Search

Personal thermal management (PTM) textiles for outdoor activities have become increasingly important for addressing energy consumption and thermal comfortable. Cellulose nanofiber (CNF) aerogels have emerged as promising candidates for PTM due to the eco-friendliness, lightweight, and low thermal conductivity. However, the singular insulation capability may not be sufficient to accommodate the diverse and harsh outdoor conditions. Herein, we carbonized CNF-based aerogel to fabricate anisotropic carbon aerogels, and then incorporated silver nanowires (AgNWs) upon onside to fabricate the dual-function AgNWs/carbon aerogel. The resulting material inherits high porosity (99.3 %), high surface area (503.2 m2/g), low density (7.08 mg/cm3), and low thermal conductivity (18.2 mW·m−1·k−1 in the axial direction) to act as an ideal thermal insulator. The AgNWs coating side demonstrates low IR-emissivity (17.6 % at 7–14 μm) and the carbon aerogel side has high solar absorptivity (91.97 %). Moreover, the AgNWs/carbon aerogel shows Joule heating performance (∆ T = 44.5 °C within 3 min at 5 V). The multi-heating modes enabling self-adaptable thermal comfortable under various harsh environment. Additionally, the material's breathability, permeability, and electromagnetic shielding characteristics also make it suitable candidate for advanced wearable textiles for PTM. Personal thermal management (PTM) mechanism of the AgNWs/carbon aerogel. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The natural pomelo peel fibers powders coating was obtained by spraying method, and this coating was underwater superoleophobic and could be applied in oil/water separation. The pre-wetted sample's separation efficiency was up to 97.0% for light or heavy oils/water mixture only in gravity-driven mass flow. And the pomelo peel powders coatings could still retain more than 98.0% separation efficiency water/soybean oil mixtures after 50 separation cycles. In this article, separation efficiency of natural pomelo peel powders coated mesh was over 97.0% in different pH water/soybean oil mixtures. All these features have shown that the natural and environment-friendly pomelo peel powders coating have enough potential applications in the field of oil/water separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amorphous WO 3 coatings are prepared by a simple chemical deposition at room temperature. And the coatings modified with FAS-17 could obtain superamphiphobicity. The chemical composition, surface morphology, surface groups were respectively investigated with XRD, XPS, SEM, FT-IR and contact angles measurement. In order to study the particles’ size, the TEM pictures is applied. The wettability of the coatings were characterized by contact angles and surface adhesion abilities. Results show that the coatings were composed of amorphous micro-nano WO 3 at 60 °C, and those coatings could be easily fabricated and obtain superamphiphobicity. In meanwhile, the coatings possessed of low adhesion and high contact angles to water and oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fabrication of surfaces with capability of repelling both water and oil is badly needed. Meanwhile, the widespread use of nanomaterials has also attracted great interest in this field. In this paper, we provided novel methods to synthesize nano amorphous tungsten oxide coatings on Al-Mg metals. After modification with FAS-17, the surface could obtain excellent superamphiphobic abilities with lower sliding angles and higher contact angles to water and oil. In addition, outstanding anti-oil pollutant and low adhesion were obtained. Furthermore, the as-prepared superamphiphobic surfaces could survive 200 cm abrasion distance under 19.6 kPa pressure on 1000 grid SiC sandpaper. It should be noted that this coatings could obtain different colors in different temperature. Meanwhile, we found that the droplets with lower surface energy and low viscosity are easier to bounce than the droplets with high surface energy and high viscosity. So the simple procedure and excellent superamphiphobicity about fabricating colorful tungsten oxide coatings have great potential in protecting Al-Mg metal and have potential applied in signals which need to prevent wetting or pollution by water and oils. On one level, this method about synthesizing nano amorphous tungsten oxide also has more promising using in other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Tungsten trioxide (WO 3) and titanium dioxide (TiO 2) decorated commercial stainless steel meshes (SSM 304) were fabricated by chemical deposition and dip coating. WO 3 and TiO 2 particles were firmly and uniformly coated on the membrane surfaces, forming rough micro-nano double structures with underwater superoleophobicity, large contact angles and low oil-adhesion characteristic. Furthermore, the as-prepared membranes achieved effective oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions separation with high efficiency up to 98.5% or more. The