Integrated Saltwater Desalination and Energy Storage through a pH Neutral Aqueous Organic Redox Flow Battery

Here, a pH neutral aqueous organic redox flow battery (AORFB) consisting of three electrolytes channels (i.e., an anolyte channel, a catholyte channel, and a central salt water channel) to achieve integrated energy storage and desalination is reported. Employing a low cost, chemically stable methyl viologen (MV) anolyte, and sodium ferrocyanide catholyte, this desalination AORFB is capable of desalinating simulated seawater (0.56 m NaCl) down to 0.023 m salt concentration at an energy cost of 2.4 W h L^?1 of fresh water—competitive with current reverse osmosis technologies. Simultaneously, the cell delivers stored energy at 79.7% efficiency with a cell voltage of 0.85 V. Furthermore, the cell is also capable of higher current operation up to 15 mA cm^?2, providing 4.55 mL of fresh water per hour. Combining energy storage and water desalination into such a bifunctional device offers the opportunity to address two growing global issues from one hardware installation.     

The effect of sociodemographic diversity of residential customers on the financial risk experienced in the retail electricity market

The sociodemographic diversity of residential customers can affect the level of financial risk that an electricity provider experiences in the retail market. To demonstrate the relationship between sociodemographic diversity and financial risk, electricity consumption data drawn from the United Kingdom Power Networks ‘Low Carbon London’ project was analyzed to explore the relationship between sociodemographic diversity and financial risk experienced by electricity retailers. The results show that when increasing the sociodemographic diversity amongst a group of residential customers the effect on financial risk depends on the electricity consumption patterns of individual customers and the relationship of consumption patterns between residential customers. Increasing sociodemographic diversity amongst residential customers with very distinct energy consumption patterns can decrease the overall financial risk associated with the aggregated revenue received from these customers. However, the results showed that adding customers to a customer base without consideration for their sociodemographic background can cause the overall financial risk associated with the aggregated revenue received to change erratically. Whilst previous studies have considered customer diversity and its influence on peak electricity demand, this research advances the state-of-the-art by showing the importance of customer diversity to the financial quantity risk experienced by electricity retailers. This finding has serious implications for electricity providers seeking to mitigate financial risk in the retail electricity market.     

KNEM: A generic and scalable kernel-assisted intra-node MPI communication framework

The multiplication of cores in today’s architectures raises the importance of intra-node communication in modern clusters and their impact on the overall parallel application performance. Although several proposals focused on this issue in the past, there is still a need for a portable and hardware-independent solution that addresses the requirements of both point-to-point and collective MPIoperations inside shared-memory computing nodes.     

Influence of the microstructure of gums on the mechanical properties of silicone high consistency rubbers

This paper is devoted to the characterization and processing of high molar mass vinyl‐bearing polysiloxanes in high consistency silicone rubber (HCR) formulations. The molar masses of five different polydimethylsiloxane gums, bearing vinyl groups at the ends and along their chains, were evaluated by size exclusion chromatography and rheometry. ²⁹Si and ¹H NMR spectroscopy allowed the precise determination of the vinyl content and of the distribution in the different polymers. Typical HCRs formulated from these gums were heat‐cured to process silicone rubber materials that were then tested mechanically. The macromolecular properties were correlated to the final material network structure. The amount of reactive vinyl moieties, rather than their distribution along or at the end of chains, is a key parameter to tailor the material mechanical properties. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry     

Preparation of transparent PMMA/Fe(IO3)3 nanocomposite films from microemulsion polymerization

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)/Fe(IO₃)₃ nanocomposite thin films are obtained by in situ particle generation in microemulsions and subsequent photopolymerization of a mixture containing methyl methacrylate, trimethylolpropane triacrylate, and crystallized iron iodate (Fe(IO₃)₃) nanorods. Hyper‐Rayleigh scattering measurements combined with X‐ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and dynamic light scattering are first used to probe in situ the crystallization kinetics of iron iodate nanorods in water‐in‐oil microemulsions prepared with methyl methacrylate as the oil phase and marlophen NP12 as a surfactant. Trimethylolpropane triacrylate is then added as a crosslinker before spin‐coating. Films are deposited on glass substrates for the nonlinear optical characterizations and on silicon wafers for the piezoelectric and mechanical measurements. Nanocomposite films treated by corona discharge are finally characterized through optical microscopy, laser Doppler vibrometry, and Brillouin spectroscopy. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 1203‐1211, 2013     

Nanocomposite piezoelectric films of P(VDF‐TrFE)/LiNbO3

Piezoelectric films were prepared by incorporation of lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) nanoparticles into copolymer of vinylidene difluoride and trifluoroethylene. Nanoparticles of LiNbO₃ with ferroelectric phase were successfully synthesized and dispersed homogenously by ultrasonication in the copolymer matrix without any surfactant or surface functionalization. The nanocomposites were fully characterized by electronic microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, dynamical mechanical analysis, and piezometer. Surprisingly, the copolymer matrix crystallinity and morphology were not affected by the incorporation of nanoparticles. Therefore the nanocomposites remained good mechanicals properties and high ferroelectricity coupled to nonlinear optical activity thanks to the noncentro symmetric space group of lithium niobate. This could be a novel approach to develop new multifunctional materials. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

Short-Term Land use Planning and Optimal Subsidies

Networks and Spatial Economics - Urban planning is a complex problem which includes choosing a social objective for a city, finding the associated optimal allocation of agents and identifying...     

Evolution of Texture from a Single Crystal Ti-6Al-4V Substrate During Electron Beam Directed Energy Deposition

Additive manufacturing of Ti-6Al-4V commonly produces 〈001〉 _β -fiber textures aligned with the build direction. We have performed wire-feed electron beam directed energy deposition on the {112} _β plane of a single prior β-grain. The build initially grew epitaxially from the substrate with the preferred 〈001〉 growth direction significantly angled away from the build direction. However, continued layer deposition drove the formation of a 〈001〉 _β -fiber texture aligned with the build direction and the direction of the strongest thermal gradient.     

Microstructures and Grain Refinement of Additive-Manufactured Ti-xW Alloys

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - It is necessary to better understand the composition–processing–microstructure relationships that exist for materials produced by additive...