Hierarchically Structured Nb_(2)O_5 Microflowers with Enhanced Capacity and Fast-Charging Capability for Flexible Planar Sodium Ion Micro-Supercapacitors

Planar Na ion micro-supercapacitors(NIMSCs) that offer both high energy density and power density are deemed to a promising class of miniaturized power sources for wearable and portable microelectron-ics. Nevertheless, the development of NIMSCs are hugely impeded by the low capacity and sluggish Na ion kinetics in the negative electrode.Herein, we demonstrate a novel carbon-coated Nb_(2)O_5 microflower with a hierarchical structure composed of vertically intercrossed and porous nanosheets, boosting Na ion storage performance. The unique structural merits, including uniform carbon coating, ultrathin nanosheets and abun-dant pores, endow the Nb_(2)O_5 microflower with highly reversible Na ion storage capacity of 245 mAh g^(-1) at 0.25 C and excellent rate capability.Benefiting from high capacity and fast charging of Nb_(2)O_5 microflower, the planar NIMSCs consisted of Nb_(2)O_5 negative electrode and activated car-bon positive electrode deliver high areal energy density of 60.7 μWh cm^(-2),considerable voltage window of 3.5 V and extraordinary cyclability. Therefore, this work exploits a structural design strategy towards electrode materials for application in NIMSCs, holding great promise for flexible microelectronics.

Formation mechanism of bright and dark concentric-ring pattern in dielectric barrier discharge

In this work,a bright and dark concentric-ring pattern is reported in a dielectric barrier discharge for the first time.The spatiotemporal dynamics of the bright and dark concentric-ring pattern are investigated with an intensified charge-coupled device and photomultiplier tubes.The results indicate that the bright and dark concentric-ring pattern is composed of three concentric-ring sublattices.These are bright concentric-ring structures,dark concentric-ring structures and wider concentric-ring structures,respectively.The bright concentric-ring structures and dark concentricring structures are alternately distributed.The bright concentric-ring structures are located at the centre of the wider concentric-ring structures.The wider concentric-ring structures first form from the outer edge and gradually develop to the centre.The essence of all three concentric-ring structures is the individual discharge filaments.The optical emission spectra of different sublattices are acquired and analysed.It is found that the plasma parameters of the three concentricring sublattices are different.Finally,the formation mechanism of the bright and dark concentricring pattern is discussed.

Influence of bias voltage and oxygen addition on the discharge aspects of a diffuse argon plume in an atmospheric pressure plasma jet

A remote plasma,also referred to as a plasma plume(diffuse or filamentary),is normally formed downstream of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet.In this study,a diffuse plume is formed by increasing the bias voltage(U_(b))applied to the downstream electrode of an argon plasma jet excited by a negatively pulsed voltage.The results indicate that the plume is filamentary when U_(b)is low,which transits to the diffuse plume with increasing U_(b).The discharge initiated at the rising edge of the pulsed voltage is attributed to the diffuse plume,while that at the falling edge contributes to the filament in the plume.For the diffuse plume,the discharge intensity decreases with the increasing oxygen content(C_o).Fast photography reveals that the diffuse plume results from a negative streamer,which has a dark region near the nozzle with C_o=0%.However,the dark region is absent with C_o=0.5%.From the optical emission spectrum,the electron density,electron excitation temperature,gas temperature,and oxygen atom concentration are investigated.

Hydrogenic donor impurity states and intersubband optical absorption spectra of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides in dielectric environments

The hydrogenic donor impurity states and intersubband optical absorption spectra in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides(ML TMDs) under dielectric environments are theoretically investigated based on a two-dimensional(2D)nonorthogonal associated Laguerre basis set. The 2D quantum confinement effect together with the strongly reduced dielectric screening results in the strong attractive Coulomb potential between electron and donor ion, with exceptionally large impurity binding energy and huge intersubband oscillator strength. These lead to the strong interaction of the electron with light in a 2D regime. The intersubband optical absorption spectra exhibit strong absorption lines of the non-hydrogenic Rydberg series in the mid-infrared range of light. The strength of the Coulomb potential can be controlled by changing the dielectric environment. The electron affinity difference leads to charge transfer between ML TMD and the dielectric environment, generating the polarization-electric field in ML TMD accompanied by weakening the Coulomb interaction strength. The larger the dielectric constant of the dielectric environment, the more the charge transfer is, accompanied by the larger polarization-electric field and the stronger dielectric screening. The dielectric environment is shown to provide an efficient tool to tune the wavelength and output of the mid-infrared intersubband devices based on ML TMDs.

