Technical and economical assessment of energy-saving roof and wall construction in Thailand

This research assessed the economic impact and construction costs of buildings with solar chimneys in Thailand, called bioclimatic houses. A solar chimney uses a combination of air gaps between walls and roof, and effective ventilation to lower the indoor temperature and reduce the need for air conditioning. The study looked at small, medium, and large size houses and studied construction techniques, the materials used, and the time needed to build a residential structure. It also polled owners of bioclimatic houses about their satisfaction. The techniques employed in building bioclimatic houses take slightly longer and cost slightly more than those used in standard construction. However, the study found that bioclimatic houses use approximately 10–20% less electricity for air conditioning require less maintenance and have a payback period of 6–13 years, depending on the size. The lifespan of insulation material used in standard houses is about 20–25 years, while the lifespan of a solar chimney is about 40–50 years. The solar chimney concept can also be applied to standard houses with minimal renovation. The study found that this type of house was suitable for use in Thailand, and with increased consumer awareness, had a high probability for adoption.     

Sex-Based Selectivity of PPARγ Regulation in Th1, Th2, and Th17 Differentiation

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) has recently been recognized to regulate adaptive immunity through Th17 differentiation, Treg functions, and T_FH responses. However, its role in adaptive immunity and autoimmune disease is still not clear, possibly due to sexual differences. Here, we investigated in vitro treatment study with the PPARγ agonist pioglitazone to compare Th1, Th2, and Th17 differentiation in male and female mouse splenic T cells. Pioglitazone treatment significantly inhibited various effector T cell differentiations including Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells from female naïve T cells, but it selectively reduced IL-17 production in male Th17 differentiation. Interestingly, pioglitazone and estradiol (E2) co-treatment of T cells in males inhibited differentiation of Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells, suggesting a mechanism for the greater sensitivity of PPARγ to ligand treatment in the regulation of effector T cell differentiation in females. Collectively, these results demonstrate that PPARγ selectively inhibits Th17 differentiation only in male T cells and modulates Th1, Th2, and Th17 differentiation in female T cells based on different level of estrogen exposure. Accordingly, PPARγ could be an important immune regulator of sexual differences in adaptive immunity.     

Improvement of n-type OTFT electrical stability by gold electrode modification

N-type organic thin film transistors (OTFT) containing modified gold electrodes have been fabricated to investigate the influence of the self assembled monolayer on the transistor characteristics. We report on the effect of drain/source modification by thiol derivatives on the performances, electrical parameters uniformity and electrical stability of C₆₀ transistors. In the literature, electrical instability is often attributed to organic semiconductor (OSC), OSC-insulator interface and insulator. We found here that OSC-metal interfaces affect dramatically the operational stability for bottom gate/bottom contact structure. These effects have been attributed to morphological evolution at the interface metal-OSC induced by the self-assembled monolayers.     

Applying chemical engineering concepts to non-thermal plasma reactors

Process scale-up remains a considerable challenge for environmental applications of non-thermal plasmas.Undersanding the impact of reactor hydrodynamics in the performance of the process is a key step to overcome this challenge.In this work,we apply chemical engineering concepts to analyse the impact that different non-thermal plasma reactor configurations and regimes,such as laminar or plug flow,may have on the reactor performance.We do this in the particular context of the removal of pollutants by non-thermal plasmas,for which a simplified model is available.We generalise this model to different reactor configurations and,under certain hypotheses,we show that a reactor in the laminar regime may have a behaviour significantly different from one in the plug flow regime,often assumed in the non-thermal plasma literature.On the other hand,we show that a packed-bed reactor behaves very similarly to one in the plug flow regime.Beyond those results,the reader will find in this work a quick introduction to chemical reaction engineering concepts.     

Augmented photoelectrochemical response of CdS/ZnS quantum dots sensitized hematite photoelectrode

A visible light active and stable photoelectrode has been developed by depositing a passivating layer of ZnS QDs on CdS QDs sensitized hematite photoelectrode (Hematite‐CdS/ZnS) for PEC generation of hydrogen. Photoelectrochemical properties, in terms of stability and efficiency, have been investigated on the various hematite photoelectrodes sensitized with CdS QDs and CdS/ZnS QDs by varying number of SILAR cycles. I–V characteristics show that two layers of ZnS QDs deposited over three layers of CdS could enhance PEC response of hematite and efficiency by a factor of 3 and 11 respectively. Chronoamperometry measurement ensures that after adding a layer of ZnS QDs, CdS sensitized hematite film turns out to be a stable photoelectrode in the electrolyte. Prepared photoelectrodes have been characterized by XRD, SEM, HRTEM and UV–Vis spectrophotometer for various structural, morphological and optical properties to analyze PEC results. Mott–Schottky analysis and incident photon to current conversion efficiency (IPCE) measurements of sensitized hematite photoelectrode supported the improved PEC response of CdS/ZnS QDs sensitized hematite thin films. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inverse dynamic analysis type of MPPT control strategy in a thermoelectric-solar hybrid energy harvesting system

This study presents the development of a novel inverse dynamic analysis-maximum power point tracking (IDA-MPPT) scheme in a hybrid energy harvesting system between thermoelectric module (TEM) and solar array (SA). The proposed method initially changes the harvested voltage response from both sources to be the third-order exponential function. This input function selection is based on the capability of this function to stabilize the initial response system and maintain its final position despite a prolonged response time. The mV voltage value from TEM is easily boosted up to nearly 5 V using this method. With this hybridization, the total obtained voltage is doubled to become 9.7 V, which results in a total power of 0.722 W. Furthermore, the method also allows for a fast tracking system, which enables faster voltage boosting and supercapacitor charging. The supercapacitor only requires less than 5 min to complete charging and boost the voltage to almost 5 V. Thus, a satisfactory value is obtained as compared with that of the TEM system with a chosen MPPC board.     

有机液体吸光度检测仪的开发应用

湿法冶金生产工艺中,有机萃取是常见的工艺,生产过程中有机液体的颜色及色深(吸光度),是工艺指标性参数,但是对于有机液体的在线测量,因缺乏成熟的仪器,目前大多靠人眼目测和实验室比对的方式。我们以比尔-朗伯定律为理论依据,通过对有机液体吸光度变化与光电吸收关系的研究,开发了有机液体吸光度检测仪,并投入了现场应用,取得了良好的效果。     

Oligothiophene-based small molecules with 3,3′-difluoro-2,2′-bithiophene central unit for solution-processed organic solar cells

Two new oligothiophene-based small molecules, namely DRCN6T-F and DRCN8T-F, with 3,3′-difluoro-2,2′-bithiophene as the central building block and 2-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-rhodanine as end groups, were designed and synthesized. Compared to their non-fluorinated counterparts DRCN6T and DRCN8T, DRCN6T-F and DRCN8T-F exhibit enhanced intermolecular interactions and lower HOMO energy levels. However, PCEs of 2.26% and 5.07% were obtained for DRCN6T-F and DRCN8T-F based optimized devices, respectively, lower than those of non-fluorinated molecules DRCN6T and DRCN8T. The relatively poor performance for the DRCN6T-F and DRCN8T-F were mainly caused by their low short-circuit current densities, due to their unfavorable morphologies and low charge carrier mobilities.