Dynamic simulation of hydrogen-based off-grid zero energy buildings with hydrogen storage considering Fanger model thermal comfort

In this study, some locations with different climates, off-grid zero energy buildings with hydrogen energy storage systems are designed, and transient analysis is conducted. These considered buildings supply their electricity consumption without using the electrical grid and PV panels or wind turbines. Also, they supply thermal comfort to occupants by using a vapor compression chiller and humidifier. Domestic hot water of occupants is supplied using solar collectors. For analyzing building's performance and objectives achievement, TRNSYS software is used. Also, for evaluating occupant thermal comfort, the Fanger model is used. The considered building is a one-story building with a 150 m² area. Four occupants are considered. Both of them are seated at rest, and another is seated with light working such as typing. Using the Fanger model equation and MATLAB software, the thermal comfort of occupants is determined. For domestic hot water consumption, verified profiles that vary during 24 h of the day are considered. Achieved results show that for humid and cold cities, PV panels with an area of 73 and 76 m² can be supplied the required electricity of considered building with four occupants and battery state of charge is higher than 50% and 10%, respectively. Moreover, with a suitable air conditioner system, the predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD) can be lower than 12% and 8% for humid and cold cities. Therefore, the building can be converted to a zero-energy building using its rooftop area.     

Effects of injection parameters on propagation patterns of hydrogen-fueled rotating detonation waves

Two-dimensional rotating detonation waves (RDWs) with separate injections of hydrogen and air are simulated using the Navier–Stokes equations together with a detailed chemical mechanism. The effects of injection stagnation temperature and slot width on the detonation propagation patterns are investigated. Results find that extremely high temperatures can lead to a chaotic mode in which detonation waves are generated and extinguished randomly. Increasing the slot width can reduce the number of detonation waves and finally trigger detonation quenching at a low injection stagnation temperature. But increasing the slot width can change the RDW propagation pattern from a chaotic to a stable mode under high injection temperature. Furthermore, the kinetic parameter τ (representing the chemical reactivity of the mixture) and the kinematic parameter α (representing the mixing efficiency of hydrogen and oxygen) are introduced to distinguish the RDW propagation patterns.     

Fabrication method,dielectric properties,and electromagnetic absorption performance of high alumina fly ash-based ceramic composites

Mullite-Al₂O₃-SiC composites were in-situ synthesized through carbothermal reduction reaction of fly ash (FA) with a high alumina content and activated carbon (AC). The effects of sintering temperature, holding time, and amount of AC on the β-SiC yield, microstructure, dielectric properties, and electromagnetic (EM) absorption performance of the composites in the 2–18 GHz frequency range were studied. The results show that increasing the AC improves the porosities of the composites, with the highest porosity of 56.17% observed. The β-SiC yield varies considerably as the sintering parameters were altered, with a maximum yield of 23% achieved under conditions of 12 wt% AC, 1400 °C sintering temperature, and 3 h holding time. With a thickness of 3.5 mm, this composite has excellent EM absorption performance, exhibiting a minimum reflection loss (RL_min) of -51.55 dB at 7.60 GHz. Significantly, the maximum effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) reaches 3.39 GHz when the thickness is 3.0 mm. These results demonstrate that the composite prepared under ideal conditions can absorb 99.99% of the waves passing through it. Because of the interfacial polarization, conductive loss, and impedance matching of the heterostructure, the synthesized mullite-Al₂O₃-SiC composites with densities ranging from 1.43 g/cm³ to 1.62 g/cm³ demonstrate outstanding EM attenuation capabilities. Therefore, this study presents a remarkable way of utilizing fly ash to fabricate inexpensive, functional ceramic materials for EM absorption applications.     

Concentration fluctuation caused by reaction-diffusion coupling near catalytic active sites

The coupling of reaction and diffusion between neighboring active sites in the catalyst pore leads to the spatiotemporal fluctuation in component concentration, which is very important to catalyst performance and hence its optimal design. Molecular dynamics simulation with hard-sphere and pseudo-particle modeling has previously revealed the non-stochastic concentration fluctuation of the reactant/product near isolated active site due to such coupling, using a simple model reaction of A → B in 2D pores. The topic is further developed in this work by studying the concentration fluctuation due to such coupling between neighboring active sites in 3D pores. Two 3D pore models containing an isolated active site and two adjacent active sites were constructed, respectively. For the isolated site, the concentration fluctuation intensifies for larger pores, but the product yield decreases, and for a given pore size, the product yield reaches a peak at a certain reactant concentration. For two neighboring sites, their distance (d) is found to have little effect on the reaction, but significant to the diffusion. For the same reaction competing at both sites, larger d leads to more efficient diffusion and better overall performance. However, for sequential reactions at the two sites, higher overall performance presents at a smaller d. The results should be helpful to the catalyst design and reaction control in the relevant processes.     

Mg gas infiltration for the fabrication of MgB2 pellets using nanosized and microsized B powders

MgB₂ superconductor pellets were synthesized through Mg gas infiltration method using nanosized- and microsized B powders. There was a marked difference in the superconducting properties of the two samples, particularly in the pinning force and dominant pinning mechanism. The microstructures of the samples were observed using HR-TEM and STEM-HAADF, and the results showed that the primary reason for the difference in the superconducting properties is the distribution of the nanosized second-phase particle MgO. Additionally, a feasible reaction model for the Mg gas infiltration method was established. Compared to the Mg liquid infiltration method, the gas infiltration showed better penetrability ability with a small amount of residual Mg. This study presents a novel synthesis process to fabricate an MgB₂ pellet with superior density and superconducting properties. This method can be used in multiple applications such as superconducting bearings, compact superconductor magnets, and magnetic shielding.     

