Worker Exposure Monitoring of Suspended Particles in a Thermal Spray Industry

The purpose of the present work was the investigation and characterization of the quality of air in a thermal spray industry, in Greece. The activities that take place in the specific facility, as well as in most other similar industries, include thermal spraying and several mechanical and metallurgical tasks that generate airborne particles, such as grit-blasting, cutting and grinding of metallic components. Since the main focus of this work was the workers exposure to airborne particles and heavy metals, portable air samplers with quartz fiber filters, were used daily for 8 h. Three samplers, carried from different employees, were used for a period of 1 month. Results showed that both particles and heavy metals concentrations were low, even in the production site, which was the most susceptible area. The only exceptions were observed in the case of cleaning and maintenance activities in the thermal spray booth and in the case of spraying outside the booth. The main reason for the low concentrations is the fact that most of the activities that could produce high-particle concentrations are conducted in closed, well-ventilated systems. Statistical elaboration of results showed that particles are correlated with Ni, Cu, Co. The same conclusion is extracted for Fe, Mn. These correlations indicate possible common sources.     

Downstream Ecological Impacts of Controlled Sediment Flushing in an Alpine Valley River: A Case Study

Sediment flushing may be effective to tackle the loss of reservoir storage as a result of siltation. When operationally possible, the impact of this practice on the downstream aquatic environment can be mitigated by limiting the sediment concentration of the discharged waters (controlled sediment flushing). However, this topic is poorly documented, and concerns arise when limits are discussed. We present the results of a 3‐year field investigation concerning the controlled sediment flushing of a small reservoir on the Adda River, the main tributary of Lake Como—Italy. Two limits for suspended solid concentration (SSC) were adopted: 1.5 g L^?1, as average value throughout the whole working day, and 3.0 g L^?1, as alert threshold to adjust the ongoing activity. These constraints were essentially fulfilled in the course of the documented operations. The first year sediment flushing was more significant than the following year: 25 000 tons of fines below 2 mm in diameter were flushed in six non‐consecutive days in summer 2010, while, one year earlier, 75 000 tons were flushed in 16 non‐consecutive days. In the third year of investigation (2011), no sediment evacuation took place. The benthic macroinvertebrate and the fish communities were surveyed a short distance below the reservoir, that is, in the potentially more affected river reach. Clear pieces of evidence of environmental quality degradation were not detected; the adopted strategies can therefore be considered to be appropriate when planning sediment flushing management in comparable contexts. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

关于雾霾污染的现状及治理方案的探讨＊

雾霾是雾与霾的混合物,雾霾湿度相对较大时,雾所占的成分居多;而在相对湿度为80%～90%时,霾所占的比例较大。在雾霾天气下,人们在室外的能见度特别低,给行车出行带来很大的不便,同时,还会给人们的健康带来严重的威胁。主要对雾霾污染的现状进行了分析,并重点提出治理雾霾污染的有效方案。     

Ultraprecise 3D Printed Graphene Aerogel Microlattices on Tape for Micro Sensors and E-Skin

3D printed graphene aerogels hold promise for flexible sensing fields due to their flexibility, low density, conductivity, and piezo-resistivity. However, low printing accuracy/fidelity and stochastic porous networks have hindered both sensing performance and device miniaturization. Here, printable graphene oxide (GO) inks are formulated through modulating oxygen functional groups, which allows printing of self-standing 3D graphene oxide aerogel microlattice (GOAL) with an ultra-high printing resolution of 70 µm. The reduced GOAL (RGOAL) is then stuck onto the adhesive tape as a facile and large-scale strategy to adapt their functionalities into target applications. Benefiting from the printing resolution of 70 µm, RGOAL tape shows better performance and data readability when used as micro sensors and robot e-skin. By adjusting the molecular structure of GO, the research realizes regulation of rheological properties of GO hydrogel and the 3D printing of lightweight and ultra-precision RGOAL, improves the sensing accuracy of graphene aerogel electronic devices and realizes the device miniaturization, expanding the application of graphene aerogel devices to a broader field such as micro robots, which is beyond the reach of previous reports.     

2D MoN1.2-rGO Stacked Heterostructures Enabled Water State Modification for Highly Efficient Interfacial Solar Evaporation

Improving interfacial solar evaporation performance is crucial for the practical application of this technology in solar-driven seawater desalination. Lowering evaporation enthalpy is one of the most promising and effective strategies to significantly improve solar evaporation rate. In this study, a new pathway to lower vaporization enthalpy by introducing heterogeneous interactions between hydrophilic hybrid materials and water molecules is developed. 2D MoN_1.2 nanosheets are synthesized and integrated with rGO nanosheets to form stacked MoN_1.2-rGO heterostructures with massive junction interfaces for interfacial solar evaporation. Molecular dynamics simulation confirms that atomic thick 2D MoN_1.2 and rGO in the MoN_1.2-rGO heterostructures simultaneously interact with water molecules, while the interactions are remarkably different. These heterogeneous interactions cause an imbalanced water state, which easily breaks the hydrogen bonds between water molecules, leading to dramatically lowered vaporization enthalpy and improved solar evaporation rate (2.6 kg m⁻² h⁻¹). This study provides a promising strategy for designing 2D-2D heterostructures to regulate evaporation enthalpy to improve solar evaporate rate for clean water production.     

