Flexible,Highly Thermally Conductive and Electrically Insulating Phase Change Materials for Advanced Thermal Management of 5G Base Stations and Thermoelectric Generators

Thermal management has become a crucial problem for high-power-density equipment and devices.Phase change materials(PCMs)have great prospects in thermal management applications because of their large capacity of heat storage and isothermal behavior during phase transition.However,low intrinsic thermal conductivity,ease of leakage,and lack of flexibility severely limit their applications.Solving one of these problems often comes at the expense of other performance of the PCMs.In this work,we report core–sheath structured phase change nanocomposites(PCNs)with an aligned and interconnected boron nitride nanosheet network by combining coaxial electrospinning,electrostatic spraying,and hot-pressing.The advanced PCN films exhibit an ultrahigh thermal conductivity of 28.3 W m^(-1)K^(-1)at a low BNNS loading(i.e.,32 wt%),which thereby endows the PCNs with high enthalpy(>101 J g^(-1)),outstanding ductility(>40%)and improved fire retardancy.Therefore,our core–sheath strategies successfully balance the trade-off between thermal conductivity,flexibility,and phase change enthalpy of PCMs.Further,the PCNs provide powerful cooling solutions on 5G base station chips and thermoelectric generators,displaying promising thermal management applications on high-power-density equipment and thermoelectric conversion devices.

Pantograph-catenary electrical contact system of high-speed railways:recent progress,challenges,and outlooks

As the unique power entrance,the pantograph-catenary electrical contact system maintains the efficiency and reliability of power transmission for the high-speed train.Along with the fast development of high-speed railways all over the world,some commercialized lines are built for covering the remote places under harsh environment,especially in China;these environmental elements including wind,sand,rain,thunder,ice and snow need to be considered during the design of the pantograph-catenary system.The pantograph-catenary system includes the pantograph,the contact wire and the interface—pantograph slide.As the key component,this pantograph slide plays a critical role in reliable power transmission under dynamic condition.The fundamental material characteristics of the pantograph slide and contact wire such as electrical conductivity,impact resistance,wear resistance,etc.,directly determine the sliding electrical contact performance of the pantograph-catenary system;meanwhile,different detection methods of the pantograph-catenary system are crucial for the reliability of service and maintenance.In addition,the challenges brought from extreme operational conditions are discussed,taking the Sichuan-Tibet Railway currently under construction as a special example with the high-altitude climate.The outlook for developing the ultra-high-speed train equipped with the novel pantograph-catenary system which can address the harsher operational environment is also involved.This paper has provided a comprehensive review of the high-speed railway pantograph-catenary systems,including its progress,challenges,outlooks in the history and future.

High Conduction Band Inorganic Layers for Distinct Enhancement of Electrical Energy Storage in Polymer Nanocomposites

Dielectric polymer nanocomposites are considered as one of the most promising candidates for high-power-density electrical energy storage applications.Inorganic nanofillers with high insulation property are frequently introduced into fluoropolymer to improve its breakdown strength and energy storage capability.Normally,inorganic nanofillers are thought to introducing traps into polymer matrix to suppress leakage current.However,how these nanofillers effect the leakage current is still unclear.Meanwhile,high dopant(>5 vol%)is prerequisite for distinctly improved energy storage performance,which severely deteriorates the processing and mechanical property of polymer nanocomposites,hence brings high technical complication and cost.Herein,boron nitride nanosheet(BNNS)layers are utilized for substantially improving the electrical energy storage capability of polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF)nanocomposite.Results reveal that the high conduction band minimum of BNNS produces energy barrier at the interface of adjacent layers,preventing the electron in PVDF from passing through inorganic layers,leading to suppressed leakage current and superior breakdown strength.Accompanied by improved Young’s modulus(from 1.2 GPa of PVDF to 1.6 GPa of nanocomposite),significantly boosted discharged energy density(14.3 J cm^(-3)) and charge-discharge efficiency(75%)are realized in multilayered nanocomposites,which are 340 and 300% of PVDF(4.2 J cm^(-3),25%).More importantly,thus remarkably boosted energy storage performance is accomplished by marginal BNNS.This work offers a new paradigm for developing dielectric nanocomposites with advanced energy storage performance.

