A comparison of the energy consumption and carbon emissions for different modes of transportation in open-cut coal mines

Transportation accounts for 80% of open-cut coal mine carbon emissions. With regard to the energy con- sumption and carbon emissions of transportation within an open-cut mine, this paper systematically compared the work and energy consumption of a truck and belt conveyor on a theoretical basis, and con- structed a model to calculate the energy consumption of open-cut mine transportation. Life cycle carbon emission factors and power consumption calculation model were established through a Process Analysis- Life Cycle Analysis （PA-LCA）. The following results were obtained： （1） the energy consumption of truck transportation was four to twelve times higher than that of the belt conveyor; （2） the C02 emissions from truck transportation were three to ten times higher than those of the belt conveyor; （3） with the increase in the slope angle for transportation, the ratio of truck to belt conveyor for both energy consumption and carbon emissions gradually decreased; （4） based on 2013 prices in China, the energy cost of transportation using a belt conveyor in open-cut coal mines could save 0.6-2.4 Yuan/（t kin） compared to truck transportation.

Progress in hole-transporting materials for perovskite solar cells

In recent years the photovoltaic community has witnessed the unprecedented development of perovskite solar cells（PSCs） as they have taken the lead in emergent photovoltaic technologies. The power conversion efficiency of this new class of solar cells has been increased to a point where they are beginning to compete with more established technologies. Although PSCs have evolved a variety of structures, the use of hole-transporting materials（HTMs） remains indispensable. Here, an overview of the various types of available HTMs is presented. This includes organic and inorganic HTMs and is presented alongside recent progress in associated aspects of PSCs, including device architectures and fabrication techniques to produce high-quality perovskite films. The structure, electrochemistry, and physical properties of a variety of HTMs are discussed, highlighting considerations for those designing new HTMs. Finally, an outlook is presented to provide more concrete direction for the development and optimization of HTMs for highefficiency PSCs.

Optimization of ice cuttings transportation by cable-suspended core auger drills

Ice cores contain an abundance of information about the Earth＇s climate in the past, and recovered from shallow drilling down to 300-350 m give sufficient information for reconstructing of the last climatic changes and for monitoring of pollution from human being. Cable-suspended core auger drills use an armored cable with a winch to provide power to the down-hole motor system and to retrieve the down-hole unit. Because of their lightweight, convenient transportation and installation, high penetration rates and low power consumption, core auger drills are widely used for shallow drilling in ice. Nowadays at least 14 types of auger electromechani- cal drills were designed and tested in different foreign and national glaciological laboratories. However, auger options were usually determined by experience, and the main parameters （ helix angle of the fights and rotational speed） are varied in a wide range from drill to drill. If parameters of auger are not chosen properly, poorly en- gineered drills had troubles with low efficiency of cuttings transportation, jam of ice cuttings, repeated fragmen- tation, cutters icing and stop penetration, abnormal power consumption, high rotation torques, and so on. Thus, this paper presents the method of optimization of iee cuttings transportation of cable-suspended core auger drill on the base of the theory of rotary auger. As the result, the optimal helix angle was determined correspond- ing to the rotational speed from the transportation efficiency point of view.

Improving the efficiency of transport systems using simulation

The article describes the possibilities of application of simulation modeling for the analysis of infrastructure and technology of transport services of enterprises. The main technological and possible economic effects for the enterprises arising at performance of modeling of a transport component of their work are resulted.

Spatial network structure of transportation carbon emission efficiency in China and its influencing factors

Grasping the spatial correlation structure of transportation carbon emission efficiency(TCEE)and its influencing factors is significant for promoting high-quality and coordinated development of the transportation industry and the relevant region.Based on the ideal point cross-efficiency(IPCE)model,the social network analysis method was employed herein to explore the spatial correlation network structure of China’s provincial TCEE and its influencing factors.The results obtained showed the following outcomes.(1)During the study period,China’s provincial TCEE formed a complex and multithreaded network association relationship,but its network association structure was still relatively loose and presented the hierarchical gradient characteristics of dense in the east and sparse in the west.(2)The correlation of China’s TCEE formed a block segmentation based on the regional boundaries,and its factional structure was relatively obvious.The eastern region was closely connected with the central region,and generally connected with the western and northeastern regions.The central region was mainly connected with the eastern and western regions,and relatively less connected with the northeastern region.Besides,the northeastern region was weakly connected with the western region.(3)Shanghai,Beijing,Zhejiang,Guangdong,Jiangsu,Tianjin,and other developed provinces were in the core leading position in the TCEE network,which significantly impacted the spatial correlation of TCEE.However,Heilongjiang,Jilin,Xinjiang,Qinghai,and other remote provinces in the northeast and northwest were at the absolute edge of the network,which weakly impacted the spatial correlation of TCEE.(4)Provincial distance,economic development-level difference,transportation intensity difference,and transportation structure difference had significant negative impacts on the spatial correlation network of China’s provincial TCEE.In contrast,the energy-saving technology level difference had a significant positive impact on it.The regression coefficients of transportation energy structure and environmental regulation differences were positive but insignificant;their response mechanism and effects need to be improved and enhanced.

