Nonlinearity in regulating the metal to insulator transition of ReNiO3 towards low temperature range

Among the existing material family of the correlated oxides, the rare earth nickelates (ReNiO₃) exhibit broadly adjustable metal to insulator transition (MIT) properties that enables correlated electronic applications, such as thermistors, thermochromics, and logical devices. Nevertheless, how to accurately control the critical temperature (T_MIT) of ReNiO₃ via the co-occupation of the rare-earth elements is yet worthy to be further explored. Herein, we demonstrate the non-linearity in adjusting the T_MIT of ReNiO₃ towards lower temperatures via introducing Pr co-occupation within ReNiO₃ (e.g., Pr_xNd_1-xNiO₃ and Pr_xSm_1-xNiO₃) as synthesized by KCl molten-salt assisted high oxygen pressure reaction approach. Although the T_MIT is effectively reduced via Pr substitution, it does not strictly follow a linear relationship, in particular, when there is large difference in the ionic radius of the co-occupation rare-earth elements. Furthermore, the most significant deviation in T_MIT from the expected linear relationship appears at an equal co-occupation ratio of the two different rare-earth elements, while the abruption in the variation of resistivity across T_MIT is also reduced. The present work highlights the importance to use adjacent rare-earth elements with co-occupation ratio away from 1:1 for achieving more linear adjustment in designing the metal to insulator transition properties for ReNiO₃.     

Environmentally Friendly Graphene Inks for Touch Screen Sensors

Graphene-based materials have attracted significant attention in many technological fields, but scaling up graphene-based technologies still faces substantial challenges. High-throughput top-down methods generally require hazardous, toxic, and high-boiling-point solvents. Here, an efficient and inexpensive strategy is proposed to produce graphene dispersions by liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) through a combination of shear-mixing (SM) and tip sonication (TS) techniques, yielding highly concentrated graphene inks compatible with spray coating. The quality of graphene flakes (e.g., lateral size and thickness) and their concentration in the dispersions are compared using different spectroscopic and microscopy techniques. Several approaches (individual SM and TS, and their combination) are tested in three solvents (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, dimethylformamide, and cyrene). Interestingly, the combination of SM and TS in cyrene yields high-quality graphene dispersions, overcoming the environmental issues linked to the other two solvents. Starting from the cyrene dispersion, a graphene-based ink is prepared to spray-coat flexible electrodes and assemble a touch screen prototype. The electrodes feature a low sheet resistance (290 Ω □⁻¹) and high optical transmittance (78%), which provide the prototype with a high signal-to-noise ratio (14 dB) and multi-touch functionality (up to four simultaneous touches). These results illustrate a potential pathway toward the integration of LPE-graphene in commercial flexible electronics.     

蒸压建材生产过程中钢渣安定性处理与活性化利用

钢渣安定性处理过程常常造成胶凝活性的损失。为此，本文利用改性助剂消除钢渣水化过程中产生的氢氧化物并生成胶凝产物，在蒸压建材的生产过程中实现钢渣安定性处理和游离氧化物的活性化利用，并避免单独处置钢渣造成的活性物质损失。研究表明，8%秸秆灰和3%磷酸二氢铵作为复合助剂制备的尾矿-钢渣蒸压试块体积稳定，抗压强度达24.0MPa。通过对蒸压样品游离氧化物消解率、化学结合水量及热重、XRD分析，得出钢渣安定性处理与活性化利用机制：硅质材料与钢渣中f-CaO水化生成的Ca(OH)₂结合迅速生成对体系力学强度有益的水化硅酸钙，避免因大量Ca(OH)₂积累造成体积膨胀；磷酸盐中的NH₄⁺、H₂PO₄^-与f-MgO结合生成磷酸铵镁及其他低溶度积复盐类矿物，进而消除因f-MgO水化生成Mg(OH)₂造成体积膨胀的隐患。试样在180℃蒸压4h后，f-CaO及f-MgO消解率分别可达86.28%、89.73%。本文将为利用钢渣大比例取代水泥和石灰生产蒸压建筑材料提供理论基础，对于提高钢渣利用率、减少碳排放具有重要价值。     

甲烷/丙烷在氧化铁表面还原NO的红外原位研究*

利用漫反射红外傅里叶变换光谱仪(DRIFTS)对甲烷/丙烷在氧化铁表面还原NO的反应进行了原位研究,分析了不同气体在氧化铁表面的吸附特点以及在有O_2条件下甲烷/丙烷还原NO的中间产物生成特性。结果表明,氧化铁对NO有着较好的吸附能力,NO能够以不同桥式硝酸盐与硝基的形式吸附于氧化铁表面。这些吸附物种热稳定性各不相同,并且可能会被氧化铁中的晶格氧氧化产生新的吸附物种,对进一步与还原剂发生选择性催化反应有着重要的作用。甲烷与丙烷在氧化铁表面还原NO的微观反应机理通过一系列路径完成。还原剂吸附于氧化铁表面,与由NO吸附形成的含氮吸附物种相互反应,形成一系列碳氢中间产物,通过进一步反应还原NO;在氧气存在的情况下,O_2会参与碳氢还原剂与含氮吸附物种的竞争反应,并形成R—COO-、CH3COO-等更多活性中间物种,这些活性中间物种通过与NO不断的反应最终还原NO为N2。     

