Photocathode of CuO nanoarray (CuO NAS) with strong ability of light capture and charge separation capacity was fabricated by reactive magnetron sputtering with in-situ heating the substrate, while the phase composition, crystal morphology, crystal growth orientation, crystal face exposure, thickness and electronic structure of the films were controlled by changing oxygen partial pressure, substrate temperature, cavity pressure and sputtering time. The photocurrent density of the optimized CuO NAS photocathode is up to 2.4 mA·cm^-2.

The effect of quenching cooling rate on the microstructure, effective grain size (EGS) and mechanical properties of a Ni-Cr-Mo-B steel for offshore platform was investigated by means of dilatometer, SEM, EBSD, in combination with hardness, tensile and impact tests. The results show that the microstructures of the steel by different cooling rates mainly include lath martensite (LM), lath bainite (LB), granular bainite (GB) and ferrite (F). With the decrease of cooling rate the microstructures of the steel can be LM (>20℃/s), LM/LB (20~2℃/s), LB (2~1℃/s), LB /GB (1~0.2℃/s) and GB/F (0.2~0.02℃/s). Meanwhile, the hardness gradually decreases from 393HV by 100℃/s to 291HV by 0.02℃/s. After tempered, the yield strength decreases from 836 MPa for water-cooled steel to 726 MPa for furnace-cooled steel, while the elongation almost keeps constant around about 20%. Impact energy at -60℃ for oil-cooled steel is the highest about 199 J, followed by water-cooled steel (54 J), and the air-cooled and furnace-cooled steels exhibit the lowest impact energy (<30 J). This is because the microstructure of oil-cooled steel is LM_T/LB_T, which has the smallest EGS (1.6 μm) and the strongest effect of hindering the crack growth. However, the air-cooled and furnace-cooled steels present microstructures GB_T/LB_T and GB_T/F respectively, which show the larger EGS (2.4 and 2.8 μm) and the weaker effect of hindering the crack growth.

High Co and Cr containing martensitic heat resisting steels of X20Co without and with trace Ce addition were heat treated under different conditions, then the effect of trace Ce on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the steels were investigated by means of optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffractometer and tensile tester. The results show that in the quenching process, the addition of 50×10^-6 Ce can promote the precipitation of M₆C type carbides along the grain, therewith hinder the grain boundary migration, and make the refinement of austenite grains; As a consequence, the accumulation and growth of M₂₃C₆ type carbides along grain boundaries can be inhibited during tempering process. At the same time, the addition of 50×10^-6 Ce has no significant effect on the hardness, strength and high temperature instantaneous tensile strength, but the toughness and plasticity at room temperature as well as the high temperature plasticity are significantly improved for the high Co and Cr containing martensitic steel X20Co.

Paints based on nano Al/Al₂O₃ modified silicone resin coupled with fillers of various amounts of inorganic powders i.e., nano-ZrO₂, sub-micro-SiC and micro-glass of softening point 450℃, were prepared and applied on 304 stainless steels. Then the oxidation test of the coated steels was carried out in air at 600℃ for 1000 h in order to reveal the effect of the fillers on the oxidation resistance of nano Al/Al₂O₃ modified silicone resin paints. Results show that all the test paints exhibited excellent oxidation resistance, while no spallation of the paints and little oxidation of the substrate beneath the paints were observed after oxidation test. It is worth noting that few micropore was observed in the tested paints coupled with 7% ZrO₂, 7% SiC and 3% glass (in mass fraction), but there exist obvious micropores in the other two paints coupled with 7% glass. Moreover, the mass gain of the former was only about 60% of those of the latter two. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that by coupling with lower mass fraction of glass powder, the formation of micropores in the paints may be inhibited, as a result, the oxidation resistance of the paints can further be enhanced.

Unburned brick was prepared with sludge containing heavy metals as raw material, and CaO as calcium source to optimize the composition of the composite cementitious material and to regulate the hydration products and unhydrated phases in the cementitious slurry. First, the Ca/Si ratio (Ca/Si) of the composite cementitious system was calculated based on the mix ratio of raw materials of unfired bricks. Then, an experimental scheme of unfired bricks with varying amount of CaO was designed, and the Ca/Si ratio was quantitatively controlled within the range of 0.8~1.2. The mechanism of CaO improving the properties of high silicon composite cementitious materials was investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy spectrum (EDS) and PCAS software. The results show: with the increasing Ca/Si ratio within the range of 0.8~1.2, the mechanical properties of the unfired brick enhance first and then decrease. The optimal value of Ca/Si is 1.0, and there is also an optimal control value of CaO;With the increasing Ca/Si ratio, the water absorption decreases firstly and then increases for the bricks on the 7th day after they were made, and the water absorption decreases linearly for those on the 28th day;With the increasing Ca/Si ratio, the porosity of the plane pore size greater than 200 μm decreases for the prepared bricks, and the fractal dimension decreases first and then increases; For the pore size smaller than 200 μm, with the increase of Ca/Si, the pore size between 200 nm~200 μm decreases, and the pore size smaller than 200nm increases, while the pore size decreases; and Last but not least, the leaching amount of heavy metals from the unburned bricks can be inhibited up to more than 70% by the formed composite cementitious material.

