Negative electrocaloric effect in nonpolar phases of perovskite over wide range of temperature

The electrocaloric effect (ECE) offers a promising alternative to the traditional gas compressing refrigeration due to its high efficiency and environmental friendliness. The unusual negative electrocaloric effect refers to the adiabatic temperature drops due to application of electric field, in contrast with the normal (positive) ECE, and provides ways to improve the electrocaloric efficiency in refrigeration cycles. However, negative ECE is unusual and requires a clear understanding of microscopic mechanisms. Here, we found unexpected and extensive negative ECE in nonpolar orthorhombic, tetragonal, and cubic phases of halide and oxide perovskite at wide range of temperature by means of first-principle-based large scale Monte Carlo methods. Such unexpected negative ECE originates from the octahedral tilting related entropy change rather than the polarization entropy change under the application of electric field. Furthermore, a giant negative ECE with temperature change of 8.6 K is found at room temperature. This giant and extensive negative ECE in perovskite opens up new horizon in the research of caloric effects and broadens the electrocaloric refrigeration ways with high efficiency.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

Combining Battery‐Type and Pseudocapacitive Charge Storage in Ag/Ti3C2Tx MXene Electrode for Capturing Chloride Ions with High Capacitance and Fast Ion Transport

The recent advances in chloride‐ion capturing electrodes for capacitive deionization (CDI) are limited by the capacity, rate, and stability of desalination. This work introduces Ti3C2Tx/Ag synthesized via a facile oxidation‐reduction method and then uses it as an anode for chloride‐ion capture in CDI. Silver nanoparticles are formed successfully and uniformly distributed with the layered‐structure of Ti3C2Tx. All Ti3C2Tx/Ag samples are hydrophilic, which is beneficial for water desalination. Ti3C2Tx/Ag samples with a low charge transfer resistance exhibit both pseudocapacitive and battery behaviors. Herein, the Ti3C2Tx/Ag electrode with a reaction time of 3 h exhibits excellent desalination performance with a capacity of 135 mg Cl− g−1 at 20 mA g−1 in a 10 × 10−3 m NaCl solution. Furthermore, low energy consumption of 0.42 kWh kg−1 Cl− and a desalination rate of 1.5 mg Cl− g−1 min−1 at 50 mA g−1 is achieved. The Ti3C2Tx/Ag system exhibits fast rate capability, high desalination capacity, low energy consumption, and excellent cyclability, which can be ascribed to the synergistic effect between the battery and pseudocapacitive behaviors of the Ti3C2Tx/Ag hybrid material. This work provides fundamental insight into the coupling of battery and pseudocapacitive behaviors during Cl− capture for electrochemical desalination

Coefficient of performance at maximum figure of merit and its bounds for low-dissipation Carnot-like refrigerators

The figure of merit for refrigerators performing finite-time Carnot-like cycles between two reservoirs at temperature $T_h$ and $T_c$ ($<T_h$) is optimized. It is found that the coefficient of performance at maximum figure of merit is bounded between 0 and $(\sqrt{9+8\varepsilon_c}-3)/2$ for the low-dissipation refrigerators, where $\varepsilon_c =T_c/(T_h-T_c)$ is the Carnot coefficient of performance for reversible refrigerators. These bounds can be reached for extremely asymmetric low-dissipation cases when the ratio between the dissipation constants of the processes in contact with the cold and hot reservoirs approaches to zero or infinity, respectively. The observed coefficients of performance for real refrigerators are located in the region between the lower and upper bounds, which is in good agreement with our theoretical estimation.Comment: 5 journal pages, 3 figure

Two-Dimensional Analysis of the Diabatic Transition of a General Vectorial Physical Observable Based on Adiabatic-to-Diabatic Transformation.

