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The hollow microsphere structure materials binary disulfide Co1-xCuxS2 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25) were synthesized by hydrothermal method with cobalt sulfate, copper sulfate, and sodium thiosulfate. The structure, morphology, and composition of Co1-xCuxS2 were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The influence of cobalt and copper content in Co1-xCuxS2 cathode material on the discharge performance of the cell was investigated. The experimental results show that the Co0.95Cu0.05S2 sample possesses the largest number of hollow microspheres, the internal resistance of the cell was lower and the specific capacity of the cell is higher. The results of constant current discharge showed that the optimal composition Co0.95Cu0.05S2 exhibits an ultra-high specific capacity of 531.8 mAh g-1 at 450℃ and the current density of 100 mA·cm-2 with the cut-off voltage of 1.5V. The best discharge temperature of Co0.95Cu0.05S2 was 450℃.

The solid-state method is extensively applied to the synthesis of electrode materials for its simplicity and low cost. However, particles obtained using the traditional solid-state method exhibited...

The spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) has been attracted great attention as lithium ion cathode material due to its high voltage and large energy density. However, the practical application of LNMO is still limited by poor cycling stability. Herein, to improve the cycling stability of spinel LNMO, it was treated with anneal process at 900 °C for 2 h after prepared by traditional solid-state method (LNMO-A). LNMO-A sample presented better electrochemical property especially under high rate, with capacity of 91.2 mAh g−1 after 1000 cycles under 10 C. Its superior electrochemical property was ascribed to the anneal process, resulting a stable crystal structure, indicated by XRD and Raman results of electrodes after 1000 cycles under 10 C and the longer solid-solution reaction, revealed by in-situ XRD. In addition, the optimized particle size, micro morphology and the larger BET area surface induced by the recrystallization in anneal process also contributes to its superior electrochemical property. What's more, the thin layer, which interacted LNMO-A particles with each other, induced by particles remelting in anneal process is also beneficial for its excellent electrochemical property. This study not only improved the electrochemical properties by anneal process, but also revealed the origins and mechanisms for its improvement.

LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) cathode has drawn enormous interest for its extraordinarily high voltage and low cost. However, a high voltage leads to critical side reactions significantly degrading the cyc...

The hollow microspherical structure cathode materials of bimetallic disulfide CoxNi1-xS2 (x varied from 0.1 to 0.5) for lithium thermal battery were synthesized by hydrothermal method. The structure, morphology, and composition of the hollow CoxNi1-xS2 were evaluated by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The thermal stability was assessed by differential thermal analyzer (DTA). The thermal battery fabricated with CoxNi1-xS2 as cathode active material and LiB as anode exhibits the good electrochemical performance at 450 °C. Especially when x = 0.1, the initial discharge voltage reached 2.037 V, and specific capacity was 297.4 mA h g−1 at cut-off voltage of 1.5 V during constant current discharge. The bimetal disulfide material also presented advantages of reducing the internal resistance of the single cell.

Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) has been considered as one of the most promising electrolytes for lithium batteries due to its high safety and wide electrochemical window. However, few reports were observed for the application of LLZO on lithium thermal batteries. In this paper, LLZO was studied as the electrolyte of lithium thermal battery. To further improve the performance of LLZO, LLZO-LiCl-LiBr-LiF composite electrolyte was designed by mechanical mixing LiCl-LiBr-LiF eutectic salt with LLZO. The doping content of LiCl-LiBr-LiF was also investigated, and the results showed that the optimize content was 15% (in weight) LiCl-LiBr-LiF. For instance, the specific capacity of the battery using LLZO-(LiCl-LiBr-LiF)x (x = 15%) as electrolyte was 224.6 mAh g−1, the active material utilization rate was 85.08%, and the service life of lithium thermal battery can be extended to 25 min under 80 mA cm−2 at 550 °C. The superior electrochemical properties of LLZO-(LiCl-LiBr-LiF)x (x = 15%) were ascribed to the larger ionic conductivity (2.802 × 10−2 S cm−1 at 550 °C). Our study not only successfully improves the electrochemical properties of LLZO by compositing with LiCl-LiBr-LiF electrolyte but also paves the way for the practical application of LLZO-LiCl-LiBr-LiF composite in the lithium thermal batteries.

