batterydata/paper-abstracts huggingface dataset:
Transition metal oxides are among the most promising anode candidates for next-generation lithium-ion batteries for their high theoretical capacity. However, the large volume expansion and low lithium ion diffusivity leading to a poor charging/discharging performance. In this study, we developed a surfactant and template-free strategy for the synthesis of a composite of Co x Fe3−x O4 hollow spheres supported by carbon nanotubes via an impregnation–reduction–oxidation process. The synergy of the composite, as well as the hollow structures in the electrode materials, not only facilitate Li ion and electron transport, but also accommodate large volume expansion. Using state-of-the-art electron tomography, we directly visualize the particles in 3-D, where the voids in the hollow structures serve to buffer the volume expansion of the material. These improvements result in a high reversible capacity as well as an outstanding rate performance for lithium-ion battery applications. This study sheds light on large-scale production of hollow structured metal oxides for commercial applications in energy storage and conversion.
Low-cost houses in South Africa are characterized by poor craftsmanship and design with no regard to energy efficient passive solar design features resulting in high electrical energy consumption, uncomfortable indoor thermal environment and poor ventilation efficiency. Incorporating energy efficiency passive solar design strategies and correct material choice can significantly reduce energy consumption in buildings. This paper presents the effects of fly ash to brick properties, thermal comfort analysis and the impact of the ventilation components to the indoor environment of a low-cost energy efficient passive solar house constructed using fly ash bricks. The addition of fly ash to clay improved brick properties. The house was monitored for a period covering all the South African seasons. In summer, the passive solar house was found to be thermally comfortable for 66% of the period monitored, while for winter it was about 79%. Windows were found to have a higher impact on the ventilation rates than doors. The indoor carbon dioxide concentration monitored over night was found to be 0.248%, which is less than the maximum range limit of 0.500%. The performance of the house was seen to depend on how the occupants operate the house. The house was found to create a thermally comfortable indoors environment and experienced minimal temperature and humidity swings, with a better performance in winter than summer.
Is this paper, the electrodeposition/electrodissolution cycling of lead dioxide (PbO2) is studied on vitreous carbon electrodes in lead methanesulfonate/methanesulfonic acid medium for a soluble lead acid flow battery application. The influence of the active species concentrations (Pb2+, H+) on the cyclability of lead dioxide (charge efficiency, lifetime of cycling, etc.) is assessed. The proton has a very adverse effect when its concentration is above 1M. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) shows that the lead dioxide layer can be passivated at the end of reduction when the electrolyte is strongly acidic. Mass changes investigations carried out during PbO2 cycling with a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) confirm the presence of the solid-state reaction predicted in the literature. This side reaction suggests the formation of a non-stoichiometric PbO x compound with a poor solubility and a high electric resistance. The effect of the acid concentration as well as the current density on the formation of PbO x is assessed. The poor cyclability of PbO2 in high acidic media can be related to the accumulation of this resistive compound within the layer. Finally, considerations for an optimal operation of the battery are presented.
With nearly 40% of U.S. adults obese, and childhood and adolescent rates rising, obesity and associated comorbidities are serious public health concerns with massive societal costs. Often, lifestyle interventions do not offer sufficient weight loss to improve health, requiring surgery and medications as adjunct management strategies. Here, we present a 4-month case study in which the sustained, low-dose, and constant administration of the thyroid receptor β selective agonist GC-1 (sobetirome) from a novel nanochannel membrane implant was assessed in an obese, pre-diabetic rhesus macaque. Dramatic loss of white adipose tissue in the abdomen from 36 to 18% was observed via magnetic resonance imaging in conjunction with normalized serum insulin and glycemia, with no signs of cardiotoxicity shown. The non-human primate study highlights sustained low-dose delivery of GC-1 from our minimally invasive subcutaneous implant as a valuable approach to induce weight loss and manage obesity and comorbidities, including type 2 diabetes.
Li4Ti5O12 was successfully synthesized by a modified solid-state reaction method with an in situ coating process. The powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction, BET surface area and scanning electron microscopy. Sub-micron Li4Ti5O12 oxides, with a high phase purity and accurate stoichiometry, were obtained after calcination at 800 °C for 7 h. The pure Li4Ti5O12 electrode material showed a much higher surface area and specific capacity than the one without the ultra-high speed nano-pulverization pretreatment process. Excellent reversible high-rate capability was achieved as 137 mAh g−1 at 10C, 107 mAh g−1 at 20C, 76 mAh g−1 at 40C. The result of the cycling performance showed high capacity retention of about 100% for all charge/discharge rates after 10 cycles. Electrochemical impedance spectra tests demonstrated that the lithium-ion diffusivity in Li4Ti5O12 was improved significantly after the pretreatment, which indicated that the ultra-high speed nano-pulverization treated Li4Ti5O12 with high dispersion and smooth particle surface would be a promising high-rate anode material for lithium-ion battery.
