Synthesis of pitch-derived carbon anodes for high-performance potassium-ion batteries

Potassium-ion batteries(PIBs)hold promise for large-scale energy storage,necessitating the development of high-performance anode materials.Carbons with the advantage of structural versatility,are recognized as the most promising anode materials for their commercialization,however the relationship between the carbon anode structure and its electrochemical performance remains unclear.A series of pitch-based soft carbons with different structures were fabricated using carbonization temperatures in the range 600–1400℃,and their changes in carbon configuration and K-storage performance as a function of carbonization temperature were investigated.Correlations between the carbon crystal size and the low-potential plateau region capacity and between the degree of structural disorder of the carbons with their sloping region capacity were revealed.Among all samples,that obtained by carbonization at 700℃had a relatively high degree of disorder and a large interlayer spacing,and had a high reversible capacity of 329.4 mAh g^(-1) with a high initial coulombic efficiency of 72.81%,and maintained a high capacity of 144.2 mAh g^(-1) at the current rate of 5 C.These findings improve our fundamental understanding of the K-storage process in carbon anodes,and thus facilitate the advance of PIBs.

Semi-quantitative analysis of the structural evolution of mesophase pitch-based carbon foams by Raman and FTIR spectroscopy

Graphitized carbon foams(GFms)were prepared using mesophase pitch(MP)as a raw material by foaming(450℃),pre-oxidation(320℃),carbonization(1000℃)and graphitization(2800℃).The differences in structure and properties of GFms prepared from different MP precursors pretreated by ball milling or liquid phase extraction were investigated and compared,and semi-quantitative calculations were conducted on the Raman and FTIR spectra of samples at each preparation stage.Semi-quantitat-ive spectroscopic analysis provided detailed information on the structure and chemical composition changes of the MP and GFm de-rived from it.Combined with microscopic observations,the change from precursor to GFm was analyzed.The results showed that ball milling concentrated the distribution of aromatic molecules in the pitch,which contributed to uniform foaming to give a GFm with a uniform pore distribution and good properties.Liquid phase extraction helped remove light components while retaining large aromatics to form graphitic planes with the largest average size during post-treatment to produce a GFm with the highest degree of graphitization and the fewest open pores,giving the best compression resistance(2.47 MPa),the highest thermal conductivity(64.47 W/(m·K))and the lowest electrical resistance(13.02μΩ·m).Characterization combining semi-quantitative spectroscopic ana-lysis with microscopic observations allowed us to control the preparation of the MP-derived GFms.

Preparation of a high-performance synthetic pitch from aromatic hydrocarbons containing N/Cl

The preparation of a synthetic pitch from aromatic monomers could easily regulate structure orientation at the molecu-lar level,which would be useful in fabrication.An isotropic synthetic pitch was prepared by a chlorine-and/or nitrogen-induced sub-stitution polymerization reaction method using aromatic hydrocarbon precursors containing Cl and N,which for this study were chloromethyl naphthalene and quinoline.This method was verified by investigating the structural changes under different synthesis conditions,and the synthesis mechanism induced by aromatics containing Cl was also probed.The result shows that the pyridinic N in quinoline contains a lone pair of electrons,and is an effective active site to induce the polymerization reaction by coupling with aromatic hydrocarbons containing Cl.The reaction between such free radicals causes strong homopolymerization and oligomeriza-tion.A higher reaction temperature and longer reaction time significantly increased the degree of polymerization and thus increased the softening point of the pitch.A linear molecular structure was formed by the Cl substitution reaction,which produced a highly spinnable pitch with a softening point of 258.6℃,and carbon fibers with a tensile strength of 1163.82 MPa were obtained.This study provides a relatively simple and safe method for the preparation of high-quality spinnable pitch.

A review of the catalytic preparation of mesophase pitch

Because of its high purity and excellent orientation, mesophase pitch is a superior precursor for high-performance car-bon materials. However, the preparation of top-notch mesophase pitch faces challenges. Catalytic polycondensation at low temperat-ures is more favorable for synthesizing mesophase pitch, because it circumvents the high-temperature free radical reaction of other thermal polycondensation approaches. The reaction is gentle and can be easily controlled. It has the potential to significantly im-prove the yield of mesophase pitch and easily introduce naphthenic characteristics into the molecules, catalytic polycondensation is therefore a preferred method of synthesizing highly spinnable mesophase pitch. This review provides a synopsis of the selective pre-treatment of the raw materials to prepare different mesophase pitches, and explains the reaction mechanism and associated research advances for different catalytic systems in recent years. Finally, how to manufacture high-quality mesophase pitch by using a cata-lyst-promoter system is summarized and proposed, which may provide a theoretical basis for the future design of high-quality pitch molecules.

