Investigation of fabrication of gas diffusion substrate for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

The gas diffusion substrate (GDS) is essential in the proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Its fabrication techniques affect the performance significantly and are worthy of investigation. In this study, a manufacturing process of the GDS is proposed to understand the formation process of GDS and promote its structure and performance more pertinently. Different states during the preparation process, raw carbon paper, pre-curing, curing, carbonation, and graphitization, are characterized and measured. Experimental and numerical methods are employed to determine the relationships between microstructure, transport, and mechanical performance variation with the fabricating processes. The results show that its porosity, average pore size, and effective diffusivity decrease first and increase after curing. These parameters after graphitization are lower than that of the carbon paper (CP). The electrical resistivity increases dramatically while pre-curing and decreases gradually after curing, carbonation, and graphitization, and it is much reduced after graphitization. Moreover, mechanical measurement results show that both the picks of tensile strength and flexural modulus occur after curing. Its tensile strength shows little change after graphitization compared to the initial paper's. In contrast, the flexural modulus is improved significantly.     

One-step to prepare high-performance gas diffusion layer (GDL) with three different functional layers for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs)

Gas diffusion layer (GDL) is one of the most important components of fuel cells. In order to improve the fuel cell performance, GDL has developed from single layer to dual layers, and then to multiple layers. However, dual or multi layers in GDL are usually prepared by layer-by-layer methods, which cost too much time, energy, and resources. In this work, we successfully developed a facile one-step method to prepare a GDL with three functional layers by utilizing the different sedimentation rates and filtration rates of short carbon fiber (CF) and carbon nanotube (CNT). The treatment temperature for this GDL is much lower than that of traditional method. The thickness of the GDL can be effectively controlled from as thin as 50 μm to more than 200 μm by simply adjusting the content of CF. The GDL with high flexibility is suitable to develop high performance flexible electronics. The fuel cell with the GDL has the maximum power density 1021 mW cm^?2, which shows 19% improvement comparing to the conventional one. Therefore, this work breaks the traditional concept that GDL for fuel cells only can be prepared by very complex and high-cost procedure.     

Paper mill sludge as a renewable substrate for the production of acetone-butanol-ethanol using Clostridium sporogenes NCIM 2337

In the present study, pre-treated paper mill sludge (PMS) was evaluated extensively as a substrate for production of acetone-butanol-ethanol using Clostridium sporogenes NCIM 2337. The PMS was subjected to three types of pre-treatment methods namely alkali, mechanical, and thermal treatment and was analyzed by SEM. The pre-treatment of PMS by alkali was observed to be more effective over the other pre-treatment methods. The alkali pre-treated sludge was then made to undergo fermentation, which showed the conventional process of acidogenesis followed by solventogenesis. The acetone, butanol, and ethanol concentration for 15% alkali pre-treated PMS was estimated to be maximum.     

Preceramic paper-derived Ti3Al(Si)C2-based composites obtained by spark plasma sintering

The paper describes the structure and properties of preceramic paper-derived Ti₃Al(Si)C₂-based composites fabricated by spark plasma sintering. The effect of sintering temperature and pressure on microstructure and mechanical properties of the composites was studied. The microstructure and phase composition were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. It was found that at 1150 °C the sintering of materials with the MAX-phase content above 84 vol% leads to nearly dense composites. The partial decomposition of the Ti₃Al(Si)C₂ phase becomes stronger with the temperature increase from 1150 to 1350 °C. In this case, composite materials with more than 20 vol% of TiC were obtained. The paper-derived Ti₃Al(Si)C₂-based composites with the flexural strength > 900 MPa and fracture toughness of >5 MPa m^1/2 were sintered at 1150 °C. The high values of flexural strength were attributed to fine microstructure and strengthening effect by secondary TiC and Al₂O₃ phases. The flexural strength and fracture toughness decrease with increase of the sintering temperature that is caused by phase composition and porosity of the composites. The hardness of composites increases from ~9.7 GPa (at 1150 °C) to ~11.2 GPa (at 1350 °C) due to higher content of TiC and Al₂O₃ phases.     

Moulded pulp products manufacturing with thermoforming

For an effective optimization of pulp thermoforming and of the moulded pulp products manufactured by this process, a full understanding of the process physics combined with full knowledge of the pressing equipment is necessary. For this reason, in this Addendum, we clarify how the process parameters “Holding time,” “Vacuum time,” “Cycle time,” and “Temperature” were interpreted and subsequently defined for the analysis of the process and product‐related outputs of the thermoforming experiments.     

Controllable electrodeposition synthesis of Pd/TMxOy-rGO/CFP composite electrode for highly efficient methanol electro-oxidation

A novel and high-efficiency Pd/TM_xO_y-rGO/CFP (TM_xO_y = Co₃O₄, Mn₃O₄, Ni(OH)₂) electrocatalyst for directly integrated membrane electrode was synthesized by controllable cyclic voltammetry electrodeposition combined with hydrothermal process. The results showed excellent performance towards methanol oxidation reduction. The Pd/Co₃O₄-rGO/CFP as-prepared catalyst has the best electrocatalytic activity, and mass activity is 5181 mA·mg⁻¹_Pd, which is about 40 times and 4.3 times that of the commercial Pd/C and Pt/C catalyst (JM). It can be attributed that the small size of Pd nanoparticle, uniformity of distribution, and the synergistic interaction between transition metal oxide on the support surface and Pd nanoparticles. The prepared Pd/TM_xO_y-rGO/CFP composite electrode is a promising catalyst for integrated membrane electrode assembly of proton exchange membrane fuel cells in the future.     

