Nickel foam and carbon felt applications for sodium polysulfide/bromine redox flow battery electrodes

The first use of nickel foam (NF) as electrocatalytic negative electrode in a polysulfide/bromine battery (PSB) is described. The performance of a PSB employing NF and polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon felt (CF) as negative and positive electrode materials, respectively, was evaluated by constant current charge-discharge tests in a single cell. Charge/discharge curves of the cell, positive and negative electrodes show that the rapid fall in cell voltage is due to the drop of positive potential caused by depletion of Br₂ dissolved in the catholyte at the end of discharge. Cell voltage efficiency was limited by the relatively high internal ohmic resistance drop (iR drop). Polarization curves indicated that both NF and CF have excellent catalytic activity for the positive and negative redox reactions of PSB. The average energy efficiency of the single cell designed in this work could be as high as 77.2% at 40 mA cm⁻² during 48 charge-discharge cycles.     

Fabrication and characterization of planar and channel polymer waveguides. III. Compositional distribution and solute loss in polymer thin films

For many microelectronic and optoelectronic applications, polymer thin films require the addition of small molecules. However, the thin‐film geometry and associated processing techniques will influence the final morphology and compositional distribution of the constituents. It is therefore important that these be examined directly rather than inferred from bulk measurements. As an example system, the concentration and distribution of Disperse Red 1 (DR1) molecules in poly(methyl methacrylate) thin films were examined. Ultraviolet visibility spectroscopy and dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry indicate that the composition of the molecules decreased dramatically with thermal treatment of the film. The sublimation of the chromophore was observed to occur at temperatures well below the melting point of the small molecule and the glass transition of the pure polymer; this solute loss manifested itself in changes in the glass transition temperature of the film. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 2021–2024, 2002     

Theoretical studies of displacement deposition of nickel into porous silicon with ultrahigh aspect ratio

A model is developed to address the uniformity of displacement deposition of nickel inside porous silicon with an ultrahigh aspect ratio as high as 200. The nickel distribution is treated as a current distribution issue as in electrodeposition. It is shown that the deposition distribution along the pore depth exhibits a strong dependence on a polarization parameter ξ. High values of ξ correspond to mass transport limitations and lead to non-uniform distributions, whereas small ξ values, representing interfacial reaction control, produce uniform distributions. Non-uniform deposition primarily occurs at an initial stage in which the reaction is dominated by mass transfer. As the deposition process continues, the deposition rate drops to a low value, and the deposition uniformity shifts from Ni²⁺ mass transport limitations to its interfacial reaction control, leading to uniform Ni²⁺ concentration and deposition rate distributions. It is predicted that the non-uniformity at the initial stage could be remedied by increasing the bulk concentration of the nickel ions and decreasing the plating bath pH. In addition, the uniformity of the deposition distribution can be significantly improved by introducing inhibiting additive coumarin to the plating solution.     

Sulfur transformation during rapid hydropyrolysis of coal under high pressure by using a continuous free fall pyrolyzer☆

The behavior of sulfur transformation during rapid hydropyrolysis of coal was investigated using a pressurized, continuous free fall pyrolyzer under the conditions of temperature ranging from 923 to 1123 K and hydrogen pressure up to 5 MPa. The yields of sulfur converted to gas, tar and char were determined, together with the analyses of sulfur form distributions in coals and chars. The results showed that the decomposition of inorganic sulfur species was affected only by the temperature, while the increases in temperature and hydrogen pressure obviously enhanced the removal of organic sulfur from coal. The extent of organic sulfur removal was proportional to the coal conversion, depending on coal type. A significant retention of gaseous sulfur products by the organic matrix of the char was observed during hydropyrolysis of a Chinese coal above 1023 K, even under the pressurized hydrogen atmosphere. The kinetic analysis indicates that the rate of organic sulfur removal from coal was 0.2th-order with respect to the hydrogen pressure, and the activation energy for total sulfur removal and organic sulfur removal is 17-26 and 13-55 kJ/mol, respectively. The low activation energies suggest that the transformation and removal of sulfur from coal might be controlled by the diffusion and/or thermodynamic equilibrium during hydropyrolysis under the pressurized conditions.     

