Cycling stability of a hybrid activated carbon//poly(3- methylthiophene) supercapacitor with N-butyl-Nmethylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide ionic liquid as electrolyte

A long cycle-life, high-voltage supercapacitor featuring an activated carbon//poly(3-methylthiophene) hybrid configuration with N-butyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide ionic liquid, a solvent-free green electrolyte, was developed. The cyclability of a laboratory scale cell with electrode mass loading sized for practical uses was tested at 60 °C over 16,000 galvanostatic charge–discharge cycles at 10 mA cm−2 in the 1.5 and 3.6 V voltage range. The reported average and maximum specific energy and power, specific capacitance and capacity, equivalent series resistance and coulombic efficiency over cycling demonstrate the long-term viability of this ionic liquid as green electrolyte for high-voltage hybrid supercapacitors

Green wall for greywater treatment : literature review and wall design

This study presents the development of an outdoor greywater treating green wall by adapting a commercially available system, identifying which native swiss wild plant species can be implemented and examining how operational conditions (substrate and irrigation method) influence nutrient removal from synthetic light greywater. The experiment was conducted over a 2 months’ time period located in a greenhouse at the ZHAW Wädenswil, in Switzerland. A total of nine plant species, three substrates (Vulkaponic; Vulkaponic plus biochar; perlite plus coco peat) and two irrigation methods (drip irrigation; top-down irrigation) were tested. The synthetic GW was recirculated and renewed weekly. The results showed that swiss wild plant species can successfully adapt to greywater, only one out of nine species (N. officinale) didn’t adapt to the system. The expected differences in treatment efficiency have been confirmed by the wider range of observed removal rates between the different substrates. Vulkaponic (chemical oxygen demand, COD, 74-76%, biochemical oxygen demand, BOD, 46-53%), Vulkaponic plus biochar (COD 77-83%, BOD 56-58%) perlite plus coco peat (COD 27-35%, BOD 58-61%), denoting higher treatment potentialities for COD with the Vulkaponic based substrates and for BOD with the perlite coco peat mixture. Overall the drip irrigation method was better for plant growth, but slightly worse for the COD and BOD removal efficiency

Data use and interoperability for ecological and spatial oriented design

Fragmentation, degradation, and loss of habitats have caused serious loss of biodiversity. Urbanization especially is exerting an increased social, health, infrastructural and environmental pressure on urban ecosystems. In fact, the eco-logical footprint of urban areas is set to increase in the coming decades, additionally exacerbated by the effects of climate change. While urbanization and the expansion of the built environment have currently a negative impact on biodiversity, they also represent the greatest opportunity to integrate the promotion of biodiversity into development projects. This is an opportunity to be grasped by the AEC industry to design integrated eco-services and to eco-retrofit our cities, as well as to actively integrate biodiversity conservation into urban planning processes. At the same time, there is still uncertainty on what could be the drivers and incentives for planners and architects to implement such ecological and spatial oriented designs. There is a need of a new way of integrating ecological knowledge early in the design processes, that is focused more on interdisciplinary cooperation and on the integration in the built environment of biodiversity and wildlife inclusive sensitive designs. This thesis investigates the interdisciplinary cooperation and the ecological data interoperability, by seeking opinions of the AEC sector workers, teachers and students, through an online questionnaire about the awareness and readiness towards adopting sustainable and most importantly ecological and biodiversity improving project designs. Furthermore, it investigates the feasibility of developing, through parametric design, a façade integrated target species promoting BIM element. The modeling and parametrization were developed using Revit Architecture, a popular BIM software, whereas Dynamo, a visual programming environment, was used to test the interaction capabilities of such element in relation with its parameters and the ecological information. This thesis is intended, on one hand to improve the interdisciplinary exchange and understanding of ecological information and on the other to explore a way of creating a façade integrated BIM element, that can be adapted and modified in real time in correlation with the dimensions of a selected target species. Thereby providing ecologists, architects and planners with the knowledge and tools to maximize cooperation and the biodiversity potential of their designs

Foreword

After Nantes (France) in 2009, Poznan (Poland) in 2011, and Taormina (Italy) in 2013, the 2015 event in Montpellier, confirmed ISEE’Cap symposium as a unique opportunity to gather the most renowned international experts together with non-specialist engineers and researchers who share interest in electrochemical capacitors. As for the previous event in the series, ISEE’Cap15 was preceded by a half-day tutorial session with four lectures given by W. Sugimoto, T. Brousse, P.-L. Taberna and J. Miller on a updated state of the art in the field. The program was definitively “looking forward” oriented and also includes a specific “Young investigators” session. It covered the electrochemical double layer capacitors and pseudocapacitors, their electrode materials and storage mechanisms, the electrolytes and interfacial phenomena, the asymmetric and hybrid devices, the introduction of new concepts, new devices and new fabrication processes, the characterization techniques, in-situ and in-operando methods, the modeling of phenomena and systems, system integration and applications

High temperature carbon–carbon supercapacitor using ionic liquid as electrolyte

This paper presents results about the electrochemical and cycling characterizations of a supercapacitor cell using a microporous activated carbon as the active material and N-butyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (PYR14TFSI) ionic liquid as the electrolyte. The microporous activated carbon exhibited a specific capacitance of 60 F g−1 measured from the three-electrode cyclic voltammetry experiments at 20mVs−1 scan rate, with a maximum operating potential range of 4.5V at 60 ◦C. A coin cell assembled with this microporous activated carbon and PYR14TFSI as the electrolyte was cycled for 40,000 cycles without any change of cell resistance (9cm2), at a voltage up to 3.5V at 60 ◦C, demonstrating a high cycling stability as well as a high stable specific capacitance in this ionic liquid electrolyte. These high performances make now this type of supercapacitor suitable for high temperature applications (≥60 ◦C)

