Charging and absorption characteristics of small particulates under alternative and electrostatic voltages in an electrostatic precipitator

The charge quantity of small particulates such as PM2.5 plays a key role in the collection efficiency of an electrostatic precipitator（ESP）. Under a single electrostatic voltage, it is difficult to charge and absorb small particulates. A new method of superimposing an alternative voltage on the electrostatic voltage is provided in this paper. Characteristics of small particulates are analyzed under alternative and electrostatic voltages. It is demonstrated that an alternative voltage can significantly improve the collection efficiency in three aspects： preventing anti-corona, increasing the charge quantity of small particulates, and increasing the median particulate size by electric agglomeration. In addition, practical usage with the superposition of alternative voltage is provided, and the results are in agreement with the theoretical analysis.

Alleviating hysteresis and improving device stability of perovskite solar cells via alternate voltage sweeps

The anomalous hysteresis in a perovskite solar cell induced by an asymmetric field is confirmed by a capacitance–voltage measurement. By applying several cycles of alternating reverse and forward scans, this hysteresis phenomenon is obviously alleviated, resulting in a hysteresis-less state in the perovskite solar cell. Meanwhile, the open-circuit voltage and power conversion efficiency of the perovskite solar cell are enhanced by 55.74% and 61.30%, respectively, while the current density and fill factor keep almost invariable. The operation of alleviating hysteresis is essential for further research and is likely to bring in performance gains.

Tribological properties of multilayer tetrahedral amorphous carbon coatings deposited by filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition

Tetrahedral amorphous carbon(ta‐C)has emerged as an excellent coating material for improving the reliability of application components under high normal loads.Herein,we present the results of our investigations regarding the mechanical and tribological properties of a 2‐μm‐thick multilayer ta‐C coating on high‐speed steel substrates.Multilayers composed of alternating soft and hard layers are fabricated using filtered a cathodic vacuum arc with alternating substrate bias voltages(0 and 100 V or 0 and 150 V).The thickness ratio is discovered to be 1:3 for the sp2‐rich and sp3‐rich layers.The results show that the hardness and elastic modulus of the multilayer ta‐C coatings increase with the sp3 content of the hard layer.The hardness reached approximately 37 GPa,whereas an improved toughness and a higher adhesion strength(>29 N)are obtained.The friction performance(μ=0.07)of the multilayer coating is similar to that of the single layer ta‐C thick coating,but the wear rate(0.13×10^(–6) mm^(3)/(N∙m))improved under a high load of 30 N.We further demonstrate the importance of the multilayer structure in suppressing crack propagation and increasing the resistance to plastic deformation(H3/E2)ratio.