Hierarchical porous carbons with high performance for supercapacitor electrodes

A series of hierarchical porous carbons (HPCs) were prepared by a combination of self-assembly and chemical activation. Pore-structure analysis shows that micropores can be generated within the mesopore wall of mesoporous carbon in a controllable manner during activation. As evidenced by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge/discharge cyclings and frequency response measurements, HPCs show superior capacitive performances to hard-templated ordered mesoporous carbons, which can be attributed to the generated pore surfaces that play most important role in the formation of double-layer capacitance and to their unique hierarchical porous structure that favors the fast diffusion of electrolyte ions into the pores. Of special interest is the fact that HPCs maintains 180 F/g at high-frequency of 1 Hz.     

Considerable Enhancement of Field Emission of SnO2 Nanowires by Post-Annealing Process in Oxygen at High Temperature

The field emission properties of SnO₂ nanowires fabricated by chemical vapor deposition with metallic catalyst-assistance were investigated. For the as-fabricated SnO₂ nanowires, the turn-on and threshold field were 4.03 and 5.4 V/μm, respectively. Considerable enhancement of field emission of SnO₂ nanowires was obtained by a post-annealing process in oxygen at high temperature. When the SnO₂ nanowires were post-annealed at 1,000 °C in oxygen, the turn-on and threshold field were decreased to 3.77 and 4.4 V/μm, respectively, and the current density was increased to 6.58 from 0.3 mA/cm² at the same applied electric field of 5.0 V/μm.     

High-gravity activated SHS of large bulk Al2O3/ZrO2 (Y2O3) nanocrystalline composites

Large bulk Al₂O₃/ZrO₂ (Y₂O₃) composites were in-situ prepared by SHS under varied high-gravity from ZrO₂ + Y₂O₃powder blends with an added thermit mixture. Investigated was the effect of high gravity on the microstructure, crystal growth, and properties of synthesized materials. The XRD data suggest that high gravity did not bring about any change in the phase constitution of the composite ceramics and that the ceramic matrix was composed of α-Al₂O₃, t-ZrO₂, and m-ZrO₂. SEM and EDS data show that, with increasing level of high gravity, the morphology of the ceramic microstructures transformed from the cellular eutectics to the rodshaped colonies, and the volume fraction and aspect ratio of the rod-shaped colonies increased while the rodshaped colonies were refined. Above 200 g, the microstructures of composite ceramics developed as the randomlyorientated rod-shaped colonies with a symmetrical triangular dispersion of tetragonal ZrO₂ fibers of 300 nm in the average diameter. Relative density, hardness, flexural strength and fracture toughness simultaneously reached the highest values of 98.6%, 18.6 GPa, 1248 MPa, and 15.6 MPa m^1/2 as the maximum high-gravity level of 250 g was achieved. An increase in the relative density and hardness of the ceramics with increasing gravity level was attributed to the acceleration of gas escape from SHS melts and the elimination of shrinkage cavity in the ceramics under the action of high-gravity field. The increase in fracture toughness results from the enhancement of the coupled toughening mechanisms while the increase in flexural strength comes from the refinement of the microstructures, decrease in critical defect size, and achievement of high fracture toughness.     

A new inrush detection method for transformer differential protection

Contents The long-used restraining principle, based on the detection of 2nd harmonics in the currents, can not always satisfactorily meet the demand of blocking the transformer differential protection for all three phases, because the line currents are not the direct image of the core saturation. The differential protection may become inadequate. A transformer can however be switched on for all cases, without the false or fail-safe tripping, when the harmonic restraint is derived from the magnetic field strength of the core.If a delta-connected winding is present, the magnetic field strengths can not be easily recognized in the line currents, because their zero-sequence component is distorted. A new method is presented, which can estimate the fundamental and the 2nd harmonic of this zero-sequence component. The components of the magnetic field strength can therefore be determined in currents only, whose ratio is known to be characteristic for the core saturation.The proposed method was implemented on an industrial protection system based on a microprocessor and was tested on data obtained from computer-simulation and a model transformer in a laboratory. It turned out that the proposed method performed well on all cases.