Hollow viscus injuries. Predictors of outcome and role of diagnostic delay

INTRODUCTION: Hollow viscus injuries (HVIs) are uncommon but potentially catastrophic conditions with high mortality and morbidity rates. The aim of this study was to analyze our 16-year experience with patients undergoing surgery for blunt or penetrating bowel trauma to identify prognostic factors with particular attention to the influence of diagnostic delay on outcome. METHODS: From our multicenter trauma registry, we selected 169 consecutive patients with an HVI, enrolled from 2000 to 2016. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative data were analyzed to assess determinants of mortality, morbidity, and length of stay by univariate and multivariate analysis models. RESULTS: Overall mortality and morbidity rates were 15.9% and 36.1%, respectively. The mean length of hospital stay was 23±7 days. Morbidity was independently related to an increase of white blood cells (P=0.01), and to delay of treatment >6 hours (P=0.033), while Injury Severity Score (ISS) (P=0.01), presence of shock (P=0.01), and a low diastolic arterial pressure registered at emergency room admission (P=0.02) significantly affected postoperative mortality. CONCLUSION: There is evidence that patients with clinical signs of shock, low diastolic pressure at admission, and high ISS are at increased risk of postoperative mortality. Leukocytosis and delayed treatment (>6 hours) were independent predictors of postoperative morbidity. More effort should be made to increase the preoperative detection rate of HVI and reduce the delay of treatment

Determination of reliable resistance values for electrical double-layer capacitors

The power capabilities of supercapacitors are strongly influenced by their passive elements. Within this study, we investigate methods to address resistive components out of galvanostatic measurements and we compared literature methods with the aim to provide a guide to correctly exploit the resistance of supercapacitors. The impact of the sampling conditions of galvanostatic measurements is analyzed and related to electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Further, a novel method based on the instantaneous power analysis is provided to get real-time information concerning the actual cell resistance during the measurement without altering the gal- vanostatic experiment. Measurements show that literature methods can provide values close to the series resistance, while the newly proposed power method results in a good estimate of the actual dissipative value

Interface dynamics in the two-dimensional quantum Ising model

In a recent paper [Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 120601] we have shown that the dynamics of interfaces, in the symmetry-broken phase of the two-dimensional ferromagnetic quantum Ising model, displays a robust form of ergodicity breaking. In this paper, we elaborate more on the issue. First, we discuss two classes of initial states on the square lattice, the dynamics of which is driven by complementary terms in the effective Hamiltonian and may be solved exactly: (a) strips of consecutive neighbouring spins aligned in the opposite direction of the surrounding spins, and (b) a large class of initial states, characterized by the presence of a well-defined "smooth" interface separating two infinitely extended regions with oppositely aligned spins. The evolution of the latter states can be mapped onto that of an effective one-dimensional fermionic chain, which is integrable in the infinite-coupling limit. In this case, deep connections with noteworthy results in mathematics emerge, as well as with similar problems in classical statistical physics. We present a detailed analysis of the evolution of these interfaces both on the lattice and in a suitable continuum limit, including the interface fluctuations and the dynamics of entanglement entropy. Second, we provide analytical and numerical evidence supporting the conclusion that the observed non-ergodicity -- arising from Stark localization of the effective fermionic excitations -- persists away from the infinite-Ising-coupling limit, and we highlight the presence of a timescale $T\sim e^{c L\ln L}$ for the decay of a region of large linear size $L$. The implications of our work for the classic problem of the decay of a false vacuum are also discussed.Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures. Comments are welcome

Protic Ionic Liquids Based Crosslinked Polymer Electrolytes: A New Class of Solid Electrolytes for Energy Storage Devices

Herein, the preparation of an innovative crosslinked polymer electrolyte (PEO_HPyr) encompassing protic ionic liquids (PILs) displaying high ionic conductivity, wide thermal, and electrochemical stability is reported, thus suitable for use in safe energy storage devices. The first example of an all‐solid‐state electrochemical double layer capacitor (EDLC) containing a PEO_HPyr‐based electrolyte is presented, which shows high performance at ambient temperature and exceptional stability. Furthermore, the first example of a PIL‐based lab‐scale lithium‐metal cell with lithium iron phosphate cathodes is also presented, which provides almost full capacity (i.e., 150 mAh g−1 at C/20) and highly reversible cycling at ambient conditions and different current rates. The excellent results obtained clearly demonstrate that PIL‐based crosslinked polymer electrolytes represent a new and very interesting class of solid electrolytes for energy storage devices

Water in Protic Ionic Liquid Electrolytes: From Solvent Separated Ion Pairs to Water Clusters

Abstract The large electrochemical and cycling stability of “water‐in‐salt” systems have rendered promising prospective electrolytes for batteries. The impact of addition of water on the properties of ionic liquids has already been addressed in several publications. In this contribution, we focus on the changes in the state of water. Therefore, we investigated the protic ionic liquid N ‐butyl‐pyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide with varying water content at different temperatures with the aid of molecular dynamics simulations. It is revealed that at very low concentrations, the water is well dispersed and best characterized as shared solvent molecules. At higher concentrations, the water forms larger aggregates and is increasingly approaching a bulk‐like state. While the librational and rotational dynamics of the water molecules become faster with increasing concentration, the translational dynamics are found to become slower. Further, all dynamics are found to be faster if the temperature increases. The trends of these findings are well in line with the experimental measured conductivities.From single molecules to bulk liquid : The state of water in a protic ionic liquid at different concentration is investigated by the aid of molecular dynamics simulations. At a low concentration, the water shows the behavior of free molecules. With increasing concentration, the formation of clusters can be observed. Finally, at concentrations near the phase separation the behavior approaches that of the bulk liquid. imag