Metal-Organic Framework Thin Films Grown on Functionalized Graphene as Solid-State Ion-Gated FETs

The unique properties of 2D-materials like graphene are exploited in various electronic devices. In sensor applications, graphene shows a very high sensitivity, but only a low specificity. This shortcoming can be mastered by using heterostructures, where graphene is combined with materials exhibiting high analyte selectivities. Herein, this study demonstrates the precise deposition of nanoporous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) on graphene, yielding bilayers with excellent specificity while the sensitivity remains large. The key for the successful layer-by-layer deposition of the MOF films (SURMOFs) is the use of planar polyaromatic anchors. Then, the MOF pores are loaded with ionic liquid (IL). For functioning sensor devices, the IL@MOF films are grown on graphene field-effect transistors (GFETs). Adding a top-gate electrode yields an ion-gated GFET. Analysis of the transistor characteristics reveals a clear Dirac point at low gate voltages, good on-off ratios, and decent charge mobilities and densities in the graphene channel. The GFET-sensor reveals a strong and selective response. Compared to other ion-gated-FET devices, the IL@MOF material is relatively hard, allowing the manufacturing of ultrathin devices. The new MOF-anchoring strategy offers a novel approach generally applicable for the functionalization of 2D-materials, where MOF/2D-material hetero-bilayers carry a huge potential for a wide variety of applications.     

Metal Single-Site Molecular Complex–MXene Heteroelectrocatalysts Interspersed Graphene Nanonetwork for Efficient Dual-Task of Water Splitting and Metal–Air Batteries

Development of multifunctional electrocatalysts with high efficiency and stability is of great interest in recent energy conversion technologies. Herein, a novel heteroelectrocatalyst of molecular iron complex (Fe_MC)-carbide MXene (Mo₂TiC₂T_x) uniformly embedded in a 3D graphene-based hierarchical network (GrH) is rationally designed. The coexistence of Fe_MC and MXene with their unique interactions triggers optimum electronic properties, rich multiple active sites, and favorite free adsorption energy for excellent trifunctional catalytic activities. Meanwhile, the highly porous GrH effectively promotes a multichannel architecture for charge transfer and gas/ion diffusion to improve stability. Therefore, the Fe_MC–MXene/GrH results in superb performances towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline medium. The practical tests indicate that Zn/Al–air batteries derived from Fe_MC–MXene/GrH cathodic electrodes produce high power densities of 165.6 and 172.7 mW cm⁻², respectively. Impressively, the liquid-state Zn–air battery delivers excellent cycling stability of over 1100 h. In addition, the alkaline water electrolyzer induces a low cell voltage of 1.55 V at 10 mA cm⁻² and 1.86 V at 0.4 A cm⁻² in 30 wt.% KOH at 80 °C, surpassing recent reports. The achievements suggest an exciting multifunctional electrocatalyst for electrochemical energy applications.     

基于石墨烯超表面天线的太赫兹动态相位调控及波束扫描

太赫兹波频段介于毫米波和红外光之间,具有诸多优异特性,太赫兹天线更是太赫兹通信、雷达和成像等应用系统中的核心元器件。然而,目前报道的太赫兹天线均无法满足较大动态范围的相位扫描、高效率辐射和大偏转角度的需求。该文设计了 3 种石墨烯太赫兹天线,最小尺寸为 5 μm,并对其辐射效率和相位调控特性进行研究,进而提出具有双共振模式的石墨烯-金属太赫兹超表面天线,缓解了传统的基于单共振模式的相位动态调控范围和辐射效率之间的矛盾,实现了 0～360°的动态相位调控,且辐射效率高于 20%。该研究采用微加工工艺进行样品加工,通过改变栅极电压,在实验上获得了 1.03 THz 的太赫兹动态相位调控,反射率高于 23%,与仿真结果基本吻合。在此基础上,该文基于连续相位编码设计了石墨烯超表面相控阵天线,理论上实现了太赫兹波束在－25°～25°范围内的实时波束偏转。该文为解决超表面相控阵天线的相位动态调控范围小、辐射效率低等难题提供了新的研究思路。     

Electrochemical stripping features of graphite and its products characterization

A stable dispersion in mixed solvent of water and N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF) of graphene was synthesized by one-step electrochemical approach. Here we demonstrate about electrochemical stripping graphite to prepare graphene influence by different electrolytes. The physical and chemical properties of the stripping product had been characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-Vis spectrophotometer (UV-Vis), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) . The characteristic results of XRD showed that it could improve the efficiency of graphite stripping when H₂SO₄ was used as electrolyte mother liquid and amount of HNO₃ was doped in electrolyte; XPS and FTIR results indicate that the electrochemical stripping products preserve the intrinsic structure of graphene. The results of SEM and TEM shown that the surface morphology of the as-prepared graphene was folded lamellar structure and have good transparency;its thickness varies from 0.8 nm to a few nanometers.     

Graphene-Au nanoparticle based electrochemical immunosensor for fish pathogen Aphanomyces invadans detection

Epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) that is primarily caused by an invasive oomycete fungus Aphanomyces invadans is a devastating fish disease. Rapid diagnosis of EUS is significantly important for the control and treatment of this highly invasive disease. In our study, a label-free immunosensor constructed with G-AuNPs/SAM-Ab-BSA/GCE was proposed for the determination of Aphanomyces invadans. The electrode was prepared by the immobilization of anti-mycelium antibodies on graphene-AuNPs nanocomposite-cysteamine monolayers modified GCE. The optimized parameters were as follows: 90 min as the immersion time of SAM modified electrode in the anti-mycelium solution, 0.20 µg/mL as the concentration of anti-mycelium solution and 10 min as the interaction time of immunoreaction. The immunosensors exhibited low limit detection of 309 ng/mL and good reproducibility.