Disordered Rock-Salt Type Li2TiS3 as Novel Cathode for LIBs: A Computational Point of View

The development of high-energy cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries with low content of critical raw materials, such as cobalt and nickel, plays a key role in the progress of lithium-ion batteries technology. In recent works, a novel and promising family of lithium-rich sulfides has received attention. Among the possible structures and arrangement, cubic disordered Li(2)TiS(3) has shown interesting properties, also for the formulation of new cell for all-solid-state batteries. In this work, a computational approach based on DFT hybrid Hamiltonian, localized basis functions and the use of the periodic CRYSTAL code, has been set up. The main goal of the present study is to determine accurate structural, electronic, and spectroscopic properties for this class of materials. Li(2)TiS(3) precursors as Li(2)S, TiS(2), and TiS(3) alongside other formulations and structures such as LiTiS(2) and monoclinic Li(2)TiS(3) have been selected as benchmark systems and used to build up a consistent and robust predictive scheme. Raman spectra, XRD patterns, electronic band structures, and density of states have been simulated and compared to available literature data. Disordered rock-salt type Li(2)TiS(3) structures have been derived via a solid solution method as implemented into the CRYSTAL code. Representative structures were extensively characterized through the calculations of their electronic and vibrational properties. Furthermore, the correlation between structure and Raman fingerprint was established

Nanoporous PBI Membranes by Track-Etching for High Temperature PEMFC

This article describes for the first time the preparation of conducting track-etched PBI membranes 25 mm thick with pore diameter values varying from 15 nm to 50 nm and overall porosity up to 10%. The TGA, DSC and FTIR characterization results for the so obtained nanoporous membranes reveal the chemical modification of PBI upon irradiation along the track walls. A clear conduction outperforming is shown by phosphoric acid doped track-etched PBI in comparison with dense PBI counterparts. This behavior could be explained by the effective contribution of additional pathways for proton transport involving shorter benzimidazole fragments, cross-linked PBI nanodomains and free amphoteric phosphoric acid molecules settled on the pore walls

Characterization of the evolution of noble metal particles in a commercial three‐way catalyst: Correlation between real and simulated ageing

Ageing of automotive catalysts is associated to a loss of their functionality and ultimately to a waste of precious resources. For this reason, understanding catalyst ageing phenomena is necessary for the design of long lasting efficient catalysts. The present work has the purpose of studying in depth all the phenomena that occur during ageing, in terms of morphological modification and deactivation of the active materials: precious metal particles and oxidic support. The topic was deeply investigated using specific methodologies (FT‐IR, CO chemisorption, FE‐ SEM) in order to understand the behavior of metals and support, in terms of their surface properties, morphology and dispersion in the washcoat material. A series of commercial catalysts, aged in different conditions, have been analyzed, in order to find correlations between real and simulated ageing conditions. The characterization highlights a series of phenomena linked to the deactivation of the catalysts. Pd nanoparticles undergo a rapid agglomeration, exhibiting a quick loss of dispersion and of active sites with an increase of particles size. The evolution of the support allows highlighting also the contribution of chemical ageing effects. These results were also correlated with performance tests executed on synthetic gas bench, underlining a good correspondence between vehicle and laboratory aged samples and the contribution of chemical poisoning to vehicle aged ones. The collected data are crucial for the development of accelerated laboratory ageing protocols, which are instrumental for the development and testing of long lasting abatement systems

Biofuels from waste to road transport

Biofuels from Waste to Road (WASTE2ROAD) is an EU funded project under the Grant Agreement No. 818120 within the LC-SC3-RES-21-2018 call, “Development of next generation biofuels and alternative renewable fuel technologies for road transport”, as a Research and Innovation Action of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme. The project started in the fall 2018 and will run for 4 years. In 2014, total waste production in the EU amounted to 2.5 billion tons. From this total only a limited (albeit increasing) share (36%) was recycled, while the rest was landfilled or burned, of which some 600 million tons could have been recycled or reused. Conversion of all sustainably available biogenic wastes and residues to biofuels could provide 27% of total transport fuel by 2050, achieving around 2.1 gigatons of CO2 emission reductions per year. The increasing demand for biofuels[1] implies the need for the transformation of diverse bio-resources into liquid fuels, and includes transformation of the biogenic part of municipal and industrial wastes into such biofuels. This clearly is a stepping stone to achieve the European goals[2] but it also poses challenges, such as 1) diversity and inhomogeneity of wastes throughout Europe (variable composition depending on the type of waste and geographical location), 2) the complexity of the conversion of wastes compared to fossil oils, 3) the technological aspects of co-refining and 4) high overall costs with moderate process performance. [1] https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/Biofuels_Roadmap_WEB.pdf [2] https://europeanclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/WASTED-final.pdf Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

