Micro-nano structured functional coatings deposited by liquid plasma spraying

Inspired by the micro-nano structure on the surface of biological materials or living organisms,micro-nano structure has been widely investigated in the field of functional coatings.Due to its large specific surface area,porosity,and dual-scale structure,it has recently attracted special attention.The typical fabrication processes of micro-nano structured coatings include sol-gel,hydrothermal synthesis,chemical vapor deposition,etc.This paper presents the main features of a recent deposition and synthesis technique,liquid plasma spraying(LPS).LPS is an important technical improvement of atmospheric plasma spraying.Compared with atmospheric plasma spraying,LPS is more suitable for preparing functional coatings with micro-nano structure.Micro-nano structured coatings are mainly classified into hierarchical-structure and binary-structure.The present study reviews the preparation technology,structural characteristics,functional properties,and potential applications of LPS coatings with a micro-nano structure.The micro-nano structured coatings obtained through tailoring the structure will present excellent performances.

Microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of copper oxide-based gas-sensitive nanostructures

Hydrothermal methods are widely used in chemical synthesis of target products with specific morphology and nanostructure.Those methods are very efficient for the preparation of well-controlled structures but the reaction time is usually long.The assistance of microwave makes the reaction system heat up faster,more uniformly and reactions are accelerated,it also can be utilized to change the morphology or structure of materials,which improves the physic-chemical properties of synthesized products and influences its gas-sensing performance.Copper oxide(CuO)is widely applied in semiconductor gas sensors because of its good reactivity and stability.This review article briefly introduces the principle,mechanism and recent development of CuO nanostructures obtained by microwave-as sis ted hydrothermal synthesis(MWHS)process.It also discussed the relation between endopathic factors of material and its gas-sensitive performance.The technical challenges and prospective solutions for highperformance CuO-based gas-sensitive materials with unique nanostructure are proposed.It is pointed out that the hierarchical CuO-based nanostructures and their composite materials prepared by MWHS process are efficacious methods to improve the gas-sensitive performance of the materials.On the basis of the morphology,the materials are divided into nanorods,nanoflowers,nanosheets,nanospheres and other nanostructures.The influence of microwave parameters on the properties of synthetic products is analyzed.The influence followed by metal element loading on the structure and properties of CuO-based materials by MWHS process is further discussed.Then this review summarizes the research progress of graphene-CuO and metal oxide-CuO composites prepared by MWHS process in recent years.