Insights into MWCNTs/polyimide nanocomposites: from synthesis to application as free-standing flexible electrodes in low-cost micro-supercapacitors

In the pursuit to enlarge the library of polyimide materials for energy applications, new polyimide/MWCNTs composite films have been developed by MWCNTs-assisted polycondensation reaction of a hydroxyl and triphenylmethane-containing diamine with benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride targeting to highlight their electrical storage capability as flexible electrodes in micro-supercapacitors (mSCs). The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance, UV–vis, fluorescence, and Raman spectroscopies were used to demonstrate the evolution of interfacial interactions between MWCNTs and the precursors (diamine monomer and intermediate polyamidic acid) and polyimide matrix that proved to be the origin of MWCNTs homogeneous dispersion. Thus, composite films incorporating 1, 3, 5, and 10 w.t.% MWCNTs were obtained and thoroughly investigated with regard to their morphology, mechanical behavior, thermal stability, and electrical conductivity. The electrochemical performance of these composites was first analyzed in a classical three-electrode cell by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge in both aqueous and organic electrolyte systems. By far, the best electrical storage capacity was obtained with the composite polyimide film containing 10% MWCNTs that was further used as both active material and current collector in a flexible symmetric mSC realized by a straightforward and low-cost procedure. In the attempt to better exploit the advantages of this composite film, it was layered with a graphite-containing paint and tested as an electrode in a flexible mSC, which provided satisfactory results. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the electrical charge storage capability of a polyimide/MWCNTs free-standing film as a flexible electrode in mSCs, which do not require time- and resource-consuming processing steps.     

Orientation dependent size effects in thermal buckling and post-buckling of nanoplates with cubic anisotropy

In this work, a continuum model is presented for size and orientation dependent thermal buckling and post-buckling of anisotropic nanoplates considering surface and bulk residual stresses. The model with von-Karman nonlinear strains and material cubic anisotropy of single crystals contains two parameters that reflect the orientation effects. Using Ritz method, closed form solutions are given for buckling temperature and post-buckling deflections. Regarding self-instability states of nanoplates and their recovering at higher temperatures, an experiment is discussed based on low pressurized membranes to verify the predictions. For simply supported nanoplates, the size effects are lowest when they are aligned in [100] direction. When the edges get clamped, the orientation dependence is ignorable and the behavior becomes symmetric about [510] axis. The surface residual stress makes drastic increase in buckling temperature of thinner nanoplates for which a minimum thickness is pointed to stay far from material softening at higher temperatures. Deflection of [100]-oriented buckled nanoplates is higher than [110] ones but this reverses at higher temperatures. The results for long nanoplates show that the buckling mode numbers are changed by orientation which is verified by FEM.     

Influence of solvent on solution processed Cu2ZnSnS4 nanocrystals and annealing induced changes in the optical,structural properties of CZTS film

The well-known quaternary Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS) chalcogenide thin films are playing an important role in modern technology. The CZTS nanocrystal were successfully prepared by solution method using water, ethylene glycol and ethylenediamine as different solvent. The pure phase material was used for thin film coating by thermal evaporation method. The prepared CZTS thin films were characterized by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, FESEM, XPS and FT-IR spectroscopy. The XRD and Raman spectroscopy analysis revealed the formation of polycrystalline CZTS thin film with tetragonal crystal structure after annealing at 450 ^°C. The oxidation state of the annealed film was studied by XPS. A direct band gap about 1.36 eV was estimated for the film from FT-IR studies, which is nearly close to the optimum value of band gap energy of CZTS materials for best solar cell efficiency. The CZTS annealed thin films are more suitable for using as a p-type absorber layer in a low-cost solar cell.     

