For the present paper, we prepared MgO/MWCNT/TiO2 photocatalyst by using multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs) pre-oxidized by m-chlorperbenzoic acid (MCPBA) with magnesium acetate tetrahydrate (Mg(CH2COO)2·4H2O)and titanium n-butoxide (TiOC(CH3)34) as magnesium and titanium precursors. The prepared photocatalyst was analyzed byX-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The decompositionof methylene blue (MB) solution was determined under irradiation of ultraviolet (UV) light. The XRD results show that theMgO/MWCNT/TiO2 photocatalyst have cubic MgO structure and anatase TiO2 structure. The porous structure and the TiO2agglomerate coated on the MgO/MWCNT composite can be observed in SEM images. The Mg, O, Ti and C elements can bealso observed in MgO/MWCNT/TiO2 photocatalyst from EDX results. The results of photodegradation of MB solution under UVlight show that the concentration of MB solution decreased with an increase of UV irradiation time for all of the samples. Also,the MgO/MWCNT/TiO2 photocatalyst has the best photocatalytic activity among these samples. It can be considered that theMgO/MWCNT/TiO2 photocatalyst had a combined effect, the effect of MWCNT, which could absorb UV light to create photo-induced electrons (e−), and the electron trapping effect of MgO, which resulted in an increase of the photocatalytic activity of TiO2.
Transparent conducting aluminum-doped ZnO thin films were deposited using a sol-gel process. In this study, the important deposition parameters were investigated thoroughly to determine the appropriate procedures to grow large area thin films with low resistivity and high transparency at low cost for device applications. The doping concentration of aluminum was adjusted in a range from 1 to 4 mol% by controlling the precursor concentration. The annealing temperatures for the pre-heat treatment and post-heat treatment was 250˚C and 400-600˚C, respectively. The SEM images show that Al doped and undoped ZnO films were quite uniform and compact. The XRD pattern shows that the Al doped ZnO film has poorer crystallinity than the undoped films. The crystal quality of Al doped ZnO films was improved with an increase of the annealing temperature to 600˚C. Although the structure of the aluminum doped ZnO films did not have a preferred orientation along the (002) plane, these films had high transmittance (> 87%) in the visible region. The absorption edge was observed at approximately 370 nm, and the absorption wavelength showed a blue-shift with increasing doping concentration. The ZnO films annealed at 500˚C showed the lowest resistivity at 1 mol% Al doping.
For this paper, we investigated the area specific resistance (ASR) of commercially available ferritic stainless steels with different chemical compositions for use as solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) interconnect. After 430h of oxidation, the STS446M alloy demonstrated excellent oxidation resistance and low ASR, of approximately 40 mΩcm2, of the thermally grown oxide scale, compared to those of other stainless steels. The reason for the low ASR is that the contact resistance between the Pt paste and the oxide scale is reduced due to the plate-like shape of the Cr2O3(s). However, the acceptable ASR level is considered to be below 100 mΩcm2 after 40,000 h of use. To further improve the electrical conductivity of the thermally grown oxide on stainless steels, the Co layer was deposited on the stainless steel by means of an electroless deposition method; it was then thermally oxidized to obtain the Co3O4 layer, which is a highly conductive layer. With the increase of the Co coating thickness, the ASR value decreased. For Co deposited STS444 with 2 μmhickness, the measured ASR at 800˚ after 300 h oxidation is around 10 mΩcm2, which is lower than that of the STS446M, which alloy has a lower ASR value than that of the non-coated STS. The reason for this improved high temperature conductivity seems to be that the Mn is efficiently diffused into the coating layer, which diffusion formed the highly conductive (Mn,Co)3O4 spinel phases and the thickness of the Cr2O3(S), which is the rate controlling layer of the electrical conductivity in the SOFC environment and is very thin
A SrAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+ phosphor powder with stuffed tridymite structure was synthesized by glycine-nitratecombustion method. The luminescence, formation process and microstructure of the phosphor powder were investigated bymeans of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The XRDpatterns show that the as-synthesized SrAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+ phosphor was an amorphous phase. However, a crystalline SrAl2O4phase was formed by calcining at 1200oC for 4h. From the SEM analysis, also, it was found that the as-synthesizedSrAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+ phosphor was in irregular porous particles of about 50µm, while the calcined phosphor was aggregated inspherical particles with radius of about 0.5µm. The emission spectrum of as-synthesized SrAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+ phosphor did notappear, due to the amorphous phase. However, the emission spectrum of the calcined phosphor was observed at 520nm(2.384eV); it showed green emission peaking, in the range of 450~650nm. The excitation spectrum of the SrAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+phosphor exhibits a maximum peak intensity at 360nm (3.44eV) in the range of 250~480nm. After the removal of the pulseXe-lamp excitation (360nm), also, the decay time for the emission spectrum was very slow, which shows the excellent long-phosphorescent property of the phosphor, although the decay time decreased exponentially.
In fabricating plasma display panels, the photolithographic process is used to form patterns of barrier ribs with high accuracy and high aspect ratio. It is important in the photolithographic process to control the refractive index of the photosensitive paste. The composition of this paste for photolithography is based on the B2O3-SiO2-Al2O3 glass system, including additives of alkali oxides and rare earth oxides. In this work, we investigated the density, structure and refractive index of glasses based on the B2O3-SiO2-Al2O3 system with the addition of Li2O, K2O, Na2O, CaO, SrO, and MgO. The refractive index of the glasses containing K2O, Na2O and CaO was similar to that of the [BO3] fraction while that of the SrO, MgO and Li2O containing glasses were not correlated with the coordination fraction. The coordination number of the boron atoms was measured by MAS NMR. The refractive index increased with a decrease of molar volume due to the increase in the number of non-bridging oxygen atoms and the polarizability. The lowest refractive index (1.485) in this study was that of the B2O3-SiO2-Al2O3-K2O glass system due to the larger ionic radius of K+. Based on our results, it has been determined that the refractive index of the B2O3-SiO2-Al2O3 system should be controlled by the addition of alkali oxides and alkali earth oxides for proper formation of the photosensitive paste.
