Anode Fabrication for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells: Electroless and Electrodeposition of Nickel and Silver into Doped Ceria Scaffolds

© 2016 The Authors.A novel fabrication method using electroless and electrodeposited Ni/Ag/GDC for SOFC anodes is presented. First a porous Ce0.9Gd0.1O2-x (GDC) scaffold was deposited on a YSZ electrolyte by screen printing and sintering. The scaffold was then metallized with silver using Tollens reaction, followed by electrodeposition of nickel from a Watts bath. The electrodes (Ni/Ag/GDC) were tested in both symmetrical and fuel cell configurations. The microstructures of the Ni/Ag/GDC anodes were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Nano-particles of Ni formed in the porous GDC scaffold provided triple phase boundaries (TPB). The electronic conductivity of the Ni/Ag/GDC (3.5/24.7/71.8 vol%) electrode was good even at relatively low Ni volume fractions. The electrochemical performance was examined in different concentrations of humidified hydrogen (3% H2O) and over a range of temperatures (600-750 °C). The total area specific resistance (ASR) of the anode at 750 °C in humidified 97 vol% H2 was 1.12 Ω cm2, with low-frequency polarization (R-l) as the largest contributor. The electrodes were successfully integrated into a fuel cell and operated in both H2 and syngas

Transverse emittance dilution due to coupler kicks in linear accelerators

One of the main concerns in the design of low emittance linear accelerators (linacs) is the preservation of beam emittance. Here we discuss one possible source of emittance dilution, the coupler kick, due to transverse electromagnetic fields in the accelerating cavities of the linac caused by the power coupler geometry. In addition to emittance growth, the coupler kick also produces orbit distortions. It is common wisdom that emittance growth from coupler kicks can be strongly reduced by using two couplers per cavity mounted opposite each other or by having the couplers of successive cavities alternation from above to below the beam pipe so as to cancel each individual kick. We therefore analyze consequences of alternate coupler placements. We show here that for sufficiently large Q values, alternating the coupler location from before to after the cavity leads to a cancellation of the orbit distortion but not of the emittance growth, whereas alternating the coupler location from before and above to behind and below the cavity cancels the emittance growth but not the orbit distortion. These compensations hold even when each cavity is individually detuned, e.g. by microphonics. Another effective method for reducing coupler kicks that is studied is the optimization of the phase of the coupler kick. This technique is independent of the coupler geometry but relies on operating on crest. A final technique studied is symmetrization of the cavity geometry in the coupler region with the addition of a stub opposite the coupler, which reduces the amplitude of the off axis fields and is thus effective for off crest acceleration as well. We show applications of these techniques to the energy recovery linac (ERL) planned at Cornell University

Assessing the impact of future greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas production

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) produced by the extraction of natural gas are an important contributor to lifecycle emissions and account for a significant fraction of anthropogenic methane emissions in the USA. The timing as well as the magnitude of these emissions matters, as the short term climate warming impact of methane is up to 120 times that of CO 2 . This study uses estimates of CO 2 and methane emissions associated with different upstream operations to build a deterministic model of GHG emissions from conventional and unconventional gas fields as a function of time. By combining these emissions with a dynamic, techno-economic model of gas supply we assess their potential impact on the value of different types of project and identify stranded resources in various carbon price scenarios. We focus in particular on the effects of different emission metrics for methane, using the global warming potential (GWP) and the global temperature potential (GTP), with both fixed 20-year and 100-year CO 2 -equivalent values and in a time-dependent way based on a target year for climate stabilisation. We report a strong time dependence of emissions over the lifecycle of a typical field, and find that bringing forward the stabilisation year dramatically increases the importance of the methane contribution to these emissions. Using a commercial database of the remaining reserves of individual projects, we use our model to quantify future emissions resulting from the extraction of current US non-associated reserves. A carbon price of at least 400 USD/tonne CO 2 is effective in reducing cumulative GHGs by 30–60%, indicating that decarbonising the upstream component of the natural gas supply chain is achievable using carbon prices similar to those needed to decarbonise the energy system as a whole. Surprisingly, for large carbon prices, the choice of emission metric does not have a significant impact on cumulative emissions

Stability of self-referent encoding task performance and associations with change in depressive symptoms from early to middle childhood.

