Wide Operating Temperature Range Research Articles

Iodine intercalation-assisted alkali activation constructs coal-based porous carbon for high-performance supercapacitors

Supercapacitors have the advantages of fast charging and discharging speeds, high power density, long cycle life, and wide operating temperature range. They are widely used in portable electronic equipment, rail transit, industry, military, aerospace, and other fields. The design and preparation of low-cost, high-performance electrode materials still pose a bottleneck that hinders the development of supercapacitors. In this paper, coal was used as the raw material, and the coal-based porous carbon electrode material was constructed using the iodine intercalation-assisted activation method and used for supercapacitors. The CK-700 electrode exhibits excellent charge storage performance in a 6 M potassium hydroxide (KOH) electrolyte, with a maximum specific capacitance of 350 F/g at a current density of 0.5 A/g. In addition, it has an excellent rate performance (310 F/g at 1 A/g) and cycle stability (capacitance retention up to 91.7 % after 30000 cycles). This work provides a method for realizing high-quality, high-yield and low-cost preparation of coal-based porous carbon, and an idea for improving the performance of supercapacitors.

Regulation of Dipolar‐Dipolar and Ion‐Dipolar Interactions Simultaneously in Strong Solvating Electrolytes for All‐Temperature Zinc‐Ion Batteries

Regulation of Dipolar‐Dipolar and Ion‐Dipolar Interactions Simultaneously in Strong Solvating Electrolytes for All‐Temperature Zinc‐Ion Batteries

Electrocaloric response enhancement over a broad temperature range in lead-free BT-based ceramics

The electrocaloric effect (ECE) capabilities of environmentally sustainable BaTiO3 systems have garnered extensive scrutiny for their potential applications, owing to their intricate phase transition characteristics, facile miniaturization, heightened efficacy, and low cost. Nevertheless, persistent challenges loom in the quest for a substantial trade-off between significant temperature change (ΔT) and a wide operating temperature range (Tspan). In this study, we synthesized the Ba(1–1.5x)LaxTi0.9Zr0.1O3 (abbreviated as BLZT100x, x = 0, 0.005, 0.01, and 0.015) ferroelectric system and conducted thorough characterizations encompassing phase structure, electrical attributes, and electrocaloric properties. The results reveal a reduction in the phase transition temperature to lower regimes and an augmentation in the diffuse phase transition characteristics upon the incorporation of La3+ into the Ba(Zr, Ti)O3 matrix. This enhancement significantly bolsters the electrocaloric performance while expanding the viable operating temperature ranges. Notably, in the BLZT0.5 sample, an exceptional ΔT of 1.22 K under a moderate electric field of 50 kV/cm is observed, accompanied by an extraordinarily broad Tspan of 80 °C spanning from 60 °C to 140 °C, as determined through direct measurement method. These findings impeccably align with the prerequisites of practical refrigeration applications.

Thermally stable Ni foam-supported inverse CeAlOx/Ni ensemble as an active structured catalyst for CO2 hydrogenation to methane

Nickel is the most widely used inexpensive active metal center of the heterogeneous catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation to methane. However, Ni-based catalysts suffer from severe deactivation in CO2 methanation reaction due to the irreversible sintering and coke deposition caused by the inevitable localized hotspots generated during the vigorously exothermic reaction. Herein, we demonstrate the inverse CeAlOx/Ni composite constructed on the Ni-foam structure support realizes remarkable CO2 methanation catalytic activity and stability in a wide operation temperature range from 240 to 600 °C. Significantly, CeAlOx/Ni/Ni-foam catalyst maintains its initial activity after seven drastic heating-cooling cycles from RT to 240 to 600 °C. Meanwhile, the structure catalyst also shows water resistance and long-term stability under reaction condition. The promising thermal stability and water-resistance of CeAlOx/Ni/Ni-foam originate from the excellent heat and mass transport efficiency which eliminates local hotspots and the formation of Ni-foam stabilized CeAlOx/Ni inverse composites which effectively anchored the active species and prevents carbon deposition from CH4 decomposition.

