High-strength, transparent and superhydrophobic nanocellulose/nanochitin membranes fabricated via crosslinking of nanofibers and coating F-SiO2 suspensions.

In this study, nanocellulose/nanochitin membranes were prepared by suction filtrating 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl-oxidized cellulose nanofiber (TOCNF)/partially deacetylated α-chitin nanofiber (α-DECHN) mixed suspensions. The result shows that, with a 1:1 ratio of nanocellulose to nanochitin, the tensile strength of the obtained composite membrane reaches 115.7 MPa and its light transmittance is 77.6 %. Heptadecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrodecyl dimethylchlorosilane (HFTD) modified nano SiO2 (F-SiO2), was utilized to construct rough micro/nanostructures on the surfaces of the composite membranes by screen printing, forming high-strength, transparent and superhydrophobic nanocellulose/nanochitin membranes. Atomic force microscope (AFM) images reveal that nanocellulose and nanochitin, with the width between 5 nm and 20 nm and the length between 400 nm and 1.1 µm, are crosslinked with each other. The superhydrophobic nanocellulose/nanochitin composite membranes functionalized with a 2.0 wt% F-SiO2 suspension has a few clusters on its surface. The contact angle of this membrane is 150.1°, and its light transmittance is 70.4 %.

Orthogonal Experimental Research on Dielectrophoresis Polishing (DEPP) of Silicon Wafer.

Silicon wafer with high surface quality is widely used as substrate materials in the fields of micromachines and microelectronics, so a high-efficiency and high-quality polishing method is urgently needed to meet its large demand. In this paper, a dielectrophoresis polishing (DEPP) method was proposed, which applied a non-uniform electric field to the polishing area to slow down the throw-out effect of centrifugal force, thereby achieving high-efficiency and high-quality polishing of silicon wafers. The principle of DEPP was described. Orthogonal experiments on important polishing process parameters were carried out. Contrast polishing experiments of silicon wafer were conducted. The orthogonal experimental results showed that the influence ratio of electric field intensity and rotation speed on material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness was more than 80%. The optimal combination of process parameters was electric field intensity 450 V/mm, rotation speed 90 rpm, abrasive concentration 30 wt%, size of abrasive particle 80 nm. Contrast polishing experiments indicated that the MRR and material removal uniformity of DEPP were significantly better than traditional chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). Compared with the traditional CMP, the MRR of DEPP was increased by 17.6%, and the final surface roughness of silicon wafer reached Ra 0.31nm. DEPP can achieve high-efficiency and high-quality processing of silicon wafer.

Conductive biomass-based composite wires with cross-linked anionic nanocellulose and cationic nanochitin as scaffolds.

In this study, a series of conductive composite wires were successfully prepared by combining dispersions of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibers (TOCNFs) with different MWCNTs contents into a dispersion of partially deacetylated α-chitin nanofibers (α-DECHNs) followed with a drying process. The TOCNFs/MWCNTs/α-DECHNs composite wires were prepared by extruding the negatively charged TOCNFs/MWCNTs dispersion into the positively charged α-DECHNs dispersion. The contact of the positively charged α-DECHNs and the negatively charged TOCNFs/MWCNTs triggers the electrostatic interaction (heterocoagulation) resulting in wire-shaped conductive composites. The SEM analysis indicates this conductive composite material has a wire-like shape with a rough but tight surface. The properties of samples were characterized by a zeta potential analyzer (Zetasizer Nano), a four-probe, an electrochemical workstation, a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), an X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and a thermogravimetric analyzer (TG). Besides, the conductivity and the AC impedance of TOCNFs/MWCNTs/α-DECHNs composite wires with different MWCNTs contents were also analyzed. The conductivity of the composite wire increases from 9.98 × 10-6 S∙cm-1 to 1.56 × 10-3 S∙cm-1 as the MWCNTs content raises from 3.0 wt% to 14.0 wt%. When the MWCNTs content reaches 14.0 wt%, the prepared composite wire can light up LED at a voltage of 5 V, indicating the great potential of this biomass-based conductive composite in conductive material application.

Full area covered 3D profile measurement of special-shaped optics based on a new prototype non-contact profiler.

A new prototype non-contact profiler based on surface tracking has been specially developed. Surface tracking is carried out by a specially designed dual stage probe system with the aid of a four-Degree Of Freedom high-precision motion platform. The dual stage probe system keeps a short-range optical probe constantly tracking the surface by a self-developed voice coil motor servo, by which a wide measuring range of up to 10 mm is realized. The system performance evaluation including resolution, repeatability, and scanning speed proved the good capability of the new prototype non-contact profiler. To realize a full area covered 3D profile measurement of special-shaped optics within one scanning procedure, a signal intensity monitor integrated in the surface tracking controller is specially developed. In the experiment, a snip-single-corner-rectangular-shaped freeform surface was successfully measured over full area by the new non-contact profiler. This work provides an effective solution for 3D profile measurement of special-shaped optical surfaces over full reflecting area. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed measuring system is of great significance in quality evaluation of optical surfaces.

Level Set Based Hippocampus Segmentation in MR Images with Improved Initialization Using Region Growing.

The hippocampus has been known as one of the most important structures referred to as Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders. However, segmentation of the hippocampus from MR images is still a challenging task due to its small size, complex shape, low contrast, and discontinuous boundaries. For the accurate and efficient detection of the hippocampus, a new image segmentation method based on adaptive region growing and level set algorithm is proposed. Firstly, adaptive region growing and morphological operations are performed in the target regions and its output is used for the initial contour of level set evolution method. Then, an improved edge-based level set method utilizing global Gaussian distributions with different means and variances is developed to implement the accurate segmentation. Finally, gradient descent method is adopted to get the minimization of the energy equation. As proved by experiment results, the proposed method can ideally extract the contours of the hippocampus that are very close to manual segmentation drawn by specialists.

Electrowetting on dielectric device with crescent electrodes for reliable and low-voltage droplet manipulation.

Digital microfluidics based on electrowetting on dielectric is an emerging popular technology that manipulates single droplets at the microliter or even the nanoliter level. It has the unique advantages of rapid response, low reagent consumption, and high integration and is mainly applied in the field of biochemical analysis. However, currently, this technology still has a few problems, such as high control voltage, low droplet velocity, and continuity in flow, limiting its application. In this paper, through theoretical analysis and numerical simulation, it is deduced that a drive electrode with a crescent configuration can reduce the driving voltage. The experimental results not only validate this deduction but also indicate that crescent electrode can improve the droplet motion continuity and the success in split rate.