Compositional and Hollow Engineering of Silicon Carbide/Carbon Microspheres as High-Performance Microwave Absorbing Materials with Good Environmental Tolerance

Microwave absorbing materials(MAMs)characterized by high absorption efficiency and good environmental tolerance are highly desirable in practical applications.Both silicon carbide and carbon are considered as stable MAMs under some rigorous conditions,while their composites still fail to produce satisfactory microwave absorption performance regardless of the improvements as compared with the individuals.Herein,we have successfully implemented compositional and structural engineering to fabricate hollow Si C/C microspheres with controllable composition.The simultaneous modulation on dielectric properties and impedance matching can be easily achieved as the change in the composition of these composites.The formation of hollow structure not only favors lightweight feature,but also generates considerable contribution to microwave attenuation capacity.With the synergistic effect of composition and structure,the optimized SiC/C composite exhibits excellent performance,whose the strongest reflection loss intensity and broadest effective absorption reach-60.8 dB and 5.1 GHz,respectively,and its microwave absorption properties are actually superior to those of most SiC/C composites in previous studies.In addition,the stability tests of microwave absorption capacity after exposure to harsh conditions and Radar Cross Section simulation data demonstrate that hollow SiC/C microspheres from compositional and structural optimization have a bright prospect in practical applications.

Combination of a crude oil-degrading bacterial consortium under the guidance of strain tolerance and a pilot-scale degradation test

Under the guidance of strain tolerance, a new combination method for crude oil-degrading bacterial consortium was studied. Firstly, more than 50 efficient crude oil-degrading and biosurfactant producing bacteria were isolated from petroleum-contaminated soil and water in Tianjin Binhai New Area Oil field, China. Twenty-four of them were selected for further study. These strains were identified as belonging Pseudornonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Brevibacillus brevis, Achrornobacter sp., Acinetobacter venetianus, Lysinibacillus rnacroides, Klebsiella oxytoca, Stenotrophornonas rhizophila, Rhodococcus sp. and Bacillus thuringiensis. A shake-flask degradation test revealed that 12 of these strains could degrade over 50% of 1% crude oil concentration in 7 d. Of these, 8 strains were able to produce biosurfactants. Furthermore, environmental tolerance experiments indicated that the majority of the strains had the ability to adapt to extreme environments including high temperatures, alkaline en- vironments and high salinity environments. A mixed bacterial agent comprising the strains WB2, W2, W3 and HA was developed based on the environmental tolerance tests and subjected to the pilot-scale degradation test indicating that this bacterial agent could degrade 85.2% of 0.8% crude oil concentration in 60 d. Our results suggest that the application of this mixed agent could remediate crude oil polluted soils in saline and alkaline environments.

Experiment meets biogeography:plants of river corridor distribution are not more stress tolerant but benefit less from more benign conditions elsewhere

Aims Factors limiting distributions of species are fundamental to ecology and evolution but have rarely been addressed experimentally for multiple species.The conspicuous linear distribution patterns of plant species confined to river corridors in the Central European lowlands constitute an especially long-standing distribution puzzle.We experimentally tested our novel hypothesis that the tolerance of species to river corridor conditions is independent of the degree of confinement to river corridor habitats,but that species not confined to river corridors are better able to take advantage of the more benign non-river corridor conditions.Methods We grew 42 herbaceous species differing in their confinement to river corridors in a common garden experiment on loamy soil typical for river corridor areas and sandy soil typical for non-river corridor areas,and with and without a flooding period.For a subset of species,we grew plants of both river corridor and non-river corridor origin to test for adaptation to river corridor conditions.Important findings Species more confined to river corridor areas benefited less from the more benign non-flooded and non-river corridor soil conditions than species of wider distributional range did.For subsets of 7 and 12 widespread species,the response to flooding and soil origin,respectively,did not differ between plants from river corridor sites and plants from other sites,suggesting that the habitat tolerance of widespread species is due to phenotypic plasticity rather than to local adaptation.Overall,we found clear support for our novel hypothesis that species not confined to river corridors are more able to take advantage of the more benign non-river corridor conditions.Our study provides a general hypothesis on differences between species confined to stressful habitats and widespread species out for test in further multispecies comparative experiments.

