Mosquito compound eyes are elaborate multifunctional hierarchical structures. The presence of ordered curved features spanning length scales of nanometers to millimeters provides the mosquito eye with a wide field of view, an infinite depth of field, and antifogging properties. Developing bio-inspired compound lenses is challenging because of the need to mimic all characteristic curvatures along with their functionalities. Herein, we show how the curvature inherent to nanoparticles, emulsion droplets, and liquid marbles can be employed to mimic the hierarchical structure and functionality of mosquito compound eyes. At the nanometer to micrometer length scale we employ nanoparticle-stabilized emulsion droplets of photocurable oil to form microlenses with nanoscale surface features. After polymerization, the microlenses form a monolayer on an oil droplet to create an optically clear, millimeter scale, liquid marble that functions as a compound lens. We characterize the optical and surface properties of the compound lenses and find that they reproduce the functionality of the mosquito eye. Additionally, we exploit the mobility and reconfigurability of liquid marbles to create arrays (centimeter scale) of compound lenses and other types of functional lenses such as the Janus lens that magnifies the image acquired by the compound lens. Simple and scalable methods to create compound lenses could aid in the development of miniaturized advanced vision systems.
Electrochemical water splitting (EWS) has been considered as an ideal strategy to produce renewable hydrogen energy. However, the application of EWS is hindered by its sluggish kinetics of oxygen evolution half-reaction. In this work, we successfully prepared an efficient MXene-Ni 0.075 Mn 0.925 O 2 /CC catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) enhanced by a novel electrodeposition process. By corroborating from characterization results, the Ni element has been successfully doped into the MnO 2 crystal. In addition, electron microscopy images visualized that MXene firmly cooperated with the Ni-doped MnO 2 . With the proper amount of Ni doping in the pristine MnO 2 , more defects were induced. In addition, the two-dimensional (2D) MXene cooperation collaboratively provided more mass transport channels for OER. Therefore, the prepared MXene-Ni 0.075 Mn 0.925 O 2 /CC catalyst exhibited an outstanding catalytic performance with an overpotential of ∼410 mV at a constant current density of 50 mA cm −2 , about 105 mV smaller than that of the pristine MnO 2 /CC catalyst. The proposed electrodeposition method may pave the way for future designing of binder-free electrocatalytic materials for EWS.
In the process of society, high-density livestock farms have developed rapidly to satisfy the increasing demand for meat products. Excessive wastewater from the livestock farms accordingly brought multiple pollution and deteriorate the environment, with the wastewater containing abundant chemical energy regarded as futility. Furthermore, the ingredients of wastewater varied from distinct livestock farms as a result of different animal feeding habits. Consequently, it is a necessity for specific wastewater treatment applied to a certain farm to control various pollution incidents while effectively recovering the potential chemical energy in wastewater. Microbial fuel cell, a device that converts chemical energy in the organic matter directly into electrical energy by a microorganism, is expected to be integrated with the existing wastewater treatment systems to make up for the shortcomings of existing technologies, improve the treatment efficiency and energy recovery rate. Therefore, it is a predictable trend for the microbial fuel cell to be combined with the traditional farm wastewater treatment system. This article demonstrates two traditional manure treatment methods: composting and biogas fermentation, followed by an evaluation of four advanced wastewater treatment technologies merged with microbial fuel cell. It is concluded that incorporating microbial fuel cells with separate wastewater treatment system will be a consequential sustainable development strategy in the future, with the purpose of fecal water treatment and energy recovery efficiently achieved.
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