A hierarchical porous carbon membrane from polyacrylonitrile/polyvinylpyrrolidone blending membranes: Preparation,characterization and electrochemical capacitive performance

Novel hierarchical porous carbon membranes were fabricated through a simple carbonization procedure of well-defined blending polymer membrane precursors containing the source of carbon polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and an additive of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), which was prepared using phase inversion method. The as-fabricated materials were further used as the active electrode materials for supercapacitors. The effects of PVP concentration in the casting solution on structure feature and electrochemical capacitive performance of the as-prepared carbon membranes were also studied in detail. As the electrode material for supercapacitor, a high specific capacitance of 278.0 F/g could be attained at a current of 5 mA/cm² and about 92.90% capacity retention could be maintained after 2000 charge/discharge cycles in 2 mol/L KOH solution with a PVP concentration of 0.3 wt% in the casting solution. The facile hierarchical pore structure preparation method and the good electrochemical capacitive performance make the prepared carbon membrane particularly promising for use in supercapacitor.     

Face-centred cubic to body-centred cubic phase transformation under [1 0 0] tensile loading

Molecular dynamics simulation was used to verify a speculation of the existence of a certain face-centred cubic (FCC) to body-centred cubic (BCC) phase transformation pathway. Four FCC metals, Ni, Cu, Au and Ag, were stretched along the [1?0?0] direction at various strain rates and temperatures. Under high strain rate and low temperature, and beyond the elastic limit, the bifurcation of the FCC phase occurred with sudden contraction along one lateral direction and expansion along the other lateral direction. When the lattice constant along the expansion direction converged with that of the stretched direction, the FCC phase transformed into an unstressed BCC phase. By reducing the strain rate or increasing the temperature, dislocation or ‘momentum-induced melting’ mechanisms began to control the plastic deformation of the FCC metals, respectively.     

Global hysteresis in ferroelectrics with incommensurate phases

A review of the basic experimental results connected with the formation of long-living metastable states in the incommensurate phases of ferroelectric crystals and related phenomena is given. The interpretation and appropriate physical mechanisms underlying the global hysteresis phenomena associated with these states are considered.     

Determination of Ti-6242 α and β slip properties using micro-pillar test and computational crystal plasticity

The properties and behaviour of an α−β colony Ti-6242 alloy have been investigated at 20 °C utilising coupled micro-pillar stress relaxation tests and computational crystal plasticity. The β-phase slip strength and intrinsic slip system strain rate sensitivity have been determined, and the β-phase shown to have stronger rate sensitivity than that for the α phase. Close agreement of experimental observations and crystal plasticity predictions of micro-pillar elastic-plastic response, stress relaxation, slip activation in both α and β-phases, and strain localisation within the α−β pillars with differing test strain rate, β morphology, and crystal orientations is achieved, supporting the validity of the properties extracted. The β-lath thickness is found to affect slip transfer across the α−β−α colony, but not to significantly change the nature of the slip localisation when compared to pure α-phase pillars with the same crystallographic orientation. These results are considered in relation to rate-dependent deformation, such as dwell fatigue, in complex multiphase titanium alloys.     

Movement and amplification of exciton condensed phase pulses and interaction between pulses in semiconductor quantum wells

Formation and movement of an exciton pulse in an inhomogeneous potential are studied. It is shown that the pulse does not blur and the maximum of the exciton density in the pulse remains constant during the exciton lifetime if the pulse is formed from the condensed phase. The path, traversed by the excitons, can be increased by imposing an additional laser pulse on the system. Thereby, such a system can be used for information transmission over the exciton condensed phase.     

The effect of noise on the dirac phase of electron in the presence of screw dislocation

The effect of noise on the Dirac phase of electron in the presence of screw dislocation is studied. An uncorrelated noise, which coincides with the nature of thermal fluctuations, is adopted. Results indicate that the Dirac phase is robust against the existing noise in the system.     

Chemotherapy control by breath profile with application of SPME‐GC/MS method

Chemotherapy used as a treatment against lung cancer has influence on metabolic processes occurring in healthy cells. The changes of biochemical pathways proceeded inside cells might be observed in expired air. In the experiment, breath analysis was carried out before and after anticancer therapy. Expired air samples were collected from 22 patients with a biopsy confirmed lung cancer. Volatile organic compounds present in breath were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. For enrichment of analytes solid‐phase microextraction technique was applied. Eight fibers covered by different sorbents were tested. Carboxen‐polydimethylsiloxane fiber revealed the highest extraction efficiency in relation to analytes in breath. The data showed that cytostatic drugs increase the concentration of acetone and isoprene in the breath collected after chemotherapy. Volatile metabolites of administrated drugs were not identified in expired air.     

Dislocation driven chromium precipitation in Fe-9Cr binary alloy: a positron lifetime study

The influence of initial heat treatment on anomalous Cr precipitation within high temperature solubility region of the Fe–9Cr alloy has been investigated using positron lifetime studies. Air-quenched samples with pre-existing dislocations exhibited a distinct annealing stage in positron lifetime between 800 and 1100?K corresponding to Cr-precipitation. During this stage, Transmission Electron Microscopy showed fine precipitates of average size 4 nm, dispersed throughout the sample and from Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis they are found to be Cr-enriched. The presence of dislocations is found to be responsible for Cr precipitation.