Ideal Alternatives Research Articles

Solution-Processed TiO2/ZnFe2O4 Heterostructure for Stable Multilevel Memristor with Room-Temperature Reactive Gas Selectivity.

Solution-processed oxide-based heterojunctions that work in diverse directions will be ideal alternatives for cost-effective, stable, and multifunctional devices. Here, we have reported a stable multilevel resistive switching (RS) at the solution-processed TiO2/ZnFe2O4 heterointerface with endurance stability over 104 cycles and retention over 105 s. It can maintain the switching after dripping water onto the device, followed by drying at 100 °C and at an operating temperature of up to 200 °C. As the switching mechanism is governed by filamentary and interface-dominated charge conduction, our device shows additional tunability in the low resistance state (LRS) by changing environmental conditions. The inability to form filaments results in almost negligible switching under a vacuum or inert environment with an LRS loss. Meanwhile, the presence of reducing gas leads to a depletion layer lowering at the TiO2/ZnFe2O4 heterointerface by removing the surface-adsorbed oxygen molecules that help filament conduction through the interface and, hence, a change in LRS. Furthermore, different reaction capacities of different reactive gas environments with the surface-adsorbed oxygen molecule lead to discrete ON-OFF ratios, presenting a pathway to identify several reactive vapors like ammonia, formaldehyde, and acetone at room temperature and presenting a new approach for integrating RS and room temperature gas sensing in the multifunctional device technology.

Engineered Protein Fibers with Reinforced Mechanical Properties Via β-Sheet High-Order Assembly.

Protein fibers are ideal alternatives to synthetic polymers due to their unique mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and sustainability. However, engineering biomimetic protein fibers with high mechanical properties remains challenging, particularly in mimicking the high molecular weight of natural proteins and regulating their complex hierarchical structures. Here, a modular design and multi-scale assembly strategy is developed to manufacture robust protein fibers using low- or medium-molecular-weight proteins. The distinct functional and structural properties of flexible, rigid, and cross-linked domains in modular proteins are skillfully harnessed. By regulating the ratio of rigid to flexible domains, the formation of high-order β-sheet crystals aligned along the fiber axis is promoted, enhancing both strength and toughness. Furthermore, the dynamic imine cross-linking network, formed by the aldehyde-amine condensation reaction of the cross-linked domains, further reinforces the protein fibers. Remarkably, fibers spun from modular proteins significantly smaller than natural spidroin exhibit outstanding mechanical properties, surpassing those of protein fibers with same or even higher molecular weights. This strategy offers a promising pathway for fabricating protein fibers suitable for diverse applications.

The Anti-proliferative Effect, Apoptotic Induction, and Cell Cycle Arrest of Tetra Halo Ruthenate Nanocomposites in Different Human Cancer Cell Lines.

Chemotherapy is the most common cancer treatment, and metallic anticancer compounds have generated increasing amounts of interest since the discovery of cisplatin. More recently, scientists have focused on ruthenium-based compounds as alternatives for platinum compounds, which seem like ideal therapeutic anticancer alternatives to platinum derivatives. The present study aims to assess whether one or more of three Ruthenium-based nanocomposites, namely Ru+Lysine+CTAB (RCTL), Ru+CTAB (RCT), and Ru+Lysine (RL) exhibit pronounced anti-proliferative properties against different cancer cells. Three Ruthenium nanocomposites have been synthesized by standard chemical methods and characterized by Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The cytotoxic effect of the three composites has been evaluated by MTT in-vitro assay for different human cancer cell lines, namely MCF7, HepG2, A549, and PC3 versus normal human skin cell line (BJ1). The molecular underlying mechanisms of cytotoxicity have been assessed via qRT-PCR for pro-apoptotic makers P53 and Casp-3, and anti-apoptotic marker Bcl-2 as well as flow cytometric analysis of the cell cycle. Among the 3 nanocomposites, RCTL gave the best sensitivity and cytotoxicity especially on HepG2 with IC50 0.55 µg/ml but was still toxic on normal cell line with dose <12.5 µg/ml. RCTL and RCT nanocomposites have demonstrated a significant increase in the expression of P53 and Casp-3 markers versus untreated controls, but a significant reduction in the expression of Bcl-2. There was a direct correlation between the cytotoxic effect and the degree of apoptosis in the different cancer cell lines. The present study has also proved cell cycle arrest at G2-M and pre-G1 phases under the effect of IC50 of RCTL and RCT nanocomposites in different cancer lines with the best effect being achieved in HepG2 cells. Ruthenium nanocomposites seem to open a new avenue in cancer therapy.

