Effects of different porous fillers on interfacial properties of poly (vinyl alcohol) hybrid films

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-based hybrids have demonstrated broad liquid separation applications but separation performances are constrained by the compatibility between fillers and polymer, and thus it is essential to study the interfacial properties of these hybrids. In this work, PVA hybrids with four different porous fillers have been fabricated and characterized with Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, Scanning electron microscope, swelling and contact angle tests. Swelling results show that PVA has a degree of swelling (DS) of 79% in water but the swelling is compressed after adding fillers and the DS for PVA hybrids has decreased by 19%, 17%, 15%, and 9% for 30 wt% loading of ZIF-8, UiO-66, Hβ and ZSM-5, respectively. For methanol and its 10 wt% aqueous solution, similar swelling results are obtained due to mutual interactions among the filler, polymer and test liquids. Based on water and glycerol contact angle results, the surface energy of PVA is estimated to be 40.56 Nm⁻¹ and it drops to 27.39 Nm⁻¹ after adding less hydrophilic ZIF-8 or rise to 48.56 Nm⁻¹ after introducing more hydrophilic ZSM-5. The high-film hydrophilicity and then large surface energy have rendered methanol/water sorption selectivity of PVA hybrids decrease to some extent or vice versa.     

改进的工艺路线制备化学计量比的PZN基钙钛矿陶瓷

采用改进的工艺路线制备了化学计量比的Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3-BaTiO3陶瓷,二氧化钛和碳酸钡不经过预烧,与预反应粉体混合球磨,成型后直接烧结,在1100℃和1120℃分别保温1 h,2 h,4 h获得了100%钙钛矿结构的PZN-PT-BT陶瓷,最大密度7.418 g/cm3,最大介电常数7672.     

硅烷偶联剂表面改性玄武岩纤维增强复合材料研究进展

表面改性是增强玄武岩纤维与基体材料之间结合性能的关键。综述了硅烷偶联剂表面改性以及酸、碱刻蚀,等离子处理辅助协同硅烷偶联剂表面改性玄武岩纤维的研究进展,介绍了硅烷偶联剂表面改性玄武岩纤维在聚合物基复合材料中的应用,并对发展趋势进行了展望,同时分析了硅烷偶联剂表面改性玄武岩纤维当前存在的问题。     

基于去中心化交易模式的充电站日前购电策略

电动汽车充电站大规模建设下,协调充电站的充电功率对配电网的安全经济运行具有十分重要的意义。受制于不同充电站之间的利益冲突以及实时控制技术的瓶颈,电网公司难以对充电站实行集中管理。文中基于去中心化交易模式,提出了充电站参与日前电力市场的购电策略。首先,借助区块链存储技术,设计了适用于充电站日前购电协议的智能合约。然后,采用二阶锥规划求解交流最优潮流模型得到不同时间配电网各节点用电的边际成本,并以此为潮流运行点构建线性化阻塞管理模型,从而得到配电网节点边际电价。最后,考虑电动汽车的停泊特性,以购电成本最小为目标建立了充电站分散式优化调度模型并根据价格信号分散求解。在IEEE 33节点配电网系统中进行了充电站购电策略仿真,仿真结果表明,所提出的充电站日前购电策略能实现分散式调度,改善了配电网的潮流分布;同时,节点边际电价能够作为公平的价格信号引导充电站有序充电,在保证配电网安全经济运行的同时降低充电站的购电成本,提高充电机的利用率。     

Novel porous carbon felt cathode modified by cyclic voltammetric electrodeposited polypyrrole and anthraquinone 2-sulfonate for an efficient electro-Fenton process

A novelty two-step synthesized porous carbon felt (PCF) cathode modified by cyclic voltammetric (CV) electrodeposited polypyrrole (Ppy) and anthraquinone 2-sulfonate (AQS) (PCF/Ppy/AQS) for an efficient electro-Fenton process has been investigated. Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) measurements verified the three-dimensional porous structure of the PCF, revealing that the specific surface area was approximately 2.5 times higher than that of the bare carbon felt (CF), which ensured more active sites available for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In addition, the electrodeposited Ppy decreases the charge transfer resistance (R_ct) of the PCF cathode. AQS, a type of anthraquinone that can serve as an oxygen reduction catalyzer, could accelerate the ORR process and subsequently improve the performance of the electro-Fenton system. Rotating disk electrode (RDE) analysis confirmed that the ORR catalyzed by AQS was a double-electron reduction process, which contributed to hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) generation. The removal efficiency of total organic carbon (TOC) from Rhodamine B (RhB) could reach 51% within 1 h in the electro-Fenton system equipped with the PCF/Ppy/AQS, resulting in an improvement of approximately 24% compared with the bare CF cathode without porous treatment. The cycle experiment showed a good stability of the PCF/Ppy/AQS cathode. Additionally, the possible mechanism of degradation process in the electro-Fenton equipped with the PCF/Ppy/AQS cathode was proposed based on the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis and quenching experiment. The novel fabricated PCF/Ppy/AQS provides an alternative as a high-efficiency cathode, yielding energy savings in the electro-Fenton system.     

Application of nano-scale transition metal carbides as accelerants in anaerobic digestion

Four types of nano-scale transition metal carbides (HfC, SiC, TiC, and WC), used as accelerants in anaerobic digestion (AD) with cattle manure, were investigated through batch experiments under mesophilic conditions (37 ± 1 °C). The AD system with four carbide accelerants showed a higher biogas yield (463–499 mL/g TS), chemical oxygen demand (COD) degradation rate (58.62–78.90%) and total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) concentrations (905.0–1077.0 mg/L) as compared with control check (CK, 294 mL/g TS, 46.99%, 290 mg/L). All of the digestate samples from the AD systems using four carbide accelerants showed not only higher degradation of organic compounds during thermal analysis, but also stronger fertilizer values. The use of transition metal compounds (TMCs) as accelerants in AD can efficiently improve the conversion of waste resources into biogas and fertilizers, which can potentially open new avenues for the use of TMCs in upcoming research on biomass energy.     

Semiconductor‐ionic materials could play an important role in advanced fuel‐to‐electricity conversion

Functional semiconductor‐ionic materials can be used to realize a single component or so‐called “three‐in‐one” fuel cell design. Such materials integrate the functionalities of fuel cell's anode, electrolyte, and cathode into one component. The underlying principle of a single‐component fuel cell design combines material band structures with ionic species/transport. The performance values of such devices could exceed that of traditional fuel cells. This could represent a major progress in fuel cell science and technology and lies grounds for a new direction of fuel cell R&D and commercialization.     

Recent Advances in Counter Electrodes for Thiolate-mediated Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on disulfide/thiolate (T₂/T⁻) redox couples have attracted remarkable attention due to their high efficiency and low cost. As an indispensible part of DSSCs, counter electrode (CE) design plays a crucial role in high efficiency DSSCs. This mini-review paper selectively reviews the recent advances in T-mediated DSSCs using novel CE (namely cathode) materials, mainly including noble metal platinum (Pt), carbon materials, transition metal compounds (TMCs), polymers, and hybrids, thus highlighting the merits and demerits of alternative Pt catalysts, and the prospects and challenges of Pt-free CEs for the development of high-performance and low-cost DSSCs.