Reversible aqueous aluminum metal batteries enabled by a water-in-salt electrolyte

Aluminum(Al),the most abundant metallic element on the earth crust,has been reckoned as a promising battery material for its the highest theoretical volume capacity(8046 mAh cm^(-3)).Being rechargeable in ionic liquid electrolytes,however,the Al anode and battery case suffer from corrosion.On the other hand,Al is irreversible in aqueous electrolyte with severe hydrogen evolution reaction.Here,we demonstrate a water-in-salt aluminum ion electrolyte(WISE)based on Al and lithium salts to tackle the above challenges.In the WISE system,water molecules can be confined within the Li^(+)solvation structures.This diminished Al^(3+)-H_(2)O interaction essentially eliminates the hydrolysis effect,effectively protecting Al anode from corrosion.Therefore,long-term Al plating/stripping can be realized.Furthermore,two types of high-performance full batteries have been demonstrated using copper hexacyanoferrate(CuHCF,a Prussian Blue Analogues)and LiNi_(0.8)Co_(0.1)Mn_(0.1)O_(2)(NCM)as cathodes.The reversibility of Al anode laid the foundation for low cost rechargeable batteries suffering for large-scale energy storage.Broader context:Al batteries are expected to become a safe and sustainable alternative to lithium batteries.For decades,chase for a feasible Al secondary battery has not been successful.The key challenge is to find suitable cathode and electrolyte materials,together with which Al anode battery can function reversibly.Currently,fatal drawbacks have impeded the practical application of Al metal batteries(AMBs),such as sustained corrosion of Al anode and battery case in ionic liquid electrolytes,irreversibility issues as well as severe hydrogen evolution reaction during cycling in aqueous electrolyte.Therefore,electrolyte and their electrochemical kinetics play a vital role in the performance and environmental operating limitations of high-energy Al metal batteries.In this work,we demonstrate a nearly neutral Al ion water-in-salt electrolyte(WISE)to tackle the above challenges.The WISE shows excellent stability in the open atmosphere.The distinct solvation-sheath structure of Al^(3+)in the WISE system would protect Al metal anodes from corrosion and eliminate hydrogen evolution reaction effectively,further promoting the reversibility of Al metal anodes with dendrite-free morphology.Moreover,such a WISE exhibits superior compatibility with LiNi_(0.3)Co_(0.3)Mn_(0.3)O_(2)(NCM)and copper hexacyanoferrate(CuHCF)cathodes and long-term stabilities with high coulombic efficiency(CE)can be attained for full batteries with the WISE.The approach in this study can furnish an opportunity to develop reversible AMBs and lay the foundation for other potential multivalent-metalbased secondary batteries suffering from interface passivation and poor reversibility,which suggest the promise of multivalent metal batteries and their applications in large-scale energy storage.

Algorithm for cavity flow in a new-born goaf and experimental verification

Prevention and control measures of spontaneous combustion of coal and gas accumulation in a goaf require an accurate description of its gas flow state.However,the commonly used fluid dynamics in porous media is not suitable for the new-born goaf with fracture cavity combination,multi-scale,and large blocks.In this study,we propose a cavity flow algorithm to accurately describe the gas flow state in the new-born goaf.The genetic algorithm(GA)is used to randomly generate the binary matrix of a goaf caving shape.The difference between the gas flow state calculated by the lattice Boltzmann method(LBM)and the measured data at the boundary or internal measuring points of the real goaf is taken as the GA fitness value,and the real goaf caving shape and the gas flow state are quickly addressed by GA.The experimental model of new-born goaf is established,and the laser Doppler anemometry(LDA)experiment is carried out.The results show that the Jaccard similarity coefficient between the reconstructed caving shape and the real caving shape is 0.7473,the mean square error between the calculated wind speed and the LDA-measured value is 0.0244,and the R2 coefficient is 0.8986,which verify the feasibility of the algorithm.

Investigating the Use of Translation Continuation Tasks in Commercial Translation Teaching: A Study on Translating User Manuals

Based on the xu-argument, this study investigated the use of translation continuation tasks in commercial translation instruction. Forty-four second-year Business English majors at a Chinese university participated in the study. They were divided into equal-sized control and experimental groups. Members of the experimental group were asked to read Chinese-English parallel texts from a user manual, while those of the control group were asked to read the Chinese text only.Subsequently, both groups were required to translate the continued Chinese text into English. The results indicated the following: 1) the experimental group’s translated text was of significantly higher quality than that of the control group;and 2) the experimental group’s translations were well-aligned with the original text in their use of terminology, sentence structure, and stylistic features. The study concludes by suggesting that translation continuation tasks can improve commercial translation instruction and hence should be further applied in practice.

