Fabrication of IBAD-MgO and PLD-CeO2 Layers for YBCO Coated Conductors

MgO thin films with different textures are fabricated by the ion beam assisted （IBAD） method on the Y2O3/Al2O3 buffered C276 tape. Then a CaO2 layer is directly grown on the IBAD-MgO film by the pulsed laser deposition （PLD） method. Effects of lBAD-MgO texture, substrata temperature and thickness on the grain alignment of the CeO2 layer are investigated. Film characterization is performed by x-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. It is found that the orientation and texture degree of the CaO2 layer are very sensitive to the IBAD-MgO texture. By optimizing the IBAD-MgO texture, CeO2 has pure （002） orientation and excellent biaxial texture deposited in a broad substrata temperature range. In addition, the PLD-CeO2 layer has a thickness effect. Under the optimized experimental condition, the PLD-CeO2 layer has a high in-plane texture of △φ = 2.9° and a smooth surface with an rms surface roughness of less than 2nm. The critical current density Jc of a 0.4μm-thick YBCO film deposited on the CeO2 layer is 6.25 × 106 A/cm2 at 77K and a self-field.

Cellulose Nanocrystals-Coated Polylactide(PLA) Microspheres Obtained via a Pickering Emulsion Approach

In order to prepare cellulose nanocrystals( CNCs)-coated polylactide( PLA) microspheres for the use of drug delivery and tissue engineering,a Pickering emulsion route was applied. The stable Pickering emulsions were prepared using CNCs as efficient stabilizers without any additional surfactant. The microspheres were successfully fabricated after volatilization of the solvent. What's more,the size of microspheres could be controlled by fabrication parameters.

Biaxial tensile properties and elastic constants evaluation of envelope material for airship

This paper presents an experimental study to determine the tensile properties of the envelope fabric Uretek3216L under biaxial cyclic loading.First the biaxial cyclic tests were carefully carried out on the envelope material to obtain the stress-strain data and the corresponding nonlinearity and orthotropy of the material were analyzed. Then for some determination options with different stress ratios the least squares method minimizing the strain terms was used to calculate the elastic constants from the experimental data.Finally the influences of the determination options with different stress ratios and the reciprocal relationship on the elastic constants were discussed.Results show that the orthotropy of the envelope material can be attributed to the unbalanced crimp of their constitutive yarns in warp and weft directions and the elastic constants vary noticeably with the determination options as well as the normalized stress ratios.In real design practice it is more reasonable to use constants determined for specific stress states in particular stress ratios depending on the project＆#39;s needs.Also calculating the structures with two limitative sets of elastic constants instead of using only one set is recommendable in light of the great variety of the constant＆#39;s values.

Phase Formation and Process Analysis of SiC-Al_2O_3-Al_6Si_2O_(13) Composite Powder via Carbothermal Reduction of Fly Ash at 1 550 ℃

Silicon carbide（SiC）-alumina（Al_2O_3）-mullite（Al_6Si_2O_（13）） composite powder was successfully synthesized at 1 550 ℃ for 5 h via carbothermal reduction reaction,and the effects of various mass ratios of active carbon to fly ash（0.38,0.44 and 0.58） on the phase composition and microstructure of products were investigated,and the formation process of the powder was also analyzed in detail.The products mainly consist ofβ-SiC,α-Al_2O_3,Al_6Si_2O_（13） and FeSi.Increasing carbon content favors the decomposition of Al_6Si_2O_（13） and formation of SiC.The average particle size of β-SiC andα-Al_2O_3 is about 1 μm and that of Al_6Si_2O_（13） is 5-10μm.The formation process of SiC-Al_2O_3-Al_6Si_2O_（13）powder includes the decomposition of mullite in fly ash and formation of SiC.

Optical property of an antireflection coating fabricated by an optimal spin-coating method with a pH-modified SiO2 nanoparticle solution

An antireflection （AR） coating is fabricated by applying an optimal spin-coating method and a pH-modified SiO2 nanoparticle solution on a cover glass. Because the pH value of the solution will affect the aggregation and dispersion of the SiO2 particles, the transmittance of the AR-treated cover glass will be enhanced under optimal fabricated conditions. The experimental results show that an AR coating fabricated by an SiO2 nano- particle solution of pH 11 enhances the transmittance approximately by 3% and 5% under normal and oblique incident conditions, respectively. Furthermore, the AR-treated cover glass exhibits hydrophobicity and shows a 65% enhancement at a contact angle to bare glass.

