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.     

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.     

Special John-Nirenberg-Campanato spaces via congruent cubes

Let p ∈ [1, ∞), q ∈ [1, ∞), α∈ R, and s be a non-negative integer. Inspired by the space JNp introduced by John and Nirenberg(1961) and the space B introduced by Bourgain et al.(2015), we introduce a special John-Nirenberg-Campanato space JN^con_(p,q,s) over Rⁿ or a given cube of R;with finite side length via congruent subcubes, which are of some amalgam features. The limit space of such spaces as p →∞ is just the Campanato space which coincides with the space BMO(the space of functions with bounded mean oscillations)when α = 0. Moreover, a vanishing subspace of this new space is introduced, and its equivalent characterization is established as well, which is a counterpart of the known characterization for the classical space VMO(the space of functions with vanishing mean oscillations) over Rⁿ or a given cube of Rⁿ with finite side length.Furthermore, some VMO-H¹-BMO-type results for this new space are also obtained, which are based on the aforementioned vanishing subspaces and the Hardy-type space defined via congruent cubes in this article. The geometrical properties of both the Euclidean space via its dyadic system and congruent cubes play a key role in the proofs of all these results.     

Developing Flexible Quinacridone-Derivatives-Based Photothermal Evaporaters for Solar Steam and Thermoelectric Power Generation

Solar-driven interfacial vaporization by localizing solar-thermal energy conversion to the air−water interface has attracted tremendous attention. In the process of converting solar energy into heat energy, photothermal materials play an essential role. Herein, a flexible solar-thermal material di-cyan substituted 5,12-dibutylquinacridone (DCN−4CQA)@Paper was developed by coating photothermal quinacridone derivatives on the cellulose paper. The DCN−4CQA@Paper combines desired chemical and physical properties, broadband light-absorbing, and shape-conforming abilities that render efficient photothermic vaporization. Notably, synergetic coupling of solar-steam and solar-electricity technologies by integrating DCN−4CQA@Paper and the thermoelectric devices is realized without trade-offs, highlighting the practical consideration toward more impactful solar heat exploitation. Such solar distillation and low-grade heat-to-electricity generation functions can provide potential opportunities for fresh water and electricity supply in off-grid or remote areas.     

EcoLens: visual analysis of ecological regions in urban contexts using traffic data

Journal of Visualization - The increasing availability of spatiotemporal data provides unprecedented opportunities for understanding the structure of an urban area in terms of people’s...     

Theoretical studies on the influence of metallic cations on ring opening of propylene oxide catalyzed by metal-salen complexes

We studied the ring opening of propylene oxide (PO) by salen-M coordinated OH⁻ group [M = Al(III), Sc(III), Cr(III), Mn(III), Fe(III), Co(II), Co(III), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Ru(III) and Rh(III)]. The results show that the ring-opening energy barriers for M(II) complexes are much lower than those with M(III) complexes in the gas phase, and the barriers correlate linearly with the negative charges on the OH⁻ group and the Fukui function condensed on the OH⁻ group. The nucleophilicity ordering in the gas phase can be rationalized by the ratio of formal positive charges/radius of M cations. Solvent effect greatly increases the barriers of M(II) complexes but slightly changes the results of M(III) ones, making the barriers similar. Analysis indicates that the reaction heats are linearly proportional to the reverse reaction barriers. The relationships established here can be used to estimate the ring-opening barriers and to screen epoxide ring-opening catalysts.     

减压扩散高阻密栅技术应用研究

本文对减压扩散机理及高阻密栅技术作了详细的分析,并就设备及工艺方面的关键技术进行了阐述,最后对减压扩散高方阻工艺及密栅匹配技术电池效率进行了对比分析,有以下结论:(1)减压扩散在工艺优化后,方阻均匀性得到大幅改善,达到3;以内.(2)减压扩散电池效率完全可达到常规产线的水平,且在高阻密栅方面更有优势,可有效提升太阳电池效率.