Heat transfer coefficient distribution in inner surface of stator ventilation duct for large capacity air-cooled turbine generator

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The stator ventilation duct is the main path for fluid flowing to cool the stator bar and the core. Considering the complexity of the ventilation...     

Upgrading Solid Digestate from Anaerobic Digestion of Agricultural Waste as Performance Enhancer for Starch-Based Mulching Biofilm

Developing a green and sustainable method to upgrade biogas wastes into high value-added products is attracting more and more public attention. The application of solid residues as a performance enhancer in the manufacture of biofilms is a prospective way to replace conventional plastic based on fossil fuel. In this work, solid digestates from the anaerobic digestion of agricultural wastes, such as straw, cattle and chicken manures, were pretreated by an ultrasonic thermo-alkaline treatment to remove the nonfunctional compositions and then incorporated in plasticized starch paste to prepare mulching biofilms by the solution casting method. The results indicated that solid digestate particles dispersed homogenously in the starch matrix and gradually aggregated under the action of a hydrogen bond, leading to a transformation of the composites to a high crystalline structure. Consequently, the composite biofilm showed a higher tensile strength, elastic modulus, glass transition temperature and degradation temperature compared to the pure starch-based film. The light, water and GHG (greenhouse gas) barrier properties of the biofilm were also reinforced by the addition of solid digestates, performing well in sustaining the soil quality and minimizing N₂O or CH₄ emissions. As such, recycling solid digestates into a biodegradable plastic substitute not only creates a new business opportunity by producing high-performance biofilms but also reduces the environmental risk caused by biogas waste and plastics pollution.     

Neuroprotection of N-benzyl Eicosapentaenamide in Neonatal Mice Following Hypoxic–Ischemic Brain Injury

Maca (Lepidium meyenii) has emerged as a popular functional plant food because of its medicinal properties and nutritional value. Macamides, as the exclusively active ingredients found in maca, are a unique series of non-polar, long-chain fatty acid N-benzylamides with multiple bioactivities such as antifatigue characteristics and improving reproductive health. In this study, a new kind of macamide, N-benzyl eicosapentaenamide (NB-EPA), was identified from maca. We further explore its potential neuroprotective role in hypoxic–ischemic brain injury. Our findings indicated that treatment with biosynthesized NB-EPA significantly alleviates the size of cerebral infarction and improves neurobehavioral disorders after hypoxic–ischemic brain damage in neonatal mice. NB-EPA inhibited the apoptosis of neuronal cells after ischemic challenge. NB-EPA improved neuronal cell survival and proliferation through the activation of phosphorylated AKT signaling. Of note, the protective property of NB-EPA against ischemic neuronal damage was dependent on suppression of the p53–PUMA pathway. Taken together, these findings suggest that NB-EPA may represent a new neuroprotectant for newborns with hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy.     

Effect of Aluminum Alloy Surface Modification on Adhesion of the Modified Polyurethane Coating and Its Corrosion Protective Performance北大核心CSCD

The ordinary organic coatings on aluminum alloy usually encounter a problem of low adhesion to the substrate, which results in destruction and failure of the long-term protective performance of the anticorrosion systems. The surface modification of aluminum alloy is able to enhance the adhesion of organic coating on aluminum alloys, and to improve their protective performance. In this work, a combined surface modification of anodic oxidation and mussel adhesion protein/CeO2/3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane composite film (MCA) was developed on the aluminum alloy. The adhesion of modified polyurethane coated on the treated aluminum alloy and its corrosion protective performance were evaluated comprehensively by using contact angle, adhesion strength, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and scanning reference electrode technique (SRET). The measurements of EIS and SRET demonstrated that the MCA composite film on anodic oxidized Al possessed self-healing function and provided effective protection against early corrosion of aluminum alloy. The pull-off test showed that both anodic oxidation treatment and MCA composite film modification were able to increase the adhesion of modified polyurethane coating on aluminum alloy, and their combined action were supposed to remarkably enhance the adhesion strength up to 17.1 MPa. The reason for the improvement of adhesion was that the anodic oxidation treatment and MCA composite film modification could improve the surface roughness of aluminum alloy, and enhance the surface wettability and surface polarity, which is beneficent to enhance the bonding of the modified polyurethane coating to aluminum alloy surface. The EIS results showed that no any corrosion occurred for the modified polyurethane coating on the treated aluminum alloy during 65 d immersion in 3.5wt.% NaCl solution. The impedance value in low frequency range of the modified polyurethane coating always maintained at a high order of magnitude on the aluminum alloy treated by anodic oxidation and MCA composite film modification, showing an excellent protective performance of the coating system. The evaluation of Neutral Salt Spray (NSS) indicated that the modified polyurethane coating on the treated aluminum alloy owned superior corrosion protection performance, and the adhesion strength remained 13.1 MPa and no any corrosion was found at the scratch locations even after 1200 h of salt spray testing. It was concluded that combination of anodic oxidation and MCA composite film were capable of significantly improving the adhesion of modified polyurethane coating on aluminum alloy and providing long-term effective corrosion protection for aluminum alloy. © 2021 Authors. All rights reserved.     

