Fast Formation Process Research Articles

New Methodological Approach for Coagulation Assays Using Chicken Plasma Intrinsic Properties

Background: Sensitivity of classical coagulation assays by using mammalian plasmas to pro- and anticoagulant compounds including venom or toxins occurs on a microscale level (micrograms). Although it improves responses to agonists, recalcification triggers a relatively fast thrombin formation process. The Recalcification Time (RT) of factor XII- deficient Chicken Plasma (CP) is comparatively long (=1800 seconds) when compared to human plasma or others. Our objective was to compare its sensitivity with that presented by human plasma samples to Unfractionated Heparin (UH), a prototype anticoagulant compound, under similar conditions through rotational thromboelastometry. Methods: To find doses of UH sufficient enough to prolong the Clotting Time (CT) parameter of these activated plasmas to values within their normal RT ranges. Results: In total, 0.0065±0.0009 IU of UH (n=6) was detected in 260μL of CP samples, but only 0.125±0.012 IU of UH was sufficient to induce a similar effect in activated human plasma samples. Conclusion: The higher sensitivity of CP to anticoagulants could be useful for (a) detection of anticoagulant compounds in substances of unknown origin; (b) purification procedures of anticoagulant toxins from crude animal venoms and (c) determination of relative potencies of agonists and their selective antagonists such as pharmaceutical agents, antivenoms or natural inhibitors of venom toxins with a better result in kinetic clothing parameters. Keywords: Coagulation process; Chicken; Factor XII deficiency; Animal models; Biomedical research; Rotational thromboelastometry

Fast Charging Formation of Lithium‐Ion Batteries Based on Real‐Time Negative Electrode Voltage Control

The formation of lithium‐ion batteries is a time‐consuming and important process during manufacturing. During the formation, surface layers on the electrodes are formed that affect the cell performance. State‐of‐the‐art formation procedures consist of several slow current cycles as it is believed to guarantee good surface layer properties while preventing degradation processes. Herein, five different formation strategies with process times between 52.79 and 1.68 h for coin cells with a lithium reference electrode are assessed. The fastest method is based on a fast charging approach that prevents lithium‐plating. Based on a real‐time negative electrode voltage control to a threshold of 20 mV, lithium‐plating is successfully prevented while ensuring a fast formation process. The formation is finished after just one cycle and results to similar cell and electrode resistance, impedance, and capacity retention compared to the other strategies. The fast charging formation approach leads to the lowest degradation when storing the cells at 80% state of charge and 60 °C for 28 days. The results conclude that the fast charging formation method with real‐time control of the negative electrode voltage is a beneficial method as it leads to faster process times while ensuring durable cell properties.

Predicting the impact of formation protocols on battery lifetime immediately after manufacturing

Predicting the impact of formation protocols on battery lifetime immediately after manufacturing

(Invited) Towards Understanding of Initial Co-Intercalation of Solvated Lithium Ions Under Galvanic and Linear Sweeping Control via In-Situ/In-Operando Atomic Force Microscopy

