Magnesium Polymer Electrolytes Based on the Polycarbonate Poly(2-butyl-2-ethyltrimethylene-carbonate)

Magnesium electrolytes based on a polycarbonate with either magnesium tetrakis(hexafluoroisopropyloxy) borate (Mg(B(HFIP)$_4$)$_2$) or magnesium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (Mg(TFSI)$_2$) for magnesium batteries were prepared and characterized. The side-chain-containing polycarbonate, poly(2-butyl-2-ethyltrimethylene carbonate) (P(BEC)), was synthesized by ring opening polymerization (ROP) of 5-ethyl-5-butylpropane oxirane ether carbonate (BEC) and mixed with Mg(B(HFIP)$_4$)$_2$ or Mg(TFSI)$_2$_ to form low- and high-salt-concentration polymer electrolytes (PEs). The PEs were characterized by impedance spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), rheology, linear sweep voltammetry, cyclic voltammetry, and Raman spectroscopy. A transition from classical salt-in-polymer electrolytes to polymer-in-salt electrolytes was indicated by a significant change in glass transition temperature as well as storage and loss moduli. Ionic conductivity measurements indicated the formation of polymer-in-salt electrolytes for the PEs with 40 mol % Mg(B(HFIP)$_4$)$_2$ (HFIP40). In contrast, the 40 mol % Mg(TFSI)$_2$ PEs showed mainly the classical behavior. HFIP40 was further found to have an oxidative stability window greater than 6 V vs Mg/Mg$^{2+}$, but showed no reversible stripping-plating behavior in an Mg||SS cell

Hierarchical Motion-Compensated Frame Rate Up-Conversion Using Gaussian Pyramid and Guidance Motion Vector

This paper proposes fast and accurate frame rate up-conversion algorithm for both software and hardware. The proposed algorithm first construct Gaussian pyramid structure using 3×3 Gaussian mask. After constructing Gaussian pyramid, forward and backward unilateral motion estimation is implemented at the top level of the pyramid. Then, motion vector field that is obtained at the top level is projected onto the middle level and the bottom level of the pyramid with unilateral motion vector refinement. Next, on the bottom level, we implement motion vector smoothing and proposed motion vector shifting with bilateral motion vector refinement. By shifting unilateral motion vector to bilateral motion vector, we could avoid generating holes and overlapped regions. Finally, we select final MV between forward and backward MVs according to their reliability. After all the processes, we interpolate new frames by using overlapped block motion compensation. Experimental results show that proposed algorithm is up to 80 times faster than conventional algorithm with 0.1dB peak signal-to-noise gain in average

Hierarchical Motion-Compensated Frame Rate Up-Conversion Using Gaussian Pyramid and Guidance Motion Vector

This paper proposes fast and accurate frame rate up-conversion algorithm for both software and hardware. The proposed algorithm first construct Gaussian pyramid structure using 3×3 Gaussian mask. After constructing Gaussian pyramid, forward and backward unilateral motion estimation is implemented at the top level of the pyramid. Then, motion vector field that is obtained at the top level is projected onto the middle level and the bottom level of the pyramid with unilateral motion vector refinement. Next, on the bottom level, we implement motion vector smoothing and proposed motion vector shifting with bilateral motion vector refinement. By shifting unilateral motion vector to bilateral motion vector, we could avoid generating holes and overlapped regions. Finally, we select final MV between forward and backward MVs according to their reliability. After all the processes, we interpolate new frames by using overlapped block motion compensation. Experimental results show that proposed algorithm is up to 80 times faster than conventional algorithm with 0.1dB peak signal-to-noise gain in average

Enhanced Li+ Conduction Within Single-Ion Conducting Crosslinked Gel via Reduced Cation-Polymer Interaction

The development of advanced electrolytes compatible with lithium metal and lithium-ion batteries is crucial for meeting ever growing energy storage demands. One such class of materials, single-ion conducting polymer electrolytes (SIPEs), prevents the formation of ion concentration gradients and buildup of anions at the electrode surface, improving performance. One of the ongoing challenges for SIPEs is the development of materials that are conductive enough to compete with liquid electrolytes. Presented herein is a class of gel SIPEs based on crosslinked poly(tetrahydrofuran) diacrylate that present enhanced room temperature conductivities of 3.5 × 10-5 S/cm when gelled with lithium metal relevant 1,3-dioxolane/dimethoxyethane, 2.5 × 10-4 S/cm with carbonate solutions, and approaching 10-3 S/cm with dimethyl sulfoxide. Remarkably, these materials also demonstrate high conductivity at low temperatures, 1.8 × 10-5 S/cm at -20 °C in certain solvents. Most importantly however, when contrasted with identical SIPEs formulated with poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate, the mechanisms responsible for the enhanced conductivity are elucidated: decreasing Li+-polymer interactions and gel solvent-polymer interactions leads to an increase in Li+ mobility, improving the ionic conductivity. These findings are generalizable to various SIPE chemistries, and can therefore be seen as an additional set of design parameters for developing future high conductivity SIPEs

