In this paper, in situ Al4C3 and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) hybrid-reinforced aluminum matrix composites were prepared by a two-step ball milling (TSBM), consisting of a 24-h long-time ball milling (LTBM) and a 6-h short-time ball milling (STBM). During LTBM, most of the CNTs were seriously damaged, and many amorphous carbon atoms derived from these damaged defects would react with Al powder to form in situ Al4C3 nanorods. Subsequently, 1 wt% CNTs were added into the composite powders for STBM to uniformly disperse CNTs into the composite powders. Compared with that of the composite prepared by one-step ball milling, the comprehensive mechanical properties of the composite prepared by the TSBM are improved obviously due to the synergistic effects of in situ Al4C3 and CNTs, and the tensile strength and elongation reached 258 MPa and 19.5%, respectively. The strengthening mechanisms of TSBM composite include fine-grained strengthening, dispersion strengthening by in situ Al4C3, and load transfer from matrix to CNTs.

Compared with commercial polyolefin membranes, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membrane prepared by electrostatic spinning has higher porosity, electrolyte uptake, thermal stability, and lithium-ion conductivity, etc. However, poor mechanical performance has largely limited the application of electrospun PAN separators. In this study, PAN/polyimide (PI) composite membrane is prepared by electrostatic spinning to improve the mechanical and electrochemical performances. Scanning electron microscopy, thermal analysis method, and electrochemical methods were used for evaluation of the electrospun composite membrane. The results show that the composite membrane possesses good thermal stability and exhibits better mechanical performance than pristine PAN membrane (increasing by 1.1 times in tension strength). The addition of PI can increase porosity and fluid absorption rate obviously. In addition, the composite membrane has high ionic conductivity (18.77 × 10−4 S/cm), wide electrochemical window (about 4.0 V), and excellent cycling performance. It can retain a discharge specific capacity of 153 mA h/g even after 50 cycles at 0.5 C. The electrospun PAN/PI membrane may be a promising candidate for lithium-ion battery separators.

A new type of polyelectrolyte–Al2O3/SiO2 composite nanoparticle with excellent dispersibility and superior polishing performance was successfully fabricated using a facile method. Silica acted as a bifunctional molecule by attaching to alumina via covalent bond and adsorbing polyelectrolytes by electrostatic interaction. The material removal rate of the polyelectrolyte–Al2O3/SiO2 abrasive was 30% higher than that of the pure Al2O3 abrasive. In addition, the sapphire surface was much smoother. The material removal mechanism was investigated during CMP using the microcontact and wear model. The enhanced removal rate was mainly attributed to the well-dispersed particles, which can accelerate mechanical removal process. The remarkably smooth surface was due to the decrease in penetration depth of the abrasive into the wafer. The results of this study provided a feasible strategy to satisfy the high efficiency and damage-free polishing requirements for sapphire planarization.

Anatase phase NOx/S6+–TiO2 (x= 0, 1) film with high solar-driven activity has been successfully prepared via electro-assisted oxidation processes. The morphological and structural properties of the film were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction, while the optical property was detected by UV-vis-NIR absorption spectroscopy. The results showed that the NOx/S6+–TiO2 film was composed of “flower-like” microvoids structure and displayed broad and strong optical absorption at around 544 and 1500 nm. Transient photocurrent response, photoluminescence spectroscopy, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy indicated that the generation and separation of photogenerated charges were significantly enhanced under simulated solar irradiation. The NOx/S6+–TiO2 film exhibited excellent photoelectrocatalytic activity for the degradation of methyl orange (MO), and the decoloration rate and TOC removal respectively reached 98.97 and 59.44% at 20 min under solar irradiation. The film still had good stability after reusing ten times. Furthermore, a possible mechanism of photoelectrocatalysis was suggested in MO degradation by using NOx/S6+–TiO2 film.

