Enhancing power conversion efficiency of DSSC by doping SiO2 in TiO2 photo anodes

A simple, less time consuming, cost ineffective sol–gel method was used to synthesis TiO₂ nanoparticles (TiO₂) and TiO₂–SiO₂ nanocomposites (TiO₂–SiO₂) using titanium tetra isopropoxide as TiO₂ and silicic acid as SiO₂ precursors respectively. The synthesized nanocomposites were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, UV–visible, FTIR and BET analysis. The quantum confinement effect of TiO₂ and TiO₂–SiO₂ was confirmed by a blueshift observed in UV–visible spectra. The band observed at 950 cm⁻¹ in FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of Ti–O–Si bonds, the TEM analysis shows both the TiO₂ and TiO₂–SiO₂ were in nanometer size. The BET (Brunauer– Emmett–Teller) specific surface areas of the samples were 65 and 75 m²/g for TiO₂ and TiO₂–SiO₂ respectively. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the nanocomposites were studied by using Keithely electrometer and multimeter and it was found to be 2% and 2.5% for eosin-Y sensitized TiO₂ and TiO₂–SiO₂ nanocomposites respectively.     

Combined Effects of Confinement and Macromolecular Crowding on Protein Stability

Confinement and crowding have been shown to affect protein fates, including folding, functional stability, and their interactions with self and other proteins. Using both theoretical and experimental studies, researchers have established the independent effects of confinement or crowding, but only a few studies have explored their effects in combination; therefore, their combined impact on protein fates is still relatively unknown. Here, we investigated the combined effects of confinement and crowding on protein stability using the pores of agarose hydrogels as a confining agent and the biopolymer, dextran, as a crowding agent. The addition of dextran further stabilized the enzymes encapsulated in agarose; moreover, the observed increases in enhancements (due to the addition of dextran) exceeded the sum of the individual enhancements due to confinement and crowding. These results suggest that even though confinement and crowding may behave differently in how they influence protein fates, these conditions may be combined to provide synergistic benefits for protein stabilization. In summary, our study demonstrated the successful use of polymer-based platforms to advance our understanding of how in vivo like environments impact protein function and structure.     

Improving strength,stiffness and ductility of CFDST columns by external confinement

Concrete-filled double-skin tubular (CFDST) column is one of the most efficient forms of column construction in which the steel tubes provides both axial strength and confining pressure to enhance the strength and ductility of the in-filled concrete. Compared with confined reinforced concrete columns, CFDST columns had stronger and more uniform confining pressure provided to the in-filled concrete by the steel tubes, which reduces the steel congestion problem for better concrete placing quality. However, a major shortcoming of the CFDST columns is the imperfect interface bonding that occurred at the elastic stage that reduces the elastic strength and stiffness of columns. To improve the situation, it is proposed in this study to use external steel rings to restrict the dilation of outer steel tube of CFDST columns. For verification, a series of uni-axial compression test was performed on some CFDST columns with external steel rings. From the results, it was found that the elastic strength, elastic stiffness and ductility were enhanced by installing the steel rings as external confinement. Lastly, a theoretical model for predicting the axial strength of confined CFDST columns has been developed.     

Subspace identification analysis of RFX and T2R reversed-field pinches

Input–output datasets from two magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) experiments of the reversed-field pinch (RFP) type are examined. The RFP datasets, which are samples of the distributed magnetic field dynamics, are naturally divided into many smaller batches due to the pulsed-plasma operation of the experiments. The two RFP experiments considered are (i) EXTRAP T2R (T2R) with 64 inputs and 64 outputs and (ii) RFX-mod (RFX) with 192 inputs and 192 outputs. Both T2R and RFX are magnetohydrodynamically unstable and operates under magnetic feedback with optional dither injection. Using subspace system identification techniques and randomised cross-validation (CV) methods to minimise the generalisation error, state-space orders of the empirical systems are suggested. These system orders are compared to “stabilisation diagrams” commonly used in experimental modal analysis practice. The relation of the CV system order to the decay of the singular values from the subspace method is observed. Both (i) stable vacuum diffusion and (ii) unstable plasma response datasets are analysed. Apparent simulation and prediction errors are quantified for both cases using a deviation-accounted-for index. These results are purely data-driven. A simple approach towards exploitation of the subspace techniques for finite-element model refinement and data confrontation is presented.     

