Effect of mesoporous carbon on oxygen reduction reaction activity as cathode catalyst support for proton exchange membrane fuel cell

In this paper, a new carbon support with a large number of mesoporous-structures is selected to prepare Pt/C catalysts. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) results show that the Pt/3# catalyst presents a sponge-like morphology, Pt particles are not only evenly distributed on the surface of carbon support, but also the smaller Pt particles are deposited in the mesoporous inside the support. The average diameter of Pt particles is only 2.8 nm. The membrane electrode assembly (MEA) based on Pt/3# catalyst also shows excellent performance. In conclusion, the 3# support is an idea carbon support for PEMFC, which helps to improve the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of the catalyst. Based on the “internal-Pt” structure of the support mesoporous, the efficient three-phase boundaries (TPBs) are construct to avoid the poisoning effect of ionomer on the nano-metal particles, reduce the activation impedance and oxygen mass transfer impedance, and improve the reaction efficiency.     

基于滚动摩擦作用下玉米颗粒在模拟筒仓卸料中的力链分析（网络首发、推荐阅读）

针对颗粒滚动摩擦作用对筒仓中玉米颗粒的力链空间分布进行研究，通过EDEM离散元软件建立筒仓模型与仿真玉米颗粒模型进行卸粮仿真模拟，并与筒仓卸料实验作流态对比，验证模型与仿真结果的准确性。通过对模拟仓进行切片观察和数据处理，对比分析了不同摩擦情况下力链的细观参数随时间演化规律。模拟结果表明：颗粒间摩擦系数越大，卸粮完成的最终时间越长；颗粒间滚动摩擦系数越小，颗粒由整体流转变为管状流的时间越早。对于有漏斗的筒仓来说，减小颗粒间摩擦会改变整体流和管状流之间的极限，从而增加产生管状流的面积。标准滚动摩擦系数下玉米颗粒在卸料过程中会出现起拱-塌陷效应；减小滚动摩擦，玉米颗粒卸料较稳定，未出现起拱的应力突增、以及拱塌陷的应力衰减；增大颗粒间滚动摩擦不但会增加拱效应，且出现成拱高度距离漏斗口更高。     

Effects of the Anti-Tumorigenic Agent AT101 on Human Glioblastoma Cells in the Microenvironmental Glioma Stem Cell Niche

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a barely treatable disease due to its profound chemoresistance. A distinct inter- and intratumoral heterogeneity reflected by specialized microenvironmental niches and different tumor cell subpopulations allows GBMs to evade therapy regimens. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop alternative treatment strategies. A promising candidate for the treatment of GBMs is AT101, the R(-) enantiomer of gossypol. The present study evaluates the effects of AT101, alone or in combination with temozolomide (TMZ), in a microenvironmental glioma stem cell niche model of two GBM cell lines (U251MG and U87MG). AT101 was found to induce strong cytotoxic effects on U251MG and U87MG stem-like cells in comparison to the respective native cells. Moreover, a higher sensitivity against treatment with AT101 was observed upon incubation of native cells with a stem-like cell-conditioned medium. This higher sensitivity was reflected by a specific inhibitory influence on the p-p42/44 signaling pathway. Further, the expression of CXCR7 and the interleukin-6 receptor was significantly regulated upon these stimulatory conditions. Since tumor stem-like cells are known to mediate the development of tumor recurrences and were observed to strongly respond to the AT101 treatment, this might represent a promising approach to prevent the development of GBM recurrences.     

Enhanced mechanical properties of glass fibre epoxy composites by 2D exfoliated graphene oxide filler

Graphene oxide (GO) received a significant attention in the scientific community due to their excellent mechanical properties identifying themselves as an alternative and combinatory to various other metals and composites. Though GO possess excellent strength, it was observed from the literature that graphene oxide consisting of hydroxyl group elements ensue in poor bonding. Thus reduced functional group density (rFGD) graphene is preferred which has an advantage of good bonding, alongside very small quantity as a filler is required to achieve the enhancement equivalent to graphene oxide which forms the novelty of the current work. In current case, 3, 6 and 9 wt% of rFGD is dispersed into E-glass fibre reinforced composite by traditional hand layup technique. The obtained results revealed that, the tensile, flexural and impact strength have shown superior enhancement with 3 and 6 wt% of rGO than neat E-glass epoxy (0 wt% rGO), whereas an asymptotic decrement is noticed at 9 wt% when tested with ASTM standards except for impact strength. The microstructural studies also indicated the proper adhesion and alignment of fibres without any agglomerations corroborate the enhancement of properties. These overall finding supports the suitability of the developed laminates for potential use in structural applications in aerospace industry.     

