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• Fe/S bio-oxidation coupled As speciation transformation at different pH is studied. • The pH conditions affect the initial adsorption of microbial cells to the minerals. • pH 2.0-3.0 are more conducive to the formations of jarosites and ferric arsenate. • Fe, S, and As speciation in solution is regulated by pH and potential values. • As transformation is related to Fe/S oxidation associated with pyrite bio-oxidation. Arsenic (As) speciation transformation in acid mine drainage (AMD) is comprehensively affected by biological and abiotic factors, such as microbially mediated Fe/S redox reactions and changes in environmental conditions (pH and oxidation-reduction potential). However, their combined impacts on arsenic speciation transformation remain poorly studied. Therefore, we explored arsenic transformation and immobilization during pyrite dissolution mediated by AMD enrichment culture under different acidic pH conditions. The results for incubation and mineralogical transformation of solid residues show that in the presence of AMD enrichment culture, pH 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 are more conducive to the formation of jarosites and ferric arsenate, which could immobilize high quantities of dissolved arsenic by adsorption and coprecipitation. The pH conditions significantly affect the initial adsorption of microbial cells to the minerals and the evolution of microbial community structure, further influencing the biodissolution of pyrite and the release and oxidation process of Fe/S. The results of Fe/S/As speciation transformation of the solid residues show that the transformation of Fe, S, and As in solution is mainly regulated by pH and potential values, which imposed significantly different effects on the formation of secondary minerals and thus arsenic oxidation and immobilization. The above results indicated that arsenic transformation is closely related to the Fe/S oxidation associated with pyrite bio-oxidation, and this correlation is critically regulated by the pH conditions of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding deformation mechanisms in semi-crystalline polymers during stretching is useful for guiding the processing of high-performance polymer products. In the current work, molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the crystal changes in crystallized polyethylene/carbon nanotube nanocomposites during uniaxial stretching. Both crystal fragmentation and melting occur at low strains. Crystals with small sizes are easier to melt, while those with large sizes would break into smaller crystals. In addition, crystals in interfacial regions are more likely to melt or break due to the orientation motion of carbon nanotubes. It was also found that the recrystallization process is closely related to the stretch-induced orientation of chain segments. After orientation of chain segments along stretching direction is saturated, the recrystallization of highly oriented segments dominates. The current simulation findings are effective complements to the theories of the mechanism of plastic deformation in semicrystalline polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving efficient blue electroluminescence (EL) remains the fundamental challenge that impedes perovskite light‐emitting diodes (PeLEDs) towards commercial applications. The bottleneck accounting for the inefficient blue PeLEDs is broadly attributed to the poor‐emissive blue perovskite emitters based on either mixed halide engineering or reduced‐dimensional strategy. Herein, we report the high‐performing sky‐blue PeLEDs (490 nm) with the maximum EQE exceeding 15 % by incorporating a molecular modifier, namely 4,4′‐Difluorophenone, for significantly suppressing the non‐radiative recombination and tuning of the low‐dimensional phase distribution of quasi‐2D blue perovskites, which represents a remarkable paradigm for developing the new generation of blue lighting sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving efficient blue electroluminescence (EL) remains the fundamental challenge that impedes perovskite light‐emitting diodes (PeLEDs) towards commercial applications. The bottleneck accounting for the inefficient blue PeLEDs is broadly attributed to the poor‐emissive blue perovskite emitters based on either mixed halide engineering or reduced‐dimensional strategy. Herein, we report the high‐performing sky‐blue PeLEDs (490 nm) with the maximum EQE exceeding 15 % by incorporating a molecular modifier, namely 4,4′‐Difluorophenone, for significantly suppressing the non‐radiative recombination and tuning of the low‐dimensional phase distribution of quasi‐2D blue perovskites, which represents a remarkable paradigm for developing the new generation of blue lighting sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with red and green perovskite light‐emitting diodes (PeLEDs), blue PeLEDs are still unable to well control spectral stability due to the issues of ion migration and phase separation under external operating