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In this paper, we studied how the sensitivity of an indirect X-ray detector was changed by adding the additive solvent DIO to the organic active-layers, such as P3HT:PCBM and PBDB-T:PCBM. The crystallinity and absorbance of the active-layer films were compared with different additive DIO contents. In both active-layers, the highest crystallinity and absorbance were obtained when 3 v% of the DIO was mixed with the active-layer solution. At the same mixing condition of the DIO, the highest sensitivity, of 1.17 mA/Gy · cm2, was obtained for the P3HT:PCBM detector, and the highest sensitivity, 1.87 mA/Gy · cm2, was obtained for the PBDB-T:PCBM detector. Compared to the detector without the DIO, the sensitivities of the detectors with the P3HT:PCBM and PBDB-T:PCBM increased by 18.12% and 20.27%, respectively.

The electrochemical performance of the Ni0.8Co0.15Al0.05LiO2 (NCAL) cathode was investigated by comparing it with the traditional La0.4Sr0.6Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ (LSCF) and LSCF/Ce0.9Gd0.1O2-δ (GDC) cathodes with a GDC electrolyte-supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). It is found that the electrochemical performance of the cells with the NCAL and NCAL/GDC cathode is better than that of the cells with the LSCF and LSCF/GDC cathode at 550 °C. The results of the electrochemical performance tests of the cells with different NCAL/GDC mass ratios (10/0, 9/1, 8/2, 7/3 and 6/4) show that the NCAL/GDC composite cathode with the mass ratio of 8/2 has the best electrochemical performance. XRD results show that when the sintering temperature is higher than 700 °C, the NCAL/GDC composite will undergo chemical reactions and generate new phases, reducing the performance of the composite cathode. XPS results show that a small amount of Li2CO3 was formed on the surface of NCAL during cathode preparation, forming a special interface between NCAL, Li2CO3 and GDC. At the NCAL-Li2CO3/GDC interfaces, due to the migration and aggregation of Li+ to the interface, a space charge region may be formed in which the Li+ enrichment may lead to the formation of the region with a high oxygen vacancy concentration. A very high oxygen vacancy concentration at the NCAL-Li2CO3/GDC interfaces will provide sufficient oxygen ion conductivity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and reduce the activation energy of the reaction. NCAL will be a potential cathode material that can reduce the operating temperature of the traditional SOFC to 550 °C or lower.

A composite polyvinyl chloride (PVC) separation membrane blending with magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) was successfully prepared via the non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method assisted by magnetic field. The magnetic Fe3O4/ oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (o-MWCNTs) composite NPs with excellent hydrophilicity and magnetization were synthesized by chemical co-precipitation method. Then the Fe3O4/o-MWCNTs/PVC composite membrane included the Fe3O4/o-MWCNTs/PVC functional layer and PVC support layer was fabricated under the induction of the magnetic field. The effects of the addition of magnetic Fe3O4/o-MWCNTs NPs and its directional migration under magnetic field on the structure and performance of prepared Fe3O4/o-MWCNTs/PVC composite membrane were investigated. The results showed that the addition of hydrophilic magnetic Fe3O4/o-MWCNTs NPs and its directional migration to the membrane surface under the action of magnetic field promoted the process of double diffusion and microphase separation processes, which simultaneously increased the membrane porosity, hydrophilicity, pure water flux and BSA rejection ratio. The prepared Fe3O4/o-MWCNTs/PVC composite membrane exhibited higher pure water flux (400 L·m−2·h−1) and outstanding BSA rejection ratio (89%), which was increased by 60 and 117% compared with the PVC pristine membrane, respectively.

A solid oxide fuel cell with 1.2 mm thick nanocrystalline BCY (BaCe0.9Y0.1O3) electrolyte was prepared by the copressing method, and its electrochemical performance was tested in H2/air conditions. The maximum power density of the nanocrystalline electrolyte cell prepared with BCY powders calcined at 1000 °C and operated at 550 °C in H2 is 405.2 mW cm−2. The carriers of nanocrystalline BCY electrolyte were studied by using double-layer electrolyte cells with pure oxygen ion conductor GDC (Gd0.1Ce0.9O2) and proton conductor SCY (SrCe0.95Y0.05O3), sintered at high temperatures as proton and oxygen ion filters. It is found that nanocrystalline BCY is a mixed conductor of oxygen ions and protons. The results of hydrogen and oxygen concentration cells show that the transference number of oxygen ions in the nanocrystalline BCY prepared in this study is higher than that of protons. XPS and HRTEM results of BCY particles before and after performance testing showed that an amorphous layer containing a high concentration of oxygen vacancies and suspected carbonate was formed on the surface of BCY particles after fuel cell performance testing. We believe that the amorphous layer should be a high-speed ion conduction channel for nanocrystalline BCY electrolyte during performance testing.

Light Emitting Diode (LED) is widely used in garden landscape decoration because of its small size, low power, concentrated light, and the capability of showing more vivid colors. While designing the LED lighting system, considering that a single Advanced RISC Machine (ARM)-based control system cannot achieve large-scale LED display, and a single Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)-based control system cannot control the lighting system well, an LED system with the combination of ARM processor-FPGA is proposed. In this system, the ARM processor is used as the major control component. The Linux system realizes remote monitoring and intelligent management of image data. In addition, FPGA is used for LED data output. The lighting system consists of a major control node and a lighting node. The nodes are connected in parallel through a chain network. The major control node uses an ARM Cortex processor and is equipped with a Linux operating system. The lighting node uses ARM + FPGA hardware architecture. During the experiments, the LED lighting system is tested first. The results show that the reading and writing speed is fast. The LED display screen meets the lighting requirements. This LED lighting system is used for night lighting of garden landscapes. During the brightness test, the brightness of lighting objects and the background is used as research objects. Experiments have proved that the ratio of the lighting object brightness to the background brightness between (Yu, M. and Li, X., 2012. A little current k-factor method for measuring junction temperature of aviation lighting power led. Guangxue Jishu/Optical Technique, 38(3), pp.371–375; Monas, A., Verma, A., Gawari, A. and Paswan, R. S., 2016. Portable network monitor using arm processor. Procedia Computer Science, 92, pp.493–497.) is suitable for night lighting of garden landscape decoration, which will not bring discomfort to people who enjoy night scenery.

