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Topic Review
Thin-Film Materials by RF Sputtering
We report on the development of several different thin-film material systems prepared by RF magnetron sputtering at Edith Cowan University nanofabrication labs. While focusing on the RF sputtering process optimizations for new or the previously underexplored material compositions and multilayer structures, we disclose several unforeseen material properties and behaviours. We communicate research results related to the design, prototyping, and practical fabrication of high-performance magneto-optic (MO) materials, oxide based sensor components, and transparent heat regulation coatings for advanced construction and solar windows.
  • 3.8K
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Sol-gel Technology for Commercial Coatings
The commercial availability of inorganic/organic precursors for sol-gel formulation is very high and increase day by day. By using the sol-gel technology, it is possible to provide materials with functional/multi-functional characteristics including flame retardant, anti-mosquito, water-repellent oil-repellent, anti-bacterial, anti-wrinkle, ultraviolet (UV) protection, self-cleaning and other properties. Some of these properties are discussed here, describing basic chemistry, factors affecting the sol-gel process, as well as progress and parameters controlling sol-gel technology for thin coatings.
  • 3.7K
  • 29 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Polymer Solar Cells Based on PEDOT:PSS Electrodes
Solution-processed polymer solar cells (PSCs) have advantages of low cost, solution processability, light weight, and excellent flexibility. Recent progress in materials synthesis and devices engineering has boosted the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of single-junction PSCs over 17%. Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is one of the most promising candidates for electrodes due to its high conductivity (>4000 S/cm), excellent transmittance (>90%), intrinsically high work function (WF > 5.0 eV), and aqueous solution processability. To date, a great number of single-junction PSCs based on PEDOT:PSS electrodes have realized a PCE over 12%.
  • 3.7K
  • 10 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Multivariable Formulation of Surfactant-Oil-Water Systems
Surfactant-Oil-Water (SOW) systems are found in nature and synthetic products. They usually result in two immiscible phases, e.g., for two liquids, a water phase (often a brine), and an oily phase (which could be extremely complex as petroleum). Surfactant partitions between the two phases according to some physicochemical rules due to molecular interactions. There is a very particular formulation case in which SOW systems can form three immiscible phases, that is, two excess phases (water and oil) in equilibrium with a  so-called middle phase (because of an intermediate density that places it in the middle of a test tube). This middle phase is a so-called bicontinuous microemulsion which has no droplets dispersed in an external phase as a typical emulsion, but a complex single-phase structure similar to a disordered liquid crystal. When stirred, SOW systems can form multiple dispersed systems that can be described as macroemulsions or nanoemulsions depending on the drop size (O/W or W/O) or multiple emulsions (w/O/W or o/W/O) with droplets inside larger drops. Since the beginnings of the 20th century with Bancroft’s rule, the properties of these systems have been related to many thermodynamic variables, generally with one effect at a time. Nowadays, the generalized physicochemical concept of SOW systems with many formulation variables involved allows to make predictions in various application cases, even for very complex systems, as in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), crude oil dehydration, paints, foods, cosmetics and pharmaceutical formulations, that requires the control on 6-8 variables or even more. This is mainly because of the presence of mixtures of oils from linear alkanes to triglycerides or complex molecules perfumes, or a mixture of salts with cations from sodium to calcium or aluminum, and anions like chloride to phosphate. The complexity is even worse with mixtures of very different surface-active species, resulting in non-linear interactions.
  • 3.6K
  • 17 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Carbon Coating Method
The carbon coating has the following main mechanisms: (1) Modifying surface chemical stability, (2) Enhancing structural stability, and (3) Improving Li-ion diffusion. 
  • 3.6K
  • 07 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Recent Advances in Fabricating Wurtzite AlN
As a representative ultrawide bandgap (UWBG) semiconductor material, wurtzite aluminum nitride (AlN) material has many excellent properties such as high electron mobility (1100 cm2/Vs), high breakdown voltage (11.7 MV/cm), high piezoelectric coefficient, high thermal conductivity (320 W/m·K), high hardness (nine on the Mohs scale), high corrosion resistance, high chemical and thermal stability, as well as high bulk acoustic wave velocity (11,270 m/s).
