Effect of phosphogypsum on saline-alkalinity and aggregate stability of bauxite residue

A column experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of phosphogypsum (PG) on the saline- alkalinity, and aggregate stability of bauxite residue. Results showed that: with increasing leaching time, the concentrations of saline-alkali ions decreased while the concentration increased in bauxite residue leachate; compared with CK (control group) treatment, pH, electric conductivity (EC), exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), sodium absorption ratio (SAR), and exchangeable Na⁺ content of bauxite residue were reduced following PG treatment; average particle sizes in aggregates following CK and PG treatments were determined to be 155 and 193 nm, respectively. SR-μCT test results also confirmed that bauxite residue following PG treatment acquired larger aggregates and larger pore diameter. These results indicate that the PG treatment could significantly modulate the saline-alkalinity, and simultaneously enhance aggregate stability of bauxite residue, which provides a facile approach to reclaim bauxite residue disposal areas.     

Superhydrophobic aluminum alloy surface with excellent universality,corrosion resistance,and antifouling performance prepared without prepolishing

It is urgently necessary to seek more simple and effective methods to construct superhydrophobic metal surfaces to improve the corrosion resistance and antifouling performance. Herein, a facile method for fabricating superhydrophobic aluminum alloy surface is developed via boiling water treatment and stearic acid modification. It is noteworthy that no prepolishing on aluminum alloy is required and no caustic reagents and typical equipments are used during the preparation procedure. Therefore, the fabrication method is quite a simple and environment-friendly technique. Both micro- and nano-scaled binary structure forms at the resultant aluminum alloy surface while long alkyl chains are grafted onto the rough aluminum alloy surface chemically. Consequently, the resultant aluminum alloy exhibits outstanding superhydrophobicity. More importantly, the superhydrophobicity has excellent universality, diversity, stability, excellent corrosion resistance, and antifouling performance. The facile preparation, excellent superhydrophobic durability, and outstanding performance are quite in favor of the practical application.     

Customization of ZrO2 loose/tight bilayer ultrafiltration membranes by reverse micelles-mediated aqueous sol-gel process for wastewater treatment

Two types of spherical zirconyl oxalate aqueous sols were successfully customized by a reverse micelles-mediated aqueous sol-gel process, and the sols were sequentially spin-coated on porous supports to prepare ZrO₂ loose/tight bilayer ultrafiltration membranes. After three times of spin-coating process, a defect-free ZrO₂ loose ultrafiltration membrane with pure water permeability of 110.5 ± 2.25 L m^?2 h^-1 bar^-1, molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of 16.5 kDa and excellent rejection of up to 97.5 % for bovine serum albumin was fabricated. Then, the loose ultrafiltration membrane was used as a substrate to prepare ZrO₂ tight ultrafiltration membrane. Performances of tight ultrafiltration membrane regarding to permeability, retention of polyethylene glycol and treatment of dyes wastewater were evaluated. The tight ultrafiltration membrane with a thickness of 200 nm exhibited a pure water permeability of 22.5 ± 0.3 L m^-2 h^-1 bar^-1 and MWCO of 1150 Da. Additionally, the rejections of methyl red and methyl orange by the tight ultrafiltration membrane were both <65 %, while of alizarin red, direct red, bromocresol green and methyl blue achieved maximum values of 98.5 %, 99.2 %, 99.5 % and 99.6 %, respectively. The fouled membranes could restore the virgin performance for reuse by cleaning and low-temperature calcination.     

Agronomic performance of high oleic,low linolenic soybean in Tennessee

Soybean oil hydrogenation alters the linolenic acid molecule to prevent the oil from becoming rancid, however, health reports have indicated trans-fat caused by hydrogenation, is not generally regarded as safe. Typical soybeans contain approximately 80 g kg⁻¹ to 120 g kg⁻¹ linolenic acid and 240 g kg⁻¹ of oleic acid. In an effort to accommodate the need for high-quality oil, the United Soybean Board introduced an industry standard for a high oleic acid greater than 750 g kg⁻¹ and linolenic acid less than 30 g kg⁻¹ oil. By combing mutations in the soybean plant at four loci, FAD2-1A and FAD2-1B, oleate desaturase genes and FAD3A and FAD3C, linoleate desaturase genes, and seed oil will not require hydrogenation to prevent oxidation and produce high-quality oil. In 2017 and 2018, a study comparing four near-isogenic lines across multiple Tennessee locations was performed to identify agronomic traits associated with mutations in FAD3A and FAD3C loci, while holding FAD2-1A and FAD2-1B constant in the mutant (high oleic) state. Soybean lines were assessed for yield and oil quality based on mutations at FAD2-1 and FAD3 loci. Variations of wild-type and mutant genotypes were compared at FAD3A and FAD3C loci. Analysis using a generalized linear mixed model in SAS 9.4, indicated no yield drag or other negative agronomic traits associated with the high oleic and low linolenic acid genotype. All four mutations of fad2-1A, fad2-1B, fad3A, and fad3C were determined as necessary to produce a soybean with the new industry standard (>750 g kg⁻¹ oleic and <30 g kg⁻¹ linolenic acid) in a maturity group-IV-Late cultivar for Tennessee growers.     

Characteristics of Preferential Flow Paths in Reservoirs After Polymer Flooding and an Adaptive Compound Flooding Method

Chemistry and Technology of Fuels and Oils - When a reservoir is subjected to long-term water and polymer flooding, the formed preferential flow paths are widely distributed in the formation, and...     

