Nacre-Inspired,Liquid Metal-Based Ultrasensitive Electronic Skin by Spatially Regulated Cracking Strategy

The realization of liquid metal-based wearable systems will be a milestone toward high-performance, integrated electronic skin. However, despite the revolutionary progress achieved in many other components of electronic skin, liquid metal-based flexible sensors still suffer from poor sensitivity due to the insufficient resistance change of liquid metal to deformation. Herein, a nacre-inspired architecture composed of a biphasic pattern (liquid metal with Cr/Cu underlayer) as “bricks” and strain-sensitive Ag film as “mortar” is developed, which breaks the long-standing sensitivity bottleneck of liquid metal-based electronic skin. With 2 orders of magnitude of sensitivity amplification while maintaining wide (>85%) working range, for the first time, liquid metal-based strain sensors rival the state-of-art counterparts. This liquid metal composite features spatially regulated cracking behavior. On the one hand, hard Cr cells locally modulate the strain distribution, which avoids premature cut-through cracks and prolongs the defect propagation in the adjacent Ag film. On the other hand, the separated liquid metal cells prevent unfavorable continuous liquid-metal paths and create crack-free regions during strain. Demonstrated in diverse scenarios, the proposed design concept may spark more applications of ultrasensitive liquid metal-based electronic skins, and reveals a pathway for sensor development via crack engineering.     

Enhanced strains of Nb-doped BNKT-4ST piezoelectric ceramics via phase boundary and domain design

A strategy that constructs the morphotropic phase boundary and manipulates the domain structure has been used to design the component of 0.96[Bi_0.5(Na_0.84K_0.16)_0.5Ti_(1-x)Nb_xO₃]-0.04SrTiO₃ (BNKT-4ST-100xNb) to enhance the strain properties for actuator application. Non-equivalent Nb⁵⁺ donor doping modulates the phase transition from the mixture of rhombohedral and tetragonal phases to the pseudocubic phase and results in the coexistence of multiple phases. Moreover, the high-resolution TEM confirms the existence of polar nano regions that contribute to the macroscopic relaxor behaviour. The size of the domains is reduced with increasing Nb⁵⁺, resulting in an enhanced relaxor behaviour. The ferroelectric-relaxor transition temperature decreases from 85 to below 30 °C, implying a non-ergodic to ergodic relaxor transition. An improved strain of 0.56% and a giant normalized strain of 1120 pm/V were achieved for BNKT-4ST-1.5Nb, which were attributed to the unique domain structure in which nanodomains are embedded in an undistorted cubic matrix. Ferroelectric, antiferroelectric, and relaxor phases coexist. As the electric field is large enough, a reversible phase transition occurs. Furthermore, good temperature stability was obtained due to the stability of the nanodomains, and no degradation in strains was observed even after 10⁴ cycles, which may originate from the reversible phase transition and dynamic domain wall. The results show that this design strategy offers a reference way to improve the strain behaviour and that BNKT-4ST-100xNb ceramics could be a potential material for high-displacement actuator applications.     

Robust Metallic Actuators Based on Nanoporous Gold Rapidly Dealloyed from Gold–Nickel Precursors

Dealloyed nanoporous gold (np-Au) has applications as oxygen reduction catalysis in Li-air batteries and fuel cells, or as actuators to convert electricity into mechanical energy. However, it faces the challenges of coarsening-induced structure instability, mechanical weakness due to low relative densities, and slow dealloying rates. Here, monolithic np-Au is dealloyed from a single-phase Au₂₅Ni₇₅ solid-solution at a one-order faster dealloying rate, ultra-low residual Ni content, and importantly, one-third more relative density than np-Au dealloyed from conventional Au₂₅Ag₇₅. The small atomic radius and low dealloying potential of the sacrificing element Ni are intrinsically beneficial to fast produce high relative density np-Au, as predicted by a general model for dealloying of binary alloys and validated by experiments. Stable, durable, and reversible actuation of np-Au takes place under cyclic potential triggering in alkaline and acidic electrolytes with negligible coarsening-induced strain-shift. The thermal and mechanical robustness of bulk np-Au is confirmed by two-order slower ligament coarsening rates during annealing at 300 °C and 45 MPa macroscopic yielding strength distinctive from the typical early onset of plastic yielding. This article opens a rich direction to achieve high relative density np-Au which is essential for porous network connectivity, mechanical strength, and nanostructure robustness for electrochemical functionality.     