7.2 A 48 ??4013.5 mm Depth Resolution Flash LiDAR Sensor with In-Pixel Zoom Histogramming Time-to-Digital Converter

3D imaging technologies have become prevalent for diverse applications such as user identification, interactive user interfaces with AR/VR devices, and self-driving cars. Direct time-of-flight (D-ToF) systems, LiDAR sensors, are desirable for long-distance measurements in outdoor environments because they offer high sensitivity to weak reflected light and high immunity to background light thanks to the spatiotemporal correlation of SPADs [1], [2]. SPAD-based LiDAR sensors suffer from a large amount of ToF data generated by complicated time-to-digital converters (TDC), resulting in limited spatial resolution and frame rate compared with indirect ToF (I-ToF) sensors. Recently, LiDAR sensors embedding histogramming TDCs have been reported to generate depth information to reduce the required output bandwidth [3]-[6]. However, they still adopt a large number of memories in pixel, a complicated signal processor, or a column-parallel TDC scheme with scanning optics. ?? 2021 IEEE

Fabrication of Carbon Disulfide Added Colloidal Gold Colorimetric Sensor for the Rapid and On-Site Detection of Biogenic Amines

Meat is often wasted due to the perceived concerns of its shelf life and preservation. Specifically, in meat formation, biogenic amines (BAs) are the major agents to spoil them. Herein, we have developed a carbon disulfide (CS2) added colloidal gold nanoparticles-based colorimetric sensor for the rapid and on-site detection of biogenic amines. Transmission electron microscopy is used to observe the morphological changes in colloidal gold nanoparticles and aggregation behavior of CS2 added to the colloidal gold nanoparticles’ solution. Raman spectroscopic analysis is further used to characterize the peaks of CS2, Cad and CS2-Cad molecules. Absorption spectroscopy is used to estimate the colorimetric differences and diffuse reflectance spectra of the samples. The sensing analysis is performed systematically in the presence and absence of CS2. CS2 added colloidal gold nanoparticles colorimetric sensor detected the BAs with a limit of detection (LOD) value of 50.00 µM. Furthermore, the developed sensor has shown an LOD of 50.00 µM for the detection of multiple BAs at a single time. The observed differences in the colorimetric and absorption signals indicate that the structure of BAs is converted to the dithiocarbamate (DTC)-BA molecule, due to the chemical reactions between the amine groups of BAs and CS2. Significantly, the developed colorimetric sensor offers distinct features such as facile fabrication approach, on-site sensing strategy, rapid analysis, visual detection, cost-effective, possibility of mass production, availability to detect multiple BAs at a single time and appreciable sensitivity. The developed sensor can be effectively used as a promising and alternative on-site tool for the estimation of BAs

An 80 x 60 Flash LiDAR Sensor With In-Pixel Delta-Intensity Quaternary Search Histogramming TDC

This article presents a flash light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor featuring an in-pixel histogramming time-to-digital converter (hTDC) based on a delta-intensity quaternary search (DIQS) technique. The proposed 12-b DIQS hTDC is a two-step converter consisting of a 6-h coarse hTDC and a 7-b fine hTDC with 1-b redundancy. The DIQS hTDC synthesizes depth maps with three subframes from the coarse mode and a single subframe from the fine mode, achieving 100-ps resolution without a clock frequency of a few gigahertz. The DIQS repeats dividing the time range of a current step into four periods and finding the location where a target object is placed by comparing the number of events in each period, which is similar to the binary search method but doubles its operating speed. Two time-of-flight (ToF) bits are consecutively determined in every coarse step, and seven ToF bits are estimated by the indirect ToF technique with photon counts. An up-down counter is employed to reduce the memory size by half and enable the delta-intensity technique that can extend the dynamic range by suppressing the uniform background light. The prototype LiDAR with an 80 x 60 pixel array was fabricated in a 110-nm CMOS image sensor (CIS) process and fully characterized. The maximum detectable range is measured to 45 m with a success rate of 100% at night and 60% under 70-klux background light. The depth accuracy and precision are 2.5 and 1.5 cm from 3 to 4.5 m indoor, respectively, and the precision is maintained to 1.8 cm for the target located at a 1.5-m distance under 60-klux background light. Inherent time-gating and differential signaling of the DIQS hTDC effectively suppress common-mode noise, accomplishing real-time acquisition of depth images with 30 frames/s in a 9-m range at 30-klux background light