Water-assisted mechanical testing of polymeric thin-films

Thin films with a nanometer-scale thickness are of great interest to both scientific and industrial communities due to their numerous applications and unique behaviors different from the bulk. However, the understanding of thin-film mechanics is still greatly hampered due to their intrinsic fragility and the lack of commercially available experimental instruments. In this review, we first discuss the progression of thin-film mechanical testing methods based on the supporting substrate: film-on-solid substrate method, film-on-water tensile tests, and water-assisted free-standing tensile tests. By comparing past studies on a model polymer, polystyrene, the effect of different substrates and confinement effect on the thin-film mechanics is evaluated. These techniques have generated fruitful scientific knowledge in the field of organic semiconductors for the understanding of structure–mechanical property relationships. We end this review by providing our perspective for their bright prospects in much broader applications and materials of interest.     

Phosphoric-Acid Retention in High-Temperature Proton-Exchange Membranes

Great efforts have been conducted to develop high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) due to its features of enhanced electrocatalyst reactivity, simplified hydrothermal management system and high CO tolerance of catalysts, and remarkable progress has been achieved. However, the easy leaching of phosphoric acid (PA) from the membranes during operation limits its commercial scale-up in complicated environments. This concept here mainly focuses on the recent developments for mitigation of PA loss in PEMs. The probable mechanisms of PA loss are proposed. The approaches to improve PA retention for example via introduction of phosphonic acid by covalent bond, using ion-pairs interaction and siphoning effect, and blending with inorganic nanoparticles are described in detail. Among these strategies, the siphoning effect from the intrinsic microporous PEMs is the most efficient and enables the cell to operate flexibly within a broad temperature range. Therefore, this concept may provide new ideas for the scientists to retain PA, to improve the cell performance and expand the potential applications of PA doped PEMs at elevated humidity and wide temperature range.     

石墨基液流电池复合双极板

液流电池是一种安全性高、使用寿命长、可扩展的大规模储能系统,可以协助电网调峰储能,提高能源利用率,发展前景广阔。双极板是液流电池的重要组成部分。功能上起到了分隔、串联电池、传导电流、为电堆提供结构支撑等作用。从成本构成角度看,双极板的价格占电堆成本的比重也较大。开发高性能、低成本的双极板对加快液流电池的商业化应用具有重要意义,也是目前业界的迫切需求。虽然文献上报道了许多针对液流电池双极板开发的工作,但是目前高性能、低成本的液流电池双极板产品仍无法充分满足市场需求。本文着重介绍了石墨基复合双极板的研究现状,介绍了材料选择、工艺流程对关键性能的影响,对相关工作进行了评述,并为液流电池双极板的开发提出了建议。     

Developing Flexible Quinacridone-Derivatives-Based Photothermal Evaporaters for Solar Steam and Thermoelectric Power Generation

Solar-driven interfacial vaporization by localizing solar-thermal energy conversion to the air−water interface has attracted tremendous attention. In the process of converting solar energy into heat energy, photothermal materials play an essential role. Herein, a flexible solar-thermal material di-cyan substituted 5,12-dibutylquinacridone (DCN−4CQA)@Paper was developed by coating photothermal quinacridone derivatives on the cellulose paper. The DCN−4CQA@Paper combines desired chemical and physical properties, broadband light-absorbing, and shape-conforming abilities that render efficient photothermic vaporization. Notably, synergetic coupling of solar-steam and solar-electricity technologies by integrating DCN−4CQA@Paper and the thermoelectric devices is realized without trade-offs, highlighting the practical consideration toward more impactful solar heat exploitation. Such solar distillation and low-grade heat-to-electricity generation functions can provide potential opportunities for fresh water and electricity supply in off-grid or remote areas.     

System scan of the multiplicity correlation between forward and backward rapidities in relativistic heavy-ion collisions using a multi-phase transport model

A systematic study on forward–backward (FB) multiplicity correlations from large systems to small ones through a multi-phase transport model (AMPT) has been performed and the phenomenon that correlation strength increases with centrality can be explained by taking the distribution of events as the superposition of a series of Gaussian distributions. It is also found that correlations in the \begin{document}$ \eta -\phi $\end{document} plane can imply the shape of the event. Furthermore, long-range correlations originate from the fluctuations associated with the source information. FB correlations allow us to decouple long-range correlations from short-range correlations, and may provide a chance to investigate the α-clustering structure in initial colliding light nuclei as well. It seems the tetrahedron ¹⁶O + ¹⁶O collision gives a more uniform and symmetrical fireball, that emits the final particles more isotropically or independently in the longitudinal direction, indicating that the forward–backward multiplicity correlation could be used to identify the pattern of α-clustered ¹⁶O in future experiments.     

Classify the Higgs decays with the PFN and ParticleNet at electron–positron colliders

Various Higgs factories are proposed to study the Higgs boson precisely and systematically in a model- independent way. In this study, the Particle Flow Network and ParticleNet techniques are used to classify the Higgs decays into multicategories, and the ultimate goal is to realize an "end-to-end" analysis. A Monte Carlo simulation study is performed to demonstrate the feasibility, and the performance looks rather promising. This result could be the basis of a "one-stop" analysis to measure all the branching fractions of the Higgs decays simultaneously.     

The induction of PANoptosis in KRAS-mutant pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells by a multispecific platinum complex

Science China Chemistry - Oncogenic KRAS reprograms pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells to a state that is awfully resistant to apoptosis. An alternative coping strategy is to trigger a...     

Effect of Oil Viscosity on Hydraulic Cavitation Luminescence

Fluid Dynamics - The collapse of cavitation bubbles in a hydraulic system generates localized zones of high temperature and pressure and, under certain conditions, luminescence. In this study, we...     

基于相同参数抛物镜面旋转阵列的太阳能槽式聚光器聚焦特性研究

针对吉林一号某轻型空间遥感相机的任务需求，以碳纤维复合材料的薄壁筒与桁架杆一体式成型为设计思路，基于拓扑优化、尺寸优化以及铺层优化设计了一种高稳定性的次镜支撑结构。工程分析和实验结果表明一体式碳纤维次镜支撑结构具有较好的结构稳定性，整体质量仅为1.3 kg,其在轨成像质量良好，这进一步验证了一体式碳纤维次镜支撑结构的可靠性和设计方法的正确性。