Advanced preparation and application of bimetallic materials in lithium-sulfur batteries:A review

Lithium-sulfur(Li-S)batteries are considered highly promising as next-generation energy storage systems due to high theoretical capacity(2600 Wh kg^(-1))and energy density(1675 mA h g^(-1))as well as the abundant natural reserves,low cost of elemental sulfur,and environmentally friendly properties.However,several challenges impede its commercialization including low conductivity of sulfur itself,the severe“shuttle effect”caused by lithium polysulfides(LiPSs)during charge–discharge processes,volume expansion effects and sluggish reaction kinetics.As a solution,polar metal particles and their compounds have been introduced as the main hosts for sulfur cathode due to their robust catalytic activity and adsorption capability,effectively suppressing the“shuttle effect”of Li PSs.Bimetallic alloys and their compounds with multi-functional properties exhibit remarkable electrochemical performance more readily when compared to single-metal materials.Well-designed bimetallic materials demonstrate larger specific surface areas and richer active sites,enabling simultaneous high adsorption capability and strong catalytic properties.The synergistic effect of the“adsorption-catalysis”sites accelerates the adsorptiondiffusion-conversion process of Li PSs,ultimately achieving a long-lasting Li-S battery.Herein,the latest progress and performance of bimetallic materials in cathodes,separators,and interlayers of Li-S batteries are systematically reviewed.Firstly,the principles and challenges of Li-S batteries are briefly analyzed.Then,various mechanisms for suppressing“shuttle effects”of Li PSs are emphasized at the microscale.Subsequently,the performance parameters of various bimetallic materials are comprehensively summarized,and some improvement strategies are proposed based on these findings.Finally,the future prospects of bimetallic materials are discussed,with the hope of providing profound insights for the rational design and manufacturing of high-performance bimetallic materials for LSBs.

Nuclear ?eld shift effects on stable isotope fractionation: a review

An anomalous isotope effect exists in many heavy element isotope systems （e.g., Sr, Gd, Zn, U）. This effect used to be called the ＂odd--even isotope effect＂ because the odd mass number isotopes behave differently from the even mass number isotopes. This mass-indepen- dent isotope fractionation driving force, which originates from the difference in the ground-state electronic energies caused by differences in nuclear size and shape, is cur- rently denoted as the nuclear field shift effect （NFSE）. It is found that the NFSE can drive isotope fractionation of some heavy elements （e.g., Hg, T1, U） to an astonishing degree, far more than the magnitude caused by the con- ventional mass-dependent effect （MDE）. For light ele- ments, the MDE is the dominant factor in isotope fractionation, while the NFSE is neglectable. Furthermore, the MDE and the NFSE both decrease as temperatures increase, though at different rates. The MDE decreases rapidly with a factor of 1/T2, while the NFSE decreases slowly with a factor of 1/T. As a result, even at high temperatures, the NFSE is still significant for many heavy element isotope systems. In this review paper, we begin with an introduction of the basic concept of the NSFE, including its history and recent progress, and follow with the potential implications of the inclusion of the NFSE into the kinetic isotope fractionation effect （KIE） and heavy isotope geochronology.

Change in Urban Wetlands and Their Cold Island Effects in Response to Rapid Urbanization