Loose nanofiltration (NF) hollow fiber membranes with excellent dye rejection and high inorganic salt transmission are promising for textile wastewater treatment. Herein, a novel kind of reinforced PES loose NF hollow fiber membranes with robust twisted fiber bundle was fabricated by a facile dry-wet spinning process. The SEM results indicate that the favorable interfacial bonding layer was formed between the separation and supporting layer for the sake of endowing the membranes with high longitudinal strength and lateral pressure resistance. For one thing, the tensile strength of the PST membranes was up to 185.7 MPa, a considerably higher than FEP hollow fiber membrane prepared by melt spinning process (18.5 MPa). Moreover, the PST-1 membranes show almost no deformation, compared to sever deformation of FEP hollow fiber membrane after 100 h at high pressure operation. For another, the prepared PST membranes display stable pure water flux of 52.3 L·m−2·h−1 under 0.6 MPa. Specifically, the PST membranes exhibit excellent fractionation efficiency of dye/salt mixtures, along with high dye rejection of 99.9% and low salt rejection (

The present study deals with the preparation of the powder metallurgy (P/M) Ti-22Al-25Nb (at.%) alloys with fine microstructure from pre-alloyed powders by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The SPS process was carried out at temperatures ranging from 950 to 1200 °C with pressures range of 35-80 MPa for 10-20 min followed by furnace cooling. The effects of SPS parameters on the microstructure, densification, phase composition and mechanical properties of the P/M Ti-22Al-25Nb alloys were discussed. The results revealed that all the SPS alloys were composed of B2 grains and O phases in the B2 grain interior, and a small amount of α2 phase mainly distributed along B2 grain boundaries. The P/M Ti-22Al-25Nb alloy sintered at 950 °C/80 MPa/10 min exhibited the best combination of mechanical properties at room temperature with the elongation, yield strength and tensile strength of 9.38%, 933.57 and 990.01 MPa, respectively. In addition, the fracture mechanism at room temperature of the P/M Ti-22Al-25Nb alloy sintered at 950 °C/80 MPa/10 min was determined to be a mixed fracture mechanism with a combination of brittle fracture and ductile fracture.

In this paper, we attempted to improve the detection sensitivity of an indirect X-ray detector through using a hybrid active layer composed of a poly [N-90-heptadecanyl–2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(40,70-di-2-thienyl-20,10,30-benzothiadiazole)] (PCDTBT) organic semiconductor and cadmium selenide nanoplatelets (CdSe NPLs) colloidal inorganic semiconductors. First, different blending ratio in the active layer (i.e., 2:1, 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3) of PCDTBT:CdSe NPL were examined, a sensitivity of 0.057 mA/Gy∙cm2 was achieved using a 1:1 ratio due to the low series resistance (RS) and defect density in this configuration. Then, the oleic acid (OA) that was initially applied in the CdSe NPL surface was replaced with pyridine ligands, this was done because the pyridine ligand is a short-chain ligand that can help charge transfer by reducing the distance between NPLs in the active layer. In addition, an experiment was conducted to determine the optimal ligand exchange time. A detector with an PCDTBT:CdSe NPL active layer fabricated using pyridine ligand exchange achieved a sensitivity of 0.14 mA/Gy∙cm2 after an exchange time of 12 hours, this is an improvement of 155% compared to the detector using a PCDTBT:CdSe NPL with the original OA ligands. Lastly, the optimal thickness for the PCDTBT:CdSe NPL active layer was investigated. The highest mobility of 7.60 cm2/V∙s was recorded after fabricating the layer using spin-coating at 1900 rpm, the highest sensitivity of 0.20 mA/Gy∙cm2 was also achieved under these conditions. Compared to the initial state of the detector, our modifications improved the sensitivity of the PCDTBT:CdSe NPL detector by 255%.

Resonators have been used in a wide range of fields, such as biochemical detection and microscale lasers. In recent years, optofluidic resonators have attracted a significant amount of attention owing to their unique liquid environments. Liquids containing biochemical samples can be designed to pass through the ring resonators or to directly form droplets, for sample sensing. Liquid diffusion is an important property in optofluidic applications, such as gradient refractive index lenses and waveguides. However, liquid diffusion has not been used in the study of optofluidic resonators, for both possible sensing characteristics, and unidirectional emission that is mostly acted as light sources. Here, we introduce a gradient refractive index profile formed by liquid diffusion in annular channels into a circular resonator, forming a gradient-index resonator with a tunable unidirectional emission. For both simulations and experiments, the squeezed and non-rotationally symmetrical light intensity profile was first obtained in a circular resonator. The squeezed light profile enables unidirectional emission in circular resonators, which is difficult to achieve in conventional ones. The squeezed light profile and unidirectional emission are determined by the refractive index difference of the liquids used, the dimension of the circular channels, and the working wavelengths. In experiments, different dimensions of bending radii were demonstrated and a tunable squeezed light intensity profile and unidirectional emission were exhibited. Interestingly, the squeezed coefficient of light, which was about 1.8 for a bending radius of 100 μm, enabled emission with a divergence angle as small as 14 degrees, which could be used for laser emission applications in the future. This work reveals the significant potential of the novel liquid gradient refractive index resonator, which provides a practicable approach for optofluidic resonator emission applications and also has potential for use in optofluidic sensing based on the squeezed light profile.

The powder metallurgy (P/M) Ti-22Al-25Nb alloy obtained by spark plasma sintering (SPS) of Ti-22Al-25Nb prealloyed powders at 950 °C/80 MPa/10 min (α2 + B2 + O three-phase region) was adopted as the starting material to systematically investigate the evolution of microstructure, phase transition, B2 grain size uniformity and microhardness with solution temperature and holding time. The solution treatment was conducted at temperatures from 940 to 1100 °C (α2 + B2 + O, α2 + B2 and B2 phase regions) and holding times range of 10-120 min (10, 30, 60, and 120 min). After solution treatment, the microhardness of the alloy was measured. The results showed that the microstructure and microhardness of the alloy were closely related to the solution temperature and holding time. The B2 phase grain size and its uniformity increased with the increase in the solution temperature and holding time, and the microhardness decreased with the growth of the grains. The P/M Ti-22Al-25Nb alloy tested at 940 °C/10 min had the best performance, exhibiting three phases of α2 + B2 + O and a grain size of 43.57 μm. The microhardness was 359.52 ± 3.73 HV. In addition, the grain growth activation energy and grain growth index of different solution temperatures and holding times were obtained by linear fitting, and the relationship between the B2 grain size and the solution temperature and holding time was further established.

