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Inflammation occurs when chemokines are secreted at a site of injury or infection, mediating a buildup of immune cells. Therefore, inhibiting chemokines in some cases could be an appealing target to control inflammation. Many viruses have evolved strategies to subvert the human chemokine system by producing chemokine binding proteins. Among them, poxviruses encode vCCI (viral CC chemokine inhibitor), which has been shown to bind more than 20 CC chemokines with high affinity. Therefore, understanding the mechanism of the high binding affinity between vCCI and CC chemokines could pave a way to develop vCCI as a new therapeutic candidate to treat inflammation related disease. In collaboration with the Prof. Michael Colvin group, combining an experimental approach and computational methodology, to unveil the possible key residues in the function of interaction between vCCI and chemokines, our work shows vCCI Y80, E143, and I184 residues are important for its binding to a chemokine vMIP-II (vCCL2). The vCCI mutation Y80R showed a loss of binding of 55 fold compared to the wild type of protein in BLI experiments, while E143K, I184R mutants decreased binding affinity of 37 and 25 fold respectively. We also found some key residues (G17, V44, Q45) of TARC (CCL17) involved in the interaction with vCCI. Highest affinity was achieved with the triple mutant CCL17 G17R/V44K/Q45R, which gave a Kd of 0.25 ± 0.13 µM for the vCCI:CCL17 variant complex, a 68 fold improvement in affinity compared to the complex with wild type CCL17. Silk fibroin (SF or silk in abbreviation) derived from the species Bombyx mori has been recognized as a material for biomedical sutures for centuries. With excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, and sufficient supply, silk fibroin has become a popular biomaterial in tissue engineering, drug delivery, and surgery. In addition, silk fibroin can be developed into a variety of shapes with multiple structures, such as 3D porous scaffolds, films, particulates, fibers, needle patches, etc. In this study, we investigated improving the adhesive property of SF scaffold to the wet tissue with the addition of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and glycerol, and realized the sustained release of an anti-HIV protein Griffithsin.

The inconsistencies regarding the fundamental correlation between Gd content and slip (twinning) activities of Mg alloys appeal further investigations. However, the traditional slip dislocations analysis by TEM is time-consuming, and that by SEM/EBSD cannot recognize the partial slip modes. These urge a more efficient and comprehensive approach to easily distinguish all potential slip modes occurred concurrently in alloy matrix. Here we report a modified lattice rotation analysis that can distinguish all slip systems and provide statistical results for slip activities in Mg alloy matrix. Using this method, the high ductility of Mg-Gd alloy ascribed to the enhanced non-basal slips, cross-slip, and postponed twinning activities by Gd addition is quantitatively clarified.

The initial micro-galvanic corrosion behavior of Mg‒30wt%Ca alloy only containing Mg2Ca and α-Mg was studied by immersion testing in a 0.9% NaCl solution at 37oC. The quasi-in situ SEM and TEM results show that Mg2Ca corroded easier than α-Mg, indicating that Mg2Ca acted as an anode. The work function (Φ) for Mg2Ca calculated by first-principles is significantly lower compared to that for α-Mg. The Volta potential measured by a scanning Kelvin probe force microscope reveals that the Mg2Ca had a relatively low Volta potential (ψ) value. The lower Φ and ψ values for Mg2Ca indicate a lower electrochemical nobility, which is consistent with the experimental phenomenon.

Recently, functional molecules such as Polydopamine (PDA), Hyaluronic Acid (HA) and heparin have been widely studied in the field of surface modification of magnesium (Mg) alloy stents for better degradation behavior and biocompatibility, but their further application is limited by undesirable anticoagulant function, uncontrollable degradation and easy bleeding, respectively. Regarding to this consideration, a magnesium Fluoride/Polydopamine/Sulphonated hyaluronic acid (MgF2/PDA/S-HA) composite coating was successfully prepared by applying S-HA with sulfur content of 9.71 wt% on the surface of ZE21B alloy in this study. The results showed that the composite coating with a unique mesh structure not only inherited the anticoagulant effect of sulfonic acid group and the excellent cyto-compatibility of S-HA with high sulfur content, but also significantly improved the corrosion performance of ZE21B alloy. These results indicate a great application potential of the composite coating in the field of cardiovascular biomaterials.

The corrosion inhibition behavior of Mg-8Li-3Al alloy in NaCl solution with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was investigated by hydrogen analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electrochemical test, scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy (SKPFM) and computational methods. Results showed that the corrosion resistance of Mg-8Li-3Al alloy in NaCl solution was effectively improved with SDS. The SEM and SKPFM results confirmed a dense, 200 nm-thick SDS-adsorbed layer had formed on the alloy surface. The separation energy ∆Egap and adsorption energy Eads of SDS on the Mg surface were calculated by density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations, respectively. And the corrosion inhibition mechanism was hypothesized and described.

