Microstructure of Milled Mesophase Pitch-Based Carbon Fibers as an Anode Material for Li-ion Batteries

Abstract

The microstructure of milled mesophase pitch-based carbon fibers (mMPCFs) that have been developed as an anode material for Li ion batteries have been studied as a function of heat treatment temperature (HTT), by SEM, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. And the results obtained are compared with those by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and SEM observations, for the characterization of specific structural features of mMPCFs as a promising anode material.     

Enumerative meaning of mirror maps for toric Calabi–Yau manifolds

We prove that the inverse of a mirror map for a toric Calabi–Yau manifold of the form _KY$K_Y$, where Y$Y$ is a compact toric Fano manifold, can be expressed in terms of generating functions of genus 0 open Gromov–Witten invariants defined by Fukaya–Oh–Ohta–Ono (2010)  [15]. Such a relation between mirror maps and disk counting invariants was first conjectured by Gross and Siebert (2011)  [24, Conjecture 0.2 and Remark 5.1] as part of their program, and was later formulated in terms of Fukaya–Oh–Ohta–Ono’s invariants in the toric Calabi–Yau case in Chan et al. (2012)  [8, Conjecture 1.1].     

Effects of buoyancy on turbulent premixed V-flames by large-eddy simulation

Buoyancy effects on turbulent premixed V-flames are investigated under normal gravity (+g) and reversed gravity (–g). Numerical simulations employ large eddy simulation (LES) with a dynamic model for sub-grid scale stress. With the assumption of fast chemistry combustion, a progress variable c-equation is applied to describe the flame front propagation. The equations are solved using a projection-based fractional step method in two dimensions for low-Mach number flows. Computed LES results of buoyancy effects on flame angle and flame brush thickness are consistent with those obtained from experiments. In both +g and –g conditions, the effects of buoyancy become important with increase in Richardson number (Ri). Buoyancy force tends to close up the flame under +g, but has the opposite effect under –g. Buoyancy force also suppresses flame wrinkling in +g and enhances wrinkling in –g. While there is a lack of experimental data available, computed axial velocity is shown to be significantly affected by buoyancy downstream from the flame holder under moderate Reynolds number.     

Frequency enhancement in coupled noisy excitable elements: effects of network topology

Coupled excitable elements in the presence of noise can exhibit oscillatory behavior with non-trivial frequency dependence as the coupling strength of the system increases. The phenomenon of frequency enhancement (FE) occurs in some coupling regime, in which the elements can oscillate with a frequency higher than their uncoupled frequencies. In this paper, details of the FE are investigated by simulations of the FitzHugh-Nagumo model with different network topologies. It is found that the characteristics of FE, such as the maximal enhancement coupling, enhancement level etc, are functions of the network topology and spatial dimensions. The effect of excitability and the spatio-temporal patterns during FE are investigated to provide an intuitive picture for the enhancement mechanism. Interestingly, some of these characteristics of FE can be described by scaling laws; suggesting the existence of universality in the FE phenomenon. The relevance of these results to biological rhythms are also discussed.     

Evolutionary snowdrift game incorporating costly punishment in structured populations

The role of punishment and the effects of a structured population in promoting cooperation are important issues. Within a recent model of snowdrift game (SG) incorporating a costly punishing strategy (P), we study the effects of a population connected through a square lattice. The punishers, who carry basically a cooperative (C) character, are willing to pay a cost α$\alpha$ so as to punish a non-cooperative (D) opponent by β$\beta$. Depending on α$\alpha$, β$\beta$, the cost-to-benefit ratio r$r$ in SG, and the initial conditions, the system evolves into different phases that could be homogeneous or inhomogeneous. The spatial structure imposes geometrical constraint on how one agent is affected by neighboring agents. Results of extensive numerical simulations, both for the steady state and the dynamics, are presented. Possible phases are identified and discussed, and isolated phases in the r–β$r\text{–}\beta$ space are identified as special local structures of strategies that are stable due to the lattice structure. In contrast to a well-mixed population where punishers are suppressed due to the cost of punishment, the altruistic punishing strategy can flourish and prevail for appropriate values of the parameters, implying an enhancement in cooperation by imposing punishments in a structured population. The system could evolve to a phase corresponding to the coexistence of C, D, and P strategies at some particular payoff parameters, and such a phase is absent in a well-mixed population. The pair approximation, a commonly used analytic approach, is extended from a two-strategy system to a three-strategy system. We show that the pair approximation can, at best, capture the numerical results only qualitatively. Due to the improper way of including spatial correlation imposed by the lattice structure, the approximation does not give the frequencies of C, D, and P accurately and fails to give the homogeneous AllD and AllP phases.     

