Seeing Structural Mechanisms of Optimized Piezoelectric and Thermoelectric Bulk Materials through Structural Defect Engineering.

Aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (AC-STEM) has evolved into the most powerful characterization and manufacturing platform for all materials, especially functional materials with complex structural characteristics that respond dynamically to external fields. It has become possible to directly observe and tune all kinds of defects, including those at the crucial atomic scale. In-depth understanding and technically tailoring structural defects will be of great significance for revealing the structure-performance relation of existing high-property materials, as well as for foreseeing paths to the design of high-performance materials.

The microstructural refinement and performance improvement of a nanoporous Ag/CeO catalyst for NaBH oxidation.

In this paper, Cu and Ce were added to melt-spun Al-Ag precursor alloys to refine the microstructures of nanoporous Ag and Ag/CeO composite catalysts for NaBH oxidation. After the precursor alloys were dealloyed in 20% NaOH, calcined in air and corroded again in 50% NaOH, AgAl in the precursor alloys was completely removed, and refined nanoporous Ag could be obtained; from this process, the finest microstructures were exhibited by AlAgCu. When more than 0.

The microstructural refinement and performance improvement of a nanoporous Ag/CeOcatalyst for NaBHoxidation.

In this paper, Cu and Ce were added to melt-spun Al-Ag precursor alloys to refine the microstructures of nanoporous Ag and Ag/CeO2 composite catalysts for NaBH4 oxidation. After the precursor alloys were dealloyed in 20% NaOH, calcined in air and corroded again in 50% NaOH, Ag2Al in the precursor alloys was completely removed, and refined nanoporous Ag could be obtained; from this process, the finest microstructures were exhibited by Al84Ag8Cu8. When more than 0.

Influence of Annealing on the Damping Behavior of Ni-Cu-Mn-Ga Ferromagnetic Shape Memory Alloys.

Damping materials have attracted much attention for wide potential applications in the industry. Previous research shows that annealing treatment is an effective and costless way of improving the functional properties of conventional shape memory alloys. However, there are few investigations concerning the annealing effect of the ambient-temperature damping behavior.

Rod-Like Nanoporous CeO Modified by PdO Nanoparticles for CO Oxidation and Methane Combustion with High Catalytic Activity and Water Resistance.

A PdO/CeO composite with a rod-like nanoporous skeletal structure was prepared by combining the dealloying of Al-Ce-Pd alloy ribbons with calcination. For CO oxidation and CH combustion, the nanoporous PdO/CeO composite exhibits excellent catalytic activity, and the complete reaction temperatures of CO and CH are 80 °C and 380 °C, respectively. In addition, the composite possesses excellent cycle stability, CO toxicity, and water resistance, and the catalytic activity hardly decreases after 100 h of long-term stability testing in the presence of water vapour (2 × 10 ppm).

The Preparation and Catalytic Properties of Nanoporous Pt/CeO Composites with Nanorod Framework Structures.

Pt/CeO catalysts with nanoporous structures were prepared by the facile dealloying of melt-spun AlCePt (X = 0.1; 0.3 and 0.