  • 3.5K
  • 10 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Laser Melting Deposition
Ceramics and ceramic-reinforced metal matrix composites (CMMCs) demonstrate high wear resistance, excellent chemical inertness, and exceptional properties at elevated temperatures. These characteristics are suitable for their utilization in biomedical, aerospace, electronics, and other high-end engineering industries. The aforementioned performances make them difficult to fabricate via conventional manufacturing methods, requiring high costs and energy consumption. To overcome these issues, laser additive manufacturing (LAM) techniques, with high-power laser beams, were developed and extensively employed for processing ceramics and ceramic-reinforced CMMCs-based coatings. In respect to other LAM processes, laser melting deposition (LMD) excels in several aspects, such as high coating efficiency and lower labor cost. Nevertheless, difficulties such as poor bonding between coating and substrate, cracking, and reduced toughness are still encountered in some LMD coatings.
  • 3.3K
  • 24 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Applications of Natural Polymers-Based Materials
Natural polymers have emerged as promising candidates for the sustainable development of materials in areas ranging from food packaging and biomedicine to energy storage and electronics. 
  • 3.1K
  • 06 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Anti-Icing Surfaces
In numerous fields such as aerospace, the environment, and energy supply, ice generation and accretion represent a severe issue. For this reason, numerous methods have been developed for ice formation to be delayed and/or to inhibit ice adhesion to the substrates. Among them, laser micro/nanostructuring of surfaces aiming to obtain superhydrophobic behavior has been taken as a starting point for engineering substrates with anti-icing properties. 
  • 3.0K
  • 17 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Polyphenylsulfone Membrane
Polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) membranes are of fundamental importance for many applications such as water treatment, gas separation, energy, electronics, and biomedicine, due to their low cost, controlled crystallinity, chemical, thermal, and mechanical stability. Numerous research studies have shown that modifying surface properties of PPSU membranes influences their stability and functionality. Therefore, the modification of the PPSU membrane surface is a pressing issue for both research and industrial communities.
  • 2.9K
  • 10 Mar 2022
Topic Review
TBC-assisted Cooling Air System Simulation
Thermal barrier coating (TBC) and cooling air systems are among the technologies that have been introduced and applied in pursuing the extensive development of advanced gas turbine. TBC is used to protect the gas turbine components from the higher operating temperature of advanced gas turbine, whereas cooling air systems are applied to assist TBC in lowering the temperature exposure of protected surfaces. Generally, a gas turbine operates in three main operational modes, which are base load, peak load, and part peak load. TBC performance under these three operational modes has become essential to be studied, as it will provide the gas turbine owners not only with the behaviors and damage mechanism of TBC but also a TBC life prediction in a particular operating condition.
  • 2.9K
  • 23 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Metamaterials
Metamaterials are amongst the advanced materials made up initially with metal structures. However, there is a huge ongoing work on dielectric metasurfaces and metamaterials with the aim of replacing metal structures with dielectric ones in order to reduce the electromagnetic losses.
  • 2.8K
  • 31 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Thermochromic Hydrogel Smart Windows
Thermochromic smart windows technology can intelligently regulate indoor solar radiation by changing indoor light transmittance in response to thermal stimulation, thus reducing energy consumption of the building. In recent years, with the development of new energy-saving materials and the combination with practical technology, energy-saving smart windows technology has received more and more attention from scientific research.
