Performance analysis and temperature gradient of solid oxide fuel cell stacks operated with bio-oil sorption-enhanced steam reforming

A high temperature gradient within a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack is considered a major challenge in SOFC operations. This study investigates the effects of the key parameters on SOFC system efficiency and temperature gradient within a SOFC stack. A 40-cell SOFC stack integrated with a bio-oil sorption-enhanced steam reformer is simulated using MATLAB and DETCHEM. When the air-to-fuel ratio and steam-to-fuel ratio increase, the stack average temperature and temperature gradient decrease. However, a decrease in the stack temperature steadily reduces the system efficiency owing to the tradeoff between the stack performance and thermal balance between heat recovered and consumed by the system. With an increase in the bio-oil flow rate, the system efficiency decreases because of the lower resident time for the electrochemical reaction. This is not, however, beneficial to the maximum temperature gradient. To minimize the temperature gradient of the SOFC stack, a decrease in the bio-oil flow rate is the most effective way. The maximum temperature gradient can be reduced to 14.6 K cm⁻¹ with the stack and system efficiency of 76.58 and 65.18%, respectively, when the SOFC system is operated at an air-to-fuel ratio of 8, steam-to-fuel ratio of 6, and bio-oil flow rate of 0.0041 mol s⁻¹.     

3D thermo-electro-chemo-mechanical coupled modeling of solid oxide fuel cell with double-sided cathodes

A solid oxide fuel cell based on double-sided cathodes is developed in our group, showing special properties and many advantages under some harsh conditions. To optimize the cell further, a thermo-electro-chemo-mechanical coupled 3D model is developed to simulate the distributions of temperature, current density, fuel gas and thermal stress under different voltages. The numerical results indicate that the temperature distribution, current, fuel gases and thermal stress is non-uniform in the cell at different voltages. The distribution of thermal stress in the electrolyte is also non-uniform because of the un-even electrochemical reaction and convective heat transfer. Furthermore, the result shows that about 47%~54% of maximum 1st principal stress in SOFC is caused by the mismatch of coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) among materials, while the other part of the maximum 1st principal stress is mainly caused by temperature gradient.     

Environmentally friendly CsPbBr3 QDs multicomponent glass with super-stability for optoelectronic devices and up-converted lasing

Ultra-stable CsPbBr₃ perovskite quantum dots (QDs) multicomponent glass with high transmittance was prepared by melt-quenching heat treatment. The average diameter of the CsPbBr₃ QDs was ∼1.96 nm. The resulting glass displayed a high exciton binding energy of 362 ± 18 meV. Notably, these glass-encapsulated materials exhibited excellent resistance to heat, light, and water, superior to that of previously reported perovskite-based materials, and underwent an extremely low rate of Pb leaching during water immersion. Based on the glass, a high-performance white light-emitting diode (WLED) device was fabricated with Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.3156, 0.3326) and color gamut of ∼113 % National Television Standards Committee (NTSC). The CsPbBr₃ QDs glass without rare earth elements further acted as an optical gain medium, realizing up-conversion lasing with 980-nm laser excitation for the first time. The reversible linear fluorescence response indicates that the glass could be a potential candidate for temperature sensors.     

Ti-48Al-2Nb-2Cr合金热变形行为及本构关系研究

采用Gleeble-1500热力模拟机对铸态Ti-48Al-2Nb-2Cr合金进行高温变形热压缩试验,变形温度范围为1050~1200℃,应变速率范围为0.001~0.1s^-1,压缩变形量为60%。研究该合金高温变形温度和应变速率与流变应力之间的关系,计算了合金激活能,并建立了Ti-48Al-2Nb-2Cr合金的Arrhenius本构模型和多元线性回归的本构模型。结果表明,该合金的激活能随温度升高和应变速率增大而增大;Arrhenius本构模型的相关系数为0.98228,平均相对误差为9.97%,相对误差在10%以内的点只占62.0%;而采用多元线性回归本构模型的相关系数为0.99566,平均相对误差为4.76%,相对误差在10%以内的点占92.6%,本构精度较高。     

Thermal effects in H2O and CO2 assisted direct carbon solid oxide fuel cells

Thermal effects in a H₂O and CO₂ assisted tubular direct carbon solid oxide fuel cell (DC-SOFC) are numerically investigated. Parametric simulations are further conducted to study the effects of operating potential, the distance between carbon and anode, inlet gas temperature, and anode inlet gas flow rate on the thermal behaviors of the fuel cell. It is found that the fuel cell with H₂O as gasification agent performs considerably better than the cell with CO₂ as gasification agent in all cases. It is also found that the temperature field of the fuel cell is highly uneven. The breakdown of the heat sources in the fuel cell shows that the H₂O assisted DC-SOFC has much higher heat generation and consumption than the CO₂ assisted cell. Interestingly, a thermal neutral voltage is observed, at which no heating or cooling of the cell is needed. In addition, the distance between the anode and the carbon layer is required to be as small as possible, which improves the temperature uniformity of the fuel cell. The results of this study demonstrates the importance of thermal effects in DC-SOFCs and form a solid foundation for DC-SOFC thermal management.     

