The precise control of curing reaction parameters allows a better crosslinking polymer. Modelling and optimization of this process require a correct kinetic of curing model. The kinetics of the crosslinking reaction is studied for the ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) synthetic elastomer by mobile die rheometer (MDR). The kinetic parameters of reaction were calculated from Kamal-Ryan, Sestak-Berggren, and the Isayev-Deng methods at different temperatures. An Arrhenius-type function for the order of reaction n is introduced to improve the adjusting. Finally, a graphical and analytical description of the cure kinetics was developed. The order of reaction is predicted to better establishment of processing time. It was noted that for EPDM at higher temperatures, the increase of the rate of reaction occurs in short period of time, which could cause premature curing if the supply system is inadequate.

Pt/Ce1-xRuxO2 and Ir/Ce1-xRuxO2 catalysts were prepared through the sol-gel technique, under microwave heating. In a first step, the Ce1-xRuxO2 solid solutions were prepared. Subsequently, an incipient wet impregnation process was carried out to homogeneously achieve the dispersion, either of platinum or iridium nanoparticles. The Pt/Ce1-xRuxO2 and Ir/Ce1-xRuxO2 catalysts were characterized by means of SEM, XRD, XPS, TEM, and specific surface area measurements. Crystal size and shifting into the CeO2 structure were detected after ruthenium doping producing the Ce1-xRuxO2 solid-solutions. Trough XPS technique Pt and Ir nanoparticles were found evenly dispersed in a metallic state. Those features allow us to foresee that, in the near future, these materials could be used efficiently as catalysts for oxidation process.

The behavior of electron and hole transport in semiconductor materials is influenced by lattice-mismatch at the interface. It is well known that carrier scattering in a confined region is dramatically reduced. In this work, we studied the effects of coupling both the strain and confinement simultaneously. We report on the fabrication and characterization of nanoscale planar, wall-like, and wire-like Si/SiO2 structures. As the Si nanostructure dimensions were scaled down to the quantum regime by thermal oxidation of the Si, changes to the band structure and carrier effective mass were observed by both optical and electrical techniques. Transient-time response measurements were performed to examine the carrier generation and recombination behavior as a function of scaling. Signal rise times decreased for both carrier types by an order of magnitude as Si dimensions were reduced from 200 to 10 nm, meaning that the carrier velocity is increasing with smaller scale structures. This result is indicative of decreased Si bandgap energy and carrier effective mass. Photoluminescence measurements taken at 50K showed changes in the PL response peak energies, which illustrates changes in the band structure, as the Si/SiO2 dimensions are scaled.

Polypyrrole (PPy) thin films were synthetized by plasma and simultaneously doped with Iodine to enhance electromagnetic absorption and charge transfer capability in a resistive coupling cylindrical reactor. Pyrrole monomer and Iodine were the principal reagents used and the chemical reactions were created by high frequency plasma. Micrographs show an irregular surface formed by semi-spherical protrusions with tiny particles in the PPy/I samples and a rather smooth surface with wrinkles and less participation of tiny particles to PPy ones. Infrared spectroscopy analysis reveals important absorption peaks at 3253, 2932, 1668 and 635 cm-1 corresponding to the chemical bonds N-H and C-H, C-H aliphatic, C=C and C-I, respectively, belonging to the chemical structure of Pyrrole. Electrical conductivity of PPy increased from 10-10 to 10-8 S/cm due to Iodine doping. Electromagnetic absorption showed a higher response between 340 and 800 nm in the visible region. Activation energy was calculated in the range from -0.09 to 0.49 eV.

Effect of Ni:Al blending ratio on porous structure of porous nickel aluminides fabricated through reactive synthesis with space holder particles were investigated. Fabricated porous nickel aluminides had large pores derived from NaCl space holder particles and small pores derived from reactions between Ni and Al. Porosity and size of the small pores increased with increasing Al content in the raw powder mixture. Compressive property of porous NiAl are also investigated. porous NiAl exhibited good energy-absorption properties with relatively high plateau stress, high plateau end strain, and relatively flat plateau stress. This study suggests the possibility of intermetallic-based porous materials as high-performance energy absorber.