Electric vehicles (EVs) have attracted attention all over the world because of their advantages, such as energy conservation and carbon emission reduction. Li-ion batteries (LIBs) for energy storage in EVs are used because of their high energy density. LiFePO4 is one of the most preferred cathode materials for EVs because of several advantages, such as high specific energy, long life cycle, environmental safety, and low cost. However, at high temperatures, LiFePO4 devices exhibit iron dissolution, which limits the use of LiFePO4 in EVs. This study fabricates an in operando, self-growing, solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the LiFePO4 electrode by using an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) to prevent iron dissolution and extend its life cycle. The APPJ treatment results in the plasma-induced grafting of hydrophilic functional groups on the LiFePO4 surface, which are used for the in operando synthesis of an amorphous a-FePO4·H2O thin layer on the surface and subsequent electrochemical reaction with ethylene carbonate to form a unique core-shell SEI layer. Contact angle measurements and optical emission and Raman spectroscopy analyses reveal the surface characteristics of LiFePO4 after the APPJ treatment. TEM images confirm that the SEI was formed by an amorphous layer with a thickness of 2.73 nm. High-temperature (60 °C) testing reveals that the SEI considerably improved the cycle performance by suppressing iron dissolution. The present study fabricates an in operando, self-growing, core-shell SEI on a LiFePO4 electrode to improve the high-temperature performance of LIBs.
Open circuit voltage (OCV) has a considerable influence on the accuracy of battery state of charge (SOC) estimation. Three efforts have been made to reconstruct OCV for SOC estimation of lithium ion batteries in this study: (1) A new parameter backtracking strategy is proposed for online parameter identification using the recursive least square (RLS) algorithm to obtain stable OCV, which significantly reduces the jitters occurring in OCV identification results. (2) Historical experimental data of lithium ion batteries are used to derive baseline OCV curve and determine constraint boundaries, then an extended Kalman filter (EKF) is employed as a state observer to estimate the SOC for the same types of the batteries that have not been tested. (3) The OCV-SOC curve is reconstructed based on the accumulated online parameter identification and SOC estimation results. The OCV curve can be locally reconstructed even when the accumulated data only cover a partial range of SOC, which is suitable for electric vehicle (EV) operation conditions. Once the OCV curve is reconstructed, the response surface model of OCV-SOC-Capacity is applied to update battery capacity. In this way, the OCV curve can be gradually reconstructed from high SOC to low SOC during battery discharging process. The use of the reconstructed OCV curve to estimate SOC significantly improves the SOC estimation accuracy with the maximum error less than 3% for EV operation conditions.
With the promise of its high conductivity, the ceramic Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7(PO4)3 (x =0.85) of Li3−2x (Al1− x Ti x )2(PO4)3 (x =0.55 to 1.0), as a lithium fast ionic conductor, is produced by a conventional solid-state reaction and introduced into the poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based composite polymer electrolyte films (CPE) to improve their ionic conductivity. The CPE films are prepared by a solution-cast technique and their characteristics are investigated by several experimental techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared (IR) spectra, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). As measured by electrochemical impedance spectrum (EIS) measurement, the temperature-dependent ionic conductivity of PEO–Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7(PO4)3 film with EO/Li=16 is maximized at 2.631×10−6 Scm−1 at room temperature and at 1.185×10−4 Scm−1 at 343K, while the ionic conductivity of the PEO–LiClO4–Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7(PO4)3 film with EO/Li=8 is maximized at 7.985×10−6 Scm−1 at room temperature and at 1.161×10−3 Scm−1 at 373K when Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7(PO4)3 content is 15wt.%.
Graphite electrodes were modified by polyacrylic acid (PAA), polymethacrylic acid (PMA), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Their electrochemical properties were examined in 1moldm−3 LiClO4 ethylene carbonate:dimethyl carbonate (EC:DMC) and propylene carbonate (PC) solutions as an anode of lithium ion batteries. Generally, lithium ions hardly intercalate into graphite in the PC electrolyte due to a decomposition of the PC electrolyte at ca. 0.8V vs. Li/Li+, and it results in the exfoliation of the graphene layers. However, the modified graphite electrodes with PAA, PMA, and PVA demonstrated the stable charge–discharge performance due to the reversible lithium intercalation not only in the EC:DMC but also in the PC electrolytes since the electrolyte decomposition and co-intercalation of solvent were successfully suppressed by the polymer modification. It is thought that these improvements were attributed to the interfacial function of the polymer layer on the graphite which interacted with the solvated lithium ions at the electrode interface.