Titanylphthalocyanine as hole transporting material for perovskite solar cells

Titanylphthalocyanine （TiOPc） as hole transporting material （HTM） was successfully synthesized by a simple process with low cost. Perovskite solar cells using the TiOPc as HTM were fabricated and characterized. TiOPc as HTM plays an important role in increasing the power conversion efficiency （PCE） by minimizing recombi- nation losses at the perovskite/Au interface because TiOPc as HTM can extract photogenerated holes from the perovskite and then transport quickly these charges to the back metal electrode. In the research, the β-TiOPc gives a higher PCE than α-TiOPc for the devices due to sufficient transfer dynamics, The β-TiOPc was applied in perovskite solar cells without clopping to afford an impressive PCE of 5.05% under AM 1.5G illumination at the thickness of 40 nm which is competitive with spiro-OMeTAD at the same condition. The present work suggests a guideline for optimizing the photovoltaic properties ofperovskite solar cells using the TiOPc as the HTM.

Layered-stacking of titania films for solar energy conversion:Toward tailored optical,electronic and photovoltaic performance

Nanostructured TiO2 with differentiate morphologies has attracted tremendous attention due to its wide band-gap nature as well as outstanding optical and electric properties for solar-driven light-toelectricity conversion application. Layered-stacking TiO2 film such as double-layer, tri-layer, quadrupleor quintuplicate-layer, is highly desirable to the design of high-performance semiconductor material photoanodes and the development of advanced photovoltaic devices. In this minireview, we will summarize the recent progress and achievements on proof-of-concept of layered-stacking TiO2 films（LTFs） for solar cells with emphasis on the tailored properties and synergistic functionalization of LTFs, such as optimized sensitizer adsorption, broadened light confinement as well as facilitated electron transport characteristics.Various demonstrations of LTFs photovoltaic systems provide lots of possibilities and flexibilities for more efficient solar energy utilization that a wide variety of TiO2 with distinguished morphologies can be integrated into differently structured photoanodes with synergistic and complementary advantages. This key structure engineering technology will also pave the way for the development of next generation state-ofthe-art electronics and optoelectronics. Finally, from our point of view, we conclude the future research interest and efforts for constructing more efficient LTFs as photoelectrode, which will be highly warranted to advance the solar energy conversion process.

Simulation Analysis of Transmission-Line Impedance Transformers for Petawatt-Class Pulsed Power Accelerators

Based on the transmission line code TLCODE, a 1D circuit model for a transmission- line impedance transformer was developed and the simulation results were compared with those in the literature. The model was used to quantify the efficiencies of voltage-transport, energy- transport and power-transport for a transmission-line impedance transformer as functions of ψ （the ratio of the output impedance to the input impedance of the transformer） and Г （the ratio of the pulse width to the one-way transit time of the transformer） under a large scale of m （the coefficient of the generalized exponential impedance profile）. Simulation results suggest that with the increase in Г, from 0 to ∞, the power transport efficiency first increases and then decreases. The maximum power transport efficiency can reach 90% or even higher for an exponential impedance profile （m = 1）. With a consideration of dissipative loss in the dielectric and electrodes of the transformer, two representative designs of the water-insulated transformer are investigated for the next generation of petawatt-class z-pinch drivers. It is found that the dissipative losses in the electrodes are negligibly small, below 0.1%, but the dissipative loss in the water dielectric is about 1% to 4%.

