Silk fibroin-based biopolymer composite binders with gradient binding energy and strong adhesion force for high-performance micro-sized silicon anodes

Micro-sized silicon anodes have shown much promise in large-scale industrial production of high-energy lithium batteries.However,large volume change(>300%)of silicon anodes causes severe particle pulverization and the formation of unstable solid electrolyte interphases during cycling,leading to rapid capacity decay and short cycle life of lithium-ion batteries.When addressing such issues,binder plays key roles in obtaining good structural integrity of silicon anodes.Herein,we report a biopolymer composite binder composed of rigid poly(acrylic acid)(PAA)and flexible silk fibroin(SF)tailored for micro-sized silicon anodes.The PAA/SF binder shows robust gradient binding energy via chemical interactions between carboxyl and amide groups,which can effectively accommodate large volume change of silicon.This PAA/SF binder also shows much stronger adhesion force and improved binding towards high-surface/defective carbon additives,resulting in better electrochemical stability and higher coulombic efficiency,than conventional PAA binder.As such,micro-sized silicon/carbon anodes fabricated with novel PAA/SF binder exhibit much better cyclability(up to 500 cycles at 0.5 C)and enhanced rate capability compared with conventional PAA-based anodes.This work provides new insights into the design of functional binders for high-capacity electrodes suffering from large volume change for the development of nextgeneration lithium batteries.

Improving the wear resistance of plasma electrolytic oxidation(PEO)coatings applied on Mg and its alloys under the addition of nano-and micro-sized additives into the electrolytes:A review

As an efficient surface modification approach,the plasma electrolytic oxidation(PEO)technique can boost the capability of wear protection in Mg and its alloys by applying a hard and thick ceramic coating.In this procedure,more efficient protection can be acquired via adding additives(in the form of particle,powder,sheet,etc.)into solutions and producing composite coatings.These additives result in more efficient protection against wear via getting stuck in the cracks and pores of coatings and rising the thickness,hardness,and diminishing the porosity size and content.The efficiency of each additive can be changed owing to its intrinsic properties like melting point,size,participation type(reactive,partly reactive,or inert)and potential of zeta.In this review,the effects of distinct additives in nano-and micro-scale size on wear behavior of PEO coatings on Mg and its alloys is going to be reviewed.

Preparation of micro-sized and uniform spherical Ag powders by novel wet-chemical method

A novel wet-chemical method was presented for the preparation of the micro-sized and uniform spherical Ag powders on a mass-production scale.The well-defined particles were synthesized by mixing the iron(II) sulfate heptahydrate solution with silver nitrate solution directly by high-speed stirring at room temperature.It is found that a large number of micro-sized and uniform spherical particles with rough surfaces are obtained.The mass ratio of iron(II) sulfate heptahydrate to silver nitrate greatly affects the shape of particles,and when it is relatively low,spherical particles cannot be obtained.The reaction temperature has a great impact on the particle size.As the reaction temperature increases from 8 to 15°C,the mean diameter of particles decreases from 3.5 to 1.6 μm.The additive n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone improves the surface smoothness and compactness of the particles while the particle size is kept unchanged.Scanning electron microscopy,X-ray diffractometry and energy dispersive X-ray analysis were used to characterize the particle products.

In-plane micro-sized energy storage devices:From device fabrication to integration and intelligent designs

The rapid development of micro-electronics raises the demand of their power sources to be simplified,miniaturized and highly integratable with other electronics on a chip.In-plane Micro-sized energy storage devices(MESDs),which are composed of interdigitated electrodes on a single chip,have aroused particular attentions since they could be easily integrated with other miniaturized electronics,reducing the complexity of overall chip design via removing complex interconnections with bulky power sources.This review highlights the achievements in the device fabrication of in-plane MESDs,as well as their integration and intelligent designs.We also discussed the current challenges and future perspectives for the development of in-plane MESDs.

