2D and 3D orientation mapping in nanostructured metals: A review

Multifunctional carbon nanotubes coated stainless steel mesh for electrowetting, hydrophobic, and dye absorption behavior

Electrowetting behaviour for carbon nanotubes (CNT) grown on stainless steel mesh was investigated. The effect of temperature, time, and applied bias voltage on the contact angle of water droplets was studied. The impact of temperature variation on contact angle was also performed for the temperature ranging from 25 to 70 °C. A decrement of contact angle by 68% was observed for the mentioned range indicating a transition from a hydrophobic to hydrophilic nature. A similar trend was observed on the application of electric potential to the CNT-modified stainless-steel mesh ranging from 0 to 8 V with a transition of contact angle from 146 to 30 deg respectively. A comparative analysis for the contact angle variation with time for CNT-coated mesh and uncoated mesh was performed for 180 min. It is observed that uncoated mesh shows a reduction in contact angle to 0 deg with time while the CNT coated mesh shows surplus hydrophobicity with a 2 deg decrement in the extent of time. CNT-modified mesh successfully absorbs 95% of rhodamine B (RB) dye and detergent from water in 10 cycles.

3D microscopy at the nanoscale reveals unexpected lattice rotations in deformed nickel

In polycrystalline metals, plastic deformation is accompanied by lattice rotations resulting from dislocation glide. Following these rotations in three dimensions requires nondestructive methods that so far have been limited to grain sizes at the micrometer scale. We tracked the rotations of individual grains in nanograined nickel by using three-dimensional orientation mapping in a transmission electron microscope before and after in situ nanomechanical testing. Many of the larger-size grains underwent unexpected lattice rotations, which we attributed to a reversal of rotation during unloading. This inherent reversible rotation originated from a back stress-driven dislocation slip process that was more active for larger grains. These results provide insights into the fundamental deformation mechanisms of nanograined metals and will help to guide strategies for material design and engineering applications.

The effect of Fe-Zn mole ratio (2:1) bimetallic nanoparticles supported by hydroxyethyl cellulose/graphene oxide for high-efficiency removal of doxycycline

In this research, Hydroxyethyl cellulose - graphene oxide HEC-GO and HEC-GO/Fe-Zn mole ratio (2:1) nanocomposite as adsorbents were fabricated by crosslinking ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) to study the thermodynamic, kinetic and isotherm of doxycycline antibiotic adsorption. The morphology and structure of the adsorbents were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (FE-SEM- EDX), and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The adsorption behavior of doxycycline (DOX) was studied with different parameters including doxycycline concentration, pH, the dose of adsorbent (HEC-GO and HEC-GO/Fe-Zn, mole ratio (2:1)), contact time, and temperature. The optimal conditions for the removal of DOX are pH = 3.0, contact time 100 min, and 20 min for HEC-GO and HEC-GO/Fe-Zn mole ratio (2:1). The removal percentage for HEC-GO and HEC-GO/Fe-Zn mole ratio (2:1) was 97% and 95.5%, respectively. Equilibrium adsorption isotherms such as the Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin models were analyzed according to the experimental data. Also, four adsorption kinetics were investigated for removing DOX. The Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic models provided the best fit for experimental data for HEC-GO and HEC-GO/Fe-Zn mole ratio (2:1). Thermodynamic data showed that negative values of Gibbs free energy (ΔG°) and the negative value of enthalpy (ΔH°) of the adsorption process for adsorbents. It means that DOX removal was a spontaneous and exothermic reaction.

Core-Shell Structured SiO2@NiFe LDH Composite for Broadband Electromagnetic Wave Absorption

In this work, a novel core-shell structure material, NiFe layered double hydroxide (NiFe LDH) loaded on SiO2 microspheres (SiO2@NiFe LDH), was synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal method, and the spontaneous electrostatic self-assembly process. The morphology, structure, and microwave absorption properties of SiO2@NiFe LDH nanocomposites with different NiFe element ratios were systematically investigated. The results show that the sample of SiO2@NiFe LDH-3 nanocomposite has excellent microwave absorption properties. It exhibits broadband effective absorption bandwidth (RL < −10 dB) of 8.24 GHz (from 9.76 GHz to 18.0 GHz) and the reflection loss is −53.78 dB at the matched thickness of 6.95 mm. It is expected that this SiO2@NiFe-LDH core-shell structural material can be used as a promising non-precious, metal-based material microwave absorber to eliminate electromagnetic wave contamination.