Achieving High Energy Storage Performance under a Low Electric Field in KNbO3-Doped BNT-Based Ceramics.

Ceramic capacitors have great potential for application in power systems due to their fantastic energy storage performance (ESP) and wide operating temperature range. In this study, the (1 - x)Bi0.5Na0.47Li0.03Sn0.01Ti0.99O3-xKNbO3 (BNLST-xKN) energy storage ceramics were synthesized through the solid-phase reaction method. The addition of KN disrupts the long-range ferroelectric order of the BNLST ceramic, inducing the emergence of polar nanoregions (PNRs), which enhances the ESP of the ceramics. The BNLST-0.2KN ceramic demonstrates a high recovered energy density (Wrec ∼ 3.66 J/cm3) and efficiency (η ∼ 85.8%) under a low electric field of 210 kV/cm. Meantime, it exhibits a large current density (CD ∼ 831.74 A/cm2), high power density (PD ∼ 78.86 MW/cm3), and fast discharge rate (t0.9 ∼ 0.1 μs), along with good temperature stability and excellent fatigue stability. These properties make the BNLST-0.2KN ceramic a promising candidate for energy storage applications in low electric fields.

Self-Healing Ionogel-Enabled Self-Healing and Wide-Temperature Flexible Zinc-Air Batteries with Ultra-Long Cycling Lives.

Hydrogel-based zinc-air batteries (ZABs) are promising flexible rechargeable batteries. However, the practical application of hydrogel-based ZABs is limited by their short service life, narrow operating temperature range, and repair difficulty. Herein, a self-healing ionogel is synthesized by the photopolymerization of acrylamide and poly(ethylene glycol) monomethyl ether acrylate in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide with zinc acetate dihydrate and first used as an electrolyte to fabricate self-healing ZABs. The obtained self-healing ionogel has a wide operating temperature range, good environmental and electrochemical stability, high ionic conductivity, satisfactory mechanical strength, repeatable and efficient self-healing properties enabled by the reversibility of hydrogen bonding, and the ability to inhibit the production of dendrites and by-products. Notably, the self-healing ionogel has the highest ionic conductivity and toughness compared to other reported self-healing ionogels. The prepared self-healing ionogel is used to assemble self-healing flexible ZABs with a wide operating temperature range. These ZABs have ultra-long cycling lives and excellent stability under harsh conditions. After being damaged, the ZABs can repeatedly self-heal to recover their battery performance, providing a long-lasting and reliable power supply for wearable devices. This work opens new opportunities for the development of electrolytes for ZABs.

A stretchable, fully self-healable, temperature-tolerant, and water-proof supercapacitor using TUEG3 capped gold nanosheets on oxime-carbamate bonded polyurethane film and organohydrogel

In this study, we demonstrate a stretchable, fully self-healable, temperature-tolerant, and water-proof supercapacitor with high electrochemical performance via a deliberate selection of materials and device architecture. Distinct from previous works, our whole supercapacitor is stretchable and self-healable, owing to the application of specially devised stretchable and self-healing oxime-carbamate based polyurethane (OC-PU) substrate film, self-healing polymer (poly(ether-thioureas) triethylene glycol) capped Au nanosheet current collector (TUEG3-Au NS) and newly synthesized organohydrogel electrolyte. The fabricated supercapacitor exhibits a high electrochemical performances (specific capacitance of 1650.5F g−1, energy density of 14.58 Wh kg−1, power density of 2181.75 W kg−1, and capacitance retention of 89 % after 10,000 cycles) with a capacitance retention of 81 % over stretching by 40 % even after repetitive healing from damages, the self-healing of all components (full self-healing) over repetitive damages with a capacitance recovery by over 83 %, a wide operational temperature range from −20 to 60 °C with retaining over 91 % of capacitance at RT. Furthermore, a μ-LED is stably operated with the supercapacitor immersed in water regardless of the mechanical deformation and self-healing from damage due to self-bonded encapsulation layer of hydrophobic OC-PU film. With a vertically integrated patch device consisting of the fabricated supercapacitor and a strain sensor, bio-signals are detected using the stored energy of the supercapacitor even after self-healing from damages over the temperature range from −20 to 60 °C. This work suggests the high application potential of our high performance multi-functional supercapacitor as an integrated energy storage device for wearable electronics featuring longevity and stability under harsh environments.