Experimental Study on Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of Micro-Sized Tube Heat Exchanger

A micro-sized tube heat exchanger(MTHE) was fabricated, and its performance in heat transfer and pressure drop was experimentally studied. The single-phase forced convection heat transfer correlation on the sides of the MTHE tubes was proposed and compared with previous experimental data in the Reynolds number range of 500—1 800. The average deviation of the correlation in calculating the Nusselt number was about 6.59%. The entrance effect in the thermal entrance region was discussed. In the same range of Reynolds number, the pressure drop and friction coefficient were found to be considerably higher than those predicted by the conventional correlations. The product of friction factor and Reynolds number was also a constant, but much higher than the conventional.

ULTRASONIC SEPARATION OF MICRO-SIZED INCLUSIONS IN MOLTEN METAL

The coagulation time and position of micro-sized non-metallic inclusions in molten metal during ultrasonic separation process were investigated, and the motion course of micro-sized non-metallic inclusions in an ultrasonic standing wave field was numerically simulated. The results of theoretical analysis and numerical simulation show that the movement of inclusions depends on the balance between the acoustic radiation force, effective buoyancy force and viscous drag force. It is presented that micro-sized inclusions, agglomerated at antinode-planes may be removed further with horizon tal ultrasound.``

Experiments and computer simulation analysis of impact behaviors of micro-sized abrasive in waterjet cutting of thin multiple layered materials

The abrasive waterjet (AWJ) is now widely used in the advanced cutting processes of polymers,metals,glass,ceramics and composite materials like thin multiple-layered material (TMM).Various research and development efforts have recently been made to understand the science of AWJ.However,the interaction mechanism between a workpiece and high-velocity abrasive particles still remains a complicated problem.In this work,the material removal mechanisms of AWJ such as micro penetration and micro dent were experimentally investigated.In addition,a new computer simulation model considering high strain rate effect was proposed to understand the micro impact behavior of high-velocity micro-sized abrasives in AWJ cutting.

Study on the Development of Small and Micro-sized Enterprises in Hubei Province

The development of small and micro-sized enterprises is of vital significance for the steady and rapid social economy. In recent years, the developing environment for the small and micro-sized enterprises in Hubei province has become increasingly severe, and the problems such as high management cost, high taxes and fees, financing difficulties, and labor shortages of the small and micro-sized enterprises have been more obvious, so that the further development, transformation, and upgrading of the small and micro-sized enterprises are severely restricted. In order to promote the development of the small and micro-sized enterprises, the developing environment for the small and micro-sized enterprises should be further optimized, the tax environment for supporting the development of the small and micro-sized enterprises should be well improved, the financing system should be promoted to be sound, the industrial structure should be actively adjusted, and also the development quality should be increased.

Discussion on the problems and countermeasures in the financial management of the small and micro-sized enterprises

The survival problems are always the core problems of the small and micro-sized enterprises in our country, and the financial management, as the important key factor influencing the small and micro-sized enterprises, has more and more impact on its survival and development. However, the important problem existing presently is that the significance of the financial management is mostly ignored in the small and micro-sized enterprises, pursuing the short-term economic benefit blindly, which decreases the risk resistance of the small and micro-sized enterprises severely, so that a mass of the small and micro-sized enterprises with poor survivability and extremely short life cycle are occurred. This text analyzes the problems existing in the financial management of the small and micro-sized enterprises around the above several prominent problems, and discusses the corresponding suggestions to promote the sound development of the small and micro-sized enterprises in our country.

Wettability Control between Oleophobic/Superhydrophilic and Superoleophilic/Superhydrophobic Characteristics on the Modified Surface Treated with Fluoroalkyl End-Capped Oligomers/Micro-Sized Polystyrene Particle Composites