利用成像型任意反射面速度干涉仪测量石英中的冲击波速度

在神光Ⅲ原型激光装置上,利用自行研制的成像型任意反射面速度干涉仪（I-VISAR）对石英中冲击波速度进行了测量,获得了清晰的实验信号。实验结果表明,在8路能量为400 J、波长为351 nm的激光注入腔靶时,经过60μm的Al后,石英中的冲击波速度为36.47 km/s。     

FRP约束钢管混凝土长柱承载力研究

已有研究表明,钢管混凝土柱和FRP约束混凝土柱承载力的计算方法不适用于FRP约束钢管混凝土柱承载力的计算。为研究FRP约束钢管混凝土长柱的承载力,本文以钢管约束效应系数ξs和FRP约束效应系数ξf为主要参数,考虑混凝土强度等级对FRP约束钢管混凝土柱承载力提高效果的调整系数,建立了FRP约束钢管混凝土短柱承载力的计算模型。在此基础上,分别引入钢管混凝土稳定系数φs和FRP约束混凝土柱稳定系数φf,建立FRP约束钢管混凝土长柱的承载力计算模型。并将模型的计算结果与试验数据进行比较。     

纵向通风下隧道速度场及温度场的模拟研究

在隧道火灾研究中,将临界速度作为衡量纵向通风效率的标准已被广泛认可.然而,对于排烟口位于火源两侧,两端都是进风口的情况,临界速度并不能有效地衡量通风效率.对此,研究人员提出了“限制性速度”的概念,并将其作为标准,但到目前为止,对于限制性速度的研究依然很少.本文中的CFD模型以0.Vauquelin的实验为基础,通过CF...     

干凝胶法制备惯性约束聚变靶用高渗透性空心玻璃微球

为制备惯性约束聚变靶用高渗透性空心玻璃球（hollow glass microspheres,HGM）,研究了初始玻璃配方、发泡剂种类、炉内载气组分和压力、精炼温度对干凝胶粒子的炉内成球过程和最终HGM的产率、质量和渗透性能的影响。结果表明：初始玻璃配方中的绝大部分碱金属氧化物在精炼过程中都从液态玻璃挥发进入载气,最终...     

Aircraft control surface deflection using RBF‐based mesh deformation

In this paper, mesh deformation based on radial basis function (RBF) interpolation is applied to the deflection of aircraft control surfaces. A confinement technique is presented, which locally restricts mesh deformation to the vicinity of the moving component and leaves the surfaces of other components unaffected. This technique is shown to have the potential to significantly reduce the CPU time necessary for evaluating the RBF interpolants. Motivated by the directionality of control surface deflection, the idea of treating each direction of the displacements separately is introduced. It is employed for the adaptive selection of centers, and the approach termed sequential uni‐variate center adaptation. It is shown to be more efficient for both solution and evaluation processes than the standard approach, in which the same set of centers is used for every direction. Furthermore, different data sites may be imposed for different directions. It is demonstrated that this enables sliding motion of the elements on the face of a mesh block. Thereby, large control surface deflections are possible, despite the presence of a small spanwise gap between control surface and parent component. These techniques are successfully applied to the deflection of aileron and horizontal tail of a generic fighter aircraft configuration. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

液晶分子在受限条件下的液晶相行为（Ⅱ）某些化学受限环境对液晶相行为的影响

综述了液晶分子在与聚合物嵌段、碳纳米管（CNT）和多面低聚倍半硅氧烷（POSS）等通过共价键形成的化学受限环境下的液晶相行为。聚合物嵌段微区的受限作用使侧链液晶嵌段共聚物的液晶有序度减小,相变温度降低。由于碳纳米管的受限作用,液晶聚合物接枝CNTs的有序结构被破坏,液晶性丧失。POSS以共价键的方式引入到液晶分子中,明显提高了液晶相的稳定性。但是当POSS含量高于某临界值后使液晶分子表现出单向性液晶相行为,甚至使其丧失液晶性。