Investigating the effect of silver nanorods embedded in polydimethylsiloxane matrix using nanoindentation and its use for flexible electronics

The stretchable electrodes with excellent flexibility, electrical conductivity, and mechanical durability are the most fundamental components in the emerging and exciting field of flexible electronics. This article proposes a method for fabrication of such a stretchable electrode by embedding silver nanorods (AgNRs) into a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix that is grown by a unique glancing angle deposition technique. The surface, mechanical, and electrical properties of PDMS are significantly changed after embedding the AgNRs in it. The results show that surface roughness and polarity increase after AgNRs are embedded in the PDMS matrix. Elastic modulus (E) and hardness (H) decrease with an increase in the indentation load as a result of the indentation depth effect. Due to strong interfacial adhesion of AgNRs embedded in the PDMS matrix, the E and H of nanocomposite are increased by 167.6 and 93.3% compared with PDMS film, respectively. Furthermore, the AgNRs-PDMS film has an electrical resistivity value in the order of 10⁻⁷ Ωm. It remains conductive during various mechanical strains such as bending, twisting, and stretching, which is demonstrated using a light-emitting diode circuit. Simultaneously, the antimicrobial activity of silver could make it a promising candidate for wearable electronics.     

Investigation on sulphonated zinc oxide nanorod incorporated sulphonated poly (1,4-phenylene ether ether sulfone) nanocomposite membranes for improved performance of microbial fuel cell

Hydrothermally prepared zinc oxide nanorods are sulphonated (S–ZnO NR) and incorporated into 15% Sulphonated Poly (1,4-Phenylene Ether Ether Sulfone) (SPEES) to improve the hydrophilicity, water uptake and ion transfer capacity. Water uptake and ion transfer capacity increased to 34.6 ± 0.6% and 2.0 ± 0.05 meq g^?1 from 29.8 ± 0.3% and 1.4 ± 0.04 meq g^?1 by adding 7.5 wt% S–ZnO NR to SPEES. Morphological studies show the prepared S–ZnO NR is well dispersed in the polymer matrix. SPEES +7.5 wt% S–ZnO NR membrane exhibits optimum performance after three-weeks of continual operation in a fabricated microbial fuel cell (MFC) to produce a maximum power density of 142 ± 1.2 mW m^?2 with a reduced biofilm compared to plain SPEES (59 ± 0.8 mW m^?2), unsulphonated filler incorporated SPEES (SPEES + 7.5 wt% ZnO, 68 ± 1.1 mW m^?2) and Nafion (130 ± 1.5 mW m^?2) thereby suggesting its suitability as a sustainable and improved cation exchange membrane (CEM) for MFCs.     

Se doped nickel-molybdenum bimetal sulfide with enhanced electrochemical activity for hydrogen evolution reaction

In this work, we synthesized Se doped MoS₂@Ni₃S₂ with nanosheets coated nanorods structure supported on Ni foam (MoNiSeS). Firstly, MoS₂@Ni₃S₂ (MoNiS) nanorods was synthesized by hydrothermal method. After selenization treatment, MoSe₂ successfully formed on the edge of MoS₂ nanosheets and particle Ni₃S₂ transformed into NiSe, in which MoSe₂ and NiSe acted as new phase in MoNiSeS. The obtained MoNiSeS only needs a low overpotential of 68 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA cm^?2, and has a low Tafel plots of 72.77 mV dec^?1 and good electrochemical durability, whose electrochemical activity is much better than that of MoNiS and NiSeS, implying the introduction of Mo and Se is beneficial to improve the electrocatalytic performance of NiS for HER. In addition, the proper amount of Mo source, which has an effect on the morphology of product, has also been investigated. For MoNiSeS, the typical nanosheets coated nanarods expose more active sites and the synergic effects is good to the improvement of the catalytic activity. Meanwhile, WNiSeS has also been prepared using the same method and the corresponding results show that the electrochemical activity of WNiSeS is much better than that of NiSeS, proving the universality of this strategy.     

