Abstract The novel CuO/LaNi0.4Al0.6O3-δ catalyst was synthesized by the impregnation method and characterized by XRD, TEM, BET, and XPS techniques. The effects of CuO loading amount on the microstructure and the hydrogen production performance from methanol steam reforming (MSR) were investigated. Results demonstrate that the sample with 15wt% CuO loading has the best hydrogen production performance. Furthermore, compared with the unloaded LaNi0.4Al0.6O3-δ perovskite catalysts, the methanol conversion of 15wt% CuO/LaNi0.4Al0.6O3-δ was improved, and the catalytic temperature of MSR was reduced ..read more

Abstract High-strength SiC joints were successfully obtained by electric current field-assisted sintering technique at a low temperature of 1400°C using a Pr coating (100 nm) as the initial joining filler. A Pr3Si2C2 transient phase was formed in-situ by the interfacial reaction, while the eutectic reaction between Pr3Si2C2 and SiC at ∼1150°C resulted in the formation of a liquid phase. The liquid phase promoted the atomic diffusion at the interface and improved consolidation of the newly precipitated nano-sized SiC with the SiC matrix. This led to the formation of partially seamless joints of ..read more

Abstract In this study, it was verified that the synthesis of a Ti-Al-C MAX phase has advantages when using intermetallic compounds rather than using only elemental powders. The formation behavior of the MAX phase was presented through diffusion experiments. In the case of using elemental powder, Ti2AlC is produced at 1,300°C, and Ti3AlC2 is produced at 1,400°C. When intermetallic compounds are used, Ti2AlC is produced at 1,000°C, and Ti3AlC2 is produced at 1,300°C. In the case of the elemental powder, it is verified that Ti3AlC2 content is decreased and Ti2AlC is increased when heat treatment ..read more

Abstract As a flexible porous material, the amorphous behaviour of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) has garnered considerable interest. However, the association between its strain behaviour and topology has not yet been exhaustively studied computationally. We perform molecular dynamic simulations on both ZIF-8 and its topological silicate isomer Sodalite (SOD) to investigate the pressure-induced development of the mid-range and short-range structures. We find that both ZIF-8 and SOD undergo two successive transformations. The first is the amorphization process, which is characterised ..read more

Abstract In recent times, electronics have been increasingly minimized, and hence, heat dissipation has become essential. Owing to its high thermal conductivity and superior electrical insulation, hexagonal-boron nitride (h-BN) has been regarded as an appropriate ceramic material to increase the thermal conductivity of polymer nanocomposites for effective heat dissipation. However, the poor through-plane thermal conductivity of h-BN severely restricts its practical uses, and it is favorable for heat to radiates in the in-plane direction. In this study, densified spherical h-BN (sph-BN) microsp ..read more

Abstract We examine the impact of the glass network-modifier cation field strength (CFS) on ion-irradiation-induced mechanical property changes in borosilicate (BS) glasses for the ternary M 2O–B2O3–SiO2 systems with M = {Na, K, Rb} and the quaternary [0.5M (2)O–0.5Na2O]–B2O3–SiO2 systems with M = {Li, Na, K, Rb Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba}. 11B nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments on the as-prepared BS glasses yielded the fractional population of four-coordinated B species (B[4]) out of all {B[3], B[4]} groups in the glass network, along with the fraction of B[4]–O–Si linkages out of all B[4]–O–Si ..read more

Abstract Na(Nb1- xTa x)O3 binary solid-solution ceramics with high quality were fabricated by conventional solid-state sintering routes for improving the electric(E)-field induced irreversible polarization and transition behaviors of NaNbO3. The studied results confirm that this binary solid-solution ceramics exhibit orthorhombic Pbcm space group companying with reduced unit-cell volume at x ≤ 0.4, and orthorhombic Pbnm space group at x = 0.5. As the Ta5+ content increases in the binary solid-solutions, the E-field induced irreversible antiferroelectric → ferroelectric transition becomes rever ..read more

Cover Photograph: Solvent effect on the gelation step during the synthesis of polymer-derived ceramic aerogels can be exploited to tailor their pore and particle size distributions. The image shows FE-SEM micrographs and nitrogen physisorption isotherms at 77 K of polymer-derived SiC/C aerogels prepared with different solvents: (top) n-Hexane; (middle) acetone; (bottom) cyclohexane. Insets: comparison of density functional theory (DFT) cumulative pore volumes of preceramic and ceramic aerogels. Credits: All authors of this article ..read more

Abstract We investigated the Ruddlesden-Popper series CaO(CaMnO3) m with m = 1, 2, 3, ∞, to study the impact of the varying amounts of CaO layers on their thermoelectric properties. Previous studies showed that highly dense samples are difficult to obtain due to the refractory nature of these materials. In this study, we managed to obtain dense pellets during a classical hot-pressing step, if and only if the samples were subjected to extended ball-milling prior to pressing, resulting in crystallite sizes of 30 nm – 35 nm after hot-pressing. The sample with the largest amount of CaO layers (m ..read more

Abstract (Sr0.97Eu0.01Dy0.02)Al2O4 persistent luminescence (PersL) ceramics were fabricated by solid-state reactive sintering in vacuum combined with hot isostatic pressing (HIP) using H3BO3 as sintering additive. The phase composition, microstructure, luminescence properties, trap state, and PersL performance of HIP post-treated (Sr0.97Eu0.01Dy0.02)Al2O4 PersL ceramics were discussed. For the (Sr0.97Eu0.01Dy0.02)Al2O4 PersL ceramics after HIP post-treatment, the initial luminescence intensity of the ceramics reached over 6400 mcd/m2 with a simulated daylight irradiation of 1000 lx for 5 min ..read more