Facile synthesis of Cu NPs@Fe3O4-lignosulfonate: Study of catalytic and antibacterial/antioxidant activities

Environmental pollution is one of the important concerns for human health. There are different types of pollutants and techniques to eliminate them from the environment. We hereby report an efficient method for the remediation of environmental contaminants through the catalytic reduction of the selected pollutants. A green method has been developed for the immobilization of copper nanoparticles on magnetic lignosulfonate (Cu NPs@Fe₃O₄-LS) using the aqueous extract of Filago arvensis L. as a non-toxic reducing and stabilizing agent. The characterization of the prepared Cu NPs@Fe₃O₄-LS was achieved by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution TEM (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning TEM (STEM), thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA), fast Fourier transform (FFT), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray photoelectron (XPS) analyses. The synthesized Cu NPs@Fe₃O₄-LS was applied as a magnetic and green catalyst in the reduction of Congo Red (CR), 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), and methylene blue (MB). The progress of the reduction reactions was monitored by UV-Vis spectroscopy. Finally, the biological properties of the Cu NPs@Fe₃O₄-LS were investigated. The prepared catalyst demonstrated excellent catalytic efficiency in the reduction of CR, 4-NP, and MB in the presence of sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) as the reducing agent. The appropriate magnetism of Cu NPs@Fe₃O₄-LS made its recovery very simple. The advantages of this process include a simple reaction set-up, high and catalytic antibacterial/antioxidant activities, short reaction time, environmentally friendliness, high stability, and easy separation of the catalyst. In addition, the prepared Cu NPs@Fe₃O₄-LS could be reused for four cycles with no significant decline in performance.

Ultrasensitive electrochemical sensor for detection of rutin antioxidant by layered Ti3Al0.5Cu0.5C2 MAX phase

MAX phases have attracted great attention due to unique features such as thermal and electrical conductivity, easy fabrication, heat resistant, and lightweight. In this study, an easy and green method was employed to successfully develop a Ti₃Al_0.5Cu_0.5C₂ MAX phase structure, and a Ti₃Al_0.5Cu_0.5C₂ based glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was applied for the electrochemical determination of rutin antioxidants in mandarin and kiwi samples. The developed Ti₃Al_0.5Cu_0.5C₂ MAX phase was characterized by different techniques such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to obtain information on the structural and morphological properties. Electrochemical methods such as cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) were employed for the determination of rutin using Ti₃Al_0.5Cu_0.5C₂/GCE. The GCE modified with Ti₃Al_0.5Cu_0.5C₂ demonstrated amplified electrochemical response (ca. 4.25 times) in comparison to the bare GCE towards rutin, and exhibited ultra-sensitivity and selectivity in the presence of other interfering antioxidants. Under the optimum conditions, good linearity in the range of 0.02-50.00 μmol L^-1 was obtained for rutin analysis by the Ti₃Al_0.5Cu_0.5C₂-based sensor with a limit of detection (LOD, 3σ/K) as low as 0.015 μmol L^-1. The fabricated Ti₃Al_0.5Cu_0.5C₂ MAX phase was applied to determine trace levels of rutin in mandarin and kiwi samples with validation by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), thus highlighting its potential for the electrochemical determination of small molecules in the agricultural field.

Recent Advances in EBSD Characterization of Metals

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) has been attracting enormous interest in the microstructural characterization of metals in recent years. This characterization technique has several advantages over conventional ones, since it allows obtaining a wide range of characterization possibilities in a single method, which is not possible in others. The grain size, crystallographic orientation, texture, and grain boundary character distribution can be obtained by EBSD analysis. Despite the limited resolution of this technique (20–50 nm), EBSD is powerful, even for nanostructured materials. Through this technique, the microstructure can be characterized at different scales and levels with a high number of microstructural characteristics. It is known that the mechanical properties are strongly related to several microstructural aspects such as the size, shape, and distribution of grains, the presence of texture, grain boundaries character, and also the grain boundary plane distribution. In this context, this work aims to describe and discuss the possibilities of microstructural characterization, recent advances, the challenges in sample preparation, and the application of the EBSD in the characterization of metals.