Nanocomposite thin film structures based on polyarylenephthalide with SWCNT and graphene oxide fillers

Investigations of nanocomposite thin films based on polyarylene- phthalide, single-walled carbon nanotubes and graphene oxide have been carried out. Using these films as a transport layer, field-effect transistors were assembled and their output and transfer characteristics were measured. The mobility of charge carriers was estimated and the obtained values are as follows: μ_PAP/GO = 0.020 cm² V^?1 s^?1 and μ_PAP/SWCNT = 0.071 cm² V^?1 s^?1.     

Design of Functional Carbon Composite Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage

The carbon composite materials have been a research hotspot in the fields of catalysis, energy conversion and so on, because of their features of large structure and morphology variety, good chemical and electrochemical stability, and high electronic conductivity, large specific surface area and rich active sites. This paper summarizes some research progress of carbon composite materials, including assembly methodologies, their structure regulation, properties, and related applications. Moreover, the current challenges and the prospects of these materials are also discussed.     

Polymer 4D printing: Advanced shape-change and beyond

4D printing is an exciting branch of additive manufacturing. It relies on established 3D printing techniques to fabricate objects in much the same way. However, structures which fall into the 4D printed category have the ability to change with time, hence the “extra dimension.” The common perception of 4D printed objects is that of macroscopic single-material structures limited to point-to-point shape change only, in response to either heat or water. However, in the area of polymer 4D printing, recent advancements challenge this understanding. A host of new polymeric materials have been designed which display a variety of wonderful effects brought about by unconventional stimuli, and advanced additive manufacturing techniques have been developed to accommodate them. As a result, the horizons of polymer 4D printing have been broadened beyond what was initially thought possible. In this review, we showcase the many studies which evolve the very definition of polymer 4D printing, and reveal emerging areas of research integral to its advancement.     

水热法制备二氧化锡/钨酸铋复合光催化材料及其催化活性研究

本文用水热法制备了正交晶系的纳米球状结构的二氧化锡和正交晶系的由片状聚集成球状结构的钨酸铋,并且对二者进行了复合,制备出了二氧化锡/钨酸铋复合光催化材料。采用X射线衍射(XRD)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、比表面积测试仪(BET)、紫外可见分光光度计等技术对复合样品的结构、形貌、比表面积、孔容孔径和光学性质进行了表征。用碘钨灯模拟太阳光,分别以二氧化锡、钨酸铋和二氧化锡/钨酸铋复合材料为催化剂降解罗丹明B(RhB),研究所制备的二氧化锡/钨酸铋复合材料的光催化活性。光催化90 min时二氧化锡、钨酸铋和二氧化锡/钨酸铋对罗丹明B的降解率分别是9%、22%和30%。实验结果表明,在可见光下,二氧化锡/钨酸铋复合材料的光催化活性要高于单一的二氧化锡和钨酸铋。     

Insights into MWCNTs/polyimide nanocomposites: from synthesis to application as free-standing flexible electrodes in low-cost micro-supercapacitors

In the pursuit to enlarge the library of polyimide materials for energy applications, new polyimide/MWCNTs composite films have been developed by MWCNTs-assisted polycondensation reaction of a hydroxyl and triphenylmethane-containing diamine with benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride targeting to highlight their electrical storage capability as flexible electrodes in micro-supercapacitors (mSCs). The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance, UV–vis, fluorescence, and Raman spectroscopies were used to demonstrate the evolution of interfacial interactions between MWCNTs and the precursors (diamine monomer and intermediate polyamidic acid) and polyimide matrix that proved to be the origin of MWCNTs homogeneous dispersion. Thus, composite films incorporating 1, 3, 5, and 10 w.t.% MWCNTs were obtained and thoroughly investigated with regard to their morphology, mechanical behavior, thermal stability, and electrical conductivity. The electrochemical performance of these composites was first analyzed in a classical three-electrode cell by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge in both aqueous and organic electrolyte systems. By far, the best electrical storage capacity was obtained with the composite polyimide film containing 10% MWCNTs that was further used as both active material and current collector in a flexible symmetric mSC realized by a straightforward and low-cost procedure. In the attempt to better exploit the advantages of this composite film, it was layered with a graphite-containing paint and tested as an electrode in a flexible mSC, which provided satisfactory results. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the electrical charge storage capability of a polyimide/MWCNTs free-standing film as a flexible electrode in mSCs, which do not require time- and resource-consuming processing steps.     

