Improving Properties of Poly(vinylidene fluoride) by Adding Expanded Graphite without Surface Modification via Water‐Assisted Mixing Extrusion

Expanded graphite (EG) is introduced into poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) by melt mixing extrusion with water injection. The results demonstrate that the unfunctionalized EG in composite prepared with water injection exbibits better dispersion than that in the one prepared without water injection due to the promoting role of water during extrusion. Thus, the PVDF/EG composite with loading of 4 wt% prepared by water‐assisted mixing extrusion (WAME) exhibits electrical conductivity of about three orders of magnitude higher than the neat PVDF and one order of magnitude higher than the one prepared without water injection. Comparing to the neat PVDF, the thermal conductivity of the composites prepared with and without water injection is increased by 101.5% and 75.0%, respectively. The introduced EG leads to increased Young’s modulus and tensile strength especially for the composite prepared by WAME. The present work indicates that WAME can promote the dispersion of EG in PVDF matrix without any extra functionalization.     

Iron Towers in Guangxiao Temple,Guangzhou City

正Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (963 A.D. and 967 A.D.)The western tower was damaged and is now incomplete. The eastern tower is 7.7 m high.There are two towers, called the eastern tower and the western tower, which were built in 963 A.D. and 967 A.D.,respectively, and are the earliest extant iron towers. There are 1,024 Buddha statues cast on each side of the tower body.The whole tower is made up of 17 castings, which are stacked layer by layer, and each casting is made to be a single     

Astragali Radix-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon: An efficient electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction

The development of biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbons (NPCs) for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is important for sustainable energy systems. Herein, NPCs derived from Astragali Radix (AR) via a cost-effective strategy are reported for the first time. The as-prepared AR-950-5 catalyst shows a stacked layer-like structure and porosity. Notably, the optimized AR-950-5 delivers catalytic activity comparable to that of commercial Pt/C (C-Pt/C), with high onset potential, positive half-wave potential and large limiting current density. It also displays superior long-term stability and methanol tolerance for ORR. This work will pave the way for a new approach in the development of highly active and low-cost NPCs for fuel cells.     

Tunable Spectrum Selectivity for Multiphoton Absorption with Enhanced Visible Light Trapping in ZnO Nanorods

Observation of visible light trapping in zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) correlated to the optical and photoelectrochemical properties is reported. In this study, ZnO NR diameter and c‐axis length respond primarily at two different regions, UV and visible light, respectively. ZnO NR diameter exhibits UV absorption where large ZnO NR diameter area increases light absorption ability leading to high efficient electron–hole pair separation. On the other hand, ZnO NR c‐axis length has a dominant effect in visible light resulting from a multiphoton absorption mechanism due to light reflection and trapping behavior in the free space between adjacent ZnO NRs. Furthermore, oxygen vacancies and defects in ZnO NRs are associated with the broad visible emission band of different energy levels also highlighting the possibility of the multiphoton absorption mechanism. It is demonstrated that the minimum average of ZnO NR c‐axis length must satisfy the linear regression model of Z _p,min = 6.31d to initiate the multiphoton absorption mechanism under visible light. This work indicates the broadening of absorption spectrum from UV to visible light region by incorporating a controllable diameter and c‐axis length on vertically aligned ZnO NRs, which is important in optimizing the design and functionality of electronic devices based on light absorption mechanism.     

Hot corrosion studies of a salt-coated Ni-based superalloy under flowing wet air and sulfur vapor ambient

Corrosion of a salt-coated Ni-superalloy has been studied at 900°C under a wet air and sulfur vapor ambient. The corrosion thickness, after an incubation of ~60 hr, linearly increases with the corrosion time t and the onset of surface spallation occurred at t ≈ 60 hr. The corroded layer consists of a corrosion front dominated by Cr₃S₄ scales and linear precipitate structures, an inner corrosion layer dominated by Ni₃S₂ and NiO, and an outer corrosion layer dominated by Al₂O₃ networks surrounding the Ni₃S₂ and/or NiO scale structures. The corrosion mechanism is discussed based on the coexistence of H₂O, sulfur, and oxygen.     

