Nickel-coated carbon nanotubes (Ni-CNTs) were achieved by electroless plating. Laser cladded IN718 and IN718 with 10, 30, and 50 wt% additions of Ni-CNTs were fabricated. The structural evolution of CNTs in the laser-deposited layers was studied; the microstructure, tensile, and wear properties of the laser-cladded alloys were characterized. The results show that CNTs in the laser-deposited layers are mostly transformed to carbon nanoproducts (CNPs) in the forms of graphene nanosheets, graphene fragments, carbon nanoribbons, and diamond-like nanoparticles by unzipping, interbonding, collapsing, and curvature of CNTs. The interdendritic Laves phase formation is dramatically depressed due to the addition of Ni-CNTs, but the excess addition of the Ni-CNTs can undesirably increase the formation of NbC. The addition of Ni-CNTs effectively improves the tensile and wear properties. The most superior tensile and wear properties are achieved in the layers with 30 and 50 wt% additions of Ni-CNTs, respectively. The generation of intermetallic phase and CNPs are revealed to be two dominant effects both on the tensile and wear properties of the laser-cladded alloys.

We report a facile method to fabricate CuNi nano-octahedra and nanocubes using a colloidal synthesis approach. The CuNi nanocrystals terminated with exclusive crystallographic facets were controlled and achieved by a group of synergetic capping ligands in a hot solution system. Specifically, the growth of {111}-bounded CuNi nano-octahedra is derived by a thermodynamic control, whereas the generation of {100}-terminated CuNi nanocubes is steered by a kinetic capping of chloride. Using a reduction of 4-nitrophenol with sodium borohydride as a model reaction, CuNi nano-octahedra and nanocubes demonstrated a strong facet-dependence due to their different surface energies although both exhibited remarkable catalytic activity with the high rate constant over mass (k/m). A kinetic study indicated that this is a pseudo first-order reaction with an excess of sodium borohydride. CuNi nanocubes as the catalysts showed better catalytic performance (k/m = 385 s-1•g-1) than the CuNi nano-octahedra (k/m = 120 s-1•g-1), indicating that 4-nitrophenol and hydrogen were adsorbed on the {100} facets with their molecules parallel to the surface much easier than those on {111} facets.

The fundamental solution to steady ship waves accounting for viscous effects (the viscous-ship-wave Green function) is investigated within the framework of the weakly damped free-surface flow theory. An explicit expression of the viscous-ship-wave Green function is firstly derived, and an accurate and efficient technique is described to evaluate the Green function via decomposing the free-surface term into the local-flow component and wave component. To delve into the physical features of the viscous-ship-wave Green function, the asymptotic approximations in the far field due to Kelvin, Havelock and Peters are presented for the flow-field point located inside, at and outside the Kelvin wedge. In addition, uniform approximations to the wave component based on the Chester–Friedman–Ursell (CFU) approximation and the Kelvin–Havelock–Peters (KHP) approximation are carried out. Both numerical evaluation and asymptotic approximations show that the singular behaviour is eliminated and the divergent waves associated with large wavenumbers leading to rapid oscillations are severely damped when viscous effects are accounted for. In addition, viscous effects also alter the apparent wake angle associated with the wave pattern created by a high-speed translating source, and the apparent wake angle is dependent on both $\mathscr{U}^{-1}$ and $\mathscr{U}^{-2}$, where $\mathscr{U}$ is the translating speed of the source.

In this contribution, we devoted ourselves to fabricating aggregation-induced emission (AIE) activity copolymers via one-pot combination of RAFT polymerization and Biginelli reaction for the first time. When the feeding ratio of TPB was 33.5%, the molar fraction of TPB was, respectively, about 14.2 and 22.5% in PEG-PTE1 copolymers by two-step strategy and PEG-PTE2 copolymers by one-pot strategy with the similar structure. The Mn of PEG-PTE1 increased to 59,300 from 52,800 of PEG-AE presoma with narrow PDI, which was more than Mn of PEG-PTE2 with 52,300. As compared with PEG-PTE2, when the feeding ratio of TPB was 48.6%, the molar fraction of TPB increased to 32.6% in PEG-PTE3. In aqueous solution, the as-obtained PEG-PTE2 copolymers can self-assemble into fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs) with 100–180 nm spherical morphology, the maximal emission peak of which presented at 460 nm with the obvious AIE phenomenon. Moreover, due to the low toxicity and excellent cell dyeing behavior, the as-prepared PEG-PTE2 copolymers displayed great potential for biomedical applications.

