{"title":"Research and development of nanocrystalline W/W-based materials: novel preparation approaches, formation mechanisms, and unprecedented excellent properties","authors":"Zaoming Wu, Qiang Li, Xiaofeng Yang","doi":"10.1007/s11706-023-0634-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11706-023-0634-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Tungsten (W) has become the most promising plasma-facing material (PFM) in fusion reactor, and W still faces performance degradation caused by low-temperature brittleness, low recrystallization temperature, neutron irradiation effects, and plasma irradiation effects. The modification of W/W-based materials in terms of microstructure manipulation is needed, and such techniques to improve the performance of materials are the topics of hot research. Researchers have found that refining the grain can significantly improve the strength and the irradiation resistance of W/W-based materials. In this paper, novel approaches and technique routes, including the “bottom-up” powder metallurgy method and “top-down” severe plastic deformation method, are introduced to the fabrication of nanocrystalline W/W-based materials. The formation mechanisms of nanocrystalline W/W-based materials were revealed, and the nanostructure stabilization mechanisms were introduced. The mechanical properties of nanocrystalline W/W-based materials were tested, and the irradiation behaviors and performances were studied. The mechanisms of their high mechanical properties and excellent irradiation-damage resistance were illustrated. This article may provide an experimental and theoretical basis for the design and development of high-performance novel nanocrystalline W/W-based materials.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":572,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Materials Science","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4044892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards safe lithium-sulfur batteries from liquid-state electrolyte to solid-state electrolyte","authors":"Zhiyuan Pang, Hongzhou Zhang, Lu Wang, Dawei Song, Xixi Shi, Yue Ma, Linglong Kong, Lianqi Zhang","doi":"10.1007/s11706-023-0630-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11706-023-0630-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Lithium-sulfur (Li−S) battery has been considered as one of the most promising future batteries owing to the high theoretical energy density (2600 W·h·kg<sup>−1</sup>) and the usage of the inexpensive active materials (elemental sulfur). The recent progress in fundamental research and engineering of the Li−S battery, involved in electrode, electrolyte, membrane, binder, and current collector, has greatly promoted the performance of Li−S batteries from the laboratory level to the approaching practical level. However, the safety concerns still deserve attention in the following application stage. This review focuses on the development of the electrolyte for Li−S batteries from liquid state to solid state. Some problems and the corresponding solutions are emphasized, such as the soluble lithium polysulfides migration, ionic conductivity of electrolyte, the interface contact between electrolyte and electrode, and the reaction kinetics. Moreover, future perspectives of the safe and high-performance Li−S batteries are also introduced.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":572,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Materials Science","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4400860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Double-layered TiO2 cavity/nanoparticle photoelectrodes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells","authors":"Zhen Li, Libo Yu","doi":"10.1007/s11706-023-0638-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11706-023-0638-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>TiO<sub>2</sub> nanoparticles (NPs) in the size of ∼25 nm, namely P25, are very common material as the electron collecting layer in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). However, the light-scattering improvement of TiO<sub>2</sub> NP photoelectrodes is still a challenge. Here, we built TiO<sub>2</sub> cavities on the top of the TiO<sub>2</sub> NP layer by using carbonaceous microspheres as the template, forming the TiO<sub>2</sub> cavity/nanoparticle (C/NP) photoelectrode for the application in DSSCs. The cavity amount in the TiO<sub>2</sub> C/NP photoelectrode was controlled by adjusting the weight ratio of carbonaceous microspheres. SEM results confirm the successful formation of the double-layered TiO<sub>2</sub> C/NP electrode. <i>J—V</i> tests show that the optimized TiO<sub>2</sub> C/NP electrode prepared with 25 wt.% carbonaceous microspheres contributes to remarkable improvement of the short-circuit current density (<i>J</i><sub>sc</sub>) and the power conversion efficiency (PCE). The best photovoltaic performance solar cell with the PCE of 9.08% is achieved with the optimized TiO<sub>2</sub> C/NP photoelectrode, which is over 98% higher than that of the TiO<sub>2</sub> NP photoelectrode. Further investigations of UV-vis DRS, IPCE, OCVD, and EIS demonstrate that the competition between light scattering effect and charges recombination in this TiO<sub>2</sub> C/NP photoelectrode is responsible for the PCE enhancement.