Exploration about the Electrolyte System of Li-ion Batteries for the Wide Temperature Range Operation

Exploration about the Electrolyte System of Li-ion Batteries for the Wide Temperature Range Operation

Hybrid Hydrogen Bonding Strategy to Construct Instantaneous Self-Healing Highly Elastic Ionohydrogel for Multi-Functional Electronics.

Gels show great promise for applications in wearable electronics, biomedical devices, and energy storage systems due to their exceptional stretchability and adjustable electrical conductivity. However, the challenge lies in integrating multiple functions like elasticity, instantaneous self-healing, and a wide operating temperature range into a single gel. To address this issue, a hybrid hydrogen bonding strategy to construct gel with these desirable properties is proposed. The intricate network of hybrid strong weak hydrogen bonds within the polymer matrix enables these ionohydrogel to exhibit remarkable instantaneous self-healing, stretching up to five times their original length within seconds. Leveraging these properties, the incorporation of ionic liquids, water, and zinc salts into hybrid hydrogen bond crosslinked network enables conductivity and redox reaction, making it a versatile ionic skin for real-time monitoring of human movements and respiratory. Moreover, the ionohydrogel can be used as electrolyte in the assembly of a zinc-ion battery, ensuring a reliable power supply for wearable electronics, even in extreme conditions (-20°C and extreme deformations). This ionohydrogel electrolyte simplifies the diverse structural requirements of gels to meet the needs of various electronic applications, offering a new approach for multi-functional electronics.

High-power, electrically-driven continuous-wave 1.55-μm Si-based multi-quantum well lasers with a wide operating temperature range grown on wafer-scale InP-on-Si (100) heterogeneous substrate

A reliable, efficient and electrically-pumped Si-based laser is considered as the main challenge to achieve the integration of all key building blocks with silicon photonics. Despite the impressive advances that have been made in developing 1.3-μm Si-based quantum dot (QD) lasers, extending the wavelength window to the widely used 1.55-μm telecommunication region remains difficult. In this study, we develop a novel photonic integration method of epitaxial growth of III-V on a wafer-scale InP-on-Si (100) (InPOS) heterogeneous substrate fabricated by the ion-cutting technique to realize integrated lasers on Si substrate. This ion-cutting plus epitaxial growth approach decouples the correlated root causes of many detrimental dislocations during heteroepitaxial growth, namely lattice and domain mismatches. Using this approach, we achieved state-of-the-art performance of the electrically-pumped, continuous-wave (CW) 1.55-µm Si-based laser with a room-temperature threshold current density of 0.65 kA/cm−2, and output power exceeding 155 mW per facet without facet coating in CW mode. CW lasing at 120 °C and pulsed lasing at over 130 °C were achieved. This generic approach is also applied to other material systems to provide better performance and more functionalities for photonics and microelectronics.