Fluoroalkyl end-capped vinyltrimethoxysilane-N,N-dimethylacrylamide cooligomer [RF-(CH2-CHSi(OMe)3)x-(CH2-CHC(=O)NMe2)y-RF;RF = CF(CF3)OC3F7: RF-(VM)x-(DMAA)y-RF] was synthesized by reaction of fluoroalkanoyl peroxide [RF-C(=O)O-O(O=)C-RF] with vinyltrimethoxysilane (VM) and N,N-dimethylacrylamide (DMAA). The modified glass surface treated with the cooligomeric nanoparticles [RF-(VM-SiO3/2)x-(DMAA)y-RF] prepared under the sol-gel reaction of the cooligomer under alkaline conditions was found to exhibit an oleophobic/superhydrophilic property, although the corresponding fluorinated homooligomeric nanoparticles [RF-(VM-SiO3/2)n-RF] afforded an oleophobic/hydrophobic property on the modified surface under similar conditions. RF-(VM-SiO3/2)n-RF/RF-(VM-SiO3/2)x-(DMAA)y-RF/PSt (micro-sized polystyrene particles) composites, which were prepared by the sol-gel reactions of the corresponding homooligomer and cooligomer in the presence of PSt particle under alkaline conditions, provided an oleophobic/superhydrophilic property on the modified surface. However, it was demonstrated that the surface wettability on the modified surface treated with the RF-(VM-SiO3/2)n-RF/RF-(VM-SiO3/2)x-(DMAA)y-RF/PSt composites changes dramatically from oleophobic/superhydrophilic to superoleophilic/superhydrophilic and superoleophilic/superhydrophobic characteristics, increasing with greater feed ratios (mg/mg) of the RF-(VM)n-RF homooligomer in homooligomer/cooligomer from 0 to 100 in the preparation of the composites. Such controlled surfac

Micro-sized nanoaggregates:Spray-drying-assisted fabrication and applications

The applications of nanoparticles suffer from their extremely small size and intrinsic trend of agglom-eration.Rearranging nanoparticles to form micro-sized nanoaggregates(MNAs)with increased size,ordered structure,as well as controllable size,shape,and morphology is a crucial step in various fields of science and technology to maintain the unique characteristics of nanoparticles while obtaining greatly enhanced or new performance at the microscale.The structure of MNAs prominently affects their functionality,which is determined by the arrangement of nanoparticles and the interaction between primary particles.Several methods have been proposed to prepare the MNAs,in which spray-drying technology stands out considering the feasibility,scalability for industry,cost,and efficiency.Forced assembly of nanoparticles through spray-drying under tunable process parameters yields diverse physical properties and structural arrangements of nanoparticles of the MNAs,they therefore exhibit enormous potential in a wide range of application fields.This review presents the construction and applications of spray-dried MNAs.The factors that influence the size,morphology,and structure of the MNAs are discussed in detail.In addition,the outstanding application performance resulting from the tightly packed nanoparticles in regular-shaped MNAs obtained by the spray-drying process is illustrated.

Frictional Behavior of a Micro-sized Superconducting Fiber in a Low-Temperature Medium： Experimental and Computational Analysis

The purpose of the current study is to explore the frictional behavior of a micro- sized superconducting fiber at the low-temperature condition. At first, a highly precise tribometer composed of a superconducting fiber wrapping around a cylinder made of pure Cu was immersed in liquid nitrogen. The force and displacement resolutions of the experimental system were as high as 0.01 mN and 0.03 ~m, respectively. The NbTi fibers with diameters ranging from 22.9 to 115 ~m were used in the experiments, and their frictional behaviors in three media, i.e., liquid nitrogen, air and water, were systemically investigated. It was found that the frictional force in air showed a remarkable size effect. The existence of water medium could significantly reduce the frictional force, but could not eliminate the size effect. For the samples with the same diameter, the frictional force in liquid nitrogen was about 1.4 times of that in air, accompanied with remark- able stick-slip phenomenon. Notably, the fiber＇s frictional behavior in liquid nitrogen showed no dependence on diameter. In order to interpret these phenomena, the frictional behaviors of the fibers in air, water and liquid nitrogen were simulated using a modified spring-slider model, by taking into account the influence of hydrophilicity on surface roughness, and the influence of surface roughness on the fiber＇s frictional behavior. The simulation results were consistent with the experimental data qualitatively.