The effect of graded solution treatments, i.e. a primary solution treatment at 1000~1060℃ and a secondary solution treatment at 1080~1100℃, on the microstructure and hardness of the 8Cr4Mo4V aviation bearing steel was assessed by means of SEM, TEM and hardness tester. The results show that with the increase of the primary solution temperature from 1000℃ to 1060℃ (the secondary solution treatment was set at 1080℃×10 min), the volume fraction of undissolved carbides in the steel decreased from 4.37% to 3.43%, but the grain growth was not obvious. However, with the increase of secondary solution temperature from 1080℃ to 1100°C (the primary solution treatment was set at 1060°C×30 min), the volume fraction of undissolved carbides gradually decreased from 3.51% to 2.84%, and the average grain size increased significantly. The tempered hardness of the steel can reach a high value when the primary solution temperature is low or the secondary solution temperature is high. In order to improve the hardness and prevent grain coarsening of the steel, the primary solution temperature within the range of 1020~1050℃ is suitable, and the secondary solution temperature is suitable within 1080~1090℃. After being solution treated according to the specifications of 1020℃×20 min+1090℃×10 min, the average grain size of the steel is 12.1 μm, the tempered hardness is 63.8 HRC, the impact absorption energy is 15.28 J, and the tensile strength of the steel is 2664.3 MPa.

SiOC aerogels with different C/Si ratio were prepared by sol-gel method with ethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and methyl trimethoxysilane (MTMS) as precursor. Then the SiOC aerosol was sprayed on the flexible ceramic fiber insulation blanket by atmospheric spraying, therewith, the SiOC aerogel/flexible ceramic fiber composite material was successfully prepared. The C/Si ratio is an important factor affecting the performance of SiOC aerogel/flexible ceramic fiber composites. As the ratio of C/Si (atomic ratio) increases, the gel time of SiOC sol is prolonged, whilst it is easier to infiltrate into the insulation blanket; the density and thermal conductivity of the composite decrease first and then increase. When the ratio is 0.67 the thermal conductivity of the composite is the lowest, namely, 0.026 W/m·K at room temperature and 0.174 W/m·K at 1000℃ respectively. Compared with unmodified insulation blanket the thermal conductivity is significantly reduced, especially by 47% at high temperature environment. The composite has excellent high temperature resistance and oxidation resistance. At 1200℃ in air the mass loss percentage of the sample is about 1% after pyrolysising for 1 h, whilst about 5% after pyrolysising for 3 h. As the C/Si ratio increases the mass loss of the composite increasees; in addition, the SiOC aerogel composite material also has good hydrophobic properties, flexibility and resilience.

Nano Al₂O₃ particles reinforced Al-Zn-Cu alloy composite of Al₂O₃/Al-Zn-Cu was prepared by a two-step process, namely nano-ZnO powder and Al powder were first ball-milled and then cold-pressed to prepare Al-ZnO preforms, and next which was added to the stirring Al-Zn-Cu melt, thereby nano Al₂O₃ particles reinforced Al-Zn-Cu based composites were prepared through Al-ZnO in-situ reaction. The results of energy spectrum scan and transmission electron microscope show that there are mainly two kinds of particles/precipitated phases in the composite material: nano Al₂O₃ particles and Al₂Cu precipitated phases. The grain structure and precipitates of Al-Zn-Cu alloy were refined by nano-sized Al₂O₃ particles through the heterogeneous nucleation and grain boundary pinning. The formation of in-situ nano Al₂O₃ particles could enhance the tensile properties of the base alloy. After proper rolling + heat treatment the Al₂O₃/Al-Zn-Cu composites present tensile strength and total elongation percentage ca 100% and 98% higher than that of the Al-Zn-Cu matrix alloy equally treated, respectively.

A PANI/alginate modified glass electrode was prepared via a two-step electrodeposition approach. This approach combines the anodic electrodeposition of alginate with the electrochemical polymerization of aniline, which has many advantages such as convenient operation and simple post-treatment. The prepared PANI/alginate film presents dark green coloration similar to that of PANI. The PANI/alginate film is not only stable on the surface of the electrode, but also it can be detached completely from the electrode to be used as an independent film. The results from FTIR, XRD and SEM suggest that PANI and alginate do exist in the prepared film. The results of electrochemical performance analysis show that in comparison with the simple PANI modified electrode, the PANI/alginate modified electrode has higher electrochemical capacitance, better electrochemical stability, lower charge transfer resistance, better charge storage capacity and cycle stability. Thus, the PANI/alginate film modified electrode prepared by electrodeposition approach has promising application prospect as electrode material for capacitors.