Energy Filtering of Charge Carriers: Current Trends,Challenges, and Prospects for Thermoelectric Materials

Exhaustive attempts are made in recent decades to improve the performance of thermoelectric materials that are utilized for waste heat‐to‐electricity conversion. Energy filtering of charge carriers is directed toward enhancing the material thermopower. This paper focuses on the theoretical concepts, experimental evidence, and the authors' view of energy filtering in the context of thermoelectric materials. Recent studies suggest that not all materials experience this effect with the same intensity. Although this effect theoretically demonstrates improvement of the thermopower, applying it poses certain constraints, which demands further research. Predicated on data documented in literature, the unusual dependence of the thermopower and conductivity upon charge carrier concentrations can be altered through the energy filtering approach. Upon surmounting the physical constraints discussed in this article, thermoelectric materials research may gain a new direction to enhance the power factor and thermoelectric figure of merit.     

High-performance oxygen transport membrane reactors integrated with IGCC for carbon capture

Precombustion carbon capture is an effective strategy to reduce large-scale CO₂ emissions, which is mainly used in the area of integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants. Oxygen transport membranes (OTMs) were suggested as the air separation unit to produce high purity oxygen for the gasifier. However, the improvement in efficiency was limited. Here, a new IGCC process is reported based on a robust OTM reactor, where the OTM reactor is used behind the coal gasifier. This IGCC-OTM process fulfills syngas oxidation, H₂ production, and carbon capture in one unit, thus a significant decrease of the energy penalty is expectable. The membrane reactor does not use noble metal components, and exhibits high hydrogen production rates, high hydrogen separation factor (10³–10⁴), and stable performance in a gas mixture mimicking real syngas compositions from a coal gasifier with H₂S concentrations up to 1,000 ppm.     

Coupling effects of water content,temperature, oxygen density,and polytetrafluoroethylene loading on oxygen transport through ionomer thin film on platinum surface in catalyst layer of proton exchange membrane fuel cell

In this work, coupling effects of water content, temperature, oxygen density, and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) loading on oxygen transport through an ionomer thin film on a platinum surface in a catalyst layer of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell are investigated using molecular dynamics approach. Taguchi orthogonal algorithm is employed to comprehensively analyze the coupling effects in a limited number of cases. It is found that the effect of operation temperature is the weakest among the four factors, which has the smallest effect index 14.4. Coupling effects including the PTFE loadings on the oxygen transfer through the ionomer thin film is uncovered. Less PTFE loadings should be beneficial for the oxygen transfer. The chemical potential gradient is considered as the major driven force for the oxygen transport through the ionomer thin film, and oxygen density is the dominating factor, significantly affecting the chemical potential in the thin film.     

Constructing the high-areal-capacity,solid-state Li polymer battery via the multiscale ion transport pathway design

The parasitic Li dendrite formation and retarded ion diffusion dynamics inhibit the deployment of solid-state batteries (SSBs) at high areal capacity loadings. Here, we present the modular design of the Li⁺ percolating network by grafting the ionic-conductive polyether amine (PEA) at the multiple scales: the PEA modified zinc hydroxystannate (PEA@ZHS) (flame retardant units) and polyamide 6 (mechanical rigid units) are coherently introduced to optimize the PEO-based solid electrolyte (PX-PEA@ZHS) with the Young's modulus (3.41 GPa), ionic conductivity (4.29 × 10⁻⁴ S cm⁻¹ at 55 °C) and flame retardancy (22% reduction of heat release rate); on the other hand, PEA molecules are grafted onto the acetylene black additive to establish the dual conductive network, endowing two orders of magnitude increase of ionic conductivity for the high-compaction cathodes. The as-integrated symmetric cell exhibits a critical current density up to 0.8 mA cm⁻² and cycling endurance for 1000 h at 0.2 mA cm⁻²; upon the SSBs assembly with the record high loading of LiFePO₄ (12.4 mg cm⁻²), the high-areal-capacity, cycling stability as well as the extreme temperature endurance till 110 °C are simultaneously realized, which inspire the rational design of commercially feasible, energy-dense, flame-resistance energy storage prototype.     

