CO2 Reduction to Valuable Chemicals on TiO2-Carbon Photocatalysts Deposited on Silica Cloth

A new photocatalyst for CO2 reduction has been presented. The photocatalyst was prepared from a combination of a commercial P25 with a mesopore structure and carbon spheres with a microporous structure with high CO2 adsorption capacity. Then, the obtained hybrid TiO2-carbon sphere photocatalysts were deposited on a glass fiber fabric. The combined TiO2-carbon spheres/silica cloth photocatalysts showed higher efficiency in the two-electron CO2 reduction towards CO than in the eight-electron reaction to methane. The 0.5 g graphitic carbon spheres combined with 1 g of TiO2 P25 resulted in almost 100% selectivity to CO. From a practical point of view, this is promising as it economically eliminates the need to separate CO from the gas mixture after the reaction, which also contains CH4 and H2.

Hierarchical network enabled flexible textile pressure sensor with ultra-broad response range and high-temperature resistance

Thin, lightweight, and flexible textile pressure sensors with the ability to detect the full range of faint pressure (<100 Pa), low pressure (in the range of KPa) and high pressure (in the range of MPa) are in significant demand to meet the requirements for applications in daily activities and more meaningfully in some harsh environments, such as high temperature and high pressure. However, it is still a significant challenge to fulfill these requirements simultaneously in a single pressure sensor. Herein, a high-performance pressure sensor enabled by polyimide fiber fabric with functionalized carbon-nanotube (PI/FCNT) is obtained via a facile electrophoretic deposition (EPD) approach. High-density FCNT is evenly wrapped and chemically bonded to the fiber surface during the EPD process, forming a conductive hierarchical fiber/FCNT matrix. Benefiting from the large compressible region of PI fiber fabric, abundant yet firm contacting points, point-to-point contacting mode, and high elastic modulus of both PI and CNT, the proposed PI/FCNT pressure sensor can be customized and modulated to achieve both a wide linear ranges, ultra-broad sensing range, long-term stability and high-temperature resistance. Thanks to these merits, the proposed PI/FCNT(EPD) pressure sensor could monitor the human physiological information, detect tiny and extremely high pressure, can be integrated into an intelligent mechanical hand to detect the contact force under high-temperature (>300 ºC), endowing it with high applicability in the fields of real-time health monitoring, intelligent robots, and harsh environments.

Implications for the hierarchy problem, inflation and geodesic motion from fiber fabric of spacetime

In this paper, we represent a resolution for the hierarchy problem where the inverse size of the extra dimension and the fundamental Planck scale would all be of the order of the TeV scale by proposing a fiber fabric of spacetime. The origin of the large hierarchy is essentially due to the $$\cosh $$ cosh function which is physically originated from the dynamics of the horizontal metric in the vacuum of non-zero energy. In addition, the fiber fabric of spacetime allows us to resolve elegantly and naturally the problems of the chirality fermions and stabilizing potential for the size of the extra dimension, which are usually encountered in the higher dimensional theories. Then, we explore the inflation with the modulus of the extra dimension identified as the inflaton where our slow-roll inflationary model belongs to the E-model class with $$n=1$$ n = 1 . We calculate the main inflationary observables which are consistent with the present experiments. Finally, we study how the geodesic motion of neutral test particles gets modified from the extension of spacetime. We compute the radius of the photon sphere, the innermost stable circular orbit, the perihelion shift, the light bending angle, and the observables of the strong gravitational lensing and the retrolensing phenomenon. By comparing the predicted values with the experimental observations, we determine the constraints on the fiber fabric of spacetime.

The High-Temperature Tensile Test of Quartz Fiber Fabric- Reinforced Resin Composites

The tensile properties of quartz fiber fabric-reinforced resin composites at high temperature were studied. The effects of specimen type and dimension, temperature loading procedure, holding time and loading rate on the tensile properties of the composites at high temperatures were analyzed through series of comparative experiments, the tensile test parameters were determined. Chinese national standard for high-temperature tensile property testing of the composites was compiled based on the data collected. According to the established standard, the tensile testing at 500°C was carried out. Compared with the tensile properties at room temperature, the tensile strength and tensile modulus of the composite at high temperature decreases significantly, with the tensile strength decreasing by about 42.32% and the tensile modulus decreasing by about 24.18%. This is mainly due to the high temperature which causes part of the resin matrix to pyrolyze and detach from around the fiber, thus losing the integrity of the material. In addition, this national standard for high-temperature tensile properties has some general applicability to different types of fiber-reinforced resin composites.

Analysis of Mechanical Behavior of Different Needle Tip Shapes During Puncture of Carbon Fiber Fabric

In the present study, the fiber-bending around the needle during the piercing process of the carbon fabric is investigated. In this regard, a mathematical model is established to investigate the bending elongation of the carbon fiber around the needle and the interaction between the carbon fiber and the needle tip. Then the mechanical behavior of the carbon fabric when moving down the tip of the steel needle is analyzed. Based on the performed analysis, a shape curve equation that satisfies the puncture needle tip is established. Furthermore, the influence of different needle tip shapes on the mechanical behavior of the carbon fiber is analyzed. The performance of the needle tip is subjected to different loads, including the puncture template, horizontal tension of the fiber to the needle tip, frictional resistance between the fiber and the needle tip, sliding force, and the bending moment. The performed analysis shows that when the shape of the needle tip assumes the form of curve 10, the downward force, horizontal tension, friction resistance, sliding force, and bending moment are minimized. Accordingly, curve 10 is proposed as the optimal shape for the needle tip. The present study is expected to provide theoretical guidance for selecting overall puncture process parameters.