Broadband excited Na3Tb(PO4)2:Ce3+/Eu2+ green/yellow-emitting phosphors with high color purity for LED-based application

To enhance the display quality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), it is of great significance to exploit green/yellow-emitting phosphors with narrow emission band, high quantum yield, and excellent color purity to satisfy the application. Herein, orthophosphate-based green/yellow-emitting Na₃Tb(PO₄)₂:Ce³⁺/Eu²⁺ (NTPO:Ce³⁺/Eu²⁺) phosphors have been successfully synthesized by a facile solid-state reaction method. The absorption band of NTPO samples was extended to the near-ultraviolet region and the absorption efficiency was significantly improved owing to a highly efficient energy transfer from Ce³⁺/Eu²⁺ ion to Tb³⁺ ion in NTPO host certified by time-resolved PL spectra. Upon 300 nm excitation, the NTPO:Ce³⁺ is characterized by ultra-narrow-band green emission of Tb³⁺ with an absolute quantum yield of 94.5%. Unexpectedly, NTPO:Eu²⁺ emits bright yellow light with a color purity of 73% as a result of the blending of green light emission from Tb³⁺ and red light emission from Eu³⁺. The thermal stability has been improved by controlling the stoichiometric ratio of Na⁺. The prototype white LED used yellow-emitting NTPO:Eu²⁺ phosphor has higher color-rendering index (Ra = 83.5), lower correlated color temperature (CCT = 5206 K), and closer CIE color coordinates (0.338, 0.3187) to the standard white point at (0.333, 0.333) than that used green-emitting NTPO:Ce³⁺ phosphor, indicating the addition of the yellow light component improved the Ra of the trichromatic (RGB) materials.     

Biodegradation of catechol by Pseudomonas fluorescens isolated from petroleum‐impacted soil

Bioremediation strategies have been applied to clean up petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) impacted sites. Introducing PHC degrading microorganisms (bioaugmentation) and enhancing the in‐situ nutrients availability (biostimulation) are widely used strategies. These strategies can be combined to lead to a better bioremediation performance. In this work, Pseudomonas fluorescens was isolated from a PHC impacted site. Through a 2³ factorial design plan, the effect of various combinations of nitrate, sulphate, and phosphate ions on the PHC bioremediation performance by P. fluorescens was investigated using catechol, an essential metabolic intermediate of BTEX degradation, as the sole carbon source. The maximum specific catechol degradation rate was chosen as the response to evaluate the catechol bioremediation performance. The ANOVA results indicated that the presence of nitrate ions alone lowered the maximum specific catechol degradation rate, which can be explained by the accumulation of nitrites and ammonia during the denitrification process by P. fluorescens. It was noted that dosing sulphate ions alone did not affect the bioremediation performance, which indicates P. fluorescens can grow in a sulphur‐limited environment. In contrast, the presence of sulphate and nitrate ions together can lead to a higher specific catechol degradation rate. This may be caused by the presence of sulphate that can suppress the production of nitrites. The importance of phosphate ions on catechol biodegradation was investigated. The absence of phosphate led to incomplete biodegradation. Introducing phosphate ions can accelerate catechol degradation, which can be explained by the secretion of organic acids.     

Differences in electrochemical corrosion behaviours between selective laser melted and wrought Ti6Al4V alloys in acid fluoride-containing artificial saliva

Journal of Applied Electrochemistry - In this work, the electrochemical corrosion behaviours of selective laser melted (SLMed) and wrought Ti6Al4V alloys in acid fluoride-containing artificial...     

Thin-film composite forward osmosis membrane prepared from polyvinyl chloride/cellulose carbamate substrate and its potential application in brackish water desalination

Synthesized by the reaction between α-cellulose and m-tolyl isocyanate (MTI), cellulose carbamate (CC) was blended with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to fabricate substrates for thin-film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membranes. The introduction of CC into substrates improved both membrane structure and performance. The substrates exhibited higher porosity and hydrophilicity, and better connective pore structure; while rejection layer exhibited better morphology but limited cross-linked degree decrease after the introduction of CC. According to the results, the CC blend ratio of 10% was the optimal ratio. With this blend ratio, the TFC-10 membrane presented favorable water permeability (1.86 LMH/bar) and structure parameter (337 μm), which resulted in excellent FO performance (water flux with a value of 40.40 LMH and specific salt flux with a value of 0.099 g/L under rejection layer faces draw solution [DS] mode when 1 M NaCl and deionized water were utilized as DS and feed solution). In addition, the TFC-10 membrane showed good water flux and low-sulfate ion leakage in the potential application of brackish water desalination.     

Performance of biomimetic coating modified fiber incorporated styrene butadiene styrene modified asphalt

This study reports the effect of polydopamine bionic coating and γ-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (KH570) composite modified polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fiber as a secondary modifier on the performance of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) modified asphalt. Dynamic shear rheometer test indicated the complex shear modulu, storage modulus, and loss modulus of modified PAN (KD-PAN) incorporated SBS modified asphalt was increased by 12.4, 20.5, and 11.2%, respectively compared with PAN/SBS modified asphalt. The master curve of G^* of fiber/SBS composite modified asphalt shows that the deformation resistance of KD-PAN/SBS modified asphalt is greater than that of PAN/SBS modified asphalt in the entire loading frequency range. The cone penetration test showed significantly enhanced shear strength of KD-PAN/SBS modified asphalt. The adhesion work test results and SEM images of interface between fiber and SBS modified asphalt revealed that the adhesion effect of KD-PAN and SBS modified asphalt is better than that of PAN and SBS modified asphalt. SEM and AFM images of fiber further showed that the fiber surface becomes rough after modification. The increased surface roughness of KD-PAN facilitated the adherence of SBS modified asphalt to it, which in turn led to the enhanced performance of KD-PAN/SBS composite modified asphalt at the same fiber content and temperature.     

