Graphene-Based Nanocomposites: Synthesis, Mechanical Properties, and Characterizations.

Graphene-based nanocomposites possess excellent mechanical, electrical, thermal, optical, and chemical properties. These materials have potential applications in high-performance transistors, biomedical systems, sensors, and solar cells. This paper presents a critical review of the recent developments in graphene-based nanocomposite research, exploring synthesis methods, characterizations, mechanical properties, and thermal properties. Emphasis is placed on characterization techniques and mechanical properties with detailed examples from recent literature. The importance of characterization techniques including Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) for the characterization of graphene flakes and their composites were thoroughly discussed. Finally, the effect of graphene even at very low loadings on the mechanical properties of the composite matrix was extensively reviewed.

Free-conditioning dewatering of sewage sludge through in situ propane hydrate formation.

The propane hydrate formation was proposed to have potentials in realizing free-conditioning dewatering of sewage sludge with implications to simultaneous clean water extraction and highly efficient volume reduction. Primarily, the investigation on phase equilibrium of propane hydrates found that the organic components of sewage sludge promoted the propane hydrate formation in terms of decreasing equilibrium pressure by up to 19.2%, compared with that in pure water. Further, the feasibility of hydrate-based dewatering was verified through the observation of propane hydrate formation in sewage sludge and also the quality analysis of water generated from decomposition of up-floated formed hydrates. The formation of up-floated propane hydrates extracted water molecules from sewage sludge into homogeneous crystal phase, which actually excluded sludge particles from hydrate phase and realized the reduction of water in sludge phase. The efficiency of water conversion into hydrates was determined by monitoring propane pressure, which indicated that 14 batch runs decreased the water content of sludge from 98.81wt.% to 44.3wt.% under free-conditioning conditions. The chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen and total phosphorus of hydrate-extracted water were measured to be 21 ±â€¯1 mg/L, 10.5 ±â€¯0.2 mg/L and 0.4 ±â€¯0 mg/L, respectively, which reflected the excellent separation performance and also indicated that the hydrate-extracted water can be directly discharged without further treatments. Finally, the unit energy consumption of hydrate-based dewatering process based on a continuous operation mode was calculated to be 2673.96 kW h/t dry solid of sewage sludge, which was nearly half of that in thermal drying process. Therefore, the propane hydrate-based process is believed to maximize the green operation of enhanced sludge dewatering while minimizing the energy and additional material consumption.

Occurrence State and Molecular Structure Analysis of Extracellular Proteins with Implications on the Dewaterability of Waste-Activated Sludge.

The occurrence state and molecular structure of extracellular proteins were analyzed to reveal the influencing factors on the water-holding capacities of protein-like substances in waste-activated sludge (WAS). The gelation process of extracellular proteins verified that advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) for WAS dewaterability improvement eliminated the water affinity of extracellular proteins and prevented these macromolecules from forming stable colloidal aggregates. Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation proteomics identified that most of the extracellular proteins were originally derived from the intracellular part and the proteins originally located in the extracellular part were mainly membrane-associated. The main mechanism of extracellular protein transformation during AOPs could be represented by the damage of the membrane or related external encapsulating structure and the release of intracellular substances. For the selected representative extracellular proteins, the strong correlation (R2 > 0.97, p < 0.03) between the surface hydrophilicity index and α-helix percentages in the secondary structure indicated that the water affinity relied more on the spatial distribution of hydrophilic functional groups rather than the content. Destructing the secondary structure represented by the α-helix and stretching the polypeptide aggregation in the water phase through disulfide bond removal might be the key to eliminating the inhibitory effects of extracellular proteins on the interstitial water removal from WAS.