The cold-island effect of urban wetlands has received increasing attention in recent years due to its important role in the alleviation of urban heat islands.Hangzhou,a representative rapidly urbanizing city with rich wetlands in China,was selected as a case study for researching the changes that the urban wetlands have undergone and their impact on the urban thermal environment.Land surface temperature(LST) was acquired from the thermal infrared data of Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper(TM) images in 1990,1995,2000,2006,and 2010,using the single-channel method.The results are as follows:1) considering the changes in land use,the urban wetlands located to the west of Hangzhou have decreased significantly during 1990–2010 because of rapid urbanization.In the Xixi Wetland,the change in land use was relatively small and most of the water body and vegetation were preserved.However,to the east of the Xixi Wetland,large areas of water body and vegetation have been replaced by built-up land as a result of the urbanization process;2) considering the change in LST,it was found from land surface temperature retrieval that the changing spatial pattern of the thermal field was highly correlated with land use changes.Low temperature regions of the eastern Xixi Wetland were gradually eroded by high temperature regions,and the centroid of the heat island in East Xixi was found to be constantly shifting westward.In addition,the difference in LST between the Xixi Wetland and East Xixi has increased;3) considering the impact factors for this area,land use structure and patch shape were found to have a significant impact on LST,shown by the results of multiple linear stepwise regressions.Increasing the size of the wetlands in urban planning is considered to be the most effective measure in alleviating the urban heat island effect.Moreover,reducing the spatial complexity of landscape patches also contributes to the alleviation of the urban heat island effect.

New insight into the parasitic bipolar amplification effect in single event transient production

In this paper, a new method is proposed to study the mechanism of charge collection in single event transient （SET） production in 90 nm bulk complementary metal oxide semiconductor （CMOS） technology. We find that different from the case in the pMOSFET, the parasitic bipolar amplification effect （bipolar effect） in the balanced inverter does not exist in the nMOSFET after the ion striking. The influence of the suhstrate process on the bipolar effect is also studied in the pMOSFET. We find that the bipolar effect can be effectively mitigated by a buried deep P＋-well layer and can be removed by a buried SO2 layer.

Effect of initial nickel particle size on stability of nickel catalysts for aqueous phase reforming

The deactivation behavior by crystallite growth of nickel nanoparticles on various supports（carbon nanofibers, zirconia, Si C, α-Al2O3 and γ-Al2O3） was investigated in the aqueous phase reforming of ethylene glycol. Supported Ni catalysts of ~10 wt% were prepared by impregnation of carbon nanofibers（CNF）,Zr O2, SiC, γ-Al2O3 and α-Al2O3. The extent of the Ni nanoparticle growth on various support materials follows the order CNF ~ ZrO2〉 SiC 〉 γ-Al2O3〉〉 α-Al2O3 which sequence, however, was determined by the initial Ni particle size. Based on the observed nickel leaching and the specific growth characteristics; the particle size distribution and the effect of loading on the growth rate, Ostwald ripening is suggested to be the main mechanism contributing to nickel particle growth. Remarkably, initially smaller Ni particles（~12 nm） supported on α-Al2O3 were found to outgrow Ni particles with initially larger size（~20 nm）. It is put forward that the higher susceptibility with respect to oxidation of the smaller Ni nanoparticles and differences in initial particle size distribution are responsible for this behavior.

The Structure and Size-effect of Calcium Modified Lead Titanate Nanocrystal,Pb_(0.85)Ca_(0.15)TiO_3

Calcium modified lead titanate nanocrystal material Pb0.85Ca0.15TiO3 was synthesized by means of a solgel method.The changes of crystal structure and grainsize of the samples were investigated under different conditions of heat treatment.the results show that the tetragonal symmetry is reduced and the ferroelectricparaelectric phase transformation temperature is decreased with the reduce of the grainsize of the sample.the critical grainsize for the ferroelectricparaelectric phase transformation at room temperature was calculated.The change regularities of the lattice constant and tetragonality with the grainsize are discussed.

Influence of Tilted Angle on Effective Linear Energy Transfer in Single Event Effect Tests for Integrated Circuits at 130 nm Technology Node

A heavy-ion irradiation experiment is studied in digital storage cells with different design approaches in 130？nm CMOS bulk Si and silicon-on-insulator （SOI） technologies. The effectiveness of linear energy transfer （LET） with a tilted ion beam at the 130？nm technology node is obtained. Tests of tilted angles θ=0 ° , 30 ° and 60 ° with respect to the normal direction are performed under heavy-ion Kr with certain power whose LET is about 40？MeVcm 2 /mg at normal incidence. Error numbers in D flip-flop chains are used to determine their upset sensitivity at different incidence angles. It is indicated that the effective LETs for SOI and bulk Si are not exactly in inverse proportion to cosθ , furthermore the effective LET for SOI is more closely in inverse proportion to cosθ compared to bulk Si, which are also the well known behavior. It is interesting that, if we design the sample in the dual interlocked storage cell approach, the effective LET in bulk Si will look like inversely proportional to cosθ very well, which is also specifically explained.

