Photo-improved hydrogen evolution reaction activity of the Pt/CdS electrocatalyst

The effect of CdS content on the photo-induced improvement of hydrogen evolution reaction activity of the Pt/CdS electrocatalyst was investigated. Although the electrons transferred from CdS to Pt in the Pt/CdS electrocatalyst increased with the CdS content under illumination, the electrochemical active surface area of the Pt/CdS electrocatalyst decreased with the CdS content, resulting that the photo-induced improvement of hydrogen evolution reaction activity of the Pt/CdS electrocatalyst decreased with the CdS content.     

Recent advances in non-toxic quantum dots and their biomedical applications

Quantum dots (QDs) with unique quantum confinement effect and electro-optical properties are attractive for biomedical applications. Toxic effects of traditional semiconductor QDs made of heavy metal ions have serious safety concerns for their undesired environmental or healthy impact. Recent reports on core-shell structure modification of QDs by using biocompatible ligands or polymers is one way to be effectively minimizing toxicity effects of traditional QDs. Furthermore, designs of heave metal-free and metal-free QDs formulations are more promising alternatives, due to the non-toxic and eco-friendly nature of the starting materials. In article, we will review the recent designs of non-toxic or less toxic QDs, including carbon-based, biomolecules-based, silicon-based, and ternary I-III-VI QDs, and their biological applications (bio-imaging, drug delivery, gene therapy and immunoassay).     

Effect of Ce addition on hot tearing behavior of AZ91 alloy

A small amount of cerium (below 1.0 wt%) addition to AZ91 alloy have been investigated on the hot tearing susceptibility (HTS) at a cooling rate of 1.5Ks^?1. The HTS increased to a maximum value with a cerium addition of 0.6 wt% and then decreased to a stable status as cerium was gradually added. Due to high chemical activity, cerium into the melts can react with aluminum to form an Al₁₁Ce₃ intermetallic compound. X–ray diffraction results also confirmed the existence of Al₁₁Ce₃. The Al₁₁Ce₃ increased with the presence of the needle-like and block morphology. As cerium levels increased, the amount of Mg₁₇Al₁₂ decreased. The variations between Mg₁₇Al₁₂ and Al₁₁Ce₃ resulted in a similar normal distribution of the HTS in AZ91 alloy. The findings were further verified through the microstructure evolution and the surface morphology of fracture.     

Sintering mechanism of Cu-9Al alloy prepared from elemental powders

The sintering behavior of Cu-9Al alloys prepared from die pressing of elemental powders was investigated. The experimental results and kinetic analysis showed the formation of three consecutive layers of Al₂Cu, Al₄Cu₉, and AlCu phases, with Al₂Cu appearing first in the initial solid phase sintering stage. A liquid phase formed in the intermediate stage, resulting from the eutectic reaction between Al and Al₂Cu phases at 500 °C, which is 47 °C lower than the equilibrium reaction temperature. Swelling occurred when the liquid phase infiltrated the gaps between the copper particles, leaving pores at the original sites of Al particles and Al₂Cu. In the final stage of sintering, the Al-rich phases (Al₂Cu and AlCu) transformed to Al-poor phases (Al₄Cu₉ and α-Cu) in the temperature range of 500–565 °C. Al₄Cu₉ and α-Cu then transformed to AlCu₃ (β) above the eutectoid reaction temperature (565 °C), whereas AlCu₃ transformed to α-Cu and eutectoid phases (α-Cu + Al₄Cu₉) during cooling. The pure copper transformed to AlCu₃, and the pore volume decreased at 1000 °C. The microstructure study helps manipulate precisely the sintering process of Cu-Al alloys and optimize the microstructure with a high dimensional accuracy.     

Suitable energy platform significantly improves charge separation of g-C_3N_4 for CO_2 reduction and pollutant oxidation under visible-light

The photocatalytic activities of g-C_3N_4 can be significantly improved by increasing life time of the photogenerated charges. Here, in this work we introduced TiO_2 as proper energy platform to accept the photogenerated electrons from g-C_3N_4 during photocatalysis. The nanophotocatalysts formed from the combination of a suitable amount of TiO_2 nanoparticles and g-C_3N_4 nanosheets showed 8.75 and 4.22% enhancement in photocatalytic activities for CO_2 reduction and 2-chlorophenol(2-CP) degradation under visible light illumination as compared to bare g-C_3N_4. Based on the surface photovoltage spectra, photoluminescence spectra and examination of formed hydroxyl radicals, it was confirmed that these enhanced photoactivities were attributed to the much-improved charge separation via the electron transfer from g-C_3N_4 to TiO_2. From trapping experiments,it was found that hydroxyl radicals were the major species involved in the photocatalytic degradation of 2-CP.This study is helpful to synthesize efficient photocatalysts to cope with energy and environmental issues.     

