A novel electrochemical co-deposition approach was developed to prepare hybrid bioceramic coating of hydroxyapatite (HA)/poly(vinyl acetate) on the surface of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The aim is to improve the adhesion between the HA coating and the metal substrate. Surface characterization showed that the composition of inorganic phase in the composite bioceramic coatings was mainly HA and the content of organic phase was more than 4% (W/W). Significant surface morphology changes were observed. The shear-testing experiments indicated that the bonding strength of the hybrid coating to metal substrate was increased by as much as 3MPa.

A home-made LVDT displacement-measuring system was developed and applied to study the process of deformation on NiO during early stage of molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) operation. A series of in situ deformation tests was performed at a normal temperature (923K) with porous Ni and NiO plaques under the atmospheres and load conditions in the presence of carbonate electrolyte. The results indicated that the most significant deformation took place when Ni plaque underwent both in situ oxidized and lithiated processes under a load condition, in particular, the deformation of Ni plaque occurred more severely at the beginning of processes.

Many concerns have been raised about the mechanism of cathode reaction in molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC). The chemical behavior of oxide species at cathode in molten carbonate is a key for understanding the process of cathode reactions. In this paper, the variety and role of the oxide species in both bulk and thin-film of basic molten carbonates were investigated by using a novel in-situ Raman spectroscopy. The results indicated that the dominant oxide species under basic conditions was peroxide ion, and it was possible to transform into the oxygen of crystalline lattice during the lithium-doped process. It was demonstrated that in-situ Raman spectroscopic technique was a promising tool to elucidate the mechanism of electrode reaction in molecular level in the MCFC condition.

Natural bone is actually an inorganic/organic composite mainly made up of nano-structure hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2, HAp) and collagen fibers. It is of most importance to synthesize nano-composites of inorganic/organic in order to have good biocompatibility, high bioactivity and great bonding properties. In this work, HAp nano-particle and HAp/chitosan (CTS) nanocomposite with a homogeneous microstructure were prepared and characterized. It is proposed that the nano-structure of hydroxyapatite/chitosan composite will have the best biomedical properties in the biomaterials applications.

Micropitting corrosion of aluminum alloy 2024-T3 was investigated by using scanning microreference electrode technique combined with scanning electron microscopy and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy. It was found that the micropitting initiated immediately after the exposure of Al 2024/T3 to NaCl solution at open-circuit potential. Some corrosion active nuclei developed with time while others disappeared. Most of the micropits were found to be associated with the second phase particles, specially the S phase particles (Al2CuMg). Three types of corrosion behavior of Al2CuMg were discussed.