Optical Absorption Enhancement Effects of Silver Nanodisk Arrays in the Application of Silicon Solar Cell

Surface plasmon resonance of noble metal nanoparticles leads to the optical absorption enhancement effects,which have great potential applications in solar cell.By using the general numerical method of discrete dipole approximation （DDA）,we study the absorption and scattering properties of two-dimensional square silver nanodisks （2D SSN） arrays on the single crystal silicon solar cell.Based on the effective reflective index model of the single crystal silicon solar cell,we investigate the optical enhancement absorption of light energy by varying the light incident direction,particle size,aspect ratio,and interparticle spacing of the silver nanodisks.The peak values and position of the optical extinction spectra of the 2D square arrays of noble metal nanodisks are obtained with the different array structures.

Interplay of Rashba effect and spin Hall effect in perpendicular Pt/Co/MgO magnetic multilayers

The interplay of the Rashba effect and the spin Hall effect originating from current induced spin–orbit coupling was investigated in the as-deposited and annealed Pt/Co/MgO stacks with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The above two effects were analyzed based on Hall measurements under external magnetic fields longitudinal and vertical to dc current,respectively. The coercive field as a function of dc current in vertical mode with only the Rashba effect involved decreases due to thermal annealing. Meanwhile, spin orbit torques calculated from Hall resistance with only the spin Hall effect involved in the longitudinal mode decrease in the annealed sample. The experimental results prove that the bottom Pt/Co interface rather than the Co/MgO top one plays a more critical role in both Rashba effect and spin Hall effect.

Relativistic and distorted wave effects on Xe 4d electron momentum distributions

The relativistic and distorted wave effects are investigated for the electron momentum distributions of Xe 4d electrons.The theoretical results show good agreements with the experimental data measured previously with electron momentum spectroscopy. The distorted wave effect and the relativistic effect are found to play important roles in the low and high momentum regions, respectively.

Covalent bonding and J–J mixing effects on the EPR parameters of Er^(3+) ions in GaN crystal

The EPR parameters of trivalent Er（3＋） ions doped in hexagonal Ga N crystal have been studied by diagonalizing the 364×364 complete energy matrices. The results indicate that the resonance ground states may be derived from the Kramers doublet Γ6. The EPR g-factors may be ascribed to the stronger covalent bonding and nephelauxetic effects compared with other rare-earth doped complexes, as a result of the mismatch of ionic radii of the impurity Er（3＋）ion and the replaced Ga（3＋） ion apart from the intrinsic covalency of host Ga N. Furthermore, the J–J mixing effects on the EPR parameters from the high-lying manifolds have been evaluated. It is found that the dominant J–J mixing contribution is from the manifold 2K（15/2）, which accounts for about 2.5%. The next important J–J contribution arises from the crystal–field mixture between the ground state 4I（15/2） and the first excited state4I（13/2）, and is usually less than 0.2%. The contributions from the rest states may be ignored.

Tunneling field effect transistors based on in-plane and vertical layered phosphorus heterostructures

Tunneling field effect transistors（TFETs） based on two-dimensional materials are promising contenders to the traditional metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor, mainly due to potential applications in low power devices. Here,we investigate the TFETs based on two different integration types： in-plane and vertical heterostructures composed of two kinds of layered phosphorous（β-P and δ-P） by ab initio quantum transport simulations. NDR effects have been observed in both in-plane and vertical heterostructures, and the effects become significant with the highest peak-to-valley ratio（PVR）when the intrinsic region length is near zero. Compared with the in-plane TFET based on β-P and δ-P, better performance with a higher on/off current ratio of - 10-6 and a steeper subthreshold swing（SS） of - 23 mV/dec is achieved in the vertical TFET. Such differences in the NDR effects, on/off current ratio and SS are attributed to the distinct interaction nature of theβ-P and δ-P layers in the in-plane and vertical heterostructures.