Effects of long-term biodegradable film mulching on yield and water productivity of maize in North China Plain

Biodegradable films are considered ideal alternatives to polyethylene films because of their advantages in increasing crop yield and controlling soil pollution. However, the influences of biodegradable film mulching on soil physicochemical environments and water productivity after long-term mulching remain poorly understood. Therefore, a field experiment after long-term mulching (since 2016) was conducted to explore the effects of black biodegradable film (BB), transparent biodegradable film (TB), and traditional polyethylene film (PE) on soil physicochemical environments, aboveground biomass accumulation, grain yield, evapotranspiration, and water productivity (WP) of maize in the 2021 and 2022 in the North China Plain. The results showed that polyethylene films and biodegradable films had a similar ability to preserve soil moisture, promote maize growth, reduce evapotranspiration, and increase WP. Moreover, the performances of BB were more equivalent to PE, and there was no significant difference on WP and yield under BB and PE. Compared with traditional flat planting without mulching (CK), BB and PE significantly increased yield (9.5 % and 12.7 % in 2021; 5.25 % and 6.37 % in 2022) and WP (11.54 % and 21.47 % in 2021; 24.28 % and 23.42 % in 2022). Film mulching treatments increased the soil organic carbon sequestration rate, and the content of soil organic carbon, microbial activity, and urease activity in the 0–20 cm soil layer compared with CK. According to structural equation modeling, the increasing soil water storage because of films mulching positively influenced yield by enhancing enzyme activities which were related to soil nutrients. Over all, these results showed that black biodegradable film is an ideal replacement for polyethylene films under long-term mulching conditions because of its comparable agronomic performance and influence on soil physicochemical environments in the North China Plain.

Investigating Hallucinations in Pruned Large Language Models for Abstractive Summarization

Abstract Despite the remarkable performance of generative large language models (LLMs) on abstractive summarization, they face two significant challenges: their considerable size and tendency to hallucinate. Hallucinations are concerning because they erode reliability and raise safety issues. Pruning is a technique that reduces model size by removing redundant weights, enabling more efficient sparse inference. Pruned models yield downstream task performance comparable to the original, making them ideal alternatives when operating on a limited budget. However, the effect that pruning has upon hallucinations in abstractive summarization with LLMs has yet to be explored. In this paper, we provide an extensive empirical study across five summarization datasets, two state-of-the-art pruning methods, and five instruction-tuned LLMs. Surprisingly, we find that hallucinations are less prevalent from pruned LLMs than the original models. Our analysis suggests that pruned models tend to depend more on the source document for summary generation. This leads to a higher lexical overlap between the generated summary and the source document, which could be a reason for the reduction in hallucination risk.1

A Review of Nanocarbon-Based Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Renewable and non-renewable energy harvesting and its storage are important components of our everyday economic processes. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), with their rechargeable features, high open-circuit voltage, and potential large energy capacities, are one of the ideal alternatives for addressing that endeavor. Despite their widespread use, improving LIBs’ performance, such as increasing energy density demand, stability, and safety, remains a significant problem. The anode is an important component in LIBs and determines battery performance. To achieve high-performance batteries, anode subsystems must have a high capacity for ion intercalation/adsorption, high efficiency during charging and discharging operations, minimal reactivity to the electrolyte, excellent cyclability, and non-toxic operation. Group IV elements (Si, Ge, and Sn), transition-metal oxides, nitrides, sulfides, and transition-metal carbonates have all been tested as LIB anode materials. However, these materials have low rate capability due to weak conductivity, dismal cyclability, and fast capacity fading owing to large volume expansion and severe electrode collapse during the cycle operations. Contrarily, carbon nanostructures (1D, 2D, and 3D) have the potential to be employed as anode materials for LIBs due to their large buffer space and Li-ion conductivity. However, their capacity is limited. Blending these two material types to create a conductive and flexible carbon supporting nanocomposite framework as an anode material for LIBs is regarded as one of the most beneficial techniques for improving stability, conductivity, and capacity. This review begins with a quick overview of LIB operations and performance measurement indexes. It then examines the recently reported synthesis methods of carbon-based nanostructured materials and the effects of their properties on high-performance anode materials for LIBs. These include composites made of 1D, 2D, and 3D nanocarbon structures and much higher Li storage-capacity nanostructured compounds (metals, transitional metal oxides, transition-metal sulfides, and other inorganic materials). The strategies employed to improve anode performance by leveraging the intrinsic features of individual constituents and their structural designs are examined. The review concludes with a summary and an outlook for future advancements in this research field.