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":572,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Materials Science","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"5079803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Erratum to: Recent research progress of master mold manufacturing by nanoimprint technique for the novel microoptics devices","authors":"Yuhang Liu, Jianjun Lin, Zuohuan Hu, Guoli Gao, Bingyang Wang, Liuyi Wang, Zhiyuan Pan, Jianfei Jia, Qinwei Yin, Dengji Guo, Xujin Wang","doi":"10.1007/s11706-022-0621-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11706-022-0621-9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":572,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Materials Science","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4122760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Wenxin Wang, Yang Chen, Ning Wang, Zhiqiang Du, Martin Jensen, Zihan An, Xianfeng Li
{"title":"Multifunction ZnO/carbon hybrid nanofiber mats for organic dyes treatment via photocatalysis with enhanced solar-driven evaporation","authors":"Wenxin Wang, Yang Chen, Ning Wang, Zhiqiang Du, Martin Jensen, Zihan An, Xianfeng Li","doi":"10.1007/s11706-022-0623-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11706-022-0623-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>ZnO-based photocatalytic materials have received widespread attention due to their usefulness than other photocatalytic materials in organic dye wastewater treatment. However, its photocatalytic efficiency and surface stability limit further applicability. This paper uses a one-step carbonization method to prepare multifunctional ZnO/carbon hybrid nanofiber mats. The carbonization creates a <i>π</i>-conjugated carbonaceous structure of the mats, which prolongs the electron recovery time of ZnO nanoparticles to yield improved photocatalytic efficiency. Further, the carbonization reduces the fiber diameter of the carbon hybrid nanofiber mats, which quadruples the specific surface area to yield enhanced adsorption and photocatalytic performance. At the same time, the prepared nanofiber mats can increase the evaporation rate of water under solar irradiation to a level of 1.46 kg·m<sup>−</sup><sup>2</sup>·h<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup> with an efficiency of 91.9%. Thus, the nanofiber mats allow the facile incorporation of photocatalysts to clean contaminated water through adsorption, photodegradation, and interfacial heat-assisted distillation mechanisms.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":572,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Materials Science","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4923859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Facile preparation and property analyses of L-CNC/SiO2-based composite superhydrophobic coating","authors":"Wentao Huang, Qihui Ye, Changying Ren, Youwei Lu, Yuxin Cai, Wenbiao Zhang, Jingda Huang","doi":"10.1007/s11706-022-0626-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11706-022-0626-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In recent years, superhydrophobic coatings have received extensive attention due to their functions of waterproof, antifouling, self-cleaning, etc. However, wide applications of superhydrophobic coatings are still affected by their disadvantages of complex preparation, low mechanical properties, and poor ultraviolet (UV) resistance. In this study, cellulose nanocrystal containing a small amount of lignin (L-CNC)/SiO<sub>2</sub> composite particles were used as the main material, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as the adhesive and perfluorooctyltrichlorosilane (FOTS) as the modifier to prepare superhydrophobic coatings by a one-step spray method. The resulted coating showed excellent superhydrophobicity (water contact angle (WCA) of 161° and slide angle (SA) of 7°) and high abrasion resistance (capable of withstanding 50 abrasion cycles under the load of 50 g). Moreover, it still maintained good superhydrophobicity after 5 h of exposure to the UV light (1000 W), displaying its good UV resistance. This study provides theoretical and technical reference for the simple preparation of organic-inorganic composite superhydrophobic coatings with high abrasion resistance and good UV resistance, which is beneficial to improving the practicability and broadening the application scope of superhydrophobic coatings.