Continuous amino-functionalized University of Oslo 66 membranes as efficacious polysulfide barriers for lithium−sulfur batteries

The shuttle effect of soluble polysulfides is a serious problem impeding the development of lithium−sulfur batteries. Herein, continuous amino-functionalized University of Oslo 66 membranes supported on carbon nanotube films are proposed as ion-permselective interlayers that overcome these issues and show outstanding suppression of the polysulfide shuttle effect. The proposed membrane material has appropriately sized pores, and can act as ionic sieves and serve as barriers to polysulfides transport while allowing the passage of lithium ions during electrochemical cycles, thereby validly preventing the shuttling of polysulfides. Moreover, a fast catalytic conversion of polysulfides is also achieved with the as-developed interlayer. Therefore, lithium−sulfur batteries with this interlayer show a desirable initial capacity of 999.21 mAh·g^–1 at 1 C and a durable cyclic stability with a decay rate of only 0.04% per cycle over 300 cycles. Moreover, a high area capacity of 4.82 mAh·cm^–2 is also obtained even under increased sulfur loading (5.12 mg·cm^–2) and a lean-electrolyte condition (E/S = 4.8 μL·mg^–1).     

Enhancement of thermal conductivity for epoxy laminated composites by constructing hetero-structured GF/BN networks

Due to the rapid development of multifunctional and miniaturized electronic devices, the demand for polymer composites with mechanical properties, high-thermal conductivity, and dielectric properties is increasing. Therefore, the heat dissipation capacity of the composite must be improved. To solve this problem, we report a glass fabric (GF)/boron nitride (BN) network with a highly thermally conductive hetero-structured formed using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as an adhesive. The GF and BN are furtherly modified by (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) for better thermal conductivity enhancement. When the BN content is 30%, the thermal diffusion coefficient and thermal conductivity of obtained PVA-mBN@mGF (PBG) are 2.843 mm²/s and 1.394 W/(m K), respectively. Epoxy (EP) resin is then introduced to prepare PBG/mBN/EP laminated composites via the hot pressing method as applied as thermal conductive composites. A highest thermal conductivity of 0.67 W/(m K) of PBG/mBN/EP laminated composites is obtained, three times higher than that of pure EP. In addition, the PBG/mBN/EP laminated composites also present favorable mechanical, electrically insulating, and dielectric properties.     

Preparation of isotropic submicron spherical boron nitride particles by restricted template method

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) has received considerable attention, due to its high thermal conductivity and electrical insulation. However, the intrinsic platelike structure with the strong anisotropic property restricts its applications, and it is necessary to synthesize isotropic spherical h-BN particles (SP-BNs) with submicron size. Till now, methods to prepare (SP-BN) still exist problems, such as high oxygen impurities and pollution, generated by the ammonia and pyrolysis of precursors. Here, a relatively green reaction between the restricted template of carbon nanospheres and boron trioxide (B₂O₃) under elevated temperature is conducted, and the SP-BNs with an average diameter of 200–300 nm (named Nano-BN-s) have been successfully synthesized. Comprehensive scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction characterizations confirm the obtained products are spherical boron nitride. With the analysis of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared, the reaction mechanism is briefly discussed. These results indicate the reaction occurs on the restricted template of carbon nanospheres, and the C atoms are substituted by B and N atoms as the reaction progress, forming the Nano-BN-s. What is more, the restricted template method plays a key role in the design and improves h-BN-based materials in the future and may also be extended to form other novel materials.     

Computer-Aided Design of Crosslinked Polymer Membrane Using Machine Learning and Molecular Dynamics

The formation of crosslinking network between polymer chains has significant influence on polymer properties. In particular, the crosslinked structure of ionic networks like proton exchange membrane affects the conductivity performance. To further develop in this area, a framework for polymer membrane design based on the developed quantitative prediction model of the properties of crosslinked polymer is proposed. First, polymers with different crosslinking degrees are constructed by a crosslinking algorithm. Next, molecular dynamics is used to calculate the properties of crosslinked polymers. Then, the quantitative relationship between crosslinked polymer structures and macroscopical properties is developed. Subsequently, computer-aided polymer design method is integrated with the developed quantitative predict model. The crosslinked polymer design problem is expressed as an optimization problem to obtain the optimal crosslinking degree. Bayesian optimization strategy is used to solve the established optimization model. Finally, two case studies of perfluoro sulfonic acid and perfluoro imide acid design are given to illustrate the application of the proposed polymer design framework.     

