In this study, the formation mechanism of the quaternary quasicrystal phase (59.59Al-8.85Cu-16.85Mg-14.71Zn, at. %) in the Al-Cu-Mg-Zn alloy resistance spot welding nugget was revealed. Transmission electron microscopy shows the quasicrystal phase was located at the inner-dendrite zone of which selected area electron diffraction spot exhibits a typical pattern of an icosahedral quasicrystal (fivefold axes). During the cooling process, Cu-Mg-Zn solute enriched within the remnant liquid at the inter-dendrite zone with short-range-ordered clusters structure. Instead transforming to typical crystalline phases, this undercooled remnant liquid forms the icosahedral quasicrystal phase due to the rapid cooling rate of resistance spot welding. This study shows the feasibility of acquiring massive quasicrystal phase in commercially-used aluminum alloy under common processing condition.

In this paper, an efficient and environmentally friendly approach to the microwave-assisted synthesis of zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) was developed to compare the features and changes in morphology, phase, and optical properties with crystals obtained under conventional synthesis. Well-crystallized with high yield and purity ZnPc in β-form was obtained by fast and efficient microwave-assisted procedure after five minutes of microwave heating. Studies including electron paramagnet resonance (EPR) indicated the improved photosensitizing potential of microwave-produced crystals, creating viable candidates for photodynamic treatment. Gamma rays aftereffect confirmed the stability of the ZnPc making them versatile in their application in medicine and sophisticated technology.

Herein, a high-performance supercapacitor negative electrode was constructed by soaking the NiFe foam in H2SO4 just for 5 min. Benefiting from the in-situ route, hierarchical porous structure and abundant oxygen vacancies, the obtained NiFe layered double hydroxide foam presented excellent capacitive performance (1.54F cm−2 at 5 mA cm−2). Furthermore, the assembled hybrid supercapacitor yielded a high energy density of 0.15 mWh cm−2 and an excellent cycle life with 86.7% capacitance retention even after 7000 cycles, which outperformed the previously reported asymmetric supercapacitors. This work definitely shed light on the possible industrialization of the negative electrode material.

A new magnetic CuFe2O4/zeolite (CFZ) catalyst was synthesized via a simple hydrothermal method. Characterization results suggest that CuFe2O4 and the zeolite are compounded together. CFZ has a specific surface area of 149.2 m2/g, indicating that CFZ has a porous structure. The removal rate of methyl orange in the CFZ/PMS system could reach 97.3%, showing the excellent catalytic oxidation performance of CFZ. After 5 cycles, the degradation efficiency declined by only 1.6%. In the catalytic degradation process, O2•− and 1O2 are the main reactive oxygen species.

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are a promising technology for harvesting mechanical energy from various sources. In this work, we report on the fabrication and performance of a TENG device using a 2D graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)/silicone hybrid film. The synthesis of g-C3N4 was achieved through a low-cost one-step pyrolysis process using urea as the precursor. The TENG device exhibited a high output voltage ∼ 550 V, current ∼ 110 µA, and a power density of about 4.19 W/m2 when paired with g-C3N4/silicone and Kapton. Overall, the TENG device exhibited a multi-fold increment in power density compared to previous g-C3N4-based TENGs.

In this study, we prepared a microsphere as controllable oxygen generator coated with silk fibroin using poly [lactic-co-(glycolic acid)] as the shell layer and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as the core layer, which provides a reliable strategy for the preparation of oxygen-releasing materials for medical or non-medical applications.

After completing the aqueous electrodeposition of FeCoNiCuZn nanocrystalline high entropy (HEA) alloy system consisting of elements with significant differences in melting points and reduction potentials, unwanted galvanic displacement reactions (GDR) were observed on the alloy system when the film was held back in the electrolyte. This phenomenon, observed in alloys electroplated from aqueous baths containing a noble metal (currently Cu), leads to preferential deposition of the noble elements and changes the composition progressively at open circuit potential. A change in composition occurs in the electrodeposited alloy where Cu (from ∼13 to 58 at. %) was deposited on the alloy due to its larger reduction potential causing displacement of Zn > Fe ∼ Co > Ni (order of displacement) from the deposited alloy with Cu2+ ions present in the electrolyte. This work is the first observational report of galvanic displacement in HEAs composed of five elements. We categorically state that this GDR is crucial when designing/synthesizing HEAs alloys through electrodeposition.

In this work, highly dispersed and low-metal loading CuOx@BiVO4 nanocomposites were fabricated via a multistep method. The fabricated samples exhibited excellent stability and a dependent tetracycline hydrochloride photocatalysis degradation efficiency on CuOx loading ratio, among which 0.4 %CuOx loading sample displayed best photocatalytic performance under visible light illumination. The loading CuOx significantly broadened the spectrum absorption range, enhanced the photogenerated electron-hole pairs separation and facilitated the formation of ·O2– and ·OH in CuOx@BiVO4. Moreover, the trapping experiments proved the crucial roles of h+, ·OH and ·O2– in the photodegradation process. Finally, a plausible photocatalytic mechanism has been proposed based on all analytical results.