Sensitivity analysis of thermal performances of flat plate solar air heaters

Sensitivity analysis is a mathematical tool, first developed for optimization methods, which aim is to characterize a system response through the variations of its output parameters following modifications imposed on the input parameters of the system. Such an analysis may quickly become laborious when the thermal model under consideration is complex or the number of input parameters is high. In this paper, we develop a mathematical model to analyse the heat exchanges in four different types of solar air collectors. When building this thermal model we show that for each collector, at quasi-steady state, the energy balance equations of the components of the collector cascade into a single first-order non-linear differential equation that is able to predict the thermal behaviour of the collector. Our heat transfer model clearly demonstrates the existence of an important dimensionless parameter, referred to as the thermal performance factor of the collector, that compares the useful thermal energy which can be extracted from the heater to the overall thermal losses of that collector for a given set of input parameters. A sensitivity analysis of our thermal model has been performed for the most significant input parameters such as the incident solar irradiation, the inlet fluid temperature, the air mass flow rate, the depth of the fluid channel, the number and nature of the transparent covers in order to measure the impact of each of these parameters on our model. An important result which can be drawn from this study is that the heat transfer model developed is robust enough to be used for thermal design studies of most known flat plate solar air heaters, but also of flat plate solar water collectors and linear solar concentrators.     

超强脉冲激光在低密度等离子体中的相对论自导引效应

分析了相对论条件下激光超短脉冲在等离子体中的传输特性 ,在傍轴近似和慢变振幅近似条件下 ,推导了折射率、电子密度、静电场以及电子空腔尺度的表达式。当激光功率超过产生自导引阈值功率时 ,激光束斑沿着传输光轴方向振荡。在有质动力产生的压力非常强时 ,聚焦光束中央部分的电子被全部排开形成电子空腔。给出了电子空腔的尺寸以及在出现电子空腔时的处理方法。在超过形成电子空腔的阈值功率 (Pc≈ 2 .5TW )时 ,空腔的尺度几乎与激光功率无关 ,这意味着电子空腔阻止了激光脉冲的进一步聚焦。     

A novel and efficient synthesis of porphine

meso-Tetra(n-hexyloxycarbonyl)porphyrin was found to be converted into porphine, the mother compound of porphyrins, in a 77% yield when heated in aqueous sulfuric acid at 180 °C over 30 min under an inert atmosphere. The observation demonstrates that the substituted porphyrin serves as a novel and useful precursor for porphine.     

Formation and hydrogenation of p(2 × 2)-N on Pt(1 1 1)

The formation of a well-ordered p(2 × 2) overlayer of atomic nitrogen on the Pt(1 1 1) surface and its reaction with hydrogen were characterized with reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS), temperature programmed desorption (TPD), low energy electron diffraction (LEED), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The p(2 × 2)-N overlayer is formed by exposure of ammonia to a surface at 85 K that is covered with 0.44 monolayer (ML) of molecular oxygen and then heating to 400 K. The reaction between ammonia and oxygen produces water, which desorbs below 400 K. The only desorption product observed above 400 K is molecular nitrogen, which has a peak desorption temperature of 453 K. The absence of oxygen after the 400 K anneal is confirmed with AES. Although atomic nitrogen can also be produced on the surface through the reaction of ammonia with an atomic, rather than molecular, oxygen overlayer at a saturation coverage of 0.25 ML, the yield of surface nitrogen is significantly less, as indicated by the N₂ TPD peak area. Atomic nitrogen readily reacts with hydrogen to produce the NH species, which is characterized with RAIRS by an intense and narrow (FWHM ∼ 4 cm⁻¹) peak at 3322 cm⁻¹. The areas of the H₂ TPD peak associated with NH dissociation and the XPS N 1s peak associated with the NH species indicate that not all of the surface N atoms can be converted to NH by the methods used here.     

A New Two‐Dimensional Coordination Polymer of Mercury(II) with very High Thermal Stability

A 2D Hg^II coordination polymer containing ligands 1,2,4‐triazole (Htrz) and thiocyanate, [Hg(μ₃‐trz)(SCN)]_n ( 1 ) has been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and IR spectroscopy. The single‐crystal X‐ray data show the coordination number of Hg atoms is four and the ligand trz^? acts as a three‐fold donor. The thermal stability of compound 1 was studied by thermal gravimetric and differential thermal analyses. The composition and formation of the complex in methanol solution were found to be in support of its solid state structure.     

A note on the unsteady boundary layers over a flat plate

The unsteady boundary layer over a semi-infinite flat plate was investigated in this paper. The flow involves the unsteady flow over a flat plate with leading edge accretion or ablation. The momentum boundary layer was further analyzed and it was shown that the leading edge ablation had a similar effect to the wall mass injection or upstream wall movement making the fluid blown away from the wall. The thermal boundary layer of the same flow was also studied. Results show that the leading edge accretion or ablation can greatly change the fluid motion and the heat transfer characteristics.