Optimisation of the ultrasound-assisted extraction of betalains and polyphenols from Amaranthus hypochondriacus var. Nutrisol

The present study optimised the ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) of bioactive compounds from Amaranthus hypochondriacus var. Nutrisol. Influence of temperature (25.86–54.14 °C) and ultrasonic power densities (UPD) (76.01–273.99 mW/mL) on total betalains (BT), betacyanins (BC), betaxanthins (BX), total polyphenols (TP), antioxidant activity (AA), colour parameters (L*, a*, and b*), amaranthine (A), and isoamaranthine (IA) were evaluated using response surface methodology. Moreover, betalain extraction kinetics and mass transfer coefficients (K_La) were determined for each experimental condition. BT, BC, BX, TP, AA, b*, K_La, and A were significantly affected (p < 0.05) by temperature extraction and UPD, whereas L*, a*, and IA were only affected (p < 0.05) by temperature. All response models were significantly validated with regression coefficients (R²) ranging from 87.46 to 99.29%. BT, A, IA, and K_La in UAE were 1.38, 1.65, 1.50, and 29.93 times higher than determined using conventional extraction, respectively. Optimal UAE conditions were obtained at 41.80 °C and 188.84 mW/mL using the desired function methodology. Under these conditions, the experimental values for BC, BX, BT, TP, AA, L*, a*, b*, K_La, A, and IA were closely related to the predicted values, indicating the suitability of the developed quadratic models. This study proposes a simple and efficient UAE method to obtain betalains and polyphenols with high antioxidant activity, which can be used in several applications within the food industry.     

The effect of HCP on the formation of twin boundaries and dislocations in Ni–Co alloys

In this study, molecular dynamics (MD) was used to simulate the rapid solidification process of Ni₄₇Co₅₃ and Ni₄₈Co₅₂ alloys at a cooling rate of 10¹² K/s. The effects of HCP on the formation of twin boundaries and dislocations in two Ni–Co alloys are studied. It is found that the difference of HCP clusters is the main effect that producing discrepancies on microstructure of two alloys. The number of HCP clusters accounted for 9.23% in Ni₄₇Co₅₃ alloy. They are regularly arranged to form the number of single-layer twin boundaries, and each twin boundary ends in a dislocation. The FCC and HCP structures coexist in the same atomic layers, which is easy to create dislocations. The relatively standard FCC crystal and only 0.32% HCP clusters are formed in Ni₄₈Co₅₂ alloy at 300 K. That small amount of HCP clusters are dispersed on the surface, and cause the formation of dislocation in the border with FCC clusters.     

Emitting layer analysis of blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence devices using capacitance–voltage method

In this paper, blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been elucidated, with a focus on the degradation characteristics of the emission layer (EML). The operational stability against electrical stress was investigated for two host materials and four doping concentrations, which were used as the EML. The operating stability of the devices was confirmed by comparing the peak capacitance before and after degradation. Devices using bis [2-(diphenyl-phosphino) phenyl] ether oxide (DPEPO) as a host exhibited poor degradation characteristics. However, high stability was confirmed when 3,3-di (9H-carba-zol-9-yl)-biphenyl (mCBP) was used. DPEPO host devices are most resistant against performance degradation when they are doped with 10 wt% 10,10'-(4,4′-sulfonylbis(4,1-phenylene))bis(9,9-dimethyl-9,10-dihydroacridine (DMAC-DPS). We successfully determined the electroluminescence characteristics of the device depending on the host material, as well as the doping concentration, using the capacitance–voltage method.     

