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Garments made from cotton fabrics can readily absorb perspiration during strenuous activities but give poor performance in terms of wicking and evaporation of the perspiration, resulting in wet sticky feeling to the wearer. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of design and method of creating wicking channels on the moisture management and air permeability of cotton fabrics. The fabric specimens were printed with hydrophobic fluorocarbon finish using four different print designs, each with two different types of printing squeegees. It was found that both the type of print design and squeegee type significantly affect most of the moisture management properties of the fabric. The study concluded that by selecting a suitable print design and squeegee type, moisture management capability of cotton fabrics can be significantly improved without sacrificing the fabric air permeability.

Polycrystalline scheelite type Sr 1−x Ba x WO 4 (x = 0.1, 0.2 & 0.3) materials were synthesized by the solid state sintering method and studied with respect to phase stability and ionic conductivity under condition of technological relevance for SOFC applications. All compounds crystallized in the single phase of tetragonal scheelite structure with the space group of I4 1 /a. Room temperature X-ray diffraction and subsequent Rietveld analysis confirms its symmetry, space group and structural parameters. SEM illustrates the highly dense compounds. Significant mass change was observed to prove the proton uptake at higher temperature by TG-DSC. All compound shows lower conductivity compared to the traditional BCZY perovskite structured materials. SBW with x = 0.3 exhibit the highest ionic conductivity among all compounds under wet argon condition which is 1.9 × 10 −6 S cm −1 at 1000 °C. Since this scheelite type compounds show significant conductivity, the new series of SBW could serve in IT-SOFC as proton conducting electrolyte.

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Protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) have become the most efficient, clean and cost-effective electrochemical energy conversion devices in recent years. While significant progress has been made in developing proton conducting electrolyte materials, mechanical strength and durability still need to be improved for efficient applications. We report that adding 5 mol% Zn to the Y-doped barium cerate-zirconate perovskite electrolyte material can significantly improve the sintering properties, mechanical strength, durability and performance. Using same proton conducting material in anodes, electrolytes and cathodes to make a strong structural backbone shows clear advantages in mechanical strength over other arrangements with different materials. Rietveld analysis of the X-ray and neutron diffraction data of BaCe0.7Zr0.1Y0.15Zn0.05O3−δ (BCZYZn05) revealed a pure orthorhombic structure belonging to the Pbnm space group. Structural and electrochemical analyses indicate highly dense and high proton conductivity at intermediate temperature (400–700 °C). The anode-supported single cell, NiO-BCZYZn05|BCZYZn05|BSCF-BCZYZn05, demonstrates a peak power density of 872 mW cm−2 at 700 °C which is one of the highest power density in an all-protonic solid oxide fuel cell. This observation represents an important step towards commercially viable SOFC technology.

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