Aluminum-based ceramic/metal composites with tailored thermal expansion fabricated by spark plasma sintering.

We have devised a moderate temperature spark plasma sintering route for preparing aluminum matrix composites which possess tailored coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) in combination with tunable electrical and thermal conductivities. Due to its isotropic negative thermal expansion over a wide temperature range, cubic-phase ZrWMoO ( = 0.0, 1.

Synthesis and Characterization of a Novel Two-Dimensional Copper p-Aminophenol Metal-Organic Framework and Investigation of Its Tribological Properties.

Here, a novel copper p-aminophenol metal-organic framework (Cu(PAP)) is first reported. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), infrared spectra (FTIR), Raman spectra, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), in combination with a structure simulation, indicated that Cu(PAP) is a two-dimensional (2D) material with a staggered structure analogous to that of graphite. Based on its 2D graphite-like layer structure, Cu(PAP) was expected to exhibit preferable tribological behaviors as an additive in liquid lubricants, and the tribological properties of Cu(PAP) as a lubricating additive in hydrogenated polydecene (PAO6) or deionized water were investigated.

Low-Temperature Rapid Sintering of Dense Cubic Phase ZrWMoO Ceramics by Spark Plasma Sintering and Evaluation of Its Thermal Properties.

In this study, we report a low-temperature approach involving a combination of a sol-gel hydrothermal method and spark plasma sintering (SPS) for the fabrication of cubic phase ZrWMoO (0.00 ≤ ≤ 2.00) bulk ceramics.

Simultaneously Altering the Energy Release and Promoting the Adhesive Force of an Electrophoretic Energetic Film with a Fluoropolymer.

Energetic coatings have attracted a great deal of interest with respect to their compatibility and high energy and power density. However, their preparation by effective and inexpensive methods remains a challenge. In this work, electrophoretic deposition was investigated for the deposition of an Al/CuO thermite coating as a typical facile effective and controllable method.

Molecular Engineering of Aromatic Imides for Organic Secondary Batteries.

Aromatic imides are a class of attractive organic materials with inherently electroactive groups and large π electron-deficient scaffolds, which hold potential as electrode materials for organic secondary batteries (OSBs). However, the undecorated aromatic imides are usually plagued by low capacity, high solubility in electrolyte, and poor electronic/ionic conductivity. Molecular engineering has been demonstrated to be an effective strategy to address unsatisfying characteristics of the aromatic imides, thereby expanding their scope for applications in OSBs.

Nitrogen-doped MoS quantum dots: Facile synthesis and application for the assay of hematin in human blood.

Nitrogen-doped MoS quantum dots (N-MoS QDs) were synthesized via a facile hydrothermal approach, and exhibited high fluorescence quantum yield (QY, 14.9%), excellent photostability, biocompatibility and water solubility. A novel method with good selectivity and sensitivity was established to assay hematin using N-MoS QDs as a fluorescent probe based on inner filter effect (IFE).

The High Anisotropy of the Epitaxial Growth of the Well-Aligned SbSe Nanoribbons on Mica.

One-dimensional semiconductor nanostructures, which are different from those of bulk materials, have attracted considerable interest in either scientific research or practical application. Herein, the SbSe nanoribbons have been successfully synthesized by the epitaxial growth process on mica using the rapid physical vapor deposition method. The density of the SbSe nanoribbons increased quickly when the temperature decreased, and finally, the nanoribbons connected to each other and formed a network structure even in film.

Novel Carbon Nanoparticles Derived from Biodiesel Soot as Lubricant Additives.

The objective of this study was to investigate the roles and tribological mechanisms of onion-like carbon nanoparticles derived from biodiesel soot (BDS) when applied in water (HO) and liquid paraffin (LP). In this study, we prepared nitric acid-treated BDS (NA-BDS) as an additive to HO and NA-BDS modified with oleylamine (NA-BDS-OLA) as an additive to LP. Raman spectroscopy, field-emission transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and zeta potentiometry were used to characterize the results of the nitric acid treatment and oleylamine modification.

Anisotropic Photoresponse of the Ultrathin GeSe Nanoplates Grown by Rapid Physical Vapor Deposition.

Anisotropic materials, especially two-dimensional (2D) layered materials formed by van der Waals force (vdW) with low-symmetry, have become a scientific hot-spot because their electrical, optical, and thermoelectric properties are highly polarization dependent. The 2D GeSe, a typical anisotropic-layered orthorhombic structure and narrow bandgap (1.1-1.

Utilization of Resist Stencil Lithography for Multidimensional Fabrication on a Curved Surface.

The limited ability to fabricate nanostructures on nonplanar rugged surfaces has severely hampered the applicability of many emerging technologies. Here we report a resist stencil lithography based approach for in situ fabrication of multidimensional nanostructures on both planar and uneven substrates. By using the resist film as a flexible stencil to form a suspending membrane with predesigned patterns, a variety of nanostructures have been fabricated on curved or uneven substrates of diverse morphologies on demand.

High-Throughput Fabrication of Ultradense Annular Nanogap Arrays for Plasmon-Enhanced Spectroscopy.

The confinement of light into nanometer-sized metallic nanogaps can lead to an extremely high field enhancement, resulting in dramatically enhanced absorption, emission, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of molecules embedded in nanogaps. However, low-cost, high-throughput, and reliable fabrication of ultra-high-dense nanogap arrays with precise control of the gap size still remains a challenge. Here, by combining colloidal lithography and atomic layer deposition technique, a reproducible method for fabricating ultra-high-dense arrays of hexagonal close-packed annular nanogaps over large areas is demonstrated.

Probing Exciton Complexes and Charge Distribution in Inkslab-Like WSe Homojunction.

By virtue of the layer-dependent band structure and valley-selected optical/electronic properties, atomically layered transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) exhibit great potentials such as in valleytronics and quantum devices, and have captured significant attentions. Precise control of the optical and electrical properties of TMDs is always the pursuing goal for real applications, and constructing advanced structures that allow playing with more degrees of freedom may hold the key. Here, we introduce a triangular inkslab-like WSe homojunction with a monolayer in the inner surrounded by a multilayer frame.

Hybrid Colloidal Stabilization Mechanism toward Improved Photoluminescence and Stability of CdSe/CdS Core/Shell Quantum Dots.

Colloidal quantum dots can be stabilized in either a polar solvent or a nonpolar solvent depending on their surface chemistry. The former is typically achieved by charge stabilization while the latter by steric hindrance. This allows reversible tuning of their surface polarity for targeted application by engineering their ligand profile.

A unified framework for image retrieval using keyword and visual features.

In this paper, a unified image retrieval framework based on both keyword annotations and visual features is proposed. In this framework, a set of statistical models are built based on visual features of a small set of manually labeled images to represent semantic concepts and used to propagate keywords to other unlabeled images. These models are updated periodically when more images implicitly labeled by users become available through relevance feedback.