Analysis of effect of electrolyte types on electrokinetic energy conversion in nanoscale capillaries

An analytical study on the effect of electrolyte types on the electrokinetic energy conversion is presented using nanoscale cylindrical capillary, which is either positively or negatively charged. The sign of surface charge determines the role and concentration magnitude of ions in the capillary and the energy conversion performance. Our study shows that the electrokinetic energy conversion performance (maximum efficiency, pressure rise and streaming potential) are approximately identical for 1:1 (KCl), 2:1 (CaCl₂) and 3:1 (LaCl₃) electrolytes when capillary is positively charged. For negatively charged capillary, energy conversion performance degrades significantly with the increase of counter‐ion valence. For both positively and negatively charged capillaries, higher maximum efficiency can be resulted in low bulk concentration and surface charge density regimes. However, high maximum pressure rise generation for the pumping is found in the low bulk concentration and high surface charge density regimes. For the electric power generation, higher maximum streaming potential is found when both bulk concentration and surface charge density are low.     

面向能源领域的石墨烯研究

化石能源枯竭以及地球环境污染已经成为并且在未来相当长一段时期内都将是人类面临的最严峻的危机之一.因此,寻找清洁的替代能源形式、有效的能量存储方式以及高效的能源利用途径是目前科学研究的热点.自从其高质量样品被制备和研究以来,石墨烯一直吸引着全世界科研工作者的兴趣;它的一系列独特的物理化学性质,为其在能源领域的应用提供了无限前景.本文对石墨烯在能源领域的最新研究进展以及其工业化应用作了简要综述,具体内容包括石墨烯材料在以下领域的应用：能源储存器件类,如超级电容器和锂离子电池;能源转化装置类,如燃料电池和太阳能电池.     

Effects of Stern layer conductance on electrokinetic energy conversion in nanofluidic channels

A thermo-electro-hydro-dynamic model is developed to analytically account for the effects of Stern layer conductance on electrokinetic energy conversion in nanofluidic channels. The optimum electrokinetic devices performance is dependent on a figure of merit, in which the Stern layer conductance appears as a nondimensional Dukhin number. Such surface conductance is found to significantly reduce the figure of merit and thus the efficiency and power output. This finding may explain why the recently measured electrokinetic devices performances are far below the theoretical predictions where the effects of Stern layer conductance have been ignored.     

Ab initio simulations of liquid electrolytes for energy conversion and storage

Understanding physicochemical properties of liquid electrolytes is essential for predicting and optimizing device performance for a wide variety of emerging energy technologies, including photoelectrochemical water splitting, supercapacitors, and batteries. In this work, we review recent progress and open challenges in predicting structural, dynamical, and electronic properties of the liquids using first-principles approaches. We briefly summarize the basic concepts of first-principles molecular dynamics (FPMD), and we discuss how FPMD methods have enriched our understanding of a number of liquids, including aqueous solutions, organic electrolytes and ionic liquids. We also discuss technical challenges in extending FPMD simulations to the study of liquid electrolytes in more complex environments, including the interface between electrolytes and electrodes, which is a key component in many energy storage and conversion systems.     

Improvement in energy conversion of electrostrictive composite materials by new approach via piezoelectric effect: Modeling and experiments

This study proposes a new model that couples the piezoelectric and electrostrictive behavior to minimize the polarization power of composite polymer. The development of this model is capable to predict the energy harvesting abilities of an electrostrictive composite. To improve the dielectric permittivity of electrostrictive polymer, the particles of PZT have been incorporated in order to increase the conversion efficiency of the composite. Dielectric characterization tests showed an increase in dielectric permittivity by a factor of 4.5 compared to pure polymer. Experimental measurements of harvested power validate the analytical model and demonstrate a good correlation between the two data. An equivalent of an electrical scheme has been developed, which allows modeling the two behaviors. The harvested power density under low frequency at 2% of strain can reach 0.30 μW/cm³ for 33% of PZT without the polarization field, including the conversion efficiency becomes higher. The energy harvester property of this material composite has excellent potential for several self‐powered applications such as wireless sensor networks and the internet of things.     

