Two-Dimensional Germanium Sulfide Nanosheets as an Ultra-Stable and High Capacity Anode for Lithium Ion Batteries

Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) at present still suffer from low rate capability and poor cycle life during fast ion insertion/extraction processes. Searching for high-capacity and stable anode materials is still an ongoing challenge. Herein, a facile strategy for the synthesis of ultrathin GeS₂ nanosheets with the thickness of 1.1 nm is reported. When used as anodes for LIBs, the two-dimensional (2D) structure can effectively increase the electrode/electrolyte interface area, facilitate the ion transport, and buffer the volume expansion. Benefiting from these merits, the as-synthesized GeS₂ nanosheets deliver high specific capacity (1335 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.15 A g⁻¹), extraordinary rate performance (337 mAh g⁻¹ at 15 A g⁻¹) and stable cycling performance (974 mAh g⁻¹ after 200 cycles at 0.5 A g⁻¹). Importantly, our fabricated Li-ion full cells manifest an impressive specific capacity of 577 mAh g⁻¹ after 50 cycles at 0.1 A g⁻¹ and a high energy density of 361 Wh kg⁻¹ at a power density of 346 W kg⁻¹. Furthermore, the electrochemical reaction mechanism is investigated by the means of ex-situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. These results suggest that GeS₂ can use to be an alternative anode material and encourage more efforts to develop other high-performance LIBs anodes.     

Enzymatic Extraction of Bioactive and Self‐Assembling Wool Keratin for Biomedical Applications

Keratin is widely recognized as a high‐quality renewable protein resource for biomedical applications. Despite their extensive existence, keratin resources such as feathers, wool, and hair exhibit high stability and mechanical properties because of their high disulfide bond content. Consequently, keratin extraction is challenging and its application is greatly hindered. In this work, a biological extraction strategy is proposed for the preparation of bioactive keratin and the fabrication of self‐assembled keratin hydrogels (KHs). Based on moderate and controlled hydrolysis by keratinase, keratin with a high molecular weight of approximately 45 and 28 kDa that retain its intrinsic bioactivities is obtained. The keratin products show excellent ability to promote cell growth and migration and are conferred with significant antioxidant ability because of their intrinsically high cysteine content. In addition, without the presence of any cross‐linking agent, the extracted keratin can self‐assemble into injectable hydrogels. The KHs exhibit a porous network structure and 3D culture ability, showing potential in promoting wound healing. This enzyme‐driven keratin extraction strategy opens up a new approach for the preparation of keratin that can self‐assemble into injectable hydrogels for biomedical engineering.     

Low-temperature combustion synthesis of CuCr2O4 spinel powder for spectrally selective paints

CuCr₂O₄ spinel powder with high quality black hue, investigated as solar-absorbing pigment for spectrally selective paint, was synthesized by an environmental friendly sol–gel combustion process using citric acid as the fuel and metal nitrates as oxidizers. Single-phase CuCr₂O₄ spinel crystals were obtained after heat treatment of the as-burnt powder at a low temperature (600 °C) and the average crystallite size of the CuCr₂O₄ powders increased with the calcining temperature. Morphological analysis of powders calcined at various temperatures was done by field emission scanning electron microscopy. CuCr₂O₄ powder calcined at 700 °C was chosen as pigment to fabricate thickness sensitive spectrally selective paint coatings by simple spray-coating technique. For the sake of comparison, the as-burnt powder composed of mixed metal oxides (i.e., CuO and Cr₂O₃) was also used as pigment. The results reveal that the spinel CuCr₂O₄ based paint coatings exhibit much higher spectral selectivity (α _s = 0.88–0.91, ε ₁₀₀ = 0.27–0.35) which is depending on the coating thicknesses than that of coatings using as-burnt powder as pigment (α _s = 0.83–0.88, ε ₁₀₀ = 0.60–0.66). The CuCr₂O₄-based paint coatings showed no visible degradation after 600 h of condensation test and the performance criterion value is 0.04, indicating that the coatings have excellent long term stability.     