With the continuous expansion and refinement in plant detection range, reflection, and fluorescence spectra present great research potentials and commercial values. Referring technical advantages with hyperspectral and fluorescence lidar for monitoring plants, the synchronous observation with reflection and fluorescence signals achieved by one lidar system has attracted wide attention. This paper plans to design and construct a dual-mechanism lidar system that can obtain spatial information, reflection, and fluorescence signals simultaneously. How to select the optimal detected bands to the dual-mechanism lidar system for monitoring plants is an essential step. Therefore, this paper proposes a two-step wavelength selection method to determine the optimal bands combination by considering the spectral characteristic of reflection and fluorescence signals themselves, and the hardware performance of lidar units comprehensively. The optimal bands combination of 4 reflection bands of 481 nm, 541 nm, 711.5 nm, 775.5 nm, and 2 fluorescence bands of 686.5 nm, 737 nm was determined. Besides, compared with the original reflection or fluorescence bands, the overall accuracy and average accuracy of the optimal band combination were respectively improved by 2.51%, 15.45%, and 7.8%, 29.06%. The study demonstrated the reliability and availability of the two-step wavelength selection method, and can provide references for dual-mechanism lidar system construction.

The distribution of land cover has an important impact on climate, environment, and public policy planning. The Optech Titan multispectral LiDAR system provides new opportunities and challenges for land cover classification, but the better application of spectral and spatial information of multispectral LiDAR data is a problem to be solved. Therefore, we propose a land cover classification method based on multi-scale spatial and spectral feature selection. The public data set of Tobermory Port collected by the Optech Titan multispectral airborne laser scanner was used as research data, and the data was manually divided into eight categories. The method flow is divided into four steps: neighborhood point selection, spatial–spectral feature extraction, feature selection, and classification. First, the K-nearest neighborhood is used to select the neighborhood points for the multispectral LiDAR point cloud data. Additionally, the spatial and spectral features under the multi-scale neighborhood (K = 20, 50, 100, 150) are extracted. The Equalizer Optimization algorithm is used to perform feature selection on multi-scale neighborhood spatial–spectral features, and a feature subset is obtained. Finally, the feature subset is input into the support vector machine (SVM) classifier for training. Using only small training samples (about 0.5% of the total data) to train the SVM classifier, 91.99% overall accuracy (OA), 93.41% average accuracy (AA) and 0.89 kappa coefficient were obtained in study area. Compared with the original information’s classification result, the OA, AA and kappa coefficient increased by 15.66%, 8.7% and 0.19, respectively. The results show that the constructed spatial–spectral features and the application of the Equalizer Optimization algorithm for feature selection are effective in land cover classification with Titan multispectral LiDAR point data.

The solid-state method is extensively applied to the synthesis of electrode materials for its simplicity and low cost. However, particles obtained using the traditional solid-state method exhibited a large, uneven particle size and a severe aggregation phenomenon, leading to an unsatisfactory electrochemical performance. Here, spinel LiNi

Background: To understand the theory of forest cycle and reveal the relationship between forest gaps and forest structure, species composition and biodiversity, we need to study the spatial structure of forest gaps. However, the complexity of natural secondary forest structure makes it difficult to quantify the spatial structure characteristics of gaps in large areas by field measurement. In this study, aerial orthophotos, and light detection and ranging (LiDAR), were used as data sources. The experimental area was Maoer Mountain Forest Farm, a typical natural secondary forest in northeastern China, and we used the investigation data of forest resources as reference material. We extracted 1343 forest gaps by manual digitization combined with canopy height model correction. The spatial characteristics of the extracted gaps were quantified from the spatial characteristics (area, shape complexity index), spatial heterogeneity (gap height diversity index) and spatial distribution characteristics (Clark–Evans index) of individual gaps.Results: In the three types of natural secondary forest, the frequency distribution of gap area showed a negative exponential distribution: 90% of the gap area was less than 100 m2. As forests aged, the proportion of gap area decreased from young forest to near-mature forest, and increased from near-mature forest to over-mature forest. The maximum frequency range of shape index changed from 1.2 to 1.4 for young forest, middle age forest and near-mature forest; and which is from 1.4 to 1.6 for mature forest and over-mature forest. The gap height diversity index increased from young forest to near-mature forest, decreased when the forest was mature and increased when it was over-mature. The spatial pattern of forest gaps was mainly random. The proportion of random distribution increased from young forest to middle-aged forest, decreased from near-mature forest to mature forest and increased from over-mature forest.Conclusions: Most of the gaps in the natural secondary forest were small and medium-sized; the shapes were complex; the internal spatial heterogeneity was high; and the gaps were mostly randomly distributed. Use of aerial orthophoto and canopy height model sets was efficient and reliable in quantifying the spatial characteristics of forest gaps, and can replace the time-consuming (and usually field-based) measurement of their subjective spatial characteristics.