Revealing the Effect of Surface Composition on Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Supported Pt-Fe Alloy Electrocatalysts for Methanol Oxidation Performance

The designs of efficient and inexpensive Pt-based catalysts for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) are essential to boost the commercialization of direct methanol fuel cells. Here, the highly catalytic performance PtFe alloys supported on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) decorating nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) have been successfully prepared via co-engineering of the surface composition and electronic structure. The Pt₁Fe₃@NC/MWCNTs catalyst with moderate Fe³⁺ feeding content (0.86 mA/mg_Pt) exhibits 2.26-fold enhancement in MOR mass activity compared to pristine Pt/C catalyst (0.38 mA/mg_Pt). Furthermore, the CO oxidation initial potential of Pt₁Fe₃@NC/MWCNTs catalyst is lower relative to Pt/C catalyst (0.71 V and 0.80 V). Benefited from the optimal surface compositions, the anti-corrosion ability of MWCNT, strong electron interaction between PtFe alloys and MWCNTs and the N-doped carbon (NC) layer, the Pt₁Fe₃@NC/MWCNTs catalyst presents an improved MOR performance and anti-CO poisoning ability. This study would open up new perspective for designing efficient electrocatalysts for the DMFCs field.     

原位液相透射电子显微镜及其在 纳米粒子表征方面的应用

近年来,基于透射电子显微技术、微纳加工技术和薄膜制造技术的发展,原位液相透射电子显微技术产生,为构建多种纳米级分辨率尺度下的微实验平台,发展新型纳米表征技术和众多领域的相关研究提供了途径.本文首先介绍了应用于原位液相透射电子显微技术的液体腔设计要求,然后介绍了液体腔的发展和典型的制备工艺,最后综述了近年来液体腔透射电子显微镜在纳米粒子成核和生长方面的应用研究,并探讨了该技术前沿发展面临的机遇和挑战.本文将为提高我国先进纳米表征技术和原子精准构筑技术提供相关讨论和支持.     

Metamorphic InAs(Sb)/InGaAs/InAlAs nanoheterostructures grown on GaAs for efficient mid-IR emitters

High-efficiency semiconductor lasers and light-emitting diodes operating in the 3–5?μm mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral range are currently of great demand for a wide variety of applications, in particular, gas sensing, noninvasive medical tests, IR spectroscopy etc. III-V compounds with a lattice constant of about 6.1?Å are traditionally used for this spectral range. The attractive idea to fabricate such emitters on GaAs substrates by using In(Ga,Al)As compounds is restricted by either the minimum operating wavelength of ～8?μm in case of pseudomorphic AlGaAs-based quantum cascade lasers or requires utilization of thick metamorphic In_xAl_1-xAs buffer layers (MBLs) playing a key role in reducing the density of threading dislocations (TDs) in an active region, which otherwise result in a strong decay of the quantum efficiency of such mid-IR emitters. In this review we present the results of careful investigations of employing the convex-graded In_xAl_1-xAs MBLs for fabrication by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs (001) substrates of In(Ga,Al)As heterostructures with a combined type-II/type-I InSb/InAs/InGaAs quantum well (QW) for efficient mid-IR emitters (3–3.6?μm). The issues of strain relaxation, elastic stress balance, efficiency of radiative and non-radiative recombination at T?=?10–300?K are discussed in relation to molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth conditions and designs of the structures. A wide complex of techniques including in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning and transmission electron microscopies, X-ray diffractometry, reciprocal space mapping, selective area electron diffraction, as well as photoluminescence (PL) and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy was used to study in detail structural and optical properties of the metamorphic QW structures. Optimization of the growth conditions (the substrate temperature, the As₄/III ratio) and elastic strain profiles governed by variation of an inverse step in the In content profile between the MBL and the InAlAs virtual substrate results in decrease in the TD density (down to 3?×?10⁷ cm^?2), increase of the thickness of the low-TD-density near-surface MBL region to 250–300?nm, the extremely low surface roughness with the RMS value of 1.6–2.4?nm, measured by AFM, as well as rather high 3.5?μm-PL intensity at temperatures up to 300?K in such structures. The obtained results indicate that the metamorphic InSb/In(Ga,Al)As QW heterostructures of proper design, grown under the optimum MBE conditions, are very promising for fabricating the efficient mid-IR emitters on a GaAs platform.     

开关型Pickering乳液体系

Pickering乳液以胶体尺寸的固体粒子代替传统表面活性剂作为稳定剂,具有超稳定,生物相容性好以及对环境友好等优点。开关型Pickering乳液可随pH值、CO₂/N₂浓度、温度、磁场强度及光强度等条件的变化而改变固体乳化剂的表面润湿性,实现在“乳化”与“破乳”之间的快速转换,在非均相催化、乳液聚合等诸多领域有广泛的应用前景。本文全面总结了近年来开关型Pickering乳液的研究进展及其在界面催化系统、液膜处理有机废水、药物的包封与释放等方面的应用。     

Evolution of Classical and Quantum States in the Groupoid Picture of Quantum Mechanics

The evolution of states of the composition of classical and quantum systems in the groupoid formalism for physical theories introduced recently is discussed. It is shown that the notion of a classical system, in the sense of Birkhoff and von Neumann, is equivalent, in the case of systems with a countable number of outputs, to a totally disconnected groupoid with Abelian von Neumann algebra. The impossibility of evolving a separable state of a composite system made up of a classical and a quantum one into an entangled state by means of a unitary evolution is proven in accordance with Raggio’s theorem, which is extended to include a new family of separable states corresponding to the composition of a system with a totally disconnected space of outcomes and a quantum one.