Accurate method based on data filtering for quantitative multi-element analysis of soils using CF-LIBS

To obtain more stable spectral data for accurate quantitative analysis of multi-element,especially for the large-area in-situ elements detection of soils, we propose a method for a multielement quantitative analysis of soils using calibration-free laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy(CF-LIBS) based on data filtering. In this study, we analyze a standard soil sample doped with two heavy metal elements, Cu and Cd, with a specific focus on the line of Cu I324.75 nm for filtering the experimental data of multiple sample sets. Pre-and post-data filtering,the relative standard deviation for Cu decreased from 30% to 10%, The limits of detection(LOD)values for Cu and Cd decreased by 5% and 4%, respectively. Through CF-LIBS, a quantitative analysis was conducted to determine the relative content of elements in soils. Using Cu as a reference, the concentration of Cd was accurately calculated. The results show that post-data filtering, the average relative error of the Cd decreases from 11% to 5%, indicating the effectiveness of data filtering in improving the accuracy of quantitative analysis. Moreover, the content of Si, Fe and other elements can be accurately calculated using this method. To further correct the calculation, the results for Cd was used to provide a more precise calculation. This approach is of great importance for the large-area in-situ heavy metals and trace elements detection in soil, as well as for rapid and accurate quantitative analysis.

Synthesis of NaY zeolite from a submolten depolymerized perlite:Alkalinity effect and crystallization kinetics

NaY zeolites are synthesized using submolten salt depolymerized natural perlite mineral as the main silica and alumina sources in a 0.94 L stirred crystallizer.Effects of alkalinity ranging from 0.38 to 0.55(n(Na_(2)O)/n(SiO_(2)))on the relative crystallinity,textural properties and crystallization kinetics were investigated.The results show that alkalinity exerts a nonmonotonic influence on the relative crystallinity and textural properties,which exhibit a maximum at the alkalinity of 0.43.The nucleation kinetics are studied by fitting the experimental data of relative crystallinity with the Gualtieri model.It is shown that the nucleation rate constant increases with increasing alkalinity,while the duration period of nucleation decreases with increasing alkalinity.For n(Na_(2)O)/n(SiO_(2))ratios ranging from 0.38 to 0.55,the as-synthesized NaY zeolites exhibit narrower crystal size distributions with the increase in alkalinity.The growth rates determined from the variations of average crystal size with time are 51.09,157.50,46.17 and 24.75 nm·h^(-1),respectively.It is found that the larger average crystal sizes at the alkalinity of 0.38 and 0.43 are attributed to the dominant role of crystal growth over nucleation.Furthermore,the combined action of prominent crystal growth and the longer duration periods of nucleation at the alkalinity of 0.38 and 0.43 results in broader crystal size distributions.The findings demonstrate that control of the properties of NaY zeolite and the crystallization kinetics can be achieved by conducting the crystallization process in an appropriate range of alkalinity of the reaction mixture.

Long Duration Coverage Control of Multiple Robotic Surface Vehicles Under Battery Energy Constraints

Dear Editor,This letter addresses long duration coverage problem of multiple robotic surface vehicles(RSVs) subject to battery energy constraints,in addition to uncertainties and disturbances. An anti-disturbance energy-aware control method is proposed for performing coverage task of RSVs. Firstly, a centroidal Voronoi tessellation(CVT) is used to optimize the partition of the given coverage area.

Safety-Critical Game-Based Formation Control of Underactuated Autonomous Surface Vehicles

Dear Editor,This letter addresses the noncooperative formation control of multiple underactuated autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) in an obstacle-laden environment.Each ASV is subject to external disturbances and fully unknown model parameters.A safety-critical game-based formation control method is proposed such that the multiple AS Vs are able to track a reference trajectory,and accomplish each individual interest in safety behaviors simultaneously.The stability and safety analyses show that the closed-loop system is input-to-state stable (ISS),and the multi-ASV system is guaranteed for input-to-state safety (ISSf).Simulation results substantiate the proposed safety-critical game-based formation control method.