Pitch-derived soft carbon composite with hard carbon fibers for high-rate and long-cycling K^(+) storage

Potassium-ion batteries(KIBs)have been seen as a competitive alternative to lithium-ion batteries(LIBs)due to their natural abundance,low cost and rocking chair-like operating mechanism similar to LIBs.Soft carbon has a lower voltage plateau compared to hard carbon and an easily modulated lattice structure compared to graphite,which provides particular advantages in KIBs anodes.Pitch has attracted much attention as a simple,readily available and inexpensive precursor for soft carbon,but its structure is easily damaged during cycling.Herein,the flexible film Pitch@CNF are prepared by uniformly winding reticulated carbon fibers on the surface of pitch-soft carbon via electrostatic spinning technique,which not only enables the pitch to maintain its structure well during cycling and withstand the volume expansion upon K^(+) insertion,but also is conducive to ionic transport of the three-dimensional reticulated structure.Meanwhile,the abundant pores on the carbon fibers can provide more K^(+) active sites.The prepared flexible self-supporting films can be used directly as electrodes without the addition of binders and conductive agents.The reversible capacity is 290 mAh·g^(-1)at a current density of 0.1 A·g^(-1),and the capacity retention rate is 83%after 500 cycles.

Investigating the occurrence and predictability of pitch angle scattering events at ADITYA-Upgrade tokamak with the electron cyclotron emission radiometer

This paper describes the experimental analysis and preliminary investigation of the predictability of pitch angle scattering(PAS) events through the electron cyclotron emission(ECE)radiometer signals at the ADITYA-Upgrade(ADITYA-U) tokamak. For low-density discharges at ADITYA-U, a sudden abnormal rise is observed in the ECE signature while other plasma parameters are unchanged. Investigations are done to understand this abrupt rise that is expected to occur due to PAS. The rise time is as fast as 100 μs with a single step and/or multiple step rise in ECE radiometer measurements. This event is known to limit the on-axis energy of runaway electrons. Being a repetitive event, the conditions of its repetitive occurrence can be investigated, thereby exploring the possibility of it being triggered and surveyed as an alternate runaway electron mitigation plan. Functional parameterization of such events with other discharge parameters is obtained and the possibility to trigger these events is discussed.PREDICT code is used to investigate the possible interpretations for the PAS occurrence through modeling and supporting the ECE observations. The trigger values so obtained experimentally are set as input criteria for PAS occurrence. Preliminary modeling investigations provide reliable consistency with the findings.

On the effect of pitch and yaw angles in oblique impacts of smallcaliber projectiles

A terminal ballistic analysis of the effects of 7.62 mm × 51 AP P80 rounds on inclined high-strength armor steel plates is the focus of the presented study.The findings of an instrumented ballistic testing combined with 3D advanced numerical simulations performed using the IMPETUS Afea? software yielded the conclusions.The experimental verification proved that slight differences in the pitch-andyaw angles of a projectile upon an impact caused different damage types to the projectile’s core.The residual velocities predicted numerically were close to the experimental values and the calculated core deviations were in satisfactory agreement with the experimental results.An extended matrix of the core deviation angles with combinations of pitch-and-yaw upon impact angles was subsequently built on the basis of the numerical study.The presented experimental and numerical investigation examined thoroughly the influence of the initial pitch and yaw angles on the after-perforation projectile’s performance.

Effect of Rigid Pitch Motion on Flexible Vibration Characteristics of a Wind Turbine Blade

Adynamic pitch strategy is usually adopted to improve the aerodynamic performance of the blade of awind turbine.The dynamic pitch motion will affect the linear vibration characteristics of the blade.However,these influences have not been studied in previous research.In this paper,the influences of the rigid pitch motion on the linear vibration characteristics of a wind turbine blade are studied.The blade is described as a rotating cantilever beam with an inherent coupled rigid-flexible vibration,where the rigid pitch motion introduces a parametrically excited vibration to the beam.Partial differential equations governing the nonlinear coupled pitch-bend vibration are proposed using the generalized Hamiltonian principle.Natural vibration characteristics of the inherent coupled rigid-flexible system are analyzed based on the combination of the assumed modes method and the multi-scales method.Effects of static pitch angle,rotating speed,and characteristics of harmonic pitch motion on flexible natural frequencies andmode shapes are discussed.It shows that the pitch amplitude has a dramatic influence on the natural frequencies of the blade,while the effects of pitch frequency and pith phase on natural frequencies are little.