Yolk-shell CdS@void@TiO2 (cadmium sulfide@void@titanium dioxide) composite particles (CPs), consisting of three parts: core (CdS) synthesized by solvent thermal reaction, void generated by polypyrrole (PPy) sacrificed layers and porous shell (TiO2) by sol-gel method, were innovatively fabricated. The actual yolk-shell structure and chemical composition of the resultant CdS@void@TiO2 were verified by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction analyses (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). CdS@void@TiO2 CPs possessed enhanced visible light response due to its narrower energy gap (2.9 eV) than TiO2 (3.2 eV). With the support of photocatalytic performance test results, CdS@void@TiO2 exhibits much higher hydrogen evolution rate up to 1893.5 μmol h−1 g−1 as well as dye removal efficiency both under visible and UV light irradiation than pristine TiO2. The covering of TiO2 shell remarkably promotes the photocorrosion resistance of CdS. The unique yolk-shell structure promotes striking photocatalytic performance in dye removal and hydrogen evolution. A possible photocatalytic mechanism about enhanced photocatalytic activity and robust photostability is also proposed.

A novel polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropyle (PVDF-HFP)/graphene (GE) tubular nanofiber membrane (TNM) for application in continuous oil/water separation was firstly fabricated in this study. The obtained PVDF-HFP/GE TNMs showed outstanding mechanical properties due to the reinforcement of polyester braided tube. In addition, the effect of GE concentrations on membrane structure and performance was investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, hydrophobicity, pore size and its distribution, porosity and liquid entrance pressure. The results showed that, the prepared TNMs had ideal membrane structure and performance with moderate addition of GE. When the GE concentration was 0.03 wt%, the obtained TNMs exhibited a superior selective wettability and could achieve separating surfactant- stabilized water-in-oil emulsion with a remarkable separation rate and separation efficiency.

In general, the twisted fiber bundle with good fiber cohesion could be regarded as a new kind of supporting layer. Herein, a new type of poly(p-phenyleneterephthalamide) (PPTA) twisted fiber bundle-reinforced (FR) cellulose triacetate (CTA) hollow fiber reverse osmosis (RO) membrane was fabricated using a twin-screw spinning machine by the melt spinning method. Moreover, the morphologies, surface analysis and permeability of FR CTA hollow fiber RO membrane were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, confocal scanning microscopy and filtration performance. The CTA separation layer exhibited the favorable interfacial bonding state between CTA separation layer and PPTA twisted fiber bundle supporting layer. Especially, the advantages of FR CTA hollow fiber RO membrane could overcome the negative effect of permeability flux loss, due to the easy vulnerable to the compaction of CTA membrane when operating at moderate or high pressure process. Besides, the tensile strength increased from 9.2 to 96.8 MPa because of the higher interfacial stress transfer coefficient, which was achieved due to the interfacial bonding of FR CTA hollow fiber RO membrane. Besides, based on the filtration performance and long-term running test, FR CTA hollow fiber RO membrane with thin separation layer not only produced higher and more stable permeability flux while their salt rejection were basically the same, but also came into being smaller amount of deformation without defects than pristine CTA hollow fiber RO membranes after 200 h operation.

In this work, poly (tetrafluoroethylene-co-hexafluoropropylene) (FEP) hollow fiber membranes were fabricated by melt-spinning method with solvent-free condition, while no coagulation bath was involved. The robust and solvent-free method for preparation of FEP hollow fiber greatly reduced environmental pollution for no solvent recovery problem. Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) as pore-forming agent, and dioctyl phthalate (DOP) as plasticizer as well as dispersant were used in this study. Meanwhile, the formation mechanism of multi-microporous structure with stretching pores, interface microvoids and dissolved micropores was studied, that the addition of CaCO3 brought about interfacial microvoids during the hot stretching-setting treatment and a dissolved pore structure after soaking and washing with hydrochloric acid bath. Furthermore, the effects of hot stretching-setting and hydrochloric acid solution treatment on the membranes’ structure and performance were characterized. The morphology exhibited that the prepared FEP hollow fiber membrane presented a kind of homogeneous membrane and the pore size distribution range remained relatively stable and narrow. Moreover, FEP membrane revealed excellent stability and solvent resistance with the mechanical strength retention rate up to 90%. These findings suggest that the FEP hollow fiber membrane prepared by this method will be great potential in the field of separation and purification in harsh conditions.

Foam-like materials had attracted great interest as promising absorbent. In this study, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) block sponge was synthesized. Polyester (PET) braid tubular reinforced polyurethane (PU) spongy hollow fiber membrane was prepared by a concentric circular spinning method. The method was woven from an outer coated water-blown PU separation layer and inner PET braid tubular. We have developed a simple and useful preparation technique for the PU spongy hollow fiber membrane. For the first time, the PU spongy hollow fiber membrane was prepared using a coating and controlled foaming technique. The influence of toluene isocyanate index on the physical properties, morphology, and structure of flexible PU sponge was discussed in terms of water contact angle (CA), pure water flux (PWF), Fourier Transform Infrared Analysis (FTIR), pressure-responsive property, and pull-out strength. The morphologies of the membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy. We have characterized the foams from an intuitive point of view and demonstrated that the dimensional morphology of the membrane was closely related to isocyanate index. The result showed that the surface cell size of the PU sponge hollow fiber membrane gradually decreased with an increase of the isocyanate index. Due to the elasticity of PU at room temperature, the pressure responsive characteristic of the membrane was prepared. When isocyanate index was 1.05, the interface bonding strength of PU spongy hollow fiber membranes reached as high as 0.37 MPa, porosity and PWF were 71.5% and 415.5 L·m−2·h−1, respectively.

There have been a few studies of heterojunctions composed of two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and an oxide layer, but such studies of high-performance electric and optoelectronic devices are essential. Such heterojunctions with low-resistivity metal contacts are needed by the electronics industry to fabricate efficient diodes and photovoltaic devices. Here, a van der Waals heterojunction composed of p-type black phosphorus (p-BP) and n-type indium-gallium-zinc oxide (n-IGZO) films with low-resistivity metal contacts is reported, and it demonstrates high rectification. The low off-state leakage current in the thick IGZO film accounts for the high rectification ratio in a sharp interface of p-BP/n-IGZO devices. For electrostatic gate control, an ionic liquid is introduced to achieve a high rectification ratio of 9.1 × 104. The photovoltaic measurements of p-BP/n-IGZO show fast rise and decay times, significant open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current, and a high photoresponsivity of 418 mA/W with a substantial external quantum efficiency of 12.1%. The electric and optoelectronic characteristics of TMDs/oxide layer van der Waals heterojunctions are attractive for industrial applications in the near future.

