Influences of ions and temperature on performance of carbon nano-particulates in supercapacitors with neutral aqueous electrolytes

A commercial product of carbon nano-particles,Cabot MONACH 1300 pigment black(CMPB),was studied for basic structural information and electrochemical performance in neutral aqueous electrolytes,aiming at applications in supercapacitors.As confirmed by SEM and HRTEM,the CMPB had a hierarchical structure,containing basic 10 nm nano-spheres which combined into ca.50 nm agglomerates which further aggregated into larger particles ofmicrometres.The capacitance of this commercial material was found to increase with decreasing the size of hydrous cation(Li~+→ Na~*→K~+),instead of the cation crystal radius(K~+→Na~+→Li~+) when coupled with the same anion(Cl~-).In electrolytes with the same cation concentration(K~+),changing the anion from the larger dianion(SO_4~(2-)) to the smaller monoanion(Cl~-) also increased the capacitance at high potential scan rates(50mV/s).Increasing electrolyte concentration produced expected effect,including raising the electrode capacitance,but lowering the equivalent series resistance(ESR).charge transfer resistance(CTR),and the diffusion resistance.At higher temperatures,the CMPB exhibited slightly higher capacitance,which does not agree with the Gouy-Chapman theory on electric double layer(EDL).A hypothesis is proposed to account for the capacitance increase with temperature as a result of the CMPB opening up some micro-pores for more ions to access in response to the temperature increase.     

Influence of mixing conditions on rheological behavior and electrical conductivity of polyamides filled with carbon black

The introduction of carbon black in a polyamide matrix allows one to obtain conductive materials because of the formation of a filler network. Resulting electrical properties depend, among others, on the processing conditions. In a first part, we investigate the influence of mixing conditions (rotor speed, temperature, mixing time) on electrical conductivity. Then, in a second part, we try to characterize the conducting network by rheological measurements and to establish relationships between rheological parameters and electrical properties. For that purpose, we propose to perform successive strain sweep experiments at constant frequency, from 0.5 to 100%, then from 100 to 0.5%, and finally, again, from 0.5 to 100%. Between two successive strain sweeps, we observe a drop in the moduli values that can be attributed to the breakdown of the carbon black network. A clear relationship is established between rheological and electrical properties of the compounds. Moreover, we propose a presentation of the rheological data that permits to rank the samples according to the strength of the carbon black network.     

Rheological properties of gluten plasticized with glycerol: dependence on temperature, glycerol content and mixing conditions

The rheological behaviour of a gluten plasticized with glycerol has been studied in oscillatory shear. The mixing operation in a Haake batch mixer leads to a maximum torque for a level of specific energy (500–600 kJ/kg) and temperature (50–60 °C) quite independent of mixing conditions (rotor speed, mixing time, filling ratio). The gluten/glycerol dough behaves as a classical gluten/water dough, with a storage modulus higher than the loss modulus over the frequency range under study. A temperature increase induces a decrease of moduli, but the material is not thermorheologically simple. Glycerol has a plasticizing effect, which can be classically described by an exponential dependence. Mixing conditions influence the viscoelastic properties of the material, mainly through the specific mechanical energy input (to 2000 kJ/kg) and temperature increase (to 80 °C). Above 50 °C, specific mechanical energy highly increases the complex modulus. The aggregation of proteins, as evidenced by size-exclusion chromatography measurements, occurs later as the dough temperature reaches 70 °C. The nature of network interactions and the respective influence of hydrophobic and disulphide contribution is discussed. A general expression is proposed for describing the viscous behaviour of a gluten/glycerol mix, which could seem simplistic for such a complex rheological behaviour, but would remain sufficient for modelling the flow behaviour in a twin screw extruder. Received: 24 November 1997 Accepted: 28 April 1999     

Continuum modeling of size effects on the composition and stresses in nanoparticles of ionic solids with application to ceria

Owing to its broad potential applications, nanostructured ceria has been subject of intense investigation in the past few decades. Experiments have demonstrated that various material properties of the nanostructured ionic solids including ceria vary with the feature size. Here, we present a theoretical study of the size effects on the composition, defect concentrations and stresses in free-standing nanoparticles of nonstoichiometric ionic solids. To this end, a continuum model is developed which accounts for the highly nonlinear coupling between mechanical, chemical and electrical driving forces, and their effects on the thermodynamic equilibrium of the defect species. It is demonstrated that the model, once applied to the case of ceria, predicts size-dependent defect concentrations and surface stresses. It is further shown that the theoretical predictions of the size effects on the composition and lattice parameter are in good agreement with the experimental observations.     

The variation of heat transfer in a two‐sided lid‐driven differentially heated square cavity with nanofluids containing carbon nanotubes for physical properties of fluid dependent on temperature

The behavior of nanofluids containing cylindrical nanoparticles are investigated numerically inside a two‐sided lid‐driven differentially heated square cavity to gain insight into the convective recirculation and flow processes induced by a nanofluid. The physical properties of the base fluid such as viscosity, thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient are, respectively, assumed to be temperature independent (taking the mean temperature of the left and right walls) and temperature dependent. A model is developed to analyze the behavior of nanofluids taking into account the nanoparticle volume fraction whereas the transport equations are solved numerically with finite volume approach using SIMPLEC algorithm. The left and right moving walls are maintained at different constant temperatures while the upper and bottom walls are thermally insulated. The directions of the moving walls were considered in a way that the force and natural convections aid each other. The governing parameter Richardson number was 0.1<Ri<50.0 but due to space constraints only the results for 0.1<Ri<10.0 from fluid flow are presented. It was found that the temperature dependency of physical properties at different Richardson numbers and nanoparticle volume fractions affects the fluid flow and heat transfer in the cavities. Finally, comparisons between the behaviors of the average Nusselt number at the left wall for two cases are presented. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dependence of modulus of elasticity and thermal conductivity on reference temperature in generalized thermoelasticity for an infinite material with a spherical cavity

Introduction Thetheoryofgeneralizedthermoelasticitywithonerelaxationtimebasedonamodified Fourier’slawofheatconductionwasdevelopedbyLordandShulman[1].Thistheoryallowsfor theso_calledsecond_soundeffectsinsolids,hencethermaldisturbancespropagatewithfinite wavespeeds. Themathematicalmodelofthegeneralizedthermoelasticitytheoryisofacomplicatednature thathindersthepossibilityofderivingananalyticalsolution.Mostattemptsdealingwiththese equationsarebasedoneithershort_timesolution[2-4]. Modernstructur…