Protein adsorption preferentially occurs and significantly affects the physicochemical reactions once the biodegradable magnesium alloys as bone replacements have been implanted. To date, interactions mechanisms between Mg implants and proteins remain unclear at a molecular level. Thereby, a combination of molecular dynamic (MD) simulations and experimental exploration is used to investigate the adsorption behavior and conformational change of bovine serum albumin (BSA), a representative protein of blood plasma, upon the surface of micro-arc oxidation (MAO) coated Mg alloy AZ31. The influences of absorbed proteins on the cytocompatibility of MAO coating are evaluated by virtue of cytotoxicity assay. Results indicate that the negatively charged O atoms (BSA) exhibit strong interaction with Mg2+ ions of Mg(OH)2, revealing that BSA molecules are ionically adsorbed on the AZ31 surface. Interestingly, MD simulation reveals that MAO coating demonstrates superior ability to capture BSA molecules during the process of adsorption owing to strong electric attraction between the negatively charged O atoms in BSA molecules with Mg atoms of MgO in MAO coating. Moreover, the α-helix part of absorbed BSA molecules on AZ31 substrate and MAO coating markedly decreases with an increase in β-sheet, β-turn and unordered contents, which is attributed to the reduction in the number of hydrogen bonds in BSA molecules. Furthermore, the adsorbed BSA molecules improve the cytocompatibility of MAO coating since the positively charged -NH3+ group and β-sheet content of absorbed BSA molecules mediate the cell adhesion by interacting with the negatively charged cell membrane.

A series of new double perovskite La2–xEuxCaSnO6 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.8) red phosphors was synthesized by traditional solid-state reaction. The phase, microstructure, photoluminescence (PL) properties, quantum efficiency, and thermal stability of the phosphors were investigated. La2CaSnO6 matrix has a monoclinic double perovskite structure with space group P21/n. Under near-ultraviolet (UV) light at 395 nm, La2–xEuxCaSnO6 phosphors exhibit the most typical red emission peak at 614 nm, which corresponds to 5D0→7F2 electric dipole transition of Eu3+. The optimum Eu3+ doping content is attained at x=0.5, and the La1.5Eu0.5CaSnO6 phosphor shows a moderate quantum efficiency (32.3%) and high color purity (92.2%). Besides, the temperature-dependent spectrum of the phosphor is studied. The emission intensity of Eu3+ at 423 K decreases to 70.94% of the initial intensity at 303 K, and the activation energy ΔE is estimated to be 0.232 eV, suggesting that the phosphors possess good thermal stability. The fabricated w–LED based on the phosphors have higher Ra (89), lower CCT (4539K), and better chromaticity coordinates (0.371, 0.428). These results prove that the Eu3+–doped La2CaSnO6 red phosphor has great potential applications in w–LEDs.

Proper interface and band alignment always play essential roles in the separation of photoexcited charge of photocatalysts. In this work, we prepared a homodispersed S-scheme carbon nitride homojunction with local electron structure difference by a facile pre-doping and two-step calcination approach. Boron doping into heptazine created extra acceptor impurity, and Phosphorus doping into heptazine created extra donor impurity, which eventually modulated the electronic structure of carbon nitride. As heptazines with different element doping were integrated into carbon nitride by recalcination, B-CN and P-CN formed a homodispersed homojunction and thus produced a rich interface. Meanwhile, caused by Fermi energy levels equilibrium, the band bending constructed an S-scheme homojunction, which stimulated photogenerated electrons to transfer from CB of B-CN to VB of P-CN. The homodispersed S-scheme homojunction structure led to efficient suppression of recombination of photoinduced charge and retained stronger redox charge. Consequently, the photocatalytic performance was dramatically boosted to 2620 μmol g-1 from 60 μmol g-1 of pure CN in four-hour hydrogen evolution from water. This novel method for electron structure engineering helped to provide a new strategy for designing homojunction photocatalysts with excellent photocatalytic performance.

Ultra-high voltage fast vacuum circuit breakers (FVCBs) could benefit a power system by promoting transient stability. This paper presents the design and verification of a prototype 363-kV/5000-A 63-kA multiple-break FVCB. The prototype consists of two parallel-connected circuit branches in each phase. Each branch comprises three breaking units. The breaking unit, arranged on a 330-kV-class insulating platform, is a double-break FVCB driven by two independent electromagnetic repulsion actuators. The breaking units include a specially designed 40.5-kV vacuum interrupter (VI) with an extended ceramic envelope and optimized contact contours. A 4.0-nF grading capacitor is connected in parallel with each break to achieve a uniform stressed voltage distribution across the break. The prototype performs controlled switching of short-circuit current with an arcing time of 2.0 ms. The feasibility of the 363-kV FVCB is verified by a dielectric test on one break of the prototype and a series of tests on a single-phase prototype. The tests include controlled switching of a short-circuit current in a short arcing time under different transient recovery voltages following test duties T100s(b) and T100a, short-time withstand current and peak withstand current tests, a temperature rise test, and an electromagnetic compatibility tes

To improve the thermal properties of aluminum (Al) in the energetic system, a coated structure with ammonium perchlorate (AP) was prepared by a facile approach. And N, N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) was chosen as an ideal solvent based on heterogeneous nucleation theory and molecular dynamics simulation. This coated structure could enlarge the contact area and improve the reaction environment to enhance the thermal properties. The addition of AP could accelerate oxidation temperature of Al with around 17.5 °C. And the heat release of 85@15 composition rises to 26.13 kJ/g and the reaction degree is 97.6% with higher peak pressure (254.6 kPa) and rise rate (1.397 MPa/s). An ideal ratio with 15 wt% AP was probed primarily. The high energy laser-induced shockwave experiment was utilized to simulate the reaction behavior in hot field. And the larger activated mixture of coated powder could release more energy to promote the growth of shockwave with higher speed up to 518.7 ± 55.9 m/s. In conclusion, 85@15 composition is expected to be applied in energetic system as a novel metal fuel.