conditions. Herein, a strategy using organometallic ligands is reported to achieve spectrally stable PeLEDs. The obtained perovskite film exhibits stable photoluminescence spectra under UV excitation (365nm) and continuous heating of 70 °C. The device delivers an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 6.7% with 50% lifetime (T50) of 21.6 min. Under high driving voltage (from 2 to 7.5 V), no obvious spectral shift has occurred for the electroluminescence spectrum at 481 nm. This work confirms the positive effect of organometallic ligands in quasi‐2D perovskite and provides a new idea for proposing effective ligands to act on the perovskite luminescence layer in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lanthanum-doped titanium-zirconium-molybdenum (La-TZM) alloy was prepared by powder metallurgy and rolling process. The processing crack and crack initiation mechanisms of La-TZM alloy after sintering, hot rolling and cold rolling were studied by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The results show that the doped La(NO 3 ) 3 , TiH 2 and ZrH 2 have finer secondary phase in the La-TZM alloy plate. The fracture mode of sintering billet is inter-granular, but the fracture surface of hot rolling exhibited transgranular cleavage. However, the cold rolling is quasi-cleavage fracture. The secondary phase particles tend to hinder the movement of dislocations causing dislocations pile-up. The resulting tensile stress can accelerate cracks nucleation and growth, and the crack propagation will be deflected by the secondary phase particles. The crack initiation can be avoided by reducing local stress concentration caused by dislocations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many real-world applications, different types of misclassification usually suffer from different costs, but the accurate cost is often hard to be determined and usually one can only get an interval-estimation like that one type of mistake is about 5 to 10 times more serious than the other type. On the other hand, there are usually abundant unlabeled data available, leading to great research effort about semi-supervised learning. It is noticeable that cost interval and unlabeled data usually appear simultaneously in practice tasks; however, there is rare study tackling them together. In this paper, we propose the cisLDM approach which is able to handle cost interval and exploit unlabeled data in a principled way. Rather than maximizing the minimum margin like traditional large margin classifiers, cisLDM tries to optimize the margin distribution on both labeled and unlabeled data when minimizing the worst-case total-cost and the mean total-cost simultaneously according to the cost interval. Experiments on a broad range of datasets and cost settings exhibit the impressive performance of cisLDM. In particular, cisLDM is able to reduce 47 percent more total-cost than standard SVM and 27 percent more total-cost than cost-sensitive semi-supervised SVM which assumes the true cost value is known in advance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Compared with green and red perovskite light‐emitting diodes (PeLEDs), the development of blue PeLEDs has been lagging due to high defect density and inferior carrier transport. Herein, a novel defect‐passivation strategy is proposed to fabricate efficient sky‐blue PeLEDs by using isocyanate molecules. This strategy not only significantly reduces the nonradiative recombination loss caused by defects but also improves the injection and transport capacities of carriers by reducing the confinement effect. Benefiting from the passivation engineering and the reduction of confinement effect, the prepared sky‐blue PeLEDs present a significantly improved external quantum efficiency of 12.5% at 489 nm, which is 1.5 times higher than that of the control device. Meanwhile, the universality of isocyanate‐based passivators to improve the performance of PeLEDs is also demonstrated. The finding of this study provides a new reference for the selection of novel passivation agents to construct highly efficient blue PeLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the mechanism of hysteresis and uncontrolled deflection in jet vectoring control based on the Coanda effect. Thrust vectoring control based on the Coanda effect is highly applicable in the field of fluid dynamics because they can achieve jet deflection control with a simple geometric structure and low energy consumption. However, the hysteresis and uncontrolled deflection phenomena considerably hinder the practical application of these technologies. We designed a new passive fluidic thrust vectoring control model to analyze the mechanism of these disadvantages. We developed a synchronous pressure, force, and flow field measurement system to investigate the evolutions of flow structures and their effects on wall pressure distribution and vectoring force. The characteristics of the key flow structures, including the separation bubble, the secondary flow, and the backflow, were investigated. The