In this review, we mainly highlight the advances made in the development of amorphous TiO2 nanostructures for photocatalysts. Some perspectives on the challenges and new direction are also discussed.

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The pyrochlore-type rare-earth oxides attract considerable attentions due to their outstanding properties and extensive applications. In this work, contour maps of mechanical/thermal properties as a function of A and B cation radii across a wide variety of A 2 B 2 O 7 (A = La-Lu and Y; B = Ti, Sn, Hf, Zr, Pr and Ce) pyrochlore oxides are studied using the first-principles calculations. The mechanical/thermal properties vary dramatically with increasing of the B cation sizes but do not show a strong systematic dependence on the A cation sizes. Furthermore, the machine learning algorithm is performed for the large family of pyrochlores and the parameters playing key role on mechanical/thermal properties are clarified. Besides, the expressions of focused mechanical and thermal properties are constructed. These results are expected to guide the future material design through composition tailoring. K E Y W O R D Sfirst-principles calculations, mechanical properties, pyrochlore, thermal conductivity

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This study investigated the selective laser sintering (SLS) of aliphatic-polycarbonate/hydroxyapatite (a-PC/HA) composite scaffolds for medical applications. The effects of material ratios and SLS processing parameters on the porosity, microstructures and mechanical properties of the samples were observed. The optimized proportion in the a-PC/HA composite was found to be 10 wt% HA. The processing parameters were optimized as: 10 W of laser power, 2000 mm/s of scan speed, 0.15 mm of scan spacing, and 0.17 mm of layer thickness. With the optimized process, the scaffold porosity and compressive module were increased to 77.36 % and 26 MPa, respectively. The pores were interconnected, indicating the existence of more space for cell ingrowth and the improvement in the load capability of bone scaffold. The nanoscale HA particles were fully or partially embedded in a-PC matrix and did not decompose during the SLS processing. Crystalline behavior, bioactive activity, and osteoconduction, beneficial for bone ingrowth, scarcely changed before and after sintering. The successful manufacturing of complex scaffold with smooth surface demonstrated that surface roughness could be controlled by optimizing HA content and adjusting the processing parameters. The a-PC/HA composite powder could be used to manufacture complex porous parts by using the SLS process for medical applications.

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