Novel TiC-based composites with enhanced mechanical properties

Novel TiC-based composites were synthesized by reactive hot-pressing at 1800 °C for 1 h with ZrB₂ addition as a sintering aid for the first time. The effects of ZrB₂ contents on the phase composition, microstructure evolution, and mechanical properties were reported. Based on the reaction and solid solution coupling effects between ZrB₂ and TiC, the product ZrC may be partially or completely dissolved into the TiC matrix, and then phase separation within the miscibility gap is observed to form lamellar nanostructured ZrC-rich (Zr, Ti)C. The TiC-10 mol.% ZrB₂ (starting batch composition) exhibits good comprehensive mechanical properties of hardness 27.7 ± 1.3 GPa, flexural strength 659 ± 48 MPa, and fracture toughness of 6.5 ± 0.6 MPa m^1/2, respectively, which reach or exceed most TiC-based composites using ceramics as sintering aids in the previous reports.     

In situ Raman spectroscopic study towards the growth and excellent HER catalysis of Ni/Ni(OH)2 heterostructure

The electrochemical water splitting to produce H₂ in high efficiency with earth-abundant-metal catalysts remains a challenge. Here, we describe a simple “cyclic voltammetry + ageing” protocol at room temperature to activate Ni electrode (AC-Ni/NF) for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), by which Ni/Ni(OH)₂ heterostructure is formed at the surface. In situ Raman spectroscopy reveals the gradual growth of Ni/Ni(OH)₂ heterostructure during the first 30 min of the aging treatment and combined with polarization measurements, it suggests a positive relation between the Ni/Ni(OH)₂ amount and HER performance of the electrode. The obtained AC-Ni/NF catalyst, with plentiful Ni–Ni(OH)₂ interfaces, exhibits remarkable performance towards HER, with the low overpotential of only 30 mV at a H₂-evolving current density of 10 mA/cm² and 153 mV at 100 mA/cm², as well as a small Tafel slope of 46.8 mV/dec in 1 M KOH electrolyte at ambient temperature. The excellent HER performance of the AC-Ni/NF could be maintained for at least 24 h without obvious decay. Ex situ experiments and in situ electrochemical-Raman spectroscopy along with density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that Ni/Ni(OH)₂ heterostructure, although partially reduced, can still persist during HER catalysis and it is the Ni–Ni(OH)₂ interface reducing the energy barrier of H1 adsorption thus promoting the HER performance.     

A Reduced Reachability Tree for a Class of Unbounded Petri Nets

As a powerful analysis tool of Petri nets, reachability trees are fundamental for systematically investigating many characteristics such as boundedness, liveness and reversibility. This work proposes a method to generate a reachability tree, called ωRT for short, for a class of unbounded generalized nets called ω-independent nets based on new modified reachability trees (NMRTs). ωRT can effectively decrease the number of nodes by removing duplicate and ω-duplicate nodes in the tree, and verify properties such as reachability, liveness and deadlocks. Two examples are provided to show its superiority over NMRTs in terms of tree size.      

负载型复合载体及其镍基催化剂的性能

采用溶胶-凝胶法制备了负载型ZrO_2/Al_2O_3和ZrO_2/Al_2O_3-SiO_2复合载体,研究了不同复合载体对Ni基催化剂CO_2重整甲烷反应和性能的影响,并用XRD、IR、TPR、TPD和BET等方法对复合载体及催化剂进行了表征。结果表明,ZrO_2负载在基载体后比表面积、碱性、活性组分Ni的分散度和Ni与ZrO_2的相互作用增大。NiO在复合载体表面的分散容量与ZrO_2的负载量有关,ZrO_2的负载量为37．5%时NiO的分散容量达最高值(24．0%)。与Ni/ZrO_2相比,Ni/ZrO_2/Al_2O_3-SiO_2和Ni/ZrO_2/Al_2O_3催化剂对CO_2的吸附能力增大,CO_2吸附量增加,酸强度降低,CO_2重整CH_4反应活性提高,其中以Ni/ZrO_2/Al_2O_3催化剂的活性最好。     

现代化工分离技术讲座

<正>第十一章离子液体在分离过程中的应用(上接第2006年第5期) 5．2有机/生物/生物燃料分子的离子液体萃取由于带电有机物在离子液体中的高溶解性,促进了离子液体回收有机物的发展。如表11-7所示,在IL-H_2O两相体系中进行了一些取代苯衍生物的相分配研究。     

Antenna-array pattern nulling using a differential evolution algorithm

A new method based on the differential evolution (DE) algorithm is proposed for antenna-array pattern synthesis with prescribed nulls. The array excitation amplitudes are the only controlling parameters, and the objectives are to synthesize array patterns with nulls imposed on directions of interferences while keeping the sidelobe levels (SLLs) below prescribed levels. Many factors such as the excitation dynamic range ratio, null depth level, null width, and SLLs are taken into account in the synthesis. Simulation results of several typical problems are compared with published results to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 14: 57–63, 2004.