transient features of jet attachment and jet detachment were researched to identify the transition of near-wall flow structures and wall pressure distribution during jet uncontrolled deflection. The mechanism of uncontrolled deflection is that the formation/breakdown of the separation bubble changes the flow state of the backflow, and the near-wall mass flux balance is collapsed. This causes a dramatic change in the jet vectoring angle, which is out of the valve's control. During attachment, the shear layer first touches the wall and forms a separation bubble, and then, the bubble shrinks. During detachment, the bubble first enlarges and then breaks down. Therefore, the formation and breakdown of the separation bubble correspond to different valve positions, which is the mechanism of hysteresis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The organosilicon intermediate containing hydrophilic tertiary amines was synthesized from N-Methylmonoethanolamine (MEA) and (3-glycidyloxypropyl) trimethoxy silane (GPTMS), followed by neutralization with acetic acid (Ac). Meanwhile, a polyurethane (PU) prepolymer was prepared by sequentially polymerizing hexamethylene diisocyanate trimer (HT-100) with polyethylene glycol (PEG-600) and methoxy polyethylene glycol (MPEG), and then chain extended by the intermediate. Ultimately, methyl ethyl ketone oxime (MEKO) was selected to block the remaining NCO group, forming a branched polyisocyanate crosslinker. Subsequently, a linear polyisocyanate crosslinker was prepared in the same system by polymerizing hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) with the intermediate. Consequently, an organosilicon-modified waterborne blocked polyisocyanate crosslinker with a semi-interpenetrating network structure was obtained and further processed through hydrolysis to obtain the corresponding crosslinker containing silanol groups. The structure and thermal properties of the crosslinkers were analyzed using 1H NMR, FT-IR, TG, and DTG. Furthermore, the comprehensive mechanical properties of the cured films were investigated. The results indicate that the crosslinker system containing silanol groups exhibits superior performance. When the films' maximum adhesion and the wiping resistance were optimized at 1.97 MPa and 72 times, respectively, the impact resistance still maintained above 85 cm. • The introduction of organosilicon into the polyisocyanate crosslinker structure can realize multiple crosslinking for resins • The crosslinker has a semi-interpenetrating network structure and exhibits excellent mechanical properties in applications • Organosilicon-modified waterborne blocked polyisocyanate might have good application prospects in waterborne coatings [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with highly efficient green, red, and near-infrared perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs), the performance of blue PeLEDs is still unsatisfactory due to the serious spectral instability issue at high working voltages. In this work, a multidentate amine-based ligand with four amino groups is utilized to achieve spectral stable blue quasi-2D PeLEDs. As a result, the optimized quasi-2D perovskite films exhibit stable photoluminescence spectra under continuous UV illumination and heating. Finally, the blue quasi-2D PeLEDs emitting at 478 nm with the peak external quantum efficiency up to 4.8% are achieved. Meanwhile, there is no obvious peak shift of the electroluminescence spectral under high external working voltages, exhibiting excellent spectral stability. The findings in this work confirm the validity of this strategy, providing a strategy to achieve steady blue PeLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Polarization of microglia, the resident retinal immune cells, plays important roles in mediating both injury and repair responses post-retinal ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury, which is one of the main pathological mechanisms behind ganglion cell apoptosis. Aging could perturb microglial balances, resulting in lowered post-I/R retinal repair. Young bone marrow (BM) stem cell antigen 1-positive (Sca-1+) cells have been demonstrated to have higher reparative capabilities post-I/R retinal injury when transplanted into old mice, where they were able to home and differentiate into retinal microglia. Methods: Exosomes were enriched from young Sca-1+ or Sca-1− cells, and injected into the vitreous humor of old mice post-retinal I/R. Bioinformatics analyses, including miRNA sequencing, was used to analyze exosome contents, which was confirmed by RT-qPCR. Western blot was then performed to examine expression levels of inflammatory factors and underlying signaling pathway proteins, while immunofluorescence staining was used to examine the extent of pro-inflammatory M1 microglial polarization. Fluoro-Gold labelling was then utilized to identify viable ganglion cells, while H&E staining was used to examine retinal morphology post-I/R and exosome treatment. Results: Sca-1+ exosome-injected mice yielded better visual