Water Diffusion Process Research Articles

Study on diffusion mechanism and failure behavior of epoxy coatings focusing on synergistic effect of temperature and water molecules

ABSTRACT The research on the diffusion of water in coatings has been a hot topic in many fields, such as chemistry, coating structure and hydrogen bonding. In this paper, DGEBA epoxy coating was used as a sample to explore the diffusion process of 3 wt.% NaCl solution at different temperatures. Two-stage diffusion was established by immersion experiment and MD simulation. The synergistic effect of temperature and water on DGEBA properties was revealed by FTIR method and adsorption-desorption cyclic testing. The results showed that as the temperature increased, the saturation water content in coatings increased. At different temperatures, the diffusion process of water presented two-phase characteristics, and the influence of temperature on the diffusion process was mainly manifested in the cross-linking density at higher locations. Based on the variation law of swelling coefficient in per unit time (24 h), the conditions for water-coating interaction and formation of water clusters in this paper were proposed. The synergistic effect of water and temperature on DGEBA properties was reflected in two aspects: at lower temperature (20 °C), water would only change the physical structure of the coatings, while the water broke the DGEBA chains at higher temperature (60 °C).

Finite difference/finite element method for two-dimensional time–space fractional Bloch–Torrey equations with variable coefficients on irregular convex domains

In magnetic resonance imaging of the human brain, the diffusion process of tissue water is considered in the complex tissue environment of cells, membranes and connective tissue. Models based on fractional order Bloch–Torrey equations are known to provide insights into tissue structures and the microenvironment.In this paper, we consider new two-dimensional multi-term time and space fractional Bloch–Torrey equations with variable coefficients on irregular convex domains, which involve the Caputo time fractional derivative and the Riemann–Liouville space fractional derivative. An unstructured-mesh Galerkin finite element method is used to discretize the spatial fractional derivative, while for each time fractional derivative we use the L1 scheme on a temporal graded mesh. The stability and convergence of the fully discrete scheme are proved. Numerical examples are given to verify the efficiency of our method.

Anisotropy of Anomalous Diffusion Improves the Accuracy of Differentiating and Grading Alzheimer's Disease Using Novel Fractional Motion Model.

Background and Purpose: Recent evidence shows that the fractional motion (FM) model may be a more appropriate model for describing the complex diffusion process of water in brain tissue and has shown to be beneficial in clinical applications of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the FM model averaged the anomalous diffusion parameter values, which omitted the impacts of anisotropy. This study aimed to investigate the potential feasibility of anisotropy of anomalous diffusion using the FM model for distinguishing and grading AD patients.Methods: Twenty-four patients with AD and 11 matched healthy controls were recruited, diffusion MRI was obtained from all participants and analyzed using the FM model. Generalized fractional anisotropy (gFA), an anisotropy metric, was introduced and the gFA values of FM-related parameters, Noah exponent (α) and the Hurst exponent (H), were calculated and compared between the healthy group and AD group and between the mild AD group and moderate AD group. The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and the multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to assess the diagnostic performances of the anisotropy values and the directionally averaged values.Results: The gFA(α) and gFA(H) values of the moderate AD group were higher than those of the mild AD group in left hippocampus. The gFA(α) value of the moderate AD group was significantly higher than that of the healthy control group in both the left and right hippocampus. The gFA(ADC) values of the moderate AD group were significantly lower than those of the mild AD group and healthy control group in the right hippocampus. Compared with the gFA(α), gFA(H), α, and H, the ROC analysis showed larger areas under the curves for combination of α + gFA(α) and the combination of H + gFA(H) in differentiating the mild AD and moderate AD groups, and larger area under the curves for combination of α + gFA(α) in differentiating the healthy controls and AD groups.Conclusion: The anisotropy of anomalous diffusion could significantly differentiate and grade patients with AD, and the diagnostic performance was improved when the anisotropy metric was combined with commonly used directionally averaged values. The utility of anisotropic anomalous diffusion may provide novel insights to profoundly understand the neuropathology of AD.

Hysteresis and Instability Predicted in Moisture Degradation of Perovskite Solar Cells.

