Isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of bio-sourced nylon 69

Bio-sourced nylon 69,one of promising engineering plastics,has a great potential in developing sustainable technology and various commercial applications.Isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of nylon 69 is a base to optimize the process conditions and establish the structure–property correlations for nylon 69,and it is also highly bene ficial for successful applications of nylon products in industry.Isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics has been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry for nylon 69,bio-sourced even–odd nylon.The isothermal crystallization kinetics has been analyzed by the Avrami equation,the calculated Avrami exponent at various crystallization temperatures falls into the range of 2.28 and 2.86.In addition,the Avrami equation modi fied by Jeziorny and the equation suggested by Mo have been adopted to study the nonisothermal crystallization.The activation energies for isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization have also been determined.The study demonstrates that the crystallization model of nylon 69 might be a twodimensional(circular)growth at both isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization conditions.Furthermore,the value of the crystallization rate parameter(K)decreases signi ficantly but the crystallization half-time(t1/2)increases with the increase of the isothermal crystallization temperature.To nonisothermal crystallization,the crystallization rate increases as the cooling rate increases according to the analysis of Jeziorny's theory.The results of Mo's theory suggest that a faster cooling rate is required to reach a higher relative degree of crystallinity in a unit of time,and crystallization rate decreases when the relative degree of crystallinity increases at nonisothermal crystallization conditions.

A multi-functional binder for high loading sulfur cathode

Lithium sulfur(Li-S)batteries are the promising power sources,but their commercialization is significantly impeded by poor energy-storage functions at high sulfur loading.Here we report that such an issue can be effectively addressed by using a mussel-inspired binder comprised of chitosan grafted with catecholic moiety for sulfur cathodes.The resulting sulfur cathodes possess a high loading up to 12.2 mg cm-2 but also exhibit one of the best electrochemical properties among their counterparts.The excellent performances are attributed to the strong adhesion of the binder to sulfur particles,conducting agent,current collector,and polysulfide.The versatile adhesion effectively increases the sulfur loading,depresses the shuttle effect,and alleviates mechanical pulverization during cycling processes.The present investigation offers a new insight into high performance sulfur cathodes through a bio-adhesion viewpoint.

Unraveling the advances of trace doping engineering for potassium ion battery anodes via tomography

Doping have been considered as a prominent strategy to stabilize crystal structure of battery materials during the insertion and removal of alkali ions.The instructive knowledge and experience acquired from doping strategies predominate in cathode materials,but doping principle in anodes remains unclear.Here,we demonstrate that trace element doping enables stable conversion-reaction and ensures structural integrity for potassium ion battery(PIB) anodes.With a synergistic combination of X-ray tomography,structural probes,and charge reconfiguration,we encode the physical origins and structural evolution of electro-chemo-mechanical degradation in PIB anodes.By the multiple ion transport pathways created by the orderly hierarchical pores from "surface to bulk" and the homogeneous charge distribution governed in doped nanodomains,the anisotropic expansion can be significantly relieved with trace isoelectronic element doping into the host lattice,maintaining particle mechanical integrity.Our work presents a close relationship between doping chemistry and mechanical reliability,projecting a new pathway to reengineering electrode materials for next-generation energy storage.