MgTiO3 thin films were prepared by r.f. magnetron sputtering in order to prepare miniaturized NPO type MLCCs.MgTiO3 films showed a polycrystalline structure of ilmenite characterized by the appearance of (110) and (202) peaks. Theintensity of the peaks decreased with an increase in the chamber pressure due to the decrease of crystallinity which resultedfrom the decrease of kinetic energy of the sputtered atoms. The films annealed at 600oC for 60min. showed a fine grainedmicrostructure without micro-cracks. The grain size and roughness of the MgTiO3 films decreased with the increase of chamberpressure. The average surface roughness was 1.425~0.313nm for MgTiO3 films prepared at 10~70mTorr. MgTiO3 films showeda dielectric constant of 17~19.7 and a dissipation factor of 2.1~4.9% at 1MHz. The dielectric constant of the films is similarto that of bulk ceramics. The dielectric constant and the dissipation factor decreased with the increase of the chamber pressuredue to the decrease of grain size and crystallinity. The leakage current density was 10−5~10−7A/cm2 at 200kV/cm and this valuedecreased with the increase of the chamber pressure. The small grain size and smooth surface microstructure of the filmsdeposited at high chamber pressure resulted in a low leakage current density. MgTiO3 films showed a near zero temperaturecoefficient and satisfied the specifications for NPO type materials. The dielectric properties of the MgTiO3 thin films preparedby sputtering suggest the feasibility of their application for MLCCs.
The usual ceramic process of mixing and milling in state of oxides ZrO2 and CeO2 was adopted in this study in a wet process to manufacture Ce-TZP. CeO2-ZrO2 ceramics containing 8~20 mol% CeO2 were made by heat treatment at 1250~1500˚C for 5hr. The maximum dispersion point of every slurry manufactured with a mixture of ZrO2 and CeO2 was neat at pH10. A stable slurry with average particle size of 90 nm can be manufactured when it is dispersed with the use of ammonia water and polycarboxylic acid ammonium. The sintered Ce-TZP ceramics manufactured with the addition of CeO2 in a concentration of less than 10 mol% progressed to the fracture of the specimen due to the existence of a monoclinic phase of more than 30% at room temperature. More than 99% of the tetragonal phase was created for the sintered body with the addition of CeO2 beyond 18 mol%, but the degradation of the mechanical properties on the entire specimen was brought about due to the CeO2 existing in a percentage above 3%. Consequently, the optimal Ce-TZP level combined in the oxide state was identified to be 16 mol% of CeO2 contents.
Twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steels have attracted great attention due to their excellent mechanical properties of high tensile strength (over 800MPa) and high ductility (over 50%), which result from the high strain hardening due to the mechanical twin formation during plastic deformation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of annealing temperature and alloying elements on the mechanical properties of Fe-18Mn-0.6C TWIP steel. In 1.5%Al TWIP steel with 0.123%Ti content, the average recrystallized grain size was reduced to 2.5 μm by cold rolling and annealing at 800˚C for 5 min, because of the pinning effect of the fine TiC carbides on grain coarsening. The tensile strength was decreased and the ductility was improved with the increase of the annealing temperature. However, a reversion of hardness and yield strength happened between 750˚C and 800˚C due to TiC and M3C type precipitation. 0.56% Ni added TWIP steel exhibited relatively lower yield strength, because Ni precipitates were not formed during the annealing process. When this specimen was annealed at 800˚C for 5min, the tensile strength and elongation were revealed at 1096MPa and 61.8%, respectively.
The electrospinning process was established as a promising method to fabricate nano and micro-textured scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. A BCP-loaded PCL micro-textured scaffold thus can be a viable option. The biocompatibility as well as the mechanical properties of such scaffold materials should be optimized for this purpose. In this study, a composite scaffold of poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL)-biphase calcium phosphate (BCP) was successfully fabricated by electrospinning. EDS and XRD data show successful loading of BCP nano particles in the PCL fibers. Morphological characterization of fibers shows that with a higher loaded BCP content the fiber surface was rougher and the diameter was approximately 1 to 7 μm. Tensile modulus and ultimate tensile stress reached their highest values in the PCL- 10 wt% BCP composite. When content of nano ceramic particles was low, they were dispersed in the fibers as reinforcements for the polymer matrix. However, at a high content of ceramic particles, the particles tend to agglomerate and lead to decreasing tensile modulus and ultimate stress of the PCL-BCP composite mats. Therefore, the use of nano BCP content for distribution in fiber polymer using BCP for reinforcement is limited. Tensile strain decreased with increasing content of BCP loading. From in vitro study using MG-63 osteoblast cells and L-929 fibroblast like cells, it was confirmed that electrospun PCL-BCP composite mats were biocompatible and that spreading behavior was good. As BCP content increased, the area of cell spreading on the surface of the mats also increased. Cells showed the best adherence on the surface of composite mats at 50 wt% BCP for both L-929 fibroblast-like cells and MG-63 osteoblast cell. PCL- BCP composites are a promising material for application in bone scaffolds.