Two-dimensional (2D) tungsten diselenide (WSe2) has attracted considerable attention in the field of photovoltaic devices owing to its excellent structure and photoelectric properties, such as ordered 2D network structure, high electrical conductivity, and high mobility. For this test, we firstly prepared different sizes (NS1–NS3) of WSe2 nanosheets (NSs) through the ultrasonication method and characterized their structures using the field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray powder diffraction. Moreover, we investigated the photovoltaic performance of polymer solar cells based on 5,7-Bis(2-ethylhexyl)benzo[1,2-c:4,5-c′]dithiophene-4,8-dione(PBDB-T):(6,6)-phenyl-C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) with different WSe2 NSs as the active layer. The fabricated PBDB-T:PCBM active layer with the addition of NS2 WSe2 NSs (1.5 wt%) exhibited an improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.2%, which is higher than the pure and NS1 and NS3 WSe2 blended active layer-encompassing devices. The improved PCE is attributed to the synergic enhancement of exciton dissociation and an improvement in the charge mobility through the modified active layer for polymer solar cells. Furthermore, the highest sensitivity of 2.97 mA/Gy·cm2 was achieved for the NS2 WSe2 NSs blended active layer detected by X-ray exposure over the pure polymer, and with the NS1 and NS2 WSe2 blended active layer. These results led to the use of transition metal dichalcogenide materials in polymer solar cells and X-ray detectors.

In this work, we investigated how the performance enhancement of an organic X-ray detector was improved by adding a dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) polar solvent to poly(3, 4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(4-styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) hole-transport layer. The changes in the properties, such as surface roughness, chemical structure, sheet resistance, and absorbance, of the PEDOT:PSS film caused by the DMSO treatment were examined. The application of DMSO treatment lowered the resistance of the PEDOT:PSS film because of the removal of PSS and the chemical structure change after DMSO treatment, and thus the transport of light-induced carriers was increased. The organic detector treated with 10 vol% DMSO showed the highest collected current density (CCD) of 357.42 nA/cm2 and highest sensitivity of 2.58 mA/Gy ·cm2, which were 31.88% and 32.31% higher than the CCD and sensitivity of the detector without DMSO treatment.

In this paper, we studied the optimized conditions for adding inorganic quantum dots (QD) to the P3HT:PC70BM organic active layer to increase the sensitivity of the indirect X-ray detector. Commonly used QDs are composed of hazardous substances with environmental problems, so indium phosphide (InP) QDs were selected as the electron acceptor in this experiment. Among the three different sizes of InP QDs (4, 8, and 12 nm in diameter), the detector with 4 nm InP QDs showed the highest sensitivity, of 2.01 mA/Gy&middot, cm2. To further improve the sensitivity, the QDs were fixed to 4 nm in diameter and then the amount of QDs added to the organic active layer was changed from 0 to 5 mg. The highest sensitivity, of 2.26 mA/Gy&middot, cm2, was obtained from the detector with a P3HT:PC70BM:InP QDs (1 mg) active layer. In addition, the highest mobility, of 1.69 &times, 10&minus, 5 cm2/V&middot, s, was obtained from the same detector. Compared to the detector with the pristine P3HT:PC70BM active layer, the detector with a P3HT:PC70BM:InP QDs (1 mg) active layer had sensitivity that was 61.87% higher. The cut-off frequency of the P3HT:PC70BM detector was 21.54 kHz, and that of the P3HT:PC70BM:InP QDs (1 mg) detector was 26.33 kHz, which was improved by 22.24%.

In this work, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) hollow fiber membranes were prepared via a melt-spinning method and on-line stretching treatment. Gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) and epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) were selected as the solvent and the thermal stabilizer, respectively. The effects of on-line stretching treatment on the membrane structure and performance were characterized by means of morphology, surface roughness, pore size distribution, permeation performance and so on. The morphology showed that the prepared PVC hollow fiber membrane belonged to a homogeneous membrane. The on-line stretching treatment decreased the roughness of the inner surface and the outer surface, but it increased the water contact angle, mean pore size, porosity and pure water flux. Meanwhile, the pore size distribution range remained stable and narrow. The rejection of Direct Black 19 particles was higher than 90% when it approached a steady value. This type of membrane filtration was a deep intercept. Furthermore, the tensile strength increased with the increment of stretching ratio, and the elongation at break showed the opposite trend. The biggest tensile strength could be obtained as the stretching ratio reached 3.0 and was 23.89 MPa.

We proposed a facile and robust strategy for fabricating tubular polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) / poly (tetrafluoroethylene-co-hexafluoropropylene) (FEP) ultrafine fibers-covered porous membranes for continuous oil/water separation via electrospinning-sintering method. Specifically, PTFE/FEP/poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) ultrafine fibers were electrospun covering on a porous supporting tube which served as the outer layer of the porous membranes. Manipulation of shapes by control of FEP additions enabled the creation of PTFE porous membranes with optimized membrane pore structure during the sintering process. Meanwhile, the obtained membranes had excellent oil/water selectivity in oil/water separation. Moreover, they could effectively separate surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsions with separation efficiency as high as 99.9% and high flux (134 L m−2·h−1 at 0.5 bar). Therefore, tubular PTFE/FEP ultrafine fibers-covered porous membranes enabled an efficient separation for various oil/water emulsions, showing attractive potential for practical oil/water separation.

A solid oxide fuel cell’s performance is largely determined by the ionic-conducting electrolyte. A novel approach is presented for using the semiconductor perovskite La0.25Sr0.75TiO3 (LST) as the electrolyte by creating surface superionic conduction, and the authors show that the LST electrolyte can deliver superior power density, 908.2 mW cm–2 at just 550 °C. The prepared LST materials formed a heterostructure, including an insulating core and a superionic conducting surface layer. The rapid ion transport along the surfaces or grain boundaries was identified as the primary means of oxygen ion conduction. The fuel cell-induced phase transition was observed from the insulating LST to a super O2– conductivity of 0.221 S cm–1 at 550 °C, leading to excellent current and power outputs.

