Igor A. Ivanov

Track-etched polycarbonate membranes (PC-TeMs) offer a structurally supported and well-defined nanoporous architecture, but their intrinsically low ionic conductivity limits their direct application as solid-state electrolytes in supercapacitors. Here, we grafted poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) into the cylindrical nanopores of PC-TeMs via reversible addition–fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization, incorporating graphene oxide (GO) at 0–1 wt% to enhance ion transport and structural stability. Structural, spectroscopic, and morphological analyses indicated effective PAA grafting along the nanochannels and homogeneous GO dispersion within the membrane matrix. Electrochemical tests revealed a non-linear dependence of performance on GO content: an optimal GO content of 0.5 wt% with PAA grafting delivered the highest ionic conductivity (0.57 mS·cm⁻¹) and specific capacitance (1.14 F·g⁻¹ at 5 mV·s⁻¹). This corresponds to improvements of approximately ~6× and ~800× compared to the ungrafted GO-free membrane (0.09 mS·cm⁻¹ and 1.42 mF·g⁻¹), and ~3× and ~42× compared to the ungrafted GO-containing membrane (0.18 mS·cm⁻¹ and 26.96 mF·g⁻¹), respectively. In contrast, at a GO content of 1 wt%, pore blockage and a decline in performance were observed. These results demonstrate that finely tuned GO incorporation into RAFT-grafted PAA/PC-TeMs enables dimensionally stable solid-state electrolytes for high-performance solid-state supercapacitors.

In this work, the peculiarities of microstructure changes in Cr-coated Zr1%Nb alloy under high-temperature hydrogenation and Kr ion irradiation were investigated. A comprehensive analysis revealed that Cr coating reduces the thickness of the Kr+ radiation damage zone by 15%–20% and decreases the density of radiation-induced defects compared to that of uncoated Zr1%Nb alloy. Additionally, Cr-coated samples exhibit a more uniform hydrogen distribution. According to first-principles calculations and positron annihilation spectroscopy, hydrogen-free dislocations predominate in the Cr-coated Zr1%Nb alloy after hydrogenation and irradiation. These findings emphasize the protective role of Cr coatings in mitigating radiation damage and hydrogen embrittlement in zirconium alloys.

The results of a tungsten–niobium alloy synthesis by the impact of pulsed compression plasma flows are presented. Tungsten plates with a 2 μm thin niobium coating were treated with dense compression plasma flows generated by a quasi-stationary plasma accelerator. The plasma flow with an absorbed energy density of 35–70 J/cm² and pulse duration of 100 μs melted the niobium coating and a part of the tungsten substrate, which caused liquid-phase mixing and WNb alloy synthesis. Simulation of the temperature distribution in the top layer of the tungsten after the plasma treatment proved the formation of the melted state. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to determine the structure and phase composition. The thickness of the WNb alloy was 10–20 μm and a W(Nb) bcc solid solution was found.

This paper presents the results of a study on the influence of Y₂O₃ doping on the resistance to radiation damage and an assessment of structural changes associated with the accumulation of radiation defects in CeO₂ microparticles under irradiation with heavy Xe²²⁺ ions. The relevance of this study consists of the prospects for the use of CeO₂ microparticles as materials and candidates of inert matrices of nuclear fuel. A method of solid-phase synthesis was applied to obtain microparticles with different concentrations of dopant. It included grinding of CeO₂ and Y₂O₃ microparticles followed by thermal sintering at 1100 °C in an oxygen-containing medium to produce highly ordered microparticles. During the study of the structural characteristics of the synthesized microparticles, it was found that increasing the dopant concentration from 0.05 mol.% to 0.15 mol.% leads to an increase in the crystallinity degree as well as a decrease in dislocation density. According to the results of the assessment of the resistance of microparticles to radiation damage, it was found that an increase in the dopant concentration leads to a decrease in swelling and structural distortion by more than 2.5–3 times, which indicates an increase in the radiation resistance.