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Porous FeS nanofibers with numerous nanovoids for use as anode materials for sodium-ion batteries were prepared by electrospinning and subsequent sulfidation. The post-treatment of the as-spun Fe（acac）3-polyacrylonitrile composite nanofibers in an air atmosphere yielded hollow Fe2O3 nanofibers due to Ostwald ripening. The ultrafine Fe2O3 nanocrystals formed at the center of the fiber diffused toward the outside of the fiber via Ostwald ripening. On sulfidation, the Fe2O3 hollow nanofibers were transformed into porous FeS nanofibers, which contained numerous nanovoids. The formation of porosity in the FeS nanofibers was driven by nanoscale Kirkendall diffusion. The porous FeS nanofibers were very structurally stable and had superior sodium-ion storage properties compared with the hollow Fe2O3 nanofibers. The discharge capacities of the porous FeS nanofibers for the Ist and 150th cycles at a current density of 500 mA.g-1 were 561 and 592 mA.h-g-1, respectively. The FeS nanofibers had final discharge capacities of 456, 437, 413, 394, 380, and 353 mA-h.g-1 at current densities of 0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 5.0 A.g-1, respectively.

Although polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells （PEMFCs） have received broad attention due to their virtually zero emission, high power density, and high efficiency, at present the limited stability of the electrocatalysts used in PEMFCs is a critical limitation to their large-scale commercialization. As a type of popularly used electrocatalyst material, carbon black supported platinum （Pt/C）--although highly efficient--undergoes corrosion of carbon, Pt dissolution, Ostwald ripening, and aggregation of Pt nanoparticles （NPs） under harsh chemical and electro- chemical oxidation conditions, which results in performance degradation of the electrocatalysts. In order to overcome these disadvantages, many groups have tried to improve the carbon support materials on which Pt is loaded. It has been found that some novel carbon nanomaterials and noncarbon materials with high surface areas, sufficient anchoring sites, high electrical conductivities, and high oxidation resistance under the strongly oxidizing condition in PEMFCs are ideal alternative supports. This review highlights the following aspects： （i） Recent advances in using novel carbon nanomaterials and noncarbon support materials to enhance the long-term durability of electrocatalysts; （ii） solutions to improve the electrical conductivity, surface area, and the strong interaction between metal and supports; and （iii） the synergistic effects in hybrid supports which help improve the stability of electrocatalysts.

A facile biomolecule-assisted hydrothermal route followed by calcination has been employed for the preparation of monoclinic yttrium oxysulfate hollow spheres doped with other rare-earth ions （Yb3＋ and Eu3＋ or Er3＋）. The formation of hollow spheres may involve Ostwald ripening. The resulting hybrid materials were used for upconversion applications. The host crystal structure allows the easy co-doping of two different rare-earth metal ions without significantly changing the host lattice. The luminescent properties were affected by the ratio and concentration of dopant rare-earth metal ions due to energy transfer and the symmetry of the crystal field. The type of luminescent center and the crystallinity of samples were also shown to have a significant influence on the optical properties of the as-prepared products.

Graphene has demonstrated its potential in several practical applications owing to its remarkable electronic and physical properties. In this study, we successfully fabricated a suspended graphene device with a width down to 20 nm. The morphological evolution of graphene under various electric field effects was systematically examined using an in-situ transmission electron microscope （TEM）. The hourglass-shaped graphene sample instantly broke apart at 7.5 mA, indicating an impressive breakdown current density. The current-carrying capacity was calculated to be -1.6 × 10^9 A.cm-2, which is several orders higher than that of copper. The current-carrying capacity depended on the resistivity of graphene. In addition, atomic volume changes occurred in the multilayer graphene samples due to surface diffusion and Ostwald ripening （OR）, indicating that the breakdown mechanism is well approximated by the electric field. This study not only provides a theory to explain the breakdown behavior but also presents the effects on materials contacted with a graphene layer used as the transmission path.

