A novel spherical-ordered macroporous CuO nanocatalyst for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide

Journal of Applied Electrochemistry - The electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 is a promising research direction in resource utilization and sustainable energy development. However, there is still a...     

Degradability and biocompatibility of bioglass/poly(amino acid) composites with different surface bioactivity as bone repair materials

Bioglass (BG) possesses excellent bioactivity and has been widely used in the manufacture of biomaterials. In this study, a composite with different surface bioactivity was fabricated via in situ melting polymerization by incorporating BG and poly(amino acid) (PAA) at a suitable ratio. The structure of the composite was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and XRD. The compressive strength of the BG/PAA composites was 139 MPa (BG:PAA = 30:70). The BG/PAA composites were degradable, and higher BG in composite showed higher weight loss after 4 weeks of incubation in simulated body fluid. In addition, the BG/PAA composite maintained adequate residual compressive strength during the degradation period. The SEM results showed the differences in surface bioactivities of the composites directly, and 30BG/PAA composite showed thicker apatite layer and higher Ca/p than 15BG/PAA. in vitro MG-63 cell culture experiments showed that the composite was noncytotoxic and thus allows cells to adhere, proliferate, and differentiate. This indicates that the composite has good biocompatibility. The implantations in the bone defects of rabbits for 4 and 12 weeks were studied. The composites had good biocompatibility and were capable of guiding new bone formation without causing any inflammation. The composite may be successfully used in the development of bone implants.     

Effects of thickness and hydrophobicity of double microporous layer on the performance in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

In this paper, a multi-layer gas diffusion layer (GDL) is designed. The GDL consists of a single carbon paper backing layer and dual microporous layers (MPLs). Moreover, the effects of thickness and hydrophobicity of double MPL on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells are investigated. From the test results of the water contact angle, conductivity, pore size distribution, and the polarization curve, it is found that the thickness adjustment increases the number of 0.5 to 7 μm and 20 to 100 μm pores in GDL, which is more conducive to water discharge. Therefore, the thickness adjustment is more favorable to the cell performance under high humidity. While the gradient hydrophobic design makes the MPL of the modified intermediate layer have a certain water-retaining capacity to humidify the reaction gas, which has better effect under low humidity. At last, the results show that the optimized GDL meets a limit power density of 1.772 W/cm² under 60% humidification and 1.600 W/cm² under 100% humidification.     

Epoxidized soybean oil modified using fatty acids as tougheners for thermosetting epoxy resins: Part 2—Effect of curing agent and epoxy molecular weight

A series of bio-rubber (BR) tougheners for thermosetting epoxy resins was prepared by grafting renewable fatty acids with different chain lengths onto epoxidized soybean oil at varying molar ratios. BR-toughened samples were prepared by blending BRs with diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A resins, Epon 828 and Epon 1001F, at different weight fractions and stoichiometrically cured using an amine curing agent, 4, 4′-methylene biscyclohexanamine (PACM). Fracture toughness properties of the unmodified and BR toughened polymer samples—including critical strain energy release rate (G_Ic), and critical stress intensity factor (K_Ic)—were measured to investigate the toughening effect of prepared BRs. It was found that the degree of phase separation and toughening were more controllable relative to similar polymers cured using the aromatic curing agent Epikure W, and the use of higher molecular epoxy resins produces a synergistic effect increasing the toughness much more than similar polymers made with lower molecular weight epoxy resins. Average BR domain sizes ranging from 200 to 900 nm were observed, and formulations with G_Ic, values K_Ic as high as 1.0 kJ/m² and 1.4 MPa m^1/2 were attained respectively for epoxy systems with T_g greater than 130°C.     

Epoxidized soybean oil modified using fatty acids as tougheners for thermosetting epoxy resins: Part 1

A series of bio-rubber (BR) reactive tougheners for thermosetting epoxy resins was prepared by grafting renewable saturated fatty acids of different chain lengths (C6-C14) onto epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) at varying molar ratios. The tunable nature of the BR systems derives from the architecture and functionality of naturally occurring molecules. Control of BR reactivity and molecular weight by varying the degree of grafting and the chain length of the fatty acid was demonstrated. The BR-toughened samples were prepared by blending BRs with diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA), Epon 828, and stoichiometrically curing the mixture using an aromatic amine hardener, diethyl toluene diamine (Epikure W). Fracture surface morphology studies showed that tuning of phase separated particle sizes was possible depending on the BR type and weight fraction. The resulting toughening effect was evaluated by measuring the fracture toughness of control and toughened polymer samples. The use of BRs significantly improved the critical strain energy release rate and critical stress intensity factor values of thermosetting polymer samples without significantly reducing T_g and modulus. In addition to toughening and adding renewable content to petroleum-based thermosetting epoxy systems these new tougheners have low viscosity compared to common alternatives and aid ease of processing.     

