China's long-term low carbon transition pathway under the urbanization process

This study develops a comprehensive analysis framework and socio-economic energy system model that interlinks demographic change and energy system in order to analyze the urbanization process and its relation with China's long-term CO2 emissions trend as China'economy enters the“new normal”stage.The results show that,around 300 million people are expected to migrate from rural areas to urban areas by 2050 following a trend,in which people are moving gradually from small and medium city groups to large and super city groups.The migration trend together with the improvement in living standard will promote China's infrastructure construction,industry production,and energy service demand growth.Under the Business as Usual(BAU)scenario,total primary energy consumption in China will reach 8.4 Gtce by 2050,energyrelated CO2 emissions will increase to 17.6 Gt,which is 83%higher than the 2013 level.While in the Low Carbon Transition(LCT)scenario with technology innovation,the total primary energy demand for China in 2050 could be controlled at^6 Gtce;CO2 emissions would peak during 2020—2025,and be reduced by 78%by 2050 compared to the BAU scenario.In the transition process,non-fossil fuel power generation and energy efficiency technologies have the largest mitigation potentials.Industry and power sectors would peak first before 2020,followed by the building and transport sectors which are projected to peak around 2030.The total additional capital investment required for LCT would account for 1.5%of GDP.Therefore,it is technologically and economically feasible for China to implement new urbanization strategy.

Building surface defects by doping with transition metal on ultrafine TiO_2 to enhance the photocatalytic H_2 production activity

Inefficient charge separation and limited light absorption are two critical issues associated with high‐efficiency photocatalytic H2production using TiO2.Surface defects within a certain concentration range in photocatalyst materials are beneficial for photocatalytic activity.In this study,surface defects(oxygen vacancies and metal cation replacement defects)were induced with a facile and effective approach by surface doping with low‐cost transition metals(Co,Ni,Cu,and Mn)on ultrafine TiO2.The obtained surface‐defective TiO2exhibited a3–4‐fold improved activity compared to that of the original ultrafine TiO2.In addition,a H2production rate of3.4μmol/h was obtained using visible light(λ>420nm)irradiation.The apparent quantum yield(AQY)at365nm reached36.9%over TiO2‐Cu,significantly more than the commercial P25TiO2.The enhancement of photocatalytic H2production activity can be attributed to improved rapid charge separation efficiency andexpanded light absorption window.This hydrothermal treatment with transition metal was proven to be a very facile and effective method for obtaining surface defects.

Low-melting mixture solvents:extension of deep eutectic solvents and ionic liquids for broadening green solvents and green chemistry

Green solvents such as water and ionic liquids(ILs)are pillars of the great mansion of green chemistry and green processing.Initially proposed as a new family of ILs,deep eutectic solvents(DESs)have received fast development in the past two decades.In this contribution,DESs are reviewed critically and the concept is extended to lowmelting mixture solvents(Lo MMSs),which cover all kinds of materials including ionic compounds,molecular compounds,and metals.Six classes of Lo MMSs are proposed as the new classification system and examples are given.Finally,several thermodynamic issues concerning Lo MMSs are discussed.Two new concepts,robustness of Lo MMSs and high-entropy Lo MMSs,are proposed.

UranyI Phosphonates with Multiple UranyI Coordination Geometries and Low Temperature Phase Transition

Main observation and conclusion Two new uranium(VI)phosphonate compounds,namely K_(8)[N(C_(2)H_(5))_(4)]_(2)(UO_(2))_(17)(H_(2)O)_(4)[CH_(2)(PO_(3))_(2)]_(8)[CH_(2)(PO_(3))(PO_(3)H)]_(4)·16(H_(2)O)(1)and[N(C_(2)H_(5))_(4)]_(4)(H_(3)O)_(2)(UO_(2))_(10)[CH_(2)(PO_(3))_(2)]_(5)[CH_(2)(PO_(3))(PO_(3)H)]_(2)·10H_(2)O(2),have been synthesized under mild hydro/solvothermal condition.The structural analysis of the two compounds reveals that they both contain all three typical coordination geometries of the U(VI)ions,including UO;tetragonal,UO,pentagonal,and UOg hexagonal bipyramids.Moreover,compound 1 displays a tempera-ture-induced single crystal to single crystal phase transformation as confirmed by the Single-crystal X-ray diffraction data collected at different temperatures.Temperature-dependent fluorescence spectra presented herein illustrate the perturbation of the electronic structure of uranyl centers.

SIGMAPLUG—A NEW TEMPERATURE INDICATOR FOR REMAINING LIFE ASSESSMENT OF HIGH TEMPERATURE COMPONENTS

Improved life assessment techniques will enable engineering components to be replaced before failure, thereby reducing the risk of industrial accidents as well as minimizing financial loss due to unscheduled outages. For components operating at high temperatures, temperature measurement is very important. In many situations, the environmental conditions are too hostile for conventional techniques to be used. Researchers over the world have been looking for new techniques for temperature measurement and one such device, called Feroplug, has been developed previously by the and coworkers. The Feroplug has been patented in USA, UK and Europe by the British Technology Group. The underlying principle of the Feroplug is based on the transformation of ferrite in some specially designed duplex stainless steels. This paper describes a new invention called Sigmaplug which is a new development of the Feroplug but using an entirely different physical principle. It was discovered that the sigma phase in Fe