XPS analysis of the chemical degradation of PTB7 polymers for organic photovoltaics

The chemical degradation of the Poly[[4,8-bis[(2-ethylhexyl)oxy]benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl][3-fluoro-2-[(2-ethylhexyl)carbonyl]thieno[3,4-b]thiophenediyl]] or ‘ PTB7’ has been studied using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). This material system appears to be intrinsically unstable especially when illuminated in air and XPS studies confirm the rapid photo-degradation is related to changes in chemical structure of the polymer. In particular, XPS spectra show an initial reduction in relative CC intensity, suggests loss of the alkoxy side chains. This is followed by a dramatic increase in the level of oxygen-bonded species, especially CO at ∼286.5 eV and C(=O)O at 289.2 eV, indicative of COOH and OH group formation, and oxidation of S. The XPS results support the view that using processing additives reduces the chemical stability of the polymer and provides insight into strategies to improve molecular design to ensure higher chemical stability.     

Fabrication of porous titanium dioxide fibers and their photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution

TiO₂ semiconductor is one of the important photocatalysts for solar light conversion. The challenge is how to improve their efficiency. Creation of porous structures on/in the fibers could favor them a higher surface area as compared to the conventional solid counterparts, which thus could make the achievement for the desired high efficiency. In present work, we report the fabrication of porous TiO₂ fibers with high purity via electrospinning of butyl titanate (TBOT) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) combined with the subsequent calcination in air. It is found that the TBOT content in the spinning solution plays a profound effect on the growth of the fibers, enabling the synthesis of porous TiO₂ fibers with tunable structures and high purity. The photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution of the as-fabricated TiO₂ nanostrcutres has been investigated, suggesting that porous TiO₂ nanomaterials with a high purity and well-defined one-dimensional fiber shape could be an excellent candidate to be utilized as the photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution.     

偏压对磁控溅射Cr-N薄膜组织及性能影响

采用磁控溅射离子镀制备Cr-N薄膜,研究基体偏压对Cr-N薄膜组织结构和性能的影响。分别用辉光放电光电子谱(GDOES)、场发射扫描电镜(FESEM)和X射线衍射(XRD)分析薄膜成分和组织结构,显微硬度计测量薄膜硬度。结果表明,薄膜为非化学计量比的Cr-N薄膜,N/Cr原子比均小于0.25,薄膜主要以Cr的衍射峰为主。在偏压达到60 V后薄膜显示了较高的硬度(25 GPa),其归因于离子轰击导致的薄膜的致密度的提高。偏压超过60 V后,致密度达到饱和,硬度增加不明显。     

Wear Properties of Plasma Nitrided H13 Steel at Room and Elevated Temperature

H13 steel was nitrided using a plasma surface alloying technique at the temperature of 570℃.The nitrided layers with different thicknesses and components were obtained by changing nitriding pressure.The microstructure and composition of the nitrided layers were evaluated by optical microscopy(OM)and X-ray diffraction(XRD).The wear properties of the nitrided layer against Al2O3 ball at room temperature using a ball-on-disc tribometer and against Si3N4 ball at elevated temperature using a HT-2001 abrasive wear test machine were investigated.The results show that the nitrided layers are composed of compound layer and diffusion layer at the pressure of 100 and 450 Pa.No obvious compound layer appears at pressure of 200 and 300 Pa.XRD analysis shows the nitrided layers are mainly composed ofε-Fe2-3N,γ’-Fe4N,α-Fe,Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 phases.The surface hardness of plasma nitrided H13 steel is about 1100HV0.050 doubled that of substrate.The room temperature friction coefficient of H13 steel is reduced and wear rate is decreased by nitriding at 200 and 300 Pa.Elevated temperature wear test indicates the nitrided H13 steel at the pressure of 100 Pa shows lower friction coefficient and wear rate which are reduced more than 6 times compared with that of H13 substrate.     

A new encoding technique for peptide classification

Research on peptide classification problems has focused mainly on the study of different encodings and the application of several classification algorithms to achieve improved prediction accuracies. The main drawback of the literature is the lack of an extensive comparison among the available encoding methods on a wide range of classification problems. This paper addresses the fundamental issue of which peptide encoding promises the best results for machine learning classifiers. Two novel encoding methods based on physicochemical properties of the amino acids are proposed and an extensive comparison with several standard encoding methods is performed on three different classification problems (HIV-protease, recognition of T-cell epitopes and prediction of peptides that bind human leukocyte antigens). The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the new encodings and show that the frequently used orthonormal encoding is inferior compared to other methods.     

