Study on Oil Pressure Characteristics and Trajectory Tracking Control in Shift Process of Wet-Clutch for Electric Vehicles

Accurate control of oil pressure of wet-clutch is of great importance for improving shift quality. Based on dynamic models of two-gear planetary transmission and hydraulic control system, a trajectory tracking model of oil pressure was built by sliding mode control method. An experiment was designed to verify the validity of hydraulic control system, through which the relationship between duty cycle of on-off valve and oil pressure of clutch was determined. The tracking effect was analyzed by simulation. Results showed that oil pressure could follow well the optimal trajectory and the shift quality was effectively improved

Development of Nanostructured Lanthanum Strontium Cobalt Ferrite/Gadolinian-Doped Ceria Composite Electrodes of Solid Oxide Cells Formed by In Situ Polarization

Peer reviewe

Urinary ATP may be a biomarker of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and its severity

Urinary tract cells respond to bladder distension by releasing adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Patients with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) exhibit elevated urinary ATP levels compared to asymptomatic controls. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of urinary ATP as a non-invasive biomarker for IC/BPS and its correlation with symptom severity. We included 56 patients diagnosed with IC/BPS and 50 asymptomatic controls. Urine samples were collected from both groups. Urinary ATP levels were quantified using the luciferin-luciferase bioluminescence method. The severity of IC/BPS symptoms was assessed using the visual analogue score (VAS), Interstitial Cystitis Symptom Index (ICSI), and Interstitial Cystitis Problem Index (ICPI) from the O'Leary-Sant score. We specifically examined the correlation between symptom scores and urinary ATP levels in IC/BPS patients. Urinary ATP levels were significantly higher in IC/BPS patients compared to the control group (P < 0.0001). There was a significant positive correlation between urinary ATP concentrations and VAS, ICPI, and ICSI scores among IC/BPS patients (P < 0.0001). The threshold value for ATP concentration was set at 56.6 nM, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.811 (95% CI 0.730 - 0.892). Our findings indicate that IC/BPS patients excrete elevated amounts of ATP in their urine. This suggests that urinary ATP might serve as a non-invasive biomarker for IC/BPS, with a predictive potential in terms of symptom severity

A prognostic index model for assessing the prognosis of ccRCC patients by using the mRNA expression profiles of AIF1L, SERPINC1 and CES1

Background: Kidney carcinoma is a major cause of carcinoma-related death, with the prognosis for advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma still very poor. The aim of this study was to investigate feasible prognostic biomarkers that can be used to construct a prognostic index model for clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) patients. Methods: The mRNA expression profiles of ccRCC samples were downloaded from the The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset and the correlation of AIF1L with malignancy, tumor stage and prognosis were evaluated. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between AIF1L-low and AIF1L-high expression groups were selected. Those with prognostic value as determined by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis were then used to construct a prognostic index model capable of predicting the outcome of ccRCC patients. Results: The expression level of AIF1L was lower in ccRCC samples than in normal kidney samples. AIF1L expression showed an inverse correlation with tumor stage and a positive association with better prognosis. ccRCC samples were divided into high- and low-expression groups according to the median value of AIF1L expression. In the AIF1L-high expression group, 165 up-regulated DEGs and 601 down-regulated DEGs were identified. Three genes (AIF1L, SERPINC1 and CES1) were selected following univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for these genes were: AIF1L (HR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.76–0.91), SERPINC1 (HR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.12–1.58), and CES1 (HR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.78–0.97). A prognostic index model based on the expression level of the three genes showed good performance in predicting ccRCC patient outcome, with an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.671. Conclusion: This research provides a better understanding of the correlation between AIF1L expression and ccRCC. We propose a novel prognostic index model comprising AIF1L, SERPINC1 and CES1 expression that may assist physicians in determining the prognosis of ccRCC patients

Rational design of NiCo2O4/g-C3N4 composite as practical anode of lithium-ion batteries with outstanding electrochemical performance from multiple aspects

The spinel oxide NiCo2O4 is regarded as a desirable electrode material in lithium-ion batteries with high performance due to its better electrochemical activity and higher capacity compared to traditional simple oxides. However, lithium-ion batteries with this conversion reaction anode still suffer from low initial Coulombic efficiency accompanied by the generation of solid electrolyte interface layer. Herein, a facile strategy is proposed to couple nanoparticulate NiCo2O4 with g-C3N4, which effectively reduces solid electrolyte interface formation and leads to a high initial Coulombic efficiency. Various characterization techniques confirm that NiCo2O4 nanoparticles grow homogeneously on g-C3N4 nanosheets. This NiCo2O4/g-C3N4 hybrid, as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries, can reach an initial Coulombic efficiency of 84.5%, which is attributed to low interfacial surface area and high discharge potential of electrodes. Owing to the synergistic effect in the NiCo2O4/g-C3N4 hybrid, excellent reversible capacities of 1252 and 476 mAh g−1 are maintained at respective current densities of 100 and 500 mA g−1 after 100 cycles. The highly reversible lithium storage is a result of high NiCo2O4 electrode performance, unique layered structure, and excellent g-C3N4 properties

