Emission of submicron aerosol particles in operating a laser beam printer

Laser beam printers can be substantial sources of submicron particles in the indoor environment. The present work investigated particle emissions from a commercial laser beam printer (LBP), which was one of single component, non-magnetic, non-contact mode type LBPs, in various operating conditions. Size distribution and number concentration of particles were measured by a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS). The size distribution of particles generated from the printer was 20–200 nm in equivalent mobility diameter, regardless of the operating condition. When the fuser system was operated by fuser controller without development and the temperature of the heating roller was 190°C, particles were detected and their peak concentration was about 10³ particles/cm³. Zero percent coverage white papers and five percent coverage black papers, were used, the peak concentrations were 1.5×10⁵ particles/cm³ and 3.3×10⁵ particles/cm³, respectively. These results suggest that the sources of submicron particle generation were rubber of heating roller, paper, and toner.     

Surface modified granular activated carbon for enhancement of nickel adsorption from aqueous solution

Coal-based granular activated carbon was modified with acetates of sodium, potassium and lithium at concentrations of 10 and 15% and used as adsorbents to explore the adsorption mechanism of nickel ion in aqueous solution. Acetate treatment reduced surface area and pore volume of the activated carbons, but the adsorption amount of Ni(II) on the modified activated carbons (MAC) was greater than that on the virgin activated carbon. The adsorption depended on pH of the solution with an optimum at 4.5 and the adsorbed nickel could be fully desorbed by using 0.05M HCl solution. The maximum adsorption capacity of nickel ion on Li (15 wt%) modified activated carbon was 151.3 mg/g and the adsorption isotherm follows Langmuir, Sips, and Redlich-Peterson isotherm models better than the Freundlich isotherm model. The kinetic data was better fitted by a non-linear form of the pseudo-first order than the pseudo-second order, but the difference between two kinetic models was small.     

Antimicrobial effect of silver particles on bacterial contamination of activated carbon fibers

Even though activated carbon fiber (ACF) filters have been widely used in air cleaning for the removal of hazardous gaseous pollutants, because of their extended surface area and high adsorption capacity, bacteria may breed on the ACF filters as a result of their good biocompatibility; ACF filters can themselves become a source of bioaerosols. In this study, silver particles were coated onto an ACF filter, using an electroless deposition method and their efficacy for bioaerosol removal was tested. First, various surface analyses, including scanning electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma and X-ray diffraction were carried out to characterize the prepared ACF filters. Filtration and antimicrobial tests were then performed on the filters. The results showed that the silver-deposited ACF filters were effective for the removal of bioaerosols by inhibition of the survival of microorganisms, whereas pristine ACF filters were not. Two bacteria, Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli, were completely inhibited within 10 and 60 min, respectively. Electroless silver deposition did not influence the physical characteristics of ACF filters such as pressure drop and filtration efficiency. The gas adsorptive ability of the silver-deposited ACF filter, as represented by the micropore specific surface area, decreased by about 20% compared to the pristine filter because of the blockage of the ACF micropores by silver particles. Therefore, the amount of silver particles on the ACF filters needs to be optimized to avoid excessive reduction of their adsorptive characteristics and to show effective antimicrobial activity.     

Recent Progress of Singlet‐Exciton‐Harvesting Fluorescent Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes by Energy Transfer Processes

The external quantum efficiency (EQE) of organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) has been dramatically improved by developing highly efficient organic emitters such as phosphorescent emitters and thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) emitters. However, high‐EQE OLED technologies suffer from relatively poor device lifetimes in spite of their high EQEs. In particular, the short lifetimes of blue phosphorescent and TADF OLEDs remain a big hurdle to overcome. Therefore, the high‐EQE approach harvesting singlet excitons of fluorescent emitters by energy transfer processes from the host or sensitizer has been explored as an alternative for high‐EQE OLED strategies. Recently, there has been a big jump in the EQE and device lifetime of singlet‐exciton‐harvesting fluorescent OLEDs. Recent progress on the materials and device structure is discussed herein.     