Enhanced radiation-induced narrow channel effects in 0.13-μm PDSOI nMOSFETs with shallow trench isolation

Total ionizing dose responses of different transistor geometries after being irradiated by ^（60）Co γ-rays, in 0.13-μm partially-depleted silicon-on-insulator（PD SOI） technology are investigated. The negative threshold voltage shift in an n-type metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor（nMOSFET） is inversely proportional to the channel width due to radiation-induced charges trapped in trench oxide, which is called the radiation-induced narrow channel effect（RINCE）.The analysis based on a charge sharing model and three-dimensional technology computer aided design（TCAD） simulations demonstrate that phenomenon. The radiation-induced leakage currents under different drain biases are also discussed in detail.

Family selection and evaluation of Larix gmelinii var.principis-rupprechtii(Mayr.)Pilger based on stem analysis data at multiple sites

Larix gmelinii var.principis-rupprechtii(Mayr.)Pilger is an important native tree species in North China with advantages of fast growth,straight trunk,and good wood properties.The multi-year and multi-site breeding research of families of the species has not been reported previously.Based on diameter at breast height(DBH),height and volume of 25 families on four experimental sites,we calculated variance components,genetic parameters,juvenile and mature trait correlations and made genotype main effect plus genotype×environment interaction effect(GGE)biplot based on the breeding values estimated using the method of best linear unbiased prediction(BLUP).Compared with height,DBH and volume had higher heritability and larger variation coefficients,making them the more suitable traits for family selection and evaluation.Based on these,GGE biplots containing 20 combinations of site×age were drawn using data at 13 to 17 years when the interactions between family and location were strong.Test sites classifications based on DBH,and volume were inconsistent,with two categories for DBH and one for volume.The Guyuan site was the most suitable with strong discriminating ability,high representativeness and stability among tree ages.Integrating the ranking results of DBH and volume,families 66,76,82 and 111 were high-yielding and stable,families 78 and96 were high-yielding with above average stability,families72 and 79 were high-yielding with below average stability,whereas stability of family 100 was inconsistent between DBH and volume.Early selection based on DBH was convenient and reliable,and can be made at seven years.This study provides support for the selection of Larix gmelinii var.principis-rupprechtii families in Hebei province and an example for the application of stem analysis data from multiple sites in tree breeding.

Dynamic Responses of A Semi-Type Offshore Floating Wind Turbine During Normal State and Emergency Shutdown

This paper addresses joint wind-wave induced dynamic responses of a semi-type offshore floating wind turbine（OFWT） under normal states and fault event conditions. The analysis in this paper is conducted in time domain, using an aero-hydro-servo-elastic simulation code-FAST. Owing to the unique viscous features of the reference system, the original viscous damping model implemented in FAST is replaced with a quadratic one to gain an accurate capture of viscous effects. Simulation cases involve free-decay motion in still water, steady motions in the presence of regular waves and wind as well as dynamic response in operational sea states with and without wind. Simulations also include the cases for transient responses induced by fast blade pitching after emergency shutdown. The features of platform motions, local structural loads and a typical mooring line tension force under a variety of excitations are obtained and investigated.

Subthreshold behavior of AlInSb/InSb high electron mobility transistors

We propose a scaling theory for single gate Al In Sb/In Sb high electron mobility transistors（HEMTs） by solving the two-dimensional（2D） Poisson equation. In our model, the effective conductive path effect（ECPE） is taken into account to overcome the problems arising from the device scaling. The potential in the effective conducting path is developed and a simple scaling equation is derived. This equation is solved to obtain the minimum channel potential Φdeff,minand the new scaling factor α to model the subthreshold behavior of the HEMTs. The developed model minimizes the leakage current and improves the subthreshold swing degradation of the HEMTs. The results of the analytical model are verified by numerical simulation with a Sentaurus TCAD device simulator.

