Silver nanowires are receiving increasing attention as a kind of prospective transparent and conductive material. Here, we successfully synthesized high-performance silver nanowires with a significantly decreased reaction time by a modified polyol method. The synthesis process involved the addition of halides, including NaCl and NaBr, to control the release rate of Ag⁺ ions, as Cl⁻ and Br⁻ ions react with Ag⁺ ions to form AgCl and AgBr with different solubilities. As a result, Ag⁺ ions could be slowly released by graded dissolution, and the formation of silver nanowires was promoted. The results showed that the concentration of the added halides played an important role in the morphology of the final product. High-quality silver nanowires with an average diameter of 70 nm and average length of 21 μm were obtained by optimizing the reaction parameters. Afterwards, a simple silver nanowire coating was applied in order to fabricate the transparent conductive films. The film that was based on the silver nanowires provided a transmittance of 91.2% at the 550 nm light wavelength and a sheet resistance of about 78.5 Ω·sq⁻¹, which is promising for applications in flexible and transparent optoelectronic devices.

The recycling of macromolecular biowastes has been a problem for the agriculture industry. In this study, a novel N, S-codoped activated carbon material with an ultrahigh specific area was produced for the application of a supercapacitor electrode, using tobacco stalk biowastes as the carbon source, KOH as the activating agents and thiourea as the doping agent. Tobacco stalk is mainly composed of cellulose, but also contains many small molecules and inorganic salts. KOH activation resulted in many mesopores, giving the tobacco stem-activated carbon a large specific surface area and double-layer capacitance. The specific surface area of the samples reached up to 3733 m2·g−1, while the maximum specific capacitance of the samples obtained was up to 281.3 F·g−1 in the 3-electrode tests (1 A·g−1). The doping of N and S elements raised the specific capacitance significantly, which could be increased to a value as high as 422.5 F·g−1 at a current density of 1 A·g−1 in the 3-electrode tests, but N, S-codoping also led to instability. The results of this article prove that tobacco stalks could be efficiently reused in the field of supercapacitors.

Titanium (Ti) and Ti-based alloy are widely used in the biomedical field owing to their excellent mechanical compatibility and biocompatibility. However, the bioinert bioactivity and biotribological properties of titanium limit its clinical application in implants. In order to improve the biocompatibility of titanium, we modified its surface with TiO_x/TiN_x duplex composite films using a new method via micro-arc oxidation (MAO) and nitrogen ion implantation (NII) treatment. The structural characterization results revealed that the modified film was constructed by nanoarrays composed of TiO_x/TiN_x composite nanostitches with a size of 20~40 nm. Meanwhile, comparing this with pure Ti, the friction property, wear resistance, and bioactivity were significantly improved based on biotribological results and in vitro bioactivity tests.

The poor tribological performances of titanium have significantly limited its applications in the field of artificial joints. In order to solve problems regarding the wear and corrosion of artificial joints in the body, we fabricated the composite materials utilizing the combination of laser surface texturing and nitrogen ion implantation technology, and investigated the effect of laser surface texturing, nitrogen ion implantation, and different dimple area densities on tribological performance. The results show that the textured surface could reduce the friction coefficient and improve the wear resistance, and the optimum dimple density was found to be 25%. After N ion implantation, the wear resistance of the textured sample was further improved, due to the formation of the nitride layer. Moreover, as shown by the electrochemical test results, the corrosion resistance was enhanced significantly. The friction coefficient decreased the most, and the wear resistance increased by 405% with the lowest wear rate of 0.37 × 10⁻³ mm³/N·m. However, the specimen with a dimple density of 60% had the worst wear resistance. The results of the study provide a basis for the development and application of artificial joint materials.