Carbonation of Dicalcium Silicate Enhanced by Ammonia Bicarbonate and Its Mechanism

The strength development law of γ-type dicalcium silicate (γ-C_(2)S) under different carbonation processes was investigated,and the carbonation mechanism of γ-C_(2)S under the action of NH_(4)HCO_(3) was clarified by using a wide range of test methods,including XRD and SEM.A method of saturated NH_(4)HCO_(3) solution as a curing agent was identified to improve the carbonation efficiency and enhance the carbonation degree of γ-C_(2)S,and then a high-strength carbonated specimen was obtained.Microhardness analysis and SEM morphology analysis were conducted on the carbonised specimens obtained under atmospheric pressure carbonisation conditions using the curing agent.It was found that γ-C_(2)S could perform carbonisation well under atmospheric pressure,which promoted the carbonisation efficiency and decreased the carbonisation cost simultaneously.Therefore,a new carbonisation process solution was proposed for the rapid carbonisation of γ-C_(2)S.

Optimized Synthesis of Carbon Aerogels via Ambient Pressure Drying Process as Electrode for Supercapacitors

Carbon aerogels were synthesized via ambient pressure drying process using resorcinolformaldehyde as precursor and P123 to strengthen their skeletons. CO2 activation technology was implemented to improve surface areas and adjust pore size distribution. The synthesis process was optimized, and the morphology, structure, adsorption properties and electrochemical behavior of different samples were characterized. The CO2-activated samples achieved a high specific capacitance of 129.2 F/g in 6 M KOH electrolytes at the current density of 1 m A/cm^2 within the voltage range of 0-0.8 V. The optimized activation temperature and duration were determined to be 950 ℃ and 4 h, respectively.

Surface Carbonization of GaN and the Related Structure Evolution during the Annealing Process

To explain the stabilization mechanism of the carbon-ion-implanted GaN under the diamond growth environment,the luminescence characteristics and structure evolution correlative with sites＇ carbon atoms located for highfluence carbon-ion-implanted Ga N are discussed. GaN is implanted with carbon ion using fluence of 2×10^（17） cm^（-2） and energy of 45 keV. Then the implanted samples are annealed at 800℃ for 20 min and 1 h under the N_2 atmosphere. The luminescence characteristics of carbon-ion-implanted GaN are evaluated by photoluminescence spectrum at wavelength 325 nm. The lattice damage of Ga N is characterized by Raman spectrum and the corresponding vacancy-defect evolution before and after annealing is measured by slow positron annihilation. The results show that most of the carbon atoms will be located at the interstitial sites after carbon ion implantation due to the weak mobility. As the implanted samples are annealed, strong yellow luminescence is emitted and the vacancies for Ga（V_（Ga）） are reduced resulting from the migration of interstitial carbon（C_i） and formation of complexes（CGaand/or C_（Ga）-C_i） between them. As the annealing time is prolonged, the carbon ions accommodated by the vacancies are saturated, vacancy clusters with carbon atoms appear and the concentration of C_（Ga） diminishes, which will have an adverse effect on the diamond film nucleation and growth.

Direct transformation of fossil carbon into chemicals: A review

Despite the long tradition of fossil carbon(coal,char,and related carbon-based materials)for fueling mankind,the science of transforming them into chemicals is still demandingly progressing in the current energy scenario,especially when considering its responsibilities to the global climate change.Traditionally,there are four routes of preparing chemicals directly from fossil carbon,including hydrogasification,gasification,direct liquefaction,and oxidation,in the macroscope of gas-solid reaction(hydrogasification and gasification)and liquid-solid reaction(direct liquefaction and oxidation).When the study goes to microscale,the gas-solid reaction can be considered as the reaction between the severe condensed radicals and gas,while the liquid-solid reaction is the direct reaction between the radical and the activated-molecule.To have a full overview of the area,this review systematically summarizes the main factors in these processes and shows our own perspectives as follows,(ⅰ)stabilizing the free radicals generated from coal and then directly converting them has the highest efficiency in coal utilization;(ⅱ)the research on the self-catalytic process of coal structure will have a profound impact on the direct preparation of chemicals from fossil carbon.Further discussions are also proposed to guide the future study of the area into a more sustainable direction.

Amine-functionalized low-cost industrial grade multi-walled carbon nanotubes for the capture of carbon dioxide

Industrial grade multi-walled carbon nanotubes(IG-MWCNTs) are a low-cost substitute for commercially purified multi-walled carbon nanotubes(P-MWCNTs). In this work, IG-MWCNTs were functionalized with tetraethylenepentamine(TEPA) for CO2capture. The TEPA impregnated IG-MWCNTs were characterized with various experimental methods including N2adsorption/desorption isotherms, elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. Both the adsorption isotherms of IGMWCNTs-n and the isosteric heats of different adsorption capacities were obtained from experiments. TEPA impregnated IG-MWCNTs were also shown to have high CO2adsorption capacity comparable to that of TEPA impregnated P-MWCNTs. The adsorption capacity of IG-MWCNTs based adsorbents was in the range of 2.145 to 3.088 mmol/g, depending on adsorption temperatures. Having the advantages of low-cost and high adsorption capacity, TEPA impregnated IG-MWCNTs seem to be a promising adsorbent for CO2capture from flue gas.

