Mathematical Model of Constitutive Relation and Failure Criteria of Plastic Concrete under True Triaxial Compressive Stress.

To establish the mathematic model of the constitutive relation and failure criteria of plastic concrete under true triaxial compressive stress, uniaxial compressive strength and true triaxial compressive strength of plastic concrete under three kinds of confining pressures with a size of 150 × 150 × 150 mm3 and a curing age of 540 days were tested, and the elastic modulus of plastic concrete with a size of 150 × 150 × 300 mm3 and a curing age of 90 days was tested. Based on the database, under uniaxial compressive stress tests and true triaxial compressive stress tests, the mathematic model of constitutive relation and the failure criteria of plastic concrete were investigated. It was observed that the strength of plastic concrete increased with confining stress. The mathematic model of constitutive relation in the form of the quartic polynomial is in good agreement with measured data. The general equations of failure criteria based on the octahedral stress-space under true triaxial compressive stress in the form of quadratic polynomial are well-fitting with experimental data. The mathematic model of constitutive relation and failure criteria of plastic concrete could provide the basis for a numerical simulation analysis of plastic concrete under true triaxial compressive stress, as well as promote the engineering application of plastic concrete.

Synergy of tellurium and defects in control of activity of phosphorene for oxygen evolution and reduction reactions.

Developing low-cost and metal-free electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is desirable for renewable energy technologies. Recent experiments show that tellurium (Te) atoms can be effectively doped into black phosphorus (BP) nanosheets, and they greatly improve its OER catalytic performance. However, the specific active sites and microscopic configurations in the atomic-scale are still ambiguous. Here, we show that the doped Te atoms prefer to bond with each other to form clusters in phosphorene and they can be further stabilized by various intrinsic defects (Stone-Wales, single vacancy defects and zigzag nanoribbon). Benefiting from the reduced binding strength of O*, Te dopants and intrinsic defects synergistically boost the catalytic activity of phosphorene. The best OER catalytic activity could be realized in the cluster SW2-Te1p (Stone-Wales defect decorated by one Te atom). For ORR, the cluster Pri-Te3p (pristine phosphorene decorated by three Te atoms) exhibits optimal catalytic activity. Calculated ORR/OER potential gaps indicate that the SW2-Te3p cluster most likely acts as the efficient bifunctional catalytic site for both ORR and OER.

Optimizing Melamine Resin Microspheres with Excess Formaldehyde for the SERS Substrate.

Influence of the excess monomer within the synthetic reaction solution of melamine resin microspheres (MFMSs) on the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) enhancement from Rhodamine 6G (R6G) was investigated, where the R6G was adsorbed on the silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) that were loaded on the MFMSs. Surface characteristics of the MFMSs were modified by the excess monomer (i.e., the excessive melamine or formaldehyde) through its terminal overreaction, which can be simply controlled by some of the synthetic reaction conditions, thus further allowing us to optimize the assembly of the loaded AgNPs for the SERS detection. These SERS substrates incorporating the optimized MFMSs with the excess formaldehyde can also be used for tracing analyses of more environmental and food contaminants.

Role of the excess monomer in the growth of urea and formaldehyde resin deposit particles.

The role of excess monomer (i.e., Urea (U) or Formaldehyde (F)) in UF precipitation reaction was investigated at 28°C. The maximum output of the UF resin deposit was found around the U:F molar ratio 1.0:1.0 and this output decreased if excessive urea (or formaldehyde) was used in the reaction system. The excess monomer was considered to decrease the polymerization degree of UF resin deposit and increased the bonding saturation of its copolymerization monomer as well as the solubility of the UF resin deposit. The Influence of the excess monomer on the lamellar crystallinity of the resultant deposit, involving the polymerization degree and bonding saturation of the monomer, was examined. Three different dynamic regions containing excess monomers were revealed according to the behaviors of the deposit nucleation. The density and water absorption of the UF resin particles were finally demonstrated relative to the dynamic regions in their nucleation reactions.