Conventional- vs microwave-hydrothermal synthesis of tin oxide, SnO2 nanoparticles

Tin oxide nanophases or nanoparticles were synthesized under conventional- and microwave-hydrothermal conditions and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, BET surface area determination as well as transmission electron microscopy. The use of microwave-hydrothermal (M-H) process led to higher yields in shorter time compared to the conventional-hydrothermal (C-H) process because of increased reaction rates in the former.     

The interaction of spherical Al2O3 particles with molten Al2O3-CaO-FeOx-SiO2 slags

The present paper investigates the rate of chemical dissolution of Al₂O₃ particles in synthetic Al₂O₃-CaO-FeO_x-SiO₂ slags as a function of time under an atmosphere where Fe²⁺ would be the stable state for iron ions dissolved in the slag. Two aspects of the interaction between the Al₂O₃ spheres and slags were studied, namely (i) the speed at which the particle sinks into the slag and (ii) how rapidly the particles dissolve. The objectives are to elucidate interactions between oxide particulate material, either from the refractory wall or from the mineral constituents in the fuel feedstock, with the slag formed at the wall in entrained-slagging gasifiers.The particle settling was found to proceed first rapidly, but subsequently slowing down and this behavior was in qualitative agreement with model predictions based on a balance between gravity-, drag-, capillary-, and added mass forces. The effect of increasing temperature and FeO_x content are investigated and it is shown that both contribute towards increasing the dissolution rate. The rate appears to be governed by a combination of the driving force for dissolution and transport properties in the slag.     

Removal of Cu2+ from Water Using Liquid-Liquid Microchannel Extraction

The very good extraction selectivity of Cu²⁺ from water was demonstrated with a new microchannel equipment, by employing di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) as an extractant and kerosene as a solvent. The effects of different experimental parameters on the extraction efficiency E, the volumetric mass transfer coefficient K_La, and the entrainment were experimentally investigated. The results showed that the extraction efficiency increased with increasing temperature, extractant concentration, phase ratio (organic/aqueous), and pH. The total flow rate, phase ratio, and pH were found to have a great effect on the mass transfer, whereas the temperature and the extractant concentration showed little effect.     

Fabrication of zinc‐loaded hollow glass microspheres (HGMs) for hydrogen storage

The greatest challenge for a feasible hydrogen economy lies on the production of pure hydrogen and the materials for its storage with controlled release at ambient conditions. Hydrogen with its great abundance, high energy density and clean exhaust is a promising candidate to meet the current global challenges of fossil fuel depletion and green house gases emissions. Extensive research on hollow glass microspheres (HGMs) for hydrogen storage is being carried out world‐wide, but the right material for hydrogen storage is yet underway. But many other characteristics, such as the poor thermal conductivity etc. of the HGMs, restrict the hydrogen storage capacity. In this work, we have attempted to increase the thermal conductivity of HGMs by ZnO doping. The HGMs with Zn weight percentage from 0 to 10 were prepared by flame spheroidization of amber‐colored glass powder impregnated with the required amount of zinc acetate. The prepared HGMs samples were characterized using field emission‐scanning electron microscope (FE‐SEM), environmental SEM (ESEM), high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The deposition of ZnO on the microsphere walls was observed using FE‐SEM, ESEM and HRTEM which was further confirmed using the XRD and ultraviolet–visible absorption data. The hydrogen storage studies done on these samples at 200 °C and 10‐bar pressure for 5 h showed that the hydrogen storage increased when the Zn percentage in the sample increased from 0 to 2%. The percentage of zinc beyond 2, in the microspheres, showed a decline in the hydrogen storage capacity. The closure of the nanopores due to the ZnO nanocrystal deposition on the microsphere surface reduced the hydrogen storage capacity. The hydrogen storage capacity of HAZn2 was found 3.26 wt% for 10‐bar pressure at 200 °C. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Grape skin extracts as a sustainable source of antioxidants in an oil-in-water emulsion: an alternate natural approach to synthetic antioxidants using principal component analysis

Grape (Kyoho) skin, used to retard lipid oxidation in edible oil foods, was investigated to reduce lipid oxidation in an oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion during 20 day of storage. The antioxidant efficacy of Kyoho skin extracts in O/W emulsions was determined by the measurement of secondary oxidation products. Moreover, principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to determine similarities between emulsions treated with or without Kyoho skin extracts and standards. The data revealed that Kyoho skin extracts exhibited >93% inhibition and reported a similar p-anisidine (4.30–20.71) and TBARS (6.08–11.15 mg MDA L⁻¹) values over the standards during 20 day of storage. PCA (PCs 1 (51.83%) and 2 (18.85%)) demonstrated a similarity in the contribution of Kyoho skin extracts over the synthetic antioxidants in O/W emulsion. Overall, these findings highlighted the possibility of using Kyoho skin extracts as natural antioxidants to decrease oxidative rancidity in foods.     

Sound event detection in real-life audio using joint spectral and temporal features

Typical methods for overlapping sound event detection (SED) do not fully consider the joint spectral and temporal transition characteristics of the audio signal. They are generally based on training models using either separate data from each event class or mixed signals containing simultaneous sound events. This paper introduced a new approach for SED in real-life audio using Nonnegative Matrix Factor 2-D Deconvolution and RUSBoost techniques. The idea is to capture the two-dimensional joint spectral and temporal information from the time-frequency representation while possibly separating the sound mixture into several sources. In addition, the RUSBoost technique is utilized to address the class imbalance problem of the training data. The proposed approach is evaluated using the TUT Sound Event 2016 and 2017 datasets. The results showed that the proposed method outperformed the baseline methods. For the TUT Sound Event 2016 dataset, the proposed method reduced the total error rate by 5% while increasing the F1 score by 13.8%. For the TUT Sound Event 2017 dataset, the proposed method reduced the total error rate by 3% while increasing the F1 score by 8.1%.     

Editorial: 50 Years of High Impact Research

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A -     

Folding at the Microscale: Enabling Multifunctional 3D Origami‐Architected Metamaterials

Mechanical metamaterials inspired by the Japanese art of paper folding have gained considerable attention because of their potential to yield deployable and highly tunable assemblies. The inherent foldability of origami structures enlarges the material design space with remarkable properties such as auxeticity and high deformation recoverability and deployability, the latter being key in applications where spatial constraints are pivotal. This work integrates the results of the design, 3D direct laser writing fabrication, and in situ scanning electron microscopic mechanical characterization of microscale origami metamaterials, based on the multimodal assembly of Miura‐Ori tubes. The origami‐architected metamaterials, achieved by means of microfabrication, display remarkable mechanical properties: stiffness and Poisson’s ratio tunable anisotropy, large degree of shape recoverability, multistability, and even reversible auxeticity whereby the metamaterial switches Poisson’s ratio sign during deformation. The findings here reported underscore the scalable and multifunctional nature of origami designs, and pave the way toward harnessing the power of origami engineering at small scales.