Effect of ozone on the performance of a hybrid ceramic membrane-biological activated carbon process

Two hybrid processes including ozonation-ceramic membrane-biological activated carbon （BAC） （Process A） and ceramic membrane-BAC （Process B） were compared to treat polluted raw water. The performance of hybrid processes was evaluated with the removal efficiencies of turbidity, ammonia and organic matter. The results indicated that more than 99% of particle count was removed by both hybrid processes and ozonation had no significant effect on its removal. BAC filtration greatly improved the removal of ammonia. Increasing the dissolved oxygen to 30.0 mg/L could lead to a removal of ammonia with concentrations as high as 7.80 mg/L and 8.69 mg/L for Processes A and B, respectively. The average removal efficiencies of total organic carbon and ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm （UV254, a parameter indicating organic matter with aromatic structure） were 49% and 52% for Process A, 51% and 48% for Process B, respectively. Some organic matter was oxidized by ozone and this resulted in reduced membrane fouling and increased membrane flux by 25%-30%. However, pre-ozonation altered the components of the raw water and affected the microorganisms in the BAC, which may impact the removals of organic matter and nitrite negatively.

Semisolid-rolling and annealing process of woven carbon fibers reinforced Al-matrix composites

Semisolid-rolling method was successfully developed to prepare the Ni-coated woven carbon fibers reinforced Al-matrix composite. Due to the appropriate matrix flowability and rolling pressure, the Al-matrix could infiltrate into the woven fibers sufficiently and attach to the reinforcements closely forming a smooth interface. The rolling speed of 4 rad/min offered a subtle equilibrium between the heat transfer and the material deformation. The covering matrix should be controlled at semisolid state to provide a better infiltration behavior and a protective effect on the carbon fibers. With the addition of fibers, an improvement for more than 25% was obtained in the bending strength of the materials. Furthermore, the woven carbon fibers could strengthen the composite in multiple directions, rather than only along the fiber longitudinal directions. The annealing process promoted the Ni coating to react with and to diffuse into the matrix, resulted in an obvious increase of the bending strength.

Formability of friction stir processed low carbon steels used in shipbuilding

The stretch formability of a low carbon steel processed by friction stir processing （FSP） was studied under biaxial loading condition applied by a miniaturized Erichsen test. One-pass FSP decreased the ferritic grain size in the processed zone from 25 μm to about 3 μm, which also caused a remarkable increase in strength values without considerable decrease in formability under uniaxial loading. A coarse-grained （CG） sample before FSP reflected a moderate formability with an Erichsen index （EI） of 2.73 mm. FSP slightly decreased the stretch formability of the sample to 2.66 ram. However, FSP increased the required punch load （FEI） due to the increased strength by grain refinement. FSP reduced considerably the roughness of the free surface of the biaxial stretched samples with reduced orange peel effect. The average roughness value （Ra） decreased from 2.90 in the CG sample down to about 0.65 μm in fine-grained （FG） sample after FSP. It can be concluded that the FG microstructure in low carbon steels sheets or plates used generally in shipbuilding provides a good balance between strength and formability.

Decontamination of alachlor herbicide wastewater by a continuous dosing mode ultrasound/Fe^(2+)/H_2O_2 process

We used a ultrasound/Fe2＋/H2O2 process in continuous dosing mode to degrade the alachlor. Experimental results indicated that lower pH levels enhanced the degradation and mineralization of alachlor. The maximum alachlor degradation （initial alachlor concentration of 50 mg/L） was as high as 100% at pH 3 with ultrasound of 100 Watts, 20 mg/L of Fe2＋, 2 mg/min of H2O2 and 20℃ within 60 min reaction combined with 46.8% total organic carbon removal. Higher reaction temperatures inhibited the degradation of alachlor. Adequate dosages of Fe2＋ and H2O2 in ultrasound/Fe2＋/H2O2 process not only enhance the degradation efficiency of alachlor but also save the operational cost than the sole ultrasound or Fenton process. A continuous dosing mode ultrasound/Fe2＋/H2O2 process was proven as an effective method to degrade the alachlor.