Recent advances in portable devices for environmental monitoring applications.

Environmental pollution remains a major societal problem, leading to serious impacts on living organisms including humans. Human activities such as civilization, urbanization, and industrialization are major causes of pollution. Imposing stricter rules helps control environmental pollutant levels, creating a need for reliable pollutant monitoring in air, water, and soil. The application of traditional analytical techniques is limited in low-resource areas because they are sophisticated, expensive, and bulky. With the development of biosensors and microfluidics technology, environmental monitoring has significantly improved the analysis time, low cost, portability, and ease of use. This review discusses the fundamentals of portable devices, including microfluidics and biosensors, for environmental control. Recently, publications reviewing microfluidics and biosensor device applications have increased more than tenfold, showing the potential of emerging novel approaches for environmental monitoring. Strategies for enzyme-, immunoassay-, and molecular-based analyte sensing are discussed based on their mechanisms and applications. Microfluidic and biosensor platforms for detecting major pollutants, including metal ions, pathogens, pesticides, and antibiotic residues, are reviewed based on their working principles, advantages, and disadvantages. Challenges and future trends for the device design and fabrication process to improve performance are discussed. Miniaturization, low cost, selectivity, sensitivity, high automation, and savings in samples and reagents make the devices ideal alternatives for in-field detection, especially in low-resource areas. However, their operation with complicated environmental samples requires further research to improve the specificity and sensitivity. Although there is a wide range of devices available for environmental applications, their implementation in real-world situations is limited. This study provides insights into existing issues that can be used as references and a comparative analysis for future studies and applications.

Developing high-flux dense Janus membrane with robust wetting and scaling resistance: A systematic comparison with Omniphobic membranes

Membrane wetting, scaling and low flux are challenging obstacles for membrane distillation (MD). However, the lack of advanced membranes capable of achieving both high flux and high wetting/scaling resistance constrains MD potential applications. Herein, a dense Janus membrane (JM) was facilely developed by co-depositing a dense PVA/PDA layer on a highly porous PTFE substrate to overcome this dilemma and systematically compared with omniphobic PTFE substrates with varied pore sizes for the first time. Results showed that, unlike flux-resistance “trade-off” observed for PTFE substrates, dense JM effectively resisted 0.4 mM SDS at a high flux of 56.8 LMH and retarded membrane scaling by 20 mM oversaturated gypsum. Robust wetting resistance was primarily attributed to the sieving effect of the sub-nanometer surface layer, which greatly protected substrate from SDS adsorption and feed intrusion, and was less affected by severe surface concentration polarization and relatively low substrate LEP than PTFE substrates. Strongly polar PVA/PDA layer provided a much more thermodynamically unfavorable continuous interface for gypsum adhesion than PTFE substrates, which played a key role in determining anti-scaling behavior. In contrast, gypsum still tended to rapidly cause membrane scaling in stagnant zones within PTFE substrates when flux was increased. This study shall provide new insights in designing high-performance membranes for robust hypersaline wastewater treatment, and highlighting dense JMs with a macroporous substrate and a highly hydrophilic dense surface layer as ideal alternatives.

