Recent advancements in the development of bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen electrodes in unitized regenerative fuel cells (URFCs)
Publication date: October 2018Source: Progress in Materials Science, Volume 98Author(s): Yan-Jie Wang, Baizeng Fang, Xiaomin Wang, Anna Ignaszak, Yuyu Liu, Aijun Li, Lei Zhang, Jiujun ZhangAbstractAn ever-increasing energy demand has stimulated intense research into electrochemical technologies for both energy storage and conversion such as unitized regenerative fuel cells (URFCs). Due to its high efficiency, low cost, and low environmental impact, the URFC, which combines a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with a polymer electrolyte water electrolyzer (PEWE), has been regarded as an important energy technolo...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - July 5, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
Fatigue and Fracture Behavior of Bulk Metallic Glasses and Their Composites
Publication date: Available online 2 July 2018 Source:Progress in Materials Science Author(s): Haoling Jia, Gongyao Wang, Shuying Chen, Yanfei Gao, Weidong Li, Peter K. Liaw A fundamental understanding of the fatigue and fracture behavior of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) and their composites is of critical significance for designing new BMG systems and developing new manufacturing and processing techniques so as to broaden the scope of applications of BMGs and their composites. However, the fatigue and fracture studies on BMGs are limited so far, compared to other mechanical properties. The present work reviews the ...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - July 3, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
Recent Development in Lead-Free Perovskite Piezoelectric Bulk Materials
Publication date: Available online 30 June 2018 Source:Progress in Materials Science Author(s): Ting Zheng, Jiagang Wu, Dingquan Xiao, Jianguo Zhu The elimination of lead in piezoelectric applications remains challenging. Since the advances in the piezoelectricity were found in the perovskite family in 2000, studies into lead-free piezoelectric materials have grown exponentially in the fields of condensed matter physics and materials science. In this Review, we highlighted the compelling physical properties of lead-free piezoelectric perovskite materials and summarized their state-of-the-art progress, with an emphasi...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - July 1, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
Recent advancements in the development of bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen electrodes in unitized regenerative fuel cells (URFCs)
Publication date: Available online 28 June 2018 Source:Progress in Materials Science Author(s): Yan-Jie Wang, Baizeng Fang, Xiaomin Wang, Anna Ignaszak, Yuyu Liu, Aijun Li, Lei Zhang, Jiujun Zhang An ever-increasing energy demand has stimulated intense research into electrochemical technologies for both energy storage and conversion such as unitized regenerative fuel cells (URFCs). Due to its high efficiency, low cost, and low environmental impact, the URFC, which combines a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with a polymer electrolyte water electrolyzer (PEWE), has been regarded as an important energ...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - June 29, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
Fresnoite glass-ceramics – A review
Publication date: October 2018 Source:Progress in Materials Science, Volume 98 Author(s): Wolfgang Wisniewski, Katrin Thieme, Christian Rüssel The crystallization of fresnoite from glasses enables to produce a wide variety of materials including piezoelectric glass-ceramics due to the aligned growth of these crystals in the amorphous matrix. The crystal structure of fresnoite leads to interesting pyroelectric, piezoelectric and non-linear optical properties and is one of the few known non-ferroelectrics which can be easily produced as polycrystalline but polar materials. This review provides a summary of the properti...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - June 29, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
Grain-Boundary Kinetics: A Unified Approach
Publication date: Available online 8 June 2018 Source:Progress in Materials Science Author(s): Jian Han, Spencer L. Thomas, David J. Srolovitz Grain boundaries (GBs) are central defects for describing polycrystalline materials, and playing major role in a wide-range of physical properties of polycrystals. Control over GB kinetics provides effective means to tailor polycrystal properties through material processing. While many approaches describe different GB kinetic phenomena, this review provides a unifying concept for a wide range of GB kinetic behavior. Our approach rests on a disconnection description of GB kineti...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - June 9, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
Metastable Si-B-C-N Ceramics and Their Matrix Composites Developed by Inorganic Route Based on Mechanical Alloying: Fabrication, Microstructures, Properties and Their Relevant Basic Scientific Issues
Publication date: Available online 1 June 2018 Source:Progress in Materials Science Author(s): Dechang Jia, Bin Liang, Zhihua Yang, Yu Zhou The development of novel high-temperature structural and multifunctional thermal protection materials for harsh environment applications, such as high-temperature oxidation, severe thermal shock, ablation by combustion gas flow etc., is one of the urgent needs of the modern aerospace industry. Ceramic matrix composites such as Cf/(C, SiC, Si3N4), SiCf/ZrB2, SiCp/(Si3N4, HfB2) have received much attention in recent years. Coincidently, metastable silicoboron carbonitride (Si-B-C-N...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - June 1, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
Towards the design of high-performance plant fibre composites
Publication date: August 2018 Source:Progress in Materials Science, Volume 97 Author(s): Alain Bourmaud, Johnny Beaugrand, Darshil U. Shah, Vincent Placet, Christophe Baley For the past 15 years, there has been tremendous interest and technological development concerning biocomposites. Plant fibres can be derived from a multitude of natural agro-sources, with the preferred choice as a composite reinforcement often being driven by abundance, geographical location, and historical use. While from a product designer's or engineer's point of view, all plant cell walls are 'similar', they have indeed substantial morphol...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - June 1, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
Towards the design of high-performance plant fibre composites: How can we best define the diversity and specificities of plant cell walls?