The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are critical in energy conversion and storage devices. Single-atom catalysts (SAC) with atomic utilization efficiency are amo...

Different from typical circuit breakers, breakers used to switch AC filters in convertor stations have to operate frequently according to the real-time operation mode and daily load changes. Therefore, the performance of filter breakers decreases very quickly, which leads to frequent accidents. Both preinsertion resistors and controlled switching devices can suppress switching transients. In this paper, a comparative analysis of whether a controlled switching device and preinsertion resistor should be adopted is carried out using PSCAD. The transient is calculated as the combined result of the switching angle and preinsertion resistor value, and the optimal configurations are proposed. After determining the resistor value and whether a controlled switching device should be included, the reference voltage of the arrester should be reevaluated.

Biodegradable magnesium alloys have excellent properties with respect to biodegradability, biocompatibility, and biomechanics, which may indicate a possibility of its application in intestinal stents. Investigation of Mg-Zn-Y-Nd alloy's application in intestinal stents has been performed. This study aims to investigate the degradation behavior of Mg-Zn-Y-Nd alloy intestinal stents coated with poly(L-lactide)/paclitaxel in the intestinal environment and its biocompatibility with intestinal tissue. In this paper, Mg-Zn-Y-Nd alloy's corrosion properties were evaluated by the immersion test in human feces, SEM and XRD, and animal tests. In vitro results showed that when the Mg-Zn-Y-Nd alloy was immersed in human feces for two weeks, its corrosion resistance could be improved by micro arc oxidation (MAO) and poly-l-lactide (PLLA) dual coating. Additionally, this result was also confirmed in vivo experiments by rabbit model. And animal tests also demonstrated that the Mg-Zn-Y-Nd alloy with MAO/PLLA/paclitaxel dual coating drug-eluting stents could inhibit the proliferation of local intestinal tissue around the stents. However, in vivo studies illustrated that the intestinal stents gradually degraded in rabbit model within 12 days. Considering the degradation rate of the stent was faster than expected in rabbits, the support performance of the scaffold requires further improvement.

A high-precision tunable single-frequency fiber laser (T-SFFL) at 1.5 μm based on self-injection locking is experimentally demonstrated. By virtue of an effective filtering and self-injection locking scheme, a stable single-longitudinal-mode operation of the fiber laser is obtained. The fine wavelength tunability is implemented by stretching a uniform fiber Bragg grating in the self-injection loop, and the laser wavelength is tuned from 1550.28 to 1560.40 nm with a tuning accuracy of less than 54 pm. In the whole tuning range of 10.12 nm, an output power of approximately 5 mW and an optical signal-to-noise ratio of 71 dB are synchronously obtained with this laser system. Additionally, the measured laser linewidth is less than 630 Hz and the relative intensity noise is lower than -149 dB/Hz at frequencies from 0.4 to 7.5 MHz. It is believed that this 1.5 μm high-precision T-SFFL can be a promising candidate for the optical communications system applications.

The introduction of biodegradable implant materials has significantly improved the postoperative subjective feelings of patients within the past few decades, among which magnesium alloy is widely considered a favorable choice as its appropriate biodegradability and evident antibacterial activity. Here, we reveal a semisolid rheo-formed Mg–Zn–Sr alloy ureteral implant that displayed suitable degradability and biocompatibility in a pig model. Refined non-dendritic microstructure was observed in the rheo-formed alloy, which led to ca. 47% increase in ultimate tensile strength (from 195.0 MPa to 288.1 MPa) and more homogeneous degradation process compared with the untreated alloy. No post-interventional inflammation or pathological changes of the test animals were observed during the implantation period, and the corrosion rate (0.22 ± 0.04 mm·y−1) perfectly fitted the clinical ureteral stent indwelling time. The urine bacteria numbers decreased from 88 ± 13 CFU·mL−1 at 7 weeks post operation to 59 ± 8 CFU·mL−1 at 14 weeks post operation, which confirmed the evident antibacterial activity of the alloy. Our study demonstrates that the Mg–Zn–Sr alloy is clinically safe for urinary system, enabling its efficacious use as ureteral implant materials.

High entropy alloys (HEAs) with superb mechanical properties have been traditionally produced by solidification and subsequent heat treatment. In this paper, we demonstrate a new route via one-step process using sub-rapid cooling. Under proper cooling rates, the CrFeCoNiAl0.6 HEA could form ultrafine FCC+BCC dual-phase structure. By varying cooling rate, we can control the fraction of the BCC phase and refinement of FCC microstructures that have tunable mechanical properties in yield strength and hardness ranging from ∼580 to ∼1460 MPa and ∼260 to ∼550 Hv. We show that the structure-property-processing relation originates from the sideplate microstructures formed during fast cooling that have specific crystallographic orientation relationship between the FCC and BCC phases and chemical segregation. This work provides a new setting for better understanding of the solid-state phase transformation in HEAs under sub-rapid solidification conditions as well as a novel method for development of high-performance HEAs.