In this paper, a garnet-related type Li7La3Zr2O12 material is synthesized by using a solid-state method. Then, the obtained Li7La3Zr2O12 is investigated by X-ray diffraction method and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The prepared Li7La3Zr2O12 material is first used as the lithium thermal electrolyte for its good ionic conductivity and safety at 550 °C. Compared with LiCl-LiBr-LiF molten salt electrolyte, the lithium thermal batteries using Li7La3Zr2O12 material as the electrolyte have longer discharge time and higher melting point, resulting an increasing of the utilization rate of active substance by 20% at 550 °C under 80 mA/cm2. In addition, there was no Li7La3Zr2O12 electrolyte overflowing during this discharge process, and which is beneficial to prolong the lithium thermal battery life and improve the lithium battery safety.

In this paper, LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) coated with various amount of RGO (0, 0.5, 1, and 2 wt%) were successfully synthesized by solid-state assembly method. The physical properties of LNMO and RGO-LNMO were investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). XRD and Raman spectrum exhibit all samples that are well crystallized in P4332 space group; SEM and TEM results show the uniform size of the particles is 1 ~ 2 μm with octahedral structure, and LNMO is successfully wrapped by RGO. The electrochemical properties of RGO-LNMO visibly improved compared with the bared LNMO, especially at high current rate, which has been proven by galvanostatic charge-discharge test, cycle performance test, and rate capacity test. For example, the bared LNMO delivers a discharge capacity of 39.2 mAh g−1 at 10 C rate, while that of 1-wt% RGO-LNMO was 86.2 mAh g−1, which was approximately 2.5 times more than that of the bared LNMO. At 10 C rate after 1000 cycles, 2-wt% RGO-LNMO delivers a discharge capacity of 50.6 mAh g−1 with a capacity retention of 86.7%, while the bared LNMO delivers a discharge capacity of 27.6 mAh g−1 with a capacity retention of 52.5%, only about 54% of the 2-wt% RGO-LNMO. EIS results show the charge transfer resistance of LNMO decreased after coating with RGO, which was favorable for improving electrochemical performance.

Micronanosized LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 nanorods coated with reduced graphene oxide is successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal-assembly method. The as-prepared samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope, and electrochemical tests. The XRD and Raman results show that the LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 nanorods have disordered structure of Fd-3m space group. The SEM characterization exhibits that LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 nanorods are about 200–400 nm in diameter, and the RGO is well dispersed on the surface of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 nanorods. Moreover, a RGO layer coated on the surface of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 can suppress the interfacial side reactions. The electrochemical tests show that the RGO-LNMO composites reveal high specific capacity and excellent cyclic stability at high rates. The 1%-RGO-LNMO composite can still possess the capacity of 71.4 mAh g−1 and excellent capacity retention about 99% after 1000 cycles at 10 C rate. The excellent performance of RGO-LNMO composites makes it a promising candidate as lithium-ion battery cathode materials.

The three-dimensional network structure of NiCo2S4@CNTs electrode materials for LIBs and SIBs composing NiCo2S4 nanoflakes anchored on the surface of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which was prepared by electrostatic adsorption through a two-step solvothermal method. This composite structure is helpful to alleviate the volume expansion effect of NiCo2S4 materials and enhance the conductivity of composite electrode materials. Therefore, NiCo2S4@CNTs anode materials exhibit good cycle stability (after 80 cycles, the NiCo2S4@CNTs electrodes deliver the capacities of 783.17 mAh g−1 for LIBs and 291.10 mAh g−1 for SIBs) and rate performance (the NiCo2S4@CNTs electrodes show 517.64 mAh g−1 in LIBs and 169.29 mAh g−1 in SIBs at 1000 mA g−1). Moreover, the conversion mechanism of NiCo2S4@CNTs electrode materials was revealed combined with in-situ XRD, ex-situ XRD, ex-situ Raman spectrum and HRTEM. The cycle reversibility of conversion products in lithium and sodium storage process were also proved. Furthermore, the energy storage behavior of NiCo2S4@CNTs electrodes (the combination of capacitance and diffusion) during the process of charge and discharge both in LIBs and SIBs was indicated by CV curves of different scanning scans. Such conversion reaction mechanism provides a reference for the research of this kind of materials in other alkali metal ion batteries.

