Role of Nanolaminated Crystal Structure on the Radiation Damage Tolerance of Ti 3

Nanolaminated Ti3SiC2, a representative MAX phase, shows excellent tolerance to radiation damage. In this paper, first-principles calculations were used to investigate the mechanism of intrinsic point defects in order to explain this outstanding property. Formation energies of intrinsic point defects are calculated and compared; and the results establish a low-energy disorder mechanism in Ti3SiC2. In addition, the migration energy barriers of Si vacancy, Si interstitial, and TiSi antisite yield very low values: 0.9, 0.6, and 0.3 eV, respectively. The intercalation of Si atomic plane between Ti3C2 nanotwinning structures dominates the formation and migration of intrinsic native point defects in Ti3SiC2. The present study also highlights a novel method to improve radiation damage tolerance by developing nanoscale-layered structure which can serve as a sink or rapid recovery channel for point defects

Surface barriers to mass transfer in nanoporous materials for catalysis and separations

Surface barriers to mass transfer in various nanoporous materials have been increasingly identified. These past few years especially, a significant impact on catalysis and separations has come to light. Broadly speaking, there are two types of barriers: internal barriers, which affect intraparticle diffusion, and external barriers, which determine the uptake and release rates of molecules into and out of the material. Here, we review the literature on surface barriers to mass transfer in nanoporous materials and describe how the existence and influence of surface barriers has been characterized, aided by molecular simulations and experimental measurements. As this is a complex, evolving research topic, without consensus from the scientific community at the time of writing, we present various current viewpoints, not always in agreement, on the origin, nature, and function of such barriers in catalysis and separation. We also emphasize the need for considering all the elementary steps of the mass transfer process in optimally designing new nanoporous and hierarchically structured adsorbents and catalysts

A solvent evaporation route towards fabrication of hierarchically porous ZSM-11 with highly accessible mesopores

A solvent evaporation route to generate an organosilane modified dry gel and its transformation into hierarchically porous ZSM-11 is reported. The material features good pore-connectivity and improved acid site accessibility towards bulky substrates.</p

Facile Synthesis of Monodisperse CdS Nanocrystals via Microreaction

CdS-based nanocrystals (NCs) have attracted extensive interest due to their potential application as key luminescent materials for blue and white LEDs. In this research, the continuous synthesis of monodisperse CdS NCs was demonstrated utilizing a capillary microreactor. The enhanced heat and mass transfer in the microreactor was useful to reduce the reaction temperature and residence time to synthesize monodisperse CdS NCs. The superior stability of the microreactor and its continuous operation allowed the investigation of synthesis parameters with high efficiency. Reaction temperature was found to be a key parameter for balancing the reactivity of CdS precursors, while residence time was shown to be an important factor that governs the size and size distribution of the CdS NCs. Furthermore, variation of OA concentration was demonstrated to be a facile tuning mechanism for controlling the size of the CdS NCs. The variation of the volume percentage of OA from 10.5 to 51.2% and the variation of the residence time from 17 to 136 s facilitated the synthesis of monodisperse CdS NCs in the size range of 3.0–5.4 nm, and the NCs produced photoluminescent emissions in the range of 391–463 nm

Effect of Shear Connector Layout on the Behavior of Steel-Concrete Composite Beams with Interface Slip

In a steel-concrete composite beam (hereafter referred to as a composite beam), partial interaction between the concrete slab and the steel beam results in an appreciable increase in the beam deflections relative to full interaction behavior. Moreover, the distribution type of the shear connectors has a great impact on the degree of the composite action between the two components of the beam. To reveal the effect of shear connector layout in the performance of composite beams, on the basis of a developed one-dimensional composite beam element validated by the closed-form precision solutions and experimental results, this paper optimizes the layout of shear connectors in composite beams with partial interaction by adopting a stepwise uniform distribution of shear connectors to approximate the triangular distribution of the shear connector density without increasing the total number of shear connectors. Based on a comparison of all the different types of stepped rectangles distribution, this paper finally suggests the 3-stepped rectangles distribution of shear connectors as a reasonable and applicable optimal method

Experimental investigation of the flow distribution of a 2-dimensional constructal distributor

International audienceThe flow distribution behavior of a plate-type constructal flow distributor, which has one inlet and 16 outlets and is designed according to constructal theory to achieve uniform flow distribution with smallest energy dissipation and shortest residence time, is investigated by experiments. When all the outlets are open, the standard flow rate deviation changes from 0.050 to 0.069 and the maximal flow rate ratio, i.e. the ratio of the highest flow rate to the lowest, changes from 1.170 to 1.252 when the averaged Re at the outlet increases from 1020 to 2247. Blocking one or two outlets of one branch will generally decrease the uniformity of the flow distribution, and it will have more influences on the rest outlets of the same branch than on the outlets of other branches

Numerical Investigation of Constructal Distributors with Different Configurations

International audienceSeven distributors with different configurations are designed and optimized by constructal approach. Their flow distribution performance and energy dissipation are investigated and compared by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The reliability of CFD simulation is verified by experiments on the distributor that has all distributing rectangle channels on a plate. The results show that the symmetry of the distributing channels has decisive influence on the performance of flow distribution. Increasing the generations of channel branching will improve the flow distribution uniformity, but on the other hand increase the energy dissipation. Among all the seven constructal distributors, the distributor that has dichotomy configuration, Y-type junctions and straight interconnecting channels, is recommended for its better flow distribution performance and less energy dissipation

Evaluation of the performance of a constructal mixer with the iodide–iodate reaction system

International audienceA novel fluidic mixer, which takes advantage of impingement mixing and is designed according to the constructal approach, is evaluated by the Villermaux/Dushman method. The effects of different configurations (including the structure of the fluid collector and the diameter of the nozzles on the fluid injector) on the mixing performance (i.e. the segregation index and the energy dissipation rate) are determined. The segregation index is smaller, or in other words the degree of mixing is better, when a branch type fluid collector or smaller nozzles are used, however, at the cost of higher energy dissipation rate. When the flow rate is sufficiently high, mixing caused by the impingement of streams is almost complete, rendering the mixing in the branched channels unnecessary. As a result, if very high degree of mixing is pursued, the collector with a simple empty space should be used in the mixer to reduce energy consumption

Boosting Size-Selective Hydrogen Combustion in the Presence of Propene Using Controllable Metal Clusters Encapsulated in Zeolite

A strategy is presented for making metal clusters encapsulated inside microporous solids selectively accessible to reactant molecules by manipulating molecular sieve size and affinity for adsorbed molecules. This expands the catalytic capabilities of these materials to reactions demanding high selectivity and stability. Selective hydrogen combustion was achieved over Pt clusters encapsulated in LTA zeolite (KA, NaA, CaA) in a propene‐rich mixture obtained from propane dehydrogenation, showing pore‐size dependent selectivity and coking rate. Propene tended to adsorb at channels or external surfaces of zeolite, interfering the diffusion of hydrogen and oxygen. Tailoring the surface of LTA zeolite with additional alkali or alkaline earth oxides contributed to narrowing zeolite pore size and their affinity for propene. The thus‐modified Pt@KA catalyst displayed excellent hydrogen combustion selectivity (98.5 %) with high activity and superior anti‐coking and anti‐sintering properties