Lithium Metal: The Key to Green Transportation

Lithium is a chemical element on the cutting edge due to its lithium-ion batteries used in both electronics and electric vehicles. The emerging use of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles comes as a promising solution to sustain green transportation. The implications of green transportation could be understood by exploring lithium production and its application concepts. This article expands on those concepts by discussing the lithium supply and how vital lithium is to green technology. Statistical analysis has been applied to determine: (1) The degree of balance and interdependence between lithium raw materials and electric vehicle production, (2) the influence of electric vehicle demand on lithium production, and (3) the contribution of electric vehicles to reducing carbon emissions from road transport. This study provides necessary information on the availability and demand for lithium, which could be the basis for drawing up policies for electric vehicle expansion and lithium supply efficiency

Effects of mechanical strain on optical properties of ZnO nanowire

The main objective of this study is to investigate the influences of mechanical strain on optical properties of ZnO nanowire (NW) before and after embedding ZnS nanowire into the ZnO nanowire, respectively. For this work, commercial finite element modeling (FEM) software package ABAQUS and three-dimensional (3D) finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) methods were utilized to analyze the nonlinear mechanical behavior and optical properties of the sample, respectively. Likewise, in this structure a single focused Gaussian beam with wavelength of 633 nm was used as source. The dimensions of ZnO nanowire were defined to be 12280 nm in length and 103.2 nm in diameter with hexagonal cross-section. In order to investigate mechanical properties, three-point bending technique was adopted so that both ends of the model were clamped with mid-span under loading condition and then the physical deformation model was imported into FDTD solutions to study optical properties of ZnO nanowire under mechanical strain. Moreover, it was found that increase in the strain due to the external load induced changes in reflectance, transmittance and absorptance, respectively