Characterization of poly(vinyl alcohol)/sodium bromide polymer electrolytes for electrochemical cell applications

Sodium‐ion conducting polymer electrolytes based on poly(vinyl alcohol) complexed with sodium bromide were prepared with a solution‐casting technique. The structure of these films was determined with X‐ray diffraction, and the complexation of the salt with the polymer was confirmed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy studies. Electrical conductivity was measured with an alternating‐current impedance analyzer in the frequency range of 100 Hz to 1 MHz and in the temperature range of 303–373 K. It was observed that the magnitude of conductivity increased with the increase in the salt concentration as well as the temperature. The nature of the charge transport in these polymer electrolyte films was determined with both Wagner's polarization technique and the Watanabe technique. The dominant conducting species were found to be ions, particularly anions. Optical absorption studies were performed in the wavelength range of 200–600 nm, and the absorption edge, direct band gap, and indirect band gap values were evaluated. Electrochemical cells were fabricated, and their discharge characteristics were studied. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

FAST

We propose Frontier Allocation Synchronized by Token passing (FAST), a distributed algorithm for online terrain coverage using multiple mobile robots, ensuring mutually exclusive selection of frontier cells. Many existing approaches cover the terrain in an irregular fashion, without considering the usability of the already covered region. For instance, in the task of floor cleaning in an office building, these approaches do not guarantee the cleanliness of large unbroken areas until a majority of the task is complete. FAST on the other hand, incrementally traverses the terrain generating structured trajectories for each robot. Following a structured trajectory for coverage path planning is proven to be a very powerful approach in literature. This renders large portions of the terrain usable even before the completion of the coverage task. The novel map representation techniques used in FAST render it scalable to large terrains, without affecting the volume of communication among robots. Moreover, the distributed nature of FAST allows incorporation of fault-tolerance mechanisms. Empirical investigations on maps of varied complexities and sizes both in simulation and on an experimental test-bed demonstrate that the proposed algorithm performs better than some of the benchmark approaches in terms of coverage completion time and less redundant coverage.     

Phenyl Selenosulfides as Cathode Materials for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries

The Se? Se bond in an organo‐diselenide (RSeSeR, R is an organic group) can break in a 2e^? reduction reaction, but it has limited capacity as a cathode material for rechargeable lithium‐ion batteries. To increase its capacity, redox active species (e.g., sulfur) can be added in the middle of the selenium atoms. Herein, phenyl diselenide (PDSe, PhSeSePh) is mixed with sulfur to form two hybrid compounds with 1:1 and 1:2 molar ratios, which almost double and triple the capacity of PDSe, respectively. Theoretical calculations suggest that phenyl selenosulfide (PDSe‐S, PhSe‐S‐SePh) and phenyl selenodisulfide (PDSe‐S₂, PhSe‐SS‐SePh) can form via addition reactions, which is supported by mass spectrometry analysis. The hybrid materials exhibit three highly reversible redox plateaus and enhanced cycling stability due to the reduced solubility of the discharge products. PDSe‐S and PDSe‐S₂ show initial capacities of 252 and 330 mAh g^?1, respectively, followed by stable cycling performance with a capacity retention of >73% after 200 cycles at C/5 rate. In addition, they show steady rate capabilities. This study reports a novel strategy to increase the electrochemical performance of organo‐diselenide by addition of sulfur.     

Enhanced Oil Recovery by Pre-treatment of Mustard Seeds Using Crude Enzyme Extract Obtained from Mixed-Culture Solid-State Fermentation of Kinnow (Citrus reticulata) Waste and Wheat Bran

Solid-state fermentation (SSF) of kinnow (Citrus reticulata) waste supplemented with wheat bran was used for production of cellulase, protease and pectinase with individual and mixed cultures of Trichoderma reesei and Aspergillus niger. Mustard seeds were pre-treated with crude filtrate extract (CFE) obtained from A. niger and T. reesei independently, and combination of the two cultures, prior to solvent extraction. Mixed-culture fermentation resulted in higher enzyme activity for filter paper cellulase (FPU), carboxymethyl cellulase (CMCase), β-glucosidase, and exoploygalacturonase (exo-PG) in comparison to fermentation with individual cultures. This study indicated that pre-treatment using crude enzyme obtained with mixed cultures enhanced the oil recovery by 11% as compared to control where no enzyme was used. Mustard seeds pre-treated with CFE obtained from mixed cultures having ratio of 2:1:1 for exo-polygalacturonase, FPU, and protease resulted in highest oil recovery. About 7–10% more oil was recovered when mustard seeds were pre-treated with CFE obtained from individual cultures, compared with control. Enzymatic pre-treatment also improved some of the quality attributes of mustard oil. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study where mixed-culture SSF was attempted to produce enzyme consortium for pre-treatment of mustard seeds for enhanced oil recovery.     