Recent advances and prospective in ruthenium-based materials for electrochemical water splitting

As a highly appealing technology for hydrogen generation, water electrolysis including oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at the cathode largely depends on the availability of efficient electrocatalysts. Accordingly, over the past years, much effort has been made to develop various electrocatalysts with superior performance and reduced cost. Among them, ruthenium (Ru)-based materials for OER and HER are very promising because of their prominent catalytic activity, pH-universal application, the cheapest price among the precious metal family, and so on. Herein, recent advances in this hot research field are comprehensively reviewed. A general description about water splitting is presented to understand the reaction mechanism and proposed scaling relations toward activities, and key stability issues for Ru-based materials are further given. Subsequently, various Ru-involving electrocatalysts are introduced and classified into different groups for improving or optimizing electrocatalytic properties, with a special focus on several significant bifunctional electrocatalysts along with a simulated water electrolyzer. Finally, a perspective on the existing challenges and future progress of Ru-based catalysts toward OER and HER is provided. The main aim here is to shed some light on the design and construction of emerging catalysts for energy storage and conversion technologies

Multi-active sites derived from a single/double perovskite hybrid for highly efficient water oxidation

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays a crucial role in the application of water splitting, which is a highly competitive option for a sustainable energy future. Thus, it is vital to design highly active and durable electrocatalyst for OER. Herein a hybrid with the nominal composition of Ba2Co1.5Mo0.25Nb0.25O6-d (denoted as BC1.5 MN) electrocatalyst consisting of both double perovskite and single perovskite structures is synthesized by a solid-state reaction method. When tested as an electrocatalyst for OER, the BC1.5 MN electrocatalyst requires a current density of 10 mA cm-2 at an overpotential of 400 mV, an onset overpotential of 260 mV, and a Tafel slope of 70 mV dec-1, which are superior to that of precious metal oxide IrO2 catalyst. Chronoamperometric and cyclic voltammetry studies demonstrate that the BC1.5 MN electrocatalyst has outstanding durability in alkaline solution. The synergistic effect between multi-active sites derived from a single/double perovskite hybrid structure results in one of the most active perovskite-based OER electrocatalysts in alkaline solution

Materials and technology of clean energy

Selected peer-reviewed papers from 2nd International Conference on Clean Energy Materials and Technology (ICCEMT 2019) Selected peer-reviewed papers from 2nd International Conference on Clean Energy Materials and Technology (ICCEMT 2019), from November 29 - December 1, 2019, Suzhou, China

A mini-review of noble-metal-free electrocatalysts for overall water splitting in non-alkaline electrolytes

Development of noble-metal-free materials with remarkable electrocatalytic water-splitting performance in acidic or neutral media has sparked considerable attention in recent years. Herein, we review the latest research on design and fabrication of precious-metal-free catalytic materials for overall water electrolysis in non-alkaline environment, especially highlighting several optimizing approaches to enhance the catalytic behavior and to realize effective bifunctional electrocatalysts. All these involved noble-metal-free electrocatalysts are classified into transition-metal oxides (TMOs), transition-metal nitrides (TMNs), transition-metal carbides (TMCs), transition-metal phosphides (TMPs), transition-metal chalcogenides, metal complexes, and metal-free carbons, as shown in the main part. Besides, the paper also offers an introduction of the fundamental electrochemistry of water splitting before entering the subject, as well as a prospective discussion on mechanism understanding, novel catalysts fabrication, and standardized performance measurements/evaluation in the last section

Nitrogen-doped graphic carbon protected Cu/Co/CoO nanoparticles for ultrasensitive and stable non-enzymatic determination of glucose and fructose in wine

© 2018 The Electrochemical Society. Food safety has always been a very serious and global concern. Content determination of each component is one of the most routine analyses in food testing. Here, nitrogen-doped graphic carbon (NGC)-coated Cu/Co/CoO nanoparticles (Cu/Co/CoO/NGC) show excellent performance for glucose and fructose detection in wine. The high sensitivity (1,035 μA mM−1 cm−2), low determination (0.2 μM) and large linear range (10-9,300 μM) characteristic of the Cu/Co/CoO/NGC sensor are attributed to the synergistic effect between the Cu, Co and CoO nanoparticles coated by NGC and the catalytically active M-Nx moieties (M = Cu and Co). Importantly, the good stability and antioxidation of the Cu/Co/CoO/NGC electrode result from the protection provided by the NGC shell. In addition, disposable, low-cost, and compact screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) modified by the Cu/Co/CoO/NGC (Cu/Co/CoO/NGC/SPCEs) were used to detect the sugar content in wine samples with a good reliability (R.S.D. = 1.7%) and recovery (103.2%). Thus, Cu/Co/CoO/NGC/SPCEs will be popular in the detection of real samples