Effect of quantization and positron concentration on shielding potentials in electron-positron-ion plasma

The kinetic theory of plasma has been employed to compute the test-charge potential distributions accounting for quantization effects in magnetized electron-positron-ion (EPI) plasmas. In this regard, the degenerate positrons and electrons are assumed to follow the Fermi-Dirac distribution, while inertial ions are modelled by Maxwellian velocity distribution. By solving the Fourier-transformed Vlasov–Poisson equations, a modified dielectric function and electrostatic potential is obtained. By imposing various constraints on the test-charge speed, the potential profile has been analysed in terms of Debye–Hückel (DH), far-field (FF), and wake-field (WF) potentials. It has been found that the amplitude of DH and FF potentials increases by the inclusion of quantization effects, and it becomes the opposite for the WF potential profile. Furthermore, the variation of positron concentration significantly affects the DH, FF, and WF potentials. The present findings are important to understand the shielding phenomenon in degenerate multi-species plasmas.     

Impact of Extracellular Polymeric Substance in the Inactivation of Harmful Algae by Ag2O/g-C3N4 under Visible Light

Photocatalysis has attracted much attention as an emerging algae removal technology, but the inactivation performance is inevitably affected by the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) produced by algae. In this study, a photocatalyst (Ag₂O/g-C₃N₄) with efficient algae inactivation is adopted to investigate the interactions with EPS, and the impact of EPS on photocatalytic algae removal is studied. The results show that EPS can adhere to the surface of Ag₂O/g-C₃N₄ by electrostatic force. The interaction with EPS decreases the surface zeta potential of the Ag₂O/g-C₃N₄ from 7.71 to −22.3 mV with the increase in EPS concentration, and the maximum ratio of particle size increases from 825 to 1281 nm. In addition, the interaction with EPS inhibits the release of Ag⁺ in Ag₂O/g-C₃N₄ by half, thus, the toxicity of metal ions will be alleviated. Meanwhile, EPS can also be degraded by Ag₂O/g-C₃N₄, indicating that EPS can work as a radical scavenger to protect the algae cells. Without the protection of EPS, 97.8% of algae cells are inactivated after 5 h photocatalysis. Therefore, more attention should be given to the interaction between EPS and photocatalyst to promote the design and application of the photocatalytic.     

Thermally Evaporated Ag–Au Bimetallic Catalysts for Efficient Electrochemical CO2 Reduction

CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) has indispensable significance for carbon recycling and renewable energy production. As typical electrochemical catalysts, Au and Ag show relatively high reaction activity and selectivity in CO₂RR. In this study, a series of Ag–Au bimetallic catalysts are designed and synthesized through the thermal evaporation method for efficient yet massive production of electrochemical catalysts. The Ag–Au catalysts show significantly enhanced activity and selectivity in CO₂RR, which is mainly attributed to the increased grain boundaries with well-dispersed single Ag atoms. After the optimization, Au20Ag10 exhibits the best performance with a CO Faraday efficiency of 89% at −0.9 V (vs the reversible hydrogen electrode) with good stability.     

Modeling and Performance Optimization of an Irreversible Two-Stage Combined Thermal Brownian Heat Engine

Based on finite time thermodynamics, an irreversible combined thermal Brownian heat engine model is established in this paper. The model consists of two thermal Brownian heat engines which are operating in tandem with thermal contact with three heat reservoirs. The rates of heat transfer are finite between the heat engine and the reservoir. Considering the heat leakage and the losses caused by kinetic energy change of particles, the formulas of steady current, power output and efficiency are derived. The power output and efficiency of combined heat engine are smaller than that of single heat engine operating between reservoirs with same temperatures. When the potential filed is free from external load, the effects of asymmetry of the potential, barrier height and heat leakage on the performance of the combined heat engine are analyzed. When the potential field is free from external load, the effects of basic design parameters on the performance of the combined heat engine are analyzed. The optimal power and efficiency are obtained by optimizing the barrier heights of two heat engines. The optimal working regions are obtained. There is optimal temperature ratio which maximize the overall power output or efficiency. When the potential filed is subjected to external load, effect of external load is analyzed. The steady current decreases versus external load; the power output and efficiency are monotonically increasing versus external load.     

