Developing a scalable process is critical to manufacture conductive fabric for commercial applications. This paper describes a scalable coating process that is compatible with existing industrial finishing processes of fabrics. In this process, the fabric is continuously dipped in water-based metal salt and the reducing agent solution to impart conductive particles on the fiber surface. After 10 consecutive cycles of dip coating, the fabric shows 6 Ω/in. of resistance. The process is tuned to minimize process cost and material cost, and maximize the durability of the fabric. This paper also introduces an easy protective coating technique of the conductive fabric that improves the durability of the conductive fabric without sacrificing the comfort properties of textile fabrics such as breathability and flexibility. The encapsulated conductive fabric shows good air-permeability and it is 6.96 cm3/cm2/s. Moreover, the conductivity of the encapsulated fabric is quite stable after four accelerated washing cycles. Additionally, the fabric remains conductive on the surfaces and is suitable for using as a conductive track and connectors.
The required treatment and monitoring of contaminants in wastewater reinforces the development of low-cost adsorbents/chemosensors, introducing advantages relative to the detection/removal of toxic metals and dyes. Herein, it is reported a two-step process of fabrication of fluorescent carbon dots via the hydrothermal treatment of amino acids for the following encapsulation in electrospun fibers. The prominent anionic behavior of electrospun fibers of Eudragit L100 was explored for adsorption of cationic dyes (methylene blue and crystal violet)—with the prevailing electrostatic interaction of parts being favored by the formation of monolayers on the surface of adsorbents. On the other hand, the controlled release of carbon dots (CDs) from fibers to the reactor can be explored for a second application: the nitrogen ligands from released glycine-based carbon dots can be explored to indicate the presence of metal ions in aqueous solution. Our experiment resulted in a quenching in the fluorescence of the CDs in order of 90% in the emission of particles in the response of the presence of Fe3+ ions, characterizing a promising perspective for this experimental system.
Sodium-ion battery (SIB), one of most promising battery technologies, offers an alternative low-cost solution for scalable energy storage. Developing advanced electrode materials with superior electrochemical performance is of great significance for SIBs. Transition metal sulfides that emerge as promising anode materials have advantageous features particularly for electrochemical redox reaction, including high theoretical capacity, good cycling stability, easily-controlled structure and modifiable chemical composition. In this review, recent progress of transition metal sulfides based materials for SIBs is summarized by discussing the materials properties, advanced design strategies, electrochemical reaction mechanism and their applications in sodium-ion full batteries. Moreover, we propose several promising strategies to overcome the challenges of transition metal sulfides for SIBs, paving the way to explore and construct advanced electrode materials for SIBs and other energy storage devices.
Silica aerogels have attracted significant interest in thermal insulation applications because of their low thermal conductivity and great thermal stability, however, their fragility has limited their application in every-day products. Herein, a self-reinforcing strategy to design silica nanofibrous aerogels (SNFAs) is proposed using electrospun SiO2 nanofibers as the matrix and a silica sol as a high-temperature nanoglue. Adopting this approach results in a strong and compatible interfacial interaction between the SiO2 fibers and the silica sol, which results in the SNFAs exhibiting high-temperature-resistant and tunable mechanical properties from elastic to rigid. Furthermore, additional properties such as low density, high thermal insulation performance, and fire-resistance are still retained. The self-reinforcing method described herein may be extended to numerous other new ceramic aerogels that require robust mechanical properties and high-temperature resistance.