Single chamber Solid Oxide Fuel Cells selective electrodes: A real chance with brownmillerite-based nanocomposites

In this contribution brownmillerite-based nanocomposite cathode for Single-Chamber Solid Oxide Fuel Cells is developed. These cells can be very attractive especially for small and cheap devices because of the absence of seals. The efficiency of SC-SOFCs is strictly connected to the selectivity of anode and cathode, the bottleneck for this technology. The development of a cathode inert in fuel oxidation is particularly challenging. Our strategy is to start from a catalytically un-active support (CFA = Ca₂FeAl_0.95Mg_0.05O₅) and induce the formation of iron oxide based nanoparticles, expected to activate oxygen. Symmetric (CFA + FeO_x/CGO/CFA + FeO_x) and complete cells (CFA + FeO_x/CGO/Ni-CGO) are studied in air and methane/oxygen 2:1 mixture. The Area Specific Resistance of CFA + FeO_x is less than 1/3 that of CFA. The high selectivity allows to reach an efficiency of 25%; power still needs to be increased but we demonstrated the possibility to develop selective low cost electrodes. The effect of air, methane/oxygen exposure and the heat treatments were carefully investigated.     

A first-principles investigation on mechanical and metallic properties of titanium carbides under pressure

The titanium carbides are potential candidates to achieve both high hardness and refractory property. We carried out a structural search for titanium carbides at three pressures of 0 GPa, 30 GPa and 50 GPa. A phase diagram of the Ti-C system at 0 K was obtained by elucidating formation enthalpies as a function of compositions, and their mechanical and metallic properties of titanium carbides were investigated systematically. We also discussed the relation of titanium concentration to the both mechanical and metallic properties of titanium carbides. It has been found that the average valence electron density and tractility improved at higher concentrations of titanium, while the degree of covalent bonding directionality decreased. To this effect, the hardness of titanium carbide decreases as the content of titanium increases. Our results indicated that the titanium content significantly affected the metallic properties of the Ti-C system.     

Malic acid production from renewables: a review

Malic acid derived from fossil resources is currently applied in the food and beverage industries with a medium global production capacity. However, in the transition from a fossil-based to a bio-based economy, biotechnologically produced l -malic acid may become an important platform chemical with many new applications, especially in the field of biopolymers. In this review, currently used petrochemical production routes to dl -malic acid are outlined and insights into possible bio-based alternatives for microbial l -malic acid production are provided. Besides ecological reasons, the possibility to produce enantiopure l -malic acid by microbial fermentation is the biggest advantage over chemical synthesis. State-of-the-art and open challenges concerning production host engineering, substrate choice and downstream processing are addressed. With regard to production hosts, a literature overview is given covering the leading natural production strains of Aspergillus, Ustilago and Aureobasidium, as well as Escherichia coli as the most important engineered recombinant host. The utilization of renewable substrates as an alternative to glucose is emphasized in particular as a key aspect for a competitive bio-based production. Out of the alternative substrates discussed in this review, the industrial side-streams crude glycerol and molasses seem to be most promising for large-scale l -malic acid production. © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.     

Encapsulation and Ostwald Ripening of Au and Au–Cl Complex Nanostructures in Silica Shells

We report a general template strategy for rational fabrication of a new class of nanostructured materials consisting of multicore shell particles. Our approach is demonstrated by encapsulating Au or Pt nanoparticles in silica shells. Other superstructures of these hollow shells, like dimers, trimers, and tetramers can also be formed by nanoparticle‐mediated self‐assembly. We have also used the as‐prepared multicore Au–silica hollow particles to perform the first studies of Ostwald ripening in confined microspace, in which chloride was found to be an efficient mediating ligand. After treatment with aqua regia, Au–Cl complex is formed inside the shell, and is found to be very active under in situ transmission electron microscopy observations while confined in a microcell. This aspect of the work is expected to motivate further in situ studies of confined crystal growth.     

微波合成无机纳米材料的研究进展

微波加热作为一种合成纳米材料的新方法，近年来得到飞速发展。介绍了微波加热原理，阐述了微波合成无机纳米材料的一些研究进展，主要是液相微波加热在制备金属氧化物和金属硫化物纳米材料以及微波烧结在合成陶瓷材料的应用，并对该领域未来作了一些展望。     

炼油达标污水回用处理试验研究

采用曝气生物滤池、多介质过滤、超滤、反渗透工艺,对炼油达标外排污水进行回用处理中试试验。结果表明,曝气生物滤池对油、COD和浊度去除效果良好,超滤、反渗透膜化学清洗周期达到 2个月以上,脱盐率稳定在98％以上,产水品质达到回用要求。     

新型壳聚糖/纳米二氧化硅杂化材料的制备与性能

在纳米S iO2颗粒表面引入羟丙基氯活性基团,得到功能化S iO2颗粒,再将羟丙基氯化的S iO2颗粒交联固定在壳聚糖上,制备了一种新型的壳聚糖/纳米S iO2杂化材料(简称杂化材料);通过傅里叶变换红外光谱、透射电镜、扫描电镜方法对杂化材料进行表征,采用热重(TG)分析研究杂化材料的热性能;考察了杂化材料的沉降速率和对金属离子Ca2+和M g2+的吸附能力。电镜分析结果表明,杂化材料微粒为纳米尺度的无机S iO2加强化的微粒,S iO2颗粒分散在材料中,形成均匀的表面;TG分析结果表明,杂化材料的热性能有所提高;沉降实验测得壳聚糖和杂化材料作为吸附剂的沉降时间分别为130.3,68.5s,表明杂化材料的沉降速率比壳聚糖的沉降速率快了近一倍;杂化材料对金属离子Ca2+和M g2+的吸附量分别可达到0.289 3,1.445 6mm ol/g。     

Stress-strain relations in elastoplastic solids with Dugdale-type cracks

Mechanical behavior of a two-dimensional elastoplastic solid with rectilinear cracks is investigated. Plastic strip model is used to reduce plasticity problem to the equivalent linear elasticity formulation. Two realizations of the mixed mode plastic strip model are considered: in-line plastic strips as proposed by Becker and Gross [Int. J. Fract. 37 (1988) 163], and inclined plastic strips of Panasyuk and Savruk [Appl. Mech. Rev. 47 (1994) 151]. The effective mechanical response predictions are based on the procedure presented in Kachanov et al., [Appl. Mech. Rev. 47 (1994) 151]. Stress-strain relations are obtained for parallel and randomly oriented non-interacting cracks. Results are compared with known elastic solutions.     

固体铝电解电容器用导电高分子制备工艺进展

依据近年的相关专利,综述了用于固体铝电解电容器的导电高分子的最新制备工艺,介绍了导电高分子固体铝电解电容器的结构,详细描述了制备导电高分子的两种主要方法——化学聚合和电化学聚合——及其进展历程。介绍了新颖掺杂剂的发现与使用,对各种工艺的特点进行了评述。