A high Li-ion diffusion kinetics in multidimensional and compact-structured electrodes via vacuum filtration casting

Manufacturing process,diffusion co-efficient and areal capacity are the three main criteria for regulating thick electrodes for lithium-ion batteries(LIBs).However,simultaneously regulating these criteria for LIBs is desirable but remains a significant challenge.In this work,niobium pentoxide(Nb_(2)O_(5))anode and lithium iron phosphate(LiFePO_(4))cathode materials were chosen as the model materials and demonstrate that these three parameters can be simultaneously modulated by incorporation of micro-carbon fibers(MCF)and carbon nanotubes(CNT)with both Nb_(2)O_(5) and LFP via vacuum filtration approach.Both as-prepared MNC-20 anode and MLC-20 cathode achieves high reversible areal capacity of≈5.4 m A h cm^(-2)@0.1 C and outstanding Li-ion diffusion coefficients of≈10~(-8)cm~2 s~(-1)in the half-cell configuration.The assembled MNC-20‖MLC-20 full cell LIB delivers maximum energy and power densities of244.04 W h kg^(-1)and 108.86 W kg^(-1),respectively.The excellent electrochemical properties of the asprepared thick electrodes can be attributed to the highly conductive,mechanical compactness and multidimensional mutual effects of the MCF,CNT and active materials that facilitates rapid Li-ion diffusion kinetics.Furthermore,electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS),symmetric cells analysis,and insitu Raman techniques clearly validates the enhanced Li-ion diffusion kinetics in the present architecture.

Microstructure and properties of the joints of ZrO2 ceramic/ stainless steel brazed in vacuum with AgCuTi active filler metal

The ZrO2 ceranfic was successfully jointed to stainless steel by vacuum brazing with active filler metal. The AgCuTi active filler metal was used and the joining was performed at a temperature of 850 ℃ for 10 rain. The microstructures of the joints were characterized by metallographic microscopy, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, and energy dispersive spectroscopy （EDS）. Metallographic microscopy analysis shows that the morphology of the cross section was a sandwich structure and the TiO is observed in the surface of ZrO2/ stainless steel. The diffusion and enrichment of the elements are the key roles in the brazing of ZrO2 ceramic and stainless steel. The formation of TiCu compounds inhibited the further diffusion of titanium into stainless steel or the ZrO2 ceramic to form TiO compound. In the experimental conditions, the average tensile strength is 80MPa for the joint of ZrO2 ceramic / AgCuTi/ stainless steel systems. A complete joint is formed between the ZrO2 ceramic and stainless steel with the leakage rate at the degree of 10 ^-12 Pa · m^3/s.

Microstructure of Ni /WC Surface Composite Layer on Gray Iron Substrate

The surface infiltrated composite （Ni/WC） layers on gray iron substrate were fabricated through a vacuum infiltration casting technique （VICT） using Ni-based composite powder with different WC particles content as raw materials.The microstructures of surface infiltrated composite layer,the interface structures between surface composite layer and the substrate,the changes of macro-hardness with the increasing of WC content and the micro-hardness distribution are investigated.The infiltrated composite layer includes a surface composite layer and a transition layer,and the thickness of the transition layer decreases with the increasing content of WC.The thickness of transition layer with 20%WC content in the surface infiltrated composite layer was 170 μm which was the thickest for all transition layers with different WC content.The surface composite layer was mainly composed of WC,W2C,FeB and NiB,along with Ni-Cr-Fe,Ni （Cr） solid solution,Ni （Si） solid solution and Ni （Fe） solid solution.The transition layer was composed of Ni （Cr） solid solution,Ni （Fe） solid solution,Ni （Si） solid solution,Fe （Ni） solid solution and eutectic.The surface macro-hardness and micro-hardness of the infiltrated layer had been evaluated.The macro-hardness of the surface composite layer decreases with the WC content increasing,and the average macro-hardness is HRC60.The distribution of micro-hardness presents gradient change.The average micro-hardness of the infiltrated layer is about HV1000.

Fabrication and Properties of Aluminabased Reticulated Porous Ceramics

The primary impregnation slurry was prepared using active alumina(56.25 mass%),kaolin(15 mass%),zirconia(3.75 mass%),deionized water(25 mass%),and extra adding FS(0.2 mass%)and CMC(0.4 mass%).The effects of the active alumina particle size(d50=5.043,2.934,and 1.629μm)on the rheology and the thixotropy of the slurry were researched.It was found that the bimodal activeα-Al2O3(AMA-10)with d50=1.629μm was optimum.The secondary impregnation slurry was prepared using AMA-10,kaolin and zirconia as the main raw materials.Then the alumina-based reticulated porous ceramics were fabricated by the organic foam impregnation method combined with a secondary vacuum impregnation process.The influence of the AMA-10 content on the properties of the ceramics was studied.The residual stress of the specimens was analyzed by finite element analysis.The results show that the smaller alumina particle size and multimodal distribution are beneficial to the thixotropy of the primary impregnation slurry.The secondary vacuum impregnation technique can significantly improve the mechanical properties,the thermal shock resistance and the residual strength of the alumina-based reticulated porous ceramics.With the decrease of alumina content in the secondary impregnation slurry,the residual stress of the external layer of ceramic reinforcement gradually changes from tensile stress to compressive stress,which effectively inhibits the expansion of the surface crack,and remarkably improves the crushing strength retention ratio of alumina reticulated porous ceramics.

Synthesis and characterization of poly[(4-vinylphenyl)dimethyl-silane]-b-polybutadiene-b-poly[(4-vinylphenyl)dimethylsilane](PVPDMS-b-PBd-b-PVPDMS)

The novel functionalized triblock copolymers,poly[（4-vinylphenyl）dimethylsilane]-b-polybutadiene-b-poly[（4-vinylphenyl）-dimethylsilane] （PVPDMS-b-PBd-b-PVPDMS）,were synthesized by anionic polymerization method using high vacuum technique. The hydrocarbon-soluble dilithium initiator synthesized from l,3-di[l-（methylphenyl）ethenyl]benzene（MPEB） was used to synthesize polybutadiene（PBd） precursors and the triblock copolymers in the presence of sec-BuOLi.The precursors and copolymers were characterized by size exclusion chromatography（SEC）,~1HNMR and DSC techniques.