Depressed individuals exhibit memory biases on the self-referent encoding task (SRET), such that those with depression exhibit poorer recall of positive, and enhanced recall of negative, trait adjectives (referred to as positive and negative processing biases). However, it is unclear when SRET biases emerge, whether they are stable, and if biases predict, or are predicted by, depressive symptoms. To address this, a community sample of 434 children completed the SRET and a depressive symptoms measure at ages 6 and 9. Negative and positive processing exhibited low, but significant, stability. At ages 6 and 9, depressive symptoms correlated with higher negative, and lower positive, SRET processing. Importantly, lower positive processing at age 6 predicted increased symptoms at age 9. However, negative processing at age 6 did not predict depressive symptoms at age 9, and depressive symptoms at age 6 did not predict SRET processing scores at age 9. This suggests that less positive processing may reflect vulnerability for future depressive symptoms

Second year technical report on-board processing for future satellite communications systems

Advanced baseband and microwave switching techniques for large domestic communications satellites operating in the 30/20 GHz frequency bands are discussed. The nominal baseband processor throughput is one million packets per second (1.6 Gb/s) from one thousand T1 carrier rate customer premises terminals. A frequency reuse factor of sixteen is assumed by using 16 spot antenna beams with the same 100 MHz bandwidth per beam and a modulation with a one b/s per Hz bandwidth efficiency. Eight of the beams are fixed on major metropolitan areas and eight are scanning beams which periodically cover the remainder of the U.S. under dynamic control. User signals are regenerated (demodulated/remodulated) and message packages are reformatted on board. Frequency division multiple access and time division multiplex are employed on the uplinks and downlinks, respectively, for terminals within the coverage area and dwell interval of a scanning beam. Link establishment and packet routing protocols are defined. Also described is a detailed design of a separate 100 x 100 microwave switch capable of handling nonregenerated signals occupying the remaining 2.4 GHz bandwidth with 60 dB of isolation, at an estimated weight and power consumption of approximately 400 kg and 100 W, respectively

A low cost desktop electrochemical metal 3D printer

Additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing as it is more commonly known, is the process of creating 3D objects from digital models through the sequential deposition of material in layers. Electrochemical 3D printing is a relatively new form of AM that creates metallic structures through electrochemical reduction of metal ions from solutions onto conductive substrates. The advantage of this process is that a wide range of materials and alloys can be deposited under ambient conditions without thermal damage and more importantly at low cost, as this does not require expensive laser optics or inert gas environments. Other advantages include the fact that this process can be both additive and subtractive through reversal of potential allowing for recycling of components through electrochemical dissolution. However, one main limitation of this technology is speed. Here, a novel electrochemical 3D printer design is proposed using a meniscus confinement approach which demonstrates deposition rates three orders of magnitude higher than equivalent systems due to improved mass transport characteristics afforded through a mechanical electrolyte entrainment mechanism. Printed copper structures exhibit a polycrystalline nature, with decreasing the grain size as the potential is increased resulting in a higher Vickers hardness and electronic resistivity

Intravenous ibuprofen: the first injectable product for the treatment of pain and fever

This paper reviews the current data on the use of the first approved intravenous ibuprofen product for the management of post-operative pain and fever in the United States. The management of acute and post-operative pain and fever with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs) is well documented. A search in Medline and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts of articles until the end of November 2009 and references of all citations were conducted. Available manufacturer data on file were also analyzed for this report. Several randomized controlled studies have demonstrated the opioid-sparing and analgesic effects of 400 and 800 mg doses of intravenous ibuprofen in a series of post-operative patient populations. Two recent studies have also noted the improvement in fever curves in critically ill and burn patients. These data, along with pharmacokinetic and pharmacologic properties, are explored in this review, which addresses the clinical utility of a parenteral NSAID in a hospitalized patient for post-operative pain management and fever reduction. Further data on intravenous ibuprofen are needed to define long-term utilization, management of acute pain, and use in special populations

High-dimensional quantum cryptography with twisted light

Quantum key distributions (QKD) systems often rely on polarization of light for encoding, thus limiting the amount of information that can be sent per photon and placing tight bounds on the error that such a system can tolerate. Here we describe a proof-of-principle experiment that indicates the feasibility of high-dimensional QKD based on the transverse structure of the light field, allowing for the transfer of more than 1 bit per photon. Our implementation uses the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of photons and the corresponding mutually unbiased basis of angular position (ANG). Our experiment uses a digital micro-mirror device for the rapid generation of OAM and ANG modes at 4 kHz, and a mode sorter capable of sorting single photons based on their OAM and ANG content with a separation efficiency of 93\%. Through the use of a 7-dimensional alphabet encoded in the OAM and ANG bases, we achieve a channel capacity of 2.05 bits per sifted photon. Our experiment shows that, in addition to having an increased information capacity, QKD systems based on spatial-mode encoding will be more tolerant to errors and thus more robust against eavesdropping attacks