高能同步辐射光源低能束流输运线设计研究

高能同步辐射光源（HEPS）是计划在北京建造的发射度小于60 pm•rad的超低发射度光源。它由1台500 MeV直线加速器、1条500 MeV低能束流输运线、1台500 MeV～6 GeV的能量增强器、2条6 GeV的高能束流输运线、1台6 GeV的储存环以及同步辐射光束线和实验站组成。本文进行低能束流输运线的设计研究。低能束流输运线是连接直线加速器和增强器的束流传输线，在考虑建设布局限制的基础上，对两端的束流包络进行匹配，并将直线加速器产生的束流高效传输到增强器注入点。HEPS低能束流输运线设计时采用了功能分区的设计策略，设计有3个功能区，分别是消色散注入匹配区、光学参数匹配区、输出匹配区。为校正误差对束流的影响，HEPS低能束流输运线设置了8个BPM，水平和垂直各6块校正磁铁用于束流轨道校正，校正后的轨道满足束流传输要求。     

Mechanism of enhancement in magnetoresistance properties of manganite perovskite ceramics by current annealing

Studies on spintronics have provided solid evidence that the grain boundaries (GBs) in polycrystalline manganite can produce a strong extrinsic magnetoresistance (MR). This type of MR, called Low-field MR (LFMR), is larger than the intrinsic MR and can be triggered over a wide range of temperature. However, the existence of more GBs would bring about the weakening of magnetism and decrease the magnitude of MR simultaneously. Here we show that during annealing the application of electric-current to a representative ferromagnetic manganite perovskite, polycrystalline La_2/3Sr_1/3MnO₃ (LSMO), can produce more GBs and improve low-field magnetization, which leads to enhanced MR effect and field-response sensitivity as compared to the traditional-annealed sample. By using static micromagnetic models combined with the theories of spin-polarized intergrain tunneling and charge carrier hopping across domain wall, the observed enhancement of magnetoresistive response in current-annealed LSMO can be well explained.     

Transport phenomena in electrolyte solutions: Nonequilibrium thermodynamics and statistical mechanics

The theory of transport phenomena in multicomponent electrolyte solutions is presented here through the integration of continuum mechanics, electromagnetism, and nonequilibrium thermodynamics. The governing equations of irreversible thermodynamics, including balance laws, Maxwell's equations, internal entropy production, and linear laws relating the thermodynamic forces and fluxes, are derived. Green–Kubo relations for the transport coefficients connecting electrochemical potential gradients and diffusive fluxes are obtained in terms of the flux–flux time correlations. The relationship between the derived transport coefficients and those of the Stefan–Maxwell and infinitely dilute frameworks are presented, and the connection between the transport matrix and experimentally measurable quantities is described. To exemplify the application of the derived Green–Kubo relations in molecular simulations, the matrix of transport coefficients for lithium and chloride ions in dimethyl sulfoxide is computed using classical molecular dynamics and compared with experimental measurements.     

Water transport according to temperature and current in PEM water electrolyzer

Recently, various studies have been conducted on hydrogen energy as a means of replacing conventional fuels. Polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs) are being studied as a means of producing hydrogen for renewable energy. The PEMWE can be operated over a wider range than other types of water electrolyzers and can be connected to a renewable energy source, such as solar or wind. However, further studies are required because the water accompanying the hydrogen in the cathode presents a problem regarding hydrogen purity and storage. The phenomenon of water transport which is occurred on the PEMWE is analyzed by electro-osmotic drag and diffusion in the membrane. Electro-osmotic drag coefficients which are calculated by mass flow rate of discharged water with hydrogen are compared to the results of previous studies. The results of Electro-osmotic drag coefficient are different from previous studies at each operating condition. This difference is considered to be caused by the capacity of PEMWE such as active area and the number of cell.