Nickel(II) chloride materials were synthesized via a novel two-step variable-temperature method for the use as a cathode material in Li-B/NiCl2 cells with the LiCl-LiBr-LiF electrolyte. The influence of temperature on its structure, surface morphology, and electrochemical performance was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electrochemical measurements of single cells. XRD results showed that after pre-dehydration for 2 h at 270°C followed by sintering for 5 h at 600°C, the crystal water in nickel chloride hexahydrate could be removed effectively. The SEM results showed that particles recombined to form larger coarse particles and presented a layered structure. Discharge tests showed that the 600°C-treated materials demonstrated remarkable specific capacities of 210.42 and 242.84 mA h g−1 at constant currents of 0.5 and 2.0 A, respectively. Therefore, the Li-B/NiCl2 thermal battery showed excellent discharge performance. The present work demonstrates that NiCl2 is a promising cathode material for thermal batteries and this two-step variable-temperature method is a simple and useful method for the fabrication of NiCl2 materials.

LiNi0.5Mn1.5− x Sn x O4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1) cathode materials with uniform and fine particle sizes were successfully synthesized by a two-step calcination of solid-state reaction method. As the cathode materials for lithium ion batteries, the LiNi0.5Mn1.48Sn0.02O4 shows the highest specific capacity and cycle stability. In the potential range of 3.5–4.9 V at room temperature, LiNi0.5Mn1.48Sn0.02O4 composite material shows a discharge capacity of more than 117 mA h g−1 at 0.1 C, while the corresponding discharge capacity of undoped LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 is only 101 mA h g−1. Moreover, in cycle performance, all the LiNi0.5Mn1.5− x Sn x O4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1) samples show better capacity retention than the undoped LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 at 1 C rate after 100 cycles. Especially, for the LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4, the discharge capacity after 100 cycles is 90 mA h g−1, while the corresponding discharge capacities of the undoped LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 is only 56.1 mA h g−1. The significantly enhanced D Li+ and the enlarged electronic conductivity make the Sn-doped spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 material present even more excellent electrochemical performances. These results reveal that Sn-doping is an effective way to improve electrochemical performances of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4.

In this work, the 3D macroscopic graphene hydrogels (MGHs) with a high capacitor performance were easily prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method from graphene oxide (GO) dispersions. A very small amount of 1,4-butanediamine was employed to realize the partial reduction of GO, modification of the 3D structure of MGHs, and nitrogen doping of graphene, at the same time. The synthesized MGH-6 sample in the wet state exhibit a high specific capacitance of 268.8 Fg −1 at 0.3 A g −1 in 6 M KOH electrolyte, and this capacitance can be maintained for 84.9% even as the discharging current density was increased up to 10 A g −1 . The MGH-6 sample also shows good cycle stability along with a 1.03% increase of its initial specific capacitance after 10000 cycles at current density of 10 Ag −1 . These remarkable properties are ascribed to the both nitrogen- and oxygen-containing functional groups, modified macroporous 3D framework, and the high specific surface area of the graphene. Combining with the economical and easy path toward mass production, the present MGH-6 can be expected as a promising candidate for high-performance supercapacitors.

Nanosized Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 /graphene(LTO/graphene) materials have been successfully synthesized by a sol-gel method. The LTO/graphene composites exhibit a well-defined cubic spinel structure with an average particle size of approximately 200–500 nm. Compared with pure Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 , LTO/graphene composites show higher specific capacity, much improved rate capability and better cycle stability when used as anode materials for lithium ion batteries. The initial capacity of the LTO/graphene composite(0.5 wt%) reaches 170.7 mAh g −1 at 1C, which slightly decreases to 168.5 mAh g −1 after 100 cycles with a capacity loss of 1.3%. More importantly, the resulting LTO/graphene (0.5 wt%) sample demonstrates remarkable rate capability in that it delivers a reversible capacity of 108.4 mAh g −1 in the 1000th cycle at 10C charge-discharge rate, about 2.5 times that of pristine Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 particles (44.1 mAh g −1 ). The improved high-rate capability, cycling stability, fast charge-discharge performance of LTO/graphene composites can be ascribed to the improvement of lithium ion diffusion and ionic conductivity by graphene-coating.