Lithium, mainly used in electrical energy storage, has also been studied in thermal energy storage. It is recognized as a “critical material” and is produced from minerals and from brines. Chile is one of the biggest producers, here from brine and with lower costs than in other countries. With sensible heat storage, in solar power plants lithium is seen as a way to improve the properties of molten salts used today. The low melting point in these ternary salts with lithium, represent a considerable reduction in the maintenance and operational costs associated with current solar technology, demonstrating that the fluids showed, are potential candidates for thermal energy storage (TES) in concentrated solar plants (CSP) plants. Many materials have been studied and proposed to be used as phase change materials (PCM). Between the multiple materials studied to be used in PCM, lithium materials and mixtures are listed as potential PCM for building applications and for high temperature applications. In thermochemical energy storage, lithium compounds have been used mainly in chemical heat pumps, following their use in absorption cooling.
The transportation sector is characterized by a high consumption of fossil fuels and a strong environmental impact. Promoting electric vehicles is an alternative to reduce and limit them move towards the sustainability of the automobile sector. In a short period of time, world car manufacturers have built, marketed and sold a million electric vehicles, and a million drivers got used to these new low carbon advanced technologies. Comparatively, this figure represents approximately the average annual sales of conventional vehicles in Spain. The main problem is the battery autonomy, since its maximum range does not exceed 250km, a restriction that limits the trip. Spain belongs to the group of countries which have longest trip average around 80km. Then the problem is how to understand electric mobility, for that the types and modes of charging, the types of electric vehicles, and the available charging systems all interact with one another in the charging systems for electric vehicles, which will be specifically analysed. Alternative charging methods are also presented, and the agents involved in the charging process in accordance with applicable regulations are identified. The objective of this article is to analyse the charging of electric vehicles in Spain and to assess the current situation to be able to propose potential improvements or implementation strategies. This paper determines that it is necessary to develop public policies for a structured implementation of charging stations in public places and in common-use areas within large shared spaces, such as parking areas and residential areas in order to improve electric mobility in Spain. This paper also illustrates the need to legislate standards for charging electric vehicles to maximize their implementation in Spain, with the goal of implementing electric vehicles on a larger scale and ultimately allowing society to benefit from the advantages of this technology.
We present a variational framework for the computational homogenization of
chemo-mechanical processes of soft porous materials. The multiscale variational
framework is based on a minimization principle with deformation map and solvent flux
acting as independent variables. At the microscopic scale we assume the existence of
periodic representative volume elements (RVEs) that are linked to the macroscopic scale
via first-order scale transition. In this context, the macroscopic problem is considered
to be homogeneous in nature and is thus solved at a single macroscopic material point.
The microscopic problem is however assumed to be heterogeneous in nature and thus calls
for spatial discretization of the underlying RVE. Here, we employ Raviart–Thomas finite
elements and thus arrive at a conforming finite-element formulation of the problem. We
present a sequence of numerical examples to demonstrate the capabilities of the
multiscale formulation and to discuss a number of fundamental effects.
In today’s digital world, data transmission and storage is becoming a massive problem. This is because the data produced by various sensors worldwide is outstripping the ability to store them. Pre-processing the entire data before transmission is the best solution for reducing the storage issue. ‘Compressed sensing’(CS) is a pre-processing technique that exploits the sparsity of the signal for sampling the data. Since most of the natural signals are sparse, CS allows sampling at a rate lesser than that required in Nyquist sampling theorem. However, in conventional CS, sampling is done for the entire image at once which increases processing time and reduces visual quality. In block compressed sensing (BCS), blocks of the images are processed simultaneously which increases processing speed and decreases the processing time. To improve the quality of the reconstructed signal, a variant of BCS, Adaptive block compressed sensing (ABCS) is used. This review paper studies the advantages, challenges and applications of applying ABCS for image compression.
