Highly Stretchable Supercapacitors Enabled by Interwoven CNTs Partially Embedded in PDMS

We present flexible and stretchable supercapacitors composed of interwoven carbon nanotubes (CNTs) embedded in polydimethyl­siloxane (PDMS) substrates. CNTs are grown using atmospheric-pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) on a Si/SiO₂ substrate and then partially embedded into PDMS. This unique process permits a rapid and facile integration of the interwoven CNT–PDMS structure as a flexible and stretchable supercapacitor electrode with a high level of integrity under various strains. The electrochemical properties of the supercapacitors are measured in 30% KOH solution and with a poly­(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)–KOH gel electrolyte (i.e., all-solid-state flexible supercapacitor). The measured capacitance of the supercapacitor is 0.6 mF/cm² in 30% KOH solution and is 0.3 mF/cm² with a PVA–KOH gel electrolyte at a scan rate of 100 mV/s, showing a consistent performance under stretching from 0% to 200% and bending/twisting angles from 0° to 180°. The stretching test is performed for 200 cycles from 0% to 100%, after which its capacitance is attenuated by 25%. The all-solid-state stretchable supercapacitors show a stable galvanostatic performance during and after 10 000 charge/discharge cycles with its capacitance maintained

List of explanatory variables in China by province.

a<p>DI: Disturbance; EB: Ecological/bio-geographical variance; IP: Introduction pressure; SE: Search and recording effort; SI: Spread by unintentional introduction.</p>b<p>Data of variables except EN, AP, WP, LP, NC and NP were collected from National Bureau of Statistics of China (1986–2007) China statistical yearbook. The mean values of these variables were used for data analysis. Endemism score (EN) means the total values of endemism of species including plants, mammals and birds in each province, collected from McBeath G.A & Leng T.K. (2006) Governance of Biodiversity Conservation in China and Taiwan. Information about AP, WP, LP, NC and NP was collected from China Association of Port-of-Entry (2003) Practical Manual of Ports of Entry in China.</p>c<p>EEIQ: Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine.</p>d<p>Scientific research refers to state-owned research and development institutions above county level in the field of natural sciences and technology.</p

Distribution of first detection locations of invasive alien species in mainland China.

<p>Provincial administrative units in mainland China were separated into three groups according to their geographic position: coastal region in blue ( = provinces with sea coasts except Beijing), border region in grey ( = provinces continuous to other countries) and midland region in white ( = provinces without sea coasts or borders on other countries). Bars in red are the number of first detection locations in each province. Bars in yellow and green (for the average GDP and import value of commodities from 1986 to 2007, respectively) are standardized with same height in Guangdong province which has the highest GDP and the highest number of first detection locations. AH, BJ, CQ, FJ, GS, GD, GX, GZ, HeB, HeN, HLJ, HN, HuB, HuN, JL, JS, JX, NMG, NX, QH, SD, SaX, SaaX, SC, SH, TJ, XJ, XZ, YN and ZJ are provinces codes, standing for Anhui, Beijing, Chongqing, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Heilongjiang, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jilin, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Shanghai, Tianjin, Xinjiang, Tibet, Yunnan and Zhejiang, respectively.</p

Regression tree analysis for the determinants of first detection location of invasive alien species.

<p>A: using all explanatory variables; B: using explanatory variables except those classified into “IP” category (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0031734#pone-0031734-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>). Each node of the tree is described by the splitting variable, its splitting criteria, percentage of variance the splitter explains, mean ± standard deviation for the number of first detection locations of invasive alien species, and the number of sample (i.e. species) at that node in brackets. (<i>Inset</i>) Cross-validation processes for selection of the best regression trees. Line shows a single representative 10-fold cross-validation of the most frequent (modal) best trees with standard error (SE) estimates of each tree size. Bar charts are the numbers of the optimal trees of each size (frequency of tree) selected from a series of 50 cross-validations based on the minimum cost tree, which minimizes the cross-validated relative error (white, SE rule 0), and 50 cross-validations based on the one-SE rule (gray, SE rule 1), which minimizes the cross-validated relative error within one SE of the minimum. The most frequent trees have four terminal nodes. See the legend of <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0031734#pone-0031734-g001" target="_blank">Fig. 1</a> for province codes.</p

Changes in soil bacterial community structure as a result of incorporation of <i>Brassica</i> plants compared with continuous planting eggplant and chemical disinfection in greenhouses

<div><p>Greenhouse eggplant monocropping in China has contributed to the aggravation of soil-borne diseases, reductions in crop quality and yield, and the degradation of physical and chemical soil properties. Crop rotation is one effective way of alleviating the problems of continuous cropping worldwide; however, few studies have reported changes in soil bacterial community structures and physical and chemical soil properties after <i>Brassica</i> vegetables had been rotated with eggplant in greenhouses. In this experiment, mustard-eggplant (BFN) and oilseed rape-eggplant (BFC) rotations were studied to identify changes in the physicochemical properties and bacterial community structure in soil that was previously subject to monocropping. Samples were taken after two types of <i>Brassica</i> plants incorporated into soil for 15 days to compare with continually planted eggplant (control, CN) and chemical disinfection of soil (CF) in greenhouses. MiSeq pyrosequencing was used to analyze soil bacterial diversity and structure in the four different treatments. A total of 55,129 reads were identified, and rarefaction analysis showed that the soil treatments were equally sampled. The bacterial richness of the BFC treatment and the diversity of the BFN treatment were significantly higher than those of the other treatments. Further comparison showed that the bacterial community structures of BFC and BFN treatments were also different from CN and CF treatments. The relative abundance of several dominant bacterial genera in the BFC and BFN treatments (such as <i>Flavobacteria</i>, <i>Stenotrophomonas</i>, <i>Massilia</i> and <i>Cellvibrio</i>, which played different roles in improving soil fertility and advancing plant growth) was distinctly higher than the CN or CF treatments. Additionally, the total organic matter and Olsen-P content of the BFC and BFN treatments were significantly greater than the CN treatment. We conclude that <i>Brassica</i> vegetables-eggplant crop rotations could provide a more effective means of solving the problems of greenhouse eggplant monocultures.</p></div