Advanced Fuzzy-Based Decision-Making: The Linear Diophantine Fuzzy CODAS Method for Logistic Specialist Selection

This study addresses the inherent uncertainty in human decision-making by leveraging fuzzy sets, which were introduced to better capture the imprecision associated with human thoughts and judgments. As an extension to traditional fuzzy sets, the Linear Diophantine Fuzzy Set (LDFS) was developed, offering a more flexible approach by relaxing existing limitations on grade values. The LDFS has found applications across various fields, demonstrating its versatility and effectiveness. In this study, we explore the application of the Linear Diophantine Fuzzy Set within the framework of the Combinative Distance-based Assessment (CODAS) method. The CODAS method stands out because it incorporates Euclidean and Taxicab distances. Decision-making should consider not only the direct distances between ideal solutions and alternatives but also the indirect distances. The foremost objective of this research is to propose a novel approach by integrating the CODAS method with the LDFS to address complex decision-making problems characterized by uncertainty and imprecision. To illustrate the practical utility of the proposed method, we apply it to a numerical example involving the selection of a logistics specialist, a critical decision in emergency logistics optimization. The research also includes a case study on a logistics specialist, highlighting the practical application of the methods discussed. Furthermore, this study provides a comprehensive sensitivity analysis of the parameters' weights to evaluate the robustness and reliability of the proposed method. The results highlight the effectiveness of the LDF CODAS method in making informed and reliable decisions under conditions of uncertainty, paving the way for future applications in other decision-making scenarios.

Pyrolysis mechanism of α-CPP and β-CPP fuels by ReaxFF molecular dynamics

Novel fuel molecules with high density and high specific impulse are ideal alternatives for aerospace fuels, and understanding their combustion or pyrolysis chemistry is desired for successful applications. In this work, the pyrolysis of the novel fuel molecules cyclopropanated α-pinane (α-CPP) and cyclopropanated β-pinane (β-CPP) was investigated using ReaxFF MD. The results showed that the initial pyrolysis of fuel molecules is mainly completed through three steps: the cleavage of the CC bond in ternary rings to form diradicals, four-membered ring undergoes a ring-opening reaction to form diradicals with cyclic structure and double bonds inside, and six-membered ring opening to triolefin molecules or diradicals with unsaturated bonds. In the initial reaction of α-CPP and β-CPP, C11H18 → •CH3 + •C10H15 and C11H18 → •C6H9 + •C5H9 are dominant respectively. Further analysis revealed that C5H9 and C6H9 radicals are important intermediates in the pyrolysis process. Kinetic calculations showed that the activation energies of α-CPP and β-CPP molecules are 51.44 kcal/mol and 49.14 kcal/mol, respectively, which are smaller than those of JP-10, RP-1 and other fuels. This work provides a theoretical basis for revealing the overall reaction mechanism of α-CPP and β-CPP pyrolysis of high-energy fuel molecules at the atomic level.

Bioinspired Dual Hemin-Bonded G-Quadruplex and Histidine-Functionalized Metal-Organic Framework for Sensitive Biosensing.

Biomimetic enzymes have emerged as ideal alternatives to natural enzymes, and there is considerable interest in designing biomimetic enzymes with enhanced catalytic performance to address the low activity of the current biomimetic enzymes. In this study, we proposed a meaningful strategy for constructing an efficient peroxidase-mimicking catalyst, called HhG-MOF, by anchoring histidine (H) and dual hemin-G-quadruplex DNAzyme (double hemin covalently linked to 3' and 5' terminals of G-quadruplex DNA, short as hG) to a mesoporous metal-organic framework (MOF). This design aims to mimic the microenvironment of natural peroxidase. Remarkably, taking a terbium MOF as a typical model, the initial rate of the resulting catalyst was found to be 21.1 and 4.3 times higher than that of Hh-MOF and hG-MOF, respectively. The exceptional catalytic properties of HhG-MOF can be attributed to its strong affinity for substrates. Based on the inhibitory effect of thiocholine (TCh) produced by the reaction between acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and acetylthiocholine, a facile, cost-effective, and sensitive colorimetric method was designed based on HhG-MOF for the measurement of AChE, a marker of several neurological diseases, and its inhibitor. This allowed a linear response in the 0.002 to 1 U L-1 range, with a detection limit of 0.001 U L-1. Furthermore, the prepared sensor demonstrated great selectivity and performed well in real blood samples, suggesting that it holds promise for applications in the clinical field.