The degradation of the perovskite solar cell structure was expected recently to be reversible, which opened a new gate to the enhancement of the device lifetime by reversing the process. However, the kinetic details of the structural collapse and recovery are still missing, without which the perovskite reversibility cannot be further explored. Due to the experimental difficulty, a purposeful numerical model was conducted in this report, to simulate the water diffusion process in the perovskite structure in both directions. It was found that the moisture diffusion needs to be initiated by a certain level of structural imperfection and is non-Fickian, as assisted by the collapse of the perovskite into the 1D chains. The reversibility was verified by the back diffusion, but accompanied by hysteresis, stagnancy, and even surprising instability, which initiated the water flow under initial equilibrium, due possibly to the imbalance during the reconstruction of the perovskite lattice. These observations offer new insights to form strategies of improvement, for example, via the possible self-healing perovskite devices.

Identification and Classification of Alzheimer's Disease Patients Using Novel Fractional Motion Model.

Most diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) techniques use the mono-exponential model to describe the diffusion process of water in the brain. However, the observed dMRI signal decay curve deviates from the mono-exponential form. To solve this problem, the fractional motion (FM) model has been developed, which is regarded as a more appropriate model for describing the complex diffusion process in brain tissue. It is still unclear in the identification and classification of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients using the FM model. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential feasibility of FM model for differentiating AD patients from healthy controls and grading patients with AD. Twenty-four patients with AD and 11 healthy controls were included. The left and right hippocampus were selected as regions of interest (ROIs). The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and FM-related parameters, including the Noah exponent (α), the Hurst exponent (H), and the memory parameter (μ=H−1/α), were calculated and compared between AD patients and healthy controls and between mild AD and moderate AD patients using a two-sample t-test. The correlations between FM-related parameters α, H, μ, and ADC values and the cognitive functions assessed by mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) scales were investigated using Pearson partial correlation analysis in patients with AD. The receiver-operating characteristic analysis was used to assess the differential performance. We found that the FM-related parameter α could be used to distinguish AD patients from healthy controls (P < 0.05) with greater sensitivity and specificity (left ROI, 0.917 and 0.636; right ROI, 0.917 and 0.727) and grade AD patients (P < 0.05) showed higher sensitivity and specificity (right ROI, 0.917, 0.75). The α was found to be positively correlated with MMSE (P < 0.05) and MoCA (P < 0.05) scores in patients with AD, indicating that the α values in the bilateral hippocampus were a potential MRI-based biomarker of disease severity in AD patients. This novel diffusion model may be useful for further understanding neuropathologic changes in patients with AD.

Desalination behavior analysis of interior-modified carbon nanotubes doped membrane by dielectric spectrum and molecular simulation

Carbon nanotube (CNT)-doped polyamide (PA) membranes have attracted much attention in reverse osmosis (RO) membranes due to their significant advantages of water flux and desalination. In this study, we synthesized multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT)/PA RO membrane by 12-oxodidodecanoic acid methyl ester group interior-modified MWNTs (MWNT-C14H25O4). Then, their mechanism of desalination behavior was successfully analyzed by combining dielectric relaxation spectrum (DRS) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. DRS analysis mainly focuses on two aspects: (1) the water volume fraction, average pore size and dielectric parameters of MWNT-C14H25O4/PA and PA membranes were obtained by model analysis of DRS data. These data of MWNT-C14H25O4/PA membrane are higher than PA membrane, which indicates that the water flux of the MWNT-C14H25O4/PA membrane was higher than that of the PA membrane. (2) Further analysis shows that the MWNT-C14H25O4/PA membranes have high average charge density, ion solvation barrier and reflection coefficient, which indicates that the added interior-modified MWNT can improve the salt rejection of PA membranes. In the microscopic aspect, the desalination behavior of the MWNT-C14H25O4/PA and PA membrane was analyzed from the aspects of free volume distribution, the dynamic diffusion process of water and ions. The results show that the microscopic data of dynamic simulation well support the conclusion of the DRS method. This study provides a convenient methodology to characterize the properties of the membrane from the aspect of membrane structure.