The applications of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have rapidly embedded into almost every aspect of our life and society. In the LIB industry, a well-controlled and lengthy process is proceeded before the LIBs are brought into markets. The aim of this process is to form a “good” solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the graphite anode in a LIB to prevent continuous electrolyte decomposition and graphite exfoliation, which greatly influence the performance and cycle life of a LIB. The SEI formation process usually takes one or two weeks, is the major bottleneck and the most expensive component for mass production of LIBs. Efforts have been devoted to accelerating the SEI formation process by increasing charging rates or skipping the high state-of-charge region. However, the shortened SEI formation time usually comes with a large decrease in capacity retention of a LIB.[1-3] Improving our understanding on the structure and property evolution of SEI during the SEI formation process is urgently required for the development of faster formation protocols without sacrificing the high quality SEIs.[4-7]Aiming at better understanding of the initial stage of SEI formation process in LIB production, in-situ electrochemical atomic force microscopy (EC-AFM) has been employed to monitor the morphological evolution of the electrode materials in nano-scale levels. While different from most of the previous works, this work applied Galvanic constant current (CC) control to closely mimic the industrial SEI formation processes of different formation rates. For comparison, linear potential sweep (LS) controlled SEI formation of various potential sweeping rates, which is commonly applied in fundamental studies of SEI formation, was also performed in parallel. For the first time, it is revealed that the onset potentials for co-intercalation and electrochemical reduction of solvated lithium-ion complexes, the two competitive and/or sequential processes during SEI formation, vary as a function of potential sweeping rates. The onset potential for co-intercalation shifts positively as the potential changing rate increases, which is in high contrast to the onset potential of their electrochemical reduction. It has been well established that the onset potential of their electrochemical reduction is largely determined by the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level of the solvent molecules in the solvated lithium ion complexes,[6] so that it may remain largely constant or shift negatively, due to electrode polarization.[2] As a result, the onset potential for co-intercalation becomes more positive than that of the electrochemical reduction as the potential sweeping rate increases. Our experimental results demonstrate that this relationship applies to both CC and LS-controlled SEI formation processes. However, the difference between these two onset potentials is much greater in CC than that of LS controlled processes, due to the associated faster potential changing rates at the beginning of CC controlled lithiation. The difference becomes even more prominent when high charging current is applied to shorten the SEI formation time and lower LIB production cost. This understanding combined with the clear visible evidence of different structural evolution under CC and LS controls should provide more practical guidance to develop protocols for faster formation of SEI with higher quality, which is intensively pursued in industry.[1] Lee, H. H.; Wang, Y. Y.; Wan, C. C.; Yang, M. H.; Wu, H. C.; Shieh, D. T., A fast formation process for lithium batteries. Journal of Power Sources 2004, 134 (1), 118-123.[2] Bhattacharya, S.; Alpas, A. T., Micromechanisms of solid electrolyte interphase formation on electrochemically cycled graphite electrodes in lithium-ion cells. Carbon 2012, 50 (15), 5359-5371.[3] An, S. J.; Li, J. L.; Du, Z. J.; Daniel, C.; Wood, D. L., Fast formation cycling for lithium ion batteries. Journal of Power Sources 2017, 342, 846-852.[4] Wang, L. N.; Menakath, A.; Han, F. D.; Wang, Y.; Zavalij, P. Y.; Gaskell, K. J.; Borodino, O.; Iuga, D.; Brown, S. P.; Wang, C. S.; Xu, K.; Eichhorn, B. W., Identifying the components of the solid-electrolyte interphase in Li-ion batteries. Nature Chemistry 2019, 11 (9), 789-796.[5] Cai, W. L.; Yao, Y. X.; Zhu, G. L.; Yan, C.; Jiang, L. L.; He, C. X.; Huang, J. Q.; Zhang, Q., A review on energy chemistry of fast-charging anodes. Chemical Society Reviews 2020, 49 (12), 3806-3833.[6] Xu, K., Nonaqueous liquid electrolytes for lithium-based rechargeable batteries. Chemical Reviews 2004, 104 (10), 4303-4417.[7] Xu, K., Electrolytes and Interphases in Li-Ion Batteries and Beyond. Chemical Reviews 2014, 114 (23), 11503-11618. Figure 1

