Electrochemical behaviour of sputtered c-V2O5 and LiCoO2 thin films for solid state lithium microbatteries

Here are reported for the first time electrochemical data on all-solid-state lithium microbatteries using crystalline sputtered V₂O₅ thin films as cathode materials and LiPON as solid electrolyte. The stable specific capacity of 30 µAh/cm² found with a 2.4 µm thick film competes very well with the best values obtained for solid state microbatteries using amorphous films. With the challenge of decreasing the temperature of heat treatment for sputtered LiCoO₂ thin films, we show that a temperature of 500 °C combined with an optimized bias sputtering (-50 V) allows to get highly crystalline deposits, to minimize the presence of Co₃O₄ and to suppress any trace of the cubic phase. At the same time the theoretical specific capacity is reached in the 4.2 V-3 V range and a good cycling behaviour is achieved with a high capacity of 50 µAh/cm²/µm after 140 cycles at 10 µA.cm².     

A Cahn-Hilliard model in a domain with non-permeable walls

We consider in this article a Cahn-Hilliard model in a bounded domain with non-permeable walls, characterized by dynamic-type boundary conditions. Dynamic boundary conditions for the Cahn-Hilliard system have recently been proposed by physicists in order to account for the interactions with the walls in confined systems and are obtained by writing that the total bulk mass is conserved and that there is a relaxation dynamics on the boundary. However, in the case of non-permeable walls, one should also expect some mass on the boundary. It thus seems more realistic to assume that the total mass, in the bulk and on the boundary, is conserved, which leads to boundary conditions of a different type. For the resulting mathematical model, we prove the existence and uniqueness of weak solutions and study their asymptotic behavior as time goes to infinity.     

Methane non-oxidative aromatization on Mo/ZSM-5: Effect of adding triethoxyphenylsilanes into the synthesis system of ZSM-5

A series of ZSM-5 zeolites were synthesized by adding triethoxyphenylsilane (PTEOS) into the initial sol of the synthesis system. The samples were studied by XRD, SEM, N₂ adsorption-desorption and acid assessment of d₃-acetonitrile adsorption. Characterization results showed that the crystal size of the ZSM-5 zeolites could be adjusted in a certain range by introducing different contents of PTEOS. Besides, the resultant materials possess hierarchical porosity in addition to those micropores generated by the MFI channels. Moreover, supported Mo/ZSM-5 catalysts were prepared, and their catalytic performances were investigated in the methane non-oxidative aromatization. It was found that the Mo/ZSM-5 catalyst, bearing suitable crystal size and mesoporous characteristic showed relatively high shape-selectivity to benzene and high stability for the reaction of methane aromatization.     

Facile fabrication of Zn/Zn5(OH)8Cl2·H2O flower-like nanostructure on the surface of Zn coated with poly (N-methyl pyrrole)

Zn/Zn₅(OH)₈Cl₂·H₂O flower-like nanostructures was electrodeposited on the coated Zn with poly (N-methyl pyrrole) in 0.1 M Zn (NO₃)₂ and 0.1 M KCl solution. The morphology and the structure of the Zn/Zn₅(OH)₈Cl₂·H₂O were characterized by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The FT-IR results showed special peaks at 908 and 728 cm⁻¹ related to Zn₅(OH)₈Cl₂·H₂O. The FESEM results indicated that Zn/Zn₅(OH)₈Cl₂·H₂O consists of a flower-like nanostructure and these flower-shaped structures contain many shaped nanopetals with the thickness of 27.8 nm. The XRD result confirmed that the major phase of electrodeposited product in 0.1 M KCl as supporting electrolyte was Zn₅(OH)₈Cl₂·H₂O. The ability of PMPy to create a thin film and the existence of several pores in its matrix act as a mold for the growth of Zn/Zn₅(OH)₈Cl₂·H₂O flower-like nanostructure. The trapping of Cl⁻ and OH⁻ within pores can be considered as the reason for the formation of flowerlike Zn/Zn₅(OH)₈Cl₂·H₂O nanostructures in 0.1 M KCl.     

Exact and explicit solutions to the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a saturable nonlinearity

We analyze the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a saturable nonlinearity through the (G^′/G)-expansion method to present some improved results. Three types of analytic solutions with arbitrary parameters are constructed; hyperbolic, trigonometric, and rational which have not been explicitly computed before.     

A local-world heterogeneous model of wireless sensor networks with node and link diversity

In this paper, we present a novel local-world model of wireless sensor networks (WSN) with two kinds of nodes: sensor nodes and sink nodes, which is different from other models with identical nodes and links. The model balances energy consumption by limiting the connectivity of sink nodes to prolong the life of the network. How the proportion of sink nodes, different energy distribution and the local-world scale would affect the topological structure and network performance are investigated. We find that, using mean-field theory, the degree distribution is obtained as an integral with respect to the proportion of sink nodes and energy distribution. We also show that, the model exhibits a mixed connectivity correlation which is greatly distinct from general networks. Moreover, from the perspective of the efficiency and the average hops for data processing, we find some suitable range of the proportion p of sink nodes would make the network model have optimal performance for data processing.     

Detecting communities in clustered networks based on group action on set

In this paper, we propose a well targeted algorithm (GAS algorithm) for detecting communities in high clustered networks by presenting group action technology on community division. During the processing of this algorithm, the underlying community structure of a clustered network emerges simultaneously as the corresponding partition of orbits by the permutation groups acting on the node set are achieved. As the derivation of the orbit partition, an algebraic structure r-cycle can be considered as the origin of the community. To be a priori estimation for the community structure of the algorithm, the community separability is introduced to indicate whether a network has distinct community structure. By executing the algorithm on several typical networks and the LFR benchmark, it shows that this GAS algorithm can detect communities accurately and effectively in high clustered networks. Furthermore, we compare the GAS algorithm and the clique percolation algorithm on the LFR benchmark. It is shown that the GAS algorithm is more accurate at detecting non-overlapping communities in clustered networks. It is suggested that algebraic techniques can uncover fresh light on detecting communities in complex networks.