Energy-storage properties and electrocaloric effects of Pb(1-3x/2)LaxZr0.85Ti0.15O3 antiferroelectric thick films

1-µm-Pb(1-3x/2)LaxZr0.85Ti0.15O3 (PLZT) antiferroelectric (AFE) thick films with x = 0.08, 0.10, 0.12, and 0.14 were deposited on LaNiO3/Si (100) substrates by a sol-gel method. The dielectric properties, energy-storage performance, electrocaloric effect, and leakage current behavior were investigated in detail. With increasing La content, dielectric constant and saturated polarizations of the thick films were gradually decreased. A maximum recoverable energy-storage density of 38 J/cm3 and efficiency of 71% were achieved in the thick films with x = 0.12 at room temperature. Moreover, a large reversible adiabatic temperature change ∆T = 25.0 o C was presented in the thick films with x = 0.08 at 127 o C at 990 kV/cm. All the samples had a lower leakage current density below 10- 6 A/cm2 at room temperature. These results indicated that the PLZT AFE thick films could be a potential candidate for applications in high energy-storage density capacitors and cooling devices

A giant electrocaloric effect of a Pb0.97La0.02(Zr0.75Sn0.18Ti0.07)O3 antiferroelectric thick film at room temperature

A 2-µm-Pb0.97La0.02(Zr0.75Sn0.18Ti0.07)O3 (PLZST) antiferroelectric (AFE) thick film with tetragonal structure was deposited on LaNiO3/Si (100) substrates via a sol-gel technique. The electrocaloric effect (ECE) of the PLZST thick film is investigated under the functions of external electric field and temperature. Giant ECEs (∆T = 53.8 oC and ∆S = 63.9 J·K-1·kg-1) are received at 5 oC, which is attributed to a field-induced AFE to ferroelectric (FE) phase transition. Moreover, a large ∆T of above 30 oC is remains at temperature range from 5 oC to 25 oC. The maximum electrocaloric coefficient (ξmax = 0.060 K·cm/kV) and refrigeration efficiency (COP = 18) of the film are also obtained at 5 oC. At room temperature, the values of ∆T, ∆S, COP and ξmax are 35.0 oC, 39.0 J·K-1·kg-1, 14 and 0.039 K·cm/kV at 900 kV/cm, respectively. The AFE thick films with giant ECEs are promising candidates for applications in cooling systems at room temperature

Enhanced energy-storage performance and electrocaloric effect in compositionally graded Pb(1−3x/2)LaxZr0.85Ti0.15O3 antiferroelectric thick films

The compositionally graded multilayer Pb(1−3x/2)LaxZr0.85Ti0.15O3 (PLZT) antiferroelectric (AFE) thick films were deposited on LaNiO3/Si (100) substrates by using a sol–gel method. The effect of gradient sequence on dielectric properties, energy-storage performance, and electrocaloric effect (ECE) was investigated in detail. It is found that the compositionally graded films exhibited a significant enhancement in dielectric properties, energy-storage performance and ECE, which was, in contrast to the single-composition PLZT film, contributed by the strain and the gradient of polarization near the interfaces between the adjacent layers. A recoverable energy-storage density of 44 J/cm3 and efficiency of 71% was obtained in the up-graded PLZT AFE thick film at 1950 kV/cm. A giant reversible adiabatic temperature change of ∆T=28 °C at room temperature at 900 kV/cm was also achieved in the up-graded film. Moreover, all the thick films displayed a small leakage current density below 10−6 A/cm2 at room temperature. Thus, the compositionally graded PLZT AFE thick films with a large recoverable energy-storage density and a giant ECE could be a potential candidate for the applications in high energy-storage density capacitors and cooling devices

Phase structure tuned electrocaloric effect and pyroelectric energy harvesting performance of (Pb0.97La0.02)(Zr,Sn,Ti)O3 antiferroelectric thick films

In present work, (100)-oriented (Pb0.97La0.02)(Zr0.95-xSnxTi0.05)O3 antiferroelectric thick films with x=0.08, 0.20 and 0.38, were successfully fabricated. These compositions are located in orthorhombic phase region, the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB), and tetragonal phase region, respectively. The effects of their phase structure on the electrocaloric effect and the pyroelectric energy harvesting behavior were investigated. A considerable temperature reduction of ∆T=13, 33, and 27 oC, due to the ferroelectric-antiferroelectric phase transition, was obtained at 25 oC in these thick films for x=0.08, 0.20, and 0.38, respectively. Moreover, a huge harvested energy density per cycle of W= 3.6, 6.8, and 4.0 J/cm3 was also realized under the experimental condition in the thick films with x=0.08, 0.20, and 0.38, respectively. These results indicated that both the cooling performance and the pyroelectric energy harvesting in antiferroelectrics could be optimized by the proper phase structure control