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":572,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Materials Science","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4887921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ultrasensitive methyl salicylate gas sensing determined by Pd-doped SnO2","authors":"Chaoqi Zhu, Xiang Li, Xiaoxia Wang, Huiyu Su, Chaofan Ma, Xiang Guo, Changsheng Xie, Dawen Zeng","doi":"10.1007/s11706-022-0625-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11706-022-0625-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Efficient chemical warfare agents (CWAs) detection is required to protect people from the CWAs in war and terrorism. In this work, a Pd-doped SnO<sub>2</sub> nanoparticles-based gas sensor was developed to detect a nerve agent simulant named methyl salicylate. The sensing measurements of methyl salicylate under different Pd doping amounts found that the 0.5 at.% Pd-doped SnO<sub>2</sub> exhibited a significant improvement in the detection of methyl salicylate at the ppb (1 ppb = 10<sup>−9</sup>) level, and the response value to 160 ppb methyl salicylate is 0.72 at 250 °C. Compared with the pure SnO<sub>2</sub>, the response value is increased by 4.5 times, which could be attributed to the influence of the noble metal Pd on the oxygen state and its catalytic effect. In addition, the 0.5 at.% Pd-doped SnO<sub>2</sub> sensor still has an obvious response to 16 ppb methyl salicylate with a response value of 0.13, indicating the lower detection limit of the sensor.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":572,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Materials Science","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4887331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zhiyuan Ma, Qingbing Wang, Yuhua Wang, Zhaolong Li, Hong Zhang, Zhicheng Li
{"title":"High lithium storage performance of Ni0.5Fe0.5O1−xNx thin film with NiO-type crystal structure","authors":"Zhiyuan Ma, Qingbing Wang, Yuhua Wang, Zhaolong Li, Hong Zhang, Zhicheng Li","doi":"10.1007/s11706-022-0624-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11706-022-0624-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The large voltage hysteresis of the NiO anode, which owes much to the intermediate product Li<sub>2</sub>NiO<sub>2</sub>, is one of the main obstacles to its practical application in lithium-ion batteries. In this work, we show that the incorporation of Fe- and N-ions in the NiO lattice can suppress the formation of intermediate product Li<sub>2</sub>NiO<sub>2</sub> and thus greatly reduces the voltage hysteresis of the NiO anode from ∼1.2 to ∼0.9 V. In comparison with the pure NiO electrode, the Ni<sub>0.5</sub>Fe<sub>0.5</sub>O<sub>1−<i>x</i></sub>N<sub><i>x</i></sub> anode exhibits significantly enhanced reversible specific capacity (959 mAh·g<sup>−1</sup> at 0.3 A·g<sup>−1</sup>), cycling stability (capacity retention of 96.1% at 100th cycle relative to the second cycle) and rate capability (442 at 10 A·g<sup>−1</sup>). These results provide a practical method to enhance the lithium storage performance of the NiO anode and more importantly a new solution to the large voltage hysteresis of conversion-type anodes.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":572,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Materials Science","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4887917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fenglan Chen, Xin Liu, Zhengya Wang, Shengnian Tie, Chang-An Wang
{"title":"Hierarchically porous CMC/rGO/CNFs aerogels for leakage-proof mirabilite phase change materials with superior energy thermal storage","authors":"Fenglan Chen, Xin Liu, Zhengya Wang, Shengnian Tie, Chang-An Wang","doi":"10.1007/s11706-022-0619-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11706-022-0619-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>As a kind of essential hydrated salt phase change energy storage materials, mirabilite with high energy storage density and mild phase-transition temperature has excellent application potential in the problems of solar time and space mismatch. However, there are some disadvantages such as supercooling, substantial phase stratification and leakage problem, limiting its further applications. In this work, for the preparation of shaped mirabilite phase change materials (MPCMs), graphene (GO), sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were used as starting materials to prepare lightweight CMC/rGO/CNFs carbon aerogel (CGCA) as support with stable shape, high specific surface area, and well-arranged hierarchically porous structure. The results show that CGCA has regular layered plentiful pores and stable foam structure, and the pore and sheet interspersed structure in CGCA stabilizes PCMs via capillary force and surface tension. The hydrophilic aerogels supported MPCMs decrease mirabilite leaking and reduce supercooling to around 0.7–1 °C. The latent heats of melting and crystallization of CGCA-supported mirabilite phase change materials (CGCA-PCMs) are 157.1 and 114.8 J·g<sup>−1</sup>, respectively. Furthermore, after 1500 solid—liquid cycles, there is no leakage, and the retention rate of crystallization latent heat is 45.32%, exhibiting remarkable thermal cycling stability.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":572,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Materials Science","volume":"16 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4676626","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}