Template-directed synthesis of nitrogen- and sulfur-codoped carbon nanowire aerogels with enhanced electrocatalytic performance for oxygen reduction

Heteroatom doping,precise composition control,and rational morphology design are efficient strategies for producing novel nanocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells.Herein,a cost-effective approach to synthesize nitrogen-and sulfur-codoped carbon nanowire aerogels using a hard templating method is proposed.The aerogels prepared using a combination of hydrothermal treatment and carbonization exhibit good catalytic activity for the ORR in alkaline solution.At the optimal annealing temperature and mass ratio between the nitrogen and sulfur precursors,the resultant aerogels show comparable electrocatalytic activity to that of a commercial Pt/C catalyst for the ORR.Importantly,the optimized catalyst shows much better long-term stability and satisfactory tolerance for the methanol crossover effect.These codoped aerogels are expected to have potential applications in fuel cells.     

Numerical simulation of prestrain history effect on ductile crack growth in mismatched welded joints

Pipe reeling may lead to plastic pre‐deformation (prestrain) around existing cracks in components; therefore, investigating whether this process accelerates or counteracts ductile crack growth, especially for strength mismatched welded joints, is warranted. This study focused on the effect of prestrain history on ductile crack growth in mismatched welded joints. A single‐edge‐notched tension specimen was selected for numerical study, and the crack was assumed to have existed before a prestrain history was applied. Crack growth resistance curves for plane strain and mode I crack growth under large‐scale yielding conditions have been computed using the complete Gurson model. Meanwhile, symmetrical and non‐symmetrical prestrain cycle modes with different loading levels were applied to the overmatched specimens. The outcome demonstrated that the mismatch ratio (the ratio between the yield stress of the weld metal and base metal) showed a significant effect on fracture resistance regardless of the stage at which the prestrain cycle loading was located. By contrast, the processing of the crack growth was weakened by the increase of prestrain values, and the symmetrical prestrain cycle resulted in greater plastic damage than the non‐symmetrical prestrain cycle did. However, the initial crack length had a non‐significant effect on the ductile fracture considering the prestrain and mismatch effects.     

Low-Dimensional Halide Perovskites and Their Advanced Optoelectronic Applications

Nano-Micro Letters - A NiFe2O4/expanded graphite (NiFe2O4/EG) nanocomposite was prepared via a simple and inexpensive synthesis method. Its lithium storage properties were studied with the goal of...     

An n‐material thresholding method for improving integerness of solutions in topology optimization

It is common in solving topology optimization problems to replace an integer‐valued characteristic function design field with the material volume fraction field, a real‐valued approximation of the design field that permits ‘fictitious’ mixtures of materials during intermediate iterations in the optimization process. This is reasonable so long as one can interpolate properties for such materials and so long as the final design is integer valued. For this purpose, we present a method for smoothly thresholding the volume fractions of an arbitrary number of material phases which specify the design. This method is trivial for two‐material design problems, for example, the canonical topology design problem of specifying the presence or absence of a single material within a domain, but it becomes more complex when three or more materials are used, as often occurs in material design problems. We take advantage of the similarity in properties between the volume fractions and the barycentric coordinates on a simplex to derive a thresholding, method which is applicable to an arbitrary number of materials. As we show in a sensitivity analysis, this method has smooth derivatives, allowing it to be used in gradient‐based optimization algorithms. We present results, which show synergistic effects when used with Solid Isotropic Material with Penalty and Rational Approximation of Material Properties material interpolation functions, popular methods of ensuring integerness of solutions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

适合小管径空调器的分配器分流性能评价与结构优化

为了开发具有最佳流量分配性能的小管径空调分配器,本文采用数值仿真和空气-水实验相结合的方法评价了常用分配器的分流性能,提出分配器的结构优化方法,并利用空调整机实验验证了该结构优化方法的改进效果。对于三种比较适合于小管径空调器的分配器进行的实验和计算表明,插孔式分配器的分流性能最佳,在额定制冷和额定制热工况下流量分配不均匀度均小于6%;实验结果与仿真计算得出的分配器流量分配不均匀度结果吻合,计算结果与实验的偏差都在15%以内。利用验证过的仿真模型,对插孔式分配器进行结构优化,优化后的分配器应用于空调整机后,系统能效提高了2.2%~2.7%。