Comprehensive Theoretical and Experimental Studies on the CF3H Fire‐extinguishing Mechanism

In order to clarify the chemical suppression mechanisms of CF₃H, experimental and theoretical studies were conducted respectively in this paper. Firstly, the combustion species in low pressure laminar premixed flat methane flames with CF₃H addition is measured by synchrotron radiation molecular beam mass spectrometry (SR‐MBMS) experimentally. Fire suppression chemistry of CF₃H is investigated by selective detection of combustion radicals and intermediates in experimental process. Secondly, quantum chemistry calculations are performed to calculate the potential energy surfaces (PES) for the CF₃H unimolecular dissociation reaction and reactions of CF₃H with free radical OH and H at the B3LYP/6‐311++G** and QCISD(T)/6‐311++G** levels. Finally, the chemical suppression mechanism of CF₃H was discussed by comparing the theoretical calculation with experimental measurement.     

Highly Efficient Deep-Red Non-Doped Diodes Based on a T-Shape Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitter

Device simplification is of practical significance for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), and remains the great challenge for deep-red emitters. Herein, a deep-red thermally activated delayed fluorescence molecule ( p TPA-DPPZ ) is reported which features a T shaped structure containing two triphenylamine (TPA) donors, one either side of a planar dipyridophenazine (DPPZ) acceptor. The rational spatial arrangement of the functional groups leads to limited but sufficient molecular packing for effective carrier transport. The neat p TPA-DPPZ film achieves an around 90-fold improved radiation rate constant of 10⁷ s⁻¹ and the nearly unitary reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) efficiency, as well as accelerated emission decays for quenching suppression. The high radiation and RISC result in a photoluminescence quantum yield of 87 %. The bilayer OLED based on the p TPA-DPPZ emissive layer achieved the record external quantum efficiencies of 12.3 % for maximum and 10.4 % at 1000 nits, accompanied by the deep-red electroluminescence with the excellent color purity.     

Facile synthesis of bio-based phosphorus-containing epoxy resins with excellent flame resistance

The development of high-performance biomass-derived epoxy thermosets with excellent flame resistance is vital to various applications (i.e., composites, coatings and adhesives). Herein, a difunctional epoxy monomer bis(2-methoxy-4-(oxiran-2-ylmethyl)phenyl) phenyl phosphate (BEU-EP) was synthesized from abundant and biobased eugenol. In addition, BEU-EP was cured by 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl methane (DDM) and the cured resin diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA)/DDM was used as a reference. Results indicated that BEU-EP/DDM not only showed a 58.1%, 28.8% and 35.1% increase in residual char (at 700 °C), flexural and storage modulus (at 30 °C) compared with DGEBA/DDM, but also exhibited excellent flame resistance and smoke suppression. BEU-EP/DDM passed V-0 rating (in UL-94 testing) with limiting oxygen index (LOI) of 38.4% and greatly decreased the peak heat release rate (pHRR) and total smoke production (TSP) by 84.9% and 80.5%, respectively. The mechanism analysis confirmed that the phosphorus-containing group and aromatic structure from BEU-EP contributed both the gas and condensed-phase flame retardation of BEU-EP/DDM network. This work provides an efficient and scalable route for synthesizing biobased epoxy thermosets with high integrated performance and superior flame resistance.     