Microrobots can expand our abilities to access remote, confined, and enclosed spaces. Their potential applications inside our body are obvious, e.g., to diagnose diseases, deliver medicine, and monitor treatment efficacy. However, critical requirements exist in relation to their operations in gastrointestinal environments, including resistance to strong gastric acid, responsivity to a narrow proton variation window, and locomotion in confined cavities with hierarchical terrains. Here, we report a proton-activatable microrobot to enable real-time, repeated, and site-selective pH sensing and monitoring in physiological relevant environments. This is achieved by stratifying a hydrogel disk to combine a range of functional nanomaterials, including proton-responsive molecular switches, upconversion nanoparticles, and near-infrared (NIR) emitters. By leveraging the 3D magnetic gradient fields and the anisotropic composition, the microrobot can be steered to locomote as a gyrating "Euler's disk", i.e., aslant relative to the surface and along its low-friction outer circumference, exhibiting a high motility of up to 60 body lengths/s. The enhanced magnetomotility can boost the pH-sensing kinetics by 2-fold. The fluorescence of the molecular switch can respond to pH variations with over 600-fold enhancement when the pH decreases from 8 to 1, and the integration of upconversion nanoparticles further allows both the efficient sensitization of NIR light through deep tissue and energy transfer to activate the pH probes. Moreover, the embedded down-shifting NIR emitters provide sufficient contrast for imaging of a single microrobot inside a live mouse. This work suggests great potential in developing multifunctional microrobots to perform generic site-selective tasks in vivo.

Both tantalum (Ta) and silicon nitride (SN) exhibit osteogenic bioactivity and antibacterial property. In addition, as a biomaterial for bone repair, polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has outstanding biocompatibility and mechanical performances while it is biologically inert. In this study, by blending PEEK with Ta and SN nanoparticles, respectively, Ta/PEEK composite (TPC) and SN/PEEK composite (SPC) were fabricated for load-bearing bone repair. The surface roughness, hydrophilicity and surface energy of TPC containing Ta nanoparticles were higher than SPC containing SN nanoparticles and PEEK. In addition, TPC with Ta nanoparticles exhibited low antibacterial property while SPC with SN nanoparticles showed high bacterial property. Moreover, the MC3T3-E1 cells responses (e.g. proliferation and differentiation) to TPC was the highest while PEEK was the lowest

The thermal stability and mechanical properties of a gradient-nanograined structure (GNS) CoCrNi medium entropy alloy (MEA) processed by ultrasonic surface rolling were studied by using isothermal/isochronal annealing tests combined with quasi-in-situ electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) characterization and Vickers micro-hardness (HV) measurements. A layer by layer high-throughput investigation method was used to quantitatively study the grain growth kinetics and grain boundary evolution with different initial grain sizes, which could effectively save specimen and time costs. The grain nucleation and growth, as well as shrink and disappearance process through Σ3 coincidence site lattice boundary migration with slightly lattice rotation during annealing were directly revealed. The layer by layer grain growth kinetics and calculated activation energy indicate that the thermal stability of nano-grained top surface layer is relatively higher than that of nano-twined subsurface layer for the gradient CoCrNi MEA processed by ultrasonic surface rolling. Further analysis show that the grain boundary relaxation and dynamic recrystallization of the topmost nano-grains led to the decrease of grain boundary energy, thus improving their thermal stability. The present work provided theoretical basis for the application of CoCrNi MEA at high temperatures. Moreover, the high-throughput method on the investigation of grain stability by using gradient structure can be easily extended to other materials and it is of great significance for understanding the microstructural evolution of gradient materials.

An experimental setup, on which the shape memory effect is based, is developed to measure the free response frequency and musical pitches of SMA wires. In this paper, the voltage, force, and sound signals of SMA wires are determined simultaneously under two kinds of experiments, constant temperature uniaxial tensile tests and fixed-length thermal cycle tests. Based on constitutive equations and thermodynamic equations, an empirical formula for the driving voltage and the steady-state stress of SMA wires is proposed, and the undetermined coefficients at radii of 0.050 mm and 0.070 mm are determined by experiments. The musical pitches of SMA wires under a constant voltage are obtained by combining the empirical formula with the string vibration equation. The theoretical results are compared with the actual musical pitches measured by the sound signals, and the two have a high degree of coincidence. Just for an SMA wire with a radius of 0.070 mm, the free response frequency range reaches 640 Hz to 1120 Hz, which covers 6 whole musical tones in total. Thus the SMA wire can be used as a string to play simple music.