Insulation Diagnosis of Service Aged XLPE Power Cables Using Statistical Analysis and Fuzzy Inference

Cables that have been in service for over 20 years in Shanghai, a city with abundant surface water, failed more frequently and induced different cable accidents. This necessitates researches on the insulation aging state of cables working in special circumstances. We performed multi-parameter tests with samples from about 300 cable lines in Shanghai. The tests included water tree investigation, tensile test, dielectric spectroscopy test, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and electrical aging test. Then, we carried out regression analysis between every two test parameters. Moreover, through two-sample t-Test and analysis of va- riance (ANOVA) of each test parameter, we analyzed the influences of cable-laying method and sampling section on the degradation of cable insulation respectively. Furthermore, the test parameters which have strong correlation in the regression analysis or significant differ- ences in the t-Test or ANOVA analysis were determined to be the ones identifying the XLPE cable insulation aging state. The thresholds for distinguishing insulation aging states had been also obtained with the aid of statistical analysis and fuzzy clustering. Based on the fuzzy in- ference, we established a cable insulation aging diagnosis model using the intensity transfer method. The results of regression analysis indicate that the degradation of cable insulation accelerates as the degree of in-service aging increases. This validates the rule that the in- crease of microscopic imperfections in solid material enhances the dielectric breakdown strength. The results of the two-sample t-Test and the ANOVA indicate that the direct-buried cables are more sensitive to insulation degradation than duct cables. This confirms that the tensile strength and breakdown strength are reliable functional parameters in cable insulation evaluations. A case study further indicates that the proposed diagnosis model based on the fuzzy inference can reflect the comprehensive aging state of cable insulation well, and that the cable service time has no correlation with the insulation aging state.

SYNERGETIC EFFECTS OF SILANE-GRAFTING AND EVA ON WATER TREE RESISTANCE OF LDPE

The synergetic influence of silane-grafting and polar additives （EVA） on the water tree resistance of the low density polyethylene has been investigated. A series of samples obtained before and after hydration have been characterized by measuring gel content, infrared spectroscopy （FTIR）, differential scanning calorimetry （DSC） and dielectric measurements. The results obtained clearly show that the silane condensation occurred and that the silane-grafting and polar additives have synergetic effects on the water tree resistance of LDPE with little influence on its dielectric properties, e.g. the dielectric breakdown strength, dielectric permittivity and loss tangent.

STUDIES ON APPARENT KINETICS AND RHEOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR OF EPOXY/ACRYLATE IPNS AS VACUUM PRESSURE IMPREGNATION RESINS

The apparent kinetics and cure behavior of novel interpenetrating polymer networks(IPNs) based on cycloaliphatic epoxy resin(CER) and tri-functional acrylate have been investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR).The results of DSC measurements show that the curing reaction of the TMPTMA component is much earlier than that of the CER component,which can lead to the formation of the IPNs.In contrast to neat anhydride-CER system,the anhydri...

Core-shell structured silk Fibroin/PVDF piezoelectric nanofibers for energy harvesting and self-powered sensing

The development of wearable and portable electronics calls for flexible piezoelectric materials to fabricate selfpowered devices.However,a big challenge in piezoelectric material design is to boost the output performance while ensuring its flexibility and biocompatibility.Here,all-organic and core-shell structured silk fibroin(SF)/poly(vinylidene difluoride)(PVDF)piezoelectric nanofibers(NFs)with excellent flexibility are fabricated using a simple electrospinning strategy.The strong intermolecular interaction between SF and PVDF promotes theβ-phase nucleation in the core-shell structure,which significantly enhances the output performance.An output of 16.5 V was achieved in SF/PVDF NFs,which is more than 6-fold enhancement compared with that of pure PVDF NFs.In addition,the piezoelectric device can sensitively detect the mechanical stimulation from joint bending,demonstrating its great potential in self-powered sensor.Otherwise,the piezoelectric device can be also applied to control the movement of a smart car,successfully,achieving its application in the human-machine interaction.