多孔金属有机框架材料作为锂金属负极保护层助力长寿命锂氧气电池

在众多能源储存系统中,锂氧气电池以其高达3500 Wh·kg^-1的理论能量密度有望在性能上超越商用锂离子电池.然而,在电池充放电过程中,金属锂不可控的枝晶生长和严重的腐蚀问题极大地阻碍了锂氧气电池的发展.为了解决以上问题,制备了一种具有高比表面积、丰富孔道结构的金属有机框架材料（MOF-801）,并将其设计成金属锂负极的保护层应用在锂氧气电池中.在本工作中,成功合成了具有高达762.9 m²·g^-1比表面积,边长约为800 nm的立方体状纯净MOF-801材料.并且这种材料表现出对于有机电解液体系（四乙二醇二甲醚1 mol·L^-1三氟甲基磺酸锂）和强还原性的金属锂都具有很好的稳定性.得益于该材料丰富的孔道结构以及高比表面积,锂离子得以更均匀地分布在电极表面促进金属锂均匀沉积,有效避免了由于枝晶刺破隔膜而导致的短路甚至火灾事故.此外,MOF-801保护层本身的阻隔作用和材料捕捉水的特性可以帮助减少污染物质（水、氧气、强氧化性物质等）的穿梭效应带来的副反应,缓解锂氧气电池中金属锂负极的腐蚀情况.因此,将经过保护的金属锂组装成的对称电池进行测试,循环寿命长达800 h,同时充/放电过电势仅为0.023 V（未经保护的电池寿命仅为254 h,最终充/放电过电势高达5 V）,且循环阻抗大大降低,证明了这种策略有效地稳定了金属锂/电解液界面.将经过MOF材料保护的电极实际应用在锂氧气电池中,在限容量1000 mAh·g^-1,限电流500 mA·g^-1条件下,可以实现长达170圈的稳定长寿命的循环（是未经保护的电池寿命的2.88倍）.使用MOF-801保护层的锂氧气电池还表现出了高达8935 mAh·g^-1的高比容量.因此,本工作所报道的保护层策略为未来的碱金属空气电池负极保护领域提供了新颖的视角.     

Error analysis of large-time approximations for decay chains

Consider a radioactive decay chain X₁ → ? → X_n→ and let N_n(t) be the amount of X_n at time t. This paper establishes error bounds for large-time approximations to N_n(t) that include and generalize the transient equilibrium approximations and other known approximations. The error bounds allow one to find the range of t for which these approximations can be used with a given degree of precision.     

Boundary element analysis of uncoupled transient thermo-elastic problems with time- and space-dependent heat sources

A boundary element method (BEM) for the analysis of two- and three-dimensional uncoupled transient thermo-elastic problems involving time- and space-dependent heat sources is presented. The domain integrals are efficiently treated using the Cartesian transformation and the radial integration methods without considering any internal cells. Similar to the dual reciprocity method (DRM), some internal points without any connectivity are considered; however, in contrast to the DRM, any arbitrary mesh-free interpolation method can be used in the present formulation. There is no need to find any particular solutions and the shape functions in the mesh-free interpolation method can be arbitrary and sufficiently complicated. Unlike the DRM, the generated system of equations contains the unknowns only on the boundary. After finding the primary unknowns on the boundary, the temperature, displacement, and stress components at all internal points can directly be found without solving any system of equations. Three examples with different forms of heat sources are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method. Although the proposed BEM is mathematically more complicated than domain methods, such as the finite element method (FEM), it is more efficient from a modelling viewpoint since only the surface mesh has to be generated in the presented method.     

Suppression of super-harmonic resonance response using a linear vibration absorber

Super-harmonic resonances may appear in the forced response of a weakly nonlinear oscillator having cubic nonlinearity, when the forcing frequency is approximately equal to one-third of the linearized natural frequency. Under super-harmonic resonance conditions, the frequency-response curve of the amplitude of the free-oscillation terms may exhibit saddle-node bifurcations, jump and hysteresis phenomena. A linear vibration absorber is used to suppress the super-harmonic resonance response of a cubically nonlinear oscillator with external excitation. The absorber can be considered as a small mass-spring-damper oscillator and thus does not adversely affect the dynamic performance of the nonlinear primary oscillator. It is shown that such a vibration absorber is effective in suppressing the super-harmonic resonance response and eliminating saddle-node bifurcations and jump phenomena of the nonlinear oscillator. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the absorber in attenuating the super-harmonic resonance response.     

