batterydata/paper-abstracts huggingface dataset:
The heavy metal content of several rubbish bags used to collect the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is shown in this paper. Nowadays, several public awareness campaigns carried out by municipalities have promoted rubbish bags based mainly on their appearance, without concern for their heavy metal content. A high amount of heavy metals was detected in some polyethylene bags promoted in different campaigns for OFMSW source-sorted collection, while compostable bags presented low quantities of heavy metals. Some other rubbish bags, as well as commercial bags, were also analysed for comparison. These results should be taken into account before promoting the use of one or other type of bag. Moreover, the rubbish bag manufacturers should reduce the heavy metal content in order to avoid heavy metal scattering in the environment, and also to reduce the consumption of raw materials.
A new type of core–shell nanocapsules with Ni nanoparticles as cores and amorphous CuO as shells have been synthesized through the arc-discharge method and subsequently annealing process. Amorphous CuO nanoshells lead to the improved stability and electrochemical performances. When evaluated as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, the Ni/amorphous CuO nanocapsules deliver an initial discharge capacity of 1238.4 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 and maintain a higher reversible capacity of 673.4 mAh g−1 over 100 cycles, compared to the Ni/crystalline CuO nanocapsules (392 mAh g−1). The feasibility of this material in lithium-ion batteries will offer guidelines for the future design of new materials with optimum properties and beneficial structural elements to realize improvements in electrochemical performances.
Amorphous ZnSnO3-C hollow microcubes have been produced by calcination of the pre-synthesized ZnSn(OH)6 hollow microcubes in argon, followed by the surface decoration of carbon. The calcination temperature plays an important role in the phase and morphology of the obtained products. ZnSnO3-C hollow microcubes have an average edge length of about 1.0μm with the shell thickness of approximate 145nm. When adopted as the anode materials for lithium ion batteries, amorphous ZnSnO3-C hollow microcubes manifest greatly enhanced electrochemical properties compared to amorphous ZnSnO3 hollow and solid counterparts. After 50th cycles, a high reversible capacity of 703mA h g−1 can be obtained for amorphous ZnSnO3-C hollow microcubes at the current density of 100mAg−1. The superior lithium storage properties of ZnSnO3-C are due to its unique hollow structure with large specific surface area, the modification of carbon and the amorphous characteristic.
Summary The local formation, and benefits, of industrial clusters have received considerable research attention during the past decade. We argue that the existing literature has underestimated the role of external economies of collective bargaining and production capacity accruing to firms in clusters that are derived from traded relationships with institutions, firms, and customers outside local clusters. We define these benefits as non-cluster economies of traded interdependencies among firms in clusters. To illustrate our arguments, we examine the formation in Beijing, China, of one of the world’s few mobile telecommunications manufacturing clusters. We show how Nokia, the lead firm in the local industrial cluster, is able to create non-cluster external economies for its key suppliers co-locating in this purpose-specific industrial cluster.
Application of pyrethroid insecticides in residential settings may result in children’s exposures to these chemicals and possible adverse health effects. Household dust is a recognized reservoir for pyrethroids and a potential medium for multi-route pyrethroid exposure. Young children move and play in a manner that resuspends dust, and since their breathing zone is close to the floor, they will have higher inhalation exposure to pesticide-laden dust than other age groups. Directly measuring a toddler’s exposure to household dust presents many logistic challenges. We simulated the dust resuspension induced by a toddler using a robot, which also served as a platform to collect air samples at the toddler’s breathing zone height. We performed simulated pyrethroid residential spray and dust resuspension experiments on vinyl and carpeted floors. The mean pyrethroid airborne concentrations in the stationary and mobile samples were 0.065 μg/m3 and 0.143 μg/m3 for the vinyl floor with 1 g/m2 dust loading, and 0.034 μg/m3 and 0.061 μg/m3 for the carpeted floor with 10 g/m2 dust loading, respectively. Pyrethroids concentrations in the settled dust samples were significantly lower than that measured in the stationary and mobile samples in the carpeted floor experiments. Thus, the use of stationary samples and settled dust samples may underestimate a toddler’s personal inhalation exposure to pyrethroids in residential houses.