Regulating Fe-spin state by doping P heteroatom in Fe-N-C catalyst derived from colloidal nanoparticles encapsulated ZIF-8 to boost oxygen reduction activity

Over the past decades, Fe-N-C carbon materials have been considered as one of the most ideal alternatives to the noble metal catalysts (e.g. Pt/C) for the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in zinc-air batteries and fuel cells. In this research, ZIF-8 cage encapsulation confinement strategy coupled with post P-doping has been employed to design porous P, N and Fe co-doped carbon (FeNC-P) for efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The zero-field cooling (ZFC) temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility measurement revealed that incorporation of P in the Fe-N-C catalysts can induce the transition of spin polarization configuration, which promotes the desorption of *OH in the crucial step of the ORR reaction process. The best-performing FeNC-P catalyst displays a 1.00 V (vs RHE) of Eonset (onset potential) and a 0.90 V (vs RHE) of E1/2 (half-wave potential) in an alkaline solution, which exceeds the benchmark Pt/C catalyst. Moreover, it also delivers a high power density of 130 mW·cm−2 in the self-made zinc-air battery, surpassing the benchmark Pt/C catalyst (90 mW·cm−2).

Dual ion regulation enables High-Coulombic-efficiency lithium metal batteries

Lithium (Li) metal batteries are ideal alternatives for pursuing high-energy-density batteries. Nevertheless, their subpar cycling capabilities and safety problems remain a significant concern because of the insufficient reversibility of Li plating/stripping processes. Herein, potassium trifluoromethanesulfonate (KOTf) is proposed as an electrolyte additive to achieve high Coulombic efficiency during cycling, which could be assigned to the synergistic regulation effect of anions and cations in KOTf. On the one hand, the OTf- helps form an anion-rich solvation structure, which could be preferentially reduced to obtain a robust and conductive inorganic-rich SEI film to stabilize the lithium metal anode. On the other hand, the existence of K+ induces the generation of K+-rich positive charge shielding layer, further hindering the growth of Li dendrite. The KOTf-assisted Li||Cu cell shows a high Coulombic efficiency (CE) of 99.7 % and an extremely long-cycle life of 700 cycles with an average CE of 99.01 % under 0.5 mA cm−2 and 0.5 mAh cm−2. The excellent lithium metal stripping/plating efficiency is mainly due to the OTf--derived inorganic-rich SEI and the electrostatic shielding effect of K+. This work emphasizes the important role of salts’ anions and cations in determining the CE of LMBs and provides an effective strategy to improve the cycling performance of LMBs.

Local Anaesthesia Techniques in Dogs and Cats: A Review Study

The use of multimodal anaesthesia and analgesia is desirable as part of a complete analgesic plan. Analgesic strategies for perioperative pain treatment include combinations of drugs with different means of action to increase their efficacy and to reduce the required doses and adverse effects. Local anaesthetics prevent the transduction and transmission of painful stimuli through their action on neuronal cell membranes. They undergo minimal systemic absorption and are therefore ideal alternatives to drugs that could result in systemic toxicity. Numerous benefits have been recognised for the use of local anaesthesia, such as a decreased need for systemic analgesics and decreased hospitalisation periods. Local anaesthetics have been used in veterinary medicine in several ways. Anatomical landmarks can be used to identify the target nerves and the clinician can employ an electrical nerve stimulator or ultrasound guidance to perform a more accurate injection. Local anaesthetic techniques can implement other drugs, apart from or in combination with local anaesthetics, such as opioids, α2−adrenergic agonists or vasoconstricting agents. This review article presents and discusses the most common techniques of local anaesthetic use in small animals, with the aim of providing the clinician with further and comprehensive information regarding the analgesic options during the perioperative period.

Utlra-fast hydrolysis performance of MgH2 catalyzed by Ti-Zr-Fe-Mn-Cr-V high-entropy alloys