Phosphonated graphene oxide (pGO) has been incorporated to sulfonated poly(styrene-isobutylene-styrene) (SO3H SIBS) to prepare polymer nanocomposite membranes (PNMs) for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) and chemical and biological protective clothing (CBPC) applications. The performance of the membranes was evaluated per SIBS sulfonation level (i.e. 38, 61, and 90 mole %), filler type (i.e. GO and pGO) and filler loading (i.e. 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 wt.%). The transport properties (i.e. proton conductivity and methanol and vapor permeability) were determined to assess the performance of the PNMs per each application. The ionic interactions between the phosphonic and sulfonic groups (i.e. PO3H2 and SO3H, respectively) altered the pathways of SO3H SIBS, influencing the transport of permeants through the membranes. SIBS 61 pGO 0.1 presented the highest separation efficiency and a DMFC performance comparable to the state-of-the-art Nafion®, indicating that this membrane could potentially be implemented as protective fabric as well as functioning for fuel cell applications.

Prior research into the liquid-phase exfoliation of graphite to produce few-layer graphene has focused primarily on the surface energy matching between graphite and solvent; however, the effect of other solvent properties, such as liquid viscosity, have not been systematically explored. In principle, a higher viscosity solvent should enable the production of graphene and other graphitic nanomaterials by liquid-phase exfoliation at lower shear rates than traditionally used organic solvents of low viscosity, such as N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP). Thus, at a given shear rate, more material should be exfoliated in the higher viscosity solvent. Hence, graphite suspensions in NMP, benzyl benzoate, and propylene glycol were exfoliated at various shear rates in a rheometer. Exfoliant concentrations were measured by ultraviolet- visual (UV-vis) spectroscopy and quality characterization was performed by Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Graphite exfoliation in the more viscous propylene glycol solvent resulted in a higher exfoliant concentration than in the less viscous NMP and benzyl benzoate solvents across all shear rates. Benzyl benzoate lowered exfoliant levels, likely due to a poor surface energy match, resulting in particle attraction and aggregation. Characterization showed that at least some of our material is few-layer graphene.

Effects of microstructure constituents of α2-Ti3Al/γ-TiAl lamellae, β-Ti grains and γ grains, with various volume fractions on room-temperature ductility of γ-TiAl based alloys have been studied. The ductility of the alloys containing β phase of about 20% in volume increases to more than 1% as the volume fraction of γ phase increases to 80%. However, γ single phase alloys show very limited ductility of less than 0.2%. The present results, thus, confirmed the significant contribution of β phase to enhancement of the room-temperature ductility in multi-component TiAl alloys.

We presented a green and simple method to synthesize carbon nanodots (C-dots) from millets using hydrothermal synthesis route for the first time. The obtained C-dots have average diameter ranging from 6 to 10 nm. Optical measurements showed the insight into the formation of functional groups on the particle surfaces, resulting in their good water solubility and bioconjugation. After treatment with C-dots, small subpopulation of the human cervical tumor cells became bright and exhibited multicolor fluorescence under different excitation wavelength. The achievement demonstrated potential applications of fluorescent C-dots in the field of biomedical application.

It has been demonstrated that the introduction of NaCl can significantly improve the quality of monolayer WS2 at the growth temperatures ranging from 700°C to 850°C by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) without the assistant of hydrogen. Here, the influence of NaCl on the nucleation and growth of WS2 has been thoroughly investigated. The morphology and quality of WS2 grown with different temperatures are discussed by optical microscope, Raman and Photoluminescence (PL) spectra. It was found that amount of NaCl can efficiently influence the morphology and quality of WS2 crystals. PL intensity of WS2 crystal increases around three times from the center region to the edge of an individual domain, which may be attributed to the appearance of small triangle hollows formed during the growth at the edge of single crystal WS2.