  • 2.8K
  • 14 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Porcelain Enamel
Porcelain enamel is a glassy material deposited on a metallic substrate and fired at high temperatures (500-900 °C) to form a stable and permanent bond with it through chemical-physical reaction. This coating was developed in ancient times for decorative purposes and it was mainly used to embellish precious objects with colourful and glossy finishing as if to imitate the shining of precious stones. Only from 1760 enamelling of metal objects began to play a technical role. Nowadays vitreous enamel coatings are widely used and appreciated for high-duty technological applications, as they provide good corrosion protection of the covered substrates and they can withstand chemical attack, abrasion, and degradation caused by external agents, maintaining their aesthetical properties unchanged in time. This work is to introduce and describe the history of enamelling from ancient times to the modern era, revealing the glorious past of this material for decorative purposes and its use as a technical coating from the First Industrial Revolution onward. 
  • 2.8K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Biofouling on Stainless Steel
In humid environments, the formation of biofilms and microfouling are known to be the detrimental processes that first occur on stainless steel surfaces. This is known as biofouling. Subsequently, the conditions created by metabolites and the activity of organisms trigger corrosion of the metal and accelerate corrosion locally, causing a deterioration in, and alterations to, the performance of devices made of stainless steel. The microorganisms which thus affect stainless steel are mainly algae and bacteria.
  • 2.8K
  • 24 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Fungal Degradation of Wood
Wood durability researchers have long described fungal decay of timber using the starkly simple terms of white, brown and soft rot, along with the less destructive mold and stain fungi. These terms have taken on an almost iconic meaning but are only based upon the outward appearance of the damaged timber. Long-term deterioration studies, as well as the emerging genetic tools, are showing the fallacy of simplifying the decay process into such broad groups.
  • 2.8K
  • 17 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Power Generation Using Dielectric Elastomers
Power generation using dielectric elastomer (DE) artificial muscle is attracting attention because of its light weight, low cost, and high-efficiency. Since this method is a system that produces electricity without emitting carbon dioxide nor using rare earths, it would contribute to the goal of environmental sustainability. 
  • 2.8K
  • 30 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Transparent Electrode Materials
The nonrenewable nature of fossil energy has led to a gradual decrease in reserves. Meanwhile, as society becomes increasingly aware of the severe pollution caused by fossil energy, the demand for clean energy, such as solar energy, is rising. Moreover, in recent years, electronic devices with screens, such as mobile phones and computers, have had increasingly higher requirements for light transmittance. Whether in solar cells or in the display elements of electronic devices, transparent conductive films directly affect the performance of these devices as a cover layer. In this context, the development of transparent electrodes with low sheet resistance and high light transmittance has become one of the most urgent issues in related fields. At the same time, conventional electrodes can no longer meet the needs of some of the current flexible devices. Because of the high sheet resistance, poor light transmittance, and poor bending stability of the conventional tin-doped indium tin oxide conductive film and fluorine-doped tin oxide transparent conductive glass, there is a need to find alternatives with better performance. In this entry, the progress of research on transparent electrode materials with sandwich structures and their advantages is reviewed according to the classification of conductive materials to provide reference for research in related fields.
  • 2.8K
  • 09 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Antibiotics-Coated Gold Nanoparticles to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become an alarming threat to the successful treatment of rapidly growing bacterial infections because of the abuse and misuse of antibiotics. Traditional antibiotics bear many limitations including restricted bioavailability, inadequate penetration and the emergence of antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms. Recent advances in nanotechnology for the introduction of nanoparticles with fascinating physicochemical characteristics have been predicted as an innovative means of defence against antimicrobial-resistant diseases. The use of nanoparticles renders several benefits including improved tissue targeting, better solubility, improved stability, enhanced epithelial permeability and minimal side effects.
  • 2.8K
  • 07 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Flexible Stretchable Electrode
Flexible electrode technology is the key to the wide application of flexible electronics. However, flexible electrodes will break when large deformation occurs, failing flexible electronics. It restricts the further development of flexible electronic technology. Flexible stretchable electrodes are a hot research topic to solve the problem that flexible electrodes cannot withstand large deformation. Flexible stretchable electrode materials have excellent electrical conductivity, while retaining excellent mechanical properties in case of large deformation.
  • 2.8K
  • 27 Apr 2022
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