Solution-based processing of carbon nitride composite for boosted photocatalytic activities

Graphite-phase polymeric carbon nitride （CN） was reported to be a promising material in photoelectrochemical solar energy conversion. However, its high recombination rate of photogenerated carriers limits its potential applications. In this article, a heterojunction of CN and sulfur-doped CN （CNS） was constructed through a solution-based processing way. Interestingly, it was observed that the photocatalytic hydrogen production of the as-prepared composite was 32.6 times higher than that of bulk carbon nitride and 2.3 times higher than that of the composites by conventional impregnating method. This study opens a new avenue to construct heterojunction of CN for large-scale industrial applications in environmental remediation.

Learning from a carbon dioxide capture system dataset: Application of the piecewise neural network algorithm

This paper presents the application of a neural network rule extraction algorithm,called the piecewise linear artificial neural network or PWL-ANN algorithm,on a carbon capture process system dataset.The objective of the application is to enhance understanding of the intricate relationships among the key process parameters.The algorithm extracts rules in the form of multiple linear regression equations by approximating the sigmoid activation functions of the hidden neurons in an artificial neural network(ANN).The PWL-ANN algorithm overcomes the weaknesses of the statistical regression approach,in which accuracies of the generated predictive models are often not satisfactory,and the opaqueness of the ANN models.The results show that the generated PWL-ANN models have accuracies that are as high as the originally trained ANN models of the four datasets of the carbon capture process system.An analysis of the extracted rules and the magnitude of the coefficients in the equations revealed that the three most significant parameters of the CO_(2) production rate are the steam flow rate through reboiler,reboiler pressure,and the CO_(2) concentration in the flue gas.

Dynamical investigation of tunable magnetism in Au@Ni-carbide nanocrystals by a combined soft and hard X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Nickel based magnetic nanocrystals have been widely applied in magnetic and catalytic facilities.Tunable magnetic properties of nickel can be easily obtained via non-magnetic doping or phase transformation.However,phase transformation from face centered cubic(fcc)to hexagonal close packed(hcp)induced magnetism adjustment of Ni are always confused with nickel carbide(Ni_(3)C),due to the similar atomic structures of hcp-Ni and Ni3C.Here,we present series of Au@Ni-carbide magnetic materials achieved from the controlled carbonation of Au@Ni core-shell structures,whose magnetism is tunable by adjusting the amount of carbon in the Ni layer.Ex-situ hard X-ray absorption spectroscopy(XAS)at the metal K edge and soft XAS at both metal L edge and carbon K edge provide solid evidence for the carbonation process from fcc-Ni to Ni_(x)C,rather than phase transformation to hcp-Ni.Further investigation reveals that the magnetism of the hybrids is mainly contributed from the residual fcc-Ni.The result represents an accurate and effective way to distinguish hexagonal Ni_(3)C from hcp-Ni,and provides the pathway to control magnetism of Ni-based materials for applications.

Growth of carbon nanotube arrays on various CtxMey alloy films by chemical vapour deposition method

Carbon nanotube （CNT） arrays were fabricated on Ct-Me-N-（O） alloys with content of Ct in the range of 6-40 at.% by chemical vapour deposition. The Ct was a catalytic metal from the group of the following elements： Ni, Co, Fe, Pd, while Me was a transition metal from the group of IV-VII of the periodic table （where Me=Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Nb, Mo, Ta, W, Re）. Carbon nanotubes were found to grow efficiently on the alloy surface with its composition containing Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Hf, Nb or Ta. The growth of CNTs was not observed when the alloy contained W or Re. Additions of oxygen and nitrogen in the alloy facilitated the formation of oxynitrides and catalyst extrusion on the alloy surface. Replacement of the metals in alloy composition affected the diameter of the resulting CNTs. The obtained results showed that the alloy films of varying thickness （10-500 nm） may be used for the CNTs growth. The resulting CNT material was highly homogenous and its synthesis reproducible.

Simple Fabrication and Characterization of Discontinuous Carbon Fiber Reinforced Aluminum Matrix Composite for Lightweight Heat Sink Applications

The constant increase in power and heat flux densities encountered in electronic devices fuels a rising demand for lightweight heat sink materials with suitable thermal properties.In this study,discontinuous pitch-based carbon fiber reinforced aluminum matrix（Al-CF） composites with aluminum–silicon alloy（Al–Si） were fabricated through hot pressing.The small amount of Al–Si contributed to enhance the sintering process in order to achieve fully dense Al–CF composites.A thermal conductivity and CTE of 258 W/（m K） and 7.0 9 10-6/K in the in-plane direction of the carbon fibers were obtained for a（Al95 vol%＋ Al–Si5 vol%）-CF50 vol%composite.Carbon fiber provides the reducing of CTE while the conservation of thermal conductivity and weight of Al.The achieved CTEs satisfy the standard requirements for a heat sink material,which furthermore possess a specific thermal conductivity of 109 W cm3/（m K g）.This simple process allows the low-cost fabrication of Al–CF composite,which is applicable for a lightweight heat sink material.