Inhomogeneous deformation and recrystallization behavior of through-thickness tantalum sheet under one-cycle clock-rolling

Effects of low clock rolling passes on through-thickness deformation and recrystallization behavior of the Ta sheet have been investigated. The clock-rolled samples with one cycle (8 passes) were systematically examined under different thickness layers. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray diffraction line profile analysis (XLPA) showed that the extremely inhomogeneous texture evolution generated and the bulk stored energy existed in the through-thickness clock-rolled Ta sheet after 8 passes. The electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) results revealed the misorientation of the grains in the deformed samples, indicating that grain subdivision in the surface and center layer was more serious than that in the quarter layer. High intensities misorientation indicates the presence of microshear bands in the surface and center layer. During annealing, the difference of the stored energy and the fragmentation of deformation microstructure along the thickness led to a heterogeneous driving force for the nucleation of the grains, resulting in subsequent different recrystallization rate in the different regions of the sample.     

Macrosegregation and the underlying mechanism in Ti-6.5Al-1.0Cr-0.5Fe-6.0Mo-3.0Sn-4.0Zr alloy

A novel method for the analysis of composition distribution of titanium alloys over a large area(64 mm × 72 mm) was investigated by exploring the original position statistic distribution based on spark spectrum(OPA-SS) in Ti-6.5 Al-1.0 Cr-0.5 Fe-6.0 Mo-3.0-Sn-4.0 Zr titanium alloy. The results showed that OPA-SS could characterize the distribution of elements in different positions on the titanium alloy. The macrosegregation of Sn was the most pronounced, with a statistic segregation degree higher than 18%; the macrosegregation of Mo followed with a statistic segregation degree of 10%; the macrosegregation of Al and Fe was relatively milder,lower than 8%. The main reason for the macrosegregation state of the as-cast Ti-6.5 Al-1.0 Cr-0.5 Fe-6.0 Mo-3.0 Sn-4.0 Zr alloy can be the solute redistribution during liquid solidification and the diffusion rate of each element in the solid phase.     

Dielectric properties of porous SiC/Si_3N_4 ceramics by polysilazane immersion-pyrolysis

The SiC nanotubes were synthesized on porous Si_3N_4 matrix by polysilazane immersion-pyrolysis. The β-SiC and free C contents increased with the increasing dipping times, which cause some clear vibration and loss peaks of the dielectric constant patterns emerged at around 12.9 GHz and 14.7 GHz in the samples of 20 wt% and 30 wt%benzoic acid, respectively. The reflectivity of the obtained ceramics were -7 dB ～-10 dB from the frequency of 8 GHz–18 GHz, which means that the amount of 80%–90% electromagnetic wave could be attenuated. The ceramics containing 40 wt% benzoic acid showed the high loss, low reflectivity and a wide absorbing band,indicating the high absorbing efficiency and good dielectric properties.     

Earth-abundant photovoltaic semiconductor NaSbS_2 in the rocksalt-derived structure:A first-principles study

NaSbS_2 was recently proposed as a novel photovoltaic semiconductor with earth-abundant component elements,but its fundamental material properties have not been well studied.The systematical first-principles calculations for its electronic,optical and defect properties were carried out in the present study,and the results show that:i)NaSbS_2 in the rocksalt-derived structure has a quasi-direct band gap and thus may have long minority carrier lifetime;ii) its absorption coefficients are as high as 10~4～10~5 cm~(-1) for the visible light and almost isotropic despite that the structure is distorted relative to the high-symmetry rocksalt structure;iii) the effective masses of the electron and hole carriers are anisotropic with much larger values along the z direction than in the x-y plane,and hence the orientational control of thin films should be important for enhancing the photovoltaic performance;iv) the valence and conduction band edges of NaSbS_2 are close to those of CuGaSe_2) so the n-CdS/pCuGaSe_2 device structure can be inherited to form the n-CdS/p-NaSbS_2 solar cells;v) the acceptor defects (Na_(Sb)antisites and Na vacancies) have very high concentration,making the synthesized NaSbS_2 always be p-type;vi)the S-rich condition can suppress the formation of deep-level donor defects (S vacancies and Sb_(Na) antisites) and therefore should be adopted for fabricating high-efficiency NaSbS_2 solar cells.     

