PDMS-based materials have been extensively studied in oil–water separation. However, their successful application is commonly limited by low efficiency, vulnerability to acid/alkali, complex ...processing procedures, incapability for emulsion separation, etc. Here, a highly durable and robust separation material is developed by coating PDMS-based copolymers on cotton textiles with a facile sol–gel approach. Solely driven by gravity, this new material not only can enable effective separation of oil–water mixture with a flux as high as ∼7500 L m–2 h–1 but also can separate surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsion. Moreover, it remains fully functional even in the environments with high concentrations of acid, alkali, or salt. This novel and versatile strategy holds great promise to be widely used in practical applications of oil–water separation, including oil/chemical spill accidents and industrial sewage emission.
•GFT was introduced to improve the toughness of 3D printed WPCMs.•The addition of GFT presented considerable impact on the redistribution of force in the specimens.•The flexural strength and fracture ...deflection of specimens increased significantly compared to the control.
3D printing technology for cement-based materials recently provides an emerging preparation style in construction industry benefited from the rapid prototyping and construction freedom. However, due to the poor toughness of 3D printed cementitious materials, the further application of 3D printing technology in architectural decoration and construction field is limited. In this study, the glass fiber textiles (GFT, with the size of 5 mm × 5 mm) were introduced to improve the toughness of 3D printed white Portland cement-based materials (WPCMs) after printing one or several layers. The results showed that the addition of GFT significantly improved the toughness of the printed specimens, the flexural strength increased by 608%, and when the number of GFT increased to 7, the fracture deflection increased by 1437%. In conclusion, the use of GFT presents a potential to develop high toughness in 3D printed WPCMs.
Textile-based triboelectric nanogenerator (T-TENG) devices, particularly, narrow-gap mode, have been conceived and developed for obtaining energy harvesting and tactile sensing devices unaffected by ...the external environment. Enhancing the interfacial area of T-TENG materials offers exciting opportunities to improve the device output performance. In this work, a narrow-gap T-TENG was fabricated with a facile process, and a new strategy for improving the device output is proposed. The new structural sensor (polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-encapsulated electroless copper plating (EP-Cu) cotton) with multiple electricity generation mechanism was designed and fabricated for enhancing recognition accuracy. The result shows that only PDMS layer strain was established at an external stress of 1.24-12.4 kPa and the fibers laterally slip at a stress of 12.4-139 kPa; more importantly, the output performance of the TENG displayed a linear relationship under corresponding stress ranges. The as-fabricated device demonstrated the ability to convert different energies such as vibration, raindrops, wind and human motions into electrical energy with excellent sensitivity. Interestingly, the output signal of the as-fabricated TENG device is a combination of output signals from PDMS/EP-Cu and PDMS/recognition object devices. To be precise, there are two TENG devices (PDMS/EP-Cu and PDMS/recognition object) that work when the as-fabricated TENG device is under 12.4-139 kPa stress. Accompanied by unique characteristics, the generated TENG signals are capable of recognition of contact materials. Combining the TENG signal and deep learning technology, we explore a strategy that can enable the as-fabricated device to recognize 8 different materials with 99.48% recognition accuracy in the natural environment.
Textile-based triboelectric nanogenerator (T-TENG) devices, particularly, narrow-gap mode, have been conceived and developed for obtaining energy harvesting and tactile sensing devices unaffected by the external environment.
In this paper, a novel metamaterial sensor with excellent sensitivity and quality factor for microwave sensing applications is presented. The designed metamaterial sensor is assembled on a 1.575 mm ...thickness of low-cost dielectric substrate material (Rogers RT5880), and the copper is used as a resonator. Computer Simulation Technology version 2019 (CST-2019) software is employed to design and analyze the proposed metamaterial sensor. In addition, the Advanced Design System version 2016 (ADS 2016) software is used to validate the CST simulated model. Subsequently, the simulated results were validated using laboratory measurements. The optimized cell is small; its dimension is 10 × 10 mm2, and the obtained resonances are 3.85 and 6.85 GHz with notches of −26.29 and −40.03 dB, respectively. The textile material is detected by the resonance frequency change, and this frequency is dependent on the material’s permittivity values. To test the developed sensor’s sensing capabilities, three types of textiles—wool, fleece, and denim—are used. The effective medium ratio, sensitivity, and Q-factor of the structure are evaluated, and the obtained values are 8.96, 14.57%, and 345, respectively. The sensor for detecting textile materials works in the S and C bands. The resonances are shifted 530 MHz between the air and wool, 420 MHz between the air and fleece, and 640 MHz between the air and denim. The simulated outcomes and laboratory results almost matched. The projected sensor can be employed in the apparel sector to identify textile materials because it is small, inexpensive, has a high quality factor, and has high sensitivity.
A floating unit with three pontoons made of epoxy-coated carbon textile reinforced, ultra-high durability concrete (ECF UHDC), mineral impregnated carbon fibre-reinforced UHDC (MCF UHDC) and, as ...references, steel-reinforced concretes has been designed and installed in the Northern Atlantic. While marine structures with steel reinforcement require large cover depths, which cause problems in size, cost, environmental friendliness and short service life, carbon textile reinforced concrete (TRC) cannot suffer from chloride-induced corrosion of a metal reinforcement. In the EU H2020 project “ReSHEALience” (rethinking coastal defence and green-energy service infrastructures through enhanced-durability highperformance cement-based materials), TRCs have been modified with functional admixtures from consortium partners. A mineral self-healing promoter and alumina nano-fibers have, among others, been implemented to boost high-performance concretes towards UHDCs. Resulting composite variants have been applied in a full-scale floating unit that has been launched in the harbor of Galway at the Irish West Coast in June 2020. Such a floating body is a representation of breakwaters installed to reduce wave impacts to the coast. Besides, TRC-based UHDC can be applied as strengthening and repair layer on concrete structures to enhance their service life in general.
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