Kang, Jian; Chen, Dandan; Xiong, Bijin; Zheng, Nan; Yang, Feng; Xiang, Ming; Zheng, Zhuo
Facile Route for the Fabrication of Polypropylene Separators for Lithium-Ion Batteries with High Elongation and Strong Puncture Resistance
A facile route for fabrication of polypropylene separators for lithium-ion batteries with high elongation and strong puncture resistance has been proposed in this work. Polypropylene separators immersed in paraffin wax have been prepared to introduce small molecules into separators. The influence of small molecules on mechanical properties of separators is…
An in situ SAXS investigation of the formation of silver nanoparticles and bimetallic silvergold nanoparticles in controlled wet-chemical reduction synthesis
F. Garcia, Paulo R. A.; Prymak, Oleg; Grasmik, Viktoria; Pappert, Kevin; Wlysses, Wagner; Otubo, Larissa; Epple, Matthias; P. Oliveira, Cristiano L.
We present a study on the formation of silver (Ag) and bimetallic silvergold (AgAu) nanoparticlesmonitored by in situ SAXS as well as by ex situ TEM, XRD and UV-vis analysis in a flow reactor at controlled reaction temperature. The formation mechanism of the nanoparticles is derived from the structural parameters…
Tubular Sensor with Multi-Axial Strain Sensibility and Heating Capability Based on Bio-Mimic Helical Networks
Li, Yijun; Zhang, Kailin; Nie, Min; Wang, Qi
Sensors are crucial in industrial robotics and smart production line owing to the basic needs for humanmachine communication and real-time monitoring. However, a lack of versatile sensing capability and multifunctionalities are still two urgent bottlenecks for current sensors to break through. In this study, from the biomimic perspective, helical and…
Efficient Anti-solvent-free Spin-Coated and Printed Sn-Perovskite Solar Cells with Crystal-Based Precursor Solutions
He, Lintao; Gu, Hao; Liu, Xiaolong; Li, Pengwei; Dang, Yangyang; Liang, Chao; Ono, Luis K.; Qi, Yabing; Tao, Xutang
Tin-based perovskite solar cells (PSCs), with more consummate optical band gaps, lower exciton-binding energies, and higher charge-carrier mobility, have not attracted tremendous research efforts compared with the lead-based ones that have a record power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 24.2%. The major challenges for Sn-based research are significantly low open-circuit voltage,…
Nanofibril Organization in Silk Fiber as Inspiration for Ductile and Damage-Tolerant Fiber Design
Lin, Shihui; Ye, Chao; Zhang, Wenwen; Xu, Anchang; Chen, Shixian; Ren, Jing; Ling, Shengjie
Ductile and damage-tolerant fibers (DDTFs) are desired in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, and biomedical engineering because of their ability to prevent the catastrophic sudden structural/mechanical failure. However, in practice, design and fabrication of DDTFs remain a major challenge due to finite fiber size and limited processing techniques. In this regard,…
Reproducible Preparation of Proteopolymersomes via Sequential Polymer Film Hydration and Membrane Protein Reconstitution
Loo, Siew-Leng; Siti, Winna; Thiyagarajan, Monisha; Torres, Jaume; Wang, Rong; Hu, Xiao
Film rehydration method is commonly used for membrane protein (MP) reconstitution into block copolymer (BCP), but the lack of control in the rehydration step formed a heterogeneous population of proteopolymersomes that interferes with the characterization and performance of devices incorporating them. To improve the self-assembly of polymersomes with simultaneous MP…
Synthesis of Anthracene Conjugates of Truncated Antifreeze Protein Sequences: Effect of the End Group and Photocontrolled Dimerization on Ice Recrystallization Inhibition Activity
Graham, Ben; Fayter, Alice E. R.; Gibson, Matthew I.
Biomacromolecular antifreezes distinguish ice from water, function by binding to specific planes of ice, and could have many applications from cryobiology to aerospace where ice is a problem. In biology, antifreeze protein (AFP) activity is regulated by protein expression levels via temperature and light-regulated expression systems, but in the laboratory…
Predicting the location of weld line in microinjection-molded polyethylene via molecular orientation distribution
Liao, Tao; Zhao, Xintong; Yang, Xiao; Whiteside, Ben; Coates, Phil; Jiang, Zhiyong; Men, Yongfeng
The microstructure and molecular orientation distribution over both the length and the thickness of microinjection-molded linear low-density polyethylene with a weld line were characterized as a function of processing parameters using small-angle X-ray scattering and wide-angle X-ray diffraction techniques. The weld line was introduced via recombination of two separated melt…
Regulating Pore Structure of Hierarchical Porous Waste Cork-Derived Hard Carbon Anode for Enhanced Na Storage Performance
Li, Yuqi; Lu, Yaxiang; Meng, Qingshi; Jensen, Anders C. S.; Zhang, Qiangqiang; Zhang, Qinghua; Tong, Yuxin; Qi, Yuruo; Gu, Lin; Titirici, Maria-Magdalena; Hu, Yong-Sheng
Porous structure design is generally considered to be a reliable strategy to boost ion transport and provide active sites for disordered carbon anodes of Na-ion batteries (NIBs). Herein, a type of waste cork-derived hard carbon material (CC) is reported for efficient Na storage via tuning the pore species. Benefiting from…
Regulating the phase separation of ternary organic solar cells via 3D architectured AIE molecules
Adil, Muhammad Abdullah; Zhang, Jianqi; Wang, Yuheng; Yu, Jinde; Yang, Chen; Lu, Guanghao; Wei, Zhixiang
An optimized bulk heterojunction (BHJ) interface, certifying enhanced exciton-splitting, charge separation and recombination inhibition, is vastly desired to obtain high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). Herein, the ternary strategy has been employed to effectively modify the phase separation between the J71:ITIC blend by incorporating a 3D aggregation-induced emission (AIE) material,