THE ROLE OF CONNEXIN 43 GENE IN ACUPUNCTURE ANALGESIA

Objective To and connexin 43. Methods investigate the possible relationship between the analgesic effect of acupuncture Connexin 43 gene knock-out mice were randomly divided into 4 groups： a wide type （WT） control group, a WT acupuncture group, a heterozygous （HT） control group and HT acupuncture group. Hot-plate test and writhing response induced by acetic acid were used for investigating the different analgesic effect of acupuncture on HT and WT mice. Results There was no significant difference in the basic pain threshold value between HT and WT mice （P 〉0.05）. Acupuncture could significantly increase the pain threshold value, prolong the latency period of writhing body and decrease the number of writhing body as compared with pre-acupuncture in WT and HT mice （P 〈 0.01 or P 〈 0.05）. The pain threshold, latency period of writhing and number of writhing body in HT mice were less than WT mice post-acupuncture （P〈0.05）. Conclusion Connexin 43 gene knock-out might partially inhibit the analgesic effect of acupuncture, suggesting that connexin 43 is possibly related with meridians and the effect of acupuncture.

CONTINUITY AND BREAK OF CHATTER VIBRATION STATUS

By turning a specifically designed conical part, complete process of metal cutting, in which the chatter occurs and expands, is recorded and analyzed. This process exposes that chatter vibration has two characters called continuity and break. The continuity character means that vibration extent enlarges continuously while chatter frequency is almost changeless as the cutting depth extends downwards continuously. The break one is that chatter frequency moves rapidly downwards to a lower level while chatter remains after the cutting depth reach another given value. It is confirmed through an exciting test that the two chatter frequencies obtained in chatter test belong to the natural frequencies of workpiece system and cutting tool system respectively. From the viewpoints of chatter energy supplying and chatter mass effect, the. chatter should occur on one of the two final executive components in its natural frequency. On this basis, a new chatter model with two chatter active bodies is proposed. This new model can better explain the above phenomenon, and adapt to chatter monitoring and improvement of component structure well.

DPM dispersion inside a single straight entry using dynamic mesh model

Three-dimensional simulations of diesel particulate matter （DPM） distribution inside a single straight entry for the Load-Haul-Dump loader （LHD）-truck loading and truck hauling operations were conducted by using ANSYS FLUENT computational fluid dynamics software. The loading operation was performed for a fixed period of 3 min. The dynamic mesh technique in FLUENT was used to study the impact of truck motion on DPM distribution. The resultant DPM distributions are presented for the cases when the truck were driving upstream and downstream of the loading face. Interesting phenomena were revealed in the study including the piston effect, layering of DPM in the roof region, and backflow of diesel exhaust against ventilation. The results from the simulation can be used to determine if the areas inside the face area and straight entry exceed the current U.S. regulatory requirement for DPM concentration （〉160 pg/m3）. This research can guide the selection of DPM reduction strategies and improve the working practices for the underground miners.

Design strategy for detent force reduction of permanent magnet linear synchronous motor

The detent force of a permanent magnet linear synchronous motor （PMLSM） is analyzed and the corresponding optimization methods are presented to reduce it. The detent force, which is divided into two components, i.e. resulting from the end effect and resulting from the slotting effect, can be analyzed respectively by the finite element method （FEM）. To reduce the detent force arising from the end effect, several optimal design techniques are utilized, namely, adopting the suitable length and end shape of the primary armature. The detent force resulting from the slotting effect is reduced by means of skewing and adjusting the width of the magnets mounted on the secondary armature, and adopting the fractional slots of the primary armature. The validity of the analytical detent force predictions and the effectiveness of the detent force reduction techniques are verified by the experimental measurements.