Performance experiment and numerical prediction on the optimization design of the micro-sized water turbine for the hose reel irrigator

In order to significantly improve the efficiency of driving water turbine used in hose reel irrigator,a new water turbine structure was proposed by the method of performance test and numerical calculation.The internal flow characteristics of original water turbine were analyzed,and it was found that unreasonable design of main flow passage components such as inlet,outlet and runner could not effectively translated pressure energy of upper stream into impact kinetic energy of blade,and gave rise to low energy conversion efficiency of water turbine.The inadequate internal flow and uneven pressure distribution were also not conducive to energy conversion efficiency.Then a new structure of water turbine structure was presented,in which the inlet has a tangential nozzle jet and the outlet is in axial direction.The computational analysis showed that the nozzle jet at the inlet of the new water turbine runner,which makes jet flow mainly concentrate in the impacted blade passage,can reduce the loss of flow kinetic energy.The axial outflow increases the distance of inflow in the runner,which is more conducive to the runner blades work.Performance experiments on both original and new water turbines showed that the highest efficiency of the new turbine is almost 20 percentages higher than that of the original turbine,and the new turbine is nearly triple output power over the original turbine.The internal flow characteristic analysis and the performance experiment were conducted to assess the feasibility of the replacement of the original water turbine by the new water turbine.

Microwave Application Shape Anisotropy of Micro-sized Bamboo Blind Shape

Electromagnetic anisotropic characteristics in micro-sized water bamboo blind shape are observed by high frequency electromagnetic computation,which is applied to the material constants estimation.In assuming that the micro-sized unit structure is repeated in 3-dimensional space and its size is much smaller than the electromagnetic wave length,the micro-sized electromagnetic field calculation is carried out.If the micro-structure shapes of the material are different even if they are the same volume rate,different dielectric constant characteristics are provided.The reasons are considered to be a generation of de-electrification within the dielectric material.

Abnormal characteristics and effectiveness evaluation of the micro-seismic signal before the Debao MS4.8 earthquake

The Debao MS4.8 earthquake occurred in western Guangxi on August 5,2021,near where the Jingxi MS5.2 earthquake occurred in 2019.To study the increasing seismicity in western Guangxi,it is necessary to determine whether there was an anomaly related to the earthquake source near the Pingxiang gravity station,which is located approximately 100 km from the epicenter of the Debao MS4.8 earthquake.In this study,the R-value scoring method was used to analyze the anomaly and evaluate the prediction efficiency of the double frequency(DF)micro-seismic signal vertical displacement(referred to as vertical displacement,VD)and the absolute value of monthly extreme rate(referred to as the monthly rate).Results show that earthquakes larger than MS4.0 in the 350 km range from the Pingxiang station tend to coincide with yearly typhoons,and the VD of micro-seismic signals correspondingly changes from low to high.The Debao MS4.8 earthquake occurred during a gradual VD increase from 0.05×10^(-6)to 0.10×10^(-6)m.When discussing the relationships among R,the rate threshold,and the effective duration of prediction,the rate threshold of the micro-seismic signal converges from 0.00039×10^(-6)to 0.00031×10^(-6)m/month,the effective duration of prediction is approximately 6-10 months,and R also converges from 0.29 to 0.31.By comparing the results of three gPhone gravity stations in Guangxi,we found that the increase of short-term VD before the Debao earthquake was related to the enhancement of the DF micro-seismic signal excited by the typhoon.When the typhoon track was perpendicular to the coastline of China,the possibility of an earthquake occurring was increased.This study provides evidence and reference for the future occurrence period of earthquakes above MS4.0 in western Guangxi.

Investigation on high-volume fly ash pastes modified with micro-size metakaolin subjected to high temperatures

Portland cement(PC) containing high-volume fly ash(HVFA) is usually used to obtain economical and more sustainable merits, but these merits suffer from dramatically low compressive strength especially at early ages. In this work, the possibility of using micro-size metakaolin(MSK) particles to improve the compressive strength of HVFA paste before and after subjecting to high temperatures was studied. To produce HVFA paste, cement was partially substituted with 70% fly ash(FA), by weight. After that, FA was partially substituted with MSK at ratios fluctuating from 5% to 20% with an interval of 5%, by weight. The effect of MSK on the workability of HVFA mixture was measured. After curing, specimens were subjected to different high temperatures fluctuating from 400 to 1000 ℃ with an interval of 200 ℃ for 2 h. The results were analyzed by different techniques named X-ray diffraction(XRD), thermogravimetry(TGA) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM). The results showed that the incorporation of MSK particles into HVFA mixture exhibited a negative effect on the workability and a positive effect on the compressive strength before and after firing.