The effect of Gd content on the microstructure and tensile properties of as-cast Mg-Sm-Zn-Zr alloy has been systematically investigated. In the Mg-3Sm-0.5Zn-0.5Zr alloy, the intermetallic compounds with multiple morphologies are identified as Mg3Sm phase. In addition to Mg3RE phase, Mg5RE phase originated from Gd addition is observed in Gd-modified alloys. It should be noted that the lattice parameters of all the observed intermetallic compounds are significantly reduced by Zn segregation. The segregation behavior of Zn in Mg3Sm phase is inhibited to some extent by Gd addition due to the electronegativity difference between Sm/Gd and Zn elements. In addition, the increased Gd content effectively leads to much more accumulation of solute atoms in front of the liquid-solid interface during solidification, which can prominently promote nucleation in liquid region and then refine grains. The tensile yield stress of the present alloys is thus improved with increasing Gd addition. Finally, Gd-modified alloys exhibit significantly age-hardening effect, which can be mainly attributed to the high-volume fraction and high density nano-scale precipitates.

In this communication, we propose a novel feeding scheme to design a wideband filtering patch antenna. The antenna is composed of two substrates: the feeding- and the radiating ones. Two circular patches are etched on the top surface of the radiating substrate as the radiators and a hybrid substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) and spoof localized surface plasmon (SLSP) structure is employed as the feeding scheme. Due to the abundant resonant modes and filtering feature of the hybrid SIW-SLSP structure, the antenna can radiate under the triple-mode resonance with high filtering performance. Moreover, the proposed filtering antenna has an independently adjustable capability of both low-band and high-band radiation nulls. The presented antenna is designed, fabricated and measured. Measured results reveal that the operating bandwidth reaches up to 11.3%, ranging from 7.44 GHz to 8.33 GHz. The peak gain of 10 dBi is obtained in passband with 10 dB gain suppression out of the band. This approach provides a simple way to design wideband filtering patch antenna, which can be easily integrated with planar circuit.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are considered as a novel type of microwave absorption (MA) material owing to the sufficient pore structure, diverse configurations, and easy-to-control magnetic properties. However, their evolution is limited by the imperfect impedance matching conditions caused by the undesirable microstructure. Herein, two types of novel porous coral-like carbon/Co3O4 and carbon/Co composites have been effectively fabricated for the first time by a facile heat treatment process of precursor Co-MOF-71. The graphitization degree, magnetic property and MA ability of the product can be effortlessly tuned by altering the heat treatment temperature of Co-MOF-71. Remarkably, S500 (Co-MOF-71 calcined at 500°C) composite displays strong and multi-frequency absorption performance, whose minimum reflection loss (RL) value achieves -36.4 dB with an absorbing thickness of 3.0 mm and attains an effective absorbing bandwidth (RL≤-10 dB) of 5.76 GHz (almost covers whole Ku band) at a thinner coating thickness of 2.5 mm. Such superb MA ability has roots in the coral-like structure derived from the layer Co-MOF-71, sufficient electromagnetic loss. This work ameliorates the MA ability of MOFs through a special nanostructural design, which provides a fresh way for the preparation of novel MA materials.

Materials that can efficiently absorb electromagnetic waves (EMWs) are required to deal with electromagnetic pollution. Structure design appears to be an efficient way to improve the EMW-absorption performance of such materials, particularly when adjustment of the constitution or mixing ratio is limited. In this study, bowl-like and honeycomb titanium dioxide/carbon nanotube (TiO2/CNT) composites with different CNT contents were fabricated using the methods of hierarchical and mixing vacuum-assisted filtration, respectively. Compared to the honeycomb structure, the bowl-like structure simultaneously facilitated greater interfacial polarization and conduction loss in favor of dielectric polarization, and augmented multiple reflections. The high porosity of the honeycomb structure was conducive to optimizing the impedance matching characteristics. The bowl-like TiO2/CNT composite exhibited a minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of −38.6 dB (1.5 mm) with a wide effective absorption band (EAB

Powdery Li+-imprinted manganese oxides adsorbent was widely used to the recovery of Li+, but there are some difficulties, such as poor stability in acid solution, inconvenience of operation and separation. In this work, a useful hydrogel composite based H4Mn3.5Ti1.5O12/reduced graphene oxide/polyacrylamide (HMTO-rGO/PAM) was fabricated by thermal initiation method with promising stable, conductive and selective properties. The resulting materials were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscope, infrared absorption spectrum, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electrochemical techniques. The recovery of Li+ was investigated using HMTO-rGO/PAM from brine by a separated two-stage sorption statically and electrically switched ion exchange desorption process. The adsorption capacity of 51.5 mg·g–1 could be achieved with an initial Li+ concentration of 200 mg·L–1 in pH 10, at 45 °C for 12 h. Li+ ions could be quickly desorbed by cyclic voltammetry in pH 3, 0.1 mol·L–1 HCl/NH4Cl accompanying the exchange of Li+ and H+(NH4+) and the transfer of LMTO-rGO/PAM to HMTO-rGO/PAM.