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Eine neue Methode der Einschalterkennung für den Transformator-Differentialschutz

Übersicht Die üblicherweise benützte Blockierung beim Einschalten eines Transformators beruht auf der Bewertung der zweiten Harmonischen in den Strömen. Dieses Prinzip kann nicht immer den Transformatorvergleichsschutz in allen drei Phasen blockieren. Dagegen kann ein Transformator in allen Fällen ohne Fehlauslösung eingeschaltet werden, wenn die Blockierung aus der Harmonischen der magnetischen Feldstärke des Kerns abgeleitet wird.Eine neue Methode wird vorgestellt, wie die Homopolarkomponente der Grundschwingung und der zweiten Harmonischen näherungsweise berechnet werden kann. Die benötigten Anteile der Feldstärken können damit aus den Differenzströmen ermittelt werden.Das vorgeschlagene Verfahren wurde auf einer industriell gefertigten Schutzkarte implementiert. Die Überprüfung des Verfahrens erfolgte mit Berechnungsverfahren und durch Messungen im Labor.

     

Treatment of a combined dairy and domestic wastewater in an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor followed by activated sludge (AS system)

The feasibility of using an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor followed by activated sludge (AS system) for the treatment of wastewater discharged from dairy factory was explored. The UASB reactor was operated at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 24 h and organic loading rates (OLRs) ranging from 1.9 to 4.4 kgCOD/m³.d. The average total chemical oxygen demand (COD_total) and total biological oxygen demand (BOD_5total) concentrations of the UASB reactor effluent were 1385 and 576 mg/l, corresponding to percentage removal of 69% and 79%, respectively. Total suspended solids (TSS) and volatile suspended solids (VSS) removal averaged above 72% and 75%, respectively. Residual phosphorous and oil and grease concentrations of the UASB reactor effluent were 8.2 and 44 mg/l, corresponding to percentage removal values of 63% and 83%, respectively. This good performance could be attributed to the relatively long sludge residence time (SRT = 76 d) imposed to the reactor. Total and faecal coliform counts were reduced in the treated effluent by a value of 1.07 and 0.9 log₁₀, respectively. The net sludge yield coefficient was found to be 0.2 g VSS per g COD_total removed per day, corresponding to 20% of the total influent COD imposed to the UASB reactor. The volatile solids / total solids (VS/TS) ratio of 0.66 of excess sludge revealed its good quality. Preliminary batch experiments of the AS system treating UASB reactor effluent indicated first-order removal kinetics between total organic carbon (TOC) and contact time. The TOC removal reached 80%, resulting in only 47 mg/l in the final effluent at a HRT of 2.0 h. Accordingly, the AS system was operated at a HRT of 2.0 h. The system achieved a substantial reduction of COD_total, BOD_{5 total}, TSS and oil and grease resulting effluent quality with residual values of only 35.0, 7.0, 14.0 and 2.8 mg/l, respectively. The geometric mean of total and faecal coliform counts was reduced by a value of 1.28 and 1.64 log₁₀, respectively. Based on these results, it is recommended to use of an integrated system consisting of a UASB reactor followed by the AS system for the treatment of a combined dairy and domestic wastewater to produce a good effluent quality complying with the standards for discharge into agricultural drains.     

Si field emitter arrays coated with thin ferroelectric films

This paper demonstrates novel approach on Si field emitter arrays (FEAs) coated with thin ferroelectric films for vacuum microelectronic applications, which exhibit enhanced electron emission behaviors. The films were deposited using sol–gel and sputtering process, respectively. In sol–gel approach, the emission behavior is highly correlated to the crystallinity of (Ba,Sr)TiO₃ (BST) layer. The interfacial reaction between Si and BST film would deteriorate the crystallinity of the films, and in turn impede the electron emission from silicon tips. The film thickness and the dopants also affect the emission behaviors significantly. In sputtering process, the nitrogen-incorporated SrTiO₃ (STO) films are deposited with eliminated interfacial due to relatively lower processing temperature. The enhanced emission characteristics are highly correlated with nitrogen-incorporation and film thickness. These encouraging results have offered great promise for the application of ferroelectric films in field emission devices.     