Efficient perovskite solar cells based on the novel low-temperature processed electron transport layer

With the support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,the research team led by Prof.Hou Yu(侯宇)and Prof.Yang Huagui(杨化桂)at the Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education,School of Materials Science and Engineering,East China University of Science

Dynamic evolution trend of comprehensive transportation green efficiency in China:From a spatio-temporal interaction perspective

It is urgent and important to explore the dynamic evolution in comprehensive transportation green efficiency(CTGE)in the context of green development.We constructed a social development index that reflects the social benefits of transportation services,and incorporated it into the comprehensive transportation efficiency evaluation framework as an expected output.Based on the panel data of 30 regions in China from 2003-2018,the CTGE in China was measured using the slacks-based measure-data envelopment analysis(SBM-DEA)model.Further,the dynamic evolution trends of CTGE were determined using the spatial Markov model and exploratory spatio-temporal data analysis(ESTDA)technique from a spatio-temporal perspective.The results showed that the CTGE shows a U-shaped change trend but with an overall low level and significant regional differences.The state transition of CTGE has a strong spatial dependence,and there exists the phenomenon of“club convergence”.Neighbourhood background has a significant impact on the CTGE transition types,and the spatial spillover effect is pronounced.The CTGE has an obvious positive correlation and spatial agglomeration characteristics.The geometric characteristics of the LISA time path show that the evolution process of local spatial structure and local spatial dependence of China’s CTGE is stable,but the integration of spatial evolution is weak.The spatio-temporal transition results of LISA indicate that the CTGE has obvious transfer inertness and has certain path-dependence and spatial locking characteristics,which will become the major difficulty in improving the CTGE.

TRANSPORT EFFICIENCY OF THE SPIRAL FLOW IN CIRCULAR PIPE

A concise definition of Transport Efficiency (TE) was given to examine the amount of transported grains in the pipe flow with certain energy consumption. The transport characteristics and the so-called 'roto-floating' characteristics were studied from the tests of sediment transport in the normal pipe flow and the spiral pipe flow, and hereby the energy gradients of the two kinds of pipe flows were obtained. By comparing the mean concentrations at the same gradient, it was concluded that the TE of the latter is several times to over ten times higher than that of the former, and the lift of the latter is 200 times larger than that of the former for the nearly same TE. The spiral flow in circular pipe is suitable for transporting fine grains of high concentration, and with sedimentation trend and coarse grains.

Organic functional materials based buffer layers for efficient perovskite solar cells

In this review, we highlight the recent development of organic π-functional materials as buffer layers in constructing efficient perovskite solar cells（PVSCs）. By following a brief introduction on the PVSC development, device architecture and material design features, we exemplified the exciting progresses made in field by exploiting organic π-functional materials based hole and electron transport layers（HTLs and ETLs） to enable high-performance PVSCs.

Optimization and experiment of key components in pneumatic peanut pod conveyor

Research interest in pneumatic conveying technologies in processes such as peanut harvesting and shelling has grown rapidly in recent years.However,the use of pneumatic conveyors in this application suffers from high pod damage rates and duct obstruction.To address these issues,we analyzed the critical speed of pneumatic transport for conveying the peanut pods and measured the angle of friction and coefficient of restitution of peanut pods on a variety of material surfaces.Based on the results of these tests,optimizations and improvements were made to the separator bowl,air supply duct,and conveying duct.A pneumatic conveying experiment was then performed using peanut pods.In the factorial experiment,it was found that increases in fan speed increase the pod damage rate and transport efficiency,while increases in the thickness of the cushioning/anti-obstruction layer decrease the rate of pod damage and transport efficiency.Pod damage rates were significantly affected by fan speed,the thickness of the cushioning/obstruction prevention layer,and interaction between these factors,while transport efficiency was only significantly affected by fan speed.It is proved by the machine verification test,the optimal parameters for the pneumatic transport of Baisha peanut pods with a moisture content of 7.24%was a fan speed of 2700 r/min and a cushioning/anti-obstruction layer thickness of 6 mm.A pod damage rate of 5.19%and transport efficiency of 92.03%were achieved using these parameters,which are sufficient for meeting the requirements of industrial applications.

Performance of the plugged-in ^(22)Na based slow positron beam facility

The Beijing intense slow positron beam facility is based on the 1.3 GeV linac of Beijing ElectronPositron Collider （BEPC） aiming to produce mono-energetic intense slow positron beam for material science investigation. The plugged-in 22Na based slow positron beam section has been newly constructed to supply continuous beam time for the debugging of positron annihilation measurement stations and improve the Beijing intense slow positron beam time using efficiency. Performance testing result of the plugged-in 22Na based slow positron beam facility are reviewed in this paper, with the measurement of the beam transport efficiency, the view of beam spot, the adjustment of beam position, the measurement of beam intensity and energy spread etc. included.