Long-term geophysical monitoring of an abandoned dumpsite area in a Guarani Aquifer recharge zone

Even though attenuation processes in the subsurface are known to reduce the impacts of contaminant plumes, their importance is significantly dependent on geological and climatic characteristics, as well as on the leachate quality. The knowledge of attenuation processes linked to different geological formations is therefore fundamental in predicting the impacts of waste disposal areas. Geophysical methods are useful tools for assessing and delineating contaminant plumes, as well as their changes with time, which enables their lower-cost monitoring and association with geological and environmental properties. This paper shows the results of geophysical surveys conducted in the years of 1996, 2005 and 2018 in a waste disposal area located at a Guarani Aquifer recharge zone in Brazil. The objective of this study was to show the evolution of the contamination plume, as well as discuss some possible transport and attenuation processes that the contaminants may undergo in similar areas. Five geophysical sections surveyed within a time span of 20 years were compared, and the information was integrated with physicochemical data from monitoring wells. The results show a horizontal plume spreading, reaching about 200 m from the deposit and about 60 m of depth, 20 years after the ending of disposal activities. The measured resistivities in 2018 are similar to the ones found in 1996 and 2005 in the same surveyed areas, showing that a significant temporal attenuation did not occur. Moreover, samples collected close to anomaly zones and within a distance of 200 m from the deposit presented concentrations of some heavy metals above the screening values according to the Brazilian legislation, showing a metals mobility higher than previously expected, which can be possibly explained by the aquifer's acidic conditions. The estimated plume velocity was about 7 m/yr, a plume deepening was observed until about 50 m and changes in water flow direction and/or diffusion processes made the plume spread to areas previously regarded as upgradient. Therefore, the present paper shows that the rehabilitation of sites neighboring waste disposal sites (less than 200 m from it) did not seem to be feasible through natural attenuation in sandy soils and that the plume spreading is significant in this geological formation. Thus, abandoned disposal areas, constantly considered to be closed after the ending of disposal activities in developing countries, generate plumes which move silently and may reach areas of concern in the future.

Two-state diffusive mobility of slow and fast transport of water in narrow nanochannels.

Transport of water in narrow nanochannels as a single-file chain is involved in various biological activities and nanofluidic applications. However, although the consistent dipole orientation of the water molecules is intensively studied, its effect upon the transport behavior is still unknown. In this Rapid Communication, we find two states of slow and fast transport coexist in the single-file water in the presence of channel defects that break the collective dipole orientation. A low diffusive mobility is found for the dipole orientation inconsistent configurations while mobility approximately two times higher is found for the consistent ones. The two-state diffusion process relies on the different hydrogen bond connections, which possess overlapped structures, enabling a spontaneous transition. The slow state is insensitive to the increased defect number while the fast state is reduced accordingly. The two states exhibit different lifetime and temperature dependences that demonstrate a possibility for manipulation. Our result implies the possibility of two-state diffusion process of water in nanofluid phenomena due to the common presence of defects in nanochannels.

P069] Optimal B-values for diffusional kurtosis imaging of the liver and pancreas

Purpose Diffusional Kurtosis Imaging (DKI) is a new, rapidly developing magnetic resonance (MR) diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) technique. DKI requires acquisition with several b-values, including high b-values (>1000 s/mm2). DKI takes into account the influence of tissue barriers (cell membranes, organelles) on diffusion, and is presumed to better reflect the actual water diffusion processes than standard DWI. However, several limitations hinder use of DKI in routine practice, including lack of standardization and long acquisition time (due to additional b-values). We aimed to optimize the DKI method to ensure reliable results with the shortest possible acquisition time. Methods In this prospective study 20 healthy volunteers (10 men, 10 women; age: 25–62 years; mean: 39) underwent DKI at 3.0 T Siemens Magnetom Skyra using 7 b-values (0; 200; 500; 750; 1000; 1500; 2000 s/mm2). Region of interests (ROIs) were placed in liver (right lobe, left lobe) and pancreas (head, tail). DKI parameters (Dapp, Kapp) for ROIs were calculated for 7 b-values using program written in Gnuplot, utilizing the nonlinear least-squares (NLLS) Marquardt–Levenberg algorithm. Dapp and Kapp quantitive maps were created using the in–house software based on ImageJ. All calculations were repeated for five subsets of data, with number of b-values reduced to 4 and 5. DKI parameters calculated for subsets were compared with parameters calculated for all 7 b-values (Wilcoxon signed rank test). Statistical analysis was performed in R; p Results Correlation coefficient between DKI parameters calculated for 7 b-values and subsets ranged from 0.69 to 0.99. Coefficient of variance (CoV) of parameters calculated for group of volunteers varied from 11% to 33%, with lowest agreement for head of pancreas (Dapp) and left lobe of liver (Kapp), and was not affected by reduction of b-values number. Significant differences between DKI parameters calculated for 7 b-values and subsets were found for all subsets except one (0; 500; 1500; 2000 s/mm2), for which no differences were observed. Conclusions DKI acquisition with only 4 b-values (0, 500, 1500, 2000 s/mm2), compared to DKI acquisition utilizing 7 b-values, allowed for the reduction of acquisition time by 36%, without affecting calculated DKI parameters.