Flame retardancy and smoke suppression of silicone foams with microcapsulated aluminum hypophosphite and zinc borate

The flame‐retardant microcapsules were successfully fabricated with an aluminum hypophosphite (AHP) core. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to verify that AHP was encapsulated in the microcapsules, and thermogravimetry analysis showed that microencapsulated AHP (MAHP) possessed higher thermal stability than that of AHP. Then, a flame‐retardant and smoke suppression system for silicone foams (SiFs) was obtained through a synergistic effect of MAHP and zinc borate (2ZnO·3B₂O₃·3.5H₂O). The mechanical properties, flame retardance, and smoke suppression of SiFs with MAHP and zinc borate were tested using the tensile test, limiting oxygen index (LOI) test, UL‐94 test, and cone calorimeter test. The mechanical properties indicated that the tensile strength and elongation at break of SiFs could evidently improve with the incorporation of MAHP. Compared with pure SiF, SiF8 with 4.5‐wt% MAHP and 1.5‐wt% zinc borate could achieve an LOI value of 30.7 vol% and an UL‐94 V‐0 rating, the time to ignition amplified almost six times, the peak heat release rate and total heat release were 51.10% and 46.00% less than that of pure SiF, respectively, the fire performance index increased nearly 13 times, and the fire growth index value was only 13.18% of pure SiF. Moreover, the partial substitution of zinc borate imparted a substantial improvement in both flame retardancy and smoke suppression. Especially, the peak smoke production rate and total smoke production of SiF8 were merely 38.46% and 38.84% of pure SiF.     

In-situ polymerized cross-linked binder for cathode in lithium-sulfur batteries

Volume expansion and polysulfide shuttle effect are the main barriers for the commercialization of lithium-sulfur(Li-S) battery.In this work,we in-situ polymerized a cross-linked binder in sulfur cathode to solve the aforementioned problems using a facile method under mild conditions.Polycarbonate diol(PCDL),triethanolamine(TEA) and hexamethylene diisocyanate(HDI) were chosen as precursors to prepare the cross-linked binder.The in-situ polymerized binder(PTH) builds a strong network in sulfur cathode,which could restrain the volume expansion of sulfu r.Moreover,by adopting functional groups of oxygen atoms and nitrogen atoms,the binder could effectively facilitate transportation of Li-ion and adsorb polysulfide chemically.The Li-S battery with bare sulfur and carbon/sulfur composite cathodes and cross-linked PTH binder displays much better electrochemical performance than that of the battery with PVDF.The PTH-bare S cathode with a mass loading of 5.97 mg/cm^2 could deliver a capacity of 733.3 mAh/g at 0.2 C,and remained 585.5 mAh/g after 100 cycles.This in-situ polymerized binder is proved to be quite effective on restraining the volume expansion and suppressing polysulfide shuttle effect,then improving the electrochemical performance of Li-S battery.     

Transient pockets as mediators of gas molecules routes inside proteins: The case study of dioxygen pathway in homogentisate 1,2-dioxygenase and its implication in Alkaptonuria development

Alkaptonuria (AKU) is an ultra-rare disease caused by mutations in homogentisate 1,2-dioxygenase (HGD) enzyme, characterized by the loss of enzymatic activity and the accumulation of its substrate, homogentisic acid (HGA) in different tissues, leading to ochronosis and organ degeneration. Although the pathological effects of HGD mutations are largely studied, less is known about the structure of the enzyme, in particular the pathways for dioxygen diffusion to the active site, required for the enzymatic reaction, are still uninvestigated. In the present project, the combination of two in silico techniques, Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation and Implicit Ligand Sampling (ILS), was used to delineate gas diffusion routes in HGD enzyme. A route from the central opening of the hexameric structure of the enzyme to the back of the active site trough the protein moiety was identified as the path for dioxygen diffusion, also overlapping with a transient pocket, which then assumes an important role in dioxygen diffusion. Along the route the sequence location of the missense variant E401Q, responsible for AKU development, was also found, suggesting such mutation to be conducive of enzymatic activity loss by altering the flow dynamics of dioxygen. Our in silico approach allowed also to delineate the route of HGA substrate to the active site, until now only supposed.