Roadmap for advanced aqueous batteries: From design of materials to applications

Safety concerns about organic media-based batteries are the key public arguments against their widespread usage. Aqueous batteries (ABs), based on water which is environmentally benign, provide a promising alternative for safe, cost-effective, and scalable energy storage, with high power density and tolerance against mishandling. Research interests and achievements in ABs have surged globally in the past 5 years. However, their large-scale application is plagued by the limited output voltage and inadequate energy density. We present the challenges in AB fundamental research, focusing on the design of advanced materials and practical applications of whole devices. Potential interactions of the challenges in different AB systems are established. A critical appraisal of recent advances in ABs is presented for addressing the key issues, with special emphasis on the connection between advanced materials and emerging electrochemistry. Last, we provide a roadmap starting with material design and ending with the commercialization of next-generation reliable ABs.

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Efficient Schedule of Energy-Constrained UAV Using Crowdsourced Buses in Last-Mile Parcel Delivery

Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive Mobile Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies ◽

10.1145/3448079 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 1-23

Author(s):

Yan Pan ◽

Shining Li ◽

Qianwu Chen ◽

Nan Zhang ◽

Tao Cheng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Traffic Congestion ◽

Large Scale ◽

Load Capacity ◽

Scheduling Algorithm ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Promising Alternative ◽

Logistics Industry ◽

Last Mile ◽

Delivery Scheduling ◽

Schedule Approach

Stimulated by the dramatical service demand in the logistics industry, logistics trucks employed in last-mile parcel delivery bring critical public concerns, such as heavy cost burden, traffic congestion and air pollution. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are a promising alternative tool in last-mile delivery, which is however limited by insufficient flight range and load capacity. This paper presents an innovative energy-limited logistics UAV schedule approach using crowdsourced buses. Specifically, when one UAV delivers a parcel, it first lands on a crowdsourced social bus to parcel destination, gets recharged by the wireless recharger deployed on the bus, and then flies from the bus to the parcel destination. This novel approach not only increases the delivery range and load capacity of battery-limited UAVs, but is also much more cost-effective and environment-friendly than traditional methods. New challenges therefore emerge as the buses with spatiotemporal mobility become the bottleneck during delivery. By landing on buses, an Energy-Neutral Flight Principle and a delivery scheduling algorithm are proposed for the UAVs. Using the Energy-Neutral Flight Principle, each UAV can plan a flying path without depleting energy given buses with uncertain velocities. Besides, the delivery scheduling algorithm optimizes the delivery time and number of delivered parcels given warehouse location, logistics UAVs, parcel locations and buses. Comprehensive evaluations using a large-scale bus dataset demonstrate the superiority of the innovative logistics UAV schedule approach.

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Prenatal Nutritional Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Preterm Birth

Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism ◽

10.1159/000509901 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Karen Patricia Best ◽

Judith Gomersall ◽

Maria Makrides

Keyword(s):

Preterm Birth ◽

Large Scale ◽

Cochrane Review ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Omega 3 ◽

Promising Alternative ◽

Nutritional Interventions ◽

Dietary Nutrients ◽

Preterm Babies ◽

Nutritional Strategies

Worldwide, around 15 million preterm babies are born annually, and despite intensive research, the specific mechanisms triggering preterm birth (PTB) remain unclear. Cost-effective primary prevention strategies to reduce PTB are required, and nutritional interventions offer a promising alternative. Nutrients contribute to a variety of mechanisms that are potentially important to preterm delivery, such as infection, inflammation, oxidative stress, and muscle contractility. Several observational studies have explored the association between dietary nutrients and/or dietary patterns and PTB, often with contrasting results. Randomized trial evidence on the effects of supplementation with zinc, multiple micronutrients (iron and folic acid), and vitamin D is promising; however, results are inconsistent, and many studies are not adequately powered for outcomes of PTB. Large-scale clinical trials with PTB as the primary outcome are needed before any firm conclusions can be drawn for these nutrients. The strongest evidence to date for a nutritional solution exists for omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs), key nutrients in fish. In 2018, a Cochrane Review (including 70 studies) showed that prenatal supplementation with omega-3 LCPUFAs reduced the risk of PTB and early PTB (EPTB) compared with no omega-3 supplementation. However, the largest trial of omega-3 supplementation in pregnancy, the Omega-3 to Reduce the Incidence of Prematurity (ORIP) trial (<i>n</i> = 5,544), showed no reduction in EPTB and a reduction in PTB only in a prespecified analysis of singleton pregnancies. Exploratory analyses from the ORIP trial found that women with low baseline total omega-3 status were at higher risk of EPTB, and that this risk was substantially reduced with omega-3 supplementation. In contrast, women with replete or high baseline total omega-3 status were already at low risk of EPTB and additional omega-3 supplementation increased the risk of EPTB compared to control. These findings suggest that determining an individual woman’s PUFA status may be the most precise way to inform recommendations to reduce her risk of PTB.

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Self-template–assisted micro-phase segregation in blended liquid-crystalline block copolymers films toward three-dimensional structures

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.2010284117 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 117 (35) ◽

pp. 21070-21078

Author(s):

Yusuke Hibi ◽

Yuki Oguchi ◽

Yuta Shimizu ◽

Kayoko Hashimoto ◽

Katsuya Kondo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Liquid Crystalline ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Phase Segregation ◽

Material Design ◽

The Other ◽

Cooling Process ◽

Water Separation ◽

Practical Applications ◽

Out Of Plane ◽

Fundamental Research

In-plane mesopatterns derived from block-copolymer (BCP) micro-phase segregation in thin films have attracted much interest in practical applications as well as fundamental research programs. However, phase segregation along the film-normal direction has been less studied. Here, we describe a strategy to concurrently, yet independently, control in-plane micro-phase and out-of-plane macro-phase segregation in multiblended films composed of liquid-crystalline BCPs (LCBCPs), affording spontaneously layered three-dimensional (3D) mesostructures. This strategy relies on sequential