Effects of the electrospray ionization parameters on the formation and morphology of colloidal microspheres of polyacrylonitrile

Polyacrylonitrile colloidal microspheres have been successfully prepared with different concentrations of electrospraying polyacrylonitrile solutions. The morphology of the colloidal spheres has two kinds of structures and is strongly affected by electrospray‐ionization parameters, such as the polymer concentration, applied voltage, and distance between the electrodes. The solvent can also affect the morphology of polyacrylonitrile. The optimum conditions for preparing colloidal spheres have been found, and differential scanning calorimetry results indicate that polyacrylonitrile colloid spheres are amorphous. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 2889–2893, 2006     

环氧胶粘纳米涂层冲蚀磨损性能研究

向环氧树脂胶粘涂层中分别加入粉煤灰、纳米SiO2,通过改变磨料的粒度和含量,冲蚀的转角和转速,研究其耐冲蚀磨损性能。通过实验推荐了具有较好耐冲蚀能力的环氧树脂的最佳配方。     

微波加热水蒸气活化再生乙酸乙烯用废活性炭的研究

提出了用微波辐射加热水蒸气活化法再生乙酸乙烯用废活性炭的新工艺.采用正交实验确定最佳工艺条件为:微波功率700 W、活化时间40 min、水蒸气流量2.1 g·min-1.在此条件下制得的活性炭碘吸附值为1193.85 mg·g-1、亚甲基蓝吸附值为19 mL·(0.1 g)-1、得率为65.36%.对活性炭的微孔分布和全孔分布进行了研究,活性炭比表面积为1547.47 m2·g-1、总孔容为0.8 mL·g-1.     

中国煤中硫的分布特征研究

以“中国煤种资源数据库”为基础,结合新采集煤样,对中国不同煤田2237个煤层煤样的硫含量数据进行了统计分析,分不同时代、不同地域和不同煤种讨论了中国煤中硫的分布特征,并总结了煤中硫的分布规律.认为中国煤中硫的含量分布与成煤时代、聚煤地区密切相关.引入“储量权重”概念,按聚煤区储量加权计算,中国煤中平均硫含量为1.02%,该数值比算术平均值(1.40%)更能准确地反映中国煤中硫的含量分布.     

Non-uniformity of binder distribution in high-shear granulation

Further experimental investigation based on a microscopic, or single granule, scale has been conducted to investigate the uniformity of binder composition within a given size class for high shear melt granulation. This work assesses whether there is significant non-uniformity of binder composition within size classes to warrant considering this level of detail to improving population balance modelling of high shear granulation. It is concluded that at early times in a batch granulation process there is a broad variation in binder content between individual granules and that this variation persists in granules of small size.     

Radial density distribution of fractal clusters

The radial density distributions of fractal clusters generated in both DLCA and RLCA conditions by Monte-Carlo off-lattice cluster-cluster aggregation have been investigated. It has been computed by averaging a large number of clusters of same mass to form an average cluster, which is then considered as spherically symmetric. It is found that the radial density distribution, calculated using the mass center of the cluster as the center point, does not follow the fractal scaling, as sometimes assumed in the literature. An empirical model has been proposed to describe the dependence of the radial density distribution on the number of particles in the cluster. The obtained radial density distribution is used to compute permeability profile of the fractal cluster using several literature models, which is then applied to estimate the cluster hydrodynamic radius, R_h, by considering the cluster as a porous permeable object and using the solution of Brinkman equations for the fluid flow inside the cluster. The so obtained R_h values are compared to those in the literature, computed using the Kirkwood-Riseman (KR) theory. It has been found that, among the five permeability models examined, only the model proposed by Davis (Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part B 1, 185) provides results in good agreement with those obtained using the KR model. Furthermore, it has been verified that the R_h values are insensitive to the model used for the density distribution.