The formation of new asphaltenes (ASP) during visbreaking (VB) of deasphalted oil (DAO) remains a critical barrier to partial upgrading because ASP aggregation promotes coke formation and increases product viscosity. In this study, we investigated ethanol-assisted catalytic aquavisbreaking of C5-DAO using dispersed Fe precursors under N2 pressure to suppress ASP formation under hydrogen-free conditions. Reaction tests were performed with water and ethanol additives, with pretreatment at 393 K, followed by VB at 653 K. The ethanol-assisted catalytic aquavisbreaking process reduced ASP yield from 5.8% to 3.5% while increasing DAO + gas yield from 94.2% to 96.7%, compared with VB. X-ray absorption near edge structure and X-ray diffraction results show that Fe precursors were converted to Fe2O3/Fe3O4 during the reaction. Simultaneously, ethanol promotes the dispersion of heavy fractions and regulates the dispersion and aggregation balance, thereby suppressing ASP formation. This study demonstrates that ASP suppression can be achieved without hydrogen input and provides a practical strategy for DAO upgrading through catalyst-additive-feed interactions.
This study presents a short-time reactive Al-melt treatment that simultaneously enhances hardness and corrosion resistance in liquid-metal-dealloyed Mg–Ti composites. A three-dimensional bicontinuous Mg–Ti composite is first fabricated by immersing a Ti30Cu70 precursor in a pure Mg melt, followed by immersion in a pure Al melt at 750 °C for 10 s. The initial Mg–Ti composite consists of a co-continuous α-Mg/α-Ti matrix–matrix structure. After Al-melt treatment, the interconnected morphology is preserved, while the phase constitution is reconstructed into a multiphase α-Ti/TiAl3/Al3Mg2 structure. TiAl3 forms along the residual α-Ti ligaments, whereas the original Mg-rich regions transform into Al3Mg2. The average effective grain size of the residual α-Ti decreases from 3.7 to 0.8 µm, accompanied by increased local misorientation and a higher density of {11–22} compression twin boundaries. As a result, the surface hardness increases from 106 to 378 HV, while remaining above 260 HV at a depth of 260 µm. The Al-treated Mg–Ti composite also exhibits a markedly reduced corrosion rate in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution, decreasing from 13.2 to 0.5 mm/year based on hydrogen evolution measurements and from 17.2 to 0.7 mm/year based on weight-loss measurements. Scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy reveals that the initial direct α-Mg/α-Ti interface, with a Volta potential difference of approximately 635 mV, is replaced by α-Ti/TiAl3 and TiAl3/Al3Mg2 interfaces with lower potential differences of approximately 271 and 285 mV, respectively. Overall, the short-time Al-melt treatment enables simultaneous hardness increase and corrosion mitigation through rapid interfacial reconstruction and phase transformation while preserving the bicontinuous structure.
Tetradentate Pt(II) complexes are promising phosphorescent materials for achieving high-performance deep-blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). However, their molecular designs have traditionally relied on incorporating complex, bulky substituents to prevent stacking-induced photophysical anomalies arising from their inherently planar structures. Here, we present a simple yet highly effective alternative: introducing a non-bulky cyano (CN) group at the para-position of the Pt-phenyl bond. This subtle modification not only suppresses exciplex emission but also enhances the photoluminescence quantum yield by mitigating both temperature-dependent and temperature-independent nonradiative decay processes. Utilizing the CN-substituted Pt complex as a phosphorescent sensitizer, paired with a multi-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescent emitter, we demonstrate a deep-blue phosphor-sensitized fluorescent (PSF) OLED achieving a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 31.7% +/- 0.9% and a Commission Internationale de l'& Eacute;clairage y-coordinate below 0.1. Notably, the PSF OLED sustains a high EQE of 25.4% +/- 0.8% even at the practical luminance of 1000 cd/m2. This simultaneous achievement-remarkable given the persistent trade-off between efficiency and spectral purity in the deep-blue regime - establishes a simple yet powerful strategy for advancing efficient deep-blue OLEDs based on Pt(II) complexes.
Achieving dendrite-free and highly reversible Zn anodes remains a critical challenge for realizing high-performance aqueous Zn-ion batteries (AZIBs). Here, we report a rationally designed nanoscale interfacial architecture, constructed via sequential assembly of a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanolayer and solvent-annealed block copolymer (BCP)-templated Au nanoseed arrays, that enables spatially uniform Zn nucleation and planar plating, yielding highly stable, dendrite-free Zn anodes with minimal excess Zn. The synergistic integration of zincophilic Au nanoseeds on rGO, which energetically favor Zn (002) nucleation, effectively suppresses parasitic reactions and directs preferentially oriented Zn growth, yielding macroscopically uniform Zn plating with an exceptionally high (002) relative texture coefficient (RTC) of 88.2
Among bulk solid electrolytes (SEs) without elemental substitution, Li7P3S11 (LPS) is recognized for its remarkably high ionic conductivity. Despite such a promising trait, the ionic conductivity of LPS-type SEs falls behind the LGPS-type counterparts, primarily owing to the lack of understanding on the atomic-level responses of LPS to external dopants. Using combined atomic simulation techniques of density functional theory and machine-learning-based molecular dynamics, this study reveals the role of halogen dopants in promoting the ionic conductivity of LPS. Specifically, we first generate model atomic structures that reproduce the experimental ionic conductivity of halogen-doped LPS. Through systematic examinations of the model structures, we provide comprehensive insights into the dopant selection criteria for LPS. Our findings reveal that dopants that readily migrate into neighboring Li vacancies facilitate the structural transformation of polyhedral structures, thereby diversifying Li diffusion pathways and enhancing Li-ion transport. Although Li interstitials, often unintentionally introduced during synthesis, are generally known to promote ionic conductivity via a cooperative hopping mechanism, they are less effective in LPS due to the multiple structural transformations of the PSx polyhedra. In contrast, Li interstitials reduce the number of available Li vacancies for dopant migration, ultimately hindering Li diffusion. This study quantitatively elucidates the correlation between structural evolution and ionic transport behavior in halogen-doped LPS solid electrolytes, providing a fundamental theoretical basis for the rational design of high-performance sulfide electrolytes.
