ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
·
2021
·
IF 9.229
Kai Yuan,Lixia Yuan,Jingwei Xiang,Yaqi Liao,Jie Chen,Yunhui Huang
Lithium–sulfur battery is one of the most promising choices for next-generation batteries due to its high theoretical energy density and natural abundance. However, the sulfur cathode undergoes a stepwise reduction process and generates multiple soluble polysulfide intermediates; for the further conversion from the dissolved intermediates to the final solid product (Li2S), the surface nucleation barrier limits the speed of the electrochemical precipitation, resulting in serious polysulfide diffusion loss and low sulfur utilization. Herein, the trace Li2S (tLi2S) is modified on the carbon fiber (CF) skeleton as preloaded crystal nuclei to boost the electrokinetics of Li2S deposition in the initial cycle. The trace Li2S decreases the nucleation barrier on the modified electrode (tLi2S@CF), resulting in a high initial capacity of 1423 mAh g–1 for the Li2S6 catholyte (0.2 C), which corresponds to a nearly 100% utilization of Li2S6. Furthermore, the trace Li2S nuclei induce a uniform distribution of the redeposited active materials, and the uniform distribution persists in the following cycles, which benefits the cycle life significantly. The sulfur cathode based on the tLi2S@CF matrix maintains a capacity of 1106 mAh g–1 at 1 C rate after 100 cycles. The strategy can provide a new avenue for the rational design of the sulfur cathode.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
电化学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
Journal of Energy Storage
·
2024
·
IF 8.9
Weisan Hua,Miaomiao Jiang,Xuelai Zhang,Qiang Sun,Wenzhuang Zhang
Calcium chloride hexahydrate (CCH) has a large latent heat of phase change, a high heat storage capacity and a relatively low cost, which makes it suitable for use in combination with the construction field. However, it has the problem of large supercooling, which limits its development and application. Studying the crystalline growth properties of calcium chloride hexahydrate is essential to comprehending or suppressing supercooling because the degree of supercooling is determined mainly by the room temperature(5–10 °C) melt structure of CCH and the structural factors that drive its supercooling behavior. Using a combination of macroscopic and microscopic research techniques, we explored the two features of the self-crystallization growth behavior of CCH at various initial concentrations and the crystallization growth behavior driven by the external addition of crystal nuclei were explored. The results showed that the water molecule content affects not only the product type but also the growth, development, and regrowth of crystals and crystal morphology. The observation of the triggered crystallization process under different nucleation types showed that the nucleation type affected the crystal growth, and SrCl 2 ·6H 2 O, which had a similar molecular structure, could replace the nucleation of CCH itself and accelerate the crystal growth process. At the same time, NaCl was more difficult to nucleate and inhibited crystal growth. To better understand subcooling and its inhibition, this paper examined the crystallization formation characteristics of CCH at various concentrations, compares and contrasts its crystallization characteristics under various nucleating agents as the triggering nuclei, and investigated the intrinsic mechanism of the nucleus type on its crystallization growth.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
热能工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
COMPOSITES PART B-ENGINEERING
·
2025
·
IF 14.2
Siyu Zhong,Zhongxin Dong,Yanwei Xiao,Yuan Li,LiangLiang Pei,Shengdao Wang,Guibin Wang
In recent years, numerous studies have reported the application of crystalline sizing agents for the interfacial modification of carbon fiber reinforced polyether ether ketone (PEEK/CF) composites. However, the underlying mechanism by which these agents improve the interfacial properties remains unclear. Therefore, the interfacial enhancement mechanism of PEEK/CF composites using crystalline PEEK sizing agents was explored from a microscopic perspective, specifically focusing on interfacial crystallization in this study. Firstly, the crystallization behavior of PEEK on the CF surfaces modified with varying concentrations of crystalline PEEK sizing agents was investigated using polarized optical microscope (POM). It was observed that the sizing agent could induce the formation of PEEK transcrystallinity (TC) on the CF surface, with the 1 wt% concentration of sizing agent resulting in the densest crystal nuclei. The lamellar morphology and molecular orientation of the TC layers were further analyzed. Correspondingly, higher interfacial shear