An immersion gold-plating process on electroless Ni–P alloy substrate was investigated. The immersion Au coating was deposited from a thiosulfate–sulfite mixed ligand bath based on Ni–P alloy substrate. The effects of three organic additives, such as polyethylenimine (PEI), hexamethylene tetramine (HET) and benzotriazole (BTA) on the depositing process and the performance of Au coating were investigated. The study was performed by measuring the open circuit potential–time curves in situ and Tafel tests in combination with X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis techniques. The results show that PEI, HET and BTA could adsorb and desorb on the surface of Au coating and they had the similar influences on the open circuit potential. With these organic compounds adding, the plateau potential shifts to the positive direction, and the time for the potential to reach the plateau value decreases with increasing additive concentration. The XRF, XRD and SEM studies indicated that these three additives decreased the initial deposition rate, decreased the size of Au particles, and thus changed the morphology of Au deposits. Tafel studies demonstrated that the corrosion resistance of Au coating could be improved by adding PEI, HET or BTA to immersion gold bath. A cause for understanding these additives was indicated based on the above experiments.

Nanosized Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 /graphene materials have been successfully synthesized by a solid state-assembly method. As the anode materials for lithium ion batteries, nanosized Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 /graphene exhibits higher specific capacity, much improved rate capability, and better cycle stability than the pure Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 . In the potential range of 1.0-2.0 V at room temperature, Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 /graphene with weight ratio of LTO:GO to 1000:5 shows discharge capacities of more than 144 and 96.2 mAh g −1 after 100 cycles at 1C and 3C charge-discharge rates, while the correspond discharge capacities of pure Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 are only 108 and 75.4 mAh g −1 , respectively. The resulting Li 4 Ti 5 O 15 /graphene (1000:5) sample demonstrates remarkable rate capability in that it delivers a reversible capacity of 53.4 mAh g −1 in the 1000th cycle at 10C charge-discharge rate, about 240% that of pristine Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 particles (22.2 mAh g −1 ). The low charge-transfer resistance and large lithium ion diffusion coefficients confirmed that Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 /graphene materials possessed better electronic conductivity and lithium ion mobility. The present work demonstrates that Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 /graphene composite is a promising anode material for high-rate and long life lithium ion batteries and this simple preparation method makes its production on a large scale.

Currently, developing cathode material with high energy density and good cycling performance is one of the key challenges for lithium-ion batteries. LiNi0.5-xMn1.5+xO4 (LNMO) spinel cathode has attracted great attention as the most promising cathode candidate due to its extraordinarily high operating voltage, but its inferior long-term cycling stability has limited its further development. In this work, we successfully designed LNMOs with specific facets and different morphologies, among which the hybrid sphere-nanorod-like micro-nanostructured LNMO possesses excellent cycling performance, with capacity of over 107.8 mAh g−1 after 1000 cycles at 10 C and superior rate capability up to 10 C. Its superior rate capability is found to originate from the large Li-O bond length by Rietveld refinement, which contributes to decreased charge transfer resistance and ease of Li insertion/extraction at tetrahedral sites. On the other hand, the excellent cycling stability comes from its having the least structural deformation from mechanistic reactions, which involve the longest solid-solution reaction, the highest spinel structural tolerance/stability up to Δ = ~0.69 Li, and a highly reversible two-phase reaction during charge and discharge in the hybrid LNMO, as revealed by the in operando synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction results. Moreover, the hybrid LNMO exhibits surface planes (210) with the highest Mn defect formation energy, prohibiting Mn3+ disproportionation and further stabilizing its cycling stability. This work not only demonstrates the importance of crystallographic and morphological controls on the high-voltage spinel performance, but also opens a window for battery engineers and researchers to develop battery technology for high-power applications.

