The hysteresis of saturation-capillary pressure （S-p） relations was investigated in a fine sandy medium under consecutive drainage-imbibition cycles, which resulted from scheduled water level fluctuations. A drainag...The hysteresis of saturation-capillary pressure （S-p） relations was investigated in a fine sandy medium under consecutive drainage-imbibition cycles, which resulted from scheduled water level fluctuations. A drainage-imbibition cycle starts with a drainage process and ends with an imbibition process in sequence. The saturation and capillary pressure were measured online with time domain reflectometry （TDR） probes and T5 tensiometers, respectively. Results show that the relation between the degree of hysteresis and the number of the drainage-imbibition cycles is not obvious. However, the degree decreases with the increase of the initial water saturation of the imbibition processes in these drainage-imbibition cycles. The air-entry pressure of a sandy medium is also found to be constant, which is independent of the drainage-imbibition cycles and the initial water saturation of the drainage process. In all the imbibition processes, parameter a of the van Genuchten （VG） model decreases with the increase of the initial water saturation, which corresponds positively to the magnitude of the hysteresis.展开更多
An artificial molecular machine consists of molecule or substituent components jointed together in a specific way so that their mutual displacements could be initiated using appropriate outside stimuli. Such an abilit...An artificial molecular machine consists of molecule or substituent components jointed together in a specific way so that their mutual displacements could be initiated using appropriate outside stimuli. Such an ability of performing mechanical motions by consuming external energy has endowed these tiny machines with vast fascinating potential applications in areas such as actuators, manipulating atoms/molecules, drug delivery, molecular electronic devices, etc. To date, although vast kinds of molecular machine archetypes have been synthesized in facile ways, they are inclined to be defined as switches but not true machines in most cases because no useful work has been done during a working cycle. More efforts need to be devoted on the utilization and amplification of the nanoscale mechanical motions among synthetic molecular machines to accomplish useful tasks. Here we highlight some of the recent advances relating to molecular machines that can perform work on different length scales, ranging from microscopic levels to macroscopic ones.展开更多
基金Project(41072182) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(2010Z1-E101) supported by the Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou City,China+1 种基金Project(200809095) supported by the Special Funds for Environmental Nonprofit Research,ChinaProject(8151027501000008) supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province,China
文摘The hysteresis of saturation-capillary pressure （S-p） relations was investigated in a fine sandy medium under consecutive drainage-imbibition cycles, which resulted from scheduled water level fluctuations. A drainage-imbibition cycle starts with a drainage process and ends with an imbibition process in sequence. The saturation and capillary pressure were measured online with time domain reflectometry （TDR） probes and T5 tensiometers, respectively. Results show that the relation between the degree of hysteresis and the number of the drainage-imbibition cycles is not obvious. However, the degree decreases with the increase of the initial water saturation of the imbibition processes in these drainage-imbibition cycles. The air-entry pressure of a sandy medium is also found to be constant, which is independent of the drainage-imbibition cycles and the initial water saturation of the drainage process. In all the imbibition processes, parameter a of the van Genuchten （VG） model decreases with the increase of the initial water saturation, which corresponds positively to the magnitude of the hysteresis.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21572063, 21372076)the Science Fund for Creative Research Groups (21421004)+1 种基金the Programme of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (B16017)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (222201717003)
文摘An artificial molecular machine consists of molecule or substituent components jointed together in a specific way so that their mutual displacements could be initiated using appropriate outside stimuli. Such an ability of performing mechanical motions by consuming external energy has endowed these tiny machines with vast fascinating potential applications in areas such as actuators, manipulating atoms/molecules, drug delivery, molecular electronic devices, etc. To date, although vast kinds of molecular machine archetypes have been synthesized in facile ways, they are inclined to be defined as switches but not true machines in most cases because no useful work has been done during a working cycle. More efforts need to be devoted on the utilization and amplification of the nanoscale mechanical motions among synthetic molecular machines to accomplish useful tasks. Here we highlight some of the recent advances relating to molecular machines that can perform work on different length scales, ranging from microscopic levels to macroscopic ones.