The 2Cr13/316L multilayered composite plates were fabricated by hot rolling with recycle heating step. The effect of rolling reductions on microstructure and properties was investigated. The 2Cr13 layer consists of martensite and lath ferrite, but the middle layer has less ferrite than both sides. The content and grains of ferrite increase with the increase of the reduction and number of reheating, which leads to a decrease in the hardness of the 2Cr13 layer. The hardness of the 2Cr13 layer is determined by the volume ratio of martensite and ferrite. Tensile strength of the specimens with the rolling reduction of 72% and 82% reached 815.8 MPa and 763.4 MPa, while elongations were 20% and 20.8%, respectively. With the increase of the rolling reduction, the fracture mode also changed from cleavage fracture to dimple fracture. There were no cracks and delamination when the 2Cr13/316L composite plate bent to 130° and 180°, which indicated better interfacial bonding.

Designing advanced nonprecious metal electrocatalysts to reduce overpotential and accelerate hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) has attracted considerable attention. However, improving the sluggish kinetics for electrocatalytic HER in alkaline media is still a great challenge. Herein, we found that amorphous NiO nanoclusters directly grown on nickel foam (NiO/NF) as a bifunctional HER catalyst demonstrated an ultrahigh electrocatalytic activity in alkaline environment. Such excellent HER performance of NiO/NF might mainly originate from the exposed interfaces of metallic Ni and amorphous NiO. The coordinatively unsaturated amorphous NiO domain is propitious to the adsorption of water molecule and the successive cleavage of HO–H bond, while the neighboring metallic Ni domain is beneficial to the adsorption of resulting Hads intermediate and recombination into hydrogen molecules, thus expediting the HER toward lower overpotential. These findings may open a window to the design and preparation of earth-abundant, low-cost metal oxide/metal electrocatalysts with desirable HER activities.

Population decline among Asian horseshoe crabs in Asia is increasingly reported, but knowledge of their population and ecological status in China is limited. We conducted community interviews in 30 fishing villages around Beibu Gulf in Guangxi, China, to collect distribution information about the potential spawning/nursery grounds of Tachypleus tridentatus and Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda, and any imminent threats to their populations. Based on the results from 400 respondents we identified 45 potential spawning/nursery grounds distributed widely along the shores of Beibu Gulf. We visited 10 of these sites and verified the presence of juvenile horseshoe crabs by field surveys. Nearly all respondents reported an overall depletion in horseshoe crab populations from these 45 sites, which they attributed mainly to unsustainable fishing practices. Respondents who reported having seen horseshoe crab mating pairs on shores were mostly older people, which may suggest a considerable reduction in horseshoe crabs coming to the shores to spawn in recent years. The mean daily harvest of adult T. tridentatus offshore, as indicated by fishers, has declined from c. 50–1,000 in the 1990s to 0–30 individuals during 2011–2016. Our Wisdom of Crowds approach, supported by confirmatory field surveys, is a cost-effective method for assessing the population status of horseshoe crabs, and the level of threat they face. Similar approaches with other species are likely to be particularly valuable in the Asia–Pacific region, where well-structured population monitoring is largely unaffordable.

The thermal properties of organic membranes attract much attention due to the fact that heat dissipation in electronic devices limits their functionality and reliability. Here, we enhance the thermal conductivity of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) membrane using nano-fibers fabricated by electrospinning. Measured by the 3-Omega method, the results show that the effective thermal conductivity of the electrospinning membranes (with/without Cu nanoparticles) are as high as 0.7 W/m-K at room temperature which is as twice as the value of thermal conductivity of amorphous spin-coated PVA membrane (0.35 W/m-K). The mechanism of enhancement are that, compared with amorphous membrane, the phonon scattering is attenuated and the crystallinity is improved in the electrospinning process. Our studies bring new insights in designing new kind of membrane with high thermal conductivity.

Nanomaterials have been intensively studied over the past decades with many advantages over traditional bulk materials in many applications. Nanomaterials' properties are largely governed by their chemical compositions, sizes, shapes, dimensions, morphologies and structures, which are primarily controlled with the chemical and/or physical fabrication methods and processes. This prospective will highlight recent progress on the modifications of oxide nanomaterials' properties by hydrogenation, namely heat treatment under hydrogen or hydrogen plasma environment, for various applications.