strength (IFSS) was observed in PEEK/CF composites with denser TC structures. Furthermore, the film tensile tests and chemical solvent erosion experiments were conducted to investigate the distribution of weak interfacial phases. It was found that the TC layer did not introduce new “weak interfacial phases” into the composites and exhibited superior resistance to solvent erosion. Finally, the mechanism of action of crystalline PEEK sizing agents was discussed. It was proposed that PEEK molecules from the sizing agent could effectively fill the voids at the interface of the composites which were caused by the low mobility of high-viscosity PEEK resin matrix. This led to an increase in nucleation sites on the CF surface and the formation of a denser TC layer.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
高分子化学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
MACROMOLECULES
·
2023
·
IF 5.5
Mengfan Jing,Xuyang Liu,Like Ma,Fukang Cao,Zihao Wang,Yaming Wang,Chuntai Liu,Changyu Shen
In order to determine the effect of the fiber surface topography on the polymer interfacial crystallization behavior, the nucleation processes of poly(lactide) (PLA) on a series of fibers with different surface topographies were observed in situ by polarized optical microscopy (POM). The fibers were obtained by introducing silica (SiO2) particles of different sizes onto glass fibers. It is found that the interfacial crystalline morphology of PLA induced by the fibers is a hybrid shish-calabash (HSC) superstructure after the isothermal crystallization process. And the fiber-induced nucleation rate increases with the introduction of SiO2 particles. Based on the heterogeneous nucleation theory, two parameters, the interfacial free energy barrier, Δσ, and the pre-exponential factor, I0, were obtained to quantitatively assess the nucleation ability of different fibers. The results show that Δσ decreases with increasing fiber roughness, along with the reduction of SiO2 particle size. And the linear relationship is influenced by the relative concentration of SiO2 particles on the fiber surfaces. Combining the results of POM and Δσ suggests that a relatively small value of Δσ is only a needed condition to determine the high apparent nucleation ability of a fiber. In addition, by minimizing the chemical structure factors in the nucleation system, a positive linear relationship between Δσ and ln I0 can be established.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
高分子化学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B
·
2021
·
IF 11.614
Huiling Chen,Kaiqiang Hu,Yaru Liang,Yuqi Gao,Chenye Zeng,Kang Xu,Xiaojin Shi,Liyuan Li,Yuemiao Yin,Yi Qiao,Ying Qiu,Qingfei Liu,Zhao Wang
Although primary vesical calculi is an ancient disease, the mechanism of calculi formation remains unclear. In this study, we established a novel primary vesical calculi model with d , l -choline tartrate in mice. Compared with commonly used melamine and ethylene glycol models, our model was the only approach that induced vesical calculi without causing kidney injury. Previous studies suggest that proteins in the daily diet are the main contributors to the prevention of vesical calculi, yet the effect of fat is overlooked. To assay the relationship of dietary fat with the formation of primary vesical calculi, d , l -choline tartrate-treated mice were fed a high-fat, low-fat, or normal-fat diet. Genetic changes in the mouse bladder were detected with transcriptome analysis. A high-fat diet remarkably reduced the morbidity of primary vesical calculi. Higher fatty acid levels in serum and urine were observed in the high-fat diet group, and more intact epithelia in bladder were observed in the same group compared with the normal- and low-fat diet groups, suggesting the protective effect of fatty acids on bladder epithelia to maintain its normal histological structure. Transcriptome analysis revealed that the macrophage differentiation-related gene C–X–C motif chemokine ligand 14 ( Cxcl14 ) was upregulated in the bladders of high-fat diet-fed mice compared with those of normal- or low-fat diet-fed mice, which was consistent with histological observations. The expression of CXCL14 significantly increased in the bladder in the high-fat diet group. CXCL14 enhanced the recruitment of macrophages to the crystal nucleus and induced the transformation of M2 macrophages, which led to phagocytosis of budding crystals and prevented accumulation of calculi. In human bladder epithelia (HCV-29) cells, high fatty acid supplementation significantly increased the expression of CXCL14. Dietary fat is essential for the maintenance of physiological functions of the bladder and for the prevention of primary vesical calculi, which provides new ideas for the reduction of morbidity of primary vesical calculi.