Hydrogen energy is one of the ideal energy alternatives and the upstream of the hydrogen industry chain is hydrogen production, which can be achieved via the reaction of inorganic materials with water, known as hydrolysis. Among inorganic materials, the high hydrogen capacity for hydrolysis of MgH2 (15.2 wt%) makes it a promising material for hydrogen production via hydrolysis. However, the dense Mg(OH)2 passivation layer will block the reaction between MgH2 and the solution, resulting in low hydrogen yield and sluggish hydrolysis kinetics. In this work, the hydrogen yield and hydrogen generation rate of MgH2 are considerably enhanced by adding Ti-Zr-Fe-Mn-Cr-V high-entropy alloys (HEAs) for the first time. In particular, the MgH2-3 wt% TiZrFe1.5MnCrV0.5 (labelled as MgH2-3 wt% Fe1.5) composite releases 1526.70 mL/g H2 within 5 min at 40 °C, and the final hydrolysis conversion rate reaches 95.62% within 10 min. The mean hydrogen generation rate of the MgH2-3 wt% Fe1.5 composite is 289.16 mL/g/min, which is 2.38 times faster than that of pure MgH2. Meanwhile, the activation energy of the MgH2-3 wt% Fe1.5 composite is calculated to be 12.53 kJ/mol. The density functional theory (DFT) calculation reveals that the addition of HEAs weakens the Mg–H bonds and accelerates the electron transfer between MgH2 and HEAs. Combined with the cocktail effect of HEAs as well as the formation of more interfaces and micro protocells, the hydrolysis performance of MgH2 is considerably improved. This work provides an appealing prospect for real-time hydrogen supply and offers a new effective strategy for improving the hydrolysis performance of MgH2.

Approaching battery raw material sourcing through a material criticality lens

In recent years, several approaches have been established to enhance greater sustainability in the supply chains of raw materials. These approaches investigate various sustainability dimensions, including raw material criticality, social, and environmental compliance indicators. To contribute to the growing interest in this topic, this paper investigates how material criticality can shape and enhance the understanding of drivers, complexities, and considerations in the responsible sourcing of battery minerals. For this case study, we use ten battery minerals, nine supply regions, and the integrated method to address resource efficiency (abbreviated ESSENZ), a criticality method developed to address the socioeconomic availability, the social, and the environmental dimensions of sustainability. To measure the performance of a supply region compared to other alternatives for a selected battery mineral, results per indicator are evaluated as relative scores ranging from 0 to 100, with 0 signifying the lowest relative criticality and 100 as the highest relative criticality. These relative scores, which provide increased resolution compared to globally aggregated criticality scores, show the strengths and weaknesses of supply regions for different criticality indicators while highlighting where efforts should be directed to address and alleviate outstanding criticality issues. Additionally, the resolution of the scores in this study is employed to classify supply regions into two primary categories: reserve-dominant regions, characterised by high reserves and productive activity but overall low socioeconomic and environmental compliance, and policy & governance-dominant regions, characterised by adherence to socioeconomic and environmental compliance but overall low reserves and production activity. This study underscores the complexity of identifying ideal sourcing alternatives with relatively low scores across all indicators, highlighting potential challenges to the sustainable sourcing of battery minerals.

Assessing the post-construction support for solar water-pumping systems in rural communities in Indonesia

AbstractCommunity-scale solar water-pumping systems (SWPSs) have become ideal alternatives for remote villages that lack electricity and water access. In Indonesia, SWPSs have been installed in many villages, but they often malfunction. Although technical studies are available, evidence showing the effect of post-construction support on the interplay in SWPS projects is scarce. Therefore, this study examined the post-construction support from the perspectives of the communities and local actors in four SWPS projects in rural Indonesia using a questionnaire survey. Three types of support were considered in the research framework and selected as dependent variables for regression analysis: capacity building, financial assistance, and technical assistance. Data were collected from 275 beneficiaries and 11 local actors, including local governments and implementing organizations, and statistical analysis was conducted. The results showed that, on average, the communities perceived that the community-based organization (CBO)–a local team that manages SWPS projects–was incapable of solving problems independently. Moreover, the existing support was inadequate and did not meet the requirements of the communities. This study found three determinants of the need for support: technical skills, funds for technical assistance, and financial management (eigenvalues of 2.89, 1.51, and 1.23, respectively). Logistic regression analysis revealed that technical skills were particularly crucial because this factor significantly determined the need for all types of support (p &lt; 0.05 and p &lt; 0.01). However, relying on the support of local actors is difficult, because of their limited resource availability. These findings highlight the significance and role of the support aspect in achieving the sustainability of renewable energy projects in rural areas. Although increased effort to improve the capabilities of the CBOs is necessary, future projects must also consider the trade-off between renewable energy technology and the consequent need for support. Accordingly, designing projects that promote support from all stakeholders is imperative.