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a hazardous chemical used in plastic manufacturing units. BPA is recognized as an endocrine disruptor that can act as environmental estrogen and affect the activity of natural endogenous hormones. BPA is both genotoxic and cytotoxic; hence, developing a sensor for its recognition and quantification is essential. In this study, a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) based electrochemical sensor was developed for the analysis of Bisphenol-A (BPA). The fabrication of BPA/PEDOT/GQDs/AuNPs/GCE was carried out by electrodepositing the gold (Au) nanoparticles followed by electropolymerization employing 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) and in-situ graphene quantum dots (GQDs). The characterization was performed using numerous techniques such as FESEM, XRD, UV–vis, TEM, FTIR, and electrochemical techniques. The linear range for the detection of Bisphenol-A was 1 nM to 50 µM with a low detection limit (LOD) of 0.19 nM and a limit of quantification (LOQ) of 0.64 nM. The proposed method delivered selective, sensitive, and reusable electrodes for the detection of BPA. The recovery was found to be 95–112% and the fabricated electrode was successfully utilized for the analysis of BPA in the real samples.

In this report, the nickel molybdate (NiMoO4) nanorods were grown on carbon cloth (CC) with an average length of 3 µm and a diameter of 130 nm. The NiMoO4/CC demonstrated a lower onset potential of 0.553 V vs. Hg/HgO at 10 mA/cm2 for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). In addition, the electrocatalyst showed notable cyclic stability, where the onset potential attained 0.585 and 0.616 V vs. Hg/HgO at 10 mA/cm2 during the 250th and 1000th cycles, respectively. In the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the NiMoO4/CC exhibited good performance with an overpotential of −0.517 V vs. RHE at 10 mA/cm2, the Tafel slope of 144 mV/dec, and a turnover frequency of 1.298H2/active site. The higher active sites (2.594 × 1017 cm2) and high electrochemical surface area (94.63 cm2) of NiMoO4/CC electrocatalyst exhibited stable and efficient MOR and HER performances.

Microwave dielectric properties of NaMgF3 ceramics prepared by reactive sintering (RS) and conventional sintering (CS) processes have been reported in this paper. Phase pure NaMgF3 ceramics with relative densities of ∼95% could be obtained at 800–950 °C/2h by both sintering processes. The RS sample demonstrates lower sintering activation energy and a much large grain size compared with the CS sample. Both densified samples exhibit similar microwave dielectric properties: εr ∼ 6.9, Q × f value ∼63000 GHz, and τf ∼ −114 ppm/°C. However, the large negative τf value needs to be further improved for practical applications.

Flowers-like SnO2 grown on carbon cloth (SnO2/CC) was synthesized via simple hydrothermal process. The flowers-like structure includes needle-like and columnar-like forms. The optical analysis of the SnO2/CC show strong absorption in near ultraviolet region. SnO2/CC based rigid photodetector was designed on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) substrate. By simply transferring the SnO2/CC to a transparent polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate, flexible photodetector was also successfully manufactured. Both the rigid and flexible devices exhibited excellent photoconductive characteristic to ultraviolet light at 254 nm and 365 nm. Especially, the flexible photodetector exhibits higher switch ratio of 26.14 to as weak ultraviolet light signal as 600 μW/cm2 at wavelength of 254 nm.

In this paper, the electrical contact sliding wear and tribology properties of three kinds of surface coating (gold, silver, and tin) terminals at low temperature (-20 ℃) were studied by a reciprocating current-carrying friction tester. By comparing the wear performance response of different conductive terminals under different current conditions, it was found that an increase in current leads to large fluctuations in the coefficient of friction and increases the wear degree on the terminal surface. The electrical contact resistance also increases with increasing current. The surface gold-coating terminals mainly experience adhesive wear in the wear test, the surface of silver-coating terminals mainly experience abrasive wear during the friction test, and the tin-coating terminals mainly experience adhesive wear and a small amount of abrasive wear.

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) represent a prospective energy storage device because of their low cost and high theoretical energy density. However, the performance of LSBs was largely constrained by the kinetics of polysulfides (LiPSs) conversion and shuttle effect. Thus, a metal-doped metal oxide is proposed as an efficient adsorbent and catalyst for LiPSs. We designed cobalt-doped Fe3O4 nano-catalysts which was in situ grown on the N-doped graphene conductive network as a multifunctional sulfur host. Evidenced by experimental characterization, it is demonstrated that due to the appropriate doping amount (EGO/Co-Fe3O4 (700)), the host exhibits efficient adsorption and rapid catalytic conversion of LiPSs. Compared with the undoped Co catalyst (S@EGO/Fe3O4), The S@EGO/Co-Fe3O4 (700) electrode possesses high initial discharge specific capacity (1488.4 mAh/g, 0.2 C), and superior cycle stability (900.8 mAh/g after 100 cycles). Impressive performances are also attained at lean electrolyte conditions (electrolyte-to-sulfur (E/S) ratio ∼ 7 μL mg−1).

