Densely packed ultrafine SnO_(2) nanoparticles grown on carbon cloth for selective CO_(2) reduction to formate

Electrochemical reduction of CO_(2) to fuels and chemicals is a viable strategy for CO_(2) utilization and renewable energy storage.Developing free-standing electrodes from robust and scalable electrocatalysts becomes highly desirable.Here,dense SnO_(2) nanoparticles are uniformly grown on three-dimensional(3D)fiber network of carbon cloth(CC)by a facile dip-coating and calcination method.Importantly,Zn modification strategy is employed to restrain the growth of long-range order of SnO_(2) lattices and to produce rich grain boundaries.The hybrid architecture can act as a flexible electrode for CO_(2)-to-formate conversion,which delivers a high partial current of 18.8 m A cm-2 with a formate selectivity of 80%at a moderate cathodic potential of-0.947 V vs.RHE.The electrode exhibits remarkable stability over a 16 h continuous operation.The superior performance is attributed to the synergistic effect of ultrafine SnO_(2) nanoparticles with abundant active sites and 3D fiber network of the electrode for efficient mass transport and electron transfer.The sizeable electrodes hold promise for industrial applications.

Dense packing properties of mineral admixtures in cementitious material

The effect of ultra-fine fly ash （UFFA）, steel slag （SS） and silica fume （SF） on packing density of binary, ternary and quaternary cementitious materials was studied in this paper in terms of minimum water requirement of cement. The influence of mineral admixtures on the relative density of pastes with low water/hinder ratios was analyzed and the relationship between paste density and compressive strength of the corresponding hardened mortars was discussed. The results indicate that the incorporation of mineral admixtures can effectively improve the packing density ofcementitious materials; the increase in packing density of a composite with incorporation of two or three kinds of mineral admixtures is even more obvious than that with only one mineral admixture. Moreover, an optimal amount of mineral admixture imparts to the mixture maximum packing density. The dense packing effect of a mineral admixture can increase the packing density of the resulting cementitious material and also the density of paste with low water/binder ratio, which evidently enhances the compressive strength of the hardened mortar.

Two-dimensional densely ordered packings of non-convex bending and assembled rods

The investigation of the problem of particle packing has provided basic insights into the structure,symmetry,and physical properties of condensed matter.Dense packings of non-spherical particles have many applications,both in research and industry.We report the two-dimensional dense packing patterns of bending and assembled rods,which are non-convexly deformed from simple objects and modeled as entangled particles.Monte Carlo simulations and further analytical constructions are carried out to explore possible densely packed structures.Two typical densely packed structures of C-bending rods are found,and their packing densities are identified as being functions of the aspect ratio and central angle.Six shapes of assembled rods,representing the combined deformations of rods,are employed in simulations with the packing structures classified into three types.The dense packing density of each packing pattern is derived as a function of different shape parameters.In contrast with the case of disordered packings,both the shape and order are verified to affect the packing density.

A large stroke magnetic fluid deformable mirror for focus control

A liquid deformable mirror, which can provide a large stroke deflection more than 100 μm, is proposed for focus control. The deformable mirror utilizes the concept of magnetic fluid deformation shaped with electromagnetic fields to achieve concave or convex surface and to change the optical focus depth of the mirrors. The free surface of the magnetic fluid is coated with a thin layer of metal-liquid-like film(MELLF) prepared from densely packed silver nanoparticles to enhance the reflectance of the deformable mirror. The experimental results on the fabricated prototype magnetic fluid deformable mirror(MFDM) show that the desired concave/convex surface shape can be controlled precisely with a closed-loop adaptive optical system.