Elevated temperature impact on performance of Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic dielectrics

The need for electronics to operate at temperatures of 200°C and above continues to grow. These applications include avionics, aerospace, automotive, downhole drilling, mining, and many others. To satisfy this demand, a significant amount of research and development has been conducted. Despite the efforts, the number of new electronic components designed specifically for high-temperature operation is still relatively limited. In Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) packages, LTCC materials are generally used as the host media for a number of pre-fabricated semiconductor components. As a result, reliability of the entire LTCC package largely depends on the performance of the least robust component. Ferro A6M-E and Ferro L8 are the two well-established and recognized LTCC dielectrics widely used for mid and high frequency LTCC applications, including several high reliability aerospace and defense applications that require demanding Mil-Spec qualifications. This study is our first attempt to characterize and understand basic high-temperature dielectric properties of these two commercial LTCC materials. The secondary objective is to initiate a dialogue in attempt to establish reliability requirements for LTCC packages dedicated for high-temperature operation.     

Changes in phytosterol contents during rape seed storage under conditions simulating industrial silos

During seed storage in tall silos the low layers of rape seeds are exposed to static pressure exerted by the upper layers. This may cause deformation and damage of seeds found in the lower layers and losses of biologically active compounds. The aim of this study was to simulate under laboratory conditions the actual ecosystem found in industrial plants and to evaluate the effect of not only the temperature and moisture content, but also static pressure on degradation of phytosterols contained in rape seeds in the course of storage. Changes in phytosterol levels were assessed using GC-MS. During storage in all samples of seeds (7–16% moisture content) under the adopted conditions of overpressure (20–60 kPa) and temperature (25–35 °C) the total content of phytosterols decreased by 3–57%. The smallest losses in the total phytosterol contents (3–4%) were recorded during storage of seeds with a 7% moisture content, irrespective of the applied storage temperature (25–35 °C) and overpressure variants (20–60 kPa). The greatest losses of phytosterols (43–57%) were observed during storage of seeds with a 16% moisture content at a temperature of 35 °C, while the higher the applied overpressure, the greater these losses were. The study showed that the greatest influence on sterol content during storage was increased seed moisture, and subsequently the temperature and the pressure. Experimental results also showed that for seeds with higher moisture contents (13 and 16%) an increase in storage temperature from 30 to 35 °C intensifies losses of individual phytosterols much more markedly that an increase in temperature from 25 to 30 °C. Moreover it was observed that overpressure over 20 kPa enhanced losses of investigated phytosterols.     

Structural,optical and temperature dependent photoluminescence properties of Cr3+-activated LaGaO3 persistent phosphor for optical thermometry

Cr³⁺ doped LaGaO₃ phosphor was prepared by hydrothermal reaction method with post-annealing treatment. XRD pattern showed the pure orthorhombic phase of LaGaO₃ at an annealing temperature of 1000 °C. TEM image showed the particles in the range 40-120 nm. The bandgap energy and Urbach tail increased in the doped sample as compared to the undoped sample as estimated from UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectra. PL excitation spectra showed peaks in UV, blue and orange regions. The emission spectra showed broadband with peaks in the NIR region due to emission from ⁴T₂ and ²E states. The intermediate strength of the crystal field has been calculated from the estimated spectroscopic parameter. The average lifetime was found to be in the ms range. Afterglow decay was also recorded. From the low-temperature PL, the zero phonon line, stokes shift energy, vibrational energy and Huang-Rhys parameter were calculated. With rising the temperature, PL emission peak intensity and lifetime values decreased and FWHM increased because of increased numbers of electrons in ⁴T₂ state and increasing non-radiative transition. Temperature-dependent peak intensity ratios and lifetime values were utilized for temperature sensing applications in below room temperature and above room temperature. The results indicate the possibility of present phosphor to be used as optical nanothermometer.     

Temperature-dependent ambipolar electrical characteristics of pentacene-based thin-film transistors: The impact of opposite-sign charge carriers

The temperature-dependent electrical and charge transport characteristics of pentacene-based ambipolar thin-film transistors (TFTs) were investigated at temperatures ranging from 77 K to 300 K. At room temperature (RT), the pentacene-based TFTs exhibit balanced and high charge mobility with electron (μ_e) and hole (μ_h) mobilities, both at about 1.6 cm²/V s. However, at lower temperatures, higher switch-on voltage of n-channel operations, almost absent n-channel characteristics, and strong temperature dependence of μ_e indicated that electrons were more difficult to release from opposite-signed carriers than that of holes. We observed that μ_e and μ_h both followed an Arrhenius-type temperature dependence and exhibited two regimes with a transition temperature at approximately 210–230 K. At high temperatures, data were explained by a model in which charge transport was limited by a dual-carrier release and recombination process, which is an electric field-assisted thermal-activated procedure. At T < 210 K, the observed activation energy is in agreement with unipolar pentacene-based TFTs, suggesting a common multiple trapping and release process-dominated mechanism. Different temperature-induced characteristics between n- and p-channel operations are outlined, thereby providing important insights into the complexity of observing efficient electron transport in comparison with the hole of ambipolar TFTs.     

Study on the basic capacitance–voltage characteristics of organic molecular semiconductors

Capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics of organic molecular semiconductors attracted much research interest recently, but no convincing physical mechanism has been established so far. In this work, the C–V characteristics of pentacene-based devices have been systematically investigated at various frequencies. Only one peak occurs when the measuring frequency is less than 3 kHz or greater than 8 kHz. While within the frequency range between the two, two C–V peaks are observed with quite different dependence on temperature, which suggests that the origins of these two C–V peaks are respectively mobile holes and trapped carriers. This conclusion is also experimentally validated with the C–V characteristics of intentionally doped devices.