Little is known about the competition between and niche differentiation of water and nutrients between angiosperm and gymnosperm tree species under prolonged drought stress, especially in fragile environments. We imposed 21 d drought and competition treatments onBroussonetia papyriferaandPlatycladus orientalisand measured water, N, and P contents, the isotopic composition of N and C, the activity of P assimilation enzymes, and stomatal conductance under solo planting and mixed planting to characterize resource diversity and competition in response to treatments. The N content, δ13C, δ15N, phosphomonoesterase, phosphodiesterase,gs, and foliage water content were significantly affected by the soil water content. The δ15N content in young leaves showed that N competition between these two plants could be alleviated through niche differentiation, but the changes in the PDE: PME ratio for these two plants indicated that they lost the niche differentiation of the P source under drought stress. Additionally, it was observed that foliage water content, WUE, N contents, and N and P sources were significantly affected by interspecific competition, andBroussonetia papyriferabenefited from water competition under moderate drought. Our results indicate that plants have different competition and niche differentiation modes to different nutrients under drought stress, and the effect of interspecific water competition should be seriously considered in mixed forests in semiarid areas.Keywords:angiosperm;gymnosperm;interspecific competition;water stress;stable isotopic
Hongyu Liang,Shijing Zou,Manqiang Liu,Tianqiang Yin,Xiaojie Xia,Xijun Hua,Yonghong Fu,Yongfeng Bu
The low concentration of water-based lubricants and the high chemical inertness of the additives involved are often regarded as basic norms in the design of liquid lubricants. Herein, a novel liquid superlubricant of an aqueous solution containing a relatively high concentration of salt, lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI), is reported for the first time, and the superlubricity stability and load-bearing capacity of the optimized system (MgO0.10/LiTFSI10) are effectively strengthened by the addition of only trace (0.10 wt %) water–chemically active MgO additives. It demonstrates higher applicable loads, lower COF (∼0.004), and stability relative to the base solution. Only a trace amount of MgO additive is needed for the superlubricity, which makes up for the cost and environmental deficiencies of LiTFSI10. The weak interaction region between free water and the outer-layer water of Li+ hydration shells becomes a possible ultralow shear resistance sliding interface; the Mg(OH)2 layer, generated by the reaction of MgO with water, further creates additional weakly interacting interfaces, leading to the formation of an asymmetric contact between the clusters/particles within the hydrodynamic film by moderating the competition between interfacial water and free water, thus achieving high load-bearing macroscopic superlubricity. This study deepens the contribution of electrolyte concentration to ionic hydration and superlubricity due to the low shear slip layer formed by interfacial water competition with water-activated solid additives, providing new insights into the next generation of high load-bearing water-based liquid superlubricity systems.
Hongyu Liang,Xiaojie Xia,Manqiang Liu,Shijing Zou,Tianqiang Yin,Hongfei Li,Yanhu Zhang,Chunying Min,Yongfeng Bu
High load-bearing capacity is one of the crucial indicators for liquid superlubricants to move toward practicality. However, some of the current emerging systems not only have low contact pressures but also are highly susceptible to further degradation due to water adsorption and even superlubricity failure. Herein, a novel choline chloride-based ionic liquid analogues (ILAs) of a superlubricant with triethanolamine (TEOA) as the H-bond donor is reported for the first time; it obtains an ultralow coefficient of friction (0.005) and high load-bearing capacity (360 MPa, more than 2 times that of similar systems) due to adsorption of a small amount of water (<5 wt %) from the air. In situ Raman combined with 1H NMR and FTIR techniques reveals that adsorbed water competes with the hydroxyl group of TEOA for coordination with Cl–, leading to the conversion of some strong H-bonds to weak H-bonds in ILAs; the localized strong H-bonds and weak H-bonds endow the ILAs with high load-bearing capacity and the formation of ultralow shear-resistance sliding interfaces, respectively, under the shear motion. This study proposes a strategy to modulate the interactions between liquid species using adsorbed water from air as a competing ligand, which provides new insights into the design of ILA-based macroscopic liquid superlubricants with a high load-bearing capacity.