Supercapacitors, or electrochemical capacitors, are a power storage system applied for harvesting energy and delivering pulses during short periods of time. The commercially available technology is based on charging an electrical double-layer (EDL), and using high surface area carbon electrodes in an organic electrolyte. This review first presents the state-of-the-art on EDL capacitors, with the objective to better understand their operating principles and to improve their performance. In particular, it is shown that capacitance might be enhanced for carbons having subnanometric pores where ions of the electrolyte are distorted and partly desolvated. Then, strategies for using environment friendly aqueous electrolytes are presented. In this case, the capacitance can be enhanced through pseudo-faradaic contributions involving i) surface functional groups on carbons, ii) hydrogen electrosorption, and iii) redox reactions at the electrode/electrolyte interface. The most promising system is based on the use of aqueous alkali sulfate as electrolyte allowing voltages as high as 2 V to be reached, due to the high overpotential for di-hydrogen evolution at the negative electrode.
C/Li2MnSiO4 nanocomposite material was obtained by sol–gel method followed by carbon coating process. Electrochemical properties of nanosized C/Li2MnSiO4 cathode composite were studied in terms of changes in the long range ordering of the crystalline structure. Structural morphology was determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Ex-situ XRD studies confirmed amorphization of material during electrochemical process. Even though, C/Li2MnSiO4 composite revealed high discharge capacity (up to 185 mAh g−1) within 1.5–4.8 V, what corresponds to the exchange of more than one lithium-ion per formula unit (1.11 mole Li+). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies showed substantial changes in electrical properties of Li2MnSiO4 during amorphization process. The obtained results suggest that electrochemically formed amorphous Li2MnSiO4 has much higher electrical conductivity and Li+ ions diffusibility than as-obtained in sol–gel process crystalline one.
The primary purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the executive functions measured by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) between children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and age-matched normal controls. A second purpose was to examine the relations between executive functions and school functions in DCD children. Seventy-one children with DCD and 70 children without motor problems were recruited from 14 public schools. Executive functions and school functions were assessed using the WCST, and the School Function Assessment – Chinese Version (SFA-C) respectively. Univariate analyses demonstrated significant between-group differences in five WCST measures. The logistic regression analysis showed differences between two groups on eight SFA-C subscales, and significant correlation between items measured on WCST and SFA-C was also found. The result of the study provides further evidence of impaired sub-domains of executive functions (i.e., mental shifting, flexibility) in children with DCD. The finding also adds to recent investigations into the relationship between executive functions and school functions in DCD. Implications for rehabilitation professionals and recommendations for further research are discussed.
A general analysis of the discharge process of pasted positive plates of lead–acid batteries is presented. Two models are explored in order to understand qualitatively the phenomenon: a solid-state reaction model and a dissolution–precipitation reaction model. The two models are presented and related to two important phenomena: the existence, always during the discharge, of a reaction zone going from the surface to the bulk of the plate active material and the possibility, for low H2SO4 concentrations and high rates of discharge, of H2SO4 depletion, producing the reduction of the used active material. The influence of the rate of discharge and sulfuric acid concentration on potential versus charge curves during the discharge, on capacity and on plate resistance during the discharge transient, especially for very low discharge rate conditions are analyzed. Two equivalent plates from two different manufacturing technologies are tested. Both models, sometimes with the introduction of some modifications from traditional formulations, explain the different results found.
Effects of the addition of various manganese compounds on anodic performance of carbon nanotube were investigated. It was seen that the Li intercalation capacity decreased drastically by the addition of most manganese compounds. However, addition of Mn(CH3COO)2 greatly improved the capacity for Li intercalation. Li intercalation capacity increased with increasing Mn(CH3COO)2 concentration and the largest capacity of 360 and 330mAh/g for the insertion and reversible Li intercalation was achieved when 1wt.% Mn(CH3COO)2 was added. The increased capacity was sustained after 50 times of charge and discharge cycles. X-ray absorption near edge spectra (XANES) suggests that the state of added Mn ion is close to MnO2 and so the added Mn(CH3COO)2 decomposed during preparation. The surface organic layer formed by the acetic acid appears to give a superior solid electrolyte interface (SEI). The positive effects of Mn(CH3COO)2 are obtained only when manganese ion and acetic acid coexist. Therefore, it is believed that the coexisting Mn ion works as a catalyst for the decomposition of acetic acid.
