Ultra-low Temperature Research Articles

Piloting delivery of PfSPZ vaccines for malaria through a cryogenic vaccine cold chain to travel and military medicine clinics.

PfSPZ vaccines comprising Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) sporozoites (SPZ) have demonstrated > 90% protection against variant Pf malaria infections for at least 12weeks; they are the only vaccines with the level of efficacy necessary to protect travellers. PfSPZ are eukaryotic cells stabilized by cryopreservation and distributed using a cryogenic (below -150°C) cold chain. The Ebola vaccine and mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 pioneered uptake of vaccines requiring non-standard ultra-low temperature cold chains. The cryogenic cold chain using liquid nitrogen (LN2) vapour phase (LNVP) cryoshippers, is simpler, more efficient than -80, -20 or 2-8°C cold chains, and does not use electricity. This study was conducted to evaluate implementation and integration of a cryogenically distributed vaccine at travel and military immunization clinics. We conducted sequential 28-day studies evaluating vaccine shipping, storage, maintenance and accession at two US military and two civilian travel health/immunization clinics. In each clinic, personnel were trained in equipment use, procurement and handling of LN2, temperature monitoring and inventory record keeping by in-person or video instruction. Sites required 2-4h/person for two persons to assimilate and develop the expertise to manage vaccine storage and LNVP operations. LN2 for recharging cryoshippers was delivered every 1-2weeks. Vaccine ordering, receipt, storage and inventory control was conducted effectively. Simulated single dose vaccine cryovial retrieval and thawing were performed successfully in different travel clinic settings. Continuous temperature monitoring at each site was maintained with only one short excursion above -150°C (-145°C) through shipping, use and reverse logistics. Staff, during and at study conclusion, provided feedback that has been incorporated into our models for cold chain logistics. These studies demonstrated that the training in delivery, storage, administration and integration of PfSPZ vaccines can be successfully managed in different immunization clinic settings for travellers and military personnel.

Tracking a spin-polarized superconducting bound state across a quantum phase transition

The magnetic exchange coupling between magnetic impurities and a superconductor induce so-called Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) states which undergo a quantum phase transition (QPT) upon increasing the exchange interaction beyond a critical value. While the evolution through the QPT is readily observable, in particular if the YSR state features an electron-hole asymmetry, the concomitant change in the ground state is more difficult to identify. We use ultralow temperature scanning tunneling microscopy to demonstrate how the change in the YSR ground state across the QPT can be directly observed for a spin-1/2 impurity in a magnetic field. The excitation spectrum changes from featuring two peaks in the doublet (free spin) state to four peaks in the singlet (screened spin) ground state. We also identify a transition regime, where the YSR excitation energy is smaller than the Zeeman energy. We thus demonstrate a straightforward way for unambiguously identifying the ground state of a spin-1/2 YSR state.

Novel electrolyte assisted ultralow-temperature zinc battery

Secondary battery is an indispensable component in energy storage as it can uninterruptedly store the energy and release it when being required. Among them, zinc (Zn) rechargeable battery gains much attention due to its cost advantage. However, poor climate adaptation much weaken the competitiveness, and temperature-induced deterioration can be mainly blamed on the slow reaction-kinetics of Zn anode under low temperature. Under this scenario, an anti-freezing electrolyte with Zinc (II)Bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (Zn(TFSI)2) salt and ternary solvents of acetonitrile (AN), methyl acetate (MA) and dichloromethane (DCM) is proposed. It successfully broadens the working temperature of Zn secondary battery to − 90 °C. The elaborately regulated solvation can ensure smooth ion-transfer in liquid zone, more importantly, it expedites the desolvation without much affecting the interface transportation. With the optimized electrolyte configuration, reversible Zn plating/stripping at ultra-low temperature has been realized. The Zn|polytriphenylamine (PTPAn) battery thus can reserve 70 % capacity at − 80 °C, and present extremely stable cycling and impressive rate capability at − 80 °C and − 60 °C. The results well address the kinetics issues encountered in the low-temperature Zn secondary battery, and reveals that only with appropriate solvation, the high ion-permeability of the interface as well as easy de-solvation can be guaranteed. The work provides a guideline for designing advanced electrolyte, and supplies a reliable and effective strategy for the all-weather electrochemical energy storage.