Enhanced dielectric reliability in the X9R‐type Bi1/2Na1/2TiO3‐CaZrO3 relaxor ferroelectric ceramics

AbstractHigh‐performance dielectric ceramic capacitors for automotive applications require high operation temperature, thermal stability, and reliability for dielectric ceramics. A broad composition search has been carried out to replace the existing BaTiO3‐based dielectrics having limited upper operating temperature due to the relatively low Curie temperature at around 120°C. However, most of the developed compositions are too complicated and compositionally sensitive, making them difficult to commercialize. This study introduces a dielectrically reliable ceramic system based on Bi1/2Na1/2TiO3 (BNT) with a wide operation temperature range simply by adding paraelectric CaZrO3 (CZ). At 15 mol% addition of CZ to BNT, the permittivity variation within ±15% from −55 to 280°C was achieved, which surpasses the EIA‐X9R standard. Moreover, the dielectric reliability was shown with low dielectric loss (tanδ < 0.02) for the aforementioned temperature range and remarkable dielectric breakdown strength (∼260 kV/cm) at room temperature. Along with the proposal of a promising high‐performance dielectric material, structural analysis and dielectric behavior investigation as a function of CZ contents were presented.

Large electrocaloric effect and wide working area in the transition from ferroelectric to nanodomains

AbstractA large adiabatic temperature change along with a wide operating temperature region is usually required for the electrocaloric materials to fulfill their refrigeration function. In general, doping foreign ions into BaTiO3 is the frequently utilized strategy in order to obtain excellent electrocaloric materials for the practical application. In the current paper, BaTiO3 lead‐free ferroelectric ceramics were doped by Ca2+ and Sn4+ simultaneously in order to generate a coexistence state at room temperature, where ferroelectric domains and nanodomains exit. As a result, a large polarization and a wide operating temperature range were finally induced. It is found that Ba0.9Ca0.1Ti0.85Sn0.15O3 has a maximum adiabatic temperature change of 0.85 K and an excellent working temperature region (65 K, ∆T > 90% Tmax) was achieved under an electric field of 50 kV/cm. The above phenomenon indicates that the modified BaTiO3 ceramics can be a good potential electrocaloric material in the state of cross‐existence of ferroelectric domains and nanodomains.

Are solid-state batteries absolutely more environmentally friendly compared to traditional batteries-analyzing from the footprint family viewpoint

In recent years, with the change of global climate, carbon neutralization has become a global consensus. Solid state batteries have become the important way to develop batteries in the future due to their advantages such as high safety, high energy density, wider operating temperature range, and the battery production stage is the main contributor to the environmental impact of the battery life cycle.This article selects three traditional batteries, LFP battery, NMC battery, LTO battery, and two new solid-state batteries, Li-FeS2 battery and LLZO battery, to conduct a study on the carbon footprint and other footprint family impacts during the production stage. The inventory data is collected from highly cited literature published in recent years, and the footprint family impact values generated by different types of battery packs are compared and analyzed. When using 1 kg as the functional unit, the footprint values of LLZO and Li-FeS2 solid-state batteries are higher than those of NMC and LFP traditional batteries in most footprint indicators such as ionizing radiation and ozone layer depletion in carbon footprint, material footprint, ecological footprint, and health footprint, resulting in greater environmental pollution. Considering the energy density of the battery, with a functional unit of 1kWh, the high energy density of solid-state batteries significantly reduces their environmental impact, while traditional battery LTO increases its environmental impact due to the lower battery energy density. But in the material footprint, both functional units of solid-state batteries have a significant impact. The high energy density of solid-state batteries still holds great development prospects, and cleaner technology and energy, as well as higher energy density, remain the direction of battery development.

Giant electric field-induced second harmonic generation in polar skyrmions

Electric field-induced second harmonic generation allows electrically controlling nonlinear light-matter interactions crucial for emerging integrated photonics applications. Despite its wide presence in materials, the figures-of-merit of electric field-induced second harmonic generation are yet to be elevated to enable novel device functionalities. Here, we show that the polar skyrmions, a topological phase spontaneously formed in PbTiO3/SrTiO3 ferroelectric superlattices, exhibit a high comprehensive electric field-induced second harmonic generation performance. The second-order nonlinear susceptibility and modulation depth, measured under non-resonant 800 nm excitation, reach ~54.2 pm V−1 and ~664% V−1, respectively, and high response bandwidth (higher than 10 MHz), wide operating temperature range (up to ~400 K) and good fatigue resistance (>1010 cycles) are also demonstrated. Through combined in-situ experiments and phase-field simulations, we establish the microscopic links between the exotic polarization configuration and field-induced transition paths of the skyrmions and their electric field-induced second harmonic generation response. Our study not only presents a highly competitive thin-film material ready for constructing on-chip devices, but opens up new avenues of utilizing topological polar structures in the fields of photonics and optoelectronics.