Microstructure and electric properties of Pr-doped Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 ceramics

Improving the piezoelectric activity of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics is of great importance for practical applications. In this study, the influence of Pr³⁺ doping on the ferroelectric phase composition, microstructure, and electric properties on the A-site of (Pb_1-1.5xPr_x)(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)O₃ is extensively investigated. A dense and fine microstructural sample is obtained with the introduction of Pr³⁺. The results show that the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) moves to the rhombohedral phase region. The rhombohedral and tetragonal phases exhibit an ideal coexistence in the 4 mol.% Pr³⁺ doped (PPZT4) samples. Lead vacancy and the reduction of the potential energy barrier are considered to be the key mechanisms for donor doping, which is upheld by the Pr³⁺ doping. Combining the I-E hysteresis loops with the P-E hysteresis loops, it becomes apparent that both contribution maximums of the domain switching and residual polarisation are in PPZT4. Moreover, the thermal aging resistance of PZT is improved by doping, and the temperature stability is optimised from 83% in PZT to 96% in PPZT4. Hence, an appropriate amount of Pr³⁺ doping can effectively improve the piezoelectric activity of PZT ceramics in the MPB area and optimise the performance stability of the material under application temperatures.     

Freeze-drying and mechanical redispersion of aqueous PEDOT:PSS

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) films are attracting famous applications in antistatic coating, energy storage and conversion, printed electronics, and biomedical fields due to their conductivity, optical transparency and flexibility. However, PEDOT:PSS has poor dispersion stability during long-term storage and transport. Moreover, the dried PEDOT:PSS films are insoluble in any solvent and cannot be redispersed again. In comparison to bake drying, here, a feasible strategy to achieve mechanically redispersed PEDOT:PSS with the help of freeze-drying process was reported. The redispersed PEDOT:PSS can recover not only the initial characters such as pH, chemical composition, viscosity, and particle size under similar solid contents, but also conductivity and surface morphology of treated films. In addition, the treated film exhibits self-healing properties similar to pristine film in terms of mechanical and electrical properties. This technology enables reuse and overcomes the technical problems of PEDOT:PSS dispersion, realizing real-time processing to meet variable applications.     

Synthesis of magnetically recyclable porous CoFe2O4/Rh composites with large BET surface area for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant

The organic pollutants in water have been a great environment challenges to human beings, and photocatalytic degradation is an effective method to solve this problem. In this paper, the Rh-loaded cobalt ferrite CoFe₂O₄ (CFO) nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by in situ photodeposition of Rh nanoparticles onto the porous CFO particles as the photocatalysts. After incorporating Rh nanoparticles, the CFO/Rh composite has a higher specific surface area and is more efficient in charge separation than the bare CFO. The photocatalytic efficiency of decomposing Malachite Green (MG) is improved from 70% over the bare CFO to 97% over the optimized CFO/Rh in 60 min. The CFO/Rh sample also demonstrates its durability for the degradation of MG in 5 photocatalytic reaction cycles. Additionally, hydroxyl radicals (?OH) and superoxide radicals (?O₂^?) are proved to be the crucial reactive species during the photocatalytic degradation of MG with CFO/Rh, evidenced by the active species capture experiments. This work provides a useful approach to enhance the photocatalytic activity of semiconductors for degrading organic dyes.     

氮含量及固溶温度对21-6-9奥氏体不锈钢组织和硬度的影响

为了探讨氮含量及固溶温度对21-6-9不锈钢组织和硬度的影响,分别在950、1000、1050和1100 ℃对3种不同氮含量的热轧态21-6-9不锈钢进行1 h固溶处理,通过光学显微镜观察其组织结构,结合Thermo-Calc热力学计算对试验钢的微观组织进行分析,并对其进行硬度测试。结果表明,0.20%~0.28%N的21-6-9不锈钢热轧后沿轧制方向析出铁素体,且钢中铁素体经950~1100 ℃固溶处理可消除,当N含量达到0.34%时,试验钢中不再出现铁素体。随着固溶处理温度的升高,21-6-9不锈钢的晶粒组织长大,硬度降低。N含量的增加可显著提高固溶态21-6-9不锈钢的硬度,其增加程度随固溶处理温度的升高而减弱。     

Nacre-Inspired,Liquid Metal-Based Ultrasensitive Electronic Skin by Spatially Regulated Cracking Strategy

The realization of liquid metal-based wearable systems will be a milestone toward high-performance, integrated electronic skin. However, despite the revolutionary progress achieved in many other components of electronic skin, liquid metal-based flexible sensors still suffer from poor sensitivity due to the insufficient resistance change of liquid metal to deformation. Herein, a nacre-inspired architecture composed of a biphasic pattern (liquid metal with Cr/Cu underlayer) as “bricks” and strain-sensitive Ag film as “mortar” is developed, which breaks the long-standing sensitivity bottleneck of liquid metal-based electronic skin. With 2 orders of magnitude of sensitivity amplification while maintaining wide (>85%) working range, for the first time, liquid metal-based strain sensors rival the state-of-art counterparts. This liquid metal composite features spatially regulated cracking behavior. On the one hand, hard Cr cells locally modulate the strain distribution, which avoids premature cut-through cracks and prolongs the defect propagation in the adjacent Ag film. On the other hand, the separated liquid metal cells prevent unfavorable continuous liquid-metal paths and create crack-free regions during strain. Demonstrated in diverse scenarios, the proposed design concept may spark more applications of ultrasensitive liquid metal-based electronic skins, and reveals a pathway for sensor development via crack engineering.