Quorum Sensing Inhibition and Anti-Biofilm Activity of Traditional Chinese Medicines

Bacterial biofilm, a special stage which a large amount of bacteria are adhere to surface, increase resistance to antimicrobial agents. However, all the bacteria are possibly developed into biofilm, and bacterial biofilm is more difficult to remove from environment comparing to planktonic bacteria, which can be a strike to food industry. Many researchers have showed that traditional Chinese medicines contribute to the reduction of bacterial formation, since the important factor (quorum sensing) in biofilm formation is inhibited by traditional Chinese medicines. In this review, the effect of traditional Chinese medicines and its inhibition mechanism of biofilm formation on common bacterium biofilm are summarized, which provide a new direction for the removal of bacterial biofilm

Improved electrocaloric effect in (100)-oriented Pb0.97La0.02(Zr0.57Sn0.38Ti0.05)O3 antiferroelectric thick film by interface engineering

In this work, 1.5-μm Pb0.97La0.02(Zr0.57Sn0.38Ti0.05)O3 antiferroelectric thick films with and without a ZrO2 thin layer were deposited on LaNiO3(100)/Si(100) substrates. The effects of ZrO2 thin layer on the microstructure, electrical properties, and especial electrocaloric effect of the antiferroelectric films were studied in detail. Although the films both with and without ZrO2 buffer layer displayed (100)-preferred orientation, possessed dense and uniform surface microstructure, the ZrO2-buffered films have an enlarged grain size by 27%, compared with the thick films without the buffer layer. Accordingly, the dielectric constant and saturate polarization of this antiferroelectric thick films was improved by the insertion of ZrO2 thin layer, and simultaneously its leakage current was slightly reduced. As a result, a great improvement in cooling character caused by ferroelectric–antiferroelectric phase switching, was realized in the ZrO2-buffered films

Induction of Viable but Nonculturable Escherichia coli O157:H7 by Low Temperature and Its Resuscitation

Viable but non-culturable (VBNC) cells are alive bacteria cells, but lose their culturability in conventional culture media, usually escape detection by the plate count method and pose a serious threat to food safety and public health. Therefore, it is urgent to study the VBNC status, and to provide theoretical basis and scientific basis for food processing and safety control caused by pathogenic microorganisms. In this study, Escherichia coli O157:H7 was induced to the VBNC state at two different temperatures (-20°C and 4°C) and its resuscitation and morphological changes under different nutritional conditions were studied. The initial inoculum of 2.1 × 107 CFU/mL E. coli O157:H7 cells were induced into the VBNC state in normal saline, distilled water, LB broth at -20 °C after 176, 160, 80 days, respectively. The results showed that E. coli O157:H7 reserved at -20°C, and LB culture medium were easier to enter VBNC state than others conditions, the cells still had metabolic activity and the cell morphology changed from the typical rod shape to short rod and the cell size decreased. The resuscitate ways including the direct warming resuscitation, gradual warming resuscitation, adding chemical substance resuscitation, and adding nutrients resuscitation were studied. The results showed that the optimal conditions of 5% Tween 80 and 3% Tween 80 acculated the resuscitation of E. coli O157:H7 VBNC state cells induced by low temperature LB medium and low temperature saline. E. coli O157:H7 VBNC state failed from resuscitation when incubating in LB broth, respectively using direct warming and adding nutrients substance. This study provides new insights into induction and resuscitation of VBNC E. coli O157:H7 and offers an approach for investigating the formation mechanism of VBNC foodborne pathogens in food safety

Association Test Based on SNP Set: Logistic Kernel Machine Based Test vs. Principal Component Analysis

GWAS has facilitated greatly the discovery of risk SNPs associated with complex diseases. Traditional methods analyze SNP individually and are limited by low power and reproducibility since correction for multiple comparisons is necessary. Several methods have been proposed based on grouping SNPs into SNP sets using biological knowledge and/or genomic features. In this article, we compare the linear kernel machine based test (LKM) and principal components analysis based approach (PCA) using simulated datasets under the scenarios of 0 to 3 causal SNPs, as well as simple and complex linkage disequilibrium (LD) structures of the simulated regions. Our simulation study demonstrates that both LKM and PCA can control the type I error at the significance level of 0.05. If the causal SNP is in strong LD with the genotyped SNPs, both the PCA with a small number of principal components (PCs) and the LKM with kernel of linear or identical-by-state function are valid tests. However, if the LD structure is complex, such as several LD blocks in the SNP set, or when the causal SNP is not in the LD block in which most of the genotyped SNPs reside, more PCs should be included to capture the information of the causal SNP. Simulation studies also demonstrate the ability of LKM and PCA to combine information from multiple causal SNPs and to provide increased power over individual SNP analysis. We also apply LKM and PCA to analyze two SNP sets extracted from an actual GWAS dataset on non-small cell lung cancer