BIBLIOGRAFIE, RECENSIONI, RASSEGNE

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Bollettino Sismico Italiano: Analisys of Early Aftershocks of the 2016 MW 6.0 Amatrice, MW 5.9 Visso and MW 6.5 Norcia earthquakes in Central Italy

The Amatrice-Visso-Norcia seismic sequence is the most important of the last 30 years in Italy. The seismic sequence started on 24 August, 2016 and still is ongoing in central Apennines. At the end of February 2017 more than 57,000 events were located, 80,000 events up to the end of September 2017 (Fig. 1). The mainshocks of the sequence occurred on 24 August 2016 (Mw 6.0 and Mw 5.4), 26 October 2016 (Mw 5.4 and Mw 5.9), 30 October 2016 (Mw 6.5), 18 January 2017 (four earthquakes Mw≥ 5.0). In this seismic sequence, all the waveforms recorded by temporary stations deployed by the SISMIKO emergency group (stations T12**; Moretti et al., 2016) where available in real- time at the surveillance room of INGV. Because of the high level of seismicity and the dense seismic network installed in the region, more than 150 events per day were located at the end of February 2017; still 60 events per day were located up to the end of August 2017.The Amatrice-Visso-Norcia is the most important seismic sequence since 2015, the time when the analysis procedures of the BSI group (Bollettino Sismico Italiano) were revised (Nardi et al., 2015). BSI is now available every four months on the web: bulletins contain revised earthquakes (location and magnitude) with ML≥ 1.5, quasi-real time revision of ML≥ 3.5 earthquakes and phase arrivals from waveforms recorded on seismic stations available from the European Integrated Data Archive (EIDA), (Mazza et al., 2012). These last procedures allow the integration of signals from temporary seismic stations (Moretti et al., 2014) installed by the emergency group SISMIKO (Moretti and Sismiko working group, 2016), even when they are not in real time transmission, if they are rapidly archived in EIDA, together with real time signals from the seismic stations of the permanent INGV network. The analysis strategy of the BSI group for the Amatrice -Visso - Norcia seismic sequence (AVN.s.s in the following) was to select the earthquakes located in the box with min/max latitude: 42.2/43.2 - and min/max longitude: 12.4/14.1 to prepare a special volume of BSI on the seismic sequence.PublishedTrieste, Italy1SR. TERREMOTI - Servizi e ricerca per la Societ

Bollettino Sismico Italiano gennaio – aprile 2019

Nel periodo che va dal 1 gennaio al 30 aprile 2019, gli analisti del BSI hanno revisionato tutti gli eventi di magnitudo M≥1.5, mentre i parametri dei terremoti di magnitudo inferiore a tale soglia di revisione sono stati calcolati in tempo reale, nella sala di sorveglianza sismica di Roma.Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - Dipartimento di Protezione CivilePublished4IT. Banche dat

Bollettino Sismico Italiano gennaio – aprile 2018

Nel primo quadrimestre 2018 si sono verificati in Italia cinque eventi di magnitudo superiore o uguale a 4.0, di cui nessuno di magnitudo superiore a 5.0. Due di essi, avvenuti il 4 (MW 4.0) e il 10 aprile (MW 4.6), hanno interessato la zona della sequenza dell’Italia centrale, in provincia di Macerata. Un terremoto di magnitudo MW 4.3 è avvenuto in provincia di Campobasso, il 25 aprile, ad una profondità di 29 km. Infine due terremoti profondi, avvenuti il 12 febbraio (ML 4.4, con profondità di 379 km) e il 7 marzo (ML 4.0, con profondità di 294 km), hanno interessato il Tirreno Meridionale, al largo della costa calabra.Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - Dipartimento di Protezione CivilePublished4IT. Banche dat