A versatile three-step sequential reaction route is presented to synthesize transparent copper iodide thin films with resistivities that can be selected in the 10–3 to 102 Ω‧cm range. The reaction process consists of (1) the chemical solution deposition of copper(I) disulfide films, (2) the synthesized copper(I) disulfide annealing at different temperatures ranging from 30 °C to 150 °C depending on the desired copper iodide resistivity, and (3) the iodination of the resulting copper(I,II) sulfides films by a gas–solid reaction with iodine vapor. The novelty of the procedure is the incorporation of versatile techniques and the consideration of the temperature-dependent formation of different types of copper sulfides, which produce copper iodide films with different electrical properties after iodination. All the films resulted quite transparent, homogeneous, and showed good adhesion to the glass substrates.

The large surface area and porous structure of MOF materials could provide binding sites for fluorescent moieties for bioimaging. Herein, we reported the preparation of fluorescent MOF material Zn(BDC) by 8-hydroquinoline modification [Zn(BDC)-8HQ]. Zn(BDC)-8HQ emitted strong fluorescence at 507 nm. The fluorescent Zn(BDC)-8HQ had a hydrodynamic radius of 255 nm, suitable for lymph node tracing. After subcutaneous injection, a bright spot could be distinguished at the injection site. The injections to front extremities resulted in sentinel lymph node accumulations. The low toxicity of Zn(BDC)-8HQ was evidenced by serum biochemical index and histopathological observations.

The utilization of identical anode and cathode materials in symmetrical solid oxide fuel cells (SSOFCs) can efficiently reduce their fabrication costs and prolong their operational life. Herein, Nb-doped double perovskite Sr2CoFeO6-δ of a traditional cathode was employed as the electrode material for SSOFCs. Notably, the electrochemical performance and reversibility were improved due to Nb doping. The Nb-doped sample Sr2CoFe0.7Nb0.3O6−δ.5 (SCFN3) was synthesized in air, which decomposed into Co–Fe alloy, SrCoO2.25, and Sr3FeNbO6−δ in H2. Following calcination in air, the sample reverted to the original perovskite structure. The SCFN3 sample exhibited good chemical compatibility with SOFC electrolytes such as La0.8Sr0.2Ga0.8Mg0.2O3−δ (LSGM), Sm0.2Ce0.8O2−δ, and BaZr0.1Ce0.7Y0.1Yb0.1O3−δ. A single cell consisting of 300-μm LSGM electrolyte exhibited maximum power densities of 951, 510, 563, and 397 mW/cm2 at 850℃ when using H2, C3H8, liquid C2H5OH, and solid C as fuels, respectively. These findings adequately demonstrate the fuel-flexible characteristics of SOFCs.

Solar steam generation has been proven to be an innovative and sustainable technology to mitigate the issue of clean water shortage. But, to-date, optimizing a suitable candidate material system to improve the evaporation efficiency is an urgent need, especially the interface engineering tailored heat transfer of materials has not yet made a breakthrough. Herein, we successfully designed a Co3O4 nanoparticle that can promote the optimization of the heat transfer performance using interface engineering. The optimized Co3O4 nanoparticles creates a close contact with the cotton sheet, creating an efficient channel for heat transfer and achieving high photothermal steam generation efficiency. The interfacial solar steam generation has been found to achieve a high evaporation rate of 2.72 kg/m2·h, which is higher than that of traditional bulk phase heating. Our findings not only showcase the efficacy of interface engineering in the design of solar steam generation, but also present a cost-effective and straightforward methodology that can be applied for water purification purposes.

This letter describes the growth of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) on plateau and terrace regions of nickel foil by tuning the V/III ratio of NH3 and B2H6, followed by pre-cooling carbon doping with CH4. The V/III ratio = 120 with a growth duration of 30 min is good to grow ∼ 14 nm-thick hBN for the application requiring it as an insulator. Pre-cooling doping by CH4 is possible because crystallizing BN prevents carbon from diffusing into bulk nickel and allows the substitution of nitrogen atoms. The C-doped hBN is having a lowered bandgap of 5.79/5.47 eV, sub-bandgap of 2.86 eV, narrowed Raman E2g peak on plateau and terrace regions, a slight decrease in nitrogen atomic%, and reduced thickness. These convert hBN from an insulator into a semiconductor. The C-doped hBN is a very sensitive thermistor with a temperature coefficient of resistance up to –0.037 K−1.

CuO/Cu2O microspheres were synthesized via rapid microwave-assisted spray pyrolysis within only 20 min, requiring no additional treatment. The microspheres, with an average size of 577 ± 192 nm, consist of nanostructured primary particles (crystallites) measuring 17.9 ± 2.8 nm. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the presence of well-crystallized phases, revealing significant lattice distortion in Cu2O. The material exhibited a bandgap of 1.28 eV, rendering it suitable for application in photoelectrochemistry and photocatalysis