Molecular Dynamics Simulation Studies on the Micromorphology and Proton Transport of Nafion/Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) Composite Membrane

The perfluorosulfonic acid(PFSA) membrane doped with two-dimensional conductive filler Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) is a fuel cell proton exchange membrane with high application potential. Experimental studies showed that the proton conductivity of Nafion/Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) composite membrane is improved significantly compared with that in pure Nafion. However, the microscopic mechanism of doping on the enhancement of membrane performance is remain unclear now. In this work, molecular dynamics simulation was used to investigate the microscopic morphology and proton transport behaviors of Nafion/Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) composite membrane at the molecular level. The results shown that there were significant differences about the diffusion kinetics of water molecules and hydroxium ions in Nafion/Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) at low and high hydration levels in the nanoscale region.With the increase of water content, Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) in membrane was gradually surrounded by ambient water molecules to form a hydration layer, and forming a relatively continuous proton transport channel between Nafion polymer and Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) monomer. The continuous proton transport channel could increase the number of binding sites of proton and thus achieving high proton conductivity and high mobility of water molecules at higher hydration level. The current work can provide a theoretical guidance for designing new type of Nafion composite membranes.

Dendrite‐free lithium and sodium metal anodes with deep plating/stripping properties for lithium and sodium batteries

Although lithium(Li)and sodium(Na)metals can be selected as the promising anode materials for next‐generation rechargeable batteries of high energy density,their practical applications are greatly restricted by the uncontrollable dendrite growth.Herein,a platinum(Pt)–copper(Cu)alloycoated Cu foam(Pt–Cu foam)is prepared and then used as the substrate for Li and Na metal anodes.Owing to the ultrarough morphology with a threedimensional porous structure and the quite large surface area as well as lithiophilicity and sodiophilicity,both Li and Na dendrite growths are significantly suppressed on the substrate.Moreover,during Li plating,the lithiated Pt atoms can dissolve into Li phase,leaving a lot of microsized holes on the substrate.During Na plating,although the sodiated Pt atoms cannot dissolve into Na phase,the sodiation of Pt atoms elevates many microsized blocks above the current collector.Either the holes or the voids on the surface of Pt–Cu foam what can be extra place for deposited alkali metal,what effectively relaxes the internal stress caused by the volume exchange during Li and Na plating/stripping.Therefore,the symmetric batteries of Li@Pt–Cu foam and Na@Pt–Cu foam have both achieved long‐term cycling stability even at ultrahigh areal capacity at 20 mAh cm−2.

Fabrication of sulfur-doped cove-edged graphene nanoribbons on Au(111)

The on-surface synthesis from predesigned organic precursors can yield graphene nanoribbons(GNRs)with atomically precise widths,edge terminations and dopants,which facilitate the tunning of their electronic structures.Here,we report the synthesis of novel sulfur-doped cove-edged GNRs(S-CGNRs)on Au(111)from a specifically designed precursor containing thiophene rings.Scanning tunneling microscopy and non-contact atomic force microscopy measurements elucidate the formation of S-CGNRs through subsequent polymerization and cyclodehydrogenation,which further result in crosslinked branched structures.Scanning tunneling spectroscopy results reveal the conduction band minimum of the S-CGNR locates at 1.2 e V.First-principles calculations show that the S-CGNR possesses an energy bandgap of 1.17 e V,which is evidently smaller than that of an undoped cove-edged GNR(1.7 e V),suggesting effective tuning of the bandgap by introducing sulfur atoms.Further increasing the coverage of precursors close to a monolayer results in the formation of linear-shaped S-CGNRs.The fabrication of S-CGNRs provides one more candidate in the GNR toolbox and promotes the future applications of heteroatom-doped graphene nanostructures.