We present a full analysis of the magnitude and orientation of the diabatic transition matrix element of a general vectorial physical observable during the adiabatic-to-diabatic transformation. The diabatic transition is a function of the adiabatic-to-diabatic transformation angle and the two basic vectors of the adiabatic states, which are the off-diagonal matrix element and the difference between the two diagonal matrix elements. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the transformation has been accomplished in a more general two-dimensional scale for a vectorial physical observable. All possible extreme values of a diabatic transition are deduced for systems with different features. By using an approximate diabatic transition dipole, the pilot implementation of the analysis produces an electronic coupling curve nearly identical to that obtained by the generalized Mulliken-Hush method for the testing molecule. Evidently, this complete analysis of a diabatic transition will be very useful in determining the adiabatic-to-diabatic transformation angle by using a physical observable and can also be used to evaluate the quality of various approximations for constructing the diabatic states

Neuroactive steroid effects on autophagy in a human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK) cell model

Neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders are correlated with cellular stress. Macroautophagy (autophagy) may represent an important protective pathway to maintain cellular homeostasis and functionality, as it targets cytoplasmic components to lysosomes for degradation and recycling. Given recent evidence that some novel psychiatric treatments, such as the neuroactive steroid (NAS) allopregnanolone (AlloP, brexanolone), may induce autophagy, we stably transfected human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK) cells with a ratiometric fluorescent probe to assay NAS effects on autophagy. We hypothesized that NAS may modulate autophagy in part by the ability of uncharged NAS to readily permeate membranes. Microscopy revealed a weak effect of AlloP on autophagic flux compared with the positive control treatment of Torin1. In high-throughput microplate experiments, we found that autophagy induction was more robust in early passages of HEK cells. Despite limiting studies to early passages for maximum sensitivity, a range of NAS structures failed to reliably induce autophagy or interact with Torin1 or starvation effects. To probe NAS in a system where AlloP effects have been shown previously, we surveyed astrocytes and again saw minimal autophagy induction by AlloP. Combined with other published results, our results suggest that NAS may modulate autophagy in a cell-specific or context-specific manner. Although there is merit to cell lines as a screening tool, future studies may require assaying NAS in cells from brain regions involved in neuropsychiatric disorders

Unraveling microforging principle during in situ shot-peening-assisted cold spray additive manufacturing aluminum alloy through a multi-physics framework

Wang Q., Ma N., Shi J., et al. Unraveling microforging principle during in situ shot-peening-assisted cold spray additive manufacturing aluminum alloy through a multi-physics framework. Materials and Design 236, 112451 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2023.112451.Cold spray (CS) is a highly potential solid-state additive manufacturing (AM) technique. In situ shot-peening-assisted CSAM was proposed to additively manufacture fully dense deposits using cost-effective and renewable nitrogen gas. The role of in situ shot-peening particles is critical but remains unclear. Here, the process was quantitatively modeled to visualize the dynamic deformation, energy conversion, as well as cell/sub-grain size and microhardness evolutions, compared to those during the conventional CSAM process, identifying the key role of in situ shot-peening particles in the AA6061 extreme deformation and microstructure characteristics during in situ shot-peening-assisted CSAM. High-fidelity modeling was verified fully by comparing the experimental and model-reproduced deformation profiles, cell/sub-grain size distributions, and increases in microhardness. The results show that the kinetic energy of in situ shot-peening particles was 470 times higher and dissipated mainly through AA6061 plastic deformation (86.36% of total energy), leading to significant enhancement of microhardness and tensile strength. Moreover, the mixing ratio of large-size SS410 particles required to create a fully dense deposit was evaluated from an energy perspective, in good agreement with the experiment. This study elucidates the microforging principle during in situ shot-peening-assisted CSAM, providing scientific guidelines for high-quality and low-cost CSAM of high-strength aluminum alloys

Effects of Flotage on Immersion Indentation Results of Bone Tissue: An Investigation by Finite Element Analysis