Relation of heat and mass transfer in wax diffusion in an emulsion of water and waxy crude oil under static condition

Wax diffusion characteristics are of great importance to the wax deposition prediction in crude oil pipelines. The wax diffusion process of water in oil emulsion (w/o emulsion) is more complicated on account of the influence from dispersed water phase. This study aims to reveal the relation of heat and mass transfer in wax diffusion with the effect of dispersed water phase. Via wax diffusion experiments of w/o emulsion on cold finger apparatus, the variations of the average wax diffusion rate with water fraction, temperature difference and diffusion period are obtained under static condition. A method to calculate the equivalent thermal conductivity of wax deposit is proposed according to emulsion property and deposit composition. Based on this, the radial temperature fields inside crude oil and emulsion after different diffusion periods are simulated. The results provide the evidence that the existence of water phase is able to influence wax diffusion by altering the radial temperature distribution. In addition, by comparing the variations of radial temperature field and wax diffusion rate, the close interaction effect between them is clarified. This study will offer useful information to the mechanisms study and the prediction of wax deposition in oil-water multiphase transportation pipelines.

Electrochemical impedance study of water transportation in corona-aged silicone rubber: effect of applied voltage

Silicone rubber is widely used as the housing material of composite insulator for outdoor high-voltage insulation. However, corona-induced aging in silicone rubber contributes to the ingress of water or moisture, which finally leads to fracture of a composite insulator. To investigate water transportation in silicone rubber helps to shed light upon the insulator fracture mechanism. In this work, water transportation behaviors in silicone rubber treated by different applied voltages of corona discharge were systematically studied using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Low voltages (3, 4 kV) of corona treatments result in growing value of $$f_{\theta \mathrm{min}}$$ in Bode phase angle, indicative of severer degree of surface delamination. After 5 kV of corona treatment, water can finally diffuse through the silicone rubber, and then induces double-layer capacitance ( $$C_{\mathrm{dl}}$$ ) and the charge transfer resistance ( $$R_{\mathrm{ct}}$$ ) in EIS spectra. For high-voltage ( $$\ge 6\ \hbox {kV}$$ ) corona-exposed samples, great number of surface cracks are observed, and then Warburg impedance appears in EIS spectra on initial period of immersion, suggesting a direct water transportation process. The polar groups generated in silicone rubber during corona exposure also facilitate this water diffusion process. Calculated water diffusion coefficients show a sharp increase between 5 and 6 kV, which serves as an indicator for percolation of cracks or defects in bulk of silicone rubber.

Characterisation of moisture diffusion and strength degradation in an epoxy-based structural adhesive considering a post-curing process

Adhesive bonding techniques have been widely used in many industrial fields, such as aerospace, vehicle and civil engineering, etc., while the bonded structures are designed to perform satisfactorily under complex service conditions. This paper presented an experimental insight into the moisture diffusion process in Araldite 2015 adhesive considering the effect of post-curing process under elevated temperature. Polytetrafluoroethylene mould was adopted for the curing process of dumbbell adhesive specimens and both distilled and salt water were introduced to simulate a severe immersion environment. Quasi-static testing was conducted on both unaged and aged bulk adhesive after certain period of immersion to reveal the mechanical properties variation. Measurements on specimen weight and thickness were performed with different time intervals during the immersion process. It is shown that the strengths of bulk adhesive were significantly degraded due to the presence of water in both immersion conditions, where higher moisture content led to greater strength degradation regardless of the curing and ageing conditions applied. In addition, distilled water environment led to notably higher saturation content and hygroscopic swelling compared to salt water. However, the rates of water diffusion and hygroscopic swelling processes in salt water were detected to be far above the ones in distilled water. It is worth noting that slight increase was observed in moisture saturation content and swelling expansion for post-cured adhesive, while the coefficients of hygroscopic swelling showed no difference for all sample groups studied. Scanning Electron Microscopy observation further revealed the transition in microscopic topography from unaged to saturated samples.