Realization of homogeneous dielectric barrier discharge in atmospheric pressure argon and the effect of beads on its characteristics

This paper describes the realization of a homogeneous dielectric barrier discharge(DBD)in argon at atmospheric pressure.The effect of the morphology of the dielectric surface(especially the dielectric surface covered by hollow ceramic beads(99%Al_(2)O_(3))with different diameters)on discharge is investigated.With different dielectrics,the argon DBD presents two discharge modes:a filamentary mode and a homogeneous mode.Fast photography shows that the filamentary mode operates in a streamer discharge,and the homogeneous mode operates in a Townsend discharge regime.It is found that a homogeneous discharge can be generated within a certain voltage range.The voltage amplitude range decreases,and the breakdown voltage increases with the increase in the mean diameter of the ceramic beads.Waveforms of the total current and optical emission signal present stochastic pulses per half voltage cycle for the filamentary mode,whereas there is one single hump per half voltage cycle for the homogeneous mode.In the homogeneous mode,the intensity of the optical emission decreases with the mean diameter of the ceramic beads.The optical emission spectrum is mainly composed of atomic lines of argon and the second positive system of molecular nitrogen.It reveals that the electron density decreases with the increasing mean diameter of the ceramic beads.The vibrational temperature increases with the increasing mean diameter of the ceramic beads.It is believed that a large number of microdischarges are formed,and smaller ceramic beads have a larger activation surface area and more point discharge.Electrons liberated in the shallow well and electrons generated from microdischarges can increase the secondary electron emission coefficient of the cathode and provide initial electrons for discharge continuously.Therefore,the breakdown electric field is reduced,which contributes to easier generation of homogeneous discharge.This is confirmed by the simulation results.

Adsorption dynamics of double-stranded DNA on a graphene oxide surface with both large unoxidized and oxidized regions

The adsorption dynamics of double-stranded DNA(dsDNA)molecules on a graphene oxide(GO)surface are important for applications of DNA/GO functional structures in biosensors,biomedicine and materials science.In this work,molecular dynamics simulations were used to examine the adsorption of different length dsDNA molecules(from 4 bp to24 bp)on the GO surface.The dsDNA molecules could be adsorbed on the GO surface through the terminal bases and stand on the GO surface.For short dsDNA(4 bp)molecules,the double-helix structure was partially or totally broken and the adsorption dynamics was affected by the structural fluctuation of short dsDNA and the distribution of the oxidized groups on the GO surface.For long dsDNA molecules(from 8 bp to 24 bp)adsorption is stable.By nonlinear fitting of the contact angle between the axis of the dsDNA molecule and the GO surface,we found that a dsDNA molecule adsorbed on a GO surface has the chance of orienting parallel to the GO surface if the length of the dsDNA molecule is longer than 54 bp.We attributed this behavior to the flexibility of dsDNA molecules.With increasing length,the flexibility of dsDNA molecules also increases,and this increasing flexibility gives an adsorbed dsDNA molecule more chance of reaching the GO surface with the free terminal.This work provides a whole picture of adsorption of dsDNA molecules on the GO surface and should be of benefit for the design of DNA/GO based biosensors.

Benchmarking calculations of excitation energies and transition properties with spectroscopic accuracy of highly charged ions used for the fusion plasma and astrophysical plasma