Built-in piezoelectric field improved photocatalytic performance of nanoflower-like Bi2WO6 using low-power white LEDs

Photocatalysis technology has been proved to be a potential strategy for removal of organic dyes, however high-power light sources are generally necessary to initiate photocatalytic reaction. In this work, we employed an excellent photocatalyst of Bi₂WO₆ with visible light harvest and meanwhile an intrinsic ferroelectricity, which realized the efficient degradation of organic dye via the synergetic photopiezocatalysis. Through coupling the illumination by a low-power (9 W) LED and the ultrasonic vibration (120 W) by an ultrasonic cleaner, the nanoflower-like Bi₂WO₆ composed of ultrathin nanosheets showed a much more enhanced photopiezocatalysis performance for purification of organic dye than the individual photocatalysis and piezocatalysis. Furthermore, the high mineralization efficiency and the good durability of the Bi₂WO₆ catalyst were demonstrated. The possible mechanism of photopiezocatalysis was finally proposed, where the ultrasound-induced piezoelectric field in Bi₂WO₆ drove photo-generated electrons and holes to diffuse along opposite directions, consequently promoting the separation efficiency of charge carriers. This work indicates that the synergetic photopiezocatalysis by coupling irradiation and ultrasonic vibration is a promising strategy to purify organic pollutants in wastewater.     

Urea Detection of Electrochemical Transistor Sensors based on Polyanline (PANI)/MWCNT/Cotton Yarns

A cotton yarn biosensor based on electrochemical transistor functionalized with MWCNT and PANI was developed for the detection of urea. The transistors based on PANI/MWCNT/cotton yarns under optimized MWCNT concentration has been obtained, which exhibited high on/off current ratio, fast response time, and good operational stability. A transistor-based urea sensor was prepared from PANI/MWCNT/cotton yarns, which could monitor urea in the 1 nM–1 mM linear range with the correlation coefficient of 0.9716. Furthermore, the sensor showed superior reproducibility and high specificity. The practical applications of the proposed sensor were also confirmed. These results indicate the flexible transistor can be used as an efficient platform for biological detection in body fluids.     

Excited‐state hydrogen bond strengthening of coumarin 153 in ethanol solvent: a TDDFT study

So far, coumarin dyes have been extensively studied with various means to understand their photophysical behaviors and photochemical properties. Here, our performing time‐dependent density functional theory calculation is aimed at exploring the excited‐state hydrogen bonding dynamics of coumarin 153 (C153) in protic ethanol (EtOH) solvent. The calculated results suggest that the excited‐state hydrogen bond C?O?H?O between C?O group and O?H group in the C153‐EtOH complex is strengthened, and the S₀ → S₁ transition of the complex corresponds to the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) hopping to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO). The excited‐state hydrogen bond strengthening has been further confirmed by its larger binding energy in the S₁ state than in the S₀ state. In addition, because of the formation of the hydrogen bond C?O?H?O, a red shift of about 7 nm occurs in the electronic spectra of the C153‐EtOH complex, which is in good accordance with the experiment result. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stages of melting of graphene model in two-dimensional space

Spontaneous melting of a perfect crystalline graphene model in 2D space is studied via molecular dynamics simulation. Model containing 10⁴ atoms interacted via long-range bond-order potential (LCBOP) is heated up from 50 to 8,450 K in order to see evolution of various thermodynamic quantities, structural characteristics and occurrence of various structural defects. We find that spontaneous melting of our graphene model in 2D space exhibits a first-order behaviour of the transition from solid 2D graphene sheet into a ring-like structure 2D liquid. Occurrence and clustering of Stone–Wales defects are the first step of melting process followed by breaking of C–C bonds, occurrence/growth of various types of vacancies and multi-membered rings. Unlike that found for melting of a 2D crystal with an isotropic bonding, these defects do not occur homogeneously throughout the system, they have a tendency to aggregate into a region and liquid phase initiates/grows from this region via tearing-like or crack-propagation-like mechanism. Spontaneous melting point of our graphene model occurs at T_m = 7,750 K. The validity of classical nucleation theory and Berezinsky–Kosterlitz–Thouless–Nelson–Halperin–Young (BKTNHY) one for the spontaneous melting of our graphene model in strictly 2D space is discussed.     

光谱偏振调制器的高精度装调方法

为了提高光谱偏振调制器的探测精度,提出了光谱偏振调制器的高精度装调方法。首先,分析了光谱偏振调制器的调制原理,提出了采用三片多级相位延迟器加线偏振器的装调方案;然后,建立了调制器装调的数理模型,设计了校准多级相位延迟器的厚度;最后,对成像过程进行了计算机仿真实验验证,并模拟了成像系统的装调过程。结果表明:利用该方法能够灵敏检测偏振器件间的微小相对旋转角度误差,可实现调制器的高精度装调,在输入本文设定的校准光谱条件下,绝对精度可达0.2°。该方法保留了传统光谱调制器充分利用通道带宽的优势,保证了复原光谱的分辨率,为强度调制型光谱偏振成像系统的精密装调提供了一定的理论参考。