光纤基底TiNi形状记忆合金薄膜制备工艺

将TiNi基记忆合金薄膜与光纤相结合可制成智能化、集成化且成本经济的微机电系统和微传感器件.本文采用磁控溅射法在二氧化硅光纤基底上制备TiNi记忆合金薄膜,系统讨论了溅射工艺参数以及后续退火处理对薄膜质量的影响.采用自研制光纤镀膜掩膜装置在直径为125μm的光纤圆周表面上形成均匀薄膜.实验表明:在靶基距、背底真空度、Ar气流量和溅射时间一定的条件下,溅射功率存在最佳值;溅射压强较大时,薄膜沉积速率较低,但薄膜表面粗糙度较小.进行退火处理后,薄膜形成较良好的晶体结构,Ti_49.09Ni_50.91薄膜中马氏体B19′相和奥氏体B2相共存,但以B19′为主.根据本文研究结果,在玻璃光纤基底上制备高质量的TiNi基记忆合金薄膜是可实现的,本工作为下一步研制微机电系统和微型传感器做了基础准备.     

新型功能碳材料的高压截获

高性能功能材料在诸多领域具有广泛的应用前景,是人们一直关注的研究热点。高压可以有效地改变物质的原子间距和成键方式,是获得新型功能材料的重要途径。在碳材料的高压研究中,许多有趣的功能碳材料,如光学透明碳、高强度弹性碳和超硬非晶碳等,已经通过不同的碳前驱体合成。本文简要介绍了作者近年来在低维碳基纳米复合材料高压研究中取得的进展,基于设计的不同低维碳前驱体,高压下截获了具有超硬特性、新型压致共价聚合及发光增强的碳材料。     

Freeze–Thaw-Promoted Fabrication of Clean and Hierarchically Structured Noble-Metal Aerogels for Electrocatalysis and Photoelectrocatalysis

Noble-metal aerogels (NMAs) have drawn increasing attention because of their self-supported conductive networks, high surface areas, and numerous optically/catalytically active sites, enabling their impressive performance in diverse fields. However, the fabrication methods suffer from tedious procedures, long preparation times, unavoidable impurities, and uncontrolled multiscale structures, discouraging their developments. By utilizing the self-healing properties of noble-metal aggregates, the freezing-promoted salting-out behavior, and the ice-templating effect, a freeze–thaw method is crafted that is capable of preparing various hierarchically structured noble-metal gels within one day without extra additives. In light of their cleanliness, the multi-scale structures, and combined catalytic/optical properties, the electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic performance of NMAs are demonstrated, which surpasses that of commercial noble-metal catalysts.     

A Closed‐Loop Control Strategy for Producing Nitrile Rubber of Uniform Chemical Composition in a Semibatch Reactor: A Simulation Study

To improve the quality of industrial nitrile rubbers, the copolymer chemical composition, p_A(t), should ideally be kept constant along the reaction. This work proposes a closed‐loop control strategy for the semibatch operation of the reactor with the aim of regulating p_A(t) within a reduced range of variability. The proposed strategy is evaluated by simulating a mathematical model of the process. To this effect, a simplified mathematical model of the reaction is first derived and then utilized to obtain a suboptimal control law and a soft‐sensor that estimates the polymerization rates. The suboptimal control law is compensated by adding a term proportional to errors in p_A(t). The simulated example considers the production of the low‐composition AJLT grade, with the copolymerization reaction represented by a detailed mathematical model adjusted to an industrial plant. Due to the high performance of the soft‐sensor, the simulation results suggest that the proposed closed‐loop strategy is efficient to adequately regulate p_A(t) in spite of structural and parametric uncertainties, while other quality variables remained practically unaffected.     

Facile synthesis of graft copolymers containing rigid poly(dialkyl fumarate) branches by macromonomer method

Graft copolymers show microphase separated structure as seen in block copolymers and have lower intrinsic viscosity than block copolymers because of a branching structure. Therefore, considering molding processability, especially for polymers containing rigid segments, graft copolymers are useful architectures. In this work, graft copolymers containing rigid poly(diisopropyl fumarate) (PDiPF) branches were synthesized by full free‐radical polymerization process. First, synthesis of PDiPF macromonomers by addition‐fragmentation chain transfer (AFCT) was investigated. 2,2‐Dimethyl‐4‐methylene‐pentanedioic acid dimethyl ester was found to be an efficient AFCT agent for diisopropyl fumarate (DiPF) polymerization because of the suppression of undesired primary radical termination, which significantly took place when common AFCT agent, methyl 2‐(bromomethyl)acrylate, was used. Copolymerization of PDiPF macromonomer with ethyl acrylate accomplished the generation of the graft copolymer having flexible poly(ethyl acrylate) backbone and rigid PDiPF branches. The graft copolymer showed a microphase separated structure, high transparency, and characteristic thermal properties to PDiPF and poly(ethyl acrylate). © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019 , 57, 2474–2480     

Markov shifts and topological entropy of families of homoclinic tangles

The existence of a homoclinic orbit in dynamical systems implies chaotic behaviour with positive entropy. In this work, we determine explicitly the Markov shifts associated to certain Smale horseshoe homoclinic orbits which allow us to compute a lower bound for the topological entropy that such a system can have. It is done associating a heteroclinic orbit which belongs to the same isotopy class and then determining the Markov partition of the dynamical core of an end periodic mapping.     

Ultrafast gas chromatography coupled to electronic nose to identify volatile biomarkers in exhaled breath from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients: A pilot study

An analytical method to identify volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the exhaled breath from patients with a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using a ultrafast gas chromatography system equipped with an electronic nose detector (FGC eNose) has been developed. A prospective study was performed in 23 COPD patients and 33 healthy volunteers; exhalation breathing tests were performed with Tedlar bags. Each sample was analyzed by FCG eNose and the identification of VOCs was based on the Kovats index. Raw data were reduced by principal component analysis (PCA) and canonical discriminant analysis [canonical analysis of principal coordinates (CAP)]. The FCG eNose technology was able to identify 17 VOCs that distinguish COPD patients from healthy volunteers. At all stages of PCA and CAP the discrimination between groups was obvious. Chemical prints were correctly classified up to 82.2%, and were matched with 78.9% of the VOCs detected in the exhaled breath samples. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated the sensitivity and specificity to be 96% and 91%, respectively. This pilot study demonstrates that FGC eNose is a useful tool to identify VOCs as biomarkers in exhaled breath from COPD patients. Further studies should be performed to enhance the clinical relevance of this quick and ease methodology for COPD diagnosis.