Optimal Pitch Size of a Biphilic Surface for Boiling Heat Transfer at Subatmospheric Pressures

To date,using biphilic surfaces is one of the most promising methods for enhancing heat transfer and critical heat flux during boiling simultaneously.However,most of studies on the effect of biphilic surfaces on boiling perfor-mance have been carried out under atmospheric pressure conditions.In this context,the issues of heat transfer enhancement and stabilization of the boiling process at subatmospheric pressures are particularly critical due to the interesting characteristics of boiling heat transfer and bubble dynamics at subatmospheric pressures and their practical significance including aerospace applications.This paper investigates the effect of the pitch size between hydrophobic spots on a biphilic surface on heat transfer and bubble dynamics during boiling at subatmospheric pressures(from 11.2 kPa up to atmospheric pressure).The data analysis using infrared thermography demonstrated that the maximum heat transfer rate was achieved on a surface with a uniform pitch size(6 mm)at all pressures.In this case,the heat transfer enhancement,compared a bare surface,reached 3.4 times.An analysis of the departure diameters of bubbles based on high-speed visualization indicated that the optimal configuration of the biphilic surface corresponds to the pitch size equal to the bubble departure diameter.Using high-speed visualization also demonstrated that an early transition to film boiling was evident for configurations with a very high density of hydrophobic spots(pitch size of 2 mm).

Parametric investigation of railway fastenings into the formation and mitigation of short pitch corrugation

Short pitch corrugation has been a problem for railways worldwide over one century.In this paper,a parametric investigation of fastenings is conducted to understand the corrugation formation mechanism and gain insights into corrugation mitigation.A three-dimensional finite element vehicle-track dynamic interaction model is employed,which considers the coupling between the structural dynamics and the contact mechanics,while the damage mechanism is assumed to be differential wear.Various fastening models with different configurations,boundary conditions,and parameters of stiffness and damping are built up and analysed.These models may represent different service stages of fastenings in the field.Besides,the effect of train speeds on corrugation features is studied.The results indicate:(1)Fastening parameters and modelling play an important role in corrugation formation.(2)The fastening longitudinal constraint to the rail is the major factor that determines the corrugation formation.The fastening vertical and lateral constraints influence corrugation features in terms of spatial distribution and wavelength components.(3)The strengthening of fastening constraints in the longitudinal dimension helps to mitigate corrugation.Meanwhile,the inner fastening constraint in the lateral direction is necessary for corrugation alleviation.(4)The increase in fastening longitudinal stiffness and damping can reduce the vibration amplitudes of longitudinal compression modes and thus reduce the track corrugation propensity.The simulation in this work can well explain the field corrugation in terms of the occurrence possibility and major wavelength components.It can also explain the field data with respect to the small variation between the corrugation wavelength and train speed,which is caused by frequency selection and jump between rail longitudinal compression modes.

Analysis of Influence on Aerodynamic Noise of Wind Turbine Blades under Different Pitch Angles

Aiming at the influence of blade pitch Angle on aerodynamic noise of wind turbines, the sound field and flow field distribution at 0˚, 5˚, 10˚ and 15˚ are calculated by numerical simulation. Then, through the distribution of pressure field and velocity field calculated by flow field, the influence of different pitch angles on wind turbine blade aerodynamic noise and the reasons for its influence are analyzed. The results show that when the pitch Angle increases within 0˚ - 10˚, the aerodynamic noise pressure level of the blade decreases. However, the sound pressure level of aerodynamic noise increases in the range of 10˚ - 15˚. The changes of static pressure gradient and pressure pulsation on the blade surface make the aerodynamic noise change, and the changes of the two are positively correlated. At the same time, the fluid velocity and fluid motion state on the blade surface are closely related to the aerodynamic noise of the blade. The greater the fluid velocity, the more complex the fluid motion state and the greater the turbulent kinetic energy of the wind turbine blade, and the aerodynamic noise of the wind turbine blade will also increase.