Twinning stress is known to be a critical factor for the actuating performance of magnetic shape memory alloys because of the harmful deterioration of their magnetic field-induced strain effect. However, the intrinsic origin of the high twinning stress is still in debate. In this work, we firstly fill this gap by precisely probing the reorientation behaviors of A-C and A-B two common macro-twin interfaces under the stimulus of uniaxial compression in-situ transmission electron microscope. The grain boundary is proved to be the main reason for large twinning stress. The twinning stress of the A-C and A-B type interfaces quantitatively are ∼0.69 and 1.27 MPa within the plate respectively. The A-C type interface evidently has smaller twinning stress and larger deformation variable than the A-B interface. Under the action of compression, not only the orientations of the crystals have changed, but also the roles of the major and minor lamellae have changed for both interfaces due to the movements of twinning dislocations. Combining in-situ and quasi in-situ electron diffraction data, the reorientation process is clearly and intuitively shown by the stereographic projection. Atomic models and the theory of dislocation motion are proposed to phenomenologically clarify the intrinsic mechanism. This work is believed to not only provide a deeper understanding of the deformation mechanism of magnetic shape memory alloys under uniaxial compression testing, but also discover that compression training is not the mechanical training way to decrease the twinning stress of non-modulated martensite in single crystal shape memory alloys.

In this paper, a Ni coating was deposited on the surface of the A356 aluminum alloy by high velocity oxygen fuel spraying to improve the performance of the AZ91D magnesium/A356 aluminum bimetal prepared by a compound casting. The effects of the Ni coating as well as its thickness on microstructure and mechanical properties of the AZ91D/A356 bimetal were systematically researched for the first time. Results demonstrated that the Ni coating and its thickness had a significant effect on the interfacial phase compositions and mechanical properties of the AZ91D/A356 bimetal. The 10µm's Ni coating cannot prevent the generation of the Al-Mg intermetallic compounds (IMCs) at the interface zone of the AZ91D/A356 bimetal, while the Ni coating with the thickness of 45 µm and 190 µm can avoid the formation of the Al-Mg IMCs. When the Ni coating was 45 µm, the Ni coating disappeared and transformed into Mg-Mg2Ni eutectic structures+Ni2Mg3Al particles at the interface zone. With a thickness of 190µm's Ni coating, part of the Ni coating remained and the interface layer was composed of the Mg-Mg2Ni eutectic structures+ Ni2Mg3Al particles, Mg2Ni layer, Ni solid solution (SS) layer, Al3Ni2 layer, Al3Ni layer and sporadic Al3Ni+Al-Al3Ni eutectic structures from AZ91D side to A356 side in sequence. The interface layer consisting of the Mg-Ni and Al-Ni IMCs obtained with the Ni coating had an obvious lower hardness than the Al-Mg IMCs. The shear strength of the AZ91D/A356 bimetal with a Ni coating of 45 µm thickness enhanced 41.4% in comparison with that of the bimetal without Ni coating, and the fracture of the bimetal with 45µm's Ni coating occurred between the Mg matrix and the interface layer with a mixture of brittle fracture and ductile fracture.

To improve the Al/Mg bimetallic interface, La was added into the Al/Mg bimetallic interface manufactured by a compound casting process. The effect of La addition on the microstructure, mechanical properties and fracture behavior of the Al/Mg bimetallic interface and the formation mechanism of the interface were studied in detail. Al11La3, Al8Mn4La, Al20Ti2La, and other rare earth precipitates (RE precipitates) preferentially precipitated at the interface with La addition, while the number of the Al11La3 and Al8Mn4La located in eutectic structure area (E area) gradually increased and aggregated in the interface with the increase of the La content. Besides, the matrix structure in different areas of the Al/Mg interface changed in different degrees, and the eutectic structure and primary γ (Mg17Al12) dendrites in the E area were refined, but the intermetallic compounds area (IMC area) had no obvious change. With the addition of the La, the interface was strengthened under the comprehensive effect of refinement strengthening and precipitation strengthening from the E area. When the La content increased to 1.0%, the shear strength of the Al/Mg bimetal reached the maximum of 51.54 MPa, which was 30.95% higher than the group without La addition. However, with the further increase of the La content, the large area aggregation of the Al11La3 and Al8Mn4La occurred in the interface, leading to the separation of the matrix structure of the E area and the decrease of the shear strength of the Al/Mg interface.

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), as a key platform compound for the conversion of biomass to various biomass-derived chemicals and biofuels, has been attracted extensive attention. In this research, using Pickering high internal phase emulsions (Pickering HIPEs) as template and functional metal-organic frameworks (UiO-66-SO3H and UiO-66-NH2)/Tween 85 as co-stabilizers to synthesis the dual acid-base bifunctional macroporous polymer catalyst by one-pot process, which has excellent catalytic activity in the cascade reaction of converting cellulose to 5-HMF. The effects of the emulsion parameters including the amount of surfactant (ranging from 0.5 %(mass) to 2.0 %(mass)), the internal phase volume fraction (ranging from 75% to 90%) and the acid/base Pickering particles mass ratio (ranging from 0:6 to 6:0) on the morphology and catalytic performance of solid catalyst were systematically researched. The results of catalytic experiments suggested that the connected large pore size of catalyst can effectively improve the cellulose conversion, and the synergistic effect of acid and base active sites can effectively improve the 5-HMF yield. The highest 5-HMF yield, about 40.5%, can be obtained by using polymer/MOFs composite as catalyst (Poly-P12, the pore size of (53.3 ± 11.3)μm, the acid density of 1.99 mmol·g-1 and the base density of 1.13 mol·g-1) under the optimal reaction conditions (130 ℃, 3 h). Herein, the polymer/MOFs composite with open-cell structure was prepared by the Pickering HIPEs templating method, which provided a favorable experimental basis and theoretical reference for achieving efficient production of high added-value product from abundant biomass.