Atomic radiative data such as excitation energies, transition wavelengths, radiative rates, and level lifetimes with high precision are the essential parameters for the abundance analysis, simulation, and diagnostics in fusion and astrophysical plasmas. In this work, we mainly focus on reviewing our two projects performed in the past decade. One is about the ions with Z■30 that are generally of astrophysical interest, and the other one is about the highly charged krypton(Z = 36)and tungsten(Z = 74) ions that are relevant in research of magnetic confinement fusion. Two different and independent methods, namely, multiconfiguration Dirac–Hartree–Fock(MCDHF) and the relativistic many-body perturbation theory(RMBPT) are usually used in our studies. As a complement/extension to our previous works for highly charged tungsten ions with open M-shell and open N-shell, we also mainly focus on presenting and discussing our complete RMBPT and MCDHF calculations for the excitation energies, wavelengths, electric dipole(E1), magnetic dipole(M1), electric quadrupole(E2), and magnetic quadrupole(M2) transition properties, and level lifetimes for the lowest 148 levels belonging to the 3l3configurations in Al-like W61+. We also summarize the uncertainties of our systematical theoretical calculations, by cross-checking/validating our datasets from our RMBPT and MCDHF calculations, and by detailed comparisons with available accurate observations and other theoretical calculations. The data are openly available in Science Data Bank at https://doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.10569.

Light-assisted rechargeable zinc-air battery:Mechanism,progress,and prospects

Exploring effective energy storage systems is critical to alleviate energy scarcity.Rechargeable zinc-air batteries are promising energy storage devices.However,conventional rechargeable zinc-air battery systems face many challenges associated with electrolytes and electrodes,causing inferior electrochemistry performance.The light-assisted strategy represents a novel and innovative approach to conventional zinc-air battery technology that uses only electrical energy.This strategy effectively combines both light and electrical energy conversion/storage mechanisms.In addition,light-assisted rechargeable zinc-air batteries can achieve photocharging with or without applied electrical bias by partially using solar energy and the acceleration of oxygen reduction/evolution reaction kinetics.In this paper,the working mechanism and structural design of the light-assisted rechargeable zinc-air batteries are introduced based on the theory of photoelectrochemistry and its characteristics.Then,the latest advances in electrolyte and photocathode design strategies are discussed in detail.The performance enhancement of aqueous light-assisted rechargeable zinc-air batteries using photoelectric materials is explained.Finally,a summary and outlook on the further modification of properties of light-assisted rechargeable zinc-air batteries,especially the photovoltaic electrode catalyst design strategies,are illustrated.This review provides insights and guidance for the design of high-performance light-assisted rechargeable Zn-air batteries for next-generation energy storage devices.

Unveiling the Re,Cr,and I diffusion in saturated compacted bentonite using machine-learning methods

The safety assessment of high-level radioactive waste repositories requires a high predictive accuracy for radionuclide diffusion and a comprehensive understanding of the diffusion mechanism.In this study,a through-diffusion method and six machine-learning methods were employed to investigate the diffusion of ReO_(4)^(−),HCrO_(4)^(−),and I−in saturated compacted bentonite under different salinities and compacted dry densities.The machine-learning models were trained using two datasets.One dataset contained six input features and 293 instances obtained from the diffusion database system of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency(JAEA-DDB)and 15 publications.The other dataset,comprising 15,000 pseudo-instances,was produced using a multi-porosity model and contained eight input features.The results indicate that the former dataset yielded a higher predictive accuracy than the latter.Light gradient-boosting exhibited a higher prediction accuracy(R2=0.92)and lower error(MSE=0.01)than the other machine-learning algorithms.In addition,Shapley Additive Explanations,Feature Importance,and Partial Dependence Plot analysis results indicate that the rock capacity factor and compacted dry density had the two most significant effects on predicting the effective diffusion coefficient,thereby offering valuable insights.

Transition from a filamentary mode to a diffuse one with varying distance from needle to stream of an argon plasma jet

Plasma jet has extensive application potentials in various fields, which normally operates in a diffuse mode when helium is used as the working gas. However, when less expensive argon is used, the plasma jet often operates in a filamentary mode. Compared to the filamentary mode, the diffuse mode is more desirable for applications. Hence, many efforts have been exerted to accomplish the diffuse mode of the argon plasma jet. In this paper, a novel single-needle argon plasma jet is developed to obtain the diffuse mode. It is found that the plasma jet operates in the filamentary mode when the distance from the needle tip to the central line of the argon stream(d) is short. It transits to the diffuse mode with increasing d. For the diffuse mode, there is always one discharge pulse per voltage cycle, which initiates at the rising edge of the positive voltage. For comparison, the number of discharge pulse increases with an increase in the peak voltage for the filamentary mode. Fast photography reveals that the plasma plume in the filamentary mode results from a guided positive streamer,which propagates in the argon stream. However, the plume in the diffuse mode originates from a branched streamer, which propagates in the interfacial layer between the argon stream and the surrounding air. By optical emission spectroscopy,plasma parameters are investigated for the two discharge modes, which show a similar trend with increasing d. The diffuse mode has lower electron temperature, electron density, vibrational temperature, and gas temperature compared to the filamentary mode.