A study was conducted on 207 lactating camels in six herds in Kenya to evaluate the California mastitis test (CMT) for the detection of intramammary infections (IMIs) caused by Streptococcus agalactiae and Staphylococcus aureus and to investigate the prevalence of both the pathogens in the camel udder. IMI with S. agalactiae was found in 12% of all camels sampled. IMI with S. aureus was present in 11% of all camels sampled. The herd-level prevalence of IMI varied between 0 and 50% for S. agalactiae and between 0 and 13% for S. aureus. Longitudinal observations over 10–12 months confirmed persistent infections for both pathogens. Observations in one herd suggested that camel pox was a contributing factor in spreading and exacerbating S. agalactiae udder infections. The CMT had quarter-level sensitivities of 77 and 68% for S. agalactiae and S. aureus in camels, respectively. The CMT specificities were 91% for both the pathogens.
Recycling battery and electronic wastes for the recovery of nanomaterials (NMs) has ushered in a new era in nanotechnology and environmental research. Essentially, NM recycling offers a two-way method of environmental remediation. The potential economic benefits of high-value NM end-products are conducive for industrial scale operations. Simultaneously, it reduces the industrial consumption of finite primary resources. The added benefits of abating environmental pollution (e.g., from VOCs, VFAs, SO2, NOx, and heavy metals) further contributes to the significance of ongoing research in this particular area. However, some challenges still persist due to the lack of motivation for recycling and the problem of the limited usability (or low stability) of many of the end-products. In this study, we aimed to evaluate different basic aspects of waste recycling in relation to NM recovery, along with other associated techniques. The utility of recovered NMs and potential options for NM recovery are described as highlighting features to help construct a future roadmap for this emerging scientific field. In addition, an assessment of the potential economic returns from recycling high-purity NMs is provided. Outcomes of this review may fuel further innovations for optimizing the current recycling methods for the efficient synthesis of commercial-grade, high purity NMs at minimal cost.
A low temperature (210 °C) aluminothermic reaction process using a eutectic mixture of AlCl3 and ZnCl2 as the mediator has been developed to synthesize porous silicon (Si) as an anode for lithium (Li)-ion battery applications. With carbon pre-coating on the porous SiO2 precursor, carbon coated porous Si (p-Si@C) core-shell structured anodes could be obtained with architecture and morphology similar to that of the porous SiO2 precursor. The carbon coating network not only facilitates the electron and Li+ ion transportation, but also offers good mechanical support minimizing the particle pulverization that is associated with the large volume change of Si during lithiation/delithiation. As a result, p-Si@C anode demonstrates a high specific capacity of ∼2100 mAh g−1 at the current density of 1.2 A g−1 and significantly improved capacity retention of ∼89% over 250 cycles, which is much better than that of p-Si. Therefore, p-Si@C is promising anode for high-energy-density Li-ion batteries. The similar low temperature synthesis approach can also be used to prepare other functional materials.
Hair mineral analysis has become an interesting diagnostic tool in biomonitoring of exposure to toxic elements in the assessment of health and nutritional status. The most inconvenient of this matrix is the lack of sufficient information to define normal ranges of metal levels in a general healthy population. In this study, segmental hair analysis was used to depict a chronological scheme of exposure to arsenic, cobalt, cadmium, chromium, copper, manganese, nickel and lead in a 16-year-old girl showing signs of potential intoxication. The quantitative results obtained from consecutive segments of hair proved the exposure to chromium. In particular, segment A (0–6 cm), approximately reflecting the last 6 months of exposure, resulted in the chromium level at 5.60 µg/g. The technique of segmental analysis allowed us to establish “intra-individual” physiological variation ranges for each heavy metal hair concentration. As a consequence, these “confidence” intervals could be used as individualized references to highlight the occurrence of atypical metal levels in any specific hair segment, possibly identifying a period of anomalous exposure and/or intoxication.
Soft and conformable electronics are emerging rapidly and is envisioned as the future of next-generation electronic devices where devices can be readily deployed in various environments, such as on-body, on-skin or as a biomedical implant. Modern day electronics require electrical conductors as the fundamental building block for stretchable electronic devices and systems. In this review, we will study the various strategies and methods of designing and fabricating materials which are conductive, stretchable and self-healable, and explore relevant applications such as flexible and stretchable sensors, electrodes and energy harvesters.
The development of high-performance electric vehicles depends on high energy density Li metal batteries. However, the growth of Li dendrites causes the typical safety issue with respect of Li metal batteries, which is an obstacle to its commercial application. In this work, we prepare a flexible and tensile polymer coating on Li metal surface, which induces the uniform and dendrite-free deposition of Li metal during cycling. The combination of 18-Crown-6 and polyvinylidene fluoride synergistically allows for the robust flexibility and the high conductivity of Li ions of the prepared coating film. The composite polymer film suppresses lithium dendrites obviously. Results show that polymer coated on electrode has a high coulombic efficiency (∼97.38% after 200 cycles) and a good cycle stability.