In this study, a segmented degradation model was established for the first time to predict and evaluate the dynamic degradation characteristics of carbon fibre-reinforced epoxy composite (CFRC) shells accurately by considering temperature variations during heating, maintenance, and cooling. The model is based on the Reddy's high-order shear deformation theory, complex modulus method, and coefficient fitting approach. First, explicit expressions of material parameters and thermal expansion coefficients (TECs) in different thermal degradation stages were proposed, followed by the derivation of the differential equations to solve the structural dynamic degradation characteristics. Moreover, an identification method for the fitting coefficients of the CFRC material was described, which is based on experimental tests and iterative calculations of elastic moduli, loss factors, and TECs at different degradation time points in different thermal degradation stages. Finally, the natural frequencies, damping ratios, and time-domain responses were measured using a novel testing system for the dynamic degradation of specimens subjected to a pulse excitation load to validate the developed model. Theoretical and experimental results indicate that the natural frequencies decreased as the degradation time increases at the heating-up and temperature maintenance stages, whereas they increased at the cooling stage. However, an uptrend in the damping and response behaviours was observed in the first two stages, whereas a downtrend was recognized at the cooling stage.

The multi-mode noise is an important issue for the optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) in generating a spectrally pure microwave. Especially in oscillators with low phase noise, increasing the cavity length to improve the phase noise performance will make the mode interval smaller, which is more likely to cause multi-mode noise. Here, we proposed a low phase noise and high side-mode suppression ratio self-injection-locked OEO based on frequency conversion filtering. We theoretically and experimentally studied the influence of the phase noise of the external microwave source on the proposed OEO and, as a comparison, the conventional injection-locked OEO. The results show that, compared with the traditional injection-locked OEO, the proposed OEO is less sensitive to the phase noise of the external microwave source. Under the same experimental conditions, the proposed OEO achieved the same side-mode suppression ratio and the phase noise is reduced by 30 dB at 10 kHz offset from the 10-GHz carrier compared with the conventional injection-locked OEO.

To improve the absorbing performance of the material, fully utilizing the interfacial polarization is an effective strategy for fabricate microwave absorbing materials. This study constructs flower-like ZnO modified by CuO nanoparticles/N-RGO composites through hydrothermal and subsequent heat treatment. Flower-like ZnO was fabricated by hydrothermal self-assembly of ZnO nanosheets. Due to the petals of ZnO provided a large surface area, the CuO nanoparticles uniformly modified on the flower-like ZnO petals. Meanwhile, the N-RGO was added to further improve the dielectric loss and polarization loss of the composites. The rich interface was rational designed by modifying CuO nanoparticles and adding N-RGO to regulate the microwave absorption properties. The flower-like ZnO modified by CuO nanoparticles/N-RGO composite showed considerable absorbing performance, with the bandwidth (≤−10 dB) was 2.8 GHz as the thickness was 2.8 mm. This work will provide a significant guidance for the design absorbing materials with special structure.

Currently, the development of high-efficiency electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorbing materials has received close attention. Due to unique composition and structure, porous hollow carbon spheres (PHCSs) have been extensively studied in the EMW absorption field. In order to obtain the regulated EMW absorber, in the present study, sulfur was successfully doped into the PHCS by hydrogen peroxide etching and high temperature vulcanization. By fixing the amount of sulfur doped and the etching time, the micro-structure of the product could be effectively controlled, and the corresponding electromagnetic parameters would also change accordingly. The optimized sulfur-doped porous hollow carbon sphere (SPCHS) had the minimum reflection loss (RL) value of −27.2 dB, and the effective bandwidth of 4.76 GHz. More importantly, the best effective bandwidth (EAB, RL

Aluminum-based composite abradable seal coatings are pivotal to improving the efficiency of aero engines or gas turbines. However, the adhesive transfer frequently occurs between metallic blade tips and aluminum-based composite coatings, resulting in engine vibration and even jam. Many past studies had tried to solve this problem by reducing coating hardness, improving lubrication, or strengthening blade tips, but all had failed. In this paper, we proposed a novel epoxy-based composite abradable seal coating, eliminating adhesive transfer by changing metal-to-metal scraping pair to metal-to-polymer scraping pair. The coating was developed via a hierarchical structure design. Large spherical pores were uniformly distributed in the continuous epoxy matrix with fine graphite dispersion. By adding 20 vol.% graphite and 50 vol.% hollow microspheres, a self-lubricating epoxy-based coating of 0.26 friction coefficient with thermal conductivity of 0.28 W/(m·K), coating HR15Y hardness at 54.8, and bonding strength at 18.7 MPa can be reached. When the metallic blades scrape the epoxy-based composite coating, no adhesive transfer occurs. Besides, a smooth scraped surface is formed by pseudoplastic deformation. This epoxy-based composite abradable seal coating opens a new way to improve the efficiency and reliable operations of air engine compressors.

