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Isotactic polypropylene(iPP) and graphene oxide(GO), dispersed in dibutyl phthalate(DBP) and dioctyl phthalate(DOP), were blended to prepare organic-inorganic-blended microfiltration membranes using thermally induced phase separation(TIPS). These membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR), contact angle measurements, mechanical properties, permeation tests, and porosity measurements. The morphology studied by SEM shows larger pores of the GO-blended membranes when compared to those of unmodified iPP membranes. Composite iPP/GO membranes achieve better performance in terms of water fluxes and pure water fluxes recovery ratio due to the hydrophilic nature of GO when compared with the pure iPP membranes. The addition of GO increases the permeability and the tensile strength by 352.98% and 123%, respectively, and also decreases the contact angle from 125° to 52.33°. We concluded that the composite membrane with 0.3% GO has the best antifouling ability of the membranes tested because it has the highest values of mean pore radius, porosity, and water flux observed in this study.

In order to improve the capacitive properties of TiO2 materials for supercapacitors, the carbon-modified TiO2 (denoted as C-TiO2) composite films was synthesized by gas thermal penetration of pure Ti plate with methanol as the drop agent under the temperature of 550 °C. The structure and composition of C-TiO2 was investigated by SEM, XRD, RAMAN, XPS and XANES. The electrochemical performance of C-TiO2 was evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge/discharge (GCD) tests. Results show that the film is composed of a large amount of rutile TiO2 and a little anatase TiO2, and meantime the carbon is deposited on the film through the methanol decomposition during the gas thermal penetration, which greatly influences the electrochemical properties of the composite films. The prepared C-TiO2 yields the largest specific capacities of 47.46 mC cm−2 at the scan rate of 10 mV s−1 based on the CV curves, and 7.35 mC cm−2 at the current density of 0.075 mA cm−2 based on the galvanostatic charge/discharge curves, which compares favorably with many other similar modified TiO2 film materials reported nowadays. The excellent large charge storage properties of C-TiO2 films are attributed to the deposition of a certain amount of graphitized carbon and organic carbon containing hydroxyl groups and carbanyl groups and the formation of Ti3+ in the form of TiO1.5 under methanol reductive atmosphere be means of the improvement of the pseudocapacitance property and the conductivity of the composite films.

In this work, we develop a novel carbon-modification method to improve the electronic conductivity and the electrochemical performances of TiO 2 nanotubes electrodes for binder-free supercapacitor. The carbon modified TiO 2 nanotubes (denoted as C-TNTs) is prepared by two-step process of anodic oxidation and gas thermal penetration method on a Ti plate. The structure and composition of C-TNTs was characterized by SEM, XRD, EDS, RAMAN, XPS and XANS, respectively. The electrochemical performances of C-TNTs were evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charging/discharging (GCD) tests. The C-TNTs film presents almost the same morphology as TNTs film and C is successfully deposited on the film in different forms. The largest areal capacitance of C-TNTs film is 38.2 mF/cm 2 at the scan rate of 10 mV/s in CV curves, and 12.10 mF/cm 2 at the current density of 0.125 mA/cm 2 in GCD measurements, 21.1 times than that of TNTs film. The great improvement of the capacitance can be attributed to the increase of conductivity and the pseudocapacitance effect, which corresponds to the C deposition and Ti 4+ reduction into Ti 3+ , and the chemisorbed CO and OH on the film surface, respectively. The galvanostatic charging/discharging cycle test indicates the good stability and reversibility of C-TNTs film as the electrode material in the application of supercapacitor.

Environmental finance is developing as a field in response to an acceptance of the idea that sound environmental management is positively correlated with sound economic management. Thus, there is growing confidence that environmental quality is justified by the bottom line. However, because environmental quality cannot be packaged like a physical commodity and sold in a traditional marketplace, innovation has been required to develop new financial instruments that recognize and reward environmental virtue in the private sector. The paper studies such related problems as the environment management and shareholder value creation, environmental management system, tools of risk management accelerate the development of environmental finance.

The performance evaluation of in-vehicle network system is important for the safety and reliability of the network. This paper discusses the architecture and requirements of the evaluation system for in-vehicle network and presents an effective method for the system design and development based on rapid prototype and hardware in the loop technique. The evaluation system proposed in this paper can carry out evaluations in network physical layer, data link layer, application layer, moreover, it is also effective for conformance evaluation of electronic control units and the vehicle dynamic behaviors. The evaluation system can be used in most in-vehicle network and it covers most parameters of in-vehicle network evaluation.

Vapor condensation is routinely used as an effective means of transferring heat or separating fluids. Dropwise condensation, where discrete droplets form on the condenser surface, offers a potential improvement in heat transfer of up to an order of magnitude compared to filmwise condensation, where a liquid film covers the surface. Low surface tension fluid condensates such as hydrocarbons pose a unique challenge since typical hydrophobic condenser coatings used to promote dropwise condensation of water often do not repel fluids with lower surface tensions. Recent work has shown that lubricant infused surfaces (LIS) can promote droplet formation of hydrocarbons. In this work, we confirm the effectiveness of LIS in promoting dropwise condensation by providing experimental measurements of heat transfer performance during hydrocarbon condensation on a LIS, which enhances heat transfer by ≈450% compared to an uncoated surface. We also explored improvement through removal of noncondensable gases and highlighted a failure mechanism whereby shedding droplets depleted the lubricant over time. Enhanced condensation heat transfer for low surface tension fluids on LIS presents the opportunity for significant energy savings in natural gas processing as well as improvements in thermal management, heating and cooling, and power generation., National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant 1122374)