Polysilazane coatings have a broad need in real-life applications, which require low processing or working temperature. In this work, five commercially available polysilazanes have been spin-coated on polycarbonate substrates and cured in ambient environment and temperature to obtain transparent, crack-free, and dense films. The degree of crosslinking is found to have a significant impact on the hardness and Young's modulus of the polysilazane films but has a minor influence on the film thickness and hydrophobicity. Among all five polysilazane coatings, the inorganic perhydropolysilazane-based coating exhibits the largest hardness (2.05 ± 0.01 GPa) and Young's modulus (10.76 ± 0.03 GPa) after 7 days of curing, while the polyorganosilazane-derived films exhibit higher hydrophobicity. The molecular structure of polysilazanes plays a key role in mechanical properties and hydrophobicity of the associated films, as well as the adhesion of coatings to substrates, providing an intuitive and reliable way for selecting a suitable polysilazane coating material for a specific application.
SiBN ceramics are widely considered to be the most promising material for microwave-transparent applications in harsh environments owing to its excellent thermal stability and low dielectric constant. This work focuses on the synthesis and ceramization of single-source precursors for the preparation of SiBN ceramics as well as the investigation of the corresponding microstructural evolution at high temperatures including molecular dynamic simulations. Carbon- and chlorine-free perhydropolysilazanes were reacted with borane dimethyl sulfide complex at different molar ratios to synthesize single-source precursors, which were subsequently pyrolyzed and annealed under N2 atmosphere (without ammonolysis) to prepare SiBN ceramics at 1100, 1200, and 1300 °C with high ceramic yield in contrast to previously widely-used ammonolysis synthesis process. The obtained amorphous SiBN ceramics were shown to have remarkably improved thermal stability and oxidation resistance compared to amorphous silicon nitride. Particularly, the experimental results have been combined with molecular dynamics simulation to further study the amorphous structure of SiBN and the atomic-scale diffusion behavior of Si, B, and N at 1300 °C. Incorporation of boron into the Si—N network is found to suppress the crystallization of the formed amorphous silicon nitride and hence improves its thermal stability in N2 atmosphere.
A facile and eco‐friendly strategy is presented for synthesizing novel nanocomposites, with MoP quantum dots (QDs) as cores and graphitic carbon as shells, these nanoparticles are dispersed in a nitrogen and phosphorus‐doped porous carbon and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) substrates (MoP@NPC/CNT). The synthesis involves self‐assembling reactions to form single‐source precursors (SSPs), followed by pyrolysis at 900 °C in an inert atmosphere to obtain MoP@NPC/CNT‐900. The presence of carbon layers on the MoP QDs effectively prevents particle aggregation, enhancing the utilization of active MoP species. The optimized sample, MoP@NPC/CNT‐900, exhibits remarkable electrocatalytic activity and durability for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). It demonstrates a low overpotential of 155 mV at 10 mA cm−2, a small Tafel slope of 76 mV dec−1, and sustained performance over 20 hours in 0.5 M H2SO4. Furthermore, the catalyst shows excellent activity in 1 M KOH, with a relatively low overpotential of 131 mV and long‐term durability under constant current input. The exceptional HER activity can be attributed to several factors: the superior performance of MoP QDs, the large surface area and good conductivity of the carbon substrates, and the synergistic effect between MoP and carbon species.
Traditional PHC pile production adopts two-step curing with the disadvantages of high energy consumption, considerable carbon emissions, and easy cracking during construction. In addition, non-autoclaved pipe pile studies involve problems such as adoption of naphthalene based superplasticizer and lengthy coated curing duration, thus leading to their few applications. In order to solve the problems, the study on non-autoclaved PHC pile was conducted to systematically study the impacts of curing system, water-binder ratio, and admixture composition on concrete strength, ratio of tensile and compressive strength, and chloride ion resistance at different ages. Study results show that through the use of a polycarboxylate superplasticizer, an optimal 8-hour curing system and concrete mix ratio, the strength of non-autoclaved concrete reached 93.2MPa within one day, with the ratio of tensile and compressive strength of 6.07%, the coulomb electric flux of 85C, and the chloride migration coefficient of 0.54×10-12m2/s.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.