functional preservation and lowered inflammatory factors, compared to Sca-1−, at days 1, 3, and 7 days post-I/R. miRNA sequencing found that Sca-1+ exosomes had higher miR-150-5p levels, compared to Sca-1− exosomes, which was confirmed by RT-qPCR. Mechanistic analysis found that miR-150-5p from Sca-1+ exosomes repressed the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 3 (MEKK3)/JNK/c-Jun axis, leading to IL-6 and TNF-α downregulation, and subsequently reduced microglial polarization, all of which contributes to reduced ganglion cell apoptosis and preservation of proper retinal morphology. Conclusion: This study elucidates a potential new therapeutic approach for neuroprotection against I/R injury, via delivering miR-150-5p-enriched Sca-1+ exosomes, which targets the miR-150-5p/MEKK3/JNK/c-Jun axis, thereby serving as a cell-free remedy for treating retinal I/R injury and preserving visual functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unreacted/excess lead iodide is considered to be the archcriminal for the rapid degradation of hybrid perovskite solar cells. Meanwhile, a high‐quality perovskite film with uniform and large grain size is the basis for high‐performance perovskite modules. Herein, a dual‐site molecular additive 4‐Aniline Sulfonic Acid (4A) is developed to regulate the unreacted/excess PbI2 and passivate defects through hydrogen bonding and intermolecular interactions between amino, and a sulfate groups and PbI2, respectively. Furthermore, the introduction of the 4A additive can induce perovskite seeds to grow uniformly on the substrate, yielding dense, uniform and defect‐less perovskite films with large grain sizes. This enables the fabrication of perovskite photovoltaics with a maximum power conversion efficiency of 24.09% (0.09 cm2) and 20.87% (16 cm2), respectively. This work demonstrated a new strategy to deposit high‐quality large‐scale perovskite films for photovoltaic modules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main reason for large energy loss in all‐inorganic perovskites is ascribed to the slow nucleation and fast crystallization of all‐inorganic perovskite films. Herein, a manipulating strategy is demonstrated to simultaneously realize rapid nucleation and slow crystal growth of CsPbI3 perovskite films by employing solvent molecular sieves in the antisolvent. First, the antisolvent treatment of mixed chlorobenzene and ethyl alcohol can induce the instantaneous supersaturation of perovskites to achieve rapid nucleation. Subsequently, the molecular layer of phthalimide (2‐N) molecules on the perovskite surface can be used as solvent molecular sieves to precisely control the evaporation of the solvent through molecule–solvent interactions. In addition, the molecules remaining on the surface can also effectively passivate the surface defects and improve the device performance. By this strategy, a synchronous regulation of rapid nucleation and slow crystal growth of perovskite films is realized for the first time. As a result, the CsPbI3 film with 2‐N treatment presents high‐quality crystallinity with large grains and less defects. The champion device exhibits an outdoor power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 20.14% under AM1.5G illumination, and an indoor PCE up to 40.07% (Pout:133.9 µW cm–2) under a commonly used light‐emitting diode light source (2956 K, 1062 lux). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxidative dissolution of stibnite (Sb2S3), one of the most prevalent geochemical processes for antimony (Sb) release, can be promoted by Sb-oxidizing microbes, which were studied under alkaline and neutral conditions but rarely under acidic conditions. This work is dedicated to unraveling the enhancement mechanism of stibnite dissolution by typical acidophile Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans under extremely acidic conditions. The results of solution behavior showed that the dissolution of Sb2S3 was significantly enhanced by A. ferrooxidans, with lower pH and higher redox potential values and higher [Sb(III)] and [Sb(V)] than the sterile control. The surface morphology results showed that the cells adsorbed onto the mineral surface and formed biofilms. Much more filamentous secondary minerals were formed for the case with A. ferrooxidans. Further mineral phase compositions and Sb/S speciation transformation analyses showed that more secondary products Sb2O3/SbO2−, Sb2O5/SbO3−, SO42−, as well as intermediates, such as S0, S2O32− were formed for the biotic case, indicating that the dissolution of Sb2S3 and the Sb/S speciation transformation was promoted by A. ferrooxidans. These results were further clarified by the comparative transcriptome analysis. This work demonstrated that through the interaction with Sb2S3, A. ferrooxidans promotes S/Sb oxidation, so as to enhance S/Sb transformation and thus the dissolution of Sb2S3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pure molybdenum sheets were prepared by powder metallurgy and unidirectional rolling process. The microstructure, texture, grain