymers, processes have been developed for sulfonated arylene main-chain polymers as well as for arylene main-chain polymers containing basic N-containing groups, including a lithiation step. Covalently cross-linked polymer membranes have been prepared by alkylation of the sulfinate groups of sulfinate group-containing polymers with α,ω-dihalogenoalkanes. The advantage of the covalently cross-linked ionomer membranes was their dimensional stability even at temperatures of 80–90°C, their main disadvantage their brittleness when drying out, caused by the inflexible covalent network. Sulfonated and basic N-containing polymers (commercial polymers as well as self-developed ones) have been combined to acid–base blends containing ionic cross-links. The main advantage of these membrane type was its flexibility even when dried-out, its good to excellent thermal stability, and the numerous possibilities to combine acidic and basic polymers to blend membranes having fine-tuned properties. The main disadvantage of this membrane type was the insufficient dimension stability at T>70–90°C, caused by breakage of the ionic cross-links, where the ionic cross-links broke as easier as lower the basicity of the polymeric base was. Some of the acid–base blend membranes were applied to H₂ membrane fuel cells and to direct methanol fuel cells up to 100°C, yielding the result that these membranes show very good perspectives in the membrane fuel cell application.     

Optical and electrical conduction mechanisms of [N(CH3)3H]CdCl3

The X-ray powder diffraction patterns shows that at room temperature [N(CH₃)₃H]CdCl₃ crystallizes in the orthorhombic system with the Pbnm space group. The analysis of the data revealed the existence of optical allowed direct transition mechanisms with the band gap energy equal to 5.3 eV. The temperature dependences of the real part of dielectric permittivity show a relaxation process at high temperature that can be explained by the reorientational motion of alkyl chains. The alternative current (AC) electrical conduction in compound is governed by three processes, which can be attributed to several models: the correlated barrier hopping (CBH) model in phases I and II, the non-overlapping small polaron tunneling (NSPT) model in phases III and IV.     

TMB目视比色法检测水中余氯的改进

为解决GB/T 5750.11-2006生活饮用水标准检验方法中的3,3',5,5'-四甲基联苯胺(TMB)目视比色法检测余氯时出现的评价方法准确性欠佳、TMB显色剂发黄、显色体系偏绿等问题,对TMB目视比色法的评价方法、TMB显色剂的配制条件和水样的检测条件进行了研究。结果表明,次氯酸钠不宜作为余氯标准物质来评价TMB目视比色法的改进效果,而通过检测显色体系的A450和目视比色值相结合的方法来判断方法改进效果更为准确。采用优级纯浓盐酸和无氯纯水室温搅拌溶解,可使显色剂无色透明,从而解决TMB显色剂发黄的问题,符合国标要求。将显色剂配制用酸(盐酸)的浓度由国标中0.1mol/L变更为0.6 mol/L,可解决余氯显色体系偏绿的问题。显色体系pH变化后,显色时间、显色温度、显色剂用量可仍按照国标方法的要求进行操作。通过以上改进措施,进一步提高了余氯检测结果的准确度。     

Resonant enhancement in nanostructured thermoelectric performance via electronic thermal conductivity engineering

The use of an asymmetric broadening in the transport distribution, a characteristic of resonant structures, is proposed as a route to engineer a decrease in electronic thermal conductivity thereby enhancing the electronic figure of merit in nanostructured thermoelectrics. Using toy models, we first demonstrate that a decrease in thermal conductivity resulting from such an asymmetric broadening may indeed lead to an electronic figure of merit well in excess of 1000 in an idealized situation and in excess of 10 in a realistic situation. We then substantiate with realistic resonant structures designed using graphene nano-ribbons by employing a tight binding framework with edge correction that match density functional theory calculations under the local density approximation. The calculated figure of merit exceeding 10 in such realistic structures further reinforces the concept and sets a promising direction to use nano-ribbon structures to engineer a favorable decrease in the electronic thermal conductivity.     

Noncontact blood species identification method based on spatially resolved near-infrared transmission spectroscopy

The inspection and identification of whole blood are crucially significant for import-export ports and inspection and quarantine departments. In our previous research, we proved Near-Infrared diffuse transmitted spectroscopy method was potential for noninvasively identifying three blood species, including macaque, human and mouse, with samples measured in the cuvettes. However, in open sampling cases, inspectors may be endangered by virulence factors in blood samples. In this paper, we explored the noncontact measurement for classification, with blood samples measured in the vacuum blood vessels. Spatially resolved near-infrared spectroscopy was used to improve the prediction accuracy. Results showed that the prediction accuracy of the model built with nine detection points was more than 90% in identification between all five species, including chicken, goat, macaque, pig and rat, far better than the performance of the model built with single-point spectra. The results fully supported the idea that spatially resolved near-infrared spectroscopy method can improve the prediction ability, and demonstrated the feasibility of this method for noncontact blood species identification in practical applications.     

Plasmonic ambient light sensing with MoS2-graphene heterostructures

We present experimental results on plasmonic photodetection of ambient light using MoS₂-graphene heterostructures illuminated with three very-low-power light emitting diodes (LEDs) radiating in blue, green, and red, respectively. The working principle of this photodetector validates the recent predictions of hot-carrier plasmonic doping of MoS₂. The obtained responsivity for each spectral domain is in agreement with photopic standards of the luminosity function. The response time of the detector is less than the eye blinking time.     

GM(1,1)模型适用域讨论及模型的改进

在已有灰色系统理论的基础上,讨论了GM(1,1)模型的适用域,明确界定了GM(1,1)模型的有效区域和禁区,并提出了GM(1,1)模型的一种改进形式——离散灰色预测DGM(1,1)模型.通过对我国经济增长的实证分析说明了该模型的有效性和可靠性.研究结果表明,提出的DGM(1,1)模型可作为灰色预测的一种精确模型,因此,为我国经济增长预测提供了一种新的方法,对当前我国经济的理性增长具有重要的指导意义.