Molecularly Mixed Composite Membranes for Gas Separation Based on Macrocycles Embedded in a Polyimide.

Polyimides are a polymer class that has been extensively investigated as a membrane material for gas separation owing to its interesting permselective properties in a wide range of operation temperatures and pressures. In order to improve their properties, the addition of different filler types is currently studied. p-tert-Butylcalix[n]arene macrocycles (PTBCs) with different cavity sizes (PTBC4, PTBC6, PTBC8) were used as fillers in a commercial thermoplastic polyimide, with a concentration in the range 1-9 wt%, to develop nanocomposite membranes for gas separation. The selected macrocycles are attractive organic compounds owing to their porous structure and affinity with organic polymers. The nanocomposite membranes were prepared in the form of films in which the polymeric matrix is a continuous phase incorporating the dispersed additives. The preparation was carried out according to a pre-mixing approach in a mutual solvent, and the solution casting was followed by a controlled solvent evaporation. The films were characterized by investigating their miscibility, morphology, thermal and spectral properties. The gas transport through these films was examined as a function of the temperature and also time. The results evidenced that the incorporation of the chosen nanoporous fillers can be exploited to enhance molecular transport, offering additional pathways and promoting rearrangements of the polymeric chains.

Two-step strategy to optimize interfacial compatibility of polyether sulfone-Li6.75La3Zr1.75Ta0.25O12 composite polymer electrolytes with Li anode for solid lithium battery with a wide working temperature range

Although composite polymer electrolytes (CPEs) are currently regarded as one of the most promising solid electrolyte systems closing to commercial application, some basic problems, including low conductivity at low temperature, serious interfacial compatibility with Li metal anode, inhibit the development of CPEs for solid state lithium batteries (SSLBs). Herein, a “polymer-in-ceramic” CPEs consisting of polyether sulfone (PESF), Li6·75La3Zr1·75Ta0·25O12 (LLZTO) and bis(trifluoromethane) sulfonimide lithium salt (LiTFSI) is reported, and a two-step strategy is proposed to optimize its conductivity and interfacial compatibility with Li metal anode. Benefitting from both the continuous porous structure to provide additional Li+ conducting pathways on internal porous interfaces and the typical heterogeneous bilayer structure to enhance compatibility with Li metal anode, the optimized CPEs delivers promising Li+ conductivities in a wide operating temperature range (>2.0 × 10−4 S cm−1 at −10 °C, >1.4 × 10−3 S cm−1 at 60 °C), improved tolerance against Li dendrites and/or pulverization. Moreover, commercial LiFePO4 cathode based SSLBs show acceptable discharge specific capacities of >160 mA h g−1 and excellent cycling stabilities of over 200 cycles at both room temperature and 60 °C at 0.2C.

Cyclodextrin incorporated textile supercapacitor/piezo-triboelectric nanogenerator hybrid system for versatile temperature dependent wearable wireless devices