Non-woven fabric (NWF) has become one of the most important segments in filtration field. Herein, a new type of polyethylene-terephthalate (PET) NWF reinforced “sandwich” cellulose triacetate (CTA) composite reverse osmosis (RO) membrane (NCR membrane) was prepared by melting method. Moreover, the structure and performance of NCR membranes with different separation layer thickness were investigated by ATR-FTIR, SEM, and mechanical property and so on. The results indicated that the NWF supporting layer not only provided well interfacial bonding state with separation layer but also overcame the negative effect of CTA RO membrane's permeate flux loss, due to its easy compaction at a moderate or high operating pressure. Furthermore, all the same ATR-FTIR spectrum of NCR membranes indicated that NWF was wrapped up by CTA melt. Besides, the mechanical property exhibited that the tensile strength increased from 7.5 to 19.5 MPa when introducing the NWF into membrane matrix. Also, based on both membrane morphologies and performance, the optimal membrane thickness was 150 μm with adequate permeate flux and higher salt rejection. Finally, the long-term stable RO testing also exhibited that introducing NWF supporting layer with suitable thickness of separation layer was useful for compaction resistance and stable permeability of NCR membranes.

The development of hydrogen-evolving catalysts based on transition metal dichalchogenides (TMDs) is receiving a great attention for practical application of water-splitting devices and fuel cells due to their high electrocatalytic activity. Herein, we synthesized tungsten disulfide (WS2)/cobalt diselenide (CoSe2) hybrid catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). CoSe2 films were first deposited via electrodeposition of Co and followed by selenization process. And, the surface of the synthesized CoSe2 films was covered with WS2 via combined process of sputtering and sulfurization. In acidic media, the WS2/CoSe2 heterostructure catalyst exhibited fast hydrogen evolution kinetics of onset potential and Tafel slope were at 95 mV and 44 mV decade−1, respectively with the excellent electrocatalytic stability over 20 h. WS2/CoSe2 heterostructure electrode demonstrates an excellent HER activity and long-term stability owing to their abundant active edge sites, and the strong chemical and electronic coupling between the CoSe2 and WS2.

A powder metallurgy (P/M) Ti-22Al-25Nb (at%) alloy was prepared by spark plasma sintering of pre-alloyed powders at 1000 °C/80 MPa/10 min. The solution treatments of the P/M Ti-22Al-25Nb alloy were conducted at a temperature range of 940–1030 °C at 30 °C intervals and holding times of 10 min, 30 min, 60 min, and 120 min. The effects of the solution temperature and the holding time on the microstructure evolution, B2 grain growth behavior, phase transition, tensile mechanical properties, and fracture behavior of the P/M Ti-22Al-25Nb alloy were systematically evaluated using optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction, and tensile tests. The results indicated that the microstructure and mechanical properties were closely linked to the solution temperature and the holding time. The effect of the holding time and the solution temperature on the B2 grain growth is well described by Beck's equation and Hillert's equation, respectively. The tensile tests showed that the tensile properties of the solution-treated P/M Ti-22Al-25Nb alloy were mainly affected by the number of O phases in the interior of the B2 grains and the phase transition degree of the α2 phase at the grain boundary. The P/M Ti-22Al-25Nb alloy solution-treated at 940 °C/10 min exhibited the best mechanical properties at room temperature with a yield strength, tensile strength, and elongation of 867.8 MPa, 949.5 MPa, and 7.4%, respectively. A phase transition model of the α2 phase was established. In addition, a tensile fracture model of the P/M Ti-22Al-25Nb alloy solution-treated under different conditions was established.

A symmetrical solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with a novel microstructure of BaZr0.9Y0.1O3–δ (BZY) as the electrolyte is investigated in this study. The cell with the Ni0.8Co0.15Al0.05LiO2 (NCAL)-foam Ni/BZY/foam Ni-NCAL structure is prepared by a co-pressing method. The maximum obtained power density is 735.6 mW cm−2 in H2 at 550 °C, which is comparable to the results obtained using Ni cermet anode-supported SOFCs with an extremely thin electrolyte. The ionic conductivity of the BZY electrolyte prepared in this study is much higher than that of the conventional BZY electrolyte. The activation energy of ionic conduction is much lower than that of traditional oxygen ion or proton conduction. Electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) results of the cell with the BZY electrolyte measured in different atmospheric conditions and the results of oxygen ion filtration experiments for the cell using the BZY/Ce0.9Gd0.1O2 (GDC) bilayer electrolyte indicate that oxygen ion is one of the carriers in the BZY electrolyte prepared in this study. According to the results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), an interfacial O2− conduction mechanism at the interface of BZY particles in the electrolyte is discussed.

In this study, a novel thermally stable thin film composite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membrane was prepared by interfacial polymerization using poly (m-phenyleneisophthalamide) (PMIA) membrane as substrate. The effect of reaction conditions and the properties of substrates on performance of TFC NF membranes were investigated. The substrates and TFC NF membranes were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscope (XPS) and contact angle goniometer, respectively. The PMIA TFC NF membrane showed an excellent thermal stability. The water flux of PMIA TFC NF membrane increased about three times while the rejection remained stable as the operating temperature increased from 25 °C to 90 °C. The PMIA TFC NF membrane exhibited a great potential application in the treatment of simulated textile wastewater.

Magnetic Fe3O4/graphene oxide (GO) composite particles with excellent properties of magnetic susceptibility and hydrophilicity were synthesized by a facile one-step chemical coprecipitation method. Then the prepared magnetic Fe3O4/graphene oxide (MGO) particles were introduced to polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) casting solution to fabricated PVDF/MGO hybrid membrane under the magnetic field. The directional migration and ordered arrangement of MGO sheets in magnetic field were investigated. The preparation of multilayer composite membrane was in the form of functional layer and support substrate in series, in which the functional layer with MGO orderly embedded into the membrane surface was prepared via magnetic field induced MGO sheets to the membrane surface during the phase inversion process. There was obvious effects of this novel structure on the pure water flux, hydrophilicity and antifouling properties of the membranes. The PVDF/MGO membranes showed high pure water flux (484 L m−2 h−1) and high flux recovery ratio (up to 83.0%).

In this research, a novel interfacial enhanced thin film composite nanofiltration (TFC NF) membrane with nail-fixed like surface structure and wave line like cross-section structure, good permeability and superior interfacial stability was prepared by interfacial polymerization (IP) on one-step in-situ aminated polyvinyl chloride (APVC) support layer. The effects of amination agent (triethylenetetramine, TETA) content on the support layers and the effects of the support layers with different degrees of amination on the performance of the TFC NF membranes were studied comprehensively. Furthermore, the interfacial bonding strength of the TFC NF membrane was explored by the inverse permeation test. It was concluded from the results that higher TETA content in casting solution led to the APVC membrane to form macroporous surface structure, thinner top skin layer and larger mean pore size. Meanwhile, more TETA molecules were grafted onto the PVC chains through nucleophilic substitution to participate in IP in a synergistic manner. Accordingly, the corresponding TFC NF membrane formed a nail-fixed like surface structure similar to semi-free-standing polyamide (PA) layer and wave line like cross-section structure with thinner and denser active layer. The water flux of the TFC NF membrane prepared with the optimized APVC membrane as the substrate membrane was increased by 395% at 0.6 MPa compared with the TFC NF membrane prepared with PVC membrane as the substrate membrane, while Na2SO4 rejection did not sacrifice and increased by 3.48%, which manifested that unique structure was favorable to speed up the water transmission and effectively conquered the trade-off effect. Moreover, the representative TFC NF membrane prepared with optimized APVC membrane as the substrate membrane with strong covalent bond between support layer and active layer demonstrated superior interfacial stability in the short-term circulating inverse permeation test.