Hypothesis Waterborne polyurethane (WPU) is a common colloidal dispersion that can aggregate in the aqueous phase to form nanoparticles with hydrophobic polyurethane chains as the core and hydrophilic ionic groups as the shell. Considering their structure and pH-responsive functional groups, WPU nanoparticles could be ideal particulate emulsifiers for preparing pH-responsive Pickering high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs). Experiments A series of anionic WPU with different content of 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)propionic acid (DMPA) side chains were synthesized via a polyaddition reaction. The DMPA content, size, ζ-potential, and interfacial behaviors of WPU were then investigated. Furthermore, the effects of particle concentration, internal phase fraction (ϕ), oil type, and pH values on the Pickering HIPEs’ morphology, stability, and rheological behaviors were systematically studied. Finally, we demonstrated the emulsification–demulsification process of WPU-stabilized Pickering HIPEs and discussed its mechanism. Findings Oil-in-water (O/W) Pickering HIPEs with tailored morphology and excellent pH-responsiveness were prepared from anionic WPU nanoparticles. The WPU concentration, ϕ, and oil type had a large impact on the formation and mean droplet size of the WPU-stabilized emulsions. Rheology analysis demonstrated that the strictly limited movement of droplets endowed the WPU-stabilized HIPEs with high stability, shear sensitivity, and excellent thixotropic recovery. By simply changing the aqueous-phase pH value, the WPU-stabilized HIPEs could undergo more than ten emulsification-demulsification cycles, as the physical and interfacial properties of WPU nanoparticles were pH-dependent. The excellent performance of the WPU-stabilized pH-responsive Pickering HIPEs exhibited their potential practical applications, such as for oil transportation and recovery, emulsion polymerization, and heterogeneous catalysis.

Single nanoparticle detection is demanding in fields such as early-stage diagnostics, environmental monitoring and biochemical researches. Microcavities are becoming excellent platforms for ultrasensitive detection due to the extremely strong enhancement of light-matter interactions. However, the analytes to be detected will introduce optical losses, which eventually spoils the detection limit of the optical sensor. The strong light confinement enables optical induced mechanical oscillations that is also sensitive to analyte attachments and can thus be applied as an alternative sensing signal in microcavity sensors. In this work, the mass sensitivities of the mechanical oscillations of a microcavity are theoretically discussed. The sensitivity dependence on different modes, analyte sensing position and microcavity structure are explored via finite-element-method simulations, which are consistent with theoretical predictions. Our results provide an effective guideline for the sensitivity optimization during microcavity design aiming for single nanoparticle mass detection.

Introduction: A new series of organic liquid crystal tetramers containing two symmetrical mesogenic units of 4-(4’-phenoxylimino)methyl)phenol joined by methylene –(CH2)mspacer wherein m varied from 5 to 10 have been synthesized. Methods: The length for each of the mesogenic units was extended further via connection with two chiral entities of (S)-2- methylbutyl-4-(4’-bromobutyloxyphenyl)benzoate situated at both terminal ends. The structures of these tetramers were elucidated using elemental analysis and spectroscopic techniques (FT-IR and 1H-NMR) whilst the texture, and the phase transition temperatures were studied using polarizing optical microscopy (POM) along with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Results: All the homologues in this series are enantiotropic mesogens exhibiting oily streak texture or fan-shaped texture characteristic of the chiral nematic phase. The odd-even effect can be observed upon increasing the methylene spacer length. The structure-properties connectivity has demonstrated that the phase transition temperature for tetramers with even-numbered methylene units in the spacer is relatively higher in comparison with the odd-numbered members. Conclusion: The computational study via molecular constraint dynamics performed at the DFTB level of theory has further supported that more energy is required for the even-numbered tetramer than the odd-numbered member to undergo the structural transition from folded to extended geometries.

The appropriate hosts of emitting layers (EMLs) play an important role in determining the overall performance of solution-processed phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes (PhOLEDs). We have investigated the effect of three species of host molecules, 1,3-bis(carbazol-9-yl)benzene (mCP), 10-(4-(5,5dimethylbenzofuro[3,2-c]acridin-13(5H)-yl)phenyl)-10-phenylanthracen-9(10H)-one (DpAn-5BzAc) and poly(9-vinylcarbazole) (PVK), on the performance of solution-processed blue and yellow PhOLEDs. We have found that compared to the widely used single-host EMLs, the devices using the binary blend of mCP: DpAn5BzAc as hosts, can achieve more efficient optoelectrical characteristics. The maximum current efficiencies of 11.84 and 16.61 have been realized for blue and yellow OLEDs, respectively. The superior electroluminescence performance for binary blend host-based PhOLEDs was attributed to the enhanced charge carrier balance and multi-component miscibility, which has a dramatic influence on the morphology of the emissive layer. These results demonstrate the great potential of the multi-hosts in solution-processed organic optoelectronic devices. The development of complementary colour OLEDs with blue and yellow can provide a simple approach to fabricate solution-processed white PhOLEDs.