离子液体对胶束电动色谱胶束微结构以及分离效果的影响

考察了离子液体对胶束电动色谱胶柬微结构以及分离效果的影响.研究结果表明,离子液体使胶束的表面电荷密度变小、粒径变大及其内核极性增大.以泼尼松、氢化可的松和泼尼松龙为分析对象,氢化可的松与泼尼松龙在十二烷基硫酸钠(SDS)胶束体系中不能实现分离.而在SDS-离子液体混合介质(20 mmol/L SDS-10 mmol/L...     

Catalytic conversion of propan-2-ol and butan-2-ol on carbon nanotubes with different carbon structures

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Overview on conducting polymer in energy storage and energy conversion system

Polymer-based electrochemical devices such as supercapacitor, battery, and fuel cell have been developed and advanced for energy related application. In this regard, conducting polymers own several tunable characteristics for energy conversion and energy storage relevance. Consequently, efficient, reliable, low cost, conducting, stable, and environment friendly energy systems have been developed using conducting polymers. To enhance the efficiency and commercialization of energy systems, design, structure, composition, and fabrication technique used for conducting polymers and related composite have been focused. Challenges and future trend associated with current state of the art conducting polymer materials in supercapacitor, battery, and fuel cell are highlighted.     

Estimation of surface desorption times in hydrophobically coated nanochannels and their effect on shear-driven and pressure-driven chromatography

The present paper provides a detailed analysis of the analyte-wall adsorption effects in nanochannels, including a random walk study of the analyte-wall collision frequency, and uses these insights to estimate wall desorption times from chromatographic experiments in nanochannels. Using coumarin dye analytes and using a methanol/water mixture buffered at pH 3 in 120-nm deep channels, the surface desorption times on naked fused-silica glass were found to be maximally of the order of 60 to 150 μs, while they were found to be on the order of 100 to 500 μs on a hydrophobically coated wall. These nonzero adsorption and desorption times lead to an additional band broadening when conducting chromatographic separations. Shear-driven flows, requiring a noncoated moving wall and a stationary coated wall, intrinsically turn out to be more prone to this effect than pressure-driven or electro-driven flows for example. The present study also shows that, interestingly, the number of analyte-wall collisions increases with the inverse of the channel depth and not with its second power, as would be expected from the Einstein–Smoluchowski relationship for molecular diffusion.     

Effect of organic modifiers on the capacity factor in micellar electrokinetic chromatography

Organic modifiers were effective both to extend the migration time window and to improve the separation of very hydrophobic compounds in MEKC.An iteration method was used to determine the migration time of micelles.The quantitative relationship between the capacity factor k' and the concentration of organic modifiers was derived,which was investigated experimentally.The linear solvation energy relationships (LSER) methodology was applied to MEKC,and good linear relationships between Ink' and solvatochromic parameters of 15 solutes were obtained in the presence of organic modifier in different concentrations,which indicated a new access in MEKC to predict k' from the structural parameters of solutes.The effect of column temperature T on k' was also investigated.     

Computationally empowered design of emerging earth-abundant electrocatalysts toward electron- /proton-transferring energy conversion

Affordable and sustainable, also often quoted as Pt-free or metal-free, electrocatalysts have a pivotal role in various electrochemical energy conversion systems, which are attracting huge demands in the 21st century. Recent technological development enables us to perform computationally empowered experimental design or discovery of materials constituted of abundant elements (e.g. carbon, nitrogen, boron, etc.) with desirable electrochemical properties. These works indicate that nontraditional candidates, such as insulators being believed to unfavorable, are indeed found to be applicable as active electrocatalysts. This review summarizes state-of-the-art cooperative experimental/theoretical works devoted to understand fundamental aspects of electron- /proton-transferring surface electrochemical reactions from the point of materials. These works are expected to accelerate material research to find out optimal Pt- or metal-free electrocatalysts, even based on material classes which were previously rejected as candidates, toward electrochemical energy conversion devices.     