Cavity pressure-based holding pressure adjustment for enhancing the consistency of injection molding quality

Cavity pressure is one of the best indicators of injection molding conditions and thus has been used for quality prediction in the injection molding process. Also, the repeatability of the cavity pressure profile at each shot indicates the consistency of the part quality, which is easily affected by environmental changes, such as barrel temperature. To maintain quality consistency (such as part weight and geometrical dimensions) during mass production, this study proposed a novel method of the holding pressure adjustment to control the deviation in the cavity pressure distribution during each shot. Injection molding of a thin-walled dumbbell-shaped sample was performed to verify the proposed process, which proved the feasibility of this method for suppressing the influence of the barrel temperature changes on part quality.     

Sodium citrate-assisted synthesis of nano-manganese oxide on carbon fiber for enhancing the mechanical and frictional performances of carbon fiber-reinforced resin matrix composites

Aiming to enhance the carbon fiber (CF)/resin interfacial adhesion, this report describes the novel application of sodium citrate (SC) as an auxiliary reducing agent and surface regulator to control the morphology of nano-manganese dioxide (MnO₂) on the CF surface. The composites were fabricated by means of controlling the molar concentration ratio of SC to Mn source (0:1, 1:3, 1:2, and 1:1) in hydrothermal synthesis. The results reveal that MnO₂ nanosheets on the CF surface become denser as the concentration of SC is 1/3 of Mn source, which makes advance to the surface roughness and surface energy of CF. Simultaneously, the tensile strength of as-prepared composite is increased by 52.8%. The homologous friction coefficient tends to be high and stable and the wear volume is significantly reduced by 63.8 and 26.5% under the applied loads of 3 and 5 N in contrast with the original composites prepared without SC. As a result, it can be inferred that SC plays a crucial role in enhancing the interfacial bonding strength between the CF and matrix, providing insights into the interface control of CF-reinforced resin matrix composites.     

High-efficiency ammonium polyphosphate intumescent encapsulated polypropylene flame retardant

The flame retardant polypropylene containing the micro-envelope core-shell structure flame retardant, which encapsulated ammonium polyphosphate into melamine-formaldehyde resin and sodium silicate through in situ polymerization was prepared with polyamide 6, added as a carbon-forming agent. The composition of ammonium polyphosphate, encapsulated ammonium polyphosphate with melamine-formaldehyde resin and the micro-envelope core-shell structure flame retardant were characterized. The fire safety and thermal stability were investigated and showed an improvement including limiting oxygen index, thermogravimetric analysis, vertical burning tests, and microscale combustion calorimeter. The burned compounds were also studied to confirm the burning mechanism. The results showed the flame retardant performance had been greatly improved, while polyamide 6 had better char-forming effect. Besides, the water solubility of flame retardants and their influence on the mechanical properties of polypropylene were also investigated. The results on the effects of additives demonstrated a high efficiency flame retardant to polypropylene. A core-shell flame retardant that sodium silicate and melamine-formaldehyde resin-coated ammonium polyphosphate had been constructed. The effect of the built flame retardant system on the combustion performance of polypropylene was studied from the mechanism and performance. The LOI of the most flame retardant polypropylene reached 28.6%, and UL-94 reached the V-0 level.     

Preparation and study of stable fluorine-free superhydrophobicity of cotton fibers

This paper proposes a method of directly modifying the surface of cotton fiber to achieve super-hydrophobic properties. The process was directly utilized the long-chain alkyl siloxane and the nano-SiO₂ modified cotton cloth, which was simple to operate, low in cost and environmentally friendly. This study discussed the influence of solvent ratio, reactant content and ammonia content on hydrophobicity. The solvent ratio had the greatest influence, and the maximum water contact angle (CA) changes were70° ± 1°. The maximum water CA of the superhydrophobic cotton fabric prepared after process selection was 162 ± 1.5°; it had good acid, alkali and salt resistance. After 24 h in a solution with a pH of 1–14, CA remained almost unchanged; After 144 h in a 3.5% salt solution, CA stabilized above 132°; it had self-cleaning properties; it had good selective adsorption performance, which can quickly separate oil and water; it had good mechanical stability. After 300 times abrasion of sandpaper, which still shows hydrophobic properties.     

Simultaneously improved solid particle erosion resistant and strength of graphene nanoplates/carbon nanotube enhanced thermoplastic polyurethane films

Up to now, it is a major challenge to protect leading edge of the blades from solid particle erosion. Herein, we propose a structure optimization strategy to fabricate non-woven (NW) enhanced thermoplastic polyurethane nanocomposite films (thermoplastic polyurethane [TPU] - NW@G/C_x) with “sandwich - like” structure by hot pressing technology. TPU NW/graphene nanoplates/carbon nanotube (NW@G/C_x) interlayer film were first fabricated by spraying method. Then the interlayer film was laminated between TPU films to fabricate nanocomposite films. Such prepared TPU - NW@G/C_x film shows excellent solid particle erosion resistance and high-tensile strength. For example, the “steel-and-mortar” structure of NW fabric in TPU film results in high-tensile strength of 45 MPa and storage modulus of 21.2 MPa for TPU - NW@G/C_1.0, increasing by 25% and 171% compared with original TPU film (35 MPa, 8 MPa), respectively. In addition, compared with pure TPU film, the “sandwich - like” structure endows TPU - NW@G/C_1.2 with excellent solid particle erosion resistance and the thermal conductivity (0.251 W/m·K). These superior properties extends application of the TPU - NW@G/C_x film on wind turbine blades.