A novel utilized method of tar derived from biomass gasification for fabricating binder-free all-solid-state hybrid supercapacitors

As an industrial pollutant, tar derived from biomass gasification is used as the precursor for fabricating a novel carbon-metal hydroxides composite electrode. A slurry (the mixture of tar, KOH and melamine) is daubed uniformly onto the nickel foam, which is directly carbonized to form NPC@LDH electrode material. This electrode is further coated with NiCo-LDH nanosheets using an electrodeposition method to form NF@NPC@LDH. The newly made NF@NPC@LDH electrode exhibits a high specific capacity of 9.6 F cm⁻² at a current density of 2 mA cm⁻² and good rate performance (55.3% retention). Furthermore, a hybrid NF@NPC@LDH//NF@PC all-solid-state supercapacitor is fabricated, and the device exhibits high energy density of 1.28 mWh cm⁻³ at a power density of 8.04 mW cm⁻³, low resistance and good cycling stability.     

Influences of SiC infiltration and coating on compressive mechanical behaviours of 2D C/SiC composites up to 1600 °C at wide-ranging strain rates

The influences of the SiC infiltration and coating on the compressive mechanical behaviours of 2D C/SiC composites were determined up to 1600 °C at 0.001 and 1000/s strain rates in argon and air. In addition, the failure mechanisms responsible for the compressive mechanical behaviours were elucidated through in-situ observation and micro-analysis-based methods. The 2D C/SiC composite compressive strength was highly sensitive to temperature, loading rate, and oxidation, and was enhanced by the change in the thermal residual stress and decreased by oxidation. In argon, because of the extra infiltrated SiC matrix, SiC treated 2D C/SiC specimens exhibited higher compressive strengths and lower strain rate sensitivity factors than SiC untreated 2D C/SiC specimens. The SiC coating effectively improved the oxidation resistance of the 2D C/SiC composites in air, regardless of the temperature, strain rate, and oxidative damage-which depends on SiC coating, strain rate, and temperature.     

N-Positive ion activated rapid addition and mitochondrial targeting ratiometric fluorescent probes for in vivo cell H2S imaging

Heterocyclic compound quinoline and its derivatives exist in natural compounds and have a broad spectrum of biological activity.They play an important role in the design of new structural entities for medical applications.Similarly,indoles and their derivatives are found widely in nature.Amino acids,alkaloids and auxin are all derivatives of indoles,as are dyes,and their condensation with aldehydes makes it easy to construct reaction sites for nucleophilic addition agents.In this work,we combine these two groups organically to construct a rapid response site(within 30 s)for H₂S,and at the same time,a ratiometric fluorescence response is presented throughout the process of H₂S detection.As such,the lower detection limit can reach 55.7 nmol/L for H₂S.In addition,cell imaging shows that this probe can be used for the mitochondrial targeted detection of endogenous and exogenous H₂S.Finally,this probe application was verified by imaging H₂S in nude mice.     

Improving the fill factor of N2200-based all polymer solar cells by introducing EPPDI as a solid additive

A cheap and commercially available small molecule (namely EPPDI) is introduced to the active layer of N2200-based all polymer solar cells as a solid additive. EPPDI at the optimal ratio can improve the D-A nano-scale morphology and reduce trap density of the active layer by filling morphological spaces. As a result, the photovoltaic performance of the resulting devices based on PF2:N2200 are increased from 6.28% to 7.03% with significantly enhanced fill factor. This work demonstrates a facile approach for improving the performance of all polymer solar cells.     

Sol-gel synthesis of ternary conducting polymer hydrogel for application in all-solid-state flexible supercapacitor

In this contribution, we reported the preparation of a novel conducting polymer hydrogel (CPH) by a sol-gel method, which was subsequently employed to fabricate a flexible all-solid-state supercapacitor device. Taking advantage of the synergistic effects of the different components in the conducting polymer hydrogel and the merits of the proposed synthesis strategies, the prepared supercapacitor device with CPH as electrode exhibited high area-normalized capacitance (2.2 F cm⁻²), high gravimetric capacitance (1573.6 F g⁻¹) as well as high energy density of 0.18 mWh cm⁻² (or 128.7 Wh Kg⁻¹) at 0.08  mW cm⁻² (or 55.1 W kg⁻¹). This study did not only represent a novel all-solid-state, high performance, flexible supercapacitor with potential applications in flexible energy-related devices, but also developed a new method for enhancing capacitances and mechanical stability of all-solid-state flexible supercapacitor.     

The basic study of methanol to gasoline in a pilot-scale fluidized bed reactor

A fluidized bed reactor, used for methanol to gasoline (MTG), was designed followed the theory of gas–solid two-phase flow, and the effects of some factors, such as temperature, space velocity and the regeneration process, on the performance of MTG catalyst were systematically examined. The results show that: heat and mass transfer can be effectively conducted in the fluidized bed reactor; with the reaction temperature was increased, the methanol conversion rate maintained at 100% and the yield of gasoline gradually increased, then reached its highest value of 25.22% at 410 °C, after that it began to decline; and the C₅ aromatics content increased with temperature and reached its maximum value of 49.86% at 430 °C. With the weight space velocity was increased, the yield of gasoline firstly increased and then decreased, while the C₅ aromatics content was decreased; In addition, the effect of inner-regenerated process for used catalyst is very good. Low temperature can help to generate lighter olefin polymer, the higher extent of hydrogen transfer and cracking of large molecules at middle temperature, the carbon deposition reaction and aromatization reaction of low carbon olefin occurred at higher temperature, all of these contributed the above mentioned rules. While the weight space velocity acts on the performance of catalyst mainly via influencing the contact time and the carbon deposition reaction.     

One-pot synthesis of PdBi/reduced graphene oxide catalyst under microwave irradiation used for formic acid electrooxidation

The Pd and PdBi nanoparticles dispersed on the reduced graphene oxide (Pd/rGO and PdBi/rGO) have been synthesized through one-pot reaction under the irradiation of microwave and the obtained composites have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and their electrocatalytic activities have also been evaluated. It is found that the PdBi_0.05/rGO catalyst exhibits higher activity and better stability toward formic acid electrooxidation compared with Pd/C and Pd/rGO. The excellent electrocatalytic performance indicates that the addition of appropriate amount of Bi can greatly enhance the activity and stability of Pd catalysts for the formic acid oxidation.     

Determination of porcine gelatin in edible bird's nest by competitive indirect ELISA based on anti-peptide polyclonal antibody

Competitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for rapid detection of porcine gelatin in edible bird's nest (EBN). Three ELISAs were developed by using polyclonal rabbit antibodies against porcine species-specific amino acid sequences of collagen α2 (I) chain (pAb1 and pAb2) and α1 (I) chain (pAb3). The limit of detection (IC₁₅) of the three ELISAs was 0.033, 0.082 and 0.052 μg/mL respectively. The median inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of pAb1, pAb2 and pAb3 was 0.265, 0.394 and 0.228 μg/mL respectively, as well as able to recognise porcine and bovine gelatins. pAb1 showed slight cross-reactivity with cave nest and egg white, while pAb2 exhibited slight cross-reactivity with blood cave nest and egg white. No cross-reactivity was observed with EBNs and egg white for pAb3. The recoveries of porcine gelatin spiked EBNs were in the range of 62.8–125.4% with intra- and inter-day coefficient of variants (CVs) of 2.9–5.4% and 4.7–9.6% respectively when using pAb3. Taking into account all abovementioned factors, pAb3 appeared sufficient for EBN authentication.