Star Formation Histories of Massive Red Spiral Galaxies in the Local Universe

Abstract We investigate the star formation histories (SFHs) of massive red spiral galaxies with stellar mass M * > 1010.5 M ⊙, and make comparisons with blue spirals and red ellipticals of similar masses. We make use of the integral field spectroscopy from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV/DR15 MaNGA sample, and estimate spatially resolved SFHs and stellar population properties of each galaxy by applying a Bayesian spectral fitting code to the MaNGA spectra. We find that both red spirals and red ellipticals have experienced only one major star formation episode at early times, and the result is independent of the adopted SFH model. On average, more than half of their stellar masses were formed >10 Gyr ago, and more than 90% were formed >6 Gyr ago. The two types of galaxies show similarly flat profiles in a variety of stellar population parameters: old stellar ages indicated by D4000 (the spectral break at around 4000 Å), high stellar metallicities, large Mgb/Fe ratios indicating fast formation, and little stellar dust attenuation. In contrast, although blue spirals also formed their central regions >10 Gyr ago, both their central regions and outer disks continuously form stars over a long timescale. Our results imply that massive red spirals are likely to share some common processes of formation (and possibly quenching) with massive red ellipticals in the sense that both types were formed at z > 2 through a fast formation process. Possible mechanisms for the formation and quenching of massive red spirals are discussed.

A Controllable RSU and Vampire Moth to Support the Cluster Stability in VANET

VANET has a dynamic topology that affects cluster formation stability. It influences vehicle’s network quality though supporting this stability requires a fast and small cluster formation process. It is necessary because of the rapidly changing condition of the vehicle's position. Moreover, small cluster groups make network quality more evenly distributed among its members. They are essential components in the formation of good clusters in VANET. In the previous research, the algorithm used for this process is based on moth flame optimization. This study proposes modifications in this algorithm to speed up the convergence process, facilitated by a model of turning angles in the moth. Furthermore, the flame at the destination moth is created dynamically to approach the real conditions in VANET. The use of coefficients is further introduced to reduce cluster size according to the traffic conditions. The cluster management process uses a fully controlled Road Side Unit on the vehicle’s traffic conditions. In the final result, the convergence time is slightly faster, with better results in the throughput at 101.1%, the number of clusters at 58.1%, and the delay at 5.5%, respectively.

The adsorption mechanisms of algae-bacteria symbiotic system and its fast formation process

The formation process of the algae-bacteria symbiotic system (ABSS) was analyzed, and the formation adsorption conditions were optimized. The role of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), specific surface area and zeta potential in adsorption mechanisms were assessed and proposed. The results showed the dry weight of the ABSS and adsorption efficiency of microalgae reached the highest under the conditions of 25 °C, pH 6.0, 160 rpm and CaCl2 2.0 mg/mL. The process of the ABSS formation could be mainly divided into the fast stage and slow stage. The roles of EPS, specific surface area and zeta potential accounted for 84.22%, 5.17% and 10.61% of the adsorption capacity, respectively. EPS dominated the formation of the ABSS. The results indicated that mycelial pellets were biosorption materials and had the characteristics of chemical materials.

Factor XII-Deficient Chicken Plasma as a Useful Target for Screening of Pro- and Anticoagulant Animal Venom Toxins.

The sensitivity of vertebrate citrated plasma to pro- and anticoagulant venom or toxins occurs on a microscale level (micrograms). Although it improves responses to agonists, recalcification triggers a relatively fast thrombin formation process in mammalian plasma. As it has a natural factor XII deficiency, the recalcification time (RT) of chicken plasma (CP) is comparatively long [≥ 1800 seconds (s)]. Our objective was to compare the ability of bee venom phospholipase A2 (bvPLA2) to neutralize clot formation induced by an activator of coagulation (the aPTT clot) in recalcified human and chicken plasmas, through rotational thromboelastometry. The strategy used in this study was to find doses of bvPLA2 that were sufficient enough to prolong the clotting time (CT) of these activated plasmas to values within their normal RT range. The CT of CP was prolonged in a dose-dependent manner by bvPLA2, with 17 ± 2.8 ng (n = 6) being sufficient to displace the CT values of the activated samples to ≥ 1800 s. Only amounts up to 380 ± 41 ng (n = 6) of bvPLA2 induced the same effect in activated human plasma samples. In conclusion, the high sensitivity of CP to agonists and rotational thromboelastometry could be useful. For example, during screening procedures for assaying the effects of toxins in several stages of the coagulation pathway, such as clot initiation, formation, stability, strength, or dissolution.