Adsorption thermodynamics of CO2 on nitrogen-doped biochar synthesized with moderate temperature ionic liquid

The purpose of this work was to investigate the thermodynamic characteristics of carbon dioxide (CO₂) adsorption on a promising nitrogen-doped biochar at constant temperature and isopiestic pressure. The biochar was prepared as a CO₂ adsorbent based on catalytic pyrolysis of pristine coconut shells using urea as the nitrogen source and moderate temperature ionic liquid as a catalyst. The results showed that CO₂ adsorption on the biochar was a spontaneous, dominantly physical, exothermic, and entropy decrement process that could be well described by the slip model and the dual-site Langmuir model. Those thermodynamic parameters, including interface potential, exhibited a series of interesting tendencies with the changes in adsorption temperature and pressure. Under the conditions of 273 K and 100 kPa, the adsorption capacity and the interface potential were 4.6 mmol/g and −16.7 J/g, respectively. And the site energy ranged from 2.57 to 5.13 kJ/mol in the test conditions, which became narrow with increasing temperature. The temperature exhibited positive effects on interface potential, enthalpy change, entropy change, enthalpy change, internal energy change but negative effects on adsorption capacity, Gibbs free energy change, and Helmholtz free energy change. Interestingly, the pressure exhibited the opposite effect trends. The peak pressure with maximum temperature effect at a given temperature and the peak temperature with maximum pressure effect at a given pressure were found to exist for some thermodynamic parameters. These exhibited a different but significantly beneficial perspective to understand the mass and energy transfer during CO₂ adsorption on the biochar at constant temperature and isopiestic pressure, which have rarely been reported before.     

Metallurgical solid waste modified thermoplastic polyurethane composites: The thermal stability and combustion properties

As a kind of bulk industrial solid waste, the massive accumulation of iron tailings has caused serious waste of resources and environmental pollution. In this study, a silane coupling agent (KH550) was used to modify the surface of iron tailings to produce MIT, and it was compounded with ammonium polyphosphate (APP) on thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to prepare a series of TPU/APP/MIT composites. Thermogravimetric (TG), cone calorimetric (CCT), thermogravimetric infrared, scanning electron microscopy, and Raman techniques were also used to analyze the combustion performance, smoke toxicity, and microscopic morphology. The TG test results showed that the compounding of APP and MIT significantly improved the residual carbon value of TPU composites at 700°C. CCT test results showed that the TPU/APP/MIT composites exhibited excellent flame retardancy and smoke suppression. Compared with pure TPU, PHRR, THR, and TSR of TPU/APP15/MIT10 composite decreased by 85.56%, 87.83%, and 86.17%, respectively, the peak release rates of CO and CO₂ decreased by 69.26% and 90.34%, respectively. The above studies showed that APP and MIT have excellent flame retardant and smoke suppression effect on TPU materials, providing more opportunities for the study of TPU composites and metallurgical solid waste utilization.     

Correcting veiling glare of refined CIECAM02 for mobile display

Small displays are widely used; they are small enough to be carried around and are often viewed under extreme surround conditions. Under bright illumination, mobile display users experience “veiling glare” caused by bright ambient lighting. A refined version of CIECAM02 called “Refined CIECAM02 and original CIECAM02” were tested to predict visual results in terms of lightness (J), colourfulness (M), and brightness (Q) on a 2‐inch sized display (2″) mobile phone under four surround conditions; dark (0 cd/m²), dim (5 cd/m²), average (1000 cd/m²), and bright (10,000 cd/m²). Other than the two versions of CIECAM02 using the original data, a correction to the models' predicted lightness J and a black correction to the original data were developed. Overall, the refined CIECAM02 plus the J correction performed the best for predicting the lightness, brightness and colourfulness under all the viewing conditions, especially for bright surround condition. Furthermore, another experiment was carried out using complex images to verify different versions of CIECAM02. The images were reproduced using JMh (lightness, colourfulness, and hue) spaces from the modified CIECAM02 versions. The experiment was conducted by comparing original images viewed under dim, average, or bright surround conditions and the predicted images were viewed under dark surround condition on two identical mobile displays. The different versions of the CIECAM02 showed similar results to each other for dim and average surround conditions but large differences when predicting the images under bright surround condition. The refined CIECAM02 with the J′ formula performed the best amongst all four CIECAM02 versions. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2013.     

Internal bias field relaxation in poled Mn-doped Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O3–Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 ceramics

The frequency, electric field cycling and temperature dependences of the polarization–electric field (P–E), strain–electric field (S–E) loops in poled Mn-doped 0.05Pb(Mn_1/3Sb_2/3)O₃–0.50PbZrO₃–0.45PbTiO₃ ceramics have been investigated. The P–E and S–E loops are strongly asymmetric corresponding to the presence of an internal bias field E_i after poling and aging, indicating that the domain walls are strongly pinned by preferentially oriented defect dipoles formed by the acceptor dopant ions (Mn²⁺/Mn³⁺) and O²⁻ vacancies. Whereas, the loops exhibit a tendency of changing from asymmetric shapes to normal symmetric ones with increasing electric field amplitude or decreasing frequency. Repeated electric field cycling as well as high temperature results in a similar effect. Meanwhile, the E_i reduces consequently, providing evidence of domain depinning or internal bias field relaxation. It is suggested that the reorientation of the defect dipoles and depinning of domain walls arising from high temperature or electric field cycling are responsible for this extrinsic internal bias field relaxation process.