Natural bamboo charcoal (BC) powder has been developed as a novel filler in order to further improve performances of the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based alkaline solid polymer electrolyte (ASPE) by solution casting method. X-ray diffraction patterns of composite polymer electrolyte with BC revealed the decrease in the degree of crystallinity with increasing content of BC. Scanning electron microscopy images showed pores on a micrometer scale (average diameter about 2 μm) distributed inside and on the surface of the membranes, indicating a three-dimension network formed in the polymer framework. The ionic conductivity was measured by the alternating-current (AC) impedance method, and the highest conductivity value of 6.63 × 10⁻² S·cm⁻¹ was obtained with 16 wt % of BC content and m_KOH:m_PVA = 2:1.5 at 30 °C. The contents of BC and KOH could significantly influence the conductivity. The temperature dependence of the bulk electrical conductivity displayed a combination of Arrhenius nature, and the activation energy for the ion in polymer electrolyte has been calculated. The electrochemical stability window of the electrolyte membrane was over 1.6 V. The thermogravimetric analysis curves showed that the degradation temperatures of PVA-BC-KOH ASPE membranes shifted toward higher with adding BC. A simple nickel-hydrogen battery containing PVA-BC-KOH electrolyte membrane was assembled with a maximum discharge capacity of 193 mAh·g⁻¹.

Ceramsite concrete is used in lining structures of underground engineering in the geothermal environment. This study, by means of mixing fly ash and silica fume, aims at diminishing the adverse effects on concrete performance caused by elevated temperature in high geothermal underground engineering. Under simulated geothermal conditions (20, 40, and 60 °C, RH ≥ 90%), it was first proposed that 15 and 5 wt % cement replacements by fly ash and silica fume, respectively, were most optimal. Then, the effect of mineral admixtures on ceramsite shotcrete performance was investigated. The results show that the mixing of fly ash and silica fume could improve ceramsite shotcrete adaptability in elevated curing temperature. Particularly for silica fume, at 40 °C curing temperature, the 28-day compressive strength and splitting tensile strength increased by 12.6 and 50.9%, respectively. The improvement effect of silica fume on permeability resistance and resistance to chloride ion permeability was higher than that of fly ash. Nevertheless, the mixing of fly ash was more effective than silica fume for reducing thermal conductivity.

Due to the rapid growth of the electric power system, the silicone rubber composite insulator is so widely employed around the world. However, the aging damage and decommission of it inevitably generates plenty of waste silicone rubber. It takes up large amounts of land for non-degradation, which is becoming a serious environmental issue. In this paper, the effort has been made to reuse the silicone rubber of composite insulator by peeling, breaking and adding it into the cement mortar to partly replace river sand by 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 30% in volume. Moreover, the surface modification of silicone rubber particles with H₂O₂ and KOH is explored to improve hydrophilicity. The mechanical strength of silicone rubber mortar and modified silicone rubber mortar are measured in detail, and the effects of particle size, content and modification of silicone rubber on the properties of mortar are investigated. This study shows that at least a 5% addition of silicone rubber can reduce the strengths, while the 15% addition is obviously favorable for increasing the toughness. Furthermore, the mortar strength gets promoted due to the surface modification. Lastly, the superior thermal insulation and noise reduction of the mortar are obtained as the addition of silicone rubber particles, and an equation between dry apparent density and thermal conductivity of mortar has been developed.

To improve the durability of cement-based grout in high geothermal tunnel grouting projects, metakaolin was incorporated to replace 8% of the cement. The permeability, chloride penetration, and sulfate and carbonate erosion tests were carried out on the grout cured at varying temperatures (20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 °C). It was shown that with the increase in curing temperature, the impermeability and resistance to chloride penetration initially increased and then decreased, reaching the highest values at 40 °C. Furthermore, the incorporation of metakaolin into grout enhanced the impermeability by 11.11-38.91% and resistance to chloride penetration by 12.23-12.77%. As attacked by sulfate, the surface spalling of the specimen was more obvious with the increase in the curing temperature and immersion time. Conversely, the appearance remained almost unchanged under carbonate erosion. As immersion time increased, both the antisulfate and anticarbonate erosion coefficients declined. The effect of curing temperature on erosion resistance was assessed via the relative antierosion coefficient. When immersed in sulfate, the coefficient achieved the highest value of 1.08 as cured at 30 °C, and in carbonate, the coefficient reached a maximum of 0.99 as cured at 40 °C. Through scanning electron microscopy and binarized images, it was verified that gypsum and ettringite were formed during sulfate attack, leading to volume expansion and cracking, consequently reducing the strength. Meanwhile, in the case of carbonate erosion, calcium hydroxide (CH) and calcium silicate hydrate gel (C-S-H) were dissolved and degraded, resulting in a large number and size of pores in the grout. The research results have certain theoretical significances and reference values for the application of cement-based grouting materials in high geothermal environments.