Ultrafine red phosphorus confined in reasonably designed pitch-based carbon matrix built of well-interconnected carbon nanosheets for high-performance lithium and potassium storage

Red phosphorus has been well-recognized as promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries(LIBs)and potassium-ion batteries(PIBs)due to its extremely high theoretical capacity and low cost.However,the huge volume change and poor electric conductivity severely limit its further practical application.Herein,the nanoscale ultrafine red phosphorus has been successfully confined in a three-dimensional pitch-based porous carbon skeleton composed of well-interconnected carbon nanosheets through the vaporization-condensation method.Except for the traditional requirement of high electric conductivity and stable mechanical stability,the micropores and small mesopores in the porous carbon matrix centered at 1 to 3 nm and the abundant amount of oxygen-containing functional groups are also beneficial for the high loading and dispersion of red phosphorus.As anode for LIBs,the composite exhibits high reversible discharge capacities of 968 mAh g^(-1),excellent rate capabilities of 593 mAh g^(-1)at 2 A g^(-1),and long cycle performance of 557 mAh g^(-1)at 2 A g^(-1).More impressively,as the anode for PIBs,the composite presents a high reversible capacity of 661 mAh g^(-1)and a stable capacity of 312 mAh g^(-1)at 0.5 A g^(-1)for 500 cycles with a capacity retention up to 84.3%.This work not only sheds light on the structure design of carbon hosts with specific pore structure but also open an avenue for high value-added utilization of coal tar pitch.

Propulsive performance and flow field characteristics of a 2-D flexible fin with variations in the location of its pitching axis

The thrust coefficients and propulsive efficiency of a two-dimensional flexible fin with heaving and pitching motion were computed using FLUENT. The effect of different locations of the pitching axis on propulsive performance was examined using three deflexion modes which are respectively, modified Bose mode, cantilever beam with uniformly distributed load and cantilever beam with non-uniformly distributed load. The results show that maximum thrust can be achieved with the pitching axis at the trailing edge, but the highest propulsive efficiency can be achieved with the pitching axis either 1/3 of the chord length from the leading edge in modified Bose mode, or 2/3 of the chord length from the leading edge in cantilever beam mode. At the same time, the effects of the Strouhal number and maximal attack angle on the hydrodynamics performance of the flexible fin were analyzed. Parameter interval of the maximum thrust coefficient and the highest propulsive efficiency were gained. If the Strouhal number is low, high propulsive efficiency can be achieved at low αmax , and vice versa.

Electromagnetic Design of a Switched Reluctance Motor With Segmental Rotors and Full-pitch Windings

整距绕组分块转子开关磁阻电机具有高速运行时低风（油）阻和低铁心损耗等优点，特别适合用于航天航空驱动系统。根据整距绕组分块转子开关磁阻电机的基本工作原理，结合输出功率与平均转矩的关系，将绕组电流等效为方波，推导出了整距绕组分块转子开关磁阻电机的主体尺寸计算公式；基于电机定转子未对齐位置和对齐位置的电磁特性，以及整距绕组分块转子开关磁阻电机的电磁特点，确定了定、转子极弧系数选取的规则；同时分析了绕组匝数等主要尺寸的选取的规则；最后，基于上述方法优化设计了一台实验样机，并通过有限元仿真及实验验证了整距绕组分块转子开关磁阻电机的电磁设计方法的正确性。

Improved mean-shift-based pitch determination

The underlying principle of pitch determination based on the mean shift algorithm is studied, and the cause of pitch error propagation in the original pseudo code is analyzed. The problem of error propagation is solved by choosing an appropriate initial pitch candidate F00. The theoretical choice guideline in a pitch epoch is obtained as ensuring the true pitch F0 satisfying F00/2 〈 F0 〈 3F00/2. The validity of the choice guideline is verified by the F00 experiment. Meanwhile, the algorithm is extended to the pitch determination in the noisy case and compared with the method of subharmonic-to-harmonic ratio （SHR）. The experimental results show that the improved algorithm bears comparison with SHR and it runs much faster than SHR.