Feral goats Capra hircus, considered among the world’s most destructive invasive mammals, were introduced to Aldabra Atoll, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Seychelles, before 1878. An eradication programme to remove goats from Aldabra was initiated in 1987, after severe ecological impacts were recorded. Eradication and control efforts continued intermittently for the next 20 years, and a final campaign was launched in 2007 using the Judas goat method. We present the methods, eradication dynamics, outcomes and financial costs of the final eradication campaign between 2007 and 2012. This effort was divided into three phases; (1) establishment of Judas goats and intensive hunting (4 months); (2) monitoring of Judas goats (4 years); and (3) Judas goat elimination and verification of success (8 months). In the focal 5-year period, 227 goats were culled (of 2297 across the entire 25-year period); 202 in phase 1, 21 in phase 2, and four remaining Judas goats in phase 3. The eradication was completed and confirmed successful in August 2012, following the use of multiple measures to confirm the absence of goats. The total cost of the eradication was US$ 185,105, an average of US$ 815/goat, or US$ 31/ha. The eradication, although ultimately successful, posed a unique combination of challenges. We discuss key lessons learned and put the project in context of other major island goat eradications. The financial details, context and lessons are expected to be of value to future practitioners.
The United Nations projects that 60% of the world's population will be living in urban areas by 2030. Cities account for 2% of the world's area but 75% of the world's energy consumption. For over a century, the automobile has offered affordable freedom of movement within urban areas. However, with the current vehicle population exceeding 850 million, almost all of which are powered by internal combustion engines this situation is becoming unsustainable. In this article a critical review of the present energy budget of Turkey and its over dependence on imported fuel oil to support the transport sector is carried out. By way of having a closer examination of the energy needs for the private vehicle fleet, experimental work was undertaken for one town in western Turkey—Bolu. The latter town represents a typical municipality in Turkey with the possibility of replication of the present work to other similar conurbations. The work entailed determination of the driving cycle. A software program that has been expressly developed for this type of exercise was then used to ascertain the savings in fossil fuel that may be achieved via use of solar PV-electric vehicles. It has been presently argued that the use of electricity-propelled, two- and four-wheelers offers a sustainable solution.
The accessible surface area, conductivity, and pore size determine the capacitive properties of carbon-based materials. In this work, hierarchical nanoporous carbon (NPC) materials with a large specific surface area, high conductivity, and suitable pore size are prepared from nanoscaled Al-based metal-organic complex (Al-MOC) by annealing. The annealing temperature has a profound influence on the morphology of the NPC materials which in turn impact the electrochemical performance. Compared to annealing at a low temperature, an interconnected structure is formed at an annealing temperature exceeding 950 °C to produce a larger accessible surface area. Owing to the interconnected structure and high conductivity, sample NPC-950 with the two-electrode configuration has the highest specific capacitance and the best stability. The specific capacitances are 298 Fg-1 at a scanning rate of 1 mVs-1 in symmetrical supercapacitor device. These values are the largest values reported from ultrapure carbon-based EDLCs in an aqueous electrolyte so far. Furthermore, 96.73% of the capacity is retained after 5000 cycles in 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte. In an organic electrolyte, the supercapacitor cells composed of NPC produce an energy density of 43 Wh kg−1. The NPC materials with large specific capacity and excellent stability produced by the simple and cost effective technique have large potential in supercapacitors.
Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries are one of the most interesting options for the large energy storage. In spite of the tremendous improvements that have taken place in recent years concerning materials and architectures, laboratory tests under controlled conditions have almost always been confined to small-scale single-cell devices. This paper reports the experimental results obtained on an industrial-size 9 kW/26 kW h 40-cell 600-cm2 stack, during charge and discharge in two working conditions, i.e. fast mode and steady-state mode, representative of real grid operations, which occur e.g. in primary frequency regulation and peak shaving. Results show that current densities as high as 665 mA cm−2 and power densities of 370 mW cm−2 per cell at a specific flow rate of 20.5⋅10−3 cm s−1 can be achieved in the stack at high state of charge, thanks to proper control strategies. A procedure for qualifying such performance has been developed and is here presented.
To widen the practical application of supercapacitors in acid electrolyte, carbon/molybdenum nitride (C/MoxN) nanofibers are synthesized via combination of electrospinning method and thermal treatment in mixed gas atmosphere of N2 and NH3. When the mass fraction of ammonium molybdate of 1.13 wt.% is added in the precursor mixture solution, as-prepared C/MoxN composite shows the nanofibers of about 200 nm diameter with MoxN nanoparticles uniformly embedded in the N-doped carbon substrate, and delivers a specific capacitance of 251 F g−1. Three types of supercapacitor devices of PANI||C/MoxN, AC||C/MoxN and C/MoxN||C/MoxN are configured in acid electrolyte. The asymmetric supercapacitor of PANI||C/MoxN shows a maximum energy density of 14.1 Wh kg−1 and power density of 312 W kg−1, which was larger than those of AC||C/MoxN device (12 Wh kg−1, and 325 W kg−1) and symmetric supercapacitors of C/MoxN||C/MoxN device (4.51 Wh kg−1, and 250 W kg−1). The C/MoxN||C/MoxN device exhibits good cycle life of specific capacitance retention of 78.6% at 2 A g−1 after 15, 000 cycles.
Probenazole (3-allyloxy-1,2-benzisothiazole-1,1-dioxide, PBZ), the active component of Oryzemate, could induce systemic acquired resistance (SAR) in plants through the induction of salicylic acid (SA) biosynthesis. As a widely used chemical inducer, PBZ is a good prospect for establishing a new chemical-inducible system. We first designed artificially synthetic promoters with tandem copies of a single type of cis-element (SARE, JERE, GCC, GST1, HSRE, and W-box) that could mediate the expression of the β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene in plants upon PBZ treatment. Then we combined different types of elements in order to improve inducibility in the PBZ-inducible system. On the other hand, we were surprised to find that the cis-elements, which are responsive to jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene, also responded to PBZ, implying that SA, JA, and ethylene pathways also would play important roles in PBZ’s action. Further analysis demonstrated that PBZ also induced early events of innate immunity via a signaling pathway in which Ca2+ influx and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activity were involved. We constructed synthesized artificial promoters to establish a PBZ chemical-inducible system, and preliminarily explored SA, JA, ethylene, calcium, and MAPK signaling pathways via PBZ-inducible system, which could provide an insight for in-depth study.
Four MnO2 samples were synthesized through a simple reaction of KMnO4 with high-purity graphite in different concentrations of sulfuric acid at low temperature. Their morphology, crystal structure and performance as cathode catalysts of zinc-air battery were investigated with X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transformation infrared spectrometer (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and electrochemical tests. It is found that the crystal structure and the morphology of the synthesized samples depend on the sulfuric acid concentration. The synthesized samples have large specific surface area and exhibit excellent performance compared to the commercial electrolytic manganese dioxide (γ-MnO2). Two varieties of manganese dioxides, δ-MnO2 (the as-prepared samples a and b) and α-MnO2 (the as-prepared sample c and d), were obtained when using low and high sulfuric acid concentration, respectively. Higher sulfuric acid concentration favors the agglomeration of the particles. The specific surface area of samples a, b, c, d, and γ-MnO2 is 83.2, 81.1, 88.5, 86.8, and 43.5m2 g−1, corresponding to discharge capacity of zinc-air batteries is 169.5, 160.3, 175.2, 171.5, and 112.2mAh, respectively.