Relocation method of microseismic source in deep mines

A new method, named relocation, was proposed to reduce the impact of sensor errors systematically, especially whenavailable data of sensors are abundant. The procedure includes evaluating the reliability of every sensors datum, processing the initiallocation by the credible data, and selecting a set of equations with optimal noise tolerance according to the relative relationshipbetween the initial location and sensors location, then calculating the final location by k-mean voting. The results obtained in thisresearch include comparing traditional location method with the presented method in both simulation and field experiment. In thefield experiment, the location error of relocation method reduced 41.8% compared with traditional location method. The resultssuggested that relocation method can improve the fault-tolerant performance significantly.

Mechanism of high pressure roll grinding on compression strength of oxidized hematite pellets

The mechanism of high pressure roll grinding on improvement of compression strength of oxidized hematite pellets was researched by considering their roasting properties. The results indicate that oxidized hematite pellets require higher preheating temperature and longer preheating time to attain required compression strength of pellets compared with the common magnetite oxidized pellets. It is found that when the hematite concentrates are pretreated by high pressure roll grinding （HPRG）, the compression strengths of preheated and roasted oxidized hematite pellets get improved even with lower preheating and roasting temperatures and shorter preheating and roasting time. The mechanism for HPRG to improve roasting properties of oxidized pellets were investigated and the cause mainly lies in the increase of micro-sized particles and the decrease of dispersion degree for hematite concentrates, which promotes the hematite concentrate particles to be compacted, the solid-phase crystallization, and finally the formation of Fe203 bonding bridges during subsequent high temperature roasting process.

NiMo/Al_2O_3 catalyst containing nano-sized zeolite Y for deep hydrodesulfurization and hydrodenitrogenation of diesel

Two mixed-matrix NiMo/Al2O3 catalysts containing nano-and micro-sized zeolite Y have been prepared to explore the size effect of zeolite Y particle on the hydrodesulfurization（HDS）and hydrodenitrogenation（HDN）activities of fluid catalytic cracking（FCC）diesel.They were characterized by SEM,BET,XRD,H2-TPR,NH3-TPD and HRTEM.The results show that the catalyst containing nano-sized zeolite Y possesses larger average pore diameter,higher pore volume,weaker and lesser acid sites,more easily reducible metal phases,shorter MoS2 slabs and more slab layers than the catalyst containing micro-sized zeolite Y.The catalysts were also evaluated with a high-pressure fixed-bed reactor using real FCC diesel as feed.The results display that the catalyst containing nano-sized zeolite Y bears higher HDS and HDN activities and exhibits higher relative rate constant for the removal of total sulfur or nitrogen than the one containing micro-sized zeolite.

3D hierarchically porous NiO/Graphene hybrid paper anode for long-life and high rate cycling flexible Li-ion batteries

With the rapid emergence of wearable devices, flexible lithium-ion batteries(LIBs) are much more needed than ever. Free-standing graphene-based composite paper electrodes with various active materials have appealed wide applications in flexible LIBs. However, due to the prone-to-restacking feature of graphene layers, a long cycle life at high current densities is rather difficult to be achieved. Herein, a unique threedimensional(3D) hierarchically porous NiO micro-flowers/graphene paper(fNiO/GP) electrode is successfully fabricated. The resulting fNiO/GP electrode shows superior long-term cycling stability at high rates(e.g., storage capacity of 359 mAh/g after 600 cycles at a high current density of 1 A/g). The facile 3D porous structure combines both the advantages of the graphene that is highly conductive and flexible to ensure rapid electrons/ions transfer and buffer the volume expansion of NiO during charge/discharge,and of the micro-sized NiO flowers that induces hierarchical between-layer pores ranging from nanomicro meters to promote the penetration of the electrolyte and prevent the re-stacking of graphene layers. Such structural design will inspire future manufacture of a wide range of active materials/graphene composite electrodes for high performance flexible LIBs.