separation of O/W emulsions was easily implemented under gravity with water fluxes of >200 L m−2 h−1 or low pressure with water fluxes up to 1300 L m−2 h−1 or more. In addition, the superhydrophilic membranes with WO 3 /TiO 2 coatings were demonstrated for high oil rejection, stable underwater superoleophobic properties after abrasion treatment and steady water permeation flux after several cycles. Highlights • A Method to prepare WO 3 /TiO 2 decorated steel meshes is proposed. • Membranes have a solid structure, good stability and underwater superoleophobicity. • Effectively membrane separation of stabilized oil-in-water emulsions. • Composite membranes have outstanding recyclability and potential for oil/water separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents first-year findings of a 25-week longitudinal project derived from a two-year longitudinal randomized trial study at the elementary school level in Costa Rica on effective computer-assisted language learning (CALL) approaches in an English as a foreign language (EFL) setting. A pre-test–post-test experimental group design was implemented to evaluate two varying types of CALL curriculum (Treatment A and Treatment B, both technology based to assist English language learning) with a difference in students’ time-on-task, as opposed to the Control/Comparison group (that received no treatment and was a typical practice within the regular English teaching time period). Four subtests from Woodcock Munoz Language Survey-Revised (WMLS-R), a norm-referenced, standardized instrument, were selected to monitor participants’ oral English development. A total of 76 urban, rural, and urban/marginal schools with 816 third graders were included in the analysis through multilevel modeling. Results suggested that (1) students held very limited oral English proficiency at the beginning of the third grade; (2) although students significantly improved their oral English proficiency during the 25-week intervention, they were still significantly below the typical native English-speaking norm at the end of the third-grade level; (3) those who were exposed to CALL modules in Treatment A developed at a faster rate than did students in Treatment B and in Control classrooms in lexical knowledge and listening skills when statistically controlling for student-level variables, including initial level and time-on-task; (4) although students in CALL intervention (especially in Treatment B) started with a lower level of oral English proficiency, their gain was numerically higher than that in the Control condition; and (5) time-on-task demonstrated to be an irrelevant variable in the study. These findings imply that it is not just exposure to English that matters for significant gains in the language; rather, it is the type of instruction a student receives, or the quality of instruction in which the software engages the students interactively in a hands-on, minds-on, scaffolded manner, that matters the most in developing steep gains. Finally, we recommend that additional research be conducted with groups that move through kindergarten, first grade, and second grade longitudinally to determine cohort effects in learning English via CALL instruction in EFL countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents the findings from a randomized control trial study of reading/literacy-integrated science inquiry intervention after 1 year of implementation and the treatment effect on 5th-grade low-socio-economic African-American and Hispanic students’ achievement in science and English reading. A total of 94 treatment students and 194 comparison students from four randomized intermediate schools participated in the current project. The intervention consisted of ongoing professional development and specific instructional science lessons with inquiry-based learning, direct and explicit vocabulary instruction, and integration of reading and writing. Results suggested that (a) there was a significantly positive treatment effect as reflected in students' higher performance in district-wide curriculum-based tests of science and reading and standardized tests of science, reading, and English reading fluency; (b) males and females did not differ significantly from participating in science inquiry instruction; (c) African-American students had lower chance of sufficiently mastering the science concepts and achieving above the state standards when compared with Hispanic students across gender and condition, and (d) below-poverty African-American females are the most vulnerable group in science learning. Our study confirmed that even a modest amount of literacy integration in inquiry-based science instruction can promote students' science and reading achievement. Therefore, we call for more experimental research that focus on the quality of literacy-integrated science instruction from which middle grade students, particularly low-socio-economic status students, can benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]