Atomic Layer Coated Al_(2)O_(3) on Nitrogen Doped Vertical Graphene Nanosheets for High Performance Sodium Ion Batteries

Heteroatom doped graphene materials are considered as promising anode for high-performance sodium-ion batteries(SIBs).Defective and porous structure especially with large specific surface area is generally considered as a feasible strategy to boost reaction kinetics;however,the unwanted side reaction at the anode hinders the practical application of SIBs.In this work,a precisely controlled Al_(2)O_(3)coated nitrogen doped vertical graphene nanosheets(NVG)anode material has been proposed,which exhibits excellent sodium storage capacity and cycling stability.The ultrathin Al_(2)O_(3)coating on the NVG is considered to help construct an advantageous interface between electrode and electrolyte,both alleviating the electrolyte decomposition and enhancing sodium adsorption ability.As a result,the optimal Al_(2)O_(3)coated NVG materials delivers a high reversible capacity(835.0 mAh g^(-1))and superior cycling stability(retention of 92.3%after 5000 cycles).This work demonstrates a new way to design graphene-based anode materials for highperformance sodium-ion batteries.

Hydrophilic modification of poly(aryl sulfone) membrane materials toward highly-efficient environmental remediation

Poly(aryl sulfone)as a typical membrane material has been widely used due to excellent mechanical,chemical and thermal stability.However,the inherent hydrophobicity of poly(aryl sulfone)based membranes bears with the fouling issue during applications,which makes the membrane tending to adsorb contaminants on the surface so as to result in decreased separation performance and lifetime.In this critical review,we give a comprehensive overview on characterizations of hydrophilic membrane and diverse hydrophilic modification approaches of poly(aryl sulfone)membranes,predominantly including bulky,blending and surface modification technology.The discussions on the different modification methods have been provided in-depth.Besides,focusing on modification methods and performance of modified membranes,the related mechanisms for the performance enhancement are discussed too.At last,the perspectives are provided to guide the future directions to develop novel technology to manipulate the hydrophilicity of poly(aryl sulfone)membranes toward diverse practical and multifunctional applications.

Compact long-working-distance laser-diode-based photoacoustic microscopy with a reflective objective

Photoacoustic microscopy(PAM) has quickly developed into a noninvasive biomedical imaging technique to achieve detection, diagnosis, and monitoring.Compared with Q-switched neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet or optical parametric oscillator lasers, a low-cost and small-size laser diode(LD) used as an alternative light source is conducive to achieving the miniaturization and integration for preclinical transformation.However, the LD’s low peak output power needs the high numerical aperture objective to attain tight focus, which limits the working distance(WD) of the system in only2–3 mm, resulting in not achieving the backward coaxial confocal mode.Here, we present a compact visible LD-based PAM system with a reflective objective to achieve a 22 mm long WD and a 10 μm lateral resolution.Different depth subcutaneous microvascular networks in label-free mouse ears have successfully reappeared in vivo with a signal-to-noise ratio up to14 d B by a confocal alignment.It will be a promising tool to develop into a handy tool for subcutaneous blood vessel imaging.

Effect of geometric parameters at open turbine combined structure on flow field distribution of dry granulation for Si_(3)N_(4) powder

To improve the uniformity of the flow field and the poor axial velocity in the chamber of Si3N4 dry granulation, the influence of geometric parameters at open turbinecombined structure on the flow field distribution is studied. The Euler–Euler gas-solidtwo-phase flow model is established and the physical model of dry granulation chamberunder the combined structure is simplified. Under the same radial structure, the volumedistribution and velocity field of Si3N4 particles in the granulation chamber with a different number and angle of the axial structure at the open turbine are analyzed by theCFD method. The influence of the axial structure at the open turbine on the flow fielddistribution of Si3N4 particles under different geometric parameters is compared. Theresults show that the axial structure of the open turbine in the granulation chamber isthe most uniform when the number of blades is 6 and the inclination angle is 45◦, andthe circulating flow of the upper and lower parts of Si3N4 powder is strong.