Boron and nitrogen co-doped ZnO thin films for opto-electronic applications

The transparent conductive oxides such as ZnO have been widely studied due to their potential applications. As a promising wide band gap semiconductor, ZnO thin films with various dopants are important in fabricating the photonic devices to meet the various needs. In this study, boron and nitrogen co-doped ZnO thin films were fabricated at different temperatures (100–600 °C) on sapphire (0 0 1) substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. X-ray diffractometer, atomic force microscope, spectrophotometer and spectrometer were used to characterize the structural, morphological and optical properties of the thin films. Hall measurements were also carried out to identify the electrical properties of the thin films.     

EFFECT OF SILICON ADDITION ON RECRYSTALLIZATION AND PHASE TRANSFORMATION BEHAVIOR OF HIGH-STRENGTH HOT-ROLLED TRIP STEEL

Because Si is a noncarbide forming element, a multiphase microstructure consisting of ferrite, bainite, and retained austenite, at room temperature, can be formed by controlling the thermomechanical process strictly. The cooling schedules must be restricted by the formation of pearlite and cementite. In the present article, a new integrated mathematical model for prediction of microstructure evolution during controlled rolling and controlled cooling is developed for a typical kind of low carbon Si-Mn TRIP steel, which consists of temperature simulation, recrystallization, and transformation models. The influence of Si contents has been thoroughly investigated. The calculated results indicate that Si retards recrystallization, restrains austenite grain growth as well as accelerates polygonal ferrite transformation.     

Synthesis and characterization of LiFePO4/(Ag + C) composite cathodes with nano-carbon webs

LiFePO₄/(Ag + C) composite cathodes with a new type of nano-sized carbon webs were synthesized by two methods of an aqueous co-precipitation and a sol-gel process, respectively. Simultaneous thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis indicates that the crystallization temperature of LiFePO₄ is about 455-466 °C, which is close to the pyrolysis temperature of polypropylene, 460 °C. The silver and carbon co-modifying does not affect the olivine structure of LiFePO₄ but improves its kinetics in terms of discharge capacity and rate capability. Discharge capacities were improved from 153.4 mA h g^− 1 of LiFePO₄/C to 160.5 mA h g^− 1and 162.1 mA h g^− 1 for LiFePO₄/(Ag + C) cathodes synthesized by the co-precipitation and sol-gel methods, respectively. The possible reasons for the small difference in discharge capacity of two LiFePO₄/(Ag + C) cathodes were discussed. AC impedance measurements show that the Ag + C co-modification decreases the charge transfer resistance of LiFePO₄/(Ag + C) cathodes.     

Inlet effect on the coal pyrolysis to acetylene in a hydrogen plasma downer reactor

Coal pyrolysis to acetylene in hydrogen plasma is a clean process for the coal utilization. A gas–solid downer reactor was employed to facilitate the high temperature reactions of coal pyrolysis in milliseconds. The effect of the inlet design on the coal injection was studied using CFD simulations, which were qualitatively compared with the cold model experiments in the prototype of a 2 MW hydrogen plasma reactor. The results revealed that the distribution of the coal particles near the inlet nozzles was significantly influenced by the layout of the flat‐shaped nozzles and the operating conditions. Accordingly the heating efficiency of the particles by the hot gas showed strong dependence on the inlet design. The hot model tests demonstrated that the reactor performance characterized by the concentration of acetylene in the product gas increased from ～7.6 to 9.6% by optimizing the nozzle design, which indicated the critical role of the nozzle design in the coal pyrolysis process.