Specific heat ratio effects of compressible Rayleigh–Taylor instability studied by discrete Boltzmann method

Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) instability widely exists in nature and engineering fields. How to better understand the physical mechanism of RT instability is of great theoretical significance and practical value. At present, abundant results of RT instability have been obtained by traditional macroscopic methods. However, research on the thermodynamic non-equilibrium (TNE) effects in the process of system evolution is relatively scarce. In this paper, the discrete Boltzmann method based on non-equilibrium statistical physics is utilized to study the effects of the specific heat ratio on compressible RT instability. The evolution process of the compressible RT system with different specific heat ratios can be analyzed by the temperature gradient and the proportion of the non-equilibrium region. Firstly, as a result of the competition between the macroscopic magnitude gradient and the non-equilibrium region, the average TNE intensity first increases and then reduces, and it increases with the specific heat ratio decreasing; the specific heat ratio has the same effect on the global strength of the viscous stress tensor. Secondly, the moment when the total temperature gradient in y direction deviates from the fixed value can be regarded as a physical criterion for judging the formation of the vortex structure. Thirdly, under the competition between the temperature gradients and the contact area of the two fluids, the average intensity of the non-equilibrium quantity related to the heat flux shows diversity, and the influence of the specific heat ratio is also quite remarkable.     

The Intensity of Heat Exchange between Rock and Flowing Gas in Terms of Gas-Geodynamic Phenomena

Gas-induced geodynamic phenomena can occur during underground mining operations if the porous structure of the rock is filled with gas at high pressure. In such cases, the original compact rock structure disintegrates into grains of small dimensions, which are then transported along the mine working space. Such geodynamic events, particularly outbursts of gas and rock, pose a danger both to the life of miners and to the functioning of the mine infrastructure. These incidents are rare in copper ore mining, but they have recently begun to occur, and have not yet been fully investigated. To ensure the safety of mining operations, it is necessary to determine parameters of the rock–gas system for which the energy of the gas will be smaller than the work required to disintegrate and transport the rock. Such a comparison is referred to as an energy balance and serves as a starting point for all engineering analyses. During mining operations, the equilibrium of the rock–gas system is disturbed, and the rapid destruction of the rock is initiated together with sudden decompression of the gas contained in its porous structure. The disintegrated rock is then transported along the mine working space in a stream of released gas. Estimation of the energy of the gas requires investigation of the type of thermodynamic transformation involved in the process. In this case, adiabatic transformation would mean that the gas, cooled in the course of decompression, remains at a temperature significantly lower than that of the surrounding rocks throughout the process. However, if we assume that the transformation is isothermal, then the cooled gas will heat up to the original temperature of the rock in a very short time (<1 s). Because the quantity of energy in the case of isothermal transformation is almost three times as high as in the adiabatic case, obtaining the correct energy balance for gas-induced geodynamic phenomena requires detailed analysis of this question. For this purpose, a unique experimental study was carried out to determine the time required for heat exchange in conditions of very rapid flows of gas around rock grains of different sizes. Numerical simulations reproducing the experiments were also designed. The results of the experiment and the simulation were in good agreement, indicating a very fast rate of heat exchange. Taking account of the parameters of the experiment, the thermodynamic transformation may be considered to be close to isothermal.     

A Coupling Framework for Multi-Domain Modelling and Multi-Physics Simulations

This paper describes a coupling framework for parallel execution of different solvers for multi-physics and multi-domain simulations with an arbitrary number of adjacent zones connected by different physical or overlapping interfaces. The coupling architecture is based on the execution of several instances of the same coupling code and relies on the use of smart edges (i.e., separate processes) dedicated to managing the exchange of information between two adjacent regions. The collection of solvers and coupling sessions forms a flexible and modular system, where the data exchange is handled by independent servers that are dedicated to a single interface connecting two solvers’ sessions. Accuracy and performance of the strategy is considered for turbomachinery applications involving Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) analysis and Sliding Plane (SP) interfaces.