化学反应中的几何相效应

锥形交叉可以通过几何相效应影响核动力学.在过去的一些年里关于锥形交叉的理论有大量的发展和进步,本文综述了分子反应动力学领域针对几何相效应研究的一些理论成果.介绍了分子反应动力学中与几何相效应直接相关的一些最新成果,同时也对这些重要结果进行了解释.我们相信几何相效应将会在非绝热化学中发挥最重要的作用.     

Non-isothermal kinetics of reactions whose activation energy depends on the degree of conversion

A procedure for evaluating the non-isothermal kinetic parameters of reactions for which the activation energy depends on the degree of conversion is suggested. The procedure has been applied to the dehydration of calcium oxalate monohydrate and to the thermal degradation of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and polychloroprene rubber.     

Effects of acrylonitrile water solubility on limiting conversion and copolymer composition in suspension polymerization

The effects of acrylonitrile (AN) water solubility on the limiting conversion and copolymer composition of the AN and AN/vinylidene chloride (VDC) suspension polymerization were investigated. It was found that AN dissolved in aqueous phase does not transfer back to oil phase in AN suspension homopolymerization but partially does in AN/VDC suspension copolymerization, and thus the limiting conversion is lowered and decreases with water/oil ratio increasing in both AN and AN/VDC suspension polymerization. For the continuous transport of AN in aqueous phase to oil phase during suspension polymerization, the composition distribution of AN/VDC copolymer prepared by suspension polymerization is narrower than that by bulk polymerization. The calculated composition of AN/VDC suspension copolymer with considering AN water solubility is consistent with the experimental data.     

Effect of microemulsion component purity on the chromatographic figures of merit in chiral microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography

Numerous combinations of one-, two-, and three-chiral-component microemulsions have been previously prepared in our group, using N-dodecoxycarbonylvaline (DDCV), 2-hexanol, and ethyl acetate, dibutyl tartrate, or diethyl tartrate. A few results of the various formulations investigated suggested the possible presence of minor impurities in one or more components of the microemulsion. In this study, the purity of the current lots of R- and S-surfactant were measured, as was the subsequent effect of minor impurities on the relevant chromatographic figures of merit (CFOMs) that describe a chiral separation, i.e., efficiency, enantioselectivity, retention, migration window (elution range), and resolution. Two related methods are proposed for correcting enantioselectivities measured in the presence of chiral impurities in the chiral microemulsion.     

The role of material behavior in the performances of electroactive polymer energy harvesters

Electroactive polymer energy harvesters are promising devices for the conversion of mechanical work to electrical energy. The performances of these devices are strongly dependent on the mechanical response of the polymeric material and on the type of electromechanical cycle, and these are limited by the occurrence of dielectric breakdown, compression induced wrinkling and electromechanical instability (pull‐in). To identify the optimal electromechanical cycle that complies with all of these limitations, we set‐up and solve a constraint optimization problem and we critically discuss the influence of material behavior of the polymer in the optimal performances of the energy harvesting device. Finally, we show that if the rate‐independent dissipative behavior of the polymer (Mullins effect) is neglected, the optimization procedure may lead to quite unsatisfactory predictions: by making reference to explicit experimental data from literature we show that an optimal harvesting cycle deduced by neglecting the Mullins effect is far from being optimal when this is taken in consideration. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 1303–1314     

负载铂催化剂中沸石载体酸性对甲烷两步转化的影响

考察了具有相同金属分散度的Pt/NaY、Pt/HNaY、 Pt/HY、Pt/NaBeta和Pt/HBeta催化剂中沸石载体的酸性对在低温下（≤250 ℃）甲烷两步等温转化反应以及由甲烷解离吸附产生的表面碳物种分布的影响。由甲烷等温两步转化生成的C2+烃类产物的总量随着载体酸性的增加而明显增加;C2～C6产物的分布也发生了变化。由表面碳物种的程序升温加氢结果表明,在各种催化剂上碳物种的形式是相似的,其总量和具有活性的Cα物种的量均因载体酸性增加而增加,反应性也增大。这种因沸石载体酸性变化而引起的载体效应是由金属和载体的相互作用造成负载在酸性载体上铂粒子的贫电子性而引起,即由金属粒子电子性质的变化而引起的催化性质的变化。