Reconfigurable(4, 6^(2)) and(4, 8^(2)) Archimedean plasma photonic crystals in dielectric barrier discharge

Archimedean photonic crystal has become a research area of great interest due to its various unique properties. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the realization of reconfigurable(4, 6^(2))and(4, 8^(2)) Archimedean plasma photonic crystals(APPCs) by use of dielectric barrier discharges in air. Dynamical control on both the macrostructures including the lattice symmetry and the crystal orientation, and the microstructures including the fine structures of scattering elements has been achieved. The formation mechanisms of APPCs are studied by time-resolved measurements together with numerical simulations. Large omnidirectional band gaps of APPCs have been obtained. The tunable topology of APPCs may offer new opportunities for fabricating multi-functional and highly-integrated microwave devices.

Production of χc and ηc in Ultra-Peripheral Collisions with Two-Photon Processes

We calculate the production of χc and ηc by the two-photon process in ultra-peripheral heavy ion collisions at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and Large Hadron Collider (LHC) energies. The differential cross section of transverse momentum distribution and rapidity distribution for (H = χc and ηc), are estimated by using the equivalent photon flux in the impact parameter space. The numerical results indicate that the study of χc and ηc in ultra-peripheral heavy ion collisions are feasible at RHIC and LHC energies.

Numerical modeling of DPSK pressure signals and their transmission characteristics in mud channels

A numerical model and transmission characteristic analysis of DPSK （differential phase shift keying） pressure signals in mud channels is introduced. With the control logic analysis of the rotary valve mud telemetry, a logical control signal is built from a Gate function sequence according to the binary symbols of transmitted data and a phase-shift function is obtained by integrating the logical control signal. A mathematical model of the DPSK pressure signal is built based on principles of communications by modulating carrier phase with the phase-shift function and a numerical simulation of the pressure wave is implemented with the mathematical model by MATLAB programming. Considering drillpipe pressure and drilling fluid temperature profile along drillpipes, the drillpipe of a vertical well is divided into a number of sections. With water-based drilling fluids, the impacts of travel distance, carrier frequency, drillpipe size, and drilling fluids on the signal transmission were studied by signal transmission characteristic analysis for all the sections. Numerical calculation results indicate that the influences of the viscosity of drilling fluids and volume fraction of gas in drilling fluids on the DPSK signal transmission are more notable than the others and the signal will distort in waveform with differential attenuations of the signal frequent component.

CoN_(x)C active sites-rich three-dimensional porous carbon nanofibers network derived from bacterial cellulose and bimetal-ZIFs as efficient multifunctional electrocatalyst for rechargeable Zn–air batteries

In this work, a CoNxC active sites-rich three-dimensional porous carbon nanofibers network derived from bacterial cellulose and bimetal-ZIFs is prepared via a nucleation growth strategy and a pyrolysis process.The material displays excellent electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction, reaching a high limiting diffusion current density of -7.8 mA cm^(-2), outperforming metal–organic frameworks derived multifunctional electrocatalysts, and oxygen evolution reaction and hydrogen evolution reaction with low overpotentials of 380 and 107 mV, respectively. When the electrochemical properties are further evaluated, the electrocatalyst as an air cathode for Zn-air batteries exhibits a high cycling stability for63 h as well as a maximum power density of 308 mW cm^(-2), which is better than those for most Zn-air batteries reported to date. In addition, a power density of 152 mW cm^(-2) is provided by the solid-state Zn-air batteries, and the cycling stability is outstanding for 24 h. The remarkable electrocatalytic properties are attributed to the synergistic effect of the 3 D porous carbon nanofibers network and abundant inserted CoNxC active sites, which enable the fast transmission of ions and mass and simultaneously provide a large contact area for the electrode/electrolyte.