Synergistic improvement of mechanical and thermal properties in epoxy composites via polyimide microspheres

Achieving synergetic improvements of mechanical strength, toughness, and thermal stability of epoxy resin has been a crucial but very challenging issue. Herein, to explore a new solution for circumventing this issue, polyimide microspheres were successfully prepared through the inverse nonaqueous emulsion process, and the structure, size distribution and morphologies of polyimide (PI) microspheres were comprehensively investigated. Then the PI microspheres were incorporated in epoxy resin matrix to systematically investigate the mechanical and thermal properties of obtained epoxy/PI microspheres composites. It was found that the PI microspheres can not only enhance the mechanical strength of epoxy resin, but also significantly improve the toughness. Specially, the epoxy-based composites containing 3 wt% PI microspheres exhibit a 47% increase in tensile strength, while the G_IC and Charpy impact strength increase by 106% and 200%, respectively. The toughing mechanism of epoxy/PI microspheres composites was discussed. Moreover, the PI microspheres can also endow the epoxy resin with excellent thermal stability and heat resistance. Thus, this work may open a new opportunity to synergistically enhance the mechanical and thermal properties of epoxy-based composites and may also give some valuable inspiration for the rational design of other high-performance thermosetting composites.     

Enhanced wear resistance of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers by modified-graphite oxide

A simple and feasible method to enhance the wear resistance of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers was reported. The graphite oxide (GO) prepared using improved Hummer's method was surface modified with hexadecylamine to improve its compatibility with UHMWPE. Combined with well-dispersion of modified-GO (m-GO) in dichloromethane and the fact that the viscosity of UHMWPE suspension can be decreased by dichloromethane, the well dispersed m-GO/dichloromethane was added into UHMWPE suspension to improve m-GO dispersion in UHMWPE fibers. Finally, UHMWPE fibers with different m-GO concentration were prepared using gel spinning technology. The effect of m-GO concentration on the structure and properties of modified UHMWPE fibers were investigated. The results indicated that the melting temperature and crystallinity of m-GO modified UHMWPE fibers increased with increasing of m-GO concentration, while the fiber's crystal sizes and orientation increased, thus the tensile strength of m-GO modified UHMWPE fibers remained almost undamaged. The introduction of m-GO is beneficial to the formation of smooth transfer film on fiber's surface, which enhanced the self-lubrication of UHMWPE fibers. Compared with pure UHMWPE fiber, the UHMWPE fiber containing 1.5 wt% m-GO had enhanced wear resistance by 55.4% and still maintained high tensile strength of 29.98 cN dtex⁻¹.     

基于STM32的可穿戴式无线体域网信息监测系统设计与实现

针对传统疾病诊疗模式中疾病监护实时性差的缺点,以低功耗、高速STM32处理器为核心,设计一款可穿戴式无线体域网信息监测系统.系统由无线传感网络、中央监测模块和手机终端组成,具有实时采集、数据存储、无线传输和监测人体生命体征信 息的功能.测试结果表明,系统运行稳定,性能指标均达到系统设定要求,应用于医疗监测可起到实时监护、早期预防的作用.     

低温等离子体化学毒剂洗消技术研究进展

该文主要探究低温等离子体化学毒剂洗消技术的研究进展.首先指出化学毒剂的种类、危害性以及洗消化学毒剂的必要性,并探讨传统洗消技术和催化剂洗消技术的可行性与发展状况,分析其优势和不足;其次介绍了低温等离子体技术并总结了等离子体射流、介质阻挡放电、微波等离子体等放电形式在化学毒剂洗消中的应用,归纳了等离子体洗消毒剂的反应对象、反应条件、放电时间、降解效率;然后,对等离子体协同催化洗消化学毒剂技术进行了展望,并探讨等离子体洗消化学毒剂机理;最后指出了等离子体洗消技术发展成为大型洗消设备和系统存在的技术难题.该研究对促进低温等离子体技术在化学毒剂中洗消应用具有一定的参考价值.     

适用于非整数次幂的高精度混合基FFT谐波测量算法

快速傅里叶变换(FFT)是目前谐波分析中常用的分析算法,加窗插值FFT算法能够改善频谱泄漏和栅栏效应,但是FFT对采样数据序列有一定的长度要求.以基2为例,针对非2整数次幂数据序列无法采用快速傅里叶变换的问题,在分析研究常规混合基FFT算法频谱分布的基础上,提出一种适用于非整数次幂的高精度混合基FFT谐波测量算法.该算法采用四根谱线对混合基结果进行插值校正计算,该文详细分析推导了该算法的原理和修正过程.仿真及试验结果表明,在非2整数次幂条件下,与常规混合基FFT算法、补零FFT算法相比,该算法具有更高的谐波分析准确度,并且参数设置更加灵活.