Highly efficient flexible perovskite solar cells with vacuum-assisted low-temperature annealed SnO2 electron transport layer

The demand for lightweight, flexible, and high-performance portable power sources urgently requires high-efficiency and stable flexible solar cells. In the case of perovskite solar cells(PSCs), most of the common electron transport layer(ETL) needs to be annealed for improving the optoelectronic properties,while conventional flexible substrates could barely stand the high temperature. Herein, a vacuumassisted annealing SnO_(2) ETL at low temperature(100℃) is utilized in flexible PSCs and achieved high efficiency of 20.14%. Meanwhile, the open-circuit voltage(V_(oc)) increases from 1.07 V to 1.14 V. The flexible PSCs also show robust bending stability with 86.8% of the initial efficiency is retained after 1000 bending cycles at a bending radius of 5 mm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS), atomic force microscopy(AFM), and contact angle measurements show that the density of oxygen vacancies, the surface roughness of the SnO_(2) layer, and film hydrophobicity are significantly increased, respectively. These improvements could be due to the oxygen-deficient environment in a vacuum chamber, and the rapid evaporation of solvents. The proposed vacuum-assisted low-temperature annealing method not only improves the efficiency of flexible PSCs but is also compatible and promising in the large-scale commercialization of flexible PSCs.

Safety-Critical Model-Free Control for Multi-Target Tracking of USVs with Collision Avoidance

Dear editor,This letter addresses the multi-target tracking of underactuated unmanned surface vehicles(USVs)subject to multiple stationary/moving obstacles.The kinetic model parameters of each USV are totally unknown.A safety-critical model-free control method is proposed for tracking multiple targets with a collision-free containment formation.Specifically,a distributed containment extended state observer(DCESO)is designed to estimate the convex hull spanned by the multiple targets.At the kinematic level,a collision-free kinematic guidance law is presented using a control barrier function(CBF)and an extended state observer for each follower USV.At the kinetic level,a model-free position tracking control law by using an adaptive ESO(AESO)is presented for each follower USV.By the designed safety-critical model-free control method,cooperative tracking of multiple targets under multiple stationary/moving obstacles can be achieved using completely unknown kinetic model parameters.Simulations are provided to illustrate the efficacy of the proposed safety-critical model-free control method for a fleet of USVs.

Influence of Fe-rich phases and precipitates on the mechanical behaviour of Al-Cu-Mn-Fe-Sc-Zr alloys studied by synchrotron X-ray and neutron

A multiscale methodology using scanning and transmission electron microscope,synchrotron X-ray nano-tomography and micro-tomography,small angle neutron scattering,and in situ synchrotron X-ray diffrac-tion has been used,to reveal the effect of Fe-rich phases and precipitates on the mechanical behaviour of an Al-Cu-Mn-Fe-Sc-Zr alloy.Theα-Al grains size is reduced from 185.1μm(0 MPa)and 114.3μm(75 MPa)by applied pressure.Moreover,it has been demonstrated that suitable heat treatments modify the 3D morphology of Fe-rich phases from interconnected to a disaggregated structure that improves the mechanical properties of the alloy.The size and morphology evolution of fine precipitates under differ-ent ageing temperature and time are revealed.At ageing temperature of 160℃,the precipitates change from GP zones toθ’(around 75 nm in length)with ageing time increasing from 1 h to 24 h;the Vick-ers hardness increases from 72.0 HV to 110.7HV.The high ductility of the Sc,Zr modified Al-Cu alloy is related to the complex shape and the loss of interconnectivity of the Fe-rich particles due to the heat treatment.The evolution of the crystal lattice strains inα-Al,andβ-Fe calculated during tensile test us-ing in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction corroborates the influence of the microstructure in the ductility of the modified alloy.

Research on batch multielement rapid quantitative analysis based on the standard curve-assisted calibration-free laserinduced breakdown spectroscopy method

This study proposes a batch rapid quantitative analysis method for multiple elements by combining the advantages of standard curve(SC)and calibration-free laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy(CF-LIBS)technology to achieve synchronous,rapid,and accurate measurement of elements in a large number of samples,namely,SC-assisted CF-LIBS.Al alloy standard samples,divided into calibration and test samples,were applied to validate the proposed method.SC was built based on the characteristic line of Pb and Cr in the calibration sample,and the contents of Pb and Cr in the test sample were calculated with relative errors of 6%and 4%,respectively.SC built using Cr with multiple characteristic lines yielded better calculation results.The relative contents of ten elements in the test sample were calculated using CF-LIBS.Subsequently,the SC-assisted CF-LIBS was executed,with the majority of the calculation relative errors falling within the range of 2%-5%.Finally,the Al and Na contents of the Al alloy were predicted.The results demonstrate that it effectively enables the rapid and accurate quantitative analysis of multiple elements after a single-element SC analysis of the tested samples.Furthermore,this quantitative analysis method was successfully applied to soil and Astragalus samples,realizing an accurate calculation of the contents of multiple elements.Thus,it is important to advance the LIBS quantitative analysis and its related applications.