A novel method of shrimp blanching by CO2 heat pump: Quality,energy, and economy analysis

To reduce the energy consumption of the shrimp blanching process and improve the economic value of the blanched product, a transcritical CO₂ heat pump blanching system (THPB system) was designed in this paper. The trends of astaxanthin were investigated at atmospheric pressure near boiling temperature, combined with the color and structural properties of shrimp samples, and the optimal blanching times of 270 s and 240 s were obtained at 90°C and 95°C, respectively. In contrast to the fuel blanching system (FB system) at 100°C, the annual standard coal consumption of the THPB system with 90°C blanching is decreased by 79%, and the annual operating cost can be saved by CNY 63,800, with a payback period of about 3.13 years.Industrial relevanceBlanching is one of the effective ways to prolong the shelf life of shrimp. However, the research on the blanching time and temperature of shrimp is not comprehensive. In addition, the traditional fuel blanching process has high energy consumption and pollution, and can no longer meet the quality requirements of the modern food processing industry. Heat pump has been shown to have better performance in food drying, but it is less used in blanching. The information presented in this study may provide other insights into food processing.     

Stable Radicals with Protective Umbrellas Integrated on the Surface of 2D Layered Materials

Radicals are closely related to human life and health and have been widely used in biology, chemistry, functional materials, etc. However, the high reactivity, disorder, and short half-lives limit their wide applications. Therefore, it remains a great challenge to prepare stable and ordered radicals. Herein, radicals are prepared with protective umbrellas (diethylmethyleneamine, DEMA) that are integrated on the surface of 2D layered materials to isolate water and oxygen and enhance the stability of radicals. Taking 2D black phosphorus (BP) as an example: triethylamine reacts with dichloromethane to form quaternary ammonium salts with further Hoffmann elimination to produce DEMA radicals that could react with one electron of a lone pair electrons in P on the surface of BP to produce P radicals, which shows a prolonged half-life of 21 days at room temperature. First-principle calculations and electron paramagnetic resonance fitting confirm that the steric hindrance constructed by dense DEMA passivation layer acts as a protective umbrella and the 2D coupling of P radicals and other P atoms in 2D BP plane to enhance the stability and strong superexchange interaction of P radicals. Furthermore, it is a general strategy to produce stable radicals integrated on the 2D plane.     

Nanoporous Surface High-Entropy Alloys as Highly Efficient Multisite Electrocatalysts for Nonacidic Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution in alkaline and neutral media offers the possibility of adopting platinum-free electrocatalysts for large-scale electrochemical production of pure hydrogen fuel, but most state-of-the-art electrocatalytic materials based on nonprecious transition metals operate at high overpotentials. Here, a monolithic nanoporous multielemental CuAlNiMoFe electrode with electroactive high-entropy CuNiMoFe surface is reported to hold great promise as cost-effective electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline and neutral media. By virtue of a surface high-entropy alloy composed of dissimilar Cu, Ni, Mo, and Fe metals offering bifunctional electrocatalytic sites with enhanced kinetics for water dissociation and adsorption/desorption of reactive hydrogen intermediates, and hierarchical nanoporous Cu scaffold facilitating electron transfer/mass transport, the nanoporous CuAlNiMoFe electrode exhibits superior nonacidic HER electrocatalysis. It only takes overpotentials as low as ≈240 and ≈183 mV to reach current densities of ≈1840 and ≈100 mA cm⁻² in 1 m  KOH and pH 7 buffer electrolytes, respectively; ≈46- and ≈14-fold higher than those of ternary CuAlNi electrode with bimetallic Cu–Ni surface alloy. The outstanding electrocatalytic properties make nonprecious multielemental alloys attractive candidates as high-performance nonacidic HER electrocatalytic electrodes in water electrolysis.     

Non-Halogenated-Solvent Processed and Additive-Free Tandem Organic Solar Cell with Efficiency Reaching 16.67%

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have recently reached a remarkably high efficiency and become a promising technology for commercial application. However, OSCs with top efficiency are mostly processed by halogenated solvents and with additives that are not environmentally friendly, which hinders large-scale manufacture. In this study, high-performance tandem OSCs, based on polymer donors and two small-molecule acceptors with different bandgaps, are fabricated by solution processing with non-halogenated solvents without additive. Importantly, the two active layers developed from non-halogenated solvents show better phase segregation and charge transport properties, leading to superior performance than halogenated ones. As a result, a tandem OSC with high efficiency of up to 16.67% is obtained, showing unique advantages in future massive production.     

TiO2/MXene-Assisted LDI-MS for Urine Metabolic Profiling in Urinary Disease

Cancer remains an intractable medical problem. Rapid diagnosis and identification of cancer are critical to differentiate it from nonmalignant diseases. High-throughput biofluid metabolic analysis has potential for cancer diagnosis. Nevertheless, the present metabolite analysis method does not meet the demand for high-throughput screening of diseases. Herein, a high-throughput, cost-effective, and noninvasive urine metabolic profiling method based on TiO₂/MXene-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) is presented for the efficient screening of bladder cancer (BC) and nonmalignant urinary disease. Combined with machine learning, TiO₂/MXene-assisted LDI-MS enables high diagnostic accuracy (96.8%) for the classification of patient groups (including 47 BC and 46 ureteral calculus (UC) patients) from healthy controls (113 cases). In addition, BC patients can also be identified from noncancerous UC individuals with an accuracy of 88.3% in the independent test cohort. Furthermore, metabolite variations between BC and UC individuals are investigated based on relative quantification, and related pathways are also discussed. These results suggest that this method, based on urine metabolic patterns, provides a potential tool for rapidly distinguishing urinary diseases and it may pave the way for precision medicine.