Significant effect of SDS on the optimum operating temperature of ZnO nanosheets gas-sensitive materials

Many methods have been used to reduce the operational energy consumption of ZnO gas-sensitive material effectively. In this paper, different morphologies of ZnO nanomaterials are respectively prepared in the anionic hydrophilic surfactant sodium lauryl sulfate (SDS) with different concentrations as soft templates by hydrothermal method. The influence of SDS concentrations is investigated on the morphology of materials under the conditions of a weak alkali environment with the same pH, and their gas sensitivity after annealing with the same temperature and time. The morphologies and phase structures of all samples are characterized by FESEM and XRD, and their gas-sensitive properties are analyzed by CGS-1TP. Interestingly, the experimental results show that the optimal working temperature of ZnO gas-sensitive materials containing low concentration SDS is reduced by nearly 55% than that of containing 10 times this concentration, and its sensitivity is also slightly improved. The possible mechanism by which the SDS concentration affects the gas sensitivity of the material is also proposed.

Hierarchical porous materials made by stereolithographic printing of photo-curable emulsions

Porous materials are relevant for a broad range of technologies from catalysis and filtration, to tissue engineering and lightweight structures. Controlling the porosity of these materials over multiple length scales often leads to enticing new functionalities and higher efficiency but has been limited by manufacturing challenges and the poor understanding of the properties of hierarchical structures. Here, we report an experimental platform for the design and manufacturing of hierarchical porous materials via the stereolithographic printing of stable photo-curable Pickering emulsions. In the printing process, the micron-sized droplets of the emulsified resins work as soft templates for the incorporation of microscale porosity within sequentially photo-polymerized layers. The light patterns used to polymerize each layer on the building stage further generate controlled pores with bespoke three-dimensional geometries at the millimetre scale. Using this combined fabrication approach, we create architectured lattices with mechanical properties tuneable over several orders of magnitude and large complex-shaped inorganic objects with unprecedented porous designs.

Facile synthesis of ultralong hydroxyapatite nanowire using wormlike micelles as soft templates

As a powerful self-assembly process, the soft-template method has attracted considerable scientific interest, but there is a challenge associated with ultralong hydroxyapatite nanowire (HAPNWs) with several tens of micro-scale length....

Engineering hollow carbon spheres: Directly from solid resin spheres to porous hollow carbon spheres via air induced linker cleaving

Hollow carbon spheres (HCSs) have broad application in many fields such as catalysis, adsorption and energy storage. Due to various restrictions on hard and soft templates, self-templating methods have...

Enhancing the crystallisation of insulin using amino acids as soft-templates to control nucleation

Amino acids have been widely used in protein formulations to increase the protein’s stability. In this study, amino acids have been introduced as soft-templates to control the nucleation of proteins....

Recognizing soft templates as stimulators in multivariate modulation of tin phosphate and its application in catalysis for alkyl levulinate synthesis

Soft template tunes and controls explicitly both morphology and nature of active sites during the synthesis of tin phosphate catalyst. This synthesis strategy helped in producing alkyl levulinate in high yields from one-pot alcoholysis of furfuryl alcohol.