Polymer electrolytes and interfaces in solid-state lithium metal batteries

The polymer electrolyte based solid-state lithium metal batteries are the promising candidate for the high-energy electrochemical energy storage with high safety and stability. Moreover, the intrinsic properties of polymer electrolytes and interface contact between electrolyte and electrodes have played critical roles for determining the comprehensive performances of solid-state lithium metal batteries. In this review, the development of polymer electrolytes with the design strategies by functional units adjustments are firstly discussed. Then the interfaces between polymer electrolyte and cathode/anode, including the interface issues, remedy strategies for stabilizing the interface contact and reducing resistances, and the in-situ polymerization method for enhancing the compatibilities and assembling the batteries with favorable performances, have been introduced. Lastly, the perspectives on developing polymer electrolytes by functional units adjustment, and improving interface contact and stability by effective strategies for solid-state lithium metal batteries have been provided.     

Survey on Passivity Based Control of Induction Machine

Induction machines (IM) constitute a theoretically interesting and practically important class of nonlinear systems. They are frequently used as wind generators for their power/cost ratio. They are described by a fifth‐order nonlinear differential equation with two inputs and only three state variables available for measurement. The control task is further complicated by the fact that IM are subject to unknown (load) disturbances and the parameters can be of great uncertainty. One is then faced with the challenging problem of controlling a highly nonlinear system, with unknown time‐varying parameters, where the regulated output, besides being unmeasurable, is perturbed by an unknown additive signal. Passivity‐based control (PBC) is a well‐established structure‐preserving design methodology which has shown to be very powerful to design robust controllers for physical systems described by Euler‐Lagrange equations of motion. PBCs provide a natural procedure to "shape" the potential energy yielding controllers with a clear physical interpretation in terms of interconnection of the system with its environment and are robust vis á vis to unmodeled dissipative effects. One recent approach of PBC is the Interconnection and Damping Assignment Passivity‐Based Control (IDA‐PBC) which is a very useful technique to control nonlinear systems assigning a desired (Port‐Controlled Hamiltonian) structure to the closed‐loop. The aim of this paper is to give a survey on different PBC of IM. The originality of this work is that the author proves that the well known field oriented control of IM is a particular case of the IDA‐PBC with disturbance.     

Ni,Cr, and Fe surfaces corroded by molten ZnCl2

Understanding the corrosion of molten ZnCl₂ on metal surfaces is significant for the corrosion protection of metals, sustainable use of molten salts, preparation of ZnO coatings, and so on. In this paper, surfaces of pure Ni, Cr, and Fe corroded by molten ZnCl₂ were investigated. The results show that Ni suffered very slight corrosion, while Cr experienced more serious corrosion than Ni, but lighter corrosion than Fe. The morphology of the corrosion of Cr and Fe, respectively, presented pitting and intergranular corrosion characteristics. Furthermore, nanostructured ZnO coatings were obtained on the surfaces of Ni and Fe, but not on the surface of Cr. The ZnO coating on the Ni surface was doped with a small amount of Zn₅(OH)₈Cl₂, and the ZnO coating on the Fe surface was doped with ZnFe₂O₄ and Zn₂OCl₂. The coatings on the Ni and Fe surfaces had an average thickness of 1.5 and 50 μm, respectively.     

Novel electrospun polymer electrolytes incorporated with Keggin‐type hetero polyoxometalate fillers as solvent‐free electrolytes for lithium ion batteries