In reality, nanoindentation test is an efficient technique for probing the mechanical properties of biological tissue that soaked in the liquid media to keep the bioactivity. However, the effects of flotage imposed on the indenter will lead to inaccuracy when calculating mechanical properties (for instance, elastic modulus and hardness) by using depth-sensing nanoindentation. In this paper, the effects of flotage on the nanoindentation results of cortical bone were investigated by finite element analysis (FEA) simulation. Comparisons of nanoindentation simulation results of bone samples with and without being soaked in the liquid media were carried out. Conclusions show that the difference of load-displacement curves in the case of soaking sample and without soaking sample conditions varies widely based on the change of indentation depth. In other words, the nanoindentation measurements in liquid media will cause significant error in the calculated Young’s modules and hardness due to the flotage. By taking into account the effect of flotage, these errors are particularly important to the accurate biomechanics characterization of biological samples

Multi-radial cyclone suction dust removal technology at coal mine belt transfer points

The dust hazard and management at the belt transfer point is one of the most important issues in achieving efficient, safe and clean production in coal mines. To address the problem of dust pollution at the transfer point and to reduce the dust hazard at the transfer point, a multi-radial cyclone suction dust removal technology is proposed for the belt transfer point based on the cyclone suction theory. The technology is based on a certain number of inlets and jet angles on the side wall of the vertical drop pipe, with the suction outlet set above the drop pipe. The principle of operation is that the incoming air-flow from the side wall of the drop pipe changes direction when it meets the side wall and the inlet jets interact with each other to form an upward flowing cyclone in the drop pipe. A simulated 3D solid model and a test platform for multi-radial cyclone suction dust removal at the belt transfer point are built. A combination of numerical simulations and experimental tests is used to study the distribution of air-flow and dust transport in the transfer point. In the numerical simulation and experimental tests, eight air inlets are provided on each of the four-side walls of the drop pipe at an angle of 10° to the horizontal, and four-air inlets are provided on the guide chute, with the air inlets oriented tangential to the circle of the particle release position on the lower belt. According to the cyclonic suction theory, the greater the inlet air velocity on the drop pipe, the greater the pressure difference between the boundary of the drop pipe and the center, and the better the effect on dust collection. The simulation results show that the best inlet air speed for the multi-radial cyclone suction technology is 8 m/s, where the dust of less than 50 μm and the dust of less than 30 μm from the impact of the coal with the lower belt can be collected during the drop. Comparing the dispersion of the coal before and after falling in the test, it is concluded that the proportion of particles smaller than 50 μm in the coal on the lower belt is reduced by 47.96%, and the proportion of particles smaller than 5 μm is reduced by 44.62% after the application of the dust removal technology. It reduces the proportion of harmful particles in the coal. By measuring the dust concentration at the ends of the guide chute and at the inlet, the test determines that the best inlet air speed for the multi-radial cyclone suction dust removal technology is 8 m/s. At this time, the dust concentrations at the left and right ends of the guide chute and at the inlet are the lowest, and the dust removal efficiency is 97.71% and 99.92% respectively, and the overall dust removal efficiency at the transfer point can reach more than 95%. The study proves that the multi-radial cyclone suction dust removal technology at the transfer point can solve the problem of dust pollution , improve the working environment

Effect of the compact Ti layer on the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells assembled using stainless steel sheets

Titanium films have been deposited on stainless steel metal sheets using dc magnetron sputtering technique at different substrate temperatures. The structure of the titanium films strongly depend on the substrate temperature. The titanium film deposited at the substrate temperature lower than 300 ºC has a loose flat sheet grains structure and the titanium film prepared at the substrate temperature higher than 500 ºC has a dense nubby grains structure. The DSSC assembled using stainless steel sheet coated with titanium film deposited at high substrate temperature has a low charge transfer resistance in the TiO2/Ti interface and results in a high conversion efficiency. The DSSC assembled using stainless steel sheet coated with titanium film deposited at temperature higher than 500 ºC has higher conversion efficiency than that assembled using titanium metal sheet as the substrate. The maximum conversion efficiency, 2.26% is obtained for DSSC assembled using stainless steel sheet coated with titanium film deposited at 700 ºC substrate temperature, which is about 70% of the conversion efficiency of the FTO reference cell used in this study.This work was supported by the Dalian University of Technology through the program of the Sea-sky Scholar