Minimizing total weighted tardiness on a batch-processing machine with non-agreeable release times and due dates

This study considers the scheduling problem observed in the burn-in operation of semiconductor final testing, where jobs are associated with release times, due dates, processing times, sizes, and non-agreeable release times and due dates. The burn-in oven is modeled as a batch-processing machine which can process a batch of several jobs as long as the total sizes of the jobs do not exceed the machine capacity and the processing time of a batch is equal to the longest time among all the jobs in the batch. Due to the importance of on-time delivery in semiconductor manufacturing, the objective measure of this problem is to minimize total weighted tardiness. We have formulated the scheduling problem into an integer linear programming model and empirically show its computational intractability. Due to the computational intractability, we propose a few simple greedy heuristic algorithms and meta-heuristic algorithm, simulated annealing (SA). A series of computational experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed heuristic algorithms in comparison with exact solution on various small-size problem instances and in comparison with estimated optimal solution on various real-life large size problem instances. The computational results show that the SA algorithm, with initial solution obtained using our own proposed greedy heuristic algorithm, consistently finds a robust solution in a reasonable amount of computation time.     

Collaborative knowledge management—A construction case study

Due to the new threats and challenges faced by the construction industry today, construction companies must seek new solutions in order to remain ahead of the competition. Knowledge has been identified to be a significant organisational resource, which if used effectively can provide competitive advantage. A lot of emphasis is being put on how to identify, capture and share knowledge in today's organisations. It has been argued over the years that due to the fragmented nature of the construction industry and ad-hoc nature of the construction projects, capture and reuse of valuable knowledge gathered during a construction project pose a challenge. As a result critical mistakes are repeated on projects and construction professionals have to keep “reinventing the wheel”. Given the nature of construction projects, collaborative knowledge management seems to be the most appropriate solution to capture project based knowledge. Information and communication technologies offer a number of solutions to implement collaborative knowledge management solutions. This paper discusses a range of these solutions and presents a case study where a collaborative knowledge management solution is implemented across a multi functional construction company.The work presented in the case study was carried out while the first author was employed by the case study organisation. A social web application was implemented to solve a particular knowledge sharing problem within the organisation's concrete pumping business. The new solution provided an effective and simple way to create knowledge by taking employees' ideas through an iterative cycle of discussion.     

Molybdenum Boride as an Efficient Catalyst for Polysulfide Redox to Enable High-Energy-Density Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries, despite having high theoretical specific energy, possess many practical challenges, including lithium polysulfide (LiPS) shuttling. To address the issues, here, hydrophilic molybdenum boride (MoB) nanoparticles are presented as an efficient catalytic additive for sulfur cathodes. The high conductivity and rich catalytically active sites of MoB nanoparticles allow for a fast kinetics of LiPS redox in high-sulfur-loading electrodes (6.1 mg cm⁻²). Besides, the hydrophilic properties and good wettability toward electrolyte of MoB can facilitate electrolyte penetration and LiPS redox, guaranteeing a high utilization of sulfur under a lean-electrolyte condition. Therefore, the cells with MoB achieve impressive electrochemical performance, including a high capacity (1253 mA h g⁻¹) and ultralong lifespan (1000 cycles) with a low capacity fade rate of 0.03% per cycle. Also, pouch cells fabricated with the MoB additive deliver an ultrahigh discharge capacity of 947 mA h g⁻¹, corresponding to a low electrolyte-to-capacity ratio of about 4.8 µL (mA h)⁻¹, and remain stable over 55 cycles under practically necessary conditions with a low electrolyte-to-sulfur ratio of 4.5 µL mg⁻¹.     

Synthesis and Electroluminescence properties of Tris [ 5-choloro- 8- hydroxyquinoline] Aluminium Al(5-Clq)3

A new electroluminescent material tris-[5-choloro-8-hydroxyquinoline] aluminum has been synthesized and characterized. Solution of this material Al(5-Clq)₃ in toluene showed absorption maxima at 385 nm which was attributed to the moderate energy (π-π^*) transitions of the aromatic rings. The photoluminescence spectrum of Al(5-Clq)₃ in toluene solution showed a peak at 522 nm. This material shows thermal stability up to 400 ℃. The structure of the device is ITO/0.4 wt%F4-TCNQ doped α-NPD (35 nm) / Al(5-Clq)₃(30 nm)/ BCP (6 nm)/ Alq₃(30 nm)/ LiF (1 nm)/Al(150 nm). This device exhibited a luminescence peak at 585 nm (CIE coordinates, x= 0.39, y= 0.50). The maximum luminescence of the device was 920 Cd/m² at 25 V. The maximum current efficiency of OLED was 0.27 Cd/A at 20 V and maximum power efficiency was 0.04 lm/W at 18 V.     

Experimental investigation on adsorption capacity of ACF–methanol pairs for cooling application

Solar cooling technology is very popular among other conventional cooling technologies due to increment in global warming effects. In solar cooling technology, solar-powered adsorption refrigeration system has potential to compete with other non-conventional cooling technologies, that is, Absorption, PV-based, Waste-heat-driven and Biogas cooling. The main objective of this research work was to investigate the adsorption capacity of methanol onto activated carbon fibre in the temperature range of 15–80°C during an isobaric adsorption process. To correlate adsorption characteristics’ data of the experiment, the Dubinin–Astakhov equation is used. From a series of experiments, the maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 0.44?kg/kg of ACF by maintaining packing density of bed at 110?kg/m³. The effect of heat generator temperature on adsorption capacity is also studied in this investigation.