In this study, solvent‐free nanofibrous electrolytes were fabricated through an electrospinning method. Polyethylene oxide (PEO), lithium perchlorate and ethylene carbonate were used as polymer matrix, salt and plasticizer respectively in the electrolyte structures. Keggin‐type hetero polyoxometalate (Cu‐POM@Ru‐rGO, Ni‐POM@Ru‐rGO and Co‐POM@Ru‐rGO (POM, polyoxometalate; rGO, reduced graphene oxide)) nanoparticles were synthesized and inserted into the PEO‐based nanofibrous electrolytes. TEM and SEM analyses were carried out for further evaluation of the synthesized filler structures and the electrospun nanofibre morphologies. The fractions of free ions and crystalline phases of the as‐spun electrolytes were estimated by obtaining Fourier transform infrared and XRD spectra, respectively. The results showed a significant improvement in the ionic conductivity of the nanofibrous electrolytes by increasing filler concentrations. The highest ionic conductivity of 0.28 mS cm^?1 was obtained by the introduction of 0.49 wt% Co‐POM@Ru‐rGO into the electrospun electrolyte at ambient temperature. Compared with solution‐cast polymeric electrolytes, the electrospun electrolytes present superior ionic conductivity. Moreover, the cycle stability of the as‐spun electrolytes was clearly improved by the addition of fillers. Furthermore, the mechanical strength was enhanced with the insertion of 0.07 wt% fillers to the electrospun electrolytes. The results implied that the prepared nanofibres are good candidates as solvent‐free electrolytes for lithium ion batteries. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effects of ethylene-octene copolymer (POE) on the brittle to ductile transition of high-density polyethylene/POE blends

Three kinds of ethylene-octene copolymers (POE) were melt-blended with high-density polyethylene (PE-HD) in different proportions. Detailed characterizations were conducted to analyze their structural differences of POE and its effects in toughening PE-HD. The higher molecular weight POE can improve the toughness of PE-HD. 60:40 PE-HD/POE is elongated to break up to 700% while impact strength is 84.7 kJ/m² at −30°C, which is 21-fold of PE-HD. In the brittle to ductile transition (BDT) during impact, the fracture mechanism changes from the crazing mode to the shear yield-plastic deformation mode. The BDT temperature decreases as the POE molecular weight and its content increase. The interface strength in tension is estimated to access their effects. The Boltzmann-type models were successfully extended to describe the typical S-shaped curves in BDT of notched impact strength vs POE content or temperature. The supplementary decay model is suggested for the attenuation in toughening. Transition map in impact is proposed to select the use range of composition (c ) and temperature (T ) for high toughness. The curves are converted into 3D graph of T -c -impact strength for illustrating their coupling-separate effects, and further into the contour map of impact strength in T -c space for finding their partial equivalence.     

Multichromic polymers based on pyrene clicked thienylpyrrole

In this study, the effect of pendant pyrene on the optical and electronic properties of poly(2,5‐dithienylpyrrole)s was studied. For this purpose a new pyrene coupled 2,5‐dithienylpyrrole derivative (SNS‐pyrene) was synthesized through click reaction. SNS‐pyrene was electrochemically polymerized and its electrochemical and optical properties were investigated by electrochemical and optical techniques. The polymer had a band gap of 3.36 eV and displayed light green to blue color variation upon oxidation in less than 2.48 s. Additionally, electrochemical copolymerization of SNS‐pyrene with 3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene was achieved whilst a detailed investigation was performed on the effect of electrochemical polymerization conditions on the optoelectronic properties of the copolymers. Studies revealed that the copolymers exhibit multichromic reversible redox behavior with lower band gaps and shorter switching times than their parent polymer, P(SNS‐pyrene) © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.     

Matrix influence on the piezoelectric properties of piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composite exhibiting particle alignment

This study was addressed to the influence of an electric field strength applied at fabrication process and matrix properties, such as the dielectric constant and the Young's modulus, on “pseudo‐1‐3 piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composite” in order to further enhance the piezoelectricity of that. The pseudo‐1‐3 piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composite consists of linearly ordered piezoelectric ceramic particles in polymer material. Silicone gel, silicone rubber, urethane rubber, and poly‐methyl‐methacrylate, which exhibit different dielectric constants and Young's modulus, were used as matrices to evaluate the matrix influence. The piezoelectricity of the pseudo‐1‐3 piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composite was evaluated using the piezoelectric strain constant d₃₃. The d₃₃ is one of the indices of the piezoelectric properties for piezoelectric materials. As a result, it was confirmed that d₃₃ of the pseudo‐1‐3 piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composite increased with the increase of the electric filed strength applied at fabrication process, though, it reached a constant value at a certain strength value. Further it was confirmed that dielectric constant of the matrix had a small influence on d₃₃ of the pseudo‐1‐3 piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composite, however, in case of matrix of lower Young's modulus, d₃₃ was increase. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41817.