Low-cost, green synthesis of highly porous carbons derived from lotus root shell as superior performance electrode materials in supercapacitor

Facile production of high quality activated carbons from biomass materials has greatly triggered much attention presently. In this paper, a series of interconnected porous carbon materials from lotus root shells biomass are prepared via simple pyrolysis and followed by a KOH activation process. The prepared carbons exhibit high specific surface areas of up to 2961 m^2/g and large pore volume～1.47 cm3/g. In addition, the resultant porous carbons served as electrode materials in supercapacitor exhibit high specific capacitance and outstanding recycling stability and high energy density. In particular, their specific capacitance retention was almost 100% after 10500 cycles at a current density of 2 A/g. Remarkabely, the impact of the tailored specific surface areas of various carbon samples on their capacitive performances is systematically investigated.Generally, it was believed that the highly-developed porosity features(including surface areas and pore volume and pore size-distributions), together with the good conductivity of activated carbon species, play a key role in effectively improving the storage energy performances of the porous carbon electrode materials in supercapacitor.

Review of renewable energy-based hydrogen production processes for sustainable energy innovation

In this review,we primarily analyze the hydrogen production technologies based on water and biomass,including the economic,technological,and environmental impacts of different types of hydrogen production technologies based on these materials,and comprehensively compare them.Our analyses indicate that all renewable energy-based approaches for hydrogen production are more environmentally friendly than fossil-based hydrogen generation approaches.However,the technical ease and economic efficiency of hydrogen production from renewable sources of energy needs to be further improved in order to be applied on a large scale.Compared with other renewable energy-based methods,hydrogen production via biomass electrolysis has several advantages,including the ease of directly using raw biomass.Furthermore,its environmental impact is smaller than other approaches.Moreover,using a noble metal,catalyst-free anode for this approach can ensure a considerably low power consumption,which makes it a promising candidate for clean and efficient hydrogen production in the future.

Application of the Queuing Theory in Characterizing and Optimizing the Passenger Flow at the Airport Security

This paper presents mathematics models that describe and optimize the passenger flow at the airport security checkpoints by applying the queuing theory. Firstly, a Poisson process is used to estimate the flow of passengers waiting for going through the security. Then, the Poisson distribution is combined with a multiple M/M/s model. Following that, an arrival model (passengers’ arriving at the checkpoints preparing for security examination and departure) with Gumbel extreme value estimation is described that predicts the busiest time in the busiest airport. Real case data collected from several major airports worldwide is used for creating a hybrid Poisson model to generate the simulation of passenger volume. At last, Markov Chain theory is applied to the analysis to randomly simulate the flow of enplaned passengers again, and the results of these two simulations are compared and discussed, revealing that the hybrid Poisson model is the more accurate one. After successfully characterizing the passenger flow mathematically, two methods for optimizing the passenger flow are then provided in two different respects: one is bypassing passengers and creating an express pass;while the other one promotes Pre-Check service application.

Generating multi-layer nested chaotic attractor and its FPGA implementation

Complex chaotic sequences are widely employed in real world, so obtaining more complex sequences have received highly interest. For enhancing the complexity of chaotic sequences, a common approach is increasing the scroll-number of attractors. In this paper, a novel method to control system for generating multi-layer nested chaotic attractors is proposed.At first, a piecewise(PW) function, namely quadratic staircase function, is designed. Unlike pulse signals, each level-logic of this function is square constant, and it is easy to realize. Then, by introducing the PW functions to a modified Chua's system with cubic nonlinear terms, the system can generate multi-layer nested Chua's attractors. The dynamical properties of the system are numerically investigated. Finally, the hardware implementation of the chaotic system is used FPGA chip.Experimental results show that theoretical analysis and numerical simulation are right. This chaotic oscillator consuming low power and utilization less resources is suitable for real applications.

Enrichment and analysis of circulating tumor cells by integrating multivalent membrane nano-interface and endogenous enzyme-signal amplification

For circulating tumor cells(CTCs)-based cancer diagnosis and monitoring,effective enrichment and specific analysis of CTCs present significant challenges.The biomembrane interfaces can enhance the highaffinity interactions between various receptors and ligands in life activities by mediating the rearrangement and positioning of membrane-bound components through its fluidity.Inspired by this,we have constructed a multivalent membrane nano-interface using aptamer-linked liposomes for the efficient capture of CTCs.Furthermore,the subsequent introduction of rolling circle amplification(RCA)reaction has increased the number of aptamers and extended them to the surrounding space to improve the affinity of the membrane nano-interface for CTCs.After CTCs are enriched,alkaline phosphatase overexpressed on the surface of tumor cells is used as endogenous enzyme-mediated signal amplification by catalyzing 4-nitrophenyl phosphate(p NPP)with color change,achieving the analysis of CTCs.Finally,the enrichment and visual analysis of human hepatocellular carcinoma(HepG2)with a detection limit of 10 cells/m L can be obtained by integrating the multivalent membrane nano-interface and endogenous enzyme signal amplification.The detection of the target in the serum proved this method has the potential for further clinical application and provides a potential method for studying the correlation between alkaline phosphatase dimer and cancer progression.

Highly-efficient photosensitizer based on AIEgen-decorated porphyrin for protein photocleaving

An AIEgen decorated porphyrin(TPETPyP)was easily obtained through a one-step reaction.The bulky TPE in TPETPyP greatly impeded the intermolecularπ-πstacking of the porphyrin core,which significantly suppressed aggregation-caused quenching(ACQ)effect of TPETPyP in aqueous solution.The four pyridinium salts formed in TPETPyP also render the whole molecule water solubility,which eliminated its aggregation.TPETPyP exhibited 1O2 quantum yield as high as 0.85 in PBS.Moreover,it also showed high binding affinity to proteins,the major biotarget of 1O2.The high 1O2 quantum yield plus the great binding ability of TPETPyP toward proteins makes it a highly-efficient protein photocleaving agent.Protein electrophoresis experiments demonstrated that TPETPyP can photocleave BSA upon visible light irradiation,indicating that TPETPyP can act as a promising photosensitizer(PS)in PDT.The work here will provide a facile strategy to utilize AIEgens modified traditional PSs for photodynamic therapy(PDT).