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Phase change material (PCM) with thermal energy storage capacity has been a hot topic due to the advantages of satisfying the demand for energy storage, saving and conversion. In this work, graphene oxide (GO) was introduced to prepare a three-dimensional (3D) continuous network of graphene aerogel (GA) via a simple hydrothermal process, and the GA was further employed to pack polyethylene glycols (PEG). Benefited from the abundant porous structure and high specific surface area, the mass fraction of PEG in the composite PCM was up to 96.0 wt%. Besides, the heat latent of the composite was 223.2 J/g, illustrating a high energy storage density. Moreover, due to the crosslinking graphene skeleton and its inherent high thermal conductivity, the heat transfer rate was enhanced to 116% of the pure PEG. This work could simultaneously solve the drawbacks of leakage and low thermal conductivity of PCM. And the composite PCM could be considered as a clean, energy-saving and recycled material in the application of building heat preservation.

Abstract Metal‐based nanocatalysts supported on carbon have significant prospect for industry. However, a straightforward method for efficient and stable nanocatalysts still remains extremely challenging. Inspired by the structure and comptosition of cell walls and membranes, an ion chemical bond anchoring, an in situ carbonization coreduction process, is designed to obtain composite catalysts on N‐doped 2D carbon (C‐N) loaded with various noble and non‐noble metals (for example, Pt, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Ir, Au, Co, and Ni) nanocatalysts. These 2 nm particles uniformly and stably bond with the C‐N support since the agglomeration and growth are suppressed by anchoring the metal ions on the cell wall and membrane during the carbonization and reduction reactions. The Pt@C‐N exhibits excellent catalytic activity and long‐term stability for the hydrogen evolution reaction, and the relative overpotential at 100 mA cm−2 is only 77 mV, which is much lower than that of commercial Pt/C and Pt single‐atom catalysts reported recently.

Developing a porous separation membrane that can efficiently separate oil–water emulsions still represents a challenge. In this study, nanofiber membranes with polydopamine clusters polymerized and embedded on the surface were successfully constructed using a solution blow-spinning process. The hierarchical surface structure enhanced the selective wettability, superhydrophilicity in air (≈0°), and underwater oleophobicity (≈160.2°) of the membrane. This membrane can effectively separate oil–water emulsions, achieving an excellent permeation flux (1552 Lm−2 h−1) and high separation efficiency (~99.86%) while operating only under the force of gravity. When the external driving pressure was increased to 20 kPa, the separation efficiency hardly changed (99.81%). However, the permeation flux significantly increased to 5894 Lm−2 h−1. These results show that the as-prepared polydopamine nanocluster-embedded nanofiber membrane has an excellent potential for oily wastewater treatment applications.

The fabrication and luminescent performance of novel phosphors Na2YMg2V3O12:Dy3+ were investigated by a conventional solid-state reaction method. Under near-UV light, the Na2YMg2V3O12 host self-activated and released a broad emission band (400−700 nm, with a peak at 524 nm) ascribable to charge transfer in the (VO4)3− groups. Meanwhile, the Na2YMg2V3O12:Dy3+ phosphors emitted bright yellow light within both the broad emission band of the (VO4)3- groups and the sharp peaks of the Dy3+ ions at 490, 582, and 663 nm at a quenching concentration of 0.03 mol. The emission of the as-prepared Na2YMg2V3O12:Dy3+ phosphors remained stable at high temperatures. The obtained phosphors, commercial Y2O3:Eu3+ red phosphors, and BaMgAl10O17:Eu2+ blue phosphors were packed into a white light-emitting diode (WLED) device with a near-UV chip. The designed WLED emitted bright white light with good chromaticity coordinates (0.331, 0.361), satisfactory color rendering index (80.2), and proper correlation to a color temperature (7364 K). These results indicate the potential utility of Na2YMg2V3O12:Dy3+ phosphor as a yellow-emitting phosphor in solid-state illumination.

The development of white-light-emitting diodes (w-LEDs) makes it meaningful to develop novel high-performance phosphors excited by blue light. Herein, BiOCl:Pr3+ green-yellow phosphors were prepared via a high-temperature solid-state reaction method. The crystal structure, luminescent properties, lifetime, thermal quenching behavior, and quantum yield were studied in detail. The BiOCl:Pr3+ phosphors presented several emission peaks located in green and red regions, under excitation at 453 nm. The CIE coordinates could be tuned along with the changed doping concentration with fair luminescence efficiency. The results also indicated that the optimized doping concentration of Pr3+ ions was at x = 0.0075 because of the concentration quenching behavior resulting from an intense exchange effect. When the temperature reached 150 °C, the intensity of the emission peak at 495 nm could remain at 78% of that at room temperature. The activation energy of 0.20 eV also confirmed that the BiOCl:Pr3+ phosphor exhibited good thermal stability. All these results indicate that the prepared products have potential to be used as a high-performance green-yellow-light-emitting phosphor for blue-light-based w-LEDs.

Solid particle erosion-wear experiments on as-prepared mullite-SiC composite refractories by nitriding reactive sintering were performed at elevated temperatures, using sharp black SiC abrasive particles at an impact speed of 50 m/s and the impact angle of 90° in the air atmosphere. The effects of silicon powder addition and erosion temperature on the erosion-wear resistance of mullite-SiC composite refractories were studied. The test results reveal that Si powders caused nitriding reaction to form β-sialon whiskers in the matrix of mullite-SiC composite refractories. The erosion-wear resistance of mullite-SiC composite refractories was improved with the increase of silicon powder addition and erosion temperature, and the minimum volume erosion rate was under the condition of 12% silicon added and a temperature of 1400°C. The major erosion-wear mechanisms of mullite-SiC composite refractories were brittle erosion at the erosion temperature from room temperature to 1000°C and then plastic deformation from 1200°C to 1400°C.