Li3V2−xSnx(PO4)3/C cathode materials with uniform and fine particle sizes were successfully and fast synthesized by a microwave solid-state synthesis method. X-ray diffraction patterns demonstrated that the appropriate addition of Sn did not destroy the lattice structure of Li3V2(PO4)3/C, but decreased the unit cell volume. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that the main chemical state of V in the Li3V1.95Sn0.05(PO4)3/C composite is +3 valence, while the chemical state of Sn in the Li3V1.95Sn0.05(PO4)3/C is +4 valence. Scanning electron microscope analysis illustrated that the addition of Sn slightly affected the morphology of samples. As the cathode materials for Li-ion batteries, Li3V2−xSnx(PO4)3/C (x ⩽ 0.10) exhibited higher discharge capacity and better cycle stability than the pure one. At a discharge rate of 0.5 C in the potential range of 2.5–4.5 V at room temperature, the initial discharge capacity of Li3V1.95Sn0.05(PO4)3/C was 136 mA h/g. The low charge-transfer resistances and large lithium ion diffusion coefficients confirmed that Sn-doped Li3V2(PO4)3/C samples possessed better electronic conductivity and lithium ion mobility. These improved electrochemical performances can be attributed to the appropriate amount of Sn doping in Li3V2(PO4)3/C system by enhancing structural stability and electrical conductivity. The present study also demonstrates that the microwave processing is a fast, simple and useful method for the fabrication of Li3V2(PO4)3/C crystals.

The effects of organic additive, 3-S isothiuronium propyl sulfonate (UPS) on bath stability, deposition rate, reaction activation energy, and Ni-P coating composition in acidic electroless nickel (EN) plating were investigated. The study was performed by measuring the polarization curves and X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF) in combination with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The results show that UPS improves bath stability and increases the reaction activation energy. At lower concentration, UPS is an effective accelerator for EN deposition; whereas, at higher concentration, it decreases deposition rate. It also reveals that UPS inhibits the anodic oxidation of hypophosphite and accelerates the cathodic reduction. In addition, UPS decreases the phosphorus content in Ni-P deposit and can be adsorbed on the deposit surface and compound with Ni2+. On the basis of these results, the effect mechanism of UPS on electroless nickel deposition was deduced.

The effects of two organic additives, 3-S isothiuronium propyl sulfonate (UPS) and thiourea (TU) on the properties of electroless nickel (EN) deposit were investigated. The properties of EN deposits were examined by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and nitric acid corrosion test in combination with scanning electron microscope, X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. The results show that TU and UPS had different influences on the morphology of EN deposits. The two additives decreased phosphorus content and increased sulfur content in the EN deposit. XRD studies indicated that addition TU or UPS could enhance the crystallization of EN deposits. EIS studies demonstrated that the EN coating with TU or UPS has a lower corrosion resistance. However, the nitric acid test indicated that the corrosion resistance of EN deposit could be improved by adding UPS to EN bath. A cause for understanding the increase of the nitric acid corrosion resistance with UPS was indicated based on the above experiments.

In this work, a simple and effective method for preparing graphite nano-sheet (GNS) was investigated. The size choosing of the parent graphite is important to obtain smaller size of GNSs diameter or thickness with the ultrasonication treatment. The ultrasonication treating parameter was confirmed under the optimal preparing condition,. The microstructure was characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HTEM). It is The experimental results show that the GNS size decreases decreased sharply at the high power factor stage of ultrasonication and then the decrement trend was slow down with the decreasing power factor of ultrasonication treatment. It is employed that choosing smaller size of parent graphite (>200-mesh) can obtain smaller size GNSs with the diameter value of (

Li3V2-xSnx(PO4)3/C (x = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.10) cathode materials are synthesized by a microwave-assisted solid state reaction starting with mixtures of LiOH·H2O, V2O5, NH4H2PO4, SnO2, and sucrose (Ar flow, 300 °C for 3 h followed by microwave heating at 750 °C for 15 min).

An immersion gold-plating process on electroless nickel substrate was investigated. The effects of gold salt, trisodium citrate, bath temperature, and pH on the gold-immersion-deposition process are also discussed. The study was performed by measuring the mixed potential-time curves in situ and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in combination with X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) surface analysis. Electrochemical measurements and XRF results show that both the deposition rate and the mixed potential changed during the gold-deposition process. These variations reflect the change of electrode surface state. AFM analysis shows that the morphology of nickel surface changed greatly at the initial stage of gold deposition. A model for understanding the gold-immersion-deposition process was proposed based on the experimental data. The effects of KAu(CN) 2 , trisodium citrate, pH, and temperature on gold-immersion deposition are significant, via affecting the gold film formation and the deposition rate. The optimal conditions of aqueous solution for the gold-immersion plating were determined. The experimental results support the explanation of the proposed model.