Transition metal carbide (Mo2C) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been used to modify the hole transport layers (HTLs) in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and photodetectors due to their high metallic conductivity, superior charge extraction probability, tunable work function, and high reliability. Here, for the first time, Mo2C, CNTs, and a Mo2C-CNT hybrid were blended with a PEDOT:PSS HTL in an ITO/HTL/CH3NH3PbI3/PCBM/LiF/Al device architecture. The power conversion efficiency of the resulting PSC improved to 11.98% with the use of Mo2C-CNT@PEDOT:PSS HTL compared to the pure PEDOT:PSS (9.17%), Mo2C@PEDOT:PSS (9.82%) and CNT@PEDOT:PSS (10.61%) HTLs. The PSC performance of device prototypes with different loadings (1, 1.5, and 2 wt%) of the Mo2C@CNT nanocomposite in the HTL was also examined. The prepared Mo2C-CNT@PEDOT:PSS HTL-based device was then employed as X-ray photodetector, achieving a maximum sensitivity of 3.56 mA/Gy·cm2. Our findings illustrate the potential for the use of MXene-CNT nanocomposites with a perovskite layer to enhance the efficacy of solar cells and photodetectors.

The systematic in-depth investigation of the temperature-dependent mechanical properties of α2-Ti3Al is a critical issue owing to its practical application in the aviation industry. In this work, temperature-dependent elastic and plastic behaviors for α2-Ti3Al were studied by employing first-principles method based on density functional theory. The results indicate that the elastic constants and elastic modulus gradually decreases with the increase of temperature, while the elastic anisotropy shows an increasing tendency with increasing temperature. Based on the Sachs model, we discovered that 30°and 90°partial dislocations of basal plane dominate the plastic deformation of α2-Ti3Al at a temperature range of 600–1100 K. It also demonstrates that the strength and hardness decrease with increasing dislocation density and decreasing strain rate. These results may provide beneficial guidelines for designing new intermetallic compounds.

A novel tubular braid reinforced (TBR) PMIA/CA-PEI/Ag nanofiber membrane for application in dynamic catalysis was introduced in this study. The preparation method of the TBR PMIA/CA-PEI/Ag nanofiber membrane was facile and efficient. The TBR PMIA/CA-PEI/Ag nanofiber membrane was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The mechanical properties were evaluated by a universal material testing machine. The tensile strength of TBR nanofiber membrane exceeded 500 MPa, whereas that of the nanofiber membrane without reinforcement was merely 10 MPa. Besides, the compressive strength of the TBR nanofiber membrane was also reinforced, which indicated that the TBR nanofiber membrane could withstand a higher operating pressure. The reduction of 4-NP to 4-AP was selected as the model reaction to evaluate the catalytic property of TBR PMIA/CA-PEI/Ag nanofiber membrane. The apparent rate constant of dynamic catalysis was 34.58 times higher than that of static catalysis. After 10 cycles, the conversion of 4-NP was still higher than 95.3%. This indicated that the TBR PMIA/CA-PEI/Ag nanofiber membrane had superior stability and recyclability. Besides, the TBR PMIA/CA-PEI/Ag nanofiber membrane also showed superior catalytic performance when it was used for catalyzing other environmental pollutants.

In this study, poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluropropylene) (PVDF-HFP)/polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) blend membranes for water-in-oil emulsion separation were prepared via a thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) method using dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and dioctyl phthalate (DOP) as a mixed diluent. The effects of PTFE content on the obtained membranes' structure and properties were studied. The results showed that the surface structure of the obtained membranes without addition of PTFE particles was denser and the surface pores got smaller. The porosity, pore size and hydrophobicity obviously increased with the increase in PTFE content. However, the breaking elongation and breaking strength decreased with the increase of PTFE content. When the PTFE content was 10 wt%, the obtained membrane showed the highest separation efficiency for different kinds of water-in-oil emulsions. In addition, the antifouling performance of the obtained membranes was also studied for many times of reuse. This paper introduces an effective and facile method to prepare hydrophobic–oleophilic membranes for water-in-oil emulsion separation.

Graphene oxide (GO) has attracted significant attention on account of its unique structure and superior performance, deriving a new research field for materials science. Herein, cellulose triacetate (CTA) flat-sheet RO composite membrane was fabricated with GO embedding in its layer via melting method, which exhibited higher permeate flux as compared to pristine CTA RO membrane. The morphologies and structural arrangements of the obtained composite membranes were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Confocal scanning microscopy (CSM), and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. It was found that thermogravimetric (TG) spectrograms revealed GO generating the degradation centres and changing degradation process with the increase addition of GO. Moreover, the mechanical property indicated that the incorporation of GO could contribute to the improvement of tensile strength from 10.2 MPa to 23.1 MPa because of the dominant interactions between C O groups from CTA and OH and COOH groups from GO. Finally, the RO membranes' performance showed that the permeate flux of membrane increased from 1.67 L·m− 2·h− 1 to 4.74 L·m− 2·h− 1 with the increasing GO content. However, the salt rejection compromised at the same time, perhaps due to the formation of channels which might offer the passageway of water accompanying by salt with the increasing GO content.

A symmetrical cell composed of Ce0.9Gd0.1O2−δ electrolyte is constructed with 0.5 mm thickness and Ni0.8Co0.15Al0.05LiO2 (NCAL)-foam Ni composite electrodes. Electrochemical performance of the cell and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) are measured using the three-electrode method. The maximum power densities of the cell are 93.6 and 159.7 mW cm−2 at 500 and 550 °C, respectively. The polarization resistances of the cathode are 0.393 and 0.729 Ω cm−2 at 550 and 500 °C, indicating that NCAL has good ORR activity. HT-XRD results for NCAL do not show phase transitions or any additional new phases at elevated temperatures, indicating that NCAL has a stable phase structure. The surface characteristics of the NCAL powders are studied by XPS and FTIR. The results reveal that Li2CO3 and the cation-disordered “NiO-like” phase are formed on the surface of the layered NCAL structure due to prolonged exposure to air and contain a large number of oxygen vacancies. The cation-disordered “NiO-like” phase and Li2CO3 composite in the melt and partial melt states in the high temperature region are considered to possess very high ionic conductivity and lower activation energy for oxygen reduction reactions.