Diffusion of Water through the Dual-Porosity Swelling Clay Mineral Vermiculite.

Prediction of water and solute migration in natural clay-based materials requires a detailed understanding of the roles played by different porosity types (around or inside clay particles) on the overall transfer process. For smectite, a reference material for the design of migration models, this discrimination is complex because of osmotic swelling of the structure under water-saturated conditions. Diffusion experiments with a water tracer (HDO) were conducted on 0.1-0.2, 1-2, and 10-20 μm size fractions of Na-vermiculite, a swelling clay mineral with no osmotic swelling. Results obtained for the two finest fractions suggest that osmotic swelling and the associated impact on pore structure are responsible for the low De values reported in the literature for smectite compared to those of vermiculite. When considering only interparticle porosity, De values for vermiculite are similar to those reported for nonporous grains (Na-kaolinite and Na-illite). This indicates that interparticle porosity has a primary effect on the overall water diffusion process, whereas interlayer porosity is shown to imply a small proportion of HDO adsorption. This study provides evidence that vermiculite is a promising reference mineral for the understanding of the roles played by pore structure and mineral-water interaction in the transport properties of water in claystones and for associated refinement of dual-porosity diffusion models.

3D diffusion model within the collagen apatite porosity: An insight to the nanostructure of human trabecular bone

Bone tissue at nanoscale is a composite mainly made of apatite crystals, collagen molecules and water. This work is aimed to study the diffusion within bone nanostructure through Monte-Carlo simulations. To this purpose, an idealized geometric model of the apatite-collagen structure was developed. Gaussian probability distribution functions were employed to design the orientation of the apatite crystals with respect to the axes (length L, width W and thickness T) of a plate-like trabecula. We performed numerical simulations considering the influence of the mineral arrangement on the effective diffusion coefficient of water. To represent the hindrance of the impermeable apatite crystals on the water diffusion process, the effective diffusion coefficient was scaled with the tortuosity, the constrictivity and the porosity factors of the structure. The diffusion phenomenon was investigated in the three main directions of the single trabecula and the introduction of apatite preferential orientation allowed the creation of an anisotropic medium. Thus, different diffusivities values were observed along the axes of the single trabecula. We found good agreement with previous experimental results computed by means of a genetic algorithm.

Simulation of Steam Injection Process for Horizontal Well with Heavy Oil Recovery

ABSTRACTHorizontal well technology is widely used in the production of heavy oil. Steady-state model is used as main research method and assume constant wet steam parameters in wellbore, ignoring the impact of heat and mass transfers of steam from wellbore to the reservoir. Numerical calculation is used to analyze steam-water-oil three-phase on flow and heat transfer rule in reservoir and wellbore in startup phase. The influence rule on diffusion process of vapor and water hindered by oil stockpile in wellbore was analyzed, as well as vapor and water parameters change rule along the well. Result indicated that wet steam moving forward was hindered by oil stockpile in wellbore, which lead reservoir suction steam to be not uniform; dryness and temperature of steam gradually reduce, resulting in high temperature at the heel and low temperature at the toe of reservoir; reservoir suction steam effect was improved and reservoir heated range was expanded gradually with the increasing of steam injection volume and dryness; variation of reservoir porosity and permeability have a similar effect on reservoir suction steam, comparing with steam injection volume and dryness. When porosity and permeability were enlarged, reservoir suction steam effect and reservoir heated range would become better.

Water-resistance of macromolecules adsorbed on CH3NH3PbI3 surfaces: A first-principles study

Encapsulation within resin films is a promising approach for isolating perovskite materials from water. To gain fundamental insight into these systems, we performed first-principles calculations of macromolecule (polymerized siloxane; epoxy cured by phthalic anhydride; graphene sheet) coatings for the waterproofing of methylammonium lead iodide perovskite (MAPbI3) surfaces. Our calculations reveal that alternating attractive/resistant functional groups on the siloxane- or epoxy-modified MAPbI3 surfaces hinder the water diffusion process. Moreover, we examined a no-defect graphene sheet for its ability to isolate MAPbI3 from water molecules. The hydrophobicity of the graphene resulted in water molecules forming clusters, rather than dispersing, upon the sheet.

