Adsorption of EDTA on activated carbon from aqueous solutions

In this study, the adsorption of EDTA on activated carbon from aqueous solutions has been investigated in a batch stirred cell. Experiments have been carried out to investigate the effects of temperature, EDTA concentration, pH, activated carbon mass and particle size on EDTA adsorption. The experimental results manifest that the EDTA adsorption rate increases with its concentration in the aqueous solutions. EDTA adsorption also increases with temperature. The EDTA removal from the solution increases as activated carbon mass increases. The Langmuir and Freundlich equilibrium isotherm models are found to provide a good fitting of the adsorption data, with R(2) = 0.9920 and 0.9982, respectively. The kinetic study shows that EDTA adsorption on the activated carbon is in good compliance with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The thermodynamic parameters (E(a), ΔG(0), ΔH(0), ΔS(0)) obtained indicate the endothermic nature of EDTA adsorption on activated carbon.     

Large-scale uniform α-Co(OH)₂ long nanowire arrays grown on graphite as pseudocapacitor electrodes

Large-scale uniform α-Co(OH)? nanowire arrays (NWAs) with an average length of ～20 μm grown on pyrolytic graphite (PG) were successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method at 120 °C. Ultrasonication test was carried out toward the as-made nanoarray products and the result demonstrated their robust adhesion to graphitic substrate. After 300 s of sonication testing, α-Co(OH)? NWAs could still possess both integrated one-dimensional (1D) nanoarray architecture and good electronic connections with current collector. When investigated as electrochemical pseudocapacitor electrodes, α-Co(OH)? NWAs exhibited good energy-storage performance in terms of high specific capacitance of 642.5 F/g, good rate capability, and excellent capacity retention. Our work not only presents a cost-effective and scale-up synthetic method for α-Co(OH)? NWAs but also holds promise in general synthesis of long arrays of other metal hydroxides/oxide (TiO?, Fe?O?, SnO?, etc.) nanostructures on PG substrate by using α-Co(OH)? NWAs as sacrificial templates.     

Modeling of gas porosity and microstructure formation during dendritic and eutectic solidification of ternary Al-Si-Mg alloys

A two-dimensional(2-D)multi-component and multi-phase cellular automaton(CA)model coupled with the Calphad method and finite difference method(FDM)is proposed to simulate the gas pore for-mation and microstructures in solidification process of hypoeutectic Al-Si-Mg alloys.In this model,the pore growth,and dendritic and eutectic solidification are simulated using a CA technique.To achieve the equilibrium among multiple phases during ternary Al-based alloy solidification,the phase transition thermodynamics and kinetics are evaluated by adopting the Calphad method.The diffusion equations of hydrogen and two solutes are solved by FDM.The developed CA-FDM coupled model can be used for sim-ulating the evolution of gas microporosity and microstructures,involving dendrites and irregular binary and ternary eutectics,of ternary hypoeutectic Al-Si-Mg alloys.It has the capability of reproducing the interactions between the hydrogen microporosity formation and the growth of dendrites and eutectics,the competitive growth among the growing gas pores of different sizes,together with the time-evolving concentration fields of hydrogen and solutes.The simulated morphology of gas pore and microstructure has a good agreement with the experimental observation.The influences of the initial hydrogen concen-tration and cooling rate on the microporosity formation are investigated.It is found that the main portion of porosity formation occurs in the eutectic solidification stage through analyzing the profiles of porosity percentage and solid fraction varying with solidification time.The varying features of simulated porosity percentage,the maximum and average pores radii indicate that increasing initial hydrogen concentration promotes the formation of higher final porosity percentage and larger pores,while the size of gas pores will significantly reduce with increasing cooling rate,leading to a lower final porosity percentage.     

Grain boundary optimization induced substantial squareness enhancement and high performance in iron-rich Sm-Co-Fe-Cu-Zr magnets

Increasing iron content has been witnessed an essential method to improve the remanence of 2:17-type Sm-Co-Fe-Cu-Zr magnets,however,the inferior squareness factor accompanied with the increased iron content turns into a neck sticking problem.In this work,the grain boundary optimization induced sub-stantial squareness enhancement from 63.4％to 91.4％,and consequently an excellent maximum energy product of 32.63 MGOe have been achieved in iron-rich Sm-Co-Fe-Cu-Zr magnets via tuning solution process.It is clearly revealed that the grain boundary(GB)phases as well as the micro-twins'density in grain interiors can be controlled and interprets the enhancement mechanism of squareness.     

