The potentials of additive manufacturing for mass production of electrochemical energy systems

Additive manufacturing has established itself as a popular and powerful tool in electrochemistry research and development. In this short review, we focus on the latest results in both 3D printing and electrochemistry communities that could potentially benefit manufacturing in the electrochemical industry. We provide insights from recent and relevant research works and conclude that the likely scenario in the industry is the deployment of a combination of subtractive and additive technologies in order to manufacture high quality and cost-effective electrochemical reactors within reasonable timeframes.     

An improved progressive preconditioning method for steady non‐cavitating and sheet‐cavitating flows

An improved progressive preconditioning method for analyzing steady inviscid and laminar flows around fully wetted and sheet‐cavitating hydrofoils is presented. The preconditioning matrix is adapted automatically from the pressure and/or velocity flow‐field by a power‐law relation. The cavitating calculations are based on a single fluid approach. In this approach, the liquid/vapour mixture is treated as a homogeneous fluid whose density is controlled by a barotropic state law. This physical model is integrated with a numerical resolution derived from the cell‐centered Jameson's finite volume algorithm. The stabilization is achieved via the second‐and fourth‐order artificial dissipation scheme. Explicit four‐step Runge–Kutta time integration is applied to achieve the steady‐state condition. Results presented in the paper focus on the pressure distribution on hydrofoils wall, velocity profiles, lift and drag forces, length of sheet cavitation, and effect of the power‐law preconditioning method on convergence speed. The results show satisfactory agreement with numerical and experimental works of others. The scheme has a progressive effect on the convergence speed. The results indicate that using the power‐law preconditioner improves the convergence rate, significantly. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Delayed feedback control of time-delayed chaotic systems: Analytical approach at Hopf bifurcation

This Letter is concerned with bifurcation and chaos control in scalar delayed differential equations with delay parameter τ. By linear stability analysis, the conditions under which a sequence of Hopf bifurcation occurs at the equilibrium points are obtained. The delayed feedback controller is used to stabilize unstable periodic orbits. To find the controller delay, it is chosen such that the Hopf bifurcation remains unchanged. Also, the controller feedback gain is determined such that the corresponding unstable periodic orbit becomes stable. Numerical simulations are used to verify the analytical results.     

Influence of maleic anhydride grafted ethylene propylene diene monomer (MAH-g-EPDM) on the properties of EPDM nanocomposites reinforced by halloysite nanotubes

Ethylene propylene diene monomer grafted with maleic ahydride (MAH-g-EPDM) was prepared by peroxide-initiated melt grafting of MAH onto EPDM using a HAAKE internal mixer at 180 °C and 60 rpm for 5 min. The effect of MAH-g-EPDM compatibilizer on the interactions, and tensile and morphological properties of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) filled EPDM nanocomposites was investigated. The tensile properties of the nanocomposites were influenced by two major factors. The hydrogen bonding between MAH-g-EPDM and HNTs, which was confirmed by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), as well as the formation of EPDM-rich and HNT-rich areas, are the dominant effects on the tensile strength of the nanocomposites at low and high HNT loading, respectively. It was found that the cure time (t₉₀), maximum torque (M_H) and minimum torque (M_L) of the compatibilized nanocomposites were increased after adding MAH-g-EPDM. The reinforcement mechanism of the compatibilized and un-compatibilized EPDM/HNT nanocomposites was also investigated based on morphological observations of the nanocomposites.     

Caesium carbonate supported on hydroxyapatite‐encapsulated Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 nanocrystallites as a novel magnetically basic catalyst for the one‐pot synthesis of pyrazolo[1,2‐b]phthalazine‐5,10‐diones

A novel nanomagnetic basic catalyst of caesium carbonate supported on hydroxyapatite‐coated Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄ magnetic nanoparticles (Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄@HAP‐Cs₂CO₃) was prepared. This new catalyst was fully characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission and scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction and vibrating sample magnetometry techniques, and then the catalytic activity of this catalyst was investigated in the synthesis of 1H‐pyrazolo[1,2‐b]phthalazine‐5,10‐dione derivatives. Also, Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄@HAP‐Cs₂CO₃ could be reused at least five times without significant loss of activity and could be recovered easily by applying an external magnet. Thus, the developed nanomagnetic catalyst is potentially useful for the green and economic production of organic compounds. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

One‐Pot Synthesis of Sulfonamides and Sulfonyl Azides from Thiols using Chloramine‐T

A convenient synthesis of sulfonamides and sulfonyl azides from thiols is described. In situ preparation of sulfonyl chlorides from thiols was accomplished by oxidation with chloramine‐T (=N‐chlorotosylamide=N‐chloro‐4‐methylbenzenesulfonamide), tetrabutylammonium chloride (Bu₄NCl), and H₂O. The sulfonyl chlorides were then further allowed to react with excess amine or NaN₃ in the same pot.     

Representation of type I heterostructure junctionless tunnel field effect transistor for high-performance logic application

In this paper, a gate-all-around junctionless tunnel field effect transistor (JLTFET) based on heterostructure of compound and group III–V semiconductors is introduced and simulated. In order to blend the high tunneling efficiency of narrow band gap material JLTFETs and the high electron mobility of III–V JLTFETs, a type I heterostructure junctionless TFET adopting Ge–Al _x Ga_1?x As–Ge system has been optimized by numerical simulation in terms of aluminum (Al) composition. To improve device performance, we considered a nanowire structure, and it was illustrated that high-performance logic technology can be achieved by the proposed device. The optimal Al composition founded to be around 20 % (x = 0.2). The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the proposed device has low leakage current I _OFF of ~1.9 × 10^?17, I _ON of 4 µA/µm, I _ON/I _OFF current ratio of 1.7 × 10¹¹ and subthreshold swing SS of 12.6 mV/decade at the 40 nm gate length and temperature of 300 K.     

Chaos control via TDFC in time-delayed systems: The harmonic balance approach

This Letter deals with the problem of designing time-delayed feedback controllers (TDFCs) to stabilize unstable equilibrium points and periodic orbits for a class of continuous time-delayed chaotic systems. Harmonic balance approach is used to select the appropriate controller parameters: delay time and feedback gain. The established theoretical results are illustrated via a case study of the well-known Logistic model.     

Review on applications of synchrotron-based X-ray techniques in materials characterization

Synchrotron radiation (SR), as a result of its high-intensity, brilliant, monochromatic, and collimated beams, is becoming one of the most crucial components of research in various fields of materials science such as nanomaterials, biomaterials, and energy materials. SR-based characterization methods can be employed to analyze different systems such as powders, thin films, and bulk forms having complex crystalline or amorphous structures. In this review, peculiarities of SR are briefly explained. Moreover, various techniques carried out utilizing this instrument for material characterization such as X-ray powder diffraction, grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction, small/wide-angle X-ray scattering, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, different techniques of X-ray imaging, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray microprobes/nanoprobes are presented. As a result, by shedding light on the advantages of SR and its superiority to the equivalent laboratory experiments, researchers are recommended to exploit the capabilities of this invaluable tool in their materials characterization.