Abundance and group coalescence time-scales of compact groups of galaxies in the EAGLE simulation

ABSTRACT Observations of compact groups of galaxies (CGs) indicate that their abundance has not significantly changed since z = 0.2. This balance between the time-scales for formation and destruction of CGs is challenging if the typical time-scale for CG members to merge into one massive galaxy is as short as historically assumed (<0.1 Hubble times). Following the evolution of CGs over time in a cosmological simulation (EAGLE), we quantify the contributions of individual processes that in the end explain the observed abundance of CGs. We find that despite the usually applied maximum line-of-sight velocity difference of 1000 km s–1 within the group members, the majority of CGs (≈60 per cent) are elongated along the line of sight by at least a factor of 2. These CGs are mostly transient as they are only compact in projection. In more spherical systems ≈80 per cent of galaxies at z > 0.4 merge into one massive galaxy before the simulation end (z = 0) and we find that the typical time-scale for this process is 2–3 Gyr. We conclude that the combination of large fractions of interlopers and the longer median group coalescence time-scale of CGs alleviates the need for a fast formation process to explain the observed abundance of CGs for z < 0.2.

Enhanced CH4 storage in hydrates with the presence of sucrose stearate

Clathrate hydrate is a promising option for gas storage and transportation. Sucrose stearate, an environmentally friendly chemical, was studied in CH4 hydrate formation process to evaluate its effect on gas storage of CH4 hydrate. The experiment was conducted systematically with four different sucrose stearate concentrations at three various initial pressures. The experimental data were employed to calculate the normalized hydrate formation rate and equilibrium time based on chemical affinity. The results indicated that the presence of sucrose stearate significantly enhanced the CH4 hydrate formation rate and storage when initial pressure was higher than 5.0 MPa. In addition, Raman spectroscopic analysis was performed to examine the hydrate structure and obtain the theoretical storage capacity. The spectra demonstrated that sucrose stearate decreased the hydration number with not changing CH4 hydrate’s structure. The theoretical storage capacity and the energy value were increased by about 2.59%. Combing all the results, sucrose stearate was a good kinetic promoter for CH4 hydrate formation. The systems with sucrose stearate at low concentration and high concentration were suggested for designing gas storage process and fast hydrate formation process, respectively.

Kinetic study of CH4 hydrate formation in the presence of tetrabutylphosphonium chloride (TBPC)

Methane hydrate is considered as an excellent choice for transporting and storing natural gas. To improve the hydrate formation conditions, adding semiclathrate hydrate formers was strongly recommended. The major objective of this study was to investigate formation kinetics of tetrabutylphosphonium chloride (TBPC) + CH4 semiclathrate hydrate. Using isobaric kinetics measurement, the experiment was conducted systematically with various pressures (P: 4.0 MPa, 6.0 MPa), temperatures (282.1 K, 275.2 K, subcooling degree of 6 K), and salt concentrations (w: 0.05–0.30 mass fraction). Total gas consumption, normalized gas consumption, salt-to-hydrate conversion, rapid growth rate, and gas consumption percentage were calculated. The results revealed that for TBPC + CH4 hydrate salt-to-hydrate conversion was greatly affected by the concentration of TBPC. And the gas consumption percentage was found to reach 0.5 in the first 2 h for TBPC + CH4 hydrate. For designing gas storage process and fast hydrate formation process, the system with (w = 0.05, P = 6.0 MPa, subcooling degree of 6 K) and system with (w = 0.10, P = 6.0 MPa, T = 282.1 K) were recommended, respectively.

Novel and easy access to highly luminescent Eu and Tb doped ultra-small CaF2, SrF2 and BaF2 nanoparticles - structure and luminescence.