A localized surface plasmon resonance DNA biosensor based on gold nanospheres coated on the tip of the fiber

A localized surface plasmon resonance(LSPR) biosensor was prepared with gold nanospheres(Au NSs) coated on the tip face of the optical silica fiber. Au NSs with the sizes of 20 nm and 80 nm were used. The sensitivities of Au NS_(20 nm) and Au NS_(80 nm) modified sensors to bulk refractive index(RI) variation are 82.86 nm/RIU and 218.98 nm/RIU, respectively. The Au NS_(80 nm) modified sensor was used for the detection of 40 bases DNA hybridization and the limit of detection is 50 nmol/L, where the 40-bases DNA probe was covalently linked with Au NS_(80 nm). The complementary DNA sequence in tris-acetate-EDTA(TAE) buffer solution was detected as the target DNA. This fiber sensor has the advantages of small sample consumption, easy fabrication and high sensitivity.

Fast-growing procedure for perovskite films in planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells

A fast-growing procedure（FGP） to fabricate perovskite films with large grain sizes is described in this article. In the FGP method, the perovskite precursor solution is coated onto the substrates at a temperature of 240 8C. The solvent in the precursor solution evaporates quickly in about 2 s, resulting in the rapid formation of a perovskite film without further annealing process. Millimeter-scale perovskite grain clusters are obtained in the film. Based on such perovskite films, fabricated planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells give a power conversion efficiency（PCE） above 8%.

Effects of different CdCl_2 annealing methods on the performance of CdS/Cd Te polycrystalline thin film solar cells

In this paper, the effects of different Cd Cl2 annealing methods, including vapor annealing and dip-coating annealing, on the performance of Cd S/Cd Te polycrystalline thin-film solar cells are studied. After annealing, the samples are lightly etched with 1% bromine in methanol to remove surface oxides. Both annealing methods give Cd Te polycrystalline thin films with good crystallinity and complete structure. For solar cells containing the annealed Cd Te films, cell efficiency first increases and then decreases as the concentration of Cd Cl2 solution used for dip-coating annealing increases, and the optimized Cd Cl2 concentration is 12%. The uniformity of the performance of all cells is analyzed by calculating the relative standard deviation for each parameter. The uniformity of cell performance can be improved dramatically by dip-coating annealing instead of vapor annealing. Most notably, an appropriate concentration of Cd Cl2(12%) acts as a protective layer that is conducive to realizing uniform high-performance Cd S/Cd Te solar cells. According to the location of depletion regions, the Cd Te films treated by dip-coating annealing show a relatively low doping concentration, except for the sample treated with a Cd Cl2 concentration of 6%, which is consistent with the changes of short-circuit current density of the cells. It is believed that these results can be applied to the large-scale production of Cd Te polycrystalline thin-film solar cells.

Morphology-controlled synthesis of Al/Fe_2O_3 nano-composites via electrospinning

In this article, nano-scale Al/Fe2O3 composites with different morphologies were successfully obtained by a simple electrospinning technique, which is based on a surfactant（polyvinyl pyridine, PVP） in a mixture of N,N-dimethylformamide（DMF） and 2-propanol. The electrospun Al/Fe2O3 composites exhibited a crystal structure and phase composition by X-ray diffraction analysis. The different morphologies of the Al/Fe2O3 composites were also observed through scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the rather simple electrospinning method used to prepare the morphology-controlled Al/Fe2O3 composites may have the potential for preparation of propellants, explosives, and pyrotechnics in the future.

Preface on “Biomaterial Foundations of Therapeutic Delivery”

Driven by the enormous clinical need,drug delivery systems（DDS）have become a prime research focus in the field of biomaterials.They offer opportunities for developing new therapeutic approaches to prevent and treat debilitating and life-threatening diseases.Smart biomaterials,whether synthetic or naturally-derived,