In this work, polypropylene (PP) hollow fiber membranes were fabricated by thermal-induced phase separation method. The influence of cold-stretched and hot-stretched treatment on the morphology and permeability of the PP hollow fiber membranes was investigated. The results showed that there were cracks and crystalline particulate structures on the outer and inner surfaces of the stretched PP hollow fiber membranes, which were not isolated but linked together through fiber-like connections. Compared to the original PP hollow fiber membrane, the mean pore sizes, the porosities, the hydrophobicity and water entry pressure of the stretched PP hollow fiber membranes improved significantly. When applied in conjunction with a vacuum system, the PP hollow fiber membranes could continuously remove oils from water surface, and separate surfactant-free and surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsions, as well. The initial kerosene fluxes of the hot-stretched PP hollow fiber membrane were higher than that of the membranes prepared from original PP hollow fibers or cold-stretched PP hollow fibers. The permeate fluxes of the hot-stretched PP hollow fiber membrane for all different emulsion separations were higher than those of the original PP hollow fiber membrane. There could be seen no emulsion droplet in the optical micrographs after separation, indicating that the water-in-oil emulsions were effectively separated in one-step method.

Polyurethane/graphene (PU/GE) hollow fiber membranes made of a chemically foamed PU/GE spongy layer and inner reinforced poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) tubular braids were prepared by a one-step online chemically foamed method. Online chemical foaming involved the simultaneous formation of membrane pores with reaction to form PU by controlling the reaction rate. The hydrophobicity and lipophilicity of the membrane were increased by the introduction of GE, which as a heterogeneous bubble nucleating agent increased the bubble density. The properties of PU/GE hollow fiber membranes were investigated by testing of the micro-morphology, contact angles of different liquids, oil/water separation and membrane reusability. The experimental results showed that when GE was introduced into the foaming solutions, the hydrophobicity of the prepared membrane was increased and the thermal stability of the membrane was improved. With the increase in GE content, the pore size, porosity and pure oil flux of the chemically foamed PU/GE hollow fiber membranes first decreased and then increased, and the inverse change was observed with the liquid osmotic pressure. When GE content was 1.8 wt%, PU/GE hollow fiber membranes exhibited superior membrane performance, with separation efficiency as high as 90% and high flux (143 L·m−2·h−1 at −0.5 bar). The PU/GE hollow fiber membrane could be applied to continuous oil/water separation experiments. In addition, PU/GE hollow fiber membranes showed durability and reusability, and the flux recovery rate was kept above 90%.

The electrochemical mechanisms and performance of a symmetrical low-temperature SOFC with a single oxide as the electrolyte are investigated here. The fuel cell has a layered Ni foam-Ni 0.8 Co 0.15 Al 0.05 LiO 2 (NCAL)/SrTiO 3 (STO)/NCAL-Ni foam structure. A 0.8 mm thick layer of STO is used as the electrolyte and NCAL-coated nickel foam is used as the electrode on both sides of the cell. The maximum power densities of the cell were 0.31, 0.44, and 0.62 W cm −2 in a H 2 /air atmosphere at 450, 500, and 550 °C, respectively. The corresponding ionic conductivities of the STO electrolyte were 0.16, 0.21, and 0.24 S cm −1 . Ion filtration experiments with densified Gd-doped CeO 2 /STO and SrCe 0.95 Y 0.05 O 3−δ /STO double layer electrolytes indicated that both oxygen ions and protons act as charge carriers in the STO electrolyte. XPS, TGA, and HRTEM analyses indicate that lithium carbonate, which originates from the NCAL, coats the STO electrolyte and forms a core-shell structure in the fuel cell test atmosphere. Lithium carbonate between the surface and interface of the STO particles may provide a pathway for oxygen ion and proton conduction.

This work involves the investigation of effects of nanostructures composed PCDTBT and PCBM active layers in glass/ITO/HTL/active-layer/LiF/Al structured bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells and photodetectors. Solution-treated MoO3, MoS2, and MoO3-MoS2 hybrids were used to fabricate the BHJ solar cells and photodetectors. The results show that the MoO3-MoS2 incorporated active layers possessed high charge carrier capacities and exciton dissociation properties compared with the pure MoS2 and MoO3 blended matrices. Microscopic studies revealed the formation of palm-bark-cell structured MoO3-MoS2 hybrid which efficiently influenced for better charge carrier transport behavior. Further, different weight ratios of MoO3-MoS2 dispersed polymer junctions were fabricated to evaluate the impact of conjunction formation on developing charge transport characteristics. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ~6.18% for MoO3-MoS2 dispersed polymer junction device realized the 38% improvement with respect to pure PCDTBT:PCBM active layer (PCE = 4.47%). Moreover, a maximum sensitivity of 1.89 mA/Gy·cm2 was realized under X-ray airing for the photodetector with the MoO3-MoS2 blended PCDTBT and PCBM active layer. Owing to the ease of fabrication and morphologically tuned 2D atomic layer infusion into fullerene derivative/polymer junctions, it would be feasible for improving the interfacial behaviors to achieve better organic electronic devices.

A novel tubular polyvinyl chloride (PVC) hybrid nanofiber membrane with three-dimensional structure interwoven by three-dimensional microspheres and two-dimensional nanofibers was fabricated via electrospinning process, with the polyester (PET) hollow braided tube as the support and hydrophobic nano silica (SiO2) as the inorganic additive. The fabricating strategy was designed as the double-needle electrospinning methods with two-component in respective needles. The synergistic effect of two-dimensional nanofibers interwoven with three-dimensional microspheres endowed the three-dimensional nanofiber membrane with the continuous water-oil-solid interfaces, which slowed down the water wetting process and improved the hydrophobic stability of the membrane. With high porosity and multistage rough structures, the three-dimensional nanofiber membrane could be used as an efficient liquid separation membrane, which had excellent separation efficiency for various surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsions separation without external force. When the SiO2 content reached to 4 wt%, the membrane revealed excellent lipophilicity and superhydrophobicity under oil. Moreover, it produced a high permeation flux up to 358.60 L/m2.h with outstanding separation efficiency more than 95% under the driving of gravity, and the excellent reuse performance in water-in-oil emulsion. In addition, the three-dimensional tubular nanofiber membranes prepared by this method have high porosity, excellent mechanical properties, good thermal stability and hydrophobic stability. This simple, economical and environmentally friendly method provided a convenient and cheap platform for the field of waste oil containing water remediation.