The problem of wearable textile electronics having no power source can be greatly assisted at low-temperature environments by the demand for flexible supercapacitor sustaining self-charging system. We explore a typical piezo-triboelectric nanogenerators (PTNGs) textile fabric integrated flexible supercapacitors (SCs) face substantial difficulty in maintaining their ability to quickly charge in colder environments for various wearable wireless sensing devices. PTNGs using composite electrodes frequently experience quick performance degradation at low energy levels as a result of the poor ion mobility besides charge transfer in the electrolyte. In this article, we offer a SC-coupled self-chargeable power generator with wide operating temperature range (25 ∼ −80 °C). A composite system of sulfonated β-cyclodextrin/polyvinylpyrrolidone/Ni@MnCO3 on cotton fabric with polyvinylidene fluoride and polydimethylsiloxane were used to build the smart textile SC, which produced 19.6 V at −80 °C and exhibited a gravimetric capacitance of 94.7 Fg−1 with excellent cyclic stability (>50,000). The biocompatibility studies reveal good results (∼95 % of cell viability) for the wearable textile SCs. In addition, the possibility of application to a sensing device was successfully demonstrated by connecting the proposed self-driving energy storage complex to a device designed as a wireless circuit. This system can work for seamlessly working for wireless signal transmittance as power source resulting and this system may be able to meet the urgent need for wearable electronics that implanted in the space suit and/or winter clothing needed in harsh climates.

Experimental research on the cooling effect of a novel two-phase closed thermosyphon with semiconductor refrigeration in permafrost regions

Hybrid two-phase closed thermosyphon (TPCT) artificial ground freezing technique is an effective cooling strategy adaptable to different geological and meteorological conditions in permafrost regions. Previous studies have focused on the feasibility of hybrid TPCT with little attention given to the cooling characteristics and long-term effects of this technique under actual environmental conditions. In this study, a novel structured semiconductor refrigeration device, with simple structure, small size, and wide operating temperature range, was designed and manufactured to act as the active condenser of a hybrid TPCT, and the cooling effect of this device was investigated during a two-year field test under stable power supply. This study showed that: 1) The minimum (maximum) average temperature of the semiconductor refrigeration two-phase closed thermosyphon (SRTPCT) evaporator was 0.5 (2.1) °C lower than the TPCT evaporator. The average ground temperature decreased by 0.3 °C, and the permafrost table rose to 0.2 m at 1 m from the evaporators around SRTPCT. The semiconductor refrigeration device added more than 9.75 MJ of cold storage to the soil around the TPCT evaporator during an operating cycle. 2) The optimal working period for the semiconductor refrigeration device was from June to October, and the cooling effect was better when the ambient temperature was low in the warm season. 3) As active condenser of hybrid TPCT in permafrost regions, semiconductor refrigeration device has a larger heat transfer power enhancement for TPCTs than vapor compression refrigeration device in the warm season, and vice versa in the cold season, as well as a higher heat transfer power enhancement for TPCTs than adsorption refrigeration device. The results of this study provide relevant parameters and references for the design and engineering application of future SRTPCT.

Silicon carbide single crystals for high-temperature supercapacitors.

Designing advanced electrode materials that can be reliably cycled at high temperatures and used for assembling advanced energy storage devices remain a major challenge. As a representative of novel wide bandgap semiconductors, silicon carbide (SiC) single crystals have broad prospects in high-temperature energy storage due to their excellent characteristics such as low thermal expansion coefficient, high temperature radiation resistance and stable chemical properties. In this work, an N-type SiC single-crystal material with a high-density porous structure was successfully designed and prepared by using an improved electrochemical anodic oxidation strategy. Besides, the N-type SiC single crystals were used in electrochemical energy storage as an integrated electrode material, exhibiting superior electrochemical performance. In addition, the high-temperature supercapacitor device assembled with ionic liquids has a wide operating temperature range and maintains a capacity of 88.24% after 5000 cycles at 150 °C. The reasons for its high energy storage performance are discussed through electrochemical tests and first-principles calculation methods. This study proves that the application of SiC single crystals in supercapacitor devices has great potential in the field of high-temperature energy storage, providing a reference for the further development of novel semiconductors in the field of energy storage and optoelectronic devices.

Novel propylene carbonate based localized high concentration electrolyte with high voltage, flame retardant and wide temperature characteristics enables excellent electrochemical performances of lithium metal batteries

A novel propylene carbonate based localized high concentration electrolyte using for lithium metal batteries achieves flame retardancy, a broad electrochemical stability window, dendrite-free Li deposition, and a wide operating temperature range.