Dielectric phenomena and electrical energy storage of poly(vinylidene fluoride) based high-k polymers

Polymeric dielectrics have wide range of applications in the field of electrical energy storage because of their light weight and easy processing. However, the state-of-the-art polymer dielectrics, such as biaxially orientated polypropylene, could not meet the demand of minimization of electronic devices because of its low energy density. Recently, poly（vinylidene fluoride） （PVDF） based ferroelectric polymers have attracted considerable interests for energy storage applications because of their high permittivity and high breakdown strength. Unfortunately, the high dielectric loss and/or high remnant polarization of PVDF-based polymers seriously limits their practical applications for electrical energy storage. Since the discovery of relaxor ferroelectric behavior was firstly reported in irradiated poly（vinylidene fluoride- trifluoroethylene） （P（VDF-TrFE）） copolyrner, many strategies have been developed to enhanced the electrical energy storage capability, including copolymerization, grafting, blending and fabricating of multilayer How these methods affect the polymorphs, crystallinity, crystal size of PVDF-based polymers and the connection between these microstructures and their corresponding energy storage properties are discussed in detail.

On-demand Direct Design of Polymeric Thermal Actuator by Machine Learning Algorithm

The design optimization of thermal-driven actuators is a challenging task because the performance depends on multiple materials parameters,structural parameters,and working conditions.In this work,we adopted large scale finite element simulation together with machine learning algorithm to fulfill the on-demand design of thermal actuators.Finite element analysis was used to simulate the performance of thermal actuator with two-layer structure,which generated large amount of dataset by considering the variation of parameters including the moduli,thermal expansion coefficient,sample thickness and length,and temperature.Support vector regression(SVR)was adopted to establish the relationship between multiple input parameters and the resulting contact pressure.Thereafter,a simple interior point algorithm was used to achieve the on-demand design based on the SVR model.The contact pressures of thermal actuator constructed from the optimized parameters deviated less than 15%of the target values.

用于现场老化交联聚乙烯电力电缆的降解评估参数（英文）

The cables are more likely to deteriorate after several years of service in Shanghai,a city with a humid climate and abundant rainfall.Before assessing the aging status of those cables,it is critical to present effective test parameters which are sensitive to the aging process under special field conditions.Therefore,we have performed water tree investigation,tensile test,and differential scanning calorimetry(DSC)test on hundreds of cable samples removed from service.A large number of typical bowtie water trees were found in cable insulation and the water tree content was proposed to characterize the degree of water treeing.Based on Arrhenius Equation and equivalent thermal history parameters estimated from DSC profiles,we also proposed a new parameter ln(t/τθ)to characterize the aging status of cable insulation,Where,t is treated duration andτθis the thermal life under treated temperature.The applicabilities of water tree content,tensile strength,and ln(t/τθ)are tested using the analysis of variance(ANOVA).Then we investigated the relationship between the tensile strength and the water tree content using regression analysis,and analyzed the relationship between ln(t/τθ)and the tensile strength.The results indicated that each of these parameters performs differently with cables which experienced different degrees of age related degradation,and can be used to identify the aging status of field aged cables.The tensile strength can reflect the water treeing condition of field aged cables very well as a commonly used functional parameter.Since ln(t/τθ)is strongly related to the tensile strength,it is an effective parameter to characterize the aging status of field aged cable insulation.Using this newly proposed parameter is more time saving because of the convenience in sampling.