The influence of mining factors on seismic activity during longwall mining of a coal seam

In this article an attempt to determine the influence of mining factors on the seismic activity during the longwall mining of the upper layer of coal seam no. 405/2 in one of the Polish hard coal mines in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin was conducted. Two longwall panels were mined in analogous geological conditions and based on the same mining system and technology. However, there was significant difference with regards to the mining factors, which was reflected in the observed seismic activity. Some tools used in mining seismology were applied to illustrate the aforementioned influence of mining factors, e.g. the frequency-energy distribution, the frequency-magnitude distribution, the 2 D distribution of released seismic energy, the relationship between released seismic energy and the volume of mined coal, the Benioff strain release, and the Gutenberg-Richter(GR) b coefficient distribution(b is the proportion between high and low energy tremors). Concerning the Benioff strain release, a new solution, based on the slope of a fitted line in a moving time window, is proposed.     

基于城区场景的5G SA网络时长驻留比提升策略研究

5G驻留能力是反映5G用户感知非常重要的一个指标。本文重点对影响5G SA网络时长驻留比的因素进行了分析，其次从规划、建设、优化、市场营销4个方面提出了具体的提升思路，并从市场、终端、网络三个维度制定了不同的应对策略。从目前的策略实施和应用效果来看，5G SA时长驻留比提升比较明显，对打造5G 精品网、促进5G业务分流、助力公司数智化转型发展起到了重要作用。     

一种低载噪比突发扩频信号的快速捕获方法实现

针对突发扩频信号用户资源扩大、终端功率降低、系统容量提升等需求,提出了一种低载噪比突发扩频信号的快速捕获硬件实现方法。采用分段匹配滤波器加多普勒并行相干积累的方法,基于硬件实现从算法到工程进行全流程优化设计,最终实现最优的捕获性能。应用结果表明,该硬件设计实现方案的快速捕获性能优越,设计方案正确、可行,已成功应用于工程建设中。     

Use of CFD-DEM to evaluate the effect of intermediate stress ratio on the undrained behaviour of granular materials

This study investigates the effect of intermediate stress ratio (b) on the mechanical behaviour of granular soil in true triaxial tests. A CFD-DEM solver with the ability to model compressible fluid and moving mesh has been developed and calibrated based on existing experimental test results on Nevada sand. The effect of b on the undrained true triaxial test, which has been neglected in the literature, was investigated using a reasonable number of models. The effects of the initial confining stress and initial void ratio also have been studied. The developed model was used to calculate the hydrodynamic forces on the particles and evaluate the ratio of the particle–fluid interaction force to the resultant force on the particles. It has been demonstrated that, in numerical studies, the effect of these forces cannot be neglected.     

Efficiency control of the cooling-down process of a cryogenic helium turbo-expander for a 2 t/d hydrogen liquefier

Efficient liquefaction of hydrogen is a crucial part for the large-scale storage and long-distance transportation of hydrogen. Helium Brayton cycle based on high-speed turbo-expanders has been widely employed in small and medium hydrogen liquefiers. In present study, a coupled model is proposed to predict the performance and cooling-down process of helium turbo-expanders with brake blower, and validation experiments were performed on a helium turbo-expander of a 2 t/d hydrogen liquefier. Experimental results indicated that the characteristic ratio of expander varied significantly during the cooling-down process which led to a large deviation from the optimal efficiency. The impact of brake pressure on the characteristic ratio and efficiency of the helium turbo-expander is studied, and a variable pressure control method is proposed for the efficient operation of turbo-expanders during the cooling-down process of a hydrogen liquefier. Compared with the constant brake pressure control method, the variable pressure control method can increase the expander efficiency by 5%–10% during the cooling-down process in the high temperature zone.     

Improved photoluminescence and multi-mode optical thermometry of Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped (Ba,Sr)3Lu4O9 phosphors

Contactless optical thermometers have attracted extensive attentions for applications in scientific research and technological fields due to their apparent advantages. Herein, a novel sequence of Ba_3-xSr_xLu₄O₉ (B_3-xS_xLO):Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ phosphors were successfully prepared to investigate the temperature sensing property. By establishing energy transfer from Yb³⁺ to Er³⁺ and regulating the local lattice environment, up-conversion luminescence of Er³⁺ is dramatically improved when excited by 980 nm laser. This can effectively promote signal-noise ratio and reduce the errors in temperature detection. Furthermore, a multi-mode optical thermometry, which includes the fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) from two thermally coupled levels of ²H_11/2/⁴S_3/2, FIR based on non-thermally coupled system of ²H_11/2/⁴F_9/2 and fluorescence lifetime of ⁴S_3/2 state of Er³⁺, was explored systematically. The fabricated samples exhibit the superior temperature measurement performances containing wide temperature-sensing range, superior signal discriminability, high sensitivity and favorable repeatability, indicative of the enormous utilization prospects of B_3-xS_xLO:Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ for thermometry.