VO2·0.2H2O nanocuboids anchored onto graphene sheets as the cathode material for ultrahigh capacity aqueous zinc ion batteries

Aqueous Zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs), using zinc negative electrode and aqueous electrolyte, have attracted great attention in energy storage field due to the reliable safety and low-cost. A composite material comprised of VO₂·0.2H₂O nanocuboids anchored on graphene sheets (VOG) is synthesized through a facile and efficient microwave-assisted solvothermal strategy and is used as aqueous ZIBs cathode material. Owing to the synergistic effects between the high conductivity of graphene sheets and the desirable structural features of VO₂·0.2H₂O nanocuboids, the VOG electrode has excellent electronic and ionic transport ability, resulting in superior Zn ions storage performance. The Zn/VOG system delivers ultrahigh specific capacity of 423 mAh·g⁻¹ at 0.25 A·g⁻¹ and exhibits good cycling stability of up to 1,000 cycles at 8 A·g⁻¹ with 87% capacity retention. Systematical structural and elemental characterizations confirm that the interlayer space of VO₂·0.2H₂O nanocuboids can adapt to the reversible Zn ions insertion/extraction. The as-prepared VOG composite is a promising cathode material with remarkable electrochemical performance for low-cost and safe aqueous rechargeable ZIBs.

     

Inverse reinforcement learning-based time-dependent A* planner for human-aware robot navigation with local vision

In an environment where robots coexist with humans, mobile robots should be human-aware and comply with humans' behavioural norms so as to not disturb humans' personal space and activities. In this work, we propose an inverse reinforcement learning-based time-dependent A* planner for human-aware robot navigation with local vision. In this method, the planning process of time-dependent A* is regarded as a Markov decision process and the cost function of the time-dependent A* is learned using the inverse reinforcement learning via capturing humans' demonstration trajectories. With this method, a robot can plan a path that complies with humans' behaviour patterns and the robot's kinematics. When constructing feature vectors of the cost function, considering the local vision characteristics, we propose a visual coverage feature for enabling robots to learn from how humans move in a limited visual field. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been validated by experiments in real-world scenarios: using this approach robots can effectively mimic human motion patterns when avoiding pedestrians; furthermore, in a limited visual field, robots can learn to choose a path that enables them to have the larger visual coverage which shows a better navigation performance.     

非调质钢50MnSiV新能源汽车电机轴的开发

非调质钢50MnSiV(/%:0. 50C,0.52S,1.20Mn,0.010P,0.025S,0.15Cr,0.10V,0.015Ti,0.015N)制造的新能源汽车电机轴,省去传统调质钢20CrMnTiH渗碳热处理和矫正精整工序,不仅可提高材料95%利用率和2天交货周期,还可以降低25%成本。50MnSiV钢抗拉强度1100 MPa、屈服强度858 MPa、冲击功48J。其静扭扭矩(4697 Nm)、疲劳寿命(±1600 Nm双向扭转12万次、±1400 Nm双向扭转27万次)较渗碳20CrMnTiH钢提高了27%和93%～140%,并且其性能指标和8万公里的路试结果均满足电机轴的技术要求。     

Four phenolic acids from purple sweet potato and their effects on physicochemical,digestive and structural characteristics of starch

Liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) was employed to investigate free phenols that were released from purple sweet potato (PSP) by alkaline, acid and enzymatic hydrolysis. Four phenolic acids, including ferulic, isoferulic, 4-hydroxybenzoic and caffeic acids, were identified. Based on their effects on the characteristics of purple sweet potato starch (PSPS), the four phenolic acids were studied. Furthermore, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT–IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were employed to explore the microstructures of the complexes of the phenolic acids and PSPS. The obtained results demonstrated that the pasting, thermal, retrogradation, as well as digestive properties of PSPS were all influenced by the phenolic acids which interacted with PSPS through noncovalent hydrogen bonds. The influence of the four phenolic acids on the properties of PSPS was in the descending order: 4-hydroxybenzoic acid > ferulic acid > caffeic acid > isoferulic acid.