Dielectric polymer based electrolytes for high-performance all-solid-state lithium metal batteries

Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) are urgently required for achieving practical all-solid-state lithium metal batteries (ASSLMBs) but remain plagued by low ionic conductivity.Herein,we propose a strategy of salt polarization to fabricate a highly ion-conductive SPE by employing a high-dielectric polymer that can interact strongly with lithium salts.Such a polymer with large dipole moments can guide lithium cations (Li^(+)) to be arranged along the chain,forming a continuous pathway for Li^(+) hopping within the SPE.The as-fabricated SPE,poly(vinylidene difluoride)(PVDF)-LiN(SO_(2)F)_(2)(LiFSI),has an extraordinarily high dielectric constant (up to 10^(8)) and ultrahigh ionic conductivity (0.77×10^(-3)S cm^(-1)).Based on the PVDF–LiFSI SPE,the assembled Li metal symmetrical cell shows excellent Li plating/stripping reversibility at 0.1 m A cm^(-2),0.1 m Ah cm^(-2)over 1500 h^(-1) the ASS LiFePO_(4) batteries deliver long-term cycling stability at 1 C over 350 cycles (2.74 mg cm^(-2)) and an ultralong cycling lifespan of over 2600 h(100 cycles) with high loading (11.5 mg cm^(-2)) at 28°C.First-principles calculations further reveal the ion-dipole interactions-controlled conduction of Li^(+) in PVDF–LiFSI SPE along the PVDF chain.This work highlights the critical role of dielectric permittivity in SPE,and provides a promising path towards high-energy,long-cycling lifespan ASSLMBs.

Ultrathin MXene-aramid nanofiber electromagnetic interference shielding films with tactile sensing ability withstanding harsh temperatures

Ultrathin and flexible electromagnetic shielding materials hold great potential in civil and military applications.Despite tremendous research efforts,the development of advanced shielding materials is still needed to provide additional functionalities for various artificial-intelligence-driven systems,such as tactile sensing ability.Herein,a layering design strategy is proposed to fabricate ultrathin Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x)MXene-aramid nanofiber(MA)films by a layer-by-layer assembling process.Compared to that of randomly mixed films,the designed MA films exhibited a higher EMI shielding efficiency at an ultrathin thickness of 9 pm,which increased from 26.4 to 40.7 dB,owing to the additional multiple-interface scattering mechanism.Importantly,the novel MA films displayed strong EMI shielding ability even after heating/cooling treatments within a wide temperature range of-196 to 300℃.Moreover,the same material displayed a tensile strength of 124.1±2.7 MPa and a toughness of 6.3±1.1 MJ·m^(-3),which are approximately 9.1 times and 45 times higher than those of pure MXene films,respectively.The MA film is also capable of detecting tactile signals via the triboelectric effect.A 2×4 tactile sensor array was developed to achieve an accurate signal catching capability.Therefore,in addition to the shielding performance,the manifestation of tactile perception by the MA films offers exciting opportunities in the fields of soft robotics and human-machine interactions.

Rapid, high-efficient and scalable exfoliation of high-quality boron nitride nanosheets and their application in lithium-sulfur batteries

Boron nitride nanosheets(BNNSs)have gained significant attraction in energy and environment fields because of their two-dimensional(2D)nature,large band gap and high thermal/mechanical performance.However,the current low production efficiency of high-quality BNNSs is still a bottleneck limiting their applications.Herein,based on sonication-assisted liquid-phase exfoliation,we demonstrated a rapid,high-efficient and scalable production strategy of BNNSs and documented the effects of a spectrum of exfoliation factors(e.g.,ultrasonic condition,solvent and bulk material feeding)on the yield of BNNSs.A record of yield of 72.5%was achieved while the exfoliated BNNSs have few-layer and defect-free feature.Thanks to the Lewis acid sites of the boron atoms,the BNNSs can interact with the polysulfide anions in liquid electrolyte and also can facilitate the uniform lithium deposition,which finally endow a lithium-sulfur(Li-S)battery with long life.This work provides a facile and rapid strategy for large scale preparation of high-quality BNNSs,also contributes a long-life strategy for dendrite-free Li-S battery,opens new avenues of BNNSs in energy application.