6H－SiC平面状及圆柱状P~＋n结击穿电压的分析

采用有效电离系数导出了６Ｈ－ＳｉＣ平面状及圆柱状ｐ＋ｎ结击穿电压的分析表达式，有效电离系数是由电子和空穴的电离系数获得的．示出在平面状情况下．基区掺杂浓度在１０１６～４×１０１７ｃｍ－３区间内，所计算的击穿电场和击穿电压与所公布的实验结果完全一致。所得分析结果可用于对６Ｈ－ＳｉＣ器件中击穿电压作出简单的预测。     

Microstructure and Residual Stress of Alumina Scale Formed on Ti2AlC at High Temperature in Air

Ti₂AlC ternary carbide is being explored for various high temperature applications due to its strength at high temperatures, excellent thermal-shock resistance, and high electrical conductivity. A potential advantage of Ti₂AlC over conventional Al₂O₃-forming materials is the near-identical coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of Ti₂AlC and α-Al₂O₃, which could result in superior spallation resistance and make Ti₂AlC a promising option for applications ranging from bondcoats for thermal barrier coatings to furnace heating elements. In this study, isothermal and cyclic oxidation were performed in air to examine the oxidation behavior of Ti₂AlC. Isothermal oxidation was performed at 1000, 1200 and 1400 °C for up to 25 h and cyclic oxidation consisted of 1,000 1-hour cycles at 1200 °C. Characteristics of the oxide scale developed in air, including mass change, residual stress in the α-Al₂O₃ scale, phase constituents and microstructure, were examined as functions of time and temperature by thermogravimetry, photostimulated luminescence, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy via focused ion beam in situ lift-out. Above a continuous and adherent α-Al₂O₃ layer, a discontinuous-transient rutile-TiO₂ scale was identified in the oxide scale developed at 1000 and 1200 °C, while a discontinuous-transient Al₂TiO₅ scale was identified at 1400 °C. The continuous α-Al₂O₃scale thickened to more than 15 μm after 25 h of isothermal oxidation at 1400 °C, and after 1,000 1-hour cycles at 1200 °C, yet remained adherent and protective. The compressive residual stress determined by photoluminescence for the α-Al₂O₃ scale remained under 0.65 GPa for the specimens oxidized up to 1400°C for 25 hours. The small magnitude of the compressive residual stress may be responsible the high spallation-resistance of the protective α-Al₂O₃ scale developed on Ti₂AlC, despite the absence of reactive element additions.     

Performance Comparison of Gyro-Based and Gyroless Attitude Estimation for CubeSats

In this paper, a comparison study between gyro-based and gyroless approaches for spacecraft attitude estimation is presented. Due to its vulnerability to the model errors, the gyroless approach has not been widely focused on and there are only few comparison studies available. However, this conventional wisdom might not directly apply to CubeSat attitude estimation, where noisy MEMS gyro is usually implemented. Although the noise density can be improved by low-pass filtering, it sacrifices the bandwidth so that it can induce a discretization error when spacecraft rotates in high speed. This paper outlines expected pros and cons of gyroless attitude estimation with respect to cost and miniaturization, rotational agility, and model errors. Additionally, linearized system models for both of the attitude estimation methods are formulated and a simple guideline for tuning process noise against the model errors is proposed. Numerical results for a realistic earth observation scenario are presented to quantitatively compare the benefits and drawbacks of each attitude estimation method.

     

Lab-scale test of a ventilation system including a dielectric barrier discharger and UV-photocatalyst filters for simultaneous removal of gaseous and particulate contaminants

A ventilation system including a dielectric barrier discharger (DBD) and UV-photocatalyst (UVP) filters was designed and tested for simultaneous removal of gaseous and particulate contaminants in a test chamber. The DBD was used in the first stage of electrostatic precipitator (ESP) for particle charging and gas decomposition. An applied DC electric field was used in the second stage of ESP to collect the charged particles. UVP filters were then used to decompose gaseous species, such as formaldehyde (HCHO) and benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) including O3, which was inherently produced by the DBD. %Reductions in mass concentration of PM2.5 and number concentration of submicron particles were approximately 79.5% and 76.3%, respectively, after the ventilation with air cleaning system was operated for 5 h. Both HCHO and BTX were completely removed when the initial concentration of each gas was 1 ppm. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Indoor air quality (IAQ) problems, such as sick building syndrome (SBS), are caused by limited ventilation in high-rise buildings. To overcome these problems, DBD and UVP filters were applied into a lab-scale ventilation system for simultaneous removal of pollutant particles and gases. The data supplied in this study will be useful for designing any actual ventilation system after further research, including scale-up experiments.     

Monoolein,isolated from Ishige sinicola,inhibits lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory response by attenuating mitogen-activated protein kinase and NF-κB pathways

Food Science and Biotechnology - Ishige sinicola (I. sinicola) is an edible brown alga native to South Korea. In the present study, we screened the anti-inflammatory activity of monoolein isolated...