Browsing by Author "He, L"
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- ItemChemomechanical influences during replacement of limestones by siderite(Goldschmidt, 2022-07-15) Weber, J; Starchenko, V; Zhang, R; Ilavsky, J; Debeer-Schmidt, L; Mata, JP; Littrell, K; He, L; Chen, WR; Allard, LF; Stack, AG; Anovitz, LA fundamental and predictive understanding of mineral-fluid interactions is important for a wide range of energy topics including carbon sequestration, nuclear waste management and legacy contamination clean up. The properties of aqueous solution are altered by confinement, which can be present within natural geomaterials, e.g., in grain boundaries and nanopores. Mineral replacement reactions have been reported to proceed via grain boundaries possibly due to higher diffusion rates than in solids. In addition to confinement effects, chemomechanical effects such as crystallization pressure induced fracturing can also alter mineral-fluid interactions. To test the effects of porosity and grain boundaries on replacement in single component and impurity-containing systems we experimentally investigated the model system of limestone replacement by siderite by batch reactor experiments at 200°C from 2 to 120 days with FeCl2. Variation in initial microstructure and solid impurities were used to identify reaction controls. Changes in porosity were spatially resolved analyzed using inverse scattering techniques ((ultra) small angle neutron/X-ray scattering), and these were combined with imaging by scanning (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In high-porosity limestones replacement is rapid (complete replacement within 2 days), and transport controlled, whereas in low-porosity limestones elevated porosity throughout the whole rock volume was observed that was independent of the reaction rim. Image analysis showed widening of selected grain boundaries with increasing reaction time. This led to increased grain boundary width distributions that were observed as higher porosity by scattering methods. SEM imaging showed that nucleation of siderite crystals either at dolomite impurities within the limestone or other defects lead to exertion of crystallization pressure, widening grain boundaries, which led to formation of preferential transport pathways that limited replacement of solid impurity-containing limestone rocks. This highlights how chemomechanical effects can alter reaction pathways.
- ItemGrain size and structure distortion characterization of α-MgAgSb thermoelectric material by powder diffraction(IOP Publishing, 2020-05-21) Li, XY; Zhang, Z; He, L; Avdeev, M; Ren, Y; Zhao, H; Wang, FNanostructuring, structure distortion, and/or disorder are the main manipulation techniques to reduce the lattice thermal conductivity and improve the figure of merit of thermoelectric materials. A single-phase α-MgAgSb sample, MgAg0.97Sb0.99, with high thermoelectric performance in near room temperature region was synthesized through a high-energy ball milling with a hot-pressing method. Here, we report the average grain size of 24–28 nm and the accurate structure distortion, which are characterized by high-resolution neutron diffraction and synchrotron x-ray diffraction with Rietveld refinement data analysis. Both the small grain size and the structure distortion have a contribution to the low lattice thermal conductivity in MgAg0.97Sb0.99. © 2020 Chinese Physical Society and IOP Publishing Ltd
- ItemInsights into the role of protein molecule size and structure on interfacial properties using designed sequences(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2013-03-06) Dwyer, MD; He, L; James, M; Nelson, A; Middelberg, APJMixtures of a large, structured protein with a smaller, unstructured component are inherently complex and hard to characterize at interfaces, leading to difficulties in understanding their interfacial behaviours and, therefore, formulation optimization. Here, we investigated interfacial properties of such a mixed system. Simplicity was achieved using designed sequences in which chemical differences had been eliminated to isolate the effect of molecular size and structure, namely a short unstructured peptide (DAMP1) and its longer structured protein concatamer (DAMP4). Interfacial tension measurements suggested that the size and bulk structuring of the larger molecule led to much slower adsorption kinetics. Neutron reflectometry at equilibrium revealed that both molecules adsorbed as a monolayer to the air–water interface (indicating unfolding of DAMP4 to give a chain of four connected DAMP1 molecules), with a concentration ratio equal to that in the bulk. This suggests the overall free energy of adsorption is equal despite differences in size and bulk structure. At small interfacial extensional strains, only molecule packing influenced the stress response. At larger strains, the effect of size became apparent, with DAMP4 registering a higher stress response and interfacial elasticity. When both components were present at the interface, most stress-dissipating movement was achieved by DAMP1. This work thus provides insights into the role of proteins' molecular size and structure on their interfacial properties, and the designed sequences introduced here can serve as effective tools for interfacial studies of proteins and polymers. © 2013, The Royal Society
