High Rate and Low-Temperature Stable Lithium Metal Batteries Enabled by Lithiophilic 3D Cu-CuSn Porous Framework.

Lithium (Li) metal is regarded as the "Holy Grail" of anodes for high-energy rechargeable lithium batteries by virtue of its ultrahigh theoretical specific capacity and the lowest redox potential. However, the Li dendrite impedes the practical application of Li metal anodes. Herein, lithiophilic three-dimensional Cu-CuSn porous framework (3D Cu-CuSn) was fabricated by a vapor phase dealloying strategy via the difference in saturated vapor pressure between different metals and the Kirkendall effect. CuSn alloy sites were converted into LiSn alloy sites through the molten Li infusion method, and composite Li metal anodes (3D Cu-LiSn-Li) are achieved. Alloyed tin, as the bridge between the porous copper substrate and metallic Li, plays a critical role in optimizing Li nucleation and enhancing the fast lithium migration kinetics. This work demonstrates that lithiophilic binary copper alloys are an effective way to achieve room-temperature high rate performance and satisfied low-temperature cycling stability for Li metal batteries.

Growth of Black Phosphorus Nanobelts and Microbelts.

Black phosphorus nanobelts are fabricated with a one-step solid-liquid-solid reaction method under ambient pressure, where red phosphorus is used as the precursor instead of white phosphorus. The thickness of the as-fabricated nanobelts ranges from micrometers to tens of nanometers as studied by scanning electron microscopy. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction indicate that the nanobelts have the composition and the structure of black phosphorus, transmission electron microscopy reveals a typical layered structure stacked along the b-axis, and scanning transmission electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis demonstrates the doping of bismuth into the black phosphorus structure. The nanobelt can be directly measured in scanning tunneling microscopy in ambient conditions.

Achieving High Strength and High Conductivity of Cu-6 wt%Ag Sheets by Controlling the Aging Cooling Rate.

In this paper, Cu-6 wt%Ag alloy sheets were prepared using vacuum induction melting, heat treatment, and cold working rolling. We investigated the influence of the aging cooling rate on the microstructure and properties of Cu-6 wt%Ag alloy sheets. By reducing the cooling rate of the aging treatment, the mechanical properties of the cold-rolled Cu-6 wt%Ag alloy sheets were improved. The cold-rolled Cu-6 wt%Ag alloy sheet achieves a tensile strength of 1003 MPa and an electrical conductivity of 75% IACS (International Annealing Copper Standard), which is superior to the alloy fabricated with other methods. SEM characterization shows that the change in properties of the Cu-6 wt%Ag alloy sheets with the same deformation is due to a precipitation of the nano-Ag phase. The high-performance Cu-Ag sheets are expected to be used as Bitter disks for water-cooled high-field magnets.

The Application of Stimuli-Sensitive Actuators Based on Graphene Materials.

Graphene-based materials that can spontaneously response to external stimulations have triggered rapidly increasing research interest for developing smart devices due to their excellent electrical, mechanical and thermal properties. The specific behaviors as bending, curling, and swing are benefit for designing and fabricating the smart actuation system. In this minireview, we overview and summarize some of the recent advancements of stimuli-responsive actuators based on graphene materials. The external stimulus usually is as electrical, electrochemical, humid, photonic, and thermal. The advancement and industrialization of graphene preparation technology would push forward the rapid progress of graphene-based actuators and broaden their application including smart sensors, robots, artificial muscles, intelligent switch, and so on.

Virtual substrate method for nanomaterials characterization.

Characterization techniques available for bulk or thin-film solid-state materials have been extended to substrate-supported nanomaterials, but generally non-quantitatively. This is because the nanomaterial signals are inevitably buried in the signals from the underlying substrate in common reflection-configuration techniques. Here, we propose a virtual substrate method, inspired by the four-point probe technique for resistance measurement as well as the chop-nod method in infrared astronomy, to characterize nanomaterials without the influence of underlying substrate signals from four interrelated measurements. By implementing this method in secondary electron (SE) microscopy, a SE spectrum (white electrons) associated with the reflectivity difference between two different substrates can be tracked and controlled. The SE spectrum is used to quantitatively investigate the covering nanomaterial based on subtle changes in the transmission of the nanomaterial with high efficiency rivalling that of conventional core-level electrons. The virtual substrate method represents a benchmark for surface analysis to provide 'free-standing' information about supported nanomaterials.

Achievement of practical level critical current densities in Ba1-xKxFe2As2/Ag tapes by conventional cold mechanical deformation.

The recently discovered iron-based superconductors are potential candidates for high-field magnet applications. However, the critical current densities (J(c)) of iron-based superconducting wires remain far below the level needed for practical applications. Here, we show that the transport Jc of Ba1-xKxFe2As2/Ag tapes is significantly enhanced by the combination process of cold flat rolling and uniaxial pressing. At 4.2 K, Jc exceeds the practical level of 10(5) A/cm(2) in magnetic fields up to 6 T. The J(c)-H curve shows extremely small magnetic field dependence and maintains a high value of 8.6 × 10(4) A/cm(2) in 10 T. These are the highest values reported so far for iron-based superconducting wires. Hardness measurements and microstructure investigations reveal that the superior J(c) in our samples is due to the high core density, more textured grains, and a change in the microcrack structure. These results indicate that iron-based superconductors are very promising for high magnetic field applications.

High critical current density and low anisotropy in textured Sr1-xKxFe2As2 tapes for high field applications.

From the application point of view, large critical current densities J(c) (H) for superconducting wires are required, preferably for magnetic fields higher than 5 T. Here we show that strong c-axis textured Sr(1-x)K(x)Fe(2)As(2) tapes with nearly isotropic transport J(c) were fabricated by an ex-situ powder-in-tube (PIT) process. At 4.2 K, the J(c) values show extremely weak magnetic field dependence and reach high values of 1.7 × 10(4) A/cm(2) at 10 T and 1.4 × 10(4) A/cm(2) at 14 T, respectively, these values are by far the highest ever reported for iron based wires and approach the J(c) level desired for practical applications. Transmission electron microscopy investigations revealed that amorphous oxide layers at grain boundaries were significantly reduced by Sn addition which resulted in greatly improved intergranular connectivity. Our results demonstrated the strong potential of using iron based superconductors for high field applications.