Guest Editorial:Thermally conductive but electrically insulating materials for high voltage applications

In this High Voltage Special Issue the invited review and research articles cover the topic of thermally conductive but electrically insulating materials for high voltage applications.The review paper summarises the research progress on the development of epoxy resins with high pristine thermal conductivity,while the five research articles report different strategies for enhancing the thermal conductivity of polymer composites or polymer blends.The authors have a diverse range of experience across all fields of materials science,thus providing interdisciplinary perspectives to readers of the journal.

Manipulating dielectric property of polymer coatings toward highretention-rate lithium metal full batteries under harsh critical conditions

Lithium(Li)metal batteries(LMBs)can potentially deliver much higher energy density but remain plagued by uncontrollable Li plating with dendrite growth,unstable interfaces,and highly abundant excess Li(>50 mAh·cm^(-2)).Herein,different from the artificial layer or three-dimensional(3D)matrix host constructions,various dielectric polymers are initially well-comprehensively investigated from experimental characterizations to theoretical simulation to evaluate their functions in modulating Li ion distribution.As a proof of concept,a 3D interwoven high dielectric functional polymer(HDFP)nanofiber network with polar C-F dipole moments electrospun on copper(Cu)foil is designed,realizing uniform and controllable Li deposition capacity up to 5.0 mAh·cm^(-2),thereby enabling stable Li plating/stripping cycling over 1400 h at 1.0 mA·cm^(-2).More importantly,under the highcathode loading(~3.1 mAh·cm^(-2))and only 0.6×excess Li(N/P ratio of 1.6),the full cells retain capacity retention of 97.4%after 200 cycles at 3.36 mA·cm^(-2)and achieve high energy density(297.7 Wh·kg^(-1)at cell-level)under lean electrolyte conditions(15μL),much better than ever-reported literatures.Our work provides a new direction for designing high dielectric polymer coating toward high-retention-rate practical Li full batteries.

High-loading single cobalt atoms on ultrathin MOF nanosheets for efficient photocatalytic CO_(2) reduction

Based on suitable scaffolds,constructing high-loading single-atom catalysts is a promising strategy to achieve highly efficient catalysis.Herein,using ultrathin metal-organic framework(MOF)nanosheets(2.4±0.5 nm)as the support,single-atom catalysts with high cobalt loading(6.0 wt%)were constructed(denoted as Co-MNSs)by a simple bottom-up synthetic strategy.The catalytic system of Co-MNSs exhibited an outstanding photocatalytic CO_(2)-to-CO evolution rate of 7,041μmol g^(-1)h^(-1)and a selectivity of 86%in aqueous media under visible-light irradiation,which has reached the top level of the reported MOF-based photocatalysts.The control experiments and theoretical calculation revealed that the Co-N_(4)moiety in the MOF nanosheets acted as the active site for the photocatalytic CO_(2)-to-CO conversion.The boosted photocatalytic performance could be ascribed to the high aspect-ratio of layered Co-MNSs providing abundant accessible active sites on their surfaces,which reduced the energy barrier,improved the charge separation efficiency,and also facilitated the adsorption of CO_(2)to form the reactive radicals of*COOH.Our study provides an appealing strategy for constructing high-loading single-atom catalysts and demonstrates the significance of 2D ultrathin MOF nanosheets as the support in boosting CO_(2)photoreduction efficiency.

Sugar-dependent targeting and immune adjuvant effects of hyperbranched glycosylated polypeptide nanoparticles for ovalbumin delivery

Sugar-dependent targeting and immune adjuvant effects of hyperbranched glycosylated polypeptide nanoparticles were disclosed for ovalbumin(OVA)delivery system.The mannose-coated polypeptide nanoparticles can induce strongest targeting and immune adjuvant effects to macrophages than those glucose/lactose-coated ones,which effectively transported OVA into cells and facilitated OVA subcellular escape from endolysosomes into cytoplasm with the assistance of UV irradiation or intracellular acidic pH.