高岭土性质对催化裂化催化剂性能的影响

采用X射线荧光分析仪、X射线衍射仪、N2物理吸附仪、场发射扫描电子显微镜等仪器表征了苏州、广西和美国佐治亚州3个产地的高岭土，并以此3种高岭土为原料制备了模型催化裂化（FCC）催化剂，在ACE评价装置上对比了模型催化剂的反应性能。结果表明:苏州及广西高岭土主要组分为高岭石，佐治亚高岭土主要组分为地开石及珍珠陶土；苏州高岭土呈片状，还含有少量棒状颗粒；广西高岭土呈多层片状，晶粒粒径较大；佐治亚高岭土呈薄片状，晶粒粒径较小；3种高岭土制备的模型催化剂反应活性、Na2O及RE2O3质量分数相近；广西高岭土制备的模型催化剂具有最大的孔体积和磨损指数，但比表面积最小，具有较强的重油转化能力，其目标产物（液化气+汽油）和副产物（干气+焦炭）收率都高于苏州、佐治亚高岭土制备的催化剂的。     

Tuning of shear thickening behavior and elastic strength of polyvinylidene fluoride via doping of ZnO-graphene

ZnO rice like nonarchitects are grafted on the graphene carbon core via a rapid microwave synthesis route. The prepared grafted systems are characterized via XRD, SEM, RAMAN, and XPS to examined the structural and morphological parameters. Zinc oxide grafted graphene sheets (ZnO-G) are further doped in β-phase of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) to prepare the polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) via mixed solvent approach (THF/DMF). β-phase confirmation of PVDF PNCs is done by FTIR studies. It is observed that ZnO-G filler enhances the β-phase content in the PNCs. Non-doped PVDF and PNCs are further studied for rheological behavior under the shear rate of 1–100 s⁻¹. Doping of ZnO-G dopant to the PVDF matrix changes its discontinuous shear thickening (DST) behavior to continues shear thickening behavior (CST). Hydrocluster formation and their interaction with the dopant could be the reason for this striking DST to CST behavioral change. Strain amplitude sweep (10⁻³% -10%) oscillatory test reveals that the PNCs shows extended linear viscoelastic region with high elastic modulus and lower viscous modulus. Effective shear thickening behavior and strong elastic strength of these PNCs present their candidature for various fields including mechanical and soft body armor applications.     

Designing amorphous formulations of polyphenols with naringin by spray-drying for enhanced solubility and permeability

Naringin (NAR), a major flavanone (FVA) glycoside, is a component of food mainly obtained from grapefruit. We used NAR as a food additive to improve the solubility and permeability of hydrophobic polyphenols used as supplements in the food industry. The spray-dried particles (SDPs) of NAR alone show an amorphous state with a glass transition temperature (T_g) at 93.2 °C. SDPs of hydrophobic polyphenols, such as flavone (FVO), quercetin (QCT), naringenin (NRG), and resveratrol (RVT) were prepared by adding varying amounts of NAR. All SDPs of hydrophobic polyphenols with added NAR were in an amorphous state with a single T_g, but SDPs of hydrophobic polyphenols without added NAR showed diffraction peaks derived from each crystal. The SDPs with NAR could keep an amorphous state after storage at a high humidity condition for one month, except for SDPs of RVT/NAR. SDPs with NAR enhanced the solubility of hydrophobic polyphenols, especially NRG solubility, which was enhanced more than 9 times compared to NRG crystal. The enhanced solubility resulted in the increased membrane permeability of NRG. The antioxidant effect of the hydrophobic NRG was also enhanced by the synergetic effect of NAR. The findings demonstrated that NAR could be used as a food additive to enhance the solubility and membrane permeability of hydrophobic polyphenols.     

The influence of FeNi nanoparticles on the microstructures and soft magnetic properties of FeSi soft magnetic composites

In this work, a new type of FeSi/FeNi soft magnetic powder core (SMPC) was successfully fabricated by coating FeNi nanoparticles on the surface of FeSi micrometer powder. The effects of different contents of FeNi nanoparticles on the micromorphology, internal structures, and soft magnetic properties of SMPCs were studied. The results show that FeNi nanoparticles adhere to the surface of FeSi powder, which can effectively fill the air gap between FeSi powder and is beneficial to the compaction of the powder cores during the pressing process. Thus, the density of the SMPCs is increased. Compared to FeSi SMPCs, the comprehensive soft magnetic properties of FeSi/FeNi SMPCs have been greatly improved. When adding 15 wt% FeNi nanoparticles, the SMPCs exhibit excellent magnetic properties with high effective permeability (increased by 43.8 %) and low core loss (decreased by 22.1 %). The high performance FeSi/FeNi SMPCs prepared in this work are expected to be widely used in power choke coils, uninterruptible power supplies, and boosts and inverter inductors.     

Picosecond laser trimming of ceramic cores with porous multi-scale particle microstructure

The ceramic core, produced by hot injection molding, is one of the critical components for manufacturing high-performance aircraft engine turbine blades. However, the injection molding process will cause defects such as burrs and flashes in the fine structure of the formed ceramic core. Manual trimming is necessary, but the trimming quality is poor, and the yield is low. In this paper, the online trimming method of ceramic cores is studied. Based on the orthogonal experiment method, the optimal laser parameters for processing the ceramic core's porous multi-scale particle structure material were obtained. Further, the problems of the match head and tail phenomenon and dimensional accuracy improvement in trimming ceramic cores have been studied. A path optimisation method is proposed to improve the quality and accuracy of the trimming profile effectively. Finally, the overall process flow of ceramic core trimming is elaborated, and experimental verification is given. The results show that the ceramic core online trimming method proposed in this paper has advantages of high precision and high yield compared with the manual method, which will have substantial potential application value in the aviation field.