Practical Considerations for Continuum Models Applied to Surface Electrochemistry

Modelling the electrolyte at the electrochemical interface remains a major challenge in ab initio simulations of charge transfer processes at surfaces. Recently, the development of hybrid polarizable continuum models/ab initio models have allowed for the treatment of solvation and electrolyte charge in a computationally efficient way. However, challenges remain in its application. Recent literature has reported that large cell heights are required to reach convergence, which presents a serious computational cost. Furthermore, calculations of reaction energetics require costly iterations to tune the surface charge to the desired potential. In this work, we present a simple capacitor model of the interface that illuminates how to circumvent both of these challenges. We derive a correction to the energy for finite cell heights to obtain the large cell energies at no additional computational expense. We furthermore demonstrate that the reaction energetics determined at constant charge are easily mapped to those at constant potential, which eliminates the need to apply iterative schemes to tune the system to a constant potential. These developments together represent more than an order of magnitude reduction of the computational overhead required for the application of polarizable continuum models to surface electrochemistry.     

Independent measurement of the total active 8B solar neutrino flux using an array of 3He proportional counters at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) used an array of 3He proportional counters to measure the rate of neutral-current interactions in heavy water and precisely determined the total active (nu_x) 8B solar neutrino flux. This technique is independent of previous methods employed by SNO. The total flux is found to be 5.54_-0.31;+0.33(stat)-0.34+0.36(syst)x10(6) cm(-2) s(-1), in agreement with previous measurements and standard solar models. A global analysis of solar and reactor neutrino results yields Deltam2=7.59_-0.21;+0.19x10(-5) eV2 and theta=34.4_-1.2;+1.3 degrees. The uncertainty on the mixing angle has been reduced from SNO's previous results.     

Hydrodynamic boundary conditions and dynamic forces between bubbles and surfaces

Dynamic forces between a 50 microm radius bubble driven towards and from a mica plate using an atomic force microscope in electrolyte and in surfactant exhibit different hydrodynamic boundary conditions at the bubble surface. In added surfactant, the forces are consistent with the no-slip boundary condition at the mica and bubble surfaces. With no surfactant, a new boundary condition that accounts for the transport of trace surface impurities explains variations of dynamic forces at different speeds and provides a direct connection between dynamic forces and surface transport effects at the air-water interface.     

Experimental and statistical analysis methods for peptide detection using surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has the potential to make a significant impact in biology research due to its ability to provide information orthogonal to that obtained by traditional techniques such as mass spectrometry (MS). While SERS has been well studied for its use in chemical applications, detailed investigations with biological molecules are less common. In addition, a clear understanding of how methodology and molecular characteristics impact the intensity, the number of peaks, and the signal‐to‐noise of SERS spectra is largely missing. By varying the concentration and order of addition of the SERS‐enhancer salt (LiCl) with colloidal silver, we were able to evaluate the impact of these variables on peptide spectra using a quantitative measure of spectra quality based on the number of peaks and peak intensity. The LiCl concentration and order of addition that produced the best SERS spectra were applied to a panel of synthetic peptides with a range of charges and isoelectric points (pIs) where the pI was directly correlated with higher spectral quality. Those peptides with moderate to high pIs and spectra quality scores were differentiated from each other using the improved method and a hierarchical clustering algorithm. In addition, the same method and algorithm was applied to a set of highly similar phosphorylated peptides, and it was possible to successfully classify the majority of peptides on the basis of species‐specific peak differences. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.