2021 roadmap on lithium sulfur batteries

Batteries that extend performance beyond the intrinsic limits of Li-ion batteries are among the most important developments required to continue the revolution promised by electrochemical devices. Of these next-generation batteries, lithium sulfur (Li–S) chemistry is among the most commercially mature, with cells offering a substantial increase in gravimetric energy density, reduced costs and improved safety prospects. However, there remain outstanding issues to advance the commercial prospects of the technology and benefit from the economies of scale felt by Li-ion cells, including improving both the rate performance and longevity of cells. To address these challenges, the Faraday Institution, the UK's independent institute for electrochemical energy storage science and technology, launched the Lithium Sulfur Technology Accelerator (LiSTAR) programme in October 2019. This Roadmap, authored by researchers and partners of the LiSTAR programme, is intended to highlight the outstanding issues that must be addressed and provide an insight into the pathways towards solving them adopted by the LiSTAR consortium. In compiling this Roadmap we hope to aid the development of the wider Li–S research community, providing a guide for academia, industry, government and funding agencies in this important and rapidly developing research space

Collective Excitations and Thermodynamics of Disordered State: New Insights into an Old Problem

K.T. is grateful to EPSRC and V.V.B. to RFBR for financial suppor

Real Estate valuation and forecasting in non-homogeneous markets: A case study in Greece during the financial crisis

In this paper we develop an automatic valuation model for property valuation using a large database of historical prices from Greece. The Greek property market is an inefficient, nonhomogeneous market, still at its infancy and governed by lack of information. As a result modelling the Greek real estate market is a very interesting and challenging problem. The available data cover a wide range of properties across time and include the financial crisis period in Greece which led to tremendous changes in the dynamics of the real estate market. We formulate and compare linear and non-linear models based on regression, hedonic equations and artificial neural networks. The forecasting ability of each method is evaluated out-of-sample. Special care is given on measuring the success of the forecasts but also on identifying the property characteristics that lead to large forecasting errors. Finally, by examining the strengths and the performance of each method we apply a combined forecasting rule to improve forecasting accuracy. Our results indicate that the proposed methodology constitutes an accurate tool for property valuation in a non-homogeneous, newly developed market

2021 roadmap on lithium sulfur batteries

Abstract: Batteries that extend performance beyond the intrinsic limits of Li-ion batteries are among the most important developments required to continue the revolution promised by electrochemical devices. Of these next-generation batteries, lithium sulfur (Li–S) chemistry is among the most commercially mature, with cells offering a substantial increase in gravimetric energy density, reduced costs and improved safety prospects. However, there remain outstanding issues to advance the commercial prospects of the technology and benefit from the economies of scale felt by Li-ion cells, including improving both the rate performance and longevity of cells. To address these challenges, the Faraday Institution, the UK’s independent institute for electrochemical energy storage science and technology, launched the Lithium Sulfur Technology Accelerator (LiSTAR) programme in October 2019. This Roadmap, authored by researchers and partners of the LiSTAR programme, is intended to highlight the outstanding issues that must be addressed and provide an insight into the pathways towards solving them adopted by the LiSTAR consortium. In compiling this Roadmap we hope to aid the development of the wider Li–S research community, providing a guide for academia, industry, government and funding agencies in this important and rapidly developing research space

Precipitation of calcium phosphate from simulated milk ultrafiltrate solutions

The present work deals with the influence of pH and temperature on the spontaneous precipitation of calcium phosphate from simulated milk ultrafiltrate (SMUF) solutions. The pH range investigated is 5.7-7.0, and the temperature varied from 55 to 75 degrees C. It was found that the precipitates were prisms of hydroxyapatite (HAP) with low crystallinity preceded by amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP). Crystallinity improved with solution aging. Microscopic particles in the range of 200 nm were obtained at relatively high supersaturation (pH = 6.8), whereas at relatively low supersaturation (pH = 6.0), aggregates in the range of 1 mu m were formed. Moreover, it was found that although the SMUF solution is also supersaturated with respect to magnesium phosphate, no magnesium salt was identified in the precipitates, thus precluding the coprecipitation of magnesium phosphate. At the same temperature, the supersaturation was regulated by adjusting the solution pH. Kinetics study of precipitation showed a parabolic dependence of the (initial) rates on the solution supersaturation, suggesting a surface diffusion-controlled mechanism with activation energy equal to 96 kJ mol(-1). The rates of precipitation were significantly reduced in the presence of citrate ions due to the decrease of the solution supersaturation caused by complexation of citrates with Ca2+ ions. Additionally, a decreasing effect of citrates on the precipitation rate resulted from the adsorption of these species on the formed crystals, blocking some active sites of crystal growth and diminishing the constant of precipitation rate

NICEST - Master study proposal on Next generation Industrial Control Engineering for Sustainable water system Treatment

In this paper a collaborative experience towards the development of a new joint master degree is presented. The design of the curriculum has as main pillars: a) to provide an interdisciplinary view and approach to advanced water treatment solutions, and b) the development of the curriculum is done according to the new challenges for Higher Education in Europe, therefore providing references of good practices with this respect. The experience is worth to be shared as in an immediate future the expected collaboration among Higher Education Institutions in Europe is to increase if an integrated and high quality Higher Education Area is to be developed. The ongoing reviewing/re-structuring process of higher education programmes provides the opportunity to promote new types and levels of learning new technologies and practices in and through pan- European collaboration. The proposal that is motivated by the need for a green approach to water treatment. Like many other industries, water and wastewater treatment plants also face the problem of a staffing shortage. Efficient and productive workers that are skilled in the business are necessary to properly manage water systems. Automation may be a potential solution to this shortage. Not only will it fill in the gaps of needed employment, but it will also put less stress on existing workers. To this aim the Next generation Industrial Control Engineering for Sustainable water system Treatment (NICEST) project is presented in this paper