A gradient refractive index (GRIN) lens has a great potential for on-chip imaging and detection systems because of its flat surface with reduced defects. This paper reports a liquid thermal GRIN lens prepared using heat conduction between only one liquid, and uses it as a tunable optical tweezer for single living cell trapping in a flowing environment. This liquid GRIN lens consists of a trapezoidal region in the upper layer which is used to establish a GRIN profile by the heat conduction between three streams of benzyl alcohol with different temperatures, and subsequently a rhombus region in the lower layer with compensation liquids to form a steady square-law parabolic refractive index profile only in transverse direction. Simulations and experiments successfully show the real-time tunability of the focusing properties. The focal length can be modulated in the range of 500 μm with the minimum focal length of 430 μm. A considerable high enhancement factor achieves 5.4 whereas the full width at half maximum is 4 μm. The response time of the GRIN lens is about 20 ms. Based on this enhancement, tunable optical trapping for single human embryonic kidney 293 cell in the range of 280 μm is demonstrated by varying the focal length and working distance which is difficult for solid optical tweezers. The considerable quality of this liquid GRIN lens indicates on-chip applications especially in high quality optical imaging, detection and cells' handling.

Novel braid-reinforced (BR) and thermostable poly(m-phenylene isophthalamide) (PMIA) hollow fiber membranes comprising reinforced braids and a separation layer were prepared by a dry–wet spinning process for the first time. The effects of PMIA concentration and the braid composition on the structure and performance of the BR PMIA hollow fiber membranes were investigated. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) was used to observe the morphologies of the BR PMIA hollow fiber membranes. An increase in PMIA concentration resulted in an increase of the protein rejection rate and a decrease in the pure water flux. The higher flux recovery rate indicated that the BR PMIA membranes had excellent antifouling property compared to commercial PVDF membranes. In the BR PMIA membranes existed favorable interfacial bonding between the separation layer and the reinforced braids as the tensile strength of the BR PMIA membranes exceeded 170 MPa. Moreover, when the operating temperature was increased from 25 °C to 90 °C, the water flux increased more than two-fold with stable ink solution rejection, which showed an excellent thermal stability.

In this study, we investigated the characteristics of an organic-inorganic hybrid indirect-type X-ray detector with a CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3) perovskite active layer. A layer with a thickness of 192 nm annealed at 100 &deg, C showed higher absorption, higher crystallinity, and lower surface roughness than did perovskite layers made under different conditions. In the indirect X-ray detector, a scintillator coupled with the detector to convert X-ray photons to visible photons, and the converted photons were absorbed by the active layer to generate charge carriers. The detector with the optimized MAPbI3 (192 nm thick and 100 &deg, C annealing condition) active layer was coupled with a CsI(Tl) scintillator which consisted of 400 &mu, m thick CsI and 0.5 mm thick Al, and achieved the highest sensitivity, i.e., 2.84 mA/Gy&middot, cm2. In addition, the highest short-circuit current density (JSC), i.e., 18.78 mA/cm2, and the highest mobility, i.e., 2.83 &times, 10&minus, 4 cm2/V&middot, s, were obtained from the same detector without the CsI(Tl) scintillator.

Optofluidics has inspired many promising optical devices. Among them, waveguide bending is an important element for guiding light. Here, we demonstrated the thermal-diffusion liquids, acting as a natural transformation optical material in an annular structure. Compared with conventional step-index waveguide bending, this thermal one enables real-time tunable visible light bends by extreme angles, with nearly no power loss and intensity distribution. This unique light bending is because gradient refractive-index profiles caused by thermal diffusion meet the requirements by transformation optics. The work demonstrates the thermal diffusion in liquids as a natural technology to realize optofluidic gradient-index designs and has potential for tunable optical systems.

New-style thin film composite nanofiltration (TFC NF) membrane with a stripe-like surface structure, superior interfacial bonding, expected permeability and antifouling performance was successfully fabricated via interfacial polymerization. The aminated polyvinyl chloride (APVC) membrane prepared by amination reaction of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with triethylenetetramine (TETA) was used as the support layer. The new graphene oxide-polyamide (GO-PA) selective layer was formed by adding graphene oxide (GO) to the aqueous solution to participate in the interfacial polymerization process. The effects of amination modification of PVC substrate membrane and addition of GO during the interfacial polymerization on the structure and performances of the TFC NF membranes were studied. The results indicated that both of the amine group on the surface of the APVC membrane and GO participated in the interfacial polymerization, which endowed the GO-PA/APVC membrane with a new-style stripe-like surface structure and a thicker, gradually looser cross-sectional structure. Meanwhile, the effective desalination active layer of the GO-PA/APVC membrane was much thinner than that of the PA/APVC membrane. The special structure was beneficial to accelerate the speed of water transmission and effectively overcome the trade-off effect during the desalination process. Therefore, the water permeability of GO-PA/APVC membrane was improved more than 60% while the salt rejection remained stable compared with PA/APVC membrane. Moreover, the GO-PA/APVC membrane exhibited superior interfacial bonding and antifouling properties.

Membrane technology as a highly efficient and powerful tool has been widely used in many industrial still faces toxic organic solvents issues. We developed a facile, efficient and environmental-friendly approach to implement poly (tetrafluoroethylene-co-hexafluoropropylene) (FEP) hollow fiber membrane using melt-spinning technique without any solvent and diluent involved in membrane preparation process. In particular, the compound pore-forming agents including polyethylene oxide (PEO) and calcium chloride (CaCl2) were completely water-soluble and obtained by ball milling blending which presented favorable environmental profiles. A series of characterizations were conducted regarding the morphologies, pore size distribution, porosity and hydrophobicity of the prepared membranes. Also, given the advantages of both oleophilicity and hydrophobicity, narrow pore size distribution as well as inherent thermal and solvent resistant, the prepared FEP membranes were used in membrane emulsification system for the first time. The results showed that the FEP membranes with mean pore size of 0.461 μm showed good performance in director membrane emulsification application by reason of its suitable pore size distribution and stable hydrophobic surface of FEP membranes. The obtained emulsion had narrow droplet size distribution and high stability. So these promising results demonstrate that the technique developed in this study is potentially applicable in membrane emulsification process.