Core/shell Fe3O4@Fe encapsulated in N-doped three-dimensional carbon architecture as anode material for lithium-ion batteries

Core-shell Fe₃O₄@Fe nanoparticles embedded into porous N-doped carbon nanosheets was prepared by a facile method with NaCl as hard-template. The three-dimensional carbon architecture built by carbon nanosheets enhance the conductivity of the encapsulated Fe₃O₄@Fe nanoparticles and strengthen the structure stability suffering from volume expansion during extraction and insertion of lithium ions. Rich Pores enhance the surface between electrode and electrolyte, which short the transmission path of ions and electrons. The core-shell structure with Fe as core further improves charge transferring inside particles thus lead to high capacity. The as-prepared Fe₃O₄@Fe/NC composite displays an irreversible discharge capacity of 839 mAh g^?1 at 1 A g^?1, long cycling life (722.2 mAh g^?1 after 500th cycle at 2 A g^?1) and excellent rate performance (1164.2 and 649.2 mAh g^?1 at 1 and 20 A g^?1, respectively). The outstanding electrochemical performance of the Fe₃O₄@Fe/NC composite indicates its application potential as anode material for LIBs.     

Casting methods for the production of rotationally symmetric copper bimetals

ABSTRACT

Multiple-material products are characterised by a complex property profile which is achieved by combining the particular advantages of at least two different materials. Bimetal casting is an energy- and material-efficient technology for the production of multi-metallic objects. This paper describes the development of a semi-continuous casting process for the formation of a rotationally symmetric bimetal with a cohesive bonding character at the interface of a copper–tin alloy (CuSn6) and pure copper (Cu99.5). Initial experiments are conducted by static casting to evaluate the thermal process window. Based on the results of the initial experiments, a vertical semi-continuous compound casting process is developed. A stable cohesive bond between the joining partners is accomplished by forming a solid solution at the interface.

This paper is part of a Thematic Issue on Copper and its Alloys.     

高熵氧化物的制备及应用研究进展

高熵氧化物作为近几年发展起来的新型氧化物体系，打破了传统掺杂氧化物的设计理念，由五种及以上氧化物以等摩尔或近等摩尔构成，因其具有简单的结构和优异的性能等受到国内外研究人员的广泛关注。高熵氧化物由于多主元且主元之间混乱排列，易形成岩盐型、氟化钙型、尖晶石型或钙钛矿等固溶体结构，从而表现出优异的性能，尤其在能源存储材料和磁性材料方面有十分广阔的应用前景，但目前对高熵氧化物应用研究较少。本工作介绍了国内外高熵氧化物的制备方法，主要包括固相法、热解法、共沉淀法、水热合成法和液相燃烧合成法等，比较了各方法的优缺点和发展前景；归纳了高熵氧化物作为锂离子电极材料、巨介电材料、磁性材料和催化材料等方面的应用；指出了高熵氧化物目前研究存在的问题，讨论了解决措施，展望了高熵氧化物未来的发展趋势。     

双金属复合管缺陷弱磁检测影响因素仿真分析

应用ANSYS有限元软件对双金属复合管弱磁检测技术进行仿真,通过改变管道腐蚀面积、腐蚀深度、管道裂纹形状以及设置管道多缺陷组合,得到磁感应强度变化规律,分析不同缺陷对弱磁检测技术的影响。结果表明:磁感应强度变化规律不仅与裂纹形状的改变有一定的关系,且与管道腐蚀深度的改变有较大的关系,而腐蚀面积的改变以及多缺陷组合两种情况对磁感应强度变化规律影响较小。     

Pure CuBi2O4 Photoelectrodes with Increased Stability by Rapid Thermal Processing of Bi2O3/CuO Grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition

A new method for enhancing the charge separation and photo‐electrochemical stability of CuBi₂O₄ photoelectrodes by sequentially depositing Bi₂O₃ and CuO layers on fluorine‐doped tin oxide substrates with pulsed laser deposition (PLD), followed by rapid thermal processing (RTP), resulting in phase‐pure, highly crystalline films after 10 min at 650 °C, is reported. Conventional furnace annealing of similar films for 72 h at 500 °C do not result in phase‐pure CuBi₂O₄. The combined PLD and RTP approach allow excellent control of the Bi:Cu stoichiometry and results in photoelectrodes with superior electronic properties compared to photoelectrodes fabricated through spray pyrolysis. The low photocurrents of the CuBi₂O₄ photocathodes fabricated through PLD/RTP in this study are primarily attributed to their low specific surface area, lack of CuO impurities, and limited, slow charge transport in the undoped films. Bare (without protection layers) CuBi₂O₄ photoelectrodes made with PLD/RTP shows a photocurrent decrease of only 26% after 5 h, which represents the highest stability reported to date for this material. The PLD/RTP fabrication approach offers new possibilities of fabricating complex metal oxides photoelectrodes with a high degree of crystallinity and good electronic properties at higher temperatures than the thermal stability of glass‐based transparent conductive substrates would allow.