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The thesis aims at reexamining the emergence of modern Chinese conservatism via the study on Ku Hung-ming (1857–1928), a representative of that intellectual tradition. Born in Penang and educated in Edinburgh, Ku obtained the degree of Master of Arts from the University of Edinburgh in 1877. Following his graduation, Ku travelled to a number of border cities and treaty ports in China before he entered the office of Chang Chih-tung in 1885. He then became a radical defender of the political order the civilisation of late Qing China. His conservative views on China was unique because it originated from the Scottish Enlightenment and intertwined with his later experience in China. Therefore, his knowledge structure and education experience made him a unique figure at the beginning of modern Chinese conservatism. This thesis will explore three intimate circles at three important stages of his intellectual life: first, the family and community network of Hokkien community in Penang; second, the intellectual tradition of Scottish Enlightenment and its influence on the education of Ku Hung-ming in Edinburgh; and finally, his engagement with the late Qing reform when working in the office of Chang Chih-tung, with a collaboration with a group of people on the publication of An Exhortation to Study. After locating Ku’s conservatism via these three networks, this thesis will demonstrate Ku's affiliation with constitutional monarchy and attempt to evaluate the boundaries of Ku’s ideas and argue that the 1911 Revolution was the turning point that Ku became a reactionary against the Revolution.

In this paper, a novel Ag nanowires/TiO2 nanosheets/graphene nanocomposite was fabricated via a facile method of hydrothermal and calcination, and then the water treatment performance of it was evaluated for methylene blue (MB) and Escherichia coli removal. The as-prepared Ag nanowires/TiO2 nanosheets/graphene nanocomposite was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), UV–visible diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS), molecular dynamics simulation, and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). All data revealed that the Ag/TiO2/graphene nanocomposite showed a rich cell structure. The photocatalytic activity of Ag/TiO2/graphene nanocomposite is higher than those of pristine TiO2 nanosheets and TiO2/graphene nanocomposite. Under optimized conditions, the degradation efficiency was 100% and 71% for MB (30 mg/L) and with 10 mg Ag/TiO2/graphene nanocomposite under UV and visible light irradiation for 2 h, respectively. Ag/TiO2/graphene also showed excellent bacteria-killing activity. Meanwhile, the Ag/TiO2/graphene nanocomposite exhibited microstructure stability and cyclic stability. The water treatment performance was enhanced mainly attributed to the excellent adsorption performance of graphene and the high efficiency in separation of electron–hole pairs induced by the remarkable synergistic effects of TiO2, Ag, and graphene. On the basis of the experimental results, the photocatalytic mechanism and MB degradation mechanism were proposed. It is hoped that our work could avert the misleading message to the readership, hence offering a valuable source of reference on fabricating composite photocatalyst with stable microstructure and excellent performance for their application in the environment clean-up. Graphical abstract Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s42114-020-00164-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The nanocomposites prepared by the combination of SiO2 and carbon quantum dots (CQDs) have the advantages of low toxicity, high fluorescence intensity, high biocompatibility and good water solubility, which greatly broaden its application range. Nevertheless, if only SiO2 and CQDs are simply combined without any structural design, the stability of the nanocomposites will be poor, which will affect its practical application value. In this work, we first synthesized ordered mesoporous silica (OMS) rapidly in aqueous solution by a facile method (30 min), and then generated CQDs in situ in the mesoporous channels of OMS by hydrothermal method to obtain CQDs@OMS fluorescent nanocomposites. The chemical structure and morphology of OMS and CQDs@OMS were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, SAXRD and TEM, indicating that CQDs was successfully encapsulated in OMS. The stability test results of CQDs@OMS indicate that CQDs can be stably present in the mesoporous channels of OMS, and the fluorescence intensity of CQDs@OMS nanocomposites is almost independent of ionic strength, pH and storage time. The optical performance results show that the optimal excitation wavelength of CQDs@OMS nanocomposites is about 340 nm, the emission wavelength is about 440 nm. Using CQDs@OMS nanocomposites as fluorescent probes to detect Fe3+, it was found that CQDs@OMS responded very quickly to Fe3+. The fluorescence quenching intensity of CQDs@OMS has a good linear relationship with the concentration of Fe3+ in the range of 25–750 μM. Therefore, the trace amount of Fe3+ in solution can be calculated by measuring the relative magnitude of fluorescence intensity.

Polyacrylate/ZnO nanorods core-shell emulsion was prepared via emulsion polymerization for the first time. The distribution of ZnO nanorods in and out of the polyacrylate latex was achieved by adjusting the mass ratio of the non-ionic and anionic surfactants. The effects of surfactant composition on the distribution of ZnO nanorods in and out of polyacrylate latex, and the effect of composite latex microstructure on the properties of composite films were investigated in detail. The results showed that when the mass ratio of non-ionic and anionic surfactants was 0:1, the ZnO nanorods were located outside of the polyacrylate latex through electrostatic interaction with only anionic surfactants, forming polyacrylate@ZnO latex. Moreover, the ZnO nanorods can be uniformly dispersed in the composite film, and the tensile strength of the composite film was optimal. When the mass ratio of non-ionic and anionic surfactants was 1.5:1, all ZnO nanorods were encapsulated inside the polyacrylate latex to form ZnO@polyacrylate latex, the elongation at break and water resistance of the composite film were the best. When the mass ratio of non-ionic and anionic surfactants was 2:1, the agglomeration of ZnO nanorods in the composite film resulted in an increase in free volume, and the water vapor permeability of the composite film was optimal. Therefore, the microstructure of the hybrid latex can affect the macroscopic properties of the composite film. This study is expected to provide a theoretical basis for the structural design and performance optimization of the nanocomposite.

In order to simultaneously improve the dispersibility of graphene in the bismaleimide (BMI) resin and the interfacial interaction between them, the polytriazine@RGO nanocomposite (PTZ@RGO) with terminal amine was obtained by the method of one-step precipitation polymerization. The PTZ@RGO hybrid nanocomposite was then chosen as filler to improve the mechanical and tribological properties of BMI resin. Through effective surface modification, the compatibility and interface strength between graphene and BMI matrix were significantly improved, leading to the flexural strength, impact strength, anti-friction, wear resistance and thermal stability of PTZ@RGO/BMI composites were significantly improved as compared to those of neat BMI resin and RGO/BMI composites. The other properties including hardness and thermal properties of composites were all improved with increasing amount of PTZ@RGO fillers. These high performance BMI composites have a great potential for application in aerospace, mechanical engineering and other automobile brake devices.