Symmetries and Mei Conserved Quantities of Nonholonomic Controllable Mechanical Systems

This paper concentrates on studying the symmetries and a new type of conserved quantities called Mei conserved quantity. The criterions of the Mei symmetry, the Noether symmetry and the Lie symmetry are given. The conditions and the forms of the Mei conserved quantities deduced from these three symmetries are obtained. An example is given to illustrate the application of the result.

Influence of oxygen gas content on the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature

Zinc oxide （ZnO） thin films were deposited on sapphire （0001） substrates at room temperature by radiofrequency （RF） magnetron sputtering at oxygen gas contents of 0%, 25%, 50% and 75%, respectively. The influence of oxygen gas content on the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films was studied by a surface profile measuring system, X-ray diffraction analysis, atomic force microscopy, and UV spectro- photometry. It is found that the size of ZnO crystalline grains increases first and then decreases with the increase of oxygen gas content, and the maximum grain size locates at the 25% oxygen gas content. The crystalline quality and average optical transmittance （〉90%） in the visi- ble-light region of the ZnO film prepared at an oxygen gas content of 25% are better than those of ZnO films at the other contents. The obtained results can be attributed to the resputtefing by energetic oxygen anions in the growing process.

Discontinuous bifurcation and coexistence of attractors in a piecewise linear map with a gap

Coexistence of attractors with striking characteristics is observed in this work, where a stable period-5 attractor coexists successively with chaotic band-ll, period-6, chaotic band-12 and band-6 attractors. They are induced by dif- ferent mechanisms due to the interaction between the discontinuity and the non-invertibility. A characteristic boundary collision bifurcation, is observed. The critical conditions are obtained both analytically and numerically.

Comparison of discharge characteristics and methylene blue degradation through a direct-current excited plasma jet with air and oxygen used as working gases

Through using a direct-current driven plasma jet operated underwater,degradation of methylene blue(MB)is investigated with air and oxygen used as working gases.With a low power voltage,a plasma plume extends from the needle electrode,which is purple in air.It turns pink after it bridges the two electrodes.During the process,oxygen plasma remains white.Discharge operates in a pulsed mode or a continuous one,which depends on the magnitude of power voltage.For the pulsed mode,oxygen discharge has a shorter plume and a higher pulse frequency than air discharge under the same power voltage.For the same current of the continuous mode,both power and gap voltages of oxygen discharge are higher than those of air discharge.Moreover,MB degradation efficiency increases with increasing power voltage or initial concentration of MB solution.Compared with air discharge,oxygen discharge has a higher degradation efficiency with the same power voltage and treatment time.The pulsed oxygen discharge with power voltage of about 6.5 k V has the highest efficiency in degrading MB dye,reaching approximately 85.8%after 10 min treatment.As a comparison,after 10 min treatment in air discharge,the highest degradation efficiency is 63.7%,which appears in the continuous mode at a power voltage of 10.6 kV.Besides,optical spectra from the discharges are also compared for the two types of working gases.

DFT calculation on relaxation and electronic structure of sulfide minerals surfaces in presence of H_2O molecule

First-principles calculations are performed to investigate the relaxation and electronic properties of sulfide minerals surfaces(MoS2, Sb2S3, Cu2 S, ZnS, PbS and FeS2) in presence of H2 O molecule. The calculated results show that the structure and electronic properties of sulfide minerals surfaces have been influenced in presence of H2 O molecule. The adsorption of the flotation reagent at the interface of mineral-water would be different from that of mineral surface due to the changes of surface structures and electronic properties caused by H2 O molecule. Hence, the influence of H2 O molecule on the reaction of flotation reagent with sulfide mineral surface will attract more attention.

Perturbation to Mei symmetry and Mei adiabatic invariants for discrete generalized Birkhoffian system

Based on the concept of discrete adiabatic invariant, this paper studies the perturbation to Mei symmetry and Mei adiabatic invariants of the discrete generalized Birkhoffian system. The discrete Mei exact invariant induced from the Mei symmetry of the system without perturbation is given. The criterion of the perturbation to Mei symmetry is established and the discrete Mei adiabatic invariant induced from the perturbation to Mei symmetry is obtained. Meanwhile, an example is discussed to illustrate the application of the results.