研究领域:
泌尿学
·
营养学
·
免疫学
·
分子生物学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
CRYSTAL GROWTH & DESIGN
·
2019
·
IF 4.153
Yu Liu,Shijie Xu,Xu Zhang,Weiwei Tang,Junbo Gong
There has been growing interest in investigating the role of solvents played in nucleation pathways; nevertheless, the nucleation mechanism is still poorly understood. In this work, flufenamic acid (FFA) was selected as model compound to investigate the relationship between solvent and nucleation kinetics. Over 1000 induction time experiments were conducted. Solution IR spectroscopy and molecular dynamic simulations were used to explore the solvent–solute interaction and conformation distribution in solutions. Given the same driving force, the order of nucleation rate of FFA was found following acetonitrile > methanol > toluene, in which dimers are significantly distributed in toluene solutions. The observation cannot support the previously proposed hypothesis that the breakage of solvent–solute hydrogen bonds and dimerization determine the nucleation rate. Through crystal growth experiment and detailed discussions, we have reached an interesting conclusion that the weak C–H···π interactions play a vital role in the nucleation pathway via probably regulating the growth of the nucleating clusters.
研究领域:
物理化学
·
晶体学
·
分子动力学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
Crystals
·
2022
·Vol. 12
·期 2
·202
·
IF 2.67
Yanfei Wang,Xiaoyu Chuai,Yifei Li,Jia Guo,Jing Yang,Zhixue Liu,Shijie Xu
In this contribution, we experimentally determined the metastable zone width (MSZW) of adipic acid (AA) in different polar solvents to reveal the nucleation behavior. We performed analyses for different cooling rates, saturation temperatures and polar solvents. The findings showed that the MSZW increased as the cooling rate increased, or saturation temperature or polarity decreased. Here, we suggest that the hydrogen bond donor capacity decreases as the polarity of the solvent decreases, which weakens the solute and solvent interaction and makes the desolvation process more difficult during nucleation. Furthermore, we found that the MSZW is mainly determined by the cooling rate, when the cooling rate is large enough. On account of the classical nucleation theory, it was found that the sizes of the critical nucleus and Gibbs nucleation energy do not increase monotonously with increasing driving force. Moreover, this study confirms that solid–liquid interface tension is associated with crystallization driving force.Keywords:adipic acid;nucleation;MSZW;critical nucleation parameter
研究领域:
化学工程
·
材料科学
·
物理化学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Science China-Chemistry
·
2018
·Vol. 61
·期 4
·490-496
·
IF 4.448
Liu Zexi,Zou Hongyan,Wang Ni,Yang Tong,Peng Zhewei,Wang Jian,Li Na,Huang Chengzhi
Photoluminescence (PL) mechanism of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) remains controversial up to now even though a lot of approaches have been made. In order to do that, herein a PL color ladder from blue to near infrared of CQDs with the absolute quantum yields higher than 70% were prepared via a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis route and separated by silica gel column. Time-correlated single photon counting measurements suggest that the electron transition takes in effect in the PL progress of the crystalline core-shell structured CQDs, and the PL properties could be coarsely adjusted by tuning the size of the crystalline carbon core owing to quantum confinement effects, and finely adjusted by changing the surface functional groups consisted shell owing to surface trap states, respectively. Both coarse and fine adjustments of PL, as optical and photoelectrical characterizations and density-functional theory (DFT) calculations have demonstrated, make it possible for top-level design and precise synthesis of new CQDs with specific optical properties.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
纳米技术
·
光学
·
物理化学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
LIQUID CRYSTALS
·
2020
·
IF 2.908
Xiaoqing Wu,Baining Ni,Limin Wu,Yongmin Guo,Yi Li,Baozong Li,Yonggang Yang
