Advanced microemulsion synthesis and characterization of wollastonite （CaSiO3）fpolystyrene one-dimensional nanorods with core-shell structures

In this work, one-dimensional core-shell nanorods （CSNRs; 185-250nm wide and 1-1.5μm long） consisting of triethoxyvinylsilane-modified wollastonite （CaSiO3） nanorods （MWNRs） as a core and polystyrene as a shell with uniform size were successfully synthesized using an advanced microemulsion technique. The effect of varying the surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide （producing CSNRSCTAB） or sodium dodecyl sulphate （producing CSNRSSDS） upon the size and morphology of the CSNRs was investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy （FE-SEM）. X-ray diffractometry and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer revealed the existence of a strong interaction between the MWNRs and polystyrene, which implies that the polymer chains were successfully grafted onto the surface of the MWNRs. The CSNRs were blended with polypropylene by melt processing, and the effect of the CSNRs upon the morphological properties of the polypropylene matrix was investigated by FE-SEM and atomic force microscopy. It was observed that the polystyrene chains that grafted onto the CaSiO3 nanorods interfered with the aggregation of CaSiO3 nanorods in the polypropylene matrix and thus improved the compatibility of the CaSiO3 nanorods with the polypropylene matrix. Furthermore, the compatibility of CaSiO3 nanorods with polypropylene of CSNRsDs/polypropylene was superior to that of CSNRCTAB/polypropylene.

Enhancement of Near-Field Radiative Heat Transfer based on High-Entropy Alloys

The enhancement of near-field radiative heat transfer(NFRHT)has now become one of the research hotspots in the fieldsof thermal management and imaging due to its ability to improve the performance of near-field thermoelectric devices and near-field imaging systems.In this paper,we design three structures(multilayer structure,nanoporous structure,and nanorod structure)based on high-entropy alloys to realize the enhancement of NFRHT.By combining stochastic electrodynamicsand Maxwell-Garnett's description of the effective medium,we calculate the radiative heat transfer under different parametersand find that the nanoporousstructure has the largest enhancement effect on NFRHT.The near-field heat transfer factor(q)of this structure(q=1.40×10^(9)W/(m^(2)·K))is three times higher than that of the planestructure(q=4.6×10^(8)W/(m^(2)·K)),and about two orders of magnitude higher than that of the SiO2plate.Thisresult providesa freshidea for the enhancement of NFRHT and will promote the application of high-entropy alloy materials in near-field heat radiation.

Synergistic effect of adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of oilfield-produced water by electrospun photocatalytic fibers of Polystyrene/Nanorod-Graphitic carbon nitride

Graphitic carbon nitride with nanorod structure(Nr-GCN)was synthesized using melamine as a precursor without any other reagents by hydrothermal pretreatment method.XRD,FTIR,SEM,N_(2)adsorption-desorption from BET,UV-Vis DRS spectroscopy,and photoluminescence were used to characterize the prepared samples.Also,the photoelectrochemical behavior of nanoparticles was studied by photocurrent transient response and cyclic voltammetry analysis.Polystyrene(PS)fibrous mat was fabricated by electrospinning technique and used as a support for the stabilization of the nanoparticles.The performance of the synthesized nanoparticles and photocatalytic fibers(PS/Nr-GCN)was evaluated in oilfield-produced water treatment under visible light irradiation.During this process,oil contaminants were adsorbed by hydrophobic polystyrene fibers and simultaneously degraded by Nr-GCN.The removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand(COD)has been obtained 96.6%and 98.4%by Nr-GCN and PS/Nr-GCN,respectively,at the optimum conditions of pH4,photocatalyst dosage 0.5 g/L,COD initial concentration 550 mg/L,and illumination time 150 min.The gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy analysis results showed 99.3%removal of total petroleum hydrocarbons using photocatalytic fibers of PS/Nr-GCN.The results demonstrated that the GCN has outstanding features like controllable morphology,visible-light-driven,and showing high potential in oily wastewater remediation.Moreover,the synergistic effect of adsorption and photocatalytic degradation is an effective technique in oilfield-produced water treatment.