Experimental study of the effect of ultralow temperature on the fracture toughness of sandstone

Fractures are widely present in subsurface formations, and fracture extension under ultralow temperature conditions is important for tasks such as liquid nitrogen fracturing and underground storage of liquid natural gas or liquid air. Therefore, the fracture toughness of sandstone under ultralow-temperature conditions was investigated using three-point bending tests of the NSCB specimens. The specimen damage processes were monitored using the DIC technique, and the changes in the pore microscopic characteristics after ultralow-temperature treatment were observed using CT and SEM. The results show that fracture toughness of dry sandstone was insensitive to the variations of the ultralow temperature (-30 to −120 ℃), whereas that of saturated sandstone increased gradually with the decrease of temperature due to the cementing effect of ice. DIC analysis showed that the peak strain around the fracture tip increased, and the fracture extension time was shortened with a decrease in temperature for both dry and saturated sandstone samples. The minerals shrank and the samples became more compacted with a decrease in temperature for the dry samples, resulting in their brittle characteristics under ultralow temperatures. The enhanced cementation effects of ice under ultralow temperatures induced high internal stress and rapid energy release upon failure of the saturated samples. Large pores shrank owing to pore collapse and filling after the one-cycle ultralow-temperature freeze–thaw treatment.

Achieving SiC joints with outstanding high-temperature property via flash brazing using FeCoCrNiCu high-entropy alloy

In this paper, the “flash brazing” of SiC is successfully achieved using FeCoCrNiCu alloy in air for seconds at an ultra-low furnace temperature of 400 ℃. The interface temperature reaches over 1000 ℃ in 1 s at an ultra-fast rate via the electric field assistance. The reaction layer of the joint consists mainly of Cr23C6 and the silicides of Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu. With the increase of brazing holding time, Cu gradually precipitates from the alloy, and the shear strength of the joints first increases and then decreases. The maximum strength value is 80 MPa at the test temperature of 800 ℃. This approach could help significantly improve the efficiency of ceramic bonding and achieve low-temperature joining for high-temperature applications.

Establishing Exceptional Durability in Ultralow-Temperature Organic-Sodium Batteries via Stabilized Multiphase Conversions.

Operation of rechargeable batteries at ultralow temperature is a significant practical problem because of poor kinetics of the electrode. Here, we report for the first time stabilized multiphase conversions for fast kinetics and long-term durability in ultralow-temperature, organic-sodium batteries. We establish that disodium rhodizonate organic electrode in conjunction with single-layer graphene oxide obviates consumption of organic radical intermediates, and demonstrate as a result that the newly designed organic electrode exhibits excellent electrochemical performance of a highly significant capacity of 130 mAh g-1 at -50 °C. We evidence that the full-cell configuration coupled with Prussian blue analogues exhibits exceptional cycling stability of >7000 cycles at -40 °C while maintaining a discharge capacity of 101 mAh g-1 at a high current density 300 mA g-1. We show this is among the best reported ultralow-temperature performance for nonaqueous batteries, and importantly, the pouch cell exhibits a continuous power supply despite conditions of -50 °C. This work sheds light on the distinct energy storage characteristics of organic electrode and opens up new avenues for the development of reliable and sustainable ultralow-temperature batteries.

Quasiparticle Poisoning of Superconducting Qubits from Resonant Absorption of Pair-Breaking Photons.