orientation, mechanical properties and fracture mechanism of sintered samples were investigated. The results show that tensile strength and microhardness of 95% rolled sheet are 1028.095 ± 19.32 MPa and 323.2 ± 11.68 HV. The main texture components of (011)〈110〉 is Goss texture with reduction in the range of 70–95%. Two grain orientations of 〈111〉 fiber & 〈100〉 fiber and 〈100〉 fiber & 〈110〉 fiber are formed in the 47% and 95% rolled molybdenum sheets, respectively. Meanwhile, the fiber structure become more refined and oriented in the rolled molybdenum sheets when the rolling reduction is >87%. Brittle characteristics show typical cleavage failure. • Tensile strength and microhardness of 95% rolled sheet are 1028.095±19.32 MPa and 323.2±11.68 HV. • The main texture intensity value of Goss texture is 9.52 in the 95% rolled sheet. • Two grain orientations of <111> fiber & <100> fiber and <100> fiber & <110> fiber are formed in the 47% and 95% rolled molybdenum sheets, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Phylogenetic and expression analyses of all the 70 homeobox genes in peach fruits. • A homeobox gene, PpHB.G7, mediates ethylene biosynthesis during fruit ripening. • The PpHB.G7 could interact with the promoters of ethylene biosynthesis genes. • Seven HD-ZIP homeobox genes are differentially expressed in the developmental fruits. Abstract Homeobox transcription factors belong to a superfamily that has been widely studied in plant growth and development, but little is known regarding their role in fruit development and ripening. Using a genome-wide expression analysis of homeobox (HB) genes and quantitative real-time PCR, a HD-ZIP II member, PpHB.G7 , which presented higher levels of expression in ripening fruits than in developing fruits in all of the tested cultivars, was isolated from peach. Transient transformations showed that PpHB.G7 affects ethylene production and the expression of ethylene biosynthesis genes (PpACS1 and PpACO1). Both dual-luciferase and yeast one-hybrid assays confirmed that PpHB.G7 interacts with the promoters of PpACS1 and PpACO1. Thus, PpHB.G7 mediates ethylene biosynthesis by stimulating PpACS1 and PpACO1 activities. Furthermore, we also found that the other eight HB genes were differentially expressed in the developing fruits, with seven of these genes belonging to the HD-ZIP family. These results suggest that the HB genes in the HD-ZIP family play important roles in fruit development and ripening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract For the first time, synchrotron radiation (SR) -based carbon K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy in-situ characterization was conducted to evaluate the evolution of superficial (about 10 nm) organic components of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) of thermoacidophilic archaeon Acidianus manzaensis YN-25 acclimated with different energy substrates (FeS 2 , CuFeS 2 , S0, FeSO 4). The atomic force microscopy (AFM) morphology scanning showed that the strain acclimated with different energy substrates varied a lot in EPS amount. XANES results showed clear associations between the energy substrates and the changes in organic composition in terms of typical function groups (C O, C O and C N). The chalcopyrite- and pyrite-acclimated cells contained higher proportion of proteins but less proportion of polysaccharides than the S0-acclimated cells. The FeSO 4 -acclimated cells contained the highest proportion of proteins, while the S0-acclimated cells contained more lipids and polysaccharides. The results of linear-combination and peak fitting of the K-edge XANES for the extracellular superficial organic component C is consistent with the trend in comparison with the results of FTIR and spectrophotometric determination, but there are significant differences in the values. These differences are caused by the inconsistencies of measurement depth between XANES and the latter two characterization methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lanthanum-doped titanium-zirconium-molybdenum (La-TZM) alloy with high strength and high toughness was prepared by powder metallurgy and rolling process. The influence of OH − concentrations (5%, 7% and 10%) on the electrochemical behaviors of La-TZM alloys was investigated by potentiodynamic polarization tests. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize the microstructure and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was used to analysis the secondary phase. The electrochemical corrosion mechanism was analyzed comprehensively. The results reveal that the corrosion rate of La-TZM alloy first decreases and then increases with the increasing of OH − concentration. The pitting corrosion firstly occurs around the secondary phase particles (La-Ti-Zr-O), and expands along the grain boundaries and defects as the potential increasing. The addition of rare earth element La affects the formation of passive film on the surface and reduces the corrosion resistance of the alloy. The micro galvanic couples between the secondary phase and the matrix accelerate the corrosion of the base material. Therefore, according to the environment, the corrosion resistance and the mechanical properties should be both considered in the process of strengthening alloy with additive elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lanthanum-doped titanium-zirconium-molybdenum (La-TZM) alloys have good mechanical properties, including high strength and toughness due to complex secondary phases. Herein, the formation process of the secondary phases in the La-TZM alloy was revealed by thermodynamics calculations. The ΔG values of possible reactions during sintering were obtained. Results show that the formation process of the secondary phases was controlled by different reactions at different stages. At the first stage (0–500 °C), the main reactions are listed as follows: TiH 2 +O 2 (g)→TiO 2 +H 2 ↑(g), ZrH 2 +O 2 (g)→ZrO 2 +H 2 ↑(g), C 6 H 12 O 6 →[C]+ H 2 O↑, [C]+ O 2 (g)→CO 2 (g)↑, [C]+Mo→MoC, La(NO 3 ) 3 ·6H 2 O→ La 2 O 3 +NO 2 ↑+ NO↑+O 2 ↑+H 2 O; [C]+TiH 2 →TiC + H 2 (g)↑, [C]+ZrH 2 →ZrC + H 2 (g)↑. At the secondary stage (680–960 °C), the dominant reactions include: TiH 2 →Ti + H 2 (g)↑, ZrH 2 →Zr + H 2 (g)↑. At the last stage (≥1200 °C), the primary reaction is Ti + Zr+[O]→ZrTiO 4 . The secondary phases in the La-TZM alloy include TiO 2 , ZrO 2 , ZrC, TiC, MoC, ZrTiO 4, La 2 O 3 and the solid Ti and Zr phases. These results can guide the design of new ingredients for Mo alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molybdenum powders were high-energy ball milled for 3, 6, 9 and 12 h respectively, using two ball milling methods: (1) dry milled in vacuum and (2) wet milled in mixed solution of ethanol-polyethylene glycol. The effect of high-energy ball milling on relative density of titanium-zirconium-molybdenum (TZM) alloy was investigated. Particle size distribution and calculated proportion in each size range were designed according to the Dinger-Funk model, reaching the dense packing state. The effects of three different kinds of carbon source (graphite, stearic acid (C 18 H 36 O 2 ) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs)) on oxygen content and relative density were analyzed. The effects of carbon source on oxygen content were studied. After high-energy milling, fine molybdenum alloy powder particles and large amounts of dislocations and vacancies are helpful to improve TZM alloy density during solid sintering process. Doping carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into the TZM alloy as carbon source can improve its density and decrease oxygen content, which is more effective than graphite or stearic acid as carbon sources. Higher TZM alloy relative density results in lower oxygen content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Titanium-Zirconium-Molybdenum alloy and Lanthanum-doped Titanium-Zirconium-Molybdenum alloy were fabricated by powder metallurgy method. The effect of lanthanum in arc erosion of titanium-zirconium-molybdenum alloy was investigated by using SEM, arc erosion test system and analytical balance. Results show that lanthanum-doped Titanium-Zirconium-Molybdenum alloy has a higher strength, density and lower electrical resistivity compared to that of Titanium-Zirconium-Molybdenum alloy. The average of arc energy and the arc time decrease 17.9% and 20.9% respectively because doping lanthanum decreases the arc current by forming reverse current between the contacts. The mass loss decreases 32.5% and erosion area reduces 32.6%. The lanthanum in the cathode has a good ability of electron emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanical activation as a means of accelerating the mineral dissolution may play an important role in chalcopyrite bioleaching. In the present work, the mechanical activation by ball-milling with 10 min, 30 min, 60 min, 90 min, 120 min and 180 min time periods of bioleaching of chalcopyrite was studied, and then evaluated by a Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculation. The results showed that the specific surface area increased sharply in the very beginning of mechanical activation and then increased slowly until the agglomeration of the particles occurred, while the chalcopyrite lattices increased with the mechanical activation. The reaction activity analyzed by cyclic voltammetry (CV) increased slowly in 30 min, increased quickly in the following 90 min, and then decreased, while the hydrophobicity analyzed by contact angles of the chalcopyrite after activation showed less of a change. The results showed that after 15 days of bioleaching, the Cu leaching by Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans (S. thermosulfidooxidans) increased from 9.39% in the 0 min of mechanical activation to 87.41% in the 120 min of mechanical activation, and the copper leaching rate increased by about 78%. The DFT results provide solid proof that the activated chalcopyrite can be adsorbed more easily by cells with higher adsorption energies and stronger bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]