强健超弹的蜘蛛网状聚酰亚胺纤维基导电复合气凝胶用于极端温度下的线性压力传感器

压力传感器是人工触觉感应的基石.尽管人们对高性能压力传感器进行了广泛的研究,但解决传感器的高灵敏度、宽线性响应范围和宽工作温度范围仍然面临巨大挑战.在此,我们创新性地应用三乙胺实现了疏水聚酰亚胺纤维(PIFs)在碳纳米管(CNT)水溶液中的均匀分散,同时纤维的结构不会受到破坏,并利用冻干和热酰亚胺化技术制备了强健超弹的蜘蛛网状(PIF/CNT)导电复合气凝胶.该气凝胶作为压力传感器具有宽线性感应范围(0.01-53.34 kPa)、超低检测限(10 Pa)、高灵敏度(0.507 kPa^(-1))、快速响应/恢复时间(85/80 ms)、稳定的快速压缩响应(500 mm min^(-1))和优异的抗循环疲劳能力(5000次)等优异的传感性能.有限元分析表明,多级纤维网络有利于相邻的导电纤维之间的接触面积在外部压力下有明显的线性变化,使之表现出优异的线性传感性能.该传感器可用于人体生理和运动信号检测、电子皮肤和智能控制,且在极端温度(-100-300℃)下表现出出色的传感稳定性和热绝缘性,可用于极端太空环境下太空服和月球/火星栖息地充气结构的传感单元.本工作为开发下一代线性压力传感器提供了一个简单有效的方法.

高灵敏度,超宽响应范围,环境耐受性高的多模式离子凝胶基传感器

近年来,离子类皮肤传感器因其高性能和良好的兼容性等优点而备受关注.然而,开发一种多功能、稳定、高灵敏度和耐用的离子类皮肤传感器仍面临挑战.本文通过简单的紫外引发聚合制备了具有良好耐用性、环境(抗冻、耐真空)稳定性、离子导电性、自愈性、高粘附性和拉伸性的复合离子凝胶.该离子凝胶可以组装为应变、压力和温度传感器,用于检测外部环境的变化.无论是作为应变传感器还是压力传感器,离子凝胶基传感器都具有高灵敏度(GF=14.7)、宽响应范围(1%-1600%)、快速响应时同(95.8 ms)、优异的稳定性和可重复性(1000次).因此,它不仅可以追踪关节运动,还可以监测细微的表情变化(皱眉).该离子凝胶还可以组装成敲击传感器和高精度书写板传感器,用于信息传递.此外,该传感器对温度变化具有较高的灵敏度,温度感知范围在0-120℃之间,且检测阈值较低(0.1℃).因此,基于离子凝胶的传感器有望应用于多功能电子和传感设备.

Success of native and invasive plant congeners depends on inorganic nitrogen compositions and levels

Aims Successful plant invaders usually exhibit three strategies:Jack-of-all-trades(more robust in stressful sites),Master-of-some(more responsive in favorable sites)and Jack-and-master(both robustness and responsiveness).To revisit these strategies,we examined how soil inorganic nitrogen(N)compositions and levels influence the success of native and invasive plant congeners in the context of plant communities.Methods We conducted an experiment involving three fixed factors:species origin,N composition and N level.Here,we selected 21 plant species(eight pairs of invasive and native congeners and five non-congeneric natives)to assemble plant communities,which were subject to nine N environments consisting of three N compositions(3:1,2:2 and 1:3 NO3−/NH4+)and three N levels(low,medium and high N).We determined the following metrics:total biomass,relative biomass(a proxy of species success),mortality rate and mortality time.Important Findings Across nine N environments,native and invasive congeners exhibited similar total biomass,relative biomass and mortality time,but invaders had a marginally lower mortality rate than natives.Similar success between native and invasive congeners was linked to their similar growth and tolerance.N compositions influenced mortality time and N levels affected the total biomass and relative biomass.Importantly,species origin,N composition and N level interactively affected the total biomass,relative biomass and mortality time.These findings suggest that native and invasive plant congeners may be similarly successful across different N environments,and that inorganic N compositions and levels both contribute to plant invasion success.

Probing the growth and mechanical properties of Bacillus subtilis biofilms through genetic mutation strategies

Bacterial communities form biofilms on various surfaces by synthesizing a cohesive and protective extracellular matrix,and these biofilms protect microorganisms against harsh environmental conditions.Bacillus subtilis is a widely used experimental species,and its biofilms are used as representative models of beneficial biofilms.Specifically,B.subtilis biofilms are known to be rich in extracellular polymeric substances(EPS)and other biopolymers such as DNA and proteins like the amyloid protein TasA and the hydrophobic protein BslA.These materials,which form an interconnected,cohesive,three-dimensional polymer network,provide the mechanical stability of biofilms and mediate their adherence to surfaces among other functional contributions.Here,we explored how genetically-encoded components specifically contribute to regulate the growth status,mechanical properties,and antibiotic resistance of B.subtilis biofilms,thereby establishing a solid empirical basis for understanding how various genetic engineering efforts are likely to affect the structure and function of biofilms.We noted discrete contributions to biofilm morphology,mechanical properties,and survival from major biofilm components such as EPS,TasA and BslA.For example,EPS plays an important role in maintaining the stability of the mechanical properties and the antibiotic resistance of biofilms,whereas BslA has a significant impact on the resolution that can be obtained for printing applications.This work provides a deeper understanding of the internal interactions of biofilm components through systematic genetic manipulations.It thus not only broadens the application prospects of beneficial biofilms,but also serves as the basis of future strategies for targeting and effectively removing harmful biofilms.