ZnS掺杂技术研究及应用现状

对现阶段国内外在ZnS及ZnS基材料掺杂改性方面的研究成果作一概述性介绍，综述了纳米级ZnS发光材料掺杂改性的基本机理，主要的掺杂技术、方法，并对多种掺杂元素的效果进行了分析比较。     

硫化锌纳米粒子的微乳液合成

介绍了微乳液制备纳米粒子的基本原理。对影响微乳液体系形成的主要因素如油相、水相、表面活性剂种类及用量等进行了研究，以表面活性剂TWEEN80和SPAN80作乳化剂，通过调整其比例控制乳化剂的HLB值，制备了乳化剂浓度为0.3mol/L、水/乳化剂比为6：1的W/O型庚烷/ST80/水微乳液体系。在此微乳液中制备了ZnS纳米粒子，采用TEM和XRD对超细样品的结构进行表征，表明得到的样品为β型立方晶系ZnS粒子、粒子粒径10-30nm。     

Ultrasonic properties of hexagonal ZnS at nanoscale

Higher order elastic constants have been calculated in ZnS at 300 K and 500 K following the interaction potential model. Ultrasonic attenuation, velocity and other related parameters have been calculated using the higher order elastic constants for the different size of the material at 500 K. The size dependency of the ultrasonic properties is discussed in correlation with elastic, thermal and electrical properties. It has been found that the thermal conductivity is the main contributor to the behaviour of the ultrasonic attenuation as a function of the size and the responsible cause of attenuation is phonon-phonon interaction. The semiconducting nature of ZnS film has been achieved with the study of size variation of thermal relaxation time and ultrasonic attenuation.     

静压下ZnS：Te中Te等电子陷阱的发光

研究了4块ZnS：Te薄膜样品(Te组分从0．5％到3．1％)的光致发光谱在常压下的温度特性．对于Te组分较小的2块样品观察到2个发光峰，分别来自Te1和Te2等电子陷阱；而对Te组分较大的2块样品则只观察到1个来自Te2等电子陷阱的发光．我们还研究了这些发光峰在低温1．5K下的流体静压压力行为．观察到与Te1有关的发光峰压力系数比ZnS带边的要大很多，而与Te2有关的发光峰压力系数则比带边小．根据Koster-Slater模型，价带态密度半宽随压力的增加是Te1中心有较大压力系数的主要原因，而Te1和Te2中心的不同压力行为则是由于压力对两者缺陷势增强的不同效果引起的．     

Photocatalytic H2 evolution under visible light irradiation on Zn1-x Cu x S solid solution

The H₂ evolution reaction from an aqueous Na₂SO₃ solution proceeded with 3.7% quantum yield under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm) on a Zn_0.957Cu_0.043S solid solution photocatalyst without co‐catalysts such as Pt. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Synthesis, structure and magnetic properties of β-MnO 2 nanorods

We present synthesis, structure and magnetic properties of structurally well-ordered single-crystalline β-MnO₂ nanorods of 50–100 nm diameter and several μm length. Thorough structural characterization shows that the basic β-MnO₂ material is covered by a thin surface layer (∼2.5 nm) of α-Mn₂O₃ phase with a reduced Mn valence that adds its own magnetic signal to the total magnetization of the β-MnO₂ nanorods. The relatively complicated temperature-dependent magnetism of the nanorods can be explained in terms of a superposition of bulk magnetic properties of spatially segregated β-MnO₂ and α-Mn₂O₃ constituent phases and the soft ferromagnetism of the thin interface layer between these two phases.     

均匀沉淀法制备AI／ZnS复合粒子

介绍了以硫代乙酰胺(TAA)和乙酸锌[Zn(Ac)2]为主要原料，在片状铝粉表面包覆一层ZnS，制备出包覆式复合粒子Al／ZnS，改变母粒子Al粉的加入量及反应温度，确定制备包覆完全致密复合粒子的最佳条件，通过SEM、XRD及粒度测试等分析方法对复合粒子进行表征。