Publication date: Available online 29 May 2018 Source:Progress in Materials Science Author(s): Alain Bourmaud, Johnny Beaugrand, Darshil U. Shah, Vincent Placet, Christophe Baley For the past 15 years, there has been tremendous interest and technological development concerning biocomposites. Plant fibres can be derived from a multitude of natural agro-sources, with the preferred choice as a composite reinforcement often being driven by abundance, geographical location, and historical use. While from a product designer's or engineer's point of view, all plant cell walls are 'similar', they have indeed substantial mor...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - May 30, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
Corrosion in the Molten Fluoride and Chloride Salts and Materials Development for Nuclear Applications
Publication date: Available online 18 May 2018 Source:Progress in Materials Science Author(s): Shaoqiang Guo, Jinsuo Zhang, Wei Wu, Wentao Zhou Next-generation nuclear reactor concepts and advanced techniques for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel (SNF) are drawing great attention in the nuclear field. Molten halide salts have been proposed as the fuel solvent and coolants for many molten salt reactor (MSR) concepts, and the electrolyte for the electrochemical separation of the SNF. The major concern of using molten salts is the corrosion of the structural materials imposed by these extreme environments. Materials corro...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - May 18, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
Polyurethane nanocomposite based gas barrier films, membranes and coatings: A review on synthesis, characterization and potential applications
Publication date: Available online 16 May 2018 Source:Progress in Materials Science Author(s): Mangala Joshi, Bapan Adak, B.S. Butola Polyurethane (PU) and its nanocomposites based gas barrier films and coatings have established a distinctive position among various technologically important materials due to their large-scale potential applications. This review aims at highlighting the gas barrier property of polyurethane nanocomposite (PUNC) based films, membranes and coatings containing platelet-shaped fillers such as clays and graphene in PU matrix. The other fillers such as CNT, POSS, metal nanoparticles and nanoce...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - May 17, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
Internal structure – Na storage mechanisms – Electrochemical performance relations in carbons
Publication date: August 2018 Source:Progress in Materials Science, Volume 97 Author(s): Clement Bommier, David Mitlin, Xiulei Ji This review focuses on carbon-based sodium ion battery (NIB) negative electrodes, emphasizing the internal structure – Na storage mechanisms – electrochemical performance relations. We bring a unique vantage to the ever-expanding field of NIB anode literature: To quantify the critical emphasis on the structure – properties interdependence, we provide comprehensive data comparisons of representative published studies. This is accomplished through a series of “Master Plots”, which r...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - May 11, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
High-performance SnSe thermoelectric materials: Progress and future challenge
Publication date: Available online 30 April 2018 Source:Progress in Materials Science Author(s): Zhi-Gang Chen, Xiaolei Shi, Li-Dong Zhao, Jin Zou Thermoelectric materials offer an alternative opportunity to tackle the energy crisis and environmental problems by enabling the direct solid-state energy conversion. As a promising candidate with full potentials for the next generation thermoelectrics, tin selenide (SnSe) and its associated thermoelectric materials have been attracted extensive attentions due to their ultralow thermal conductivity and high electrical transport performance (power factor). To provide a thor...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - May 1, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
Internal Structure - Na Storage Mechanisms - Electrochemical Performance Relations in Carbons
Publication date: Available online 30 April 2018 Source:Progress in Materials Science Author(s): Clement Bommier, David Mitlin, Xiulei Ji This review focuses on carbon-based sodium ion battery (NIB) negative electrodes, emphasizing the internal structure - Na storage mechanisms - electrochemical performance relations. We bring a unique vantage to the ever-expanding field of NIB anode literature: To quantify the critical emphasis on the structure – properties interdependence, we provide comprehensive data comparisons of representative published studies. This is accomplished through a series of “Master Plots”, whi...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - May 1, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
Polymer/SiO2 Nanocomposites: Production and Applications
Publication date: Available online 27 April 2018 Source:Progress in Materials Science Author(s): Shadpour Mallakpour, Mina Naghdi At the present modern age, perhaps nanocomposites (NC)s are the most attractive materials which hold their situation in almost all of our life's aspects. Among different kinds of the NCs, polymer based NCs are the most prominent one and have more adherents. Polymers are prepared via easily and relatively inexpensive routes, and have many favorable properties, such as light weight, ductility, and flexibility. The outstanding properties presented by the polymer/SiO2 NC (PSNC)s prompted us to f...
Source: Progress in Materials Science - April 28, 2018 Category: Materials Science Source Type: research