The solid wastes fly ash and aluminum dross were used to prepare the low cost, high added-value product spinel-corundum-Sialon with an in situ aluminothermic reduction-nitridation reaction. The effects of varying raw material components and heating temperatures on the phase compositions, microstructure, bulk density, apparent porosity, and bending strength of products were investigated. The presence of hazardous or impure elements in the products was also evaluated. The sintered materials mainly consisted of micro-/nanosized plate corundum, octahedral spinel, and hexagonal columnar β-Sialon. The bulk density and bending strength of product samples initially increased and then decreased as Al content increased. Product samples with an Al content exceeding 10 mass% that were sintered at 1450°C exhibited the highest bending strength (288 MPa), the lowest apparent porosity (1.24%), and extremely low linear shrinkage (0.67%). The main impurity present was Fe5Si3 with hazardous elements P, Cr, Mn, and Ni doping. This work could provide a new method to reduce environmental pollution and manufacture low cost high performance refractory materials using the abundant waste materials fly ash and aluminum dross.

Calcium hexaluminate (CA6) was incorporated into the matrix of magnesio aluminate spinel-alumina (MA-A) via infiltration of a porous preform fabricated from α-Al2O3 and MgO powders with a saturated calcium acetate solution and subsequent firing, forming CA6/(MA-A) functionally composites with graded fracture toughness. Actually, the porous preform was partially and perpendicularly immersed (1/4 of its length) in the solution. Owing to the capillary action, the calcium acetate solution was absorbed into the porous preform, and the different absorption distance led to the graded solution concentration in the height direction of the porous preform. The in-situ formation of CA6 conferred graded microstructures, as well as improved mechanical properties on the resultant composites. The CA6 content decreased gradually along the solution absorption direction, i.e., from one end [CA6/(MA-A) region] immersed in solution to the other end [MA-A region], reducing evidently the formation of layered structure along the direction, while increasing gradually the formation of spherical alumina particles. The CA6/(MA-A) region had a better toughness that could prevent the crack propagation and improve the spalling resistance. Meanwhile, the MA-A region could provide structural support, because of the higher Vickers hardness and density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calcium hexaluminate (CA6) was incorporated into the matrix of magnesio aluminate spinel-alumina (MA-A) via infiltration of a porous preform fabricated from a-Al2O3 and MgO powders with a saturated calcium acetate solution and subsequent firing, forming CA6/(MA-A) functionally composites with graded fracture toughness. Actually, the porous preform was partially and perpendicularly immersed (1/4 of its length) in the solution. Owing to the capillary action, the calcium acetate solution was absorbed into the porous preform, and the different absorption distance led to the graded solution concentration in the height direction of the porous preform. The in-situ formation of CA6 conferred graded microstructures, as well as improved mechanical properties on the resultant composites. The CA6 content decreased gradually along the solution absorption direction, i.e., from one end [CA6/(MA-A) region] immersed in solution to the other end [MA-A region], reducing evidently the formation of layered structure along the direction, while increasing gradually the formation of spherical alumina particles. The CA6/(MA-A) region had a better toughness that could prevent the crack propagation and improve the spalling resistance. Meanwhile, the MA-A region could provide structural support, because of the higher Vickers hardness and density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preparation of nanomaterials with various morphologies and exploiting their novel physical properties are of vital importance in nanoscientific field. Similarly to the III-N compound semiconductors, Si3N4 nanostructures also could be potentially used for making optoelectronic devices. In this paper, we report on an improved Fe-catalyzed chemical vapour deposition method for synthesizing ultra-long α-Si3N4 nanobelts along with a few nanowires and nanobranches on a carbon felt substrate. The ultra-long α-Si3N4 nanobelts grew via a combined VLS-base and nanobranches via a combined double-stage VLS-base and VS-tip mechanism, as well as nanowires via VLS-tip mechanism. The three individual nanostructures showed variant optical properties as revealed by a cathodoluminescence spectroscopy. A single α-Si3N4 nanobelt or nanobranch gave a strong UV-blue emission band as well as a broad red emission, whereas a single α-Si3N4 nanowire exhibited only a broad UV-blue emission. The results reported would be useful in developing new photoelectric nanodevices with tailorable or tunable properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Si3N4-SiCp composites reinforced by in situ catalytic formed nanofibers were prepared at a relatively low sintering temperature. The effects of catalyst Co on the phase compositions, microstructures, and physicochemical-mechanical properties of samples sintered at 1350°C-1450°C were investigated. The results showed that the catalyst Co enhanced the nitridation of Si. With the increase of Co addition (from 0 wt% to 2.0 wt.%), the apparent porosity of as-prepared refractories was initially decreased and subsequently increased, while the bulk density and the bending strength exhibited an opposite trend. The Si3N4-SiCp composites sintered at 1400°C had the highest strength of 60.2 MPa when the Co content was 0.5 wt.%. The catalyst Co facilitated the sintering of Si3N4-SiCp composites as well as the formation of Si3N4 nanofibers which exhibited network connection and could improve their strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]