A universal fast and easy access at room temperature to transparent sols of nanoscopic Eu3+ and Tb3+ doped CaF2, SrF2 and BaF2 particles via the fluorolytic sol-gel synthesis route is presented. Monodisperse quasi-spherical nanoparticles with sizes of 3-20 nm are obtained with up to 40% rare earth doping showing red or green luminescence. In the beginning luminescence quenching effects are only observed for the highest content, which demonstrates the unique and outstanding properties of these materials. From CaF2:Eu10 via SrF2:Eu10 to BaF2:Eu10 a steady increase of the luminescence intensity and lifetime occurs by a factor of ≈2; the photoluminescence quantum yield increases by 29 to 35% due to the lower phonon energy of the matrix. The fast formation process of the particles within fractions of seconds is clearly visualized by exploiting appropriate luminescence processes during the synthesis. Multiply doped particles are also available by this method. Fine tuning of the luminescence properties is achieved by variation of the Ca-to-Sr ratio. Co-doping with Ce3+ and Tb3+ results in a huge increase (>50 times) of the green luminescence intensity due to energy transfer Ce3+ → Tb3+. In this case, the luminescence intensity is higher for CaF2 than for SrF2, due to a lower spatial distance of the rare earth ions.

English

Wirelessly allocated mobile nodes which are configured in a geographically adjacent to each other can form cluster by applying rules on the mobile nodes. Each cluster family have different members with different assigned roles such as cluster head, cluster members, gateway members and ordinary nodes which can perform roles of any three mentioned roles as the time progresses based on absolute and relative attribute information. Absolute attributes of mobile nodes can be mobility, energy consumed and entropy of the mobile node. Relative attributes can be considered as neighbour information and sum of distances of neighbours etc. Relative attributes are the information based on neighbourhood and absolute information which can be extracted from measuring its own system parameters locally. Weighted clustering scheme uses both the information for calculating weights and delay the clustering formation process. In this paper we choose to apply greedy approach for cluster head selection and absolute weighted information for clustering to reduce the communication round which results in fast clustering formation process.

Real-Time, in-situ, Extinction Spectroscopy Studies on Silver-Nanoseed Formation

In this paper, real-time extinction spectroscopy was employed to analyze in situ the fast formation process of silver seeds. The influencing factors for silver-seed formation, including the concentration of the reducer (NaBH(4)), the amount of stabilizer (citrate), and the addition procedure of NaBH(4), were evaluated. The configuration of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectra of silver nanoparticles, which reflected the morphology of the produced silver seeds, was found to be distinctly affected by the NaBH(4) concentration. Homogeneous silver nanoparticles were obtained when the added NaBH(4) was lower in concentration than 2.00 mM. In contrast, higher concentrations of reducing agent (≥3.00 mM NaBH(4)) resulted in uneven silver nanoparticles. Mie theory was applied to clarify the correlation of the SPR and the size of the silver seeds. Repeated additions of a small amount of the reducing agent could increase the monodispersity and isotropy of silver seeds. Real-time extinction spectroscopy is a convenient technique that achieves the in-situ and nondestructive measurement of intermediates in the formation process of silver nanoseeds.

Molecular dynamics simulations of growth and properties of FeCl2–NaCl-nanoparticles in supercritical water

Nanoparticle formation in supercritical water containing Fe(2+), Na(+), and Cl(-) ions at different state points between temperatures of 798 K and 873 K and system densities of 0.24 g cm(-3) and 0.14 g cm(-3) has been studied by molecular dynamics simulations. A fixed amount of FeCl(2) and different amounts of NaCl content have been used to study the effect of system composition on particle growth and the time development of particle composition from single ions dissolved in aqueous solutions. Certain stable cluster sizes are observed during the particle growth. The salt particle structure at the end of the simulation runs is described by means of radial distribution functions. We find that clusters with disordered crystal structure form during the very fast formation and growth process. As the clusters grow very fast, the growth proceeds via non-equilibrium cluster structures.