The ideal superconductor provides a pristine environment for the delicate states of a quantum computer: because there is an energy gap to excitations, there are no spurious modes with which the qubits can interact, causing irreversible decay of the quantum state. As a practical matter, however, there exists a high density of excitations out of the superconducting ground state even at ultralow temperature; these are known as quasiparticles. Observed quasiparticle densities are of order 1 μm^{-3}, tens of orders of magnitude greater than the equilibrium density expected from theory. Nonequilibrium quasiparticles extract energy from the qubit mode and can induce dephasing. Here we show that a dominant mechanism for quasiparticle poisoning is direct absorption of high-energy photons at the qubit junction. We use a Josephson junction-based photon source to controllably dose qubit circuits with millimeter-wave radiation, and we use an interferometric quantum gate sequence to reconstruct the charge parity of the qubit. We find that the structure of the qubit itself acts as a resonant antenna for millimeter-wave radiation, providing an efficient path for photons to generate quasiparticles. A deep understanding of this physics will pave the way to realization of next-generation superconducting qubits that are robust against quasiparticle poisoning.

National and world experience in functioning of centers for collective use of biological resource collections of tumors of the central nervous system

To analyze the experience of collective use center and biobank of the Burdenko Neurosurgical Center compared to national and international data on functioning of collective use centers specializing in tumors of the human central nervous system. We reviewed the PubMed and e-Library databases using the following keywords: core facilities brain tumors, repository of collective use brain tumors, biobank of CNS tumors, central nervous system tumor collection centers. We also analyzed the organizations registered on the portal of scientific and technical infrastructure of the Russian Federation. We analyzed 275 publications devoted to collective use centers and biobanks. These biobanks do not position themselves as collective use centers but actively realize biological material for researches. Structure of institutions presented on the portal of scientific and technical infrastructure of the Russian Federation is characterized. The collective use center «Bioresource collection of tissues and cell cultures of tumors of the human nervous system for fundamental and applied researches» has access to biobank of the Burdenko Neurosurgical Center. To date, the biobank contains more than 8478 aliquots of tumor tissue frozen at ultra-low temperature (-196°C) and obtained from 1993 patients. Considering available data, we established the basic principles of work in collective use centers with bioresource collections. Collective use centers with bioresource collections of tumors of the central nervous system are rare. There is only one collective use center organized at the Burdenko Neurosurgical Center on the portal of scientific and technical infrastructure of the Russian Federation. At the same time, there is an urgent need to increase their number and activity in Russia and other countries worldwide. You can use the resource of brain tumor collections by leaving a request on the official website of this organization in the «Collective use center» section.

A multi-layer flexible photothermal titanium nitride-based superhydrophobic surface for highly efficient anti-icing and de-icing.

Ice accumulation presents a significant challenge for various residential activities and industrial facilities. Most current de-icing methods are time-consuming and costly. Photothermal superhydrophobic surfaces have garnered significant attention in the field of anti-icing and de-icing due to their environmentally friendly and energy-saving characteristics. However, obtaining photothermal superhydrophobic surfaces with both reliable icing delay and effective photothermal de-icing capabilities at ultra-low temperatures (<-30 °C) remains significantly challenging. In this study, we prepared a multilayer flexible photothermal TiN-based superhydrophobic surface (ML-SHS), comprising an FAS@SiO2/TiN superhydrophobic layer and a PDMS/Triton X-100 flexible supporting layer. The optimal ML-SHS exhibits excellent superhydrophobicity (a water contact angle of 162.7° and a sliding angle of 2°) and an average light absorption of 95.6%, and generates a substantial surface temperature increase of 80.2 °C under 1 sun illumination. Droplets easily roll off the ML-SHS at -10 °C without solar illumination and at -35 °C under 1 sun illumination, demonstrating excellent passive anti-icing capability. Due to its excellent photothermal conversion and thermal constraint capabilities, the accumulated ice layer on the ML-SHS rapidly melts within 450 seconds at -20 °C under 1 sun illumination. The ML-SHS also possesses self-cleaning properties, mechanical durability, and chemical stability, ensuring the usability of the superhydrophobic surface under harsh conditions. Our study may offer a novel approach for the design and fabrication of photothermal superhydrophobic surfaces, facilitating efficient passive anti-icing and active de-icing in practical applications.