We demonstrate the synthesis of a novel self-anchored catalyst structure containing a Fe-Ni alloy nanosheet generated by phase separation for the substrate-free synthesis of carbon nanostructures. Fast Fourier transform analysis was carried out in order to investigate both the phase and structural evolution of the alloy nanosheet during reduction and chemical vapor deposition （CVD） growth. y-Fe-Ni （Feo.64Nio.36） and a-Fe-Ni （kamacite） phases were formed and separated on the NiFe204 nanosheet catalyst precursor during H2 reduction, forming selfanchored mono-dispersed y-Fe-Ni nanocrystals on a a-Fe-Ni matrix. The Fe-Ni alloy nanosheet serves both as a catalyst for growing metal-encapsulated carbon nano-onions （CNOs）, and as a support for anchoring these preformed nano- particles, yielding mono-dispersed catalyst nanoparticles with no requirement of additional substrates for the CVD growth. This synthesis is capable of mitigating the coalescence and Ostwald ripening without the assistance of an additional substrate. This structure allows for the growth of uniform-sized CNOs despite the aggregation, crumbling, and stacking of the alloy sheet. This study provides a promising design for novel catalyst structures by phase separation towards the substrate-free synthesis of carbon nanostructures in large scale. Finally, the ferromagnetic Feo.64Ni0.36@#CNOs particles demonstrate their application in both magnetic storage and water purification, as a non-toxic water treatment material.

A clear understanding of the nucleation, growth, coarsening, the preparation of highly controlled nanostructures. Among and aggregation processes of nanomaterials is necessary to enable wet chemical synthetic methods, ultrasound-assisted preparation has become an important tool in material science. The formation and crystal growth mechanism under ultrasound is special compared with other wet chemical synthetic routes. In this review, we discussed the chemical and physical effect of ultrasound and summarized the ultrasonic effect on crystallization. The sonolysis of water and the cavitation-induced microjet impact and shockwave are the two key factors in the sonochemieal formation of inorganic nanomaterials. The ultrasonic-assisted Ostwald ripening and oriented attachment processes have been reviewed for the possible crystal growth mechanisms in the fabrication of inorganic nanostructures.

The preliminary chemical composition optimization and heat treatment parameters of Inconel 740H were investigated systematically. Six heats of experimental alloys （designated as heat 401 to heat 406） with varied chemi- cal compositions were subjected to standard heat treatment at four different solution temperatures. Due to its superi- or combination of strength, ductility, and toughness together with its minor mechanical property changes at different solution temperatures, heat 405 was chosen as an optimized one to conduct further heat treatment investigations. The evolution of grain size with solution temperature for heat 405 was studied and the optimal solution temperature was determined. After solution treatment at the optimal temperature, four different cooling rates were applied to investi- gate the effect of cooling rate on the size distribution modal and mean radius of the γ′ precipitates. No bi-modal size distribution of γ′ precipitates was found for all cooling rates and water cooling was recommended for Inconel 740H. In addition, the effect of pre-aging at 800 ℃ for 16 h on the microstrueture of Inconel 740H aged for a long time was studied. It is found that pre-aging at 800 ℃ would result in bi-modal size distribution of γ′ precipitates after long time aging at 750 ℃ compared with mono modal size distribution in samples without pre-aging, which might be caused by the difference in initial size distribution modal before Ostwald ripening of γ′ precipitates in samples with and without pre-aging at 800 ℃.

In order to develop cold rolled Ti-microalloyed steel strips, the effects of annealing temperature on recrys-tallization behavior of experimental steel were researched by optical microscopy （OM）, transmission electron micros-copy （TEM） and Vickers hardness test. The annealing treatment could be divided into three distinct stages： recovery, recrystallization and grain growth. Reerystallization took place from 933 to 1033 K, during which a large number of recrystallized grains appear and hardness drops sharply. The morphology and size of TiN particles nearly remained unchanged at different stages of processing. With increasing annealing temperature, nanometer precipitates coarsened and the dislocation density was significantly reduced. In comparison with annealing time, annealing temperature was more crucial for recrystallization of cold rolled Ti microalloyed steel. It could be concluded that the pinning force of nanometer particles on dislocations increased the recrystallization temperature. At higher annealing temperature, re crystallization took place because of precipitates coarsening caused by Ostwald ripening.