Microplastic separation and enrichment in microchannels under derivative electric field gradient by bipolar electrode reactions.

The decomposed plastic products in the natural environment evolve into tiny plastic particles with characteristics such as small size, lightweight, and difficulty in removal, resulting in a significant pollution issue in aquatic environments. Significant progress has been made in microplastic separation technology benefiting from microfluidic chips in recent years. Based on the mechanisms of microfluidic control technology, this study investigates the enrichment and separation mechanisms of polystyrene particles in an unbuffered solution.

Deformable Thermo-Responsive Smart Windows Based on a Shape Memory Polymer for Adaptive Solar Modulations.

Thermo-responsive smart windows that control solar transmission are expected to be the promising solution to excessive building energy consumption and overheating of solar cell devices. The two performance indices, namely, the luminous transmission () and the solar modulation (Δ), are often intrinsically limited by conventional thermo-responsive materials, which restrict their applications in smart windows. Alternatively, constructing a deformable surface morphology of smart windows can be an effective strategy to modulate the solar transmission.

Friction anisotropy with respect to topographic orientation.

Friction characteristics with respect to surface topographic orientation were investigated using surfaces of different materials and fabricated with grooves of different scales. Scratching friction tests were conducted using a nano-indentation-scratching system with the tip motion parallel or perpendicular to the groove orientation. Similar friction anisotropy trends were observed for all the surfaces studied, which are (1) under a light load and for surfaces with narrow grooves, the tip motion parallel to the grooves offers higher friction coefficients than does that perpendicular to them, (2) otherwise, equal or lower friction coefficients are found under this motion.