A reversible self-assembled molecular layer for lithium metal batteries with high energy/power densities at ultra-low temperatures

We have demonstrated a molecular interface engineering strategy to address the design dilemma of low-temperature electrolytes for lithium metal batteries.

TiO2/SiO2 spiral crimped Janus fibers engineered for stretchable ceramic membranes with high-temperature resistance.

The tensile brittleness of ceramic nanofibrous materials makes them unable to withstand the relatively large fracture strain, greatly limiting their applications in extreme environments such as high or ultra-low temperatures. Herein, highly stretchable and elastic ceramic nanofibrous membranes composed of titanium dioxide/silicon dioxide (TiO2/SiO2) bicomponent spiral crimped Janus fibers were designed and synthesized via conjugate electrospinning combined with calcination treatment. Owing to the opposite charges attached, the two fibers assembled side by side to form a Janus structure. Interestingly, radial shrinkage differences existed on the two sides of the TiO2/SiO2 composite nanofibers, constructing a helical crimp structure along the fiber axis. The special configuration effectively improves the stretchability of TiO2/SiO2 ceramic nanofibrous membranes, with up to 70.59% elongation at break, excellent resilience at 20% tensile strain and plastic deformation of only 3.48% after 100 cycles. Additionally, the relatively fluffy ceramic membranes constructed from spiral crimped Janus fibers delivered a lower thermal conductivity of 0.0317 W m-1 K-1, attributed to the increased internal still air content. This work not only reveals the attractive tensile mechanism of ceramic membranes arising from the highly curly nanofibers, but also proposes an effective strategy to make the ceramic materials withstand the complex dynamic strain in extreme temperature environments (from -196 °C to 1300 °C).

Bicontinuous-phase electrolyte for a highly reversible Zn metal anode working at ultralow temperature

A bicontinuous-phase electrolyte with a well-balanced solvation sheath is proposed, which delivers fast desolvation kinetics and generates a uniform in situ solid electrolyte interface, thus achieving a long-lasting Zn anode at low temperatures.

Etapas da criopreservação de sementes de café: respostas fisiológicas e de sistemas antioxidants

ABSTRACT: The cryopreservation of plant germplasm at ultralow temperatures is an alternative technique for the long-term storage of seeds of the genus Coffea sp. However, for this technique to be successful, cell integrity must be maintained at all stages of the process on the basis of scientific research. The present study investigated validated cryopreservation protocols for Coffea arabica L. seeds and evaluate the effects on the physiological and biochemical characteristics of the seeds at each stage of the process. Seeds were dried on silica gel or with saturated saline solution, precooled or not in a biofreezer, immersed in nitrogen, and reheated in a water bath. After each of these steps, the physiological and biochemical quality of the seeds was determined. Pre-cooling is a step that can be dispensed with in the cryopreservation of Coffea arabica seeds, direct immersion in liquid nitrogen being more indicated. Coffea arabica L. seeds tolerate cryopreservation after rapid drying in silica gel up to water contents of 17 or 20% (wb), with greater survival at 17%. The enzyme activities of catalase, polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase are indicators of the quality of C. arabica L. seeds subjected to cryopreservation.

Excellent intrinsic Chern insulators: monolayer PdTaX2 (X = Se, Te)

An excellent intrinsic Chern insulator with high Tc and sizable bulk gap.

Multi-level chiral edge states in Janus M2XS2Se2 (M = V, Ti; X = W, Mo) monolayers with high Curie temperature and sizable nontrivial topological gaps.

Quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) insulators with dissipation-less chiral edge channels provide ideal platforms for the exploration of topological materials and low-power spintronic devices. However, the ultralow operation temperature and small nontrivial gaps are the bottlenecks for QAH insulators towards future applications. Here, a new family of QAH insulators, that is, Janus M2XS2Se2 (M = V, Ti; X = W, Mo) monolayers, are proposed to be ferromagnets with large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) and high Curie temperature above room temperature. Moreover, the present M2XS2Se2 monolayers hold sizable nontrivial topological gaps, resulting in the 1st chiral edge state with Chern number C = -1. Unexpectedly, there also exists an occupied 2nd chiral edge state below the Fermi level. Although all M2XS2Se2 monolayers retain their PMA characteristics on application of biaxial strain, various topological phase transitions are present. The V2WS2Se2 monolayer preserves the QAH state regardless of strain, while the V2MoS2Se2 and Ti2WS2Se2 monolayers transform from QAH states to metallic states under tensile strains. The present M2XS2Se2 monolayers show competitive advantages among the reported materials for the development of topological electronic devices.

Energy and economic simulation of a renewable energy community applied to a new generation ultra-low temperature district heating and cooling network

The work describes the energy and economic simulation of a renewable energy community with a social purpose applied to a residential and commercial new district in Milan, the eight buildings of which are connected to a new generation low temperature district heating and cooling network. The system is designed considering two substations for each building, each one providing heating and cooling load profiles by means of heat pumps, and an energy centre that exploits groundwater to extract and dissipate compensating heat at low temperature. Some roof mounted photovoltaic panels, owned by the district residents, cover the electricity needs resulting from the net metering of the renewable energy community. The members of the energy communities are in fact the multifamily buildings of the district acting as prosumers and some fragile families from the surroundings as simple consumers. The economic profits, represented by the subsidies coming from the diffuse self-consumed shared energy and from sold overproduced electricity, are distributed among the members to guarantee, first of all, an economic help against energy poverty to fragile families, and, secondly, a short pay-back-time for photovoltaics. Therefore, the operational strategy of the district network is optimized to maximize the shared electricity and the relative economic benefit by shifting, when possible, the electricity demand when the solar production is available. Finally, three different profit distribution mechanisms are analysed. The added value of this work is the evaluation, by means of a specific case study analysis, of the feasibility of an electric energy community from an economic as well as a regulatory point of view under current legislation.

Corrigendum to: Energy and economic simulation of a renewable energy community applied to a new generation ultra-low temperature district heating and cooling network

Corrigendum to: Energy and economic simulation of a renewable energy community applied to a new generation ultra-low temperature district heating and cooling network

Roadmap for Low-carbon Ultra-Low Temperature Storage in Biobanking

Roadmap for Low-carbon Ultra-Low Temperature Storage in Biobanking

Assembling Fe4 single-molecule magnets on a TiO2 monolayer.

The decoration of technologically relevant surfaces, such as metal oxides, with Single-Molecule Magnets (SMMs) constitutes a persistent challenge for the integration of these molecular systems into novel technologies and, in particular, for the development of spintronic and quantum devices. We used UHV thermal sublimation to deposit tetrairon(III) propeller-shaped SMMs (Fe4) as a single layer on a TiO2 ultrathin film grown on Cu(001). The properties of the molecular deposit were studied using a multi-technique approach based on standard topographic and spectroscopic measurements, which demonstrated that molecules remain largely intact upon deposition. Ultralow temperature X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) with linearly and circularly polarized light was further employed to evaluate both the molecular organization and the magnetic properties of the Fe4 monolayer. X-ray Natural Linear Dichroism (XNLD) and X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD) showed that molecules in a monolayer display a preferential orientation and an open magnetic hysteresis with pronounced quantum tunnelling steps up to 900 mK. However, unexpected extra features in the XAS and XMCD spectra disclosed a minority fraction of altered molecules, suggesting that the TiO2 film may be chemically non-innocent. The observed persistence of SMM behaviour on a metal oxide thin film opens new possibilities for the development of SMM-based hybrid systems.

Ultra-low temperature direct reconstruction of biomass fermentation of ethanol to higher alcohols in water over thermostable hcp-Ni

Near-ambient temperature direct reconstruction of biomass fermentation of ethanol to higher alcohols in water over thermostable hcp-Ni.