Lithium was added to the hypereutectic Mg–Ni alloy to investigate the effect of volatilization of Li on the hydrogen storage characteristics of the eutectic Mg–Ni alloy at 300 °C. After fully activated at 300 °C, Li was almost completely volatilized and the structure of Li-containing Mg82Ni18 alloy was converted to the structure of Li-free Mg82Ni18 alloy, but hydrogen absorption capacity significantly decreased. This is because volatilization of Li weakened the bonding between eutectic Mg and Mg2Ni, lowering the catalytic effect of Mg2Ni on Mg. The decrease in hydrogen absorption capacity was more obvious with increasing Li content. In addition, experimental alloy in powder form could increase surface area, causing Li to volatilize at 300 °C.

Herein, in order to research the crystalline behaviors of cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine-aluminum (HM-Al) composites in solvents, the modified attachment energy model was applied to predict the morphologies of HMX in vacuum, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and ethanol. Then HMX-Al composites with Al coated and noncoated were prepared via solvent–nonsolvent method, and the morphologies were characterized. Results show that HMX interacts with DMSO and ethanol mainly via van der Waals force and electrostatic force. HMX grows into polyhedral crystals in two solvents. However, the shapes and the crystalline surface area distributions of the polyhedrons are different for two solvents. There are many aluminum particles embedded in HMX crystals of HMX-Al composite particles prepared via solvent–nonsolvent method, but Al particles cannot embed in HMX crystals in the existence of fluoropolymer. The crystal morphology predicted is consistent with the experimental results.

Several experiments and molecular dynamics calculations have reported anomalous mechanical behaviors of nanoporous materials that may be attributed to capillary effects. For example, nanoporous gold exhibits a tension–compression asymmetry in yield strength with the material being stronger in compression than tension. In addition, some molecular dynamics calculations have reported a spontaneous collapse of pores in nanoporous gold with nanometer-sized ligaments. Despite these perplexing observations, there are few theoretical models capable of shedding light on such capillary phenomena, particularly under general stress states. Here, we utilize a physics-based model to explore the implications of high surface energies on the mechanical response of dislocation-starved nanoporous materials subject to general stress states. For low stress triaxialities, we report an anomalous size effect and an anomalous temperature-dependence of dislocation-starved nanoporous materials with sufficiently large surface energies. Additionally, we provide an analytic criterion for spontaneous pore collapse in nanoporous materials with nanometer-sized ligaments.

In situ TiB2 particles with polyhedral or near-spherical morphology with more high-index crystal planes exposed were prepared by controlling the addition amount of Sc in commercial pure aluminum matrix. As the content of Sc increased, TiB2 morphology transformed from hexagonal platelets to polyhedral or near-spherical morphology with a decrease in particle size. In the present paper, a simple method to prepare near-spherical in situ TiB2 particles in Al matrix was explored and it was found that the reinforcement distribution was improved significantly. The different growth mechanism of TiB2 particles in Al and Al–Sc systems was discussed. The key reason for the morphology evolution was that the Sc was preferentially adsorbed on ${\bf \left\{ {1{\bf \overline{2}}12} \right\}}$, ${\bf \left\{ {11\overline{2}0} \right\}}$, and ${\bf \left\{ {10\overline{1}1} \right\}}$ which would inhibit the growth of these faces effectively and retain a lower-energy state of the polyhedral or quasispherical TiB2 particles in Al–Sc systems.

We report Electrically reduced graphene oxide (GO) and n-type Si heterostructure junction-based photovoltaic cell. The transition of the insulating properties of GO to that of semi-conducting was achieved by applying electric voltages using 5, 10, and 15 V biasing. The photovoltaic device I–V characteristics corresponding to the increasing (5–15 V) reduction voltages, obtained on exposure of 25 mW/cm2 visible light, showed approximately same fill factor with increased efficiency. The maximum efficiency of 1.12% was observed under ultraviolet light exposure for photovoltaic cell consisting GO reduced using 15 V reduction voltage. GO was synthesized using the modified Hummers’ technique and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet–visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The GO characteristic XRD peak corresponding to plane (001) was observed at 9.16°. The UV-Vis spectrum for GO displayed an absorption peak at 228.5 nm, and the corresponding Tauc plot analysis provided a band gap of 4.74 eV. The FTIR analysis showed presence of C=O (1713 cm−1), C=C (1627 cm−1), C–OH (1418 cm−1), C–O–C (1252 cm−1), C–O (1030 cm−1), and C–H (827 cm−1) functional groups in GO.