A Systematic Study of the Forbidden Pitch in the CD Through-Pitch Curve for Beyond 130nm

The forbidden pitch ＂dip＂ in the critical dimension （CD） through the pitch curve is a well-known optical proximity effect. The CD and CD process window near the ＂dip＂,usually found near a pitch range of 1.1 to 1.4 wavelength/ NA （numerical aperture）,is smaller when compared with other pitches. This is caused by inadequate imaging contrast for an unequal line and space grating. Although this effect is relatively well-known, its relationship with typical process condition parameters,such as the effective image blur caused by the photo-acid diffusion during the post exposure bake or the aberration in the imaging lens, has not been systematically studied. In this paper, we will examine the correlation between the image blur and the effect on the CD, including the decrease in the CD value （the depth of the ＂dip＂） and the CD process window. We find that both the decrease in the CD value and the focus latitude near the forbidden pitch correlate very well with the effective Gaussian image blur. Longer effective diffusion length correlates well with a smaller process window and a deeper CD ＂dip＂. We conclude that the dip depth is very sensitive to the change in image contrast.

Fault tolerant control of electric pitch control system based on single current detection

In view of the current sensors failure in electric pitch system,a variable universe fuzzy fault tolerant control method of electric pitch control system based on single current detection is proposed.When there is single or two-current sensor fault occurs,based on the proposed method the missing current information can be reconstructed by using direct current（DC）bus current sensor and the three-phase current can be updated in time within any two adjacent sampling periods,so as to ensure stability of the closed-loop system.And then the switchover and fault tolerant control of fault current sensor would be accomplished by fault diagnosis method based on adaptive threshold judgment.For the reconstructed signal error caused by the modulation method and the main control target of electric pitch system,a variable universe fuzzy control method is used in the speed loop,which can improve the anti-disturbance ability to load variation,and the robustness of fault tolerance system.The results show that the fault tolerant control method makes the variable pitch control system still has ideal control characteristics in case of sensor failure although part of the system performance is lost,thus the correctness of the proposed method is verified.

Advantages of a Biomimetic Stiffness Profile in Pitching Flexible Fin Propulsion

The use of oscillating flexible fins in propulsion has been the subject of several studies in recent years, but attention israrely paid to the specific role of stiffness profile in thrust production.Stiffness profile is defined as the variation in localchordwise bending stiffness (EI) of a fin, from leading to trailing edge.In this study, flexible fins with a standard NACA0012shape were tested alongside fins with a stiffness profile mimicking that of a Pumpkinseed Sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus).The finswere oscillated with a pitching sinusoidal motion over a range of frequencies and amplitudes, while torque, lateral force andstatic thrust were measured.Over the range of oscillation parameters tested, it was shown that the fin with a biomimetic stiffness profile offered a significantimprovement in static thrust, compared to a fin of similar dimensions with a standard NACA0012 aerofoil profile.Thebiomimetic fin also produced thrust more consistently over each oscillation cycle.A comparison of fin materials of different stiffness showed that the improvement was due to the stiffness profile itself, andwas not simply an effect of altering the overall stiffness of the fin.Fins of the same stiffness profile were observed to follow thesame thrust-power curve, independent of the stiffness of the moulding material.Biomimetic fins were shown to produce up to26% greater thrust per watt of input power, within the experimental range.

Experimental Investigation of the Resistance Performance and Heave and Pitch Motions of Ice-Going Container Ship Under Pack Ice Conditions

In order to analyze the ice-going ship’s performance under the pack ice conditions, synthetic ice was introduced into a towing tank. A barrier using floating cylinder in the towing tank was designed to carry out the resistance experiment. The test results indicated that the encountering frequency between the ship model and the pack ice shifts towards a high-velocity point as the concentration of the pack ice increases, and this encountering frequency creates an unstable region of the resistance, and the unstable region shifts to the higher speed with the increasing concentration. The results also showed that for the same speed points, the ratio of the pack ice resistance to the open water resistance increases with the increasing concentration, and for the same concentrations, this ratio decreases as the speed increases. Motion characteristics showed that the mean value of the heave motion increases as the speed increases, and the pitch motion tends to increase with the increasing speed. In addition, the total resistance of the fullscale was predicted.

Intelligent control for large-scale variable speed variable pitch wind turbines

Large-scale wind turbine generator systems have strong nonlinear multivariable characteristics with many uncertain factors and disturbances. Automatic control is crucial for the efficiency and reliability of wind turbines. On the basis of simplified and proper model of variable speed variable pitch wind turbines, the effective wind speed is estimated using extended Kaiman filter. Intelligent control schemes proposed in the paper include two loops which operate in synchronism with each other. At below-rated wind speed, the inner loop adopts adaptive fuzzy control based on variable universe for generator torque regulation to realize maximum wind energy capture. At above-rated wind speed, a controller based on least square support vector machine is proposed to adjust pitch angle and keep rated output power. The simulation shows the effectiveness of the intelligent control.