Three-dimensional CFD modeling of transport phenomena in anode-supported planar SOFCs

In this study, a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model has been developed for an anode-supported planar SOFC. The conservation equations of mass, momentum, species/charges and thermal energy are solved by finite volume method for a complete unit cell consisting of 13 parallel channels in both anode and cathode. The simulation results of the developed model are well in agreement with the experimental data obtained at same conditions. In this study, the co-flow arrangement with hydrogen utilization of 60 % and operating voltage of 0.7 V is used as the base case, and compared with the counter-flow arrangement. The predicted results reveals that the maximum temperature obtained in the counter-flow arrangement is about 10 °C lower than that of co-flow, but the counter-flow arrangement has a higher temperature gradient between the respective anodes and cathodes in a cross-section normal to the main flow direction, especially in the air inlet region of the cell (x = 0.04 m),which is very harmful to the lifetime of materials. The current density is very unevenly distributed along and normal to the flow direction for both the co- and counter-flow arrangements, and the maximum values occur at junctions of the electrodes, channels and ribs, which causes higher over-potentials and ohmic heating.     

不同磁路下微型ECR中和器电子引出的模拟研究

电子回旋共振(ECR)中和器是微型ECR离子推力器的重要组成部分,其引出的电子用于中和ECR离子源的离子束流,避免了航天器表面电荷堆积,并且电子引出性能对推力器的整体性能起着重要作用.为了分析影响微型ECR中和器电子引出的因素,本文建立了二维轴对称PIC/MCC计算模型,通过数值模拟研究不同磁路结构对中和器的电子引出,及不同腔体长度对壁面电流损失的影响.计算结果表明, ECR区位置和引出孔附近磁场构型对中和器的电子引出性能至关重要.当ECR区位于天线上游,电子在迁移扩散中易损失,并且电子跨过引出孔前电势阱所需的能量更高.如果更多磁力线平行通过引出孔,中和器引出相同电子电流所需电压较小.当ECR区被天线切割或位于下游时,电子更易沿磁力线迁移到引出孔附近,从而降低了收集板电压.研究了同一磁路结构下不同腔体长度对电子引出的影响,发现增加腔体长度,使得更多平行轴线的磁力线通过引出孔从而避免电子损失在引出板表面,增加了引出电子电流.研究结果有助于设计合理的中和器磁路和腔体尺寸.     

Magnetic properties and large cryogenic low-field magnetocaloric effect of HoCo<Subscript>2</Subscript> nanoparticles without core/shell structure

The HoCo₂ nanoparticles are found to be stable in air without any shell protection. The HoCo₂ nanoparticles display superparamagnetic properties between their blocking temperature of 40 K and Curie temperature of 78 K. The magnetic-entropy change increases with decreasing temperature at a certain magnetic-field change, which is ascribed to the competition between the Zeeman energy and thermal-agitation energy at low temperatures. A large magnetic-entropy change of 19.4 J kg⁻¹ K⁻¹ was found at 7.5 K in an applied-field change from 1 to 7 T, while 6.1 J kg⁻¹ K⁻¹ was achieved in a low field change of 1 T. HoCo₂ nanoparticles are useful for application of magnetic refrigeration at low temperatures.     

平板折叠桌的设计模型

根据折叠桌的运动特征,选取折叠桌的四分之一为研究对象,建立任意角度下桌脚点的运动变化模型。考虑到产品稳固性、加工便利性和节约用材三方面对加工参数的影响,对折叠桌进行受力分析,得到多目标组合优化模型,用以确定出折叠桌的最优设计参数。针对用户提出的桌面形状要求,建立桌脚曲线的参数方程。作为模型推广,以椭圆状折叠桌为例,运用Matlab画出了桌脚边缘线在折叠过程中的动态变化示意图。同时,又深入研究Robert van Embricqs的滑动折叠桌,建立了新的桌脚曲线参数方程。最后,运用Matlab对多种形状折叠桌进行仿真,编写多目标优化算法,得出了最优加工参数,并进行了算法描述。