Analysis of the nanoindentation load–displacement curves measured on high-purity fine-grained alumina

This paper conducted a preliminary examination on the effect of microstructural inhomogeneity on the reproducibility of the nanoindentation data. Nanoindentation tests were conducted on a high-purity, fine-grained alumina ceramic. It was found that the reproducibility of the nanoindentation data were somewhat poor. The nanoindentation data were then analyzed with the widely employed Oliver–Pharr method to yield the hardness, H, and the Young’s modulus, E. Large scatters were observed in the resultant H and E. These experimental findings revealed that microstructural inhomogeneity may play an important role in the material response to nanoindentation.     

Antibacterial Property of Cu Modified Stainless Steel by Plasma Surface Alloying

 Abstract： Stainless steel (SS) is not recommended to be used in hospital environments for work surfaces and door furniture due to the lack of antibacterial properties. To this end, a novel SS surface modified layer with both a quick bacterial killing rate and relatively thick has been obtained by plasma surface alloying with Cu. The microstructure, elements distribution and phase identification were analyzed by SEM, GDS, XRD and XPS. A spread plate method was adopted for evaluation of antibacterial property of specimens against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). The experimental results demonstrate that the surface modified layer with the thickness of about 26 μm is uniform and dense. The layer is mainly composed of a mixture of pure Cu, expanded austenite phase and a few Fe3O4 phase. The Cu modified layer exhibits excellent antibacterial effects against E. coli and S. aureus within 1 h. No viable E. coli and S. aureus was found after 3 h (100% killed). The modified layer is relatively thick, hence it is expected that the Cu modified SS will have a durable antibacterial function.     

Carbon nanotube-supported Pt-Alloyed metal anode catalysts for methanol and ethanol oxidation

To improve the electrocatalytic activity of alcohol oxidation, functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) decorated with various compositions of metal alloy catalyst nanoparticles (Pt_xM_y, where M = Au and Pd; x and y = 1–3) have been prepared via reduction. The CNTs were treated with an nitric acid solution to promote the oxygen-containing functional groups and further load the metal nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction (XRD) scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to probe the formation of catalyst microstructure morphologies. A uniform dispersion of the spherical metal particles with diameters of 2–6 nm was acquired. The catalytic properties of the catalyst for oxidation were thoroughly studied by electrochemical methods that involved in the cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), chronoamperometry (CA) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). To maximize the electrocatalytic performance and minimize the metal integration of the loaded CNTs, various compositions of active catalysts with large active surface areas are expected to increase the activity of the enhanced catalysts for alcohol oxidation. Most of the prepared bimetallic catalysts have better alcohol oxidation kinetics than commercial PtRu/C. Among the prepared catalysts, the PtAu/CNTs and PtPd/CNTs catalysts with high electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) show excellent activities for alcohol oxidation resulting in their low onset potentials, small charge transfer resistances and high peak current densities and I_f/I_b ratios, stability, and better tolerance to CO for alcohol oxidation. The integration of Pt and different metal species with different stoichiometric ratios in the CNTs support affects the electrochemical active surface area achieved in the catalytic oxidation reactions.     

石墨烯外延生长及其器件应用研究进展

石墨烯具有优异的物理和电学性能, 已成为物理和半导体电子研究领域的国际前沿和热点之一. 本文简单介绍了石墨烯的物理及电学特性, 详细评述了在众多制备方法中最有希望实现石墨烯大面积、高质量的外延生长技术, 系统论述了不同SiC和金属衬底外延生长石墨烯的研究进展, 并简要概述了石墨烯在场效应晶体管、发光二极管、超级电容器及锂离子电池等光电器件方面的最新研究进展. 外延生长法已经初步实现了从纳米、微米、厘米量级石墨烯的成功制备, 同时可实现其厚度从单层、双层到少数层的调控, 有望成为高质量、与传统电子工艺兼容、低成本、大面积的石墨烯宏量制备技术, 为其器件应用奠定基础.