Water-induced controllable deswelling strategy enabled rapid fabrication of transparent cellulose film for plastics replacement

Plastic pollution has posed significant impacts on the ecosystem. While biodegradable transparent cellulose films are considered ideal alternatives, they still grapple with issues of high energy consumption and low production efficiency. In this study, we proposed a water-induced fiber deswelling strategy to expedite the fabrication of transparent cellulose films from wood pulp. Raw cellulose fibers were firstly disintegrated into micro-sized fibers via cold alkali swelling and mild mechanical blending. Subsequently, water was introduced to govern the swelling and aggregation behavior of these treated cellulose fibers, reducing their water retention and facilitating the rapid preparation of cellulose films. By regulating the amount of water added, cellulose film can be prepared within 1 min using vacuum filtration. Furthermore, the resulting film exhibits good wet strength, surpassing most previously reported cellulose-based films, with a wet strength exceeding 30 MPa and a wet strength retention of up to 65.7 %. With these advantageous features, the cellulose film was demonstrated for packaging and fruits preservation, showing a great potential to replace conventional plastics in the packaging applications. In addition, the life cycle environmental impacts of 1.0 kg cellulose film production (cradle-to-gate system boundary) were 12.63 kg CO2-eq, 0.04 kg SO2-eq, and 397 MJ energy use.

Evaluating hydraulic dissipation in a reversible mixed-flow pump for micro-pumped hydro storage based on entropy production theory

The promotion of renewables improves energy security but degrades the electricity quality and grid stability. This paradox can be resolved by enlarging the capacity of pumped hydro storage. Although high-head hydropower resources have been exhausted, untapped low-head resources are ideal alternatives and are utilized for micro-pumped hydro storage. Instead of the miniaturized pump-turbine or pump as turbine, we apply a low-head reversible mixed-flow pump (RMFP), which can efficiently fulfil both storage and generation requirements in microgrids without complicated guide vanes. To enhance the efficiency of the RMFP in two reverse directions simultaneously, high-hydraulic dissipation zones associated with deformed flows and unreasonable structural parameters must be investigated. This study introduces entropy production theory into computational fluid dynamics numerical simulation to evaluate hydraulic dissipation under the rated discharge in both pump and turbine modes of the RMFP. Refined mesh and validation from the energy characteristics experiment demonstrate the accuracy of the numerical scheme. The head loss assessed by the entropy Production method is compared with the predictions of the pressure drop method, and its precision exceeds 7%. In pump mode, entropy production in the volute constitutes the largest proportion (43%), followed by that in the runner (35%). However, in turbine mode, the largest proportion of the total entropy is generated in the runner (45%), followed by that in the draft tube (33%). The dissipation in the runner is bound up with the secondary flows over the blades. Backflow occurs on the suction surface near the leading edge; however, across different spans, flow separation occurs on the suction surface near the trailing edge. The requests for blade modification are opposite in pump and turbine modes. Significantly, hydraulic dissipation of the draft tube concentrates within its 0.5D2 segment upstream. The dissipation there is bound up with the transport of two types of vortex ropes. The originality lies in evaluating hydraulic dissipation and explaining the high-dissipation zone with the specific unsteady secondary flows in pump and turbine modes of an RMFP.

A Layered Organic Cathode for High-Energy, Fast-Charging, and Long-Lasting Li-Ion Batteries.

Eliminating the use of critical metals in cathode materials can accelerate global adoption of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Organic cathode materials, derived entirely from earth-abundant elements, are in principle ideal alternatives but have not yet challenged inorganic cathodes due to poor conductivity, low practical storage capacity, or poor cyclability. Here, we describe a layered organic electrode material whose high electrical conductivity, high storage capacity, and complete insolubility enable reversible intercalation of Li+ ions, allowing it to compete at the electrode level, in all relevant metrics, with inorganic-based lithium-ion battery cathodes. Our optimized cathode stores 306 mAh g-1cathode, delivers an energy density of 765 Wh kg-1cathode, higher than most cobalt-based cathodes, and can charge-discharge in as little as 6 min. These results demonstrate the operational competitiveness of sustainable organic electrode materials in practical batteries.