Electroactive materials with hollow nanostructures received great attractiveness due to large surface area, low density and superior structure permeablity. The paper reported a new template synthesis of nickel/cobalt layered double hydroxides (Ni/Co-LDH) without any adscititious alkali source, oxidant and step for removal of the template. Nickel nitrate, cobalt nitrate and SiO2 nanosphere were dispersed in an ethanol solution. Then, the mixed soution was heated at 160°C for 6h to obtain Ni/Co-LDH product. During the process, ethanol and nitrate underwent a redox reaction releasing hydroxide ions, which will react with nickel and cobalt ions to form ultrathin Ni/Co-LDH nanoflakes. Meanwhile, SiO2 template was gently dissolved by hydroxide ions. Interestingly, perfect match between generation rate of Ni/Co-LDH nanoflakes and removal rate of the template creates an elaborate three-dimensional structure with well-defined hollow interior and hydrangea-like exterior. The unique structure will greatly improve electron and mass transfer during the faradic redox reaction. The Ni/Co-LDH electrode exhibits excellent electrochemical performance for supercapacitors. Its specific capacitance is up to 2158.7Fg−1 at the current density of 1Ag−1 and 1965.6Fg−1 at the current density of 5Ag−1. The capacitance can keep at least 97.5% of initial value after 1500 cycles. The study also provides prominent approach for the fabrication of hollow nanomaterials with three-dimensional structure for supercapacitors, Li-ion batteries, catalyst and sensors.
Methanol electro-oxidation reaction over carbon-supported platinum nanoparticles, including methanol adsorption, apparent reaction order and activation energy, in acidic and alkaline media was investigated comparatively. The results show that the rate constant for methanol adsorption in 1M NaOH is significantly higher than that in 0.5M H2SO4 at the relatively low potential and the COad removal in alkaline media is easier, due to the availability of oxygen-containing species, than in acidic media at the same potential. The apparent activation energy for the MOR in alkaline media is 25.3–14.6kJmol−1, significantly lower than that in acidic media (34.9–28.5kJmol−1). The better MOR activity of Pt/C in alkaline media is attributed to the faster methanol adsorption and the availability of oxygen-containing species.
Using a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell to convert solar energy to either electricity or chemical fuels has attracted much attention in the last four decades. However, two major obstacles that hinder wide-spread application of this approach lie in the relatively wide bandgap of chemically stable semiconducotrs, e.g., TiO2, and the rapid recombination of photogenerated charge carriers once they are generated within the semiconductors. We reported herein a method that utilized vanadium redox pairs, which are commonly used in vanadium redox-flow batteries (VRB), to mitigate charge carrier recombination and thus to improve photoresponse in regenerative solar energy storage for the first time. The results showed significant improvement in photocurrent during photo-charging of the all-vanadium PEC storage cell with the addition of a very low morlarity of vanadium redox species (0.01M) to the acid electrolytes. Additonally, the photocurrent was almost doubled even with a TiO2 electrode when two vanadium redox species were used in a full-cell configuration instead of a half-cell setup. To further enhance the light absorption, a TiO2/WO3 tandem electrode was studied and compared to the TiO2 electrode in various vanadium redox electrolytes. The tandem electrode showed higher photoresponse in all electrolytes investigated. Furthermore, the important role of vanadium redox species and WO3 have been discussed.
Carbon-supported Rh porphyrins catalyze the oxidation of carbon monoxide by water-soluble electron acceptors. The rate of this reaction is plotted as a function of the redox potential of the electron acceptor. The rate increases with an increase in the redox potential until it reaches a plateau. This profile can be explained in terms of the electrocatalytic CO oxidation activity of the Rh porphyrin. The removal of CO from CO(2%)/H2 by a solution containing a carbon-supported Rh porphyrin and an electron acceptor is examined. The complete conversion of CO to CO2 is achieved with only a slight amount of Rh porphyrins. Rh porphyrin on carbon black gives higher conversion than that dissolved in solution. This reaction can be used not only to remove CO in anode gas of stationary polymer electrolyte fuel cells but also to regenerate a reductant in indirect CO fuel cell systems.