Direct Solar Charging of an Organic–Inorganic,Stable, and Aqueous Alkaline Redox Flow Battery with a Hematite Photoanode

The intermittent nature of the sunlight and its increasing contribution to electricity generation is fostering the energy storage research. Direct solar charging of an auspicious type of redox flow battery could make solar energy directly and efficiently dispatchable. The first solar aqueous alkaline redox flow battery using low cost and environmentally safe materials is demonstrated. The electrolytes consist of the redox couples ferrocyanide and anthraquinone‐2,7‐disulphonate in sodium hydroxide solution, yielding a standard cell potential of 0.74 V. Photovoltage enhancement strategies are demonstrated for the ferrocyanide‐hematite junction by employing an annealing treatment and growing a layer of a conductive polyaniline polymer on the electrode surface, which decreases electron–hole recombination.     

Synthesis, characterization, and molecular structures of di- and triorganotin(IV) complexes with 9-anthracenecarboxylic acid: The structural diversity in organotin 9-anthracenecarboxylates

The di- and triorganotin(IV) derivatives of anthracenecarboxylic acid, Ph₂MeSnOC(O)C₁₄H₉ (2), Me₃SnOC(O)C₁₄H₉ (3), Me₂Sn[OC(O)C₁₄H₉]₂ · CH₃OH (4) Ph₃SnOC(O)C₁₄H₉ · CH₃OH (5), Ph₂EtSnOC(O)C₁₄H₉ (6), Ph₂Sn[OC(O)(C₁₄H₉)]₂ (7) and PhMe₂SnOC(O)C₁₄H₉ (8) were synthesized by the reaction of Ph₂MeSnI, Me₃SnCl, Me₂SnCl₂, Ph₃SnCl, Ph₂EtSnI, Ph₂SnCl₂, and PhMe₂SnI with 9-anthracenecarboxylic acid, respectively, with the aid of potassium iso-propoxide. All complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, mass spectrometry, IR, ¹H, ¹³C and ¹¹⁹Sn NMR spectroscopes. The molecular structures of complexes 2, 3 and 4 were determined by single crystal X-ray analysis. The X-ray structures reveal that complex 2 and 3 adopt a polymeric trans-C₃SnO₂ trigonal bipyamidal configuration with the oxygen atoms occupying axial positions. Complex 4 adopts a monomeric structure with two carboxylates coordinated to tin in a monodentate form from axial and equatorial positions, and with the coordination number raised to five as the methanol occupies the apical position of the trigonal bipyramid.     

Effect of bonding parameters on microstructure development during TGTLP bonding of Al7075 alloy

The effect of temperature, pressure and bonding time on microstructure of temperature gradient transient liquid phase (TGTLP) diffusion bonded Al7075 alloy using liquid gallium interlayer was investigated. The selected bonding method relies on using the minimum amount of liquid gallium on faying surfaces, using a very fast heating rate to reach the joining temperature and imposing a temperature gradient across the bond region. The microstructure of the diffusion bonded joints was evaluated by light optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Results show that by increasing the temperature, pressure and time of joining, a more uniform microstructure can be obtained at the joint area. The best joint microstructure was achieved at a temperature of 460?°C, pressure of 10?MPa and time of 10?min. EDS spot analysis indicates that brittle silicon-rich precipitates form at the joint line during TGTLP bonding.     

Novel and facile methods for the synthesis of DTPA-mono-amide: a new completely revised strategy in radiopharmaceutical chemistry

DTPA is a very strong metal chelator widely utilized in radiopharmaceutical chemistry for conjugation of chemicals which do not have enough potency for direct metalo-labeling and also to manage toxic radioactive materials such as plutonium, americium, and curium. It is difficult to conjugate DTPA to an amine group in a singular direction and such reactions usually also coincidently produce a mixture of DTPA-bis-amides and DTPA-mono-amide resulting in considerable insufficiencies/difficulties in synthesis and especially yield/separation procedures. In this paper, novel methods for the exclusive synthesis of DTPA-mono-amide have been established which extensively reduce the difficulties otherwise encountered and increase the reaction’s yield considering the green chemistry approaches. This is expected to be of interest to radiopharmaceutical researchers interested in the DTPA (Radio)-metallic-conjugate. Overall, this paper provides a framework to achieve a higher degree of propriety from DTPA as a chelator to conjugate to the chemical compounds.     

Joule heating-enabled electrothermal enrichment of nanoparticles in insulator-based dielectrophoretic microdevices

Insulator-based dielectrophoresis (iDEP) exploits the electric field gradients formed around insulating structures to manipulate particles for diverse microfluidic applications. Compared to the traditional electrode-based dielectrophoresis, iDEP microdevices have the advantages of easy fabrication, free of water electrolysis, and robust structure, etc. However, the presence of in-channel insulators may cause thermal effects because of the locally amplified Joule heating of the fluid. The resulting electrothermal flow circulations are exploited in this work to trap and concentrate nanoscale particles (of 100 nm diameter and less) in a ratchet-based iDEP microdevice. Such Joule heating-enabled electrothermal enrichment of nanoparticles are found to grow with the increase of alternating current or direct current electric field. It also becomes more effective for larger particles and in a microchannel with symmetric ratchets. Moreover, a depth-averaged numerical model is developed to understand and simulate the various parametric effects, which is found to predict the experimental observations with a good agreement.     

4E analysis and tri-objective optimization of a triple-pressure combined cycle power plant with combustion chamber steam injection to control NOx emission

This article presents a novel triple-pressure combined cycle power plant (CCPP) with a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) configured with heat exchangers of multiple pressure levels, same as the real case. In addition, combustion chamber steam injection is added to the top cycle in order to reduce hazardous emissions. The research investigates energy, exergy, economic, and environmental aspects of the system to initiate sustainable development in said areas. A thorough parametric study is carried out to evaluate the effects of steam injection and other decision variable on emissions and system performance. Then, the total cost rate and the CO₂ index are minimized while maximizing the second law efficiency via a tri-objective optimization using the genetic algorithm. The outcome of the economic analysis is that the HRSG has the maximum total cost rate among all the components, namely 0.1673 $/s. The environmental impact  assessments indicate that the CO₂ and NO emission has considerable molar fractions of 0.035 and 6.88?×?10^?4, respectively. As a result of the tri-objective optimization, a 3D Pareto Frontier is presented, which pointed out the maximum attainable exergy efficiency is 50.32%, as well as the minimum total cost rates of 8.04 $/s and CO₂ index of 0.34 kg/kWh. Finally, the scatter distribution of major decision variables revealed the optimum range of decision variables in which the optimum points of the Pareto Frontier are obtained. Accordingly, the scatter distribution showed that 46 kg s^?1 is the optimum value for steam injection flow rate in terms of efficiency, cost and emission optimization.