Spatially Self-Confined Formation of Ultrafine NiCoO2 Nanoparticles@Ultralong Amorphous N-Doped Carbon Nanofibers as an Anode towards Efficient Capacitive Li+ Storage

The exploration of anode materials with a high degree of electrochemical utilization for Li-ion batteries (LIBs) still remains a huge challenge despite pioneering breakthroughs. Rational engineering of electrode structures/components by facile strategies would offer infinite possibilities for the development of LIBs. In this study, one-dimensional ultralong nanohybrids of ultrafine NiCoO₂ nanoparticles dispersed in situ in and/or on the surface of amorphous N-doped carbon nanofibers (NCO@ANCNFs) were fabricated by a bottom-up electrospinning protocol. By virtue of synergistic structural/component features, the obtained ultralong NCO@ANCNFs with low NCO loading (≈33.6 wt %) show highly efficient Li⁺ storage performance with high reversible capacity, high rate capability, and long cycle life. The unusual reversible crystalline transformation during cycling was analyzed. Quantitative analysis revealed that the pseudocapacitive contribution mainly accounts for the superior lithium storage of the NCO@ANCNFs. Besides, the ability of the hybrid anode to deliver competitive Li-storage properties even without conductive carbon greatly enhances its commercial applicability. An NCO@ANCNFs//LiNi_0.8Co_0.15Al_0.05O₂ full battery was assembled and exhibited striking electrochemical properties. This contribution offers a scalable methodology to fabricate highly efficient hybrid anodes for advanced next-generation LIBs.     

Copper-catalyzed methyl esterification of aromatic aldehydes and benzoic alcohols by TBHP as both oxidant and methyl source

A copper-catalyzed synthesis of methyl esters from aromatic aldehydes in the presence of tert-butyl hydrogen peroxide (TBHP) was developed via a radical reaction mechanism. TBHP acts not only as an efficient oxidant, but also as a green methyl source in such transformation. Moreover, this method could also be efficiently extended to the methyl esterification of benzylic alcohols.     

Negative slope of resistivity–temperature curve and positive magnetoresistance in antiperovskite ZnCNi3−x Mn x (1.15≤x≤1.5)

In antiperovskite intermetallics ZnCNi_3?x Mn _x , the negative slope coefficient (NSC) dρ/dT of resistivity–temperature curves is observed when x=1.15,1.25,1.4,1.5. The sample with x=1.25 shows a semiconductor-like behavior in the whole temperature range of 15–290 K. By study of the magnetization, magnetoresistance, and low-temperature X-ray diffraction, it is found that Mn dopant significantly affects the physical properties of ZnCNi_3?x Mn _x by changing both the carrier density and the magnetism. The origin of the NSC dρ/dT can be ascribed to the change of hole-like carrier density, which is adjusted by Mn content. The existence of hole-like carriers can be understood rationally by the two-band model. The change of sign of magnetoresistance from positive to negative has been observed in ZnCNi_3?x Mn _x with the change of Mn content, which could be ascribed to the competition between the contribution from field-induced suppression of the thermally excited ferromagnetic spin fluctuations and the Lorentz contribution. When Mn content is low, the Lorentz contribution dominates the sign of magnetoresistance. On the other hand, when Mn content is high, the contribution from field-induced suppression of the thermally excited ferromagnetic spin fluctuations dominates the sign of magnetoresistance.     

Binding of caffeic acid to human serum albumin by the retention data and frontal analysis

A new mathematical model and frontal analysis were used to characterize the binding behavior of caffeic acid to human serum albumin (HSA) based on high‐performance affinity chromatography. The experiments were carried out by injecting various mole amounts of the drug onto an immobilized HSA column. They indicated that caffeic acid has only one type of binding site to HSA on which the association constant was 2.75 × 10⁴/m . The number of the binding site involving the interaction between caffeic acid and HSA was 69 nm . The data obtained by the frontal analysis appeared to present the same results for both the association constant and the number of binding sites. This new model based on the relationship between the mole amounts of injection and capacity factors assists understanding of drug–protein interaction. The proposed model also has the advantages of ligand saving and rapid operation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A well‐balanced explicit/semi‐implicit finite element scheme for shallow water equations in drying–wetting areas

Numerical solutions of the shallow water equations can be used to reproduce flow hydrodynamics occurring in a wide range of regions. In hydraulic engineering, the objectives include the prediction of dam break wave propagation, fluvial floods and other catastrophic flooding phenomena, the modeling of estuarine and coastal circulations, and the design and optimization of hydraulic structures. In this paper, a well‐balanced explicit and semi‐implicit finite element scheme for shallow water equations over complex domains involving wetting and drying is proposed. The governing equations are discretized by a fractional finite element method using a two‐step Taylor–Galerkin scheme. First, the intermediate increment of conserved variable is obtained explicitly neglecting the pressure gradient term. This is then corrected for the effects of pressure once the pressure increment has been obtained from the Poisson equation. In order to maintain the ‘well‐balanced’ property, the pressure gradient term and bed slope terms are incorporated into the Poisson equation. Moreover, a local bed slope modification technique is employed in drying–wetting interface treatments. The proposed model is well validated against several theoretical benchmark tests. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Design of robust differential microphone arrays with the Jacobi–Anger expansion

Due to their small size, differential microphone arrays (DMAs) are very attractive. Moreover, they have been effective in combating noise and reverberation. Recently, a new class of DMAs of different orders have been developed with the MacLaurin’s series and the frequency-independent patterns. However, the MacLaurin’s series does not approximate well the exponential function, which appears in the general definition of the beampattern, when the intersensor spacing is not small enough. To circumvent this problem, we propose in this paper to approximate the exponential function with the Jacobi–Anger expansion. Based on this approximation and the frequency-independent Chebyshev patterns, we derive first-, second-, and third-order DMAs. Furthermore, in order to improve the robustness of DMAs against white noise amplification, we propose to use more microphones combined with minimum-norm filters. It is also shown that the Jacobi–Anger expansion is optimal from a mean-squared error perspective. Simulations are carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed DMAs.