Sedimentary record of climate change in a high latitude fjord—Kongsfjord

The sedimentary record of climate change in the Arctic region is useful for understanding global warming.Kongsfjord is located in the subpolar region of the Arctic and is a suitable site for studying climate change.Glacier retreat is occurring in this region due to climate change,leading to an increase in meltwater outflow with a high debris content.In August 2017,we collected a sediment Core Z3 from the central fjord near the Yellow River Station.Then,we used the widely used chronology method of 210Pb,^(137)Cs,and other parameters to reflect the climate change record in the sedimentary environment of Kongsfjord.The results showed that after the mid-late 1990s,the mass accumulation rate of this core increased from 0.10 g/(cm^(2)·a)to 0.34 g/(cm^(2)·a),while the flux of^(210)Pb_(ex)increased from 125 Bq/(m^(2)·a)to 316 Bq/(m^(2)·a).The higher sedimentary inventory of^(210)Pb_(ex)in Kongsfjord compared to global fallout might have been caused by sediment focusing,boundary scavenging,and riverine input.Similarities between the inventory of^(137)Cs and global fallout indicated that terrestrial particulate matter was the main source of^(137)Cs in fjord sediments.The sedimentation rate increased after 1997,possibly due to the increased influx of glacial meltwater containing debris.In addition,the^(137)Cs activity,percentage of organic carbon(OC),and OC/total nitrogen concentration ratio showed increasing trends toward the top of the core since 1997,corresponding to a decrease in the mass balance of glaciers in the region.The results ofδ^(13)C,δ^(15)N and OC/TN concentration ratio showed both terrestrial and marine sources contributed to the organic matter in Core Z3.The relative contribution of terrestrial organic matter which was calculated by a two-endmember model showed an increased trend since mid-1990s.All these data indicate that global climate change has a significant impact on Arctic glaciers.

Broadband and wide-angle plane focal surface Luneburg lens

The energy crisis has aroused widespread concern, and the reform of energy structure is imminent. In the future,the energy structure will be dominated by the solar energy and other renewable energy sources. The solar concentrating technology as a promising method has been widely studied for collecting solar energy. However, the previous solar concentrating technologies suffer from some drawbacks, such as low focusing efficiency and large concentrating size. The Luneburg lens with highly efficient aberration-free focusing provides a new route for solar/energy concentrator. In this work, we designed a plane focal surface Luneburg lens(PFSLL) by transformation optics(TO). The PFSLL provides a relatively high focusing efficiency and concentration ratio of collection of energy. At the same time, it circumvents the disadvantage of curve surface of the classical Luneburg lens in device integration. Based on the reciprocity of electromagnetic waves, the PFSLL can also be applied to the antenna field to achieve broadband wide-angle scanning and highly directional radiation.

A compact and high-power silicon-wafer solar strip-cells-array module integrated with an array concentrator

A compact, low-cost and high-output-power silicon-wafer solar strip-cells-array module(SCAM) was experimentally demonstrated. The proposed SCAM consisted mainly of a silicon-wafer strip-cell sparse array and low-concentrationratio array concentrator based on an epoxy resin polymer(ERP) cylindrical plano-convex lens. A polymer replication process based on a polydimethylsiloxane mold was used to fabricate the ERP lens array concentrator. The results show that 46.94% of the silicon-wafer cell was saved in the designed SCAM. Moreover, the output power of the SCAM with a low concentration ratio of 8 suns was improved by 8.6%, compared with a whole piece of a conventional silicon-wafer solar cell with the same area as the module. The proposed method encapsulating solar cells provides a means to reduce the usage of silicon cells in modules as well as improving the output power of modules.

Improving photoreduction of CO2 with water to CH4 in a novel concentrated solar reactor

CO_2 photoreduction is an attractive process which allows the storage of solar energy and synthesis of solar fuels. Many different photocatalytic systems have been developed, while the alternative photo-reactors are still insufficiently investigated. In this work, photoreduction of CO_2 with H_2O into CH_4 was investigated in a modified concentrating solar reactor, using TiO_2 and Pt/TiO_2 as the catalysts. The TiO_2 and Pt/TiO_2 samples were extensively characterized by different techniques including powder X-ray diffraction(XRD), N_2 adsorption/desorption and UV–vis absorption. The catalytic performance of the TiO_2 and Pt/TiO_2 samples in the gas phase was evaluated under unconcentrated and concentrated Xe-lamp light and nature solar light with different concentrating ratios. Various parameters of the reaction system and the catalysts were investigated and optimized to maximize the catalytic performance of CO_2 reduction system. Compared with the normal light irradiation, the TiO_2 and Pt/TiO_2 samples show higher photocatalytic activity(about 6–7 times) for reducing CO_2 into CH_4 under concentrated Xe-lamp light and nature solar light. In the range of experimental light intensity, it is found that the concentration of the light makes it suitable for the catalytic reaction, and increases the utilization efficiency of the TiO_2 and Pt/TiO_2 samples while does not decrease the quantum efficiency.