Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Study on Novel Carbon-Sulfur Nano-Composite Cathodes in Lithium Rechargeable Batteries

Carbon-sulfur nano-composite cathodes for lithium rechargeable batteries were investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The novel carbon-sulfur nano-composite material was synthesized by heating sublimed sulfur and high surface area activated carbon (HSAAC) in certain conditions. Equivalent circuits were used to fit the spectra at different discharge states. The variations of impedance spectra, charge-transfer resistance and double layer capacitance were discussed. The changes of EIS with potential were analyzed based on a plausible electrical equivalent circuit model, and some parameters were measured and analyzed about electrochemical performance and state of charge and discharge of the electrode. The good accuracy in fitting values of the model to the experimental data indicates that the mathematical model gives out a satisfying description upon the mechanism of high rate of capacity fade in lithium-sulfur battery.

Electrochemical Corrosion Study in H2SO4 of NiAl with Cu Additions, Microstructure and Micro-Hardness at Room Temperature

For many years, intermetallic materials promise applications in a wide variety of technology areas. NiAl intermetallic compound is material that exhibits important characteristics such as high corrosion resistance and low density besides its ability to retain strength and stiffness at elevated temperatures. However NiAl intermetallic is too hard, brittle and exhibits very low ductility at room temperature being the reason because this material is not yet available for structural applications. In order to increase the ductility of the NiAl intermetallic compound, the addition of a third alloying element has been proved, nevertheless it is important to determine if such additions decrease or increase the hardness and the corrosion resistance of the alloy. So, the present investigation reports the corrosion performance of the NiAl intermetallic compound modified with Cu, emphasizing the EIS analysis and the relation between physical parameters and the modelling equations used in the Equivalent Electric Circuit. It was found that the addition of Cu promotes the formation of the γ’-Ni3Al phase in Cu contents greater than 15 at. %, in addition to a decrease in micro hardness and an increment in the Icorr values. In this way, the electrochemical characterization evidenced a high corrosion resistance of these intermetallic alloys.

Fault Diagnosis of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Based on Nonlinear Impedance Spectrum

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS)contributes to developing the fault diagnosis tools for fuel cells,which is of great significance in improving service life.The conventional impedance measurement techniques are limited to linear responses,failing to capture high-order harmonic responses.However,nonlinear electrochemical impedance analysis incorporates additional nonlinear information,enabling the resolution of such responses.This study proposes a novel multi-stage fault diagnosis method based on the nonlinear electrochemical impedance spectrum(NEIS).First,the impact of alternating current excitation amplitude on NEIS is analyzed.Then,a series of experiments are conducted to obtain NEIS data under various fault conditions,encompassing recoverable faults like flooding,drying,starvation,and their mixed faults,spanning different degrees of fault severity.Based on these experiments,both EIS and NEIS datasets are established,and principal component analysis is utilized to extract the main features,thereby reducing the dimensionality of the original data.Finally,a fault diagnosis model is constructed with the support vector machine(SVM)and random forest algorithms,with model hyperparameters optimized by a hybrid genetic particle swarm optimization(HGAPSO)algorithm.The results show that the diagnostic accuracy of NEIS is higher than that of traditional EIS,with the HGAPSO-SVM model achieving a 100%accurate diagnosis under the NEIS dateset and self-defined fault labels.

Effects of complexing agents on acidic electroless nickel deposition

Our previous study reported the influences of different complexing agents on electroless nickel （EN） by examining the properties of the deposits. In the present work, the effects of four common-used complexing agents on EN deposition rate and the stability of solution pH values were examined, either with an acetic pH buffer agent or absent of them. It is indicated that the pH buffeting effect of them is dominative when the EN solution is lack of the pH buffer. Under this situation, the EN deposition rate increases with the concentration of complexing agents increasing. The EN deposition rate decreases with fin＇ther adding the complexing agent when the solution already has enough pH buffer capability. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy obtained during EN deposition illustrates that, in this case, the enhanced reaction resistance is the main reason for a lower deposition rate. However, the influence of polarization caused by mass transfer is not negligible at high complex ratio for sodium citrate and malic acid EN solutions.

Effects of Nano Pigments on the Corrosion Resistance of Alkyd Coating

Alkyd coatings embedded with nano-TiO2 and nano-ZnO pigments were prepared. The effects of nano pigments on anticorrosion performance of alkyd coatings were investigated using electrochemical impedance spectrum （EIS）. For the sake of comparison, the corrosion protection of alkyd coatings with conventional TiO2 and ZnO was also studied. It was found that nano-TiO2 pigment improved the corrosion resistance as well as the hardness of alkyd coatings. The optimal amount of nano-TiO2 in a colored coating for corrosion resistance was 1%. The viscosities of alkyd coatings with nanometer TiO2 and ZnO and conventional TiO2 and ZnO pigments were measured and the relation between viscosity and anticorrosion performance was discussed.

Coulometric Response of H-Selective Solid-Contact Ion-Selective Electrodes and Its Application in Flexible Sensors+

The analytical performance of H+-selective solid-contact ion-selective electrodes(SCISEs)based on solid contact polyaniline doped with chloride(PANI(Cl))and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)doped with poly(styrene sulfonate)(PEDOT(PSS))was characterized by a developed coulometric signal transduction method.PEDOT(PSS)solid contact is covered by PVC based H+-selective membrane.The obtained coulometric signal demonstrates that the cumulated charge can be amplified by increasing the capacitance of solid contact.SCISEs covered with spin-coated membrane behave faster amperometric response than electrodes with drop-cast mem-brane.In contrast to earlier works,the amperometric response and impedance spectrum demonstrates H+transfer through SCISEs is independent from the thickness of membrane.The exceptional behavior of PANI(Cl)H+-SCISEs shows that the capacitance estimated from impedance spectrum at low frequency 10 mHz and coulometric signal of PANI(Cl)based SCISEs is influenced by the applied po-tentials,whereas PEDOT(PSS)solid contact is independent from the chosen applied potentials.Furthermore,preliminary investiga-tions of coulometric signal transduction on flexible pH sensor implies its potential applications in wearable sensors for sweat ion concentration detection.

Inhibition roles of molybdate and borate on Q235 steel corrosion in resistance reducing agent

The effects of Na_(2)MoO_(4) and Na_(2)B_(4)O_(7) on corrosion behavior of Q235 steel in resistance reducing agent(RRA)containing sodium bentonite were studied by mass loss,scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical measurement.The results showed that both the independent and mixed additions of Na_(2)MoO_(4) and/or Na_(2)B_(4)O_(7),can reduce the corrosion rate of Q235 steel in RRA containing sodium bentonite.And the inhibition effect of Na_(2)MoO_(4) and/or Na_(2)B_(4)O_(7)increased with their dosage increase.With the same dosage,the inhibition efficiency of the mixed addition of Na_(2)MoO_(4) and Na_(2)B_(4)O_(7),was higher than that of their independent addition.The passivation effect of Q235 steel was easy to obtain in the RRA with the mixed addition of Na_(2)MoO_(4) and Na_(2)B_(4)O_(7).The optimized inhibitor for the RRA containing sodium bentonite was the mixture of Na_(2)B_(4)O_(7) and Na_(2)MoO_(4) with a total concentration of 1.5 wt.%.Furthermore,the increase in corrosion potential E_(corr) and the decrease in corrosion current density i_(cor) in carbon steel were one of the important criteria for the formation of passivation film.