Eight dichiral compounds containing two lactic acid residues and one perfluorocarbon chain are synthesised. Six of them are liquid crystals with an enantiotropic SmA phase. Two of them are liquid crystals with enantiotropic SmA and SmC* phases. Although (R,R)-3 and (R,R)-4 molecules pack in monolayer structures at the crystalline states, (S,R)-3 and (R,S)-4 molecules pack in bilayer structures at the crystalline states. The optical activity of these compounds is mainly controlled by the chirality of the lactic acid residue near the liquid crystalline core. The dichiral compounds can self-assemble into nanotubes or twisted nanoribbons in methanol. Circular dichroism characterisation indicated that the stacking handedness of the liquid crystalline cores in the organic self-assemblies was also dominated by the chirality of the lactic acid residue near the liquid crystalline core.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
化学
·
纳米技术
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
·
2025
·
IF 8.3
Yaohan Kong,Kaiyi Zhang,Mei Gu,Yifan Zhang,Jianfeng Huang,Faliang Luo,Yongqiang Feng
Rational modulation of co-catalyst properties through strategic metal doping and structural engineering emerges a promising approach to simultaneously tackle critical challenges in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution—specifically, suppressing photogenerated carrier recombination and optimizing hydrogen adsorption thermodynamics. This work demonstrates the synergistic integration of manganese doping and amorphous core-shell architecture in a bimetallic sulfide co-catalyst (Mn-CoS x ), designed to overcome the inherent limitations of conventional crystalline CoS systems. The developed Mn-CoS x features a homogeneous nanostructure with an enlarged specific surface area (SSA ≈ 112.46 m 2 g −1 ) and abundant exposed sulfur active sites, while Mn incorporation effectively reduces the hydrogen adsorption free energy (ΔG H∗ = −0.51 eV) through d-band electronic structure modulation. When coupled with CdS photocatalysts, the optimized Mn-CoS x /CdS composite achieves exceptional hydrogen evolution rates of 19.1 mmol g −1 h −1 under visible light irradiation, representing 9-fold enhancement over benchmark CoS/CdS, 112-fold over bare CdS, and 21-fold over Pt/CdS systems, respectively. Notably, the amorphous core-shell configuration not only facilitates efficient charge separation but also enables dynamic surface reconstruction during catalytic operation. This work establishes a universal design principle for transition metal-based co-catalysts through the synergistic combination of atomic-level doping strategies and nanoscale structural engineering, providing new insights into the development of cost-effective, noble metal-free photocatalytic systems for sustainable energy conversion.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
催化
·
可再生能源
·
纳米技术
·
物理化学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Scientific Reports
·
2019
·Vol. 9
·期 1
·1-10
·
IF 4.011
Sun Juan,Zhang Zonghuai,Gong Yansheng,Wang Huanwen,Wang Rui,Zhao Ling,He Beibei
The development of highly active and cost-effective catalysts based on noble metal free oxygen electro-catalysis is critical to energy storage and conversion devices. Herein, we highlight a plasma-treated Bi 0.1 (Ba 0.5 Sr 0.5 ) 0.9 Co 0.8 Fe 0.2 O 3−δ perovskite (denoted as P-Bi 0.1 BSCF) as a promising catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline media. H 2 /Ar plasma engraving could significantly increase electrochemically active O 2 2− /O − concentration and tune the electronic structure of Co ions efficiently, and consequently tailor the intrinsic electrocatalytic ability for OER. Of note, P-Bi 0.1 BSCF, with unique crystalline core/amorphous shell structure, exhibits an enhanced intrinsic OER activity and higher stability than the noble metal IrO 2 catalyst, which outperforms most of the reported perovskite catalysts. The present work provides new insights into exploring efficient catalysts for OER, and it suggests that, in addition to the extensively applied for surface treatment of various catalysts such as carbons and metal oxides, the plasma engraved perovskite materials also exhibits great potential as precious metal-free catalysts.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
电化学
·
催化
·
能源存储与转换
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）