Novel Properties of DDAB: Matrix Effect and Interaction with Oleate

We report an investigation on the interaction of the positively charged surfactant DDAB (didodecyldimethylammonium bromide) with preformed vesicles from POPC (1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine). Addition of 1.9 mM DDAB to preformed POPC vesicles of different concentrations results in mixed vesicles, owing to the avid uptake of DDAB by POPC. This leads to the so-called matrix effect: when preformed POPC liposomes with a narrow size distribution are present in the aqueous solution, there is a fast formation process of mixed vesicles and the final size distribution closely resembles that of the preformed POPC liposomes. The final mixed vesicle system is stable in size and size distribution. The effect is independent of the initial size of the POPC vesicles and requires low relative concentrations of POPC with respect to DDAB (up to 1:4). Aside this, we report about the time stability of DDAB vesicles as a function of the aqueous buffer ionic strength and we investigate the interaction between...

A fast formation process for lithium batteries

The formation process presently used in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries includes the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) growth process and another process for lithium intercalation into carbon. The latter process is both time and energy consuming. This study proposes a new concepts that can shorten the formation time by narrowing the potential range and bypassing the intercalation step during formation. The optimum cut-off voltage is 3.7 V for industrial LiCoO2|C cells, and the formation time is reduced to less than one half of that required in the conventional formation procedure. Cycle performance is not affected significantly because the desired SEI growth is mainly completed in the potential range. These results suggest that the new method is superior to conventional formation.

A fast formation process for lithium batteries

The formation process presently used in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries includes the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) growth process and another process for lithium intercalation into carbon. The latter process is both time and energy consuming. This study proposes a new concepts that can shorten the formation time by narrowing the potential range and bypassing the intercalation step during formation. The optimum cut-off voltage is 3.7 V for industrial LiCoO 2 |C cells, and the formation time is reduced to less than one half of that required in the conventional formation procedure. Cycle performance is not affected significantly because the desired SEI growth is mainly completed in the potential range. These results suggest that the new method is superior to conventional formation.

Development of fast formation process for synthesizing submicron lead magnesium niobate perovskite powder

The characteristics of the solid-state reaction for synthesizing ultrafine Pb(Mg 1/3Nb 2/3)O 3 powder using a new percursor, Mg 4Nb 2O 9 have been investigated. Quenching the mixtures of Mg 4Nb 2O 9 with excess PbO at 850–900°C without further soaking rapidly leads to the complete formation of perovskite phase without pyrochlore phase. Some residual MgO exists in samples; however, MgO is completely eliminated by nitric acid, thereby producing monophasic Pb(Mg 1/3Nb 2/3)O 3. This process confirms the feasibility to synthesize Pb(Mg 1/3Nb 2/3)O 3 in a fast reaction route. The addition of excess PbO enhances the formation rate of Pb(Mg 1/3Nb 2/3)O 3, and also decreases the minimum temperature required for preparing pure perovskite phase. The particle size of obtained Pb(Mg 1/3Nb 2/3)O 3 powder is within the range of submicron meter, and increases with the increasing amount of PbO used.

Fast plasmoid formation in double arcades

The evolution of two neighboring nonsymmetric arcades with footpoint shearing profiles which can change in time is simulated in order to investigate the quasi-static evolution of a double arcade system. It is found that rapid forced reconnection can take place repeatedly, forming a series of plasmoids. A two-arcade system laterally confined by surrounding fluxes can develop instability with nonsymmetric footpoint shear, but the instability is significantly lower in comparison with the case in which the system is confined by a 'hard box' or periodic boundary conditions. The fast plasmoid formation process due to asymmetry switching is not due to the presence of simulation walls. The behavior of double arcades with asymmetry switching is described using equilibrium bifurcation diagrams with footpoint shear and degree of asymmetry, as two independent control parameters.