Fabrication of excimer laser annealed poly-Si thin film transistor by using an elevated temperature ion shower doping

We have investigated the effect of an ion shower doping of laser annealed poly-Si films at elevated substrate temperatures. The substrate temperature was varied from room temperature to 300°C when the poly-Si film was doped with phosphorus by a non-mass-separated ion shower. Optical, structural, and electrical characterizations have been performed in order to study the effect of the ion shower doping. The sheet resistance of the doped poly-Si films was decreased from 7 × 10⁶ Ω/sq to 700 Ω/sq when the substrate temperature was increased from room temperature to 300°C. This large change in sheet resistance is due to the fact that the doped films do not become amorphous but remain in the polycrystallinephase. The mildly elevated substrate heating appears to contribute mainly to reduction of ion damages incurred in the poly-Si films in addition to the activation of dopants during the ion shower doping. From the fabricated n-channel poly-Si TFTs, the current crowding effect do not occur because of the low contact source-drain resistance and the field effect mobility of 120 cm²/(V s) has been obtained.     

Conductometric chemical sensor based on individual CuO nanowires

CuO nanowires with high crystalline quality are synthesized via a simple thermal oxidation method. Charge conduction on individual nanowires under a transverse electric field exhibits an intrinsic p-type semiconducting behavior. Variations in signal transducer in different chemical gas environments are measured on individual CuO nanowire field effect transistors. They demonstrate good performance to both NO(2) and ethanol gasses. In particular, the nanowire chemical sensor reveals a reverse response to ethanol vapor under temperature variation. Experimental results and first-principles calculations indicate that ethanol is oxidized in air at high temperature, resulting in the production of CO(2) and H(2)O. The strong H(2)O adsorption leads to the reversal behavior, due to the electron transfer from H(2)O molecules to the CuO surface.     

Patent activity on water pollution and treatment in China—a scientometric perspective

This research intends to investigate the patent activity on water pollution and treatment in China (1985–2007), and then compares the results with patents data about Triadic patents, South Korea, Brazil and India over the same periods, patents data were collected from Derwent World Patents Index between 1985 and May 2008. For this study, 169,312 patents were chosen and examined. Total volume of patents, technology focus, assignee sector, priority date and the comparison with other countries are analyzed. It is found that patents on water pollution and treatment filed at China have experienced a remarkable increase and the increase rate of patents filed at China change simultaneous with the percentage of domestic applications. However, the number of high quality Triadic patents with priority country as China remains small. Furthermore, in addition to individual patent assignees, both Chinese universities and enterprises also play important roles in patent activity of water pollution and treatment. In addition, the pattern of South Korea’s development can provide short-term implications for China and the regularity in Triadic patents’ development can provide some guidance to China’s long-term development. In contrast, the development pattern of Brazil and India is less influential to China’s development. Furthermore, China’s technology focuses on water pollution and treatment seem to parallel global and triadic patent trends. This research provides a comprehensive picture of China’s innovation capability in the area of water pollution and treatment. It will help China’s local governments to improve their regional S&T capability and will provide support the National Water Pollution Control and Treatment Project in China.     

Synthesis of a fullerene/expanded graphite composite and its lubricating properties

A fullerene/expanded graphite composite, in which fullerene crystals were incorporated into the expanded graphite interspaces, was prepared by chemical and thermal treatments and its lubricating properties in commercial grease were investigated. Expanded graphite, which was synthesized from graphite by oxidizing by KMnO₄ in 98% H₂SO₄ containing NaNO₃ and by heating at 400 °C for 3 min, and fullerene were placed in a stainless steel tube, and were heated in a furnace under vacuum at 600 °C for 2 weeks. The fullerene/expanded graphite composite obtained was characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD and FT-IR analyses showed that crystalline fullerene was present in the material and SEM images confirmed that it existed in the expanded graphite interspaces. The composite was blended with a commercial grease, and its lubricating properties were investigated using a four-ball lubricant tester. These properties were evaluated by measuring the wear scar diameter and wear volume loss of the test ball. The combination of composite and grease provided a better lubricating performance than that of pure graphite and grease.     

Silver nanoparticles dispersed in polyaniline matrixes coated on titanium substrate as a novel electrode for electro-oxidation of hydrazine

Silver nanoparticles dispersed in polyaniline matrixes coated on titanium substrate, as a novel electrode, was easily synthesized by electro-polymerization of aniline on titanium and then electrodeposited silver nanoparticles on PAni electrode. The electrochemical behavior and electro-catalytic activity of silver nanoparticles/PAni/Ti electrodes were characterized by cyclic voltammetry. The morphology of silver nanoparticles on PAni/Ti electrodes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray techniques, respectively. Results indicated that silver nanoparticles with a diameter of about 40–70 nm were homogeneously dispersed on the surface of polyaniline film. The silver nanoparticles/PAni/Ti electrodes were examined for electro-catalytic activity toward oxidation of hydrazine. The results show that these modified electrodes are highly active for electro-catalytic oxidation of hydrazine.