Natural high-porous diatomaceous-earth based self-floating aerogel for efficient solar steam power generation

The application of solar steam generation in seawater desalination is an effective way to solve the shortage of fresh water resources.At present,many kinds of photothermal conversion materials have been developed and used as evaporators in seawater desalination.However,some evaporators need additional thermal insulation or water supply devices to achieve efficient photothermal conversion.In addition,their complex,time consuming and no scalable preparation process,high cost of raw materials and poor salt resistance hinder the practical application of these evaporator.Owing to its distinctive nanoporous structure,diatomite as fossilized single-cells algae diatoms is a promising natural silica-based material for seawater desalination.They are taken from sea and that makes true sense to use them in the sea.Herein,we report the first example of synthesis robust three-dimensional(3D)natural-diatomite composite by assembling polyaniline nanoparticles covered diatomite into the polyvinyl alcohol pre-treated melamine foam frameworks and demonstrate its application as new evaporator for seawater desalination.The porous framework does not only improve the sunlight scattering efficiency,but also offer large network of channels for water transportation.The inherent mechanism behind salt desalination process involves the absorption of water molecules on the surface of the internal silica micro-nano pores,and evaporation under the heat induced by the polyaniline absorbed sunlight.Meanwhile,the metal ions are segregated by many available pores and channels to achieve the self-desalting effect.The developed evaporator possesses the superiority of multi-stage pore structure,strong hydrophilicity,low thermal conductivity,excellent light absorption,fast water transportation and salt-resistant crystallization as well as good durability.The evaporation rate without an additional device is found to be 1.689 kg m^(-2)h^(-1)under 1-Sun irradiation,and the energy conversion efficiency is as high as 95%.This work creates a platform and develops the prospect of employing green and sustainable natural-diatomite composite evaporator for practical applications of seawater desalination.

Electron Reservoir MoO_(3-x)-Driven Cu^(+) Doped Nanozyme with Enhanced Antibacterial Activity via Disrupting Redox Homeostasis

Redox nanozymes offer an appealing reactive oxygen species(Ros)-based antibacterial strategy via disrupting intracellular homeostasis,however,they still face many obstacles such as low enzymic activity and irreversible loss of catalytic active center.Meanwhile,the antioxidant glutathione(GSH)overexpressed in infected sites would limit the therapy efficiency.Herein,we develop a multifunctional nanozyme based on copper(l)(Cut)ion doped MoO_(3-x)(Cut-MoO_(3-x))by a simple yet efficient oxygen vacancy-reduced strategy without any pretreatment or additional agents.The resultant Cu^(+)-MoO_(3-x) hybrid possesses enhanced peroxidase-like(POD-like)activity,rapid GSH-depleting function and biodegradable ability.It can achieve highly efficient elimination of Pseudomonas aeruginosa(P.aeruginosa)via disrupting cellular redox balance.

Flexural behavior of textile reinforced mortar-autoclaved lightweight aerated concrete composite panels

To improve the deficiencies of prefabricated autoclaved lightweight aerated concrete(ALC)panel such as susceptibility to cracking and low load-bearing capacity,a textile-reinforced mortar-autoclaved lightweight aerated concrete(TRM-ALC)composite panel was developed in this study.One group of reference ALC panels and five groups of TRM-ALC panels were fabricated and subjected to four-point flexural tests.TRM was applied on the tensile side of the ALC panels to create TRM-ALC.The variable parameters were the plies of textile(one or two),type of textile(basalt or carbon),and whether the matrix(without textile)was applied on the compression side of panel.The results showed that a bonding only 8-mm-thick TRM layer on the surface of the ALC panel could increase the cracking load by 180%−520%.The flexural capacity of the TRM-ALC panel increased as the number of textile layers increased.Additional reinforcement of the matrix on the compressive side could further enhance the stiffness and ultimate loadbearing capacity of the TRM-ALC panel.Such panels with basalt textile failed in flexural mode,with the rupture of fabric mesh.Those with carbon textile failed in shear mode due to the ultra-high tensile strength of carbon.In addition,analytical models related to the different failure modes were presented to estimate the ultimate load-carrying capacity of the TRM-ALC panels.