- ItemSilver nanoparticles prepared by gamma irradiation across metal organic framework templates(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2015-01-07) He, L; Dumée, LF; Liu, D; Velleman, L; She, FH; Banos, C; Davies, JB; Kong, LXIn this study, we demonstrate for the first time the successful fabrication of well-dispersed ultrafine silver nanoparticles inside metal–organic frameworks through a single step gamma irradiation at room temperature. HKUST-1 crystals are soaked in silver nitrate aqueous solution and irradiated with a Cobalt 60 source across a range of irradiation doses to synthesize highly uniformly distributed silver nano-particles. The average size of the silver nanoparticles across the Ag@HKUST-1 materials is found to vary between 1.4 and 3 nm for dose exposures between 1 and 200 kGy, respectively. The Ag@HKUST-1 hybrid crystals exhibit strong surface plasmon resonance and are highly durable and efficient catalytic materials for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol (up to 14.46 × 10−3 s−1 for 1 kGy Ag@HKUST-1). The crystals can be easily recycled for at least five successive cycles of reaction with a conversion efficiency higher than 99.9%. The gamma irradiation is demonstrated to be an effective and environmental friendly process for the synthesis of nano-particles across confined metal–organic frameworks at room temperature with potential applications in environmental science. © 2015 The Royal Society of Chemistry
- ItemSingle step preparation of meso-porous and reduced graphene oxide by gamma-ray irradiation in gaseous phase(Elsevier B.V., 2014-04-01) Dumée, LF; Feng, CF; He, L; Yi, ZF; She, FS; Peng, Z; Gao, WM; Banos, C; Davies, JB; Huynh, C; Hawkins, S; Duke, MC; Gray, S; Hodgson, PD; Kong, LXA facile and highly efficient route to produce simultaneously porous and reduced graphene oxide by gamma ray irradiation in hydrogen is here demonstrated. Narrowly distributed nano-scale pores (average size of ∼3 nm and surface density >44,900 pore μm−2) were generated across 10 μm thick graphene oxide bucky-papers at a total irradiation dose of 500 kGy. The graphene oxide sheet reduction was confirmed to occur homogeneously across the structures by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman analysis. This one-step, catalyst-free, high penetration and through-put technique, offers great promises potential for the mass production of reduced graphene oxide from cheap graphene oxide. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
- ItemSmall angle neutron scattering (SANS) studies on the structural evolution of pyromellitamide self-assembled gels(ACS Publications, 2014-10-31) Jamieson, SA; Tong, KWK; Hamilton, WA; He, L; James, M; Thordarson, PThe kinetics of aggregation of two pyromellitamide gelators, tetrabutyl- (C4) and tetrahexyl-pyromellitamide (C6), in deuterated cyclohexane has been investigated by small angle neutron scattering (SANS) for up to 6 days. The purpose of this study was to improve our understanding of how self-assembled gels are formed. Short-term (< 3 h) time scales revealed multiple phases with the data for the tetrabutylpyromellitamide C4, indicating one-dimensional stacking and aggregation corresponding to a multifiber braided cluster arrangement that is about 35 Å in diameter. The corresponding tetrahexylpyromellitamide C6 data suggest that the C6 also forms one-dimensional stacks but that these aggregate to a thicker multifiber braided cluster that has a diameter of about 62 Å. Over a longer period of time, the radius, persistence length, and contour length all continue to increase in 6 days after cooling. These data suggest that structural changes in self-assembled gels occur over a period exceeding several days and that fairly subtle changes in the structure (e.g., tail-length) can influence the packing of molecules in self-assembled gels on the single-to-few fiber bundle stage © 2014, American Chemical Society.
- ItemTuning the grade of graphene: gamma ray irradiation of free-standing graphene oxide films in gaseous phase(Elsevier V.V., 2014-12-15) Dumée, LF; Feng, CF; He, L; Allioux, FM; Yi, ZF; Gao, WM; Banos, C; Davies, JB; Kong, LXA direct approach to functionalize and reduce pre-shaped graphene oxide 3D architectures is demonstrated by gamma ray irradiation in gaseous phase under analytical grade air, N2 or H2. The formation of radicals upon gamma ray irradiation is shown to lead to surface functionalization of the graphene oxide sheets. The reduction degree of graphene oxide, which can be controlled through varying the γ-ray total dose irradiation, leads to the synthesis of highly crystalline and near defect-free graphene based materials. The crystalline structure of the graphene oxide and γ-ray reduced graphene oxide was investigated by x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The results reveal no noticeable changes in the size of sp2 graphitic structures for the range of tested gases and total exposure doses suggesting that the irradiation in gaseous phase does not damage the graphene crystalline domains. As confirmed by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, the C/O ratio of γ-ray reduced graphene oxide is increasing from 2.37 for graphene oxide to 6.25 upon irradiation in hydrogen gas. The removal of oxygen atoms with this reduction process in hydrogen results in a sharp 400 times increase of the electrical conductivity of γ-ray reduced graphene oxide from 0.05 S cm−1 to as high as 23 S cm−1. A significant increase of the contact angle of the γ-ray reduced graphene oxide bucky-papers and weakened oxygen rich groups characteristic peaks across the Fourier transform infrared spectra further illustrate the efficacy of the γ-ray reduction process. A mechanism correlating the interaction between hydrogen radicals formed upon γ-ray irradiation of hydrogen gas and the oxygen rich groups on the surface of the graphene oxide bucky-papers is proposed, in order to contribute to the synthesis of reduced graphene materials through solution-free chemistry routes. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.