Twinning,grain orientation,and texture variations in Mg alloy processed by pre-rolling

A pre-rolling(PR) process with a small pre-strain was applied along the transverse direction(TD) and the extrusion direction(ED) of non-basal and basal textured AZ61 Mg alloys at room temperature to investigate the induced twinning behavior. The microstructural evolution of the alloys was used to evaluate the grain-boundary effect in terms of the texture variation. The results demonstrated that■ extension twinning was introduced by the PR process and that the volume fraction of twins increased with increasing thickness reduction. The subdivision of grains via twinning induced grain reorientation that generated a prominent basal texture with the c-axis parallel to the normal direction(ND) after PR. The textured Mg alloy with this c-axis//TD feature can promote twinning activity. The twinning performance was critical to initiate plastic deformation, therefore to determine deformation behavior at room temperature. The deformation mechanism was also addressed related to the extension twin lamellae.     

Deformation and damage features of a Re/Ru-containing single crystal nickel base superalloy during creep at elevated temperature

The deformation and damage features of a 4.5%Re/3.0%Ru-containing single crystal nickel-based superalloy during the creep in the temperature range of 1040–1070 °C and stress range of 137–180 MPa was investigated by means of creep properties measurement and contrast analysis of dislocation configuration. The results showed that the alloy exhibited a better creep resistance in the range of the testing temperatures and stresses, the deformation mechanism of the alloy during steady state creep was dislocations climbing over the rafted γ′ phase.In the latter period of creep, the deformation mechanism of the alloy was dislocations shearing into the rafted γ′phase. It is believed that the dislocations shearing into γ′ phase may cross-slip from {111} to {100} planes for forming the K-W locks to restrain the slipping and cross-slipping of dislocations on {111} plane. As the creep goes on, the alternate slipping of dislocations results in the twisted of the rafted γ′ phase to promote the initiation and propagation of cracks along the γ/γ′ interfaces up to creep fracture, which is considered to be the damage and fracture feature of alloy during creep at high temperature.     

Effects of Cr and Mo elements on the microstructures and compressive properties of the in situ (TiC_xN_y–TiB_2)/Ni cermets

In-situ(TiC_xN_y–TiB_2)/Ni cermets with 70 wt%TiC_xN_y–TiB_2 were successfully fabricated by combustion synthesis and hot pressing sintering in Ni-Ti-B_4C-BN powder systems.The microstructures,density,compressive properties,and hardness of the TiC_xN_y–TiB_2/Ni cermets with the addition of 0–8 wt%Cr/Mo to the Ni-Ti-B_4C-BN powder systems were compared and analysed.The results showed that the ceramic particles distributed uniformly in the cermets,and the size of the ceramic particles reduced with the Cr/Mo addition.Both Cr and Mo addition can improve the hardness,compressive properties,and fracture strains of the cermets.The hardness,compressive strength,and fracture strain of the(TiC_xN_y–TiB_2)/(Ni+Cr)cermets increased from 1561 HV,2.94 GPa,and 2.9%to 1864 HV,3.65 GPa,and 3.4%,respectively when the Cr content increased to 5 wt%.The hardness and compressive strength of the(TiC_xN_y–TiB_2)/(Ni+Mo)cermets increased from 1561 HV and 2.94 GPa to 1902 HV and 3.43 GPa,respectively when the Mo content increased to 8 wt%.The cermets with Cr had better compressive properties than the cermets with Mo.     

高尚堡油田沙河街组三段Es_3~(2+3)亚段储层非均质性研究

利用测井多井评价资料求取的储层参数,结合岩心分析资料,对高尚堡油田主体开发区Es32+3亚段储层的微观、层内、层间、平面非均质性进行了多角度的研究;分析了影响储层非均质性的主要因素以及储层非均质性对注水开发的影响.研究结果表明:本区整体上属强非均质性储层,其储层非均质性受沉积环境、成岩作用和构造运动控制,是影响注水开发效果的主要因素.     

我国基础物理教育教学研究的现状——基于六本中学物理教育学术杂志的分析

本文基于六本物理教育学术杂志发表的文章对作者进行籍贯统计,发现江苏省和其它地区的中学物理教师在杂志投稿方面差异很大,并以江苏和北京为例进行对比.再从这些物理教育学术杂志发表文章的核心词进行统计,提出了中学物理教师关注的焦点问题:课堂教学、考题分析、课程改革、探究教学等,并进行说明.最后,从教育部2010年评出的全国重点中学100强的排名次序,对北京和江苏两个地区的中学教师科研状况进行对比,并阐明笔者的观点.