Binder-Free LiMn O Nanosheets on Carbon Cloth for Selective Lithium Extraction from Brine via Capacitive Deionization.

In this study, a three-step strategy including electrochemical cathode deposition, self-oxidation, and hydrothermal reaction is applied to prepare the LiMn O nanosheets on carbon cloth (LMOns@CC) as a binder-free cathode in a hybrid capacitive deionization (CDI) cell for selectively extracting lithium from salt-lake brine. The binder-free LMOns@CC electrodes are constructed from dozens of 2D LiMn O nanosheets on carbon cloth substrates, resulting in a uniform 2D array of highly ordered nanosheets with hierarchical nanostructure. The charge/discharge process of the LMOns@CC electrode demonstrates that visible redox peaks and high pseudocapacitive contribution rates endow the LMOns@CC cathode with a maximum Li ion electrosorption capacity of 4.

A Dielectric Elastomer Actuator-Driven Vibro-Impact Crawling Robot.

Over the last decade, many bio-inspired crawling robots have been proposed by adopting the principle of two-anchor crawling or anisotropic friction-based vibrational crawling. However, these robots are complicated in structure and vulnerable to contamination, which seriously limits their practical application. Therefore, a novel vibro-impact crawling robot driven by a dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) is proposed in this paper, which attempts to address the limitations of the existing crawling robots.

Macro Modeling of V-Shaped Electro-Thermal MEMS Actuator with Human Error Factor.

The V-shaped electro-thermal MEMS actuator model, with the human error factor taken into account, is presented in this paper through the cascading ANSYS simulation model and the Fuzzy mathematics calculation model. The Fuzzy mathematics calculation model introduces the human error factor into the MEMS actuator model by using the BP neural network, which effectively reduces the error between ANSYS simulation results and experimental results to less than 1%. Meanwhile, the V-shaped electro-thermal MEMS actuator model, with the human error factor included, will become more accurate as the database of the V-shaped electro-thermal actuator model grows.

A novel dry-blending method to reduce the coefficient of thermal expansion of polymer templates for OTFT electrodes.

Among the patterning technologies for organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs), the fabrication of OTFT electrodes using polymer templates has attracted much attention. However, deviations in the electrode alignment occur because the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the polymer template is much higher than the CTE of the dielectric layer. Here, a novel dry-blending method is described in which SiO nanoparticles are filled into a grooved silicon template, followed by permeation of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) into the SiO nanoparticle gaps.

A U-shaped microwave resonator for flexible mechanical sensors application.

A flexible mechanical deformation test system, which is a combination of the microwave and the flexible film, is proposed. The system consists of a U-shaped microwave resonator, coaxial transmission line, and PDMS flexible substrate. Microwave signals are generated from the vector network analyzer and loaded to the coaxial transmission line and then coupled to the U-shaped resonator through the coupling loop.

Design and Development of a Three-Component Force Sensor for Milling Process Monitoring.

A strain-type three-component table dynamometer is presented in this paper, which reduces output errors produced by cutting forces imposed on the different milling positions of a workpiece. A sensor structure with eight parallel elastic beams is proposed, and sensitive regions and Wheastone measuring circuits are also designed in consideration of eliminating the influences of the eccentric forces. To evaluate the sensor decoupling performance, both of the static calibration and dynamic milling test were implemented in different positions of the workpiece.