Microstructural reorganization in model epoxy network during cyclic hygrothermal ageing

The water sorption characteristics and physico-chemical properties have been determined for a fully cured model epoxy systems based on the DGEBA resin and DAMP amine hardener, during cyclic hygrothermal ageing (absorption-desorption-reabsorption-redesorption). Gravimetric measurements on epoxy free films were carried out to follow the water sorption kinetics at different temperatures (30, 40, 50 and 60 °C). The water diffusion processes follow a pseudo-Fickian behaviour with two diffusive stages during the first sorption and a Fickian behaviour during the first desorption. During the first sorption, a plasticization phenomenon is observed leading to a decrease of rigidity and Tg but this phenomenon is reversible, showing that water reacts only with the polymeric network via low energy links. The water diffusion processes evolve during the second absorption-desorption cycle. They follow a Fickian behaviour which implies a disappearance of diffusion heterogeneity of the first sorption. This behavior was explained by a microstructure reorganization during cyclic ageing highlighted through the FTIR and DMA techniques: chain fractions became accessible to the water after being relaxed in the first absorption-desorption cycle. A thermodynamic approach applied to solubility and diffusion processes corroborates these results. This study allows to a better understanding of diffusion phenomena in epoxy model systems.

Modifications of pancreatic diffusion MRI by tissue characteristics: what are we weighting for?

Diffusion-weighted imaging holds the potential to improve the diagnosis and biological characterization of pancreatic disease, and in particular pancreatic cancer, which exhibits decreased values of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). Yet, variable and overlapping ADC values have been reported for the healthy and the pathological pancreas, including for cancer and other benign conditions. This controversy reflects the complexity of probing the water-diffusion process in the pancreas, which is dependent upon multiple biological factors within this organ's unique physiological environment. In recent years, extensive studies have investigated the correlation between tissue properties including cellularity, vascularity, fibrosis, secretion and microstructure and pancreatic diffusivity. Understanding how the various physiological and pathological features and the underlying functional processes affect the diffusion measurement may serve to optimize the method for improved diagnostic gain. Therefore, the aim of the present review article is to elucidate the relationship between pancreatic tissue characteristics and diffusion MRI measurement.

Influence of pigment on the degradation of anticorrosion polymer coatings using a thermodynamic analysis of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy data

As commercial paints have a complex composition, this work was carried out on a model epoxy system (DGEBA/DAMP) with or without pigment (TiO2). Firstly, physico-chemical properties of the composites free films were studied by using DSC and DMA and compared to those of the sole resin. Then, composites films were applied onto steel panels and were immersed in 3wt.% NaCl solution at different temperatures (30, 40, 50 and 60°C). The water uptake and diffusion processes were followed by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). Using a thermodynamic approach, it was shown that the diffusion process is accelerated in presence of pigments due to internal stresses that develop in composite systems. However, these stresses are relaxed by water sorption during ageing. Finally, it appears that the monitoring of water sorption by EIS allows to characterize the mechanical effects at the coating/substrate interface during immersion.

Gender differences in the structural connectome of the teenage brain revealed by generalized q-sampling MRI.

The question of whether there are biological differences between male and female brains is a fraught one, and political positions and prior expectations seem to have a strong influence on the interpretation of scientific data in this field. This question is relevant to issues of gender differences in the prevalence of psychiatric conditions, including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Tourette's syndrome, schizophrenia, dyslexia, depression, and eating disorders. Understanding how gender influences vulnerability to these conditions is significant. Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) provides a non-invasive method to investigate brain microstructure and the integrity of anatomical connectivity. Generalized q-sampling imaging (GQI) has been proposed to characterize complicated fiber patterns and distinguish fiber orientations, providing an opportunity for more accurate, higher-order descriptions through the water diffusion process. Therefore, we aimed to investigate differences in the brain's structural network between teenage males and females using GQI. This study included 59 (i.e., 33 males and 26 females) age- and education-matched subjects (age range: 13 to 14 years). The structural connectome was obtained by graph theoretical and network-based statistical (NBS) analyses. Our findings show that teenage male brains exhibit better intrahemispheric communication, and teenage female brains exhibit better interhemispheric communication. Our results also suggest that the network organization of teenage male brains is more local, more segregated, and more similar to small-world networks than teenage female brains. We conclude that the use of an MRI study with a GQI-based structural connectomic approach like ours presents novel insights into network-based systems of the brain and provides a new piece of the puzzle regarding gender differences.