七层熔融共挤出石头纸在昆钢的工业化实践

通过制备印刷层、遮盖层、发泡层、增强层母料,再将上述各挤入层的熔融胶状物通过同一模头挤出发泡,经常规三辊压光、冷却、牵引、收卷,即得到七层熔融共挤出石头纸。采用该方法制备的石头纸,挺度好、印刷适应性好,比重低,不透明度高、平滑度好、厚度均匀,各项性能指标符合GB/T22806-2008"白卡纸"的性能指标要求,可用于印制美术印刷品、卡片、名片、包装纸盒等。该制备方法在云南昆钢石头纸环保材料有限得到工业化实践。     

Impacts of spectral variations in multiwavelength excitation method on measurements of fluorescently whitened papers

The multiwavelength excitation (MWE) method for measuring the colorimetric properties of fluorescent whitening agent (FWA)‐treated specimens illuminated by a standard daylight illuminant computationally approximates not the spectral power distribution (SPD) of the illuminant but the luminescent SPD excited thereby by a weighted sum of the luminescent SPDs excited by a few different narrow‐band illuminations. The weights are optimized for the actual SPDs of those illuminations and the bispectral luminescent radiance factors of typical FWA‐treated paper specimens. Since the latter is invariant among instruments once provided as the common numerical data, the variations of the narrow‐band SPDs give major impacts to the reproducibility of this method. The weights optimized for the varied SPDs, however, mitigate the impacts. For investigating how they impact, one basic illumination system and its 16 simple variation systems were built virtually. The basic system consists of three narrow‐band LEDs and one blue‐excited white LED, whereas the individual simple variation system has either the peak wavelength or spectral width of one of the four LEDs (including the blue LED in the white LED) varied. With those systems, seven FWA‐treated papers with the known bispectral radiance factors were measured computationally by simulating the procedure of the MWE method. The differences in the colorimetric values measured with the simple variation systems from those with the basic system are far below the just noticeable difference, which indicates that the MWE method can be a practical solution for better reproducibility in measuring FWA‐treated papers.     

纸基底印刷无芯片RFID湿度传感器* .txt

摘要：提出了一种基于纸基底的喷墨印刷无芯片RFID湿度传感器，通过遗传算法与射频仿真软件HFSS相结合，对常规开口环谐振器结构进行分布式加载，得到目标频率为245 GHz的谐振特性良好的传感器模型；采用DMP3000型材料打印机，在不同纸基底上喷墨印刷银墨水制作传感器，以纸张本身的吸水性实现湿度传感；研究不同纸基底对湿度传感器感湿灵敏度和恢复度的影响。结果表明，柯达相纸传感器的灵敏度最高，高湿灵敏度可达到8 MHz%RH，双铜纸湿度传感器恢复度高且恢复时间短，仅为2 min；两种基底湿度传感器皆有较好的一致性、中长期稳定性，且湿敏特性在20℃～30℃范围内受温度影响较小。对纸基湿度传感器的感湿机理进行了分析，纸主要成分纤维素表面的羟基与吸附的水分子作用形成氢键，改变了基底的介电参数，传感器的湿敏特性与纸的成分和结构有关。 .txt     

辊式涂布法构建纸基牢固超疏水表面

采用辊式涂布的方法在纸基材料上构建超疏水表面，并对超疏水表面的牢固性、自清洁性和疏水性能进行评价。用γ-氨丙基三乙氧基硅烷和1H,1H,2H,2H-全氟辛基三乙氧基硅烷（POTS）对微米级和纳米级两种尺寸的TiO₂粒子进行疏水改性处理，然后将改性后的微/纳米TiO₂涂布在纸基材料表面。采用红外光谱（FTIR）对改性后的微/纳米TiO₂的化学组成进行了分析，采用扫描电镜（SEM）对涂布纸表面结构进行了表征，通过接触角、耐磨性和自洁净测试评价了涂层表面的超疏水性、牢固性和自清洁性。改性TiO₂的FTIR分析显示在1000～1500cm^-1之间出现多个C—F键的伸缩振动峰，表明POTS通过化学键与TiO₂表面发生了结合。涂布纸表面的SEM分析可以看出，纸基材料表面上均匀分布了微米和纳米尺寸的TiO₂颗粒，具备了类似荷叶表面微-纳结构的粗糙表面。涂层表面的水接触角为153°±1.5°，滚动角为3.5°±0.5°，水滴在涂层表面呈球形，极易滑落，涂层在水中浸泡7天后，接触角没有发生明显变化，表明纸张表面具备了优异的超疏水性能，且疏水稳定性较好。涂层表面经过10次循环磨损试验后，接触角仍能达到150°，滚动角为9°，表明机械摩擦没有对涂布纸表面的化学成分和粗糙结构造成明显的破坏，超疏水表面的牢固性较好。自洁净测试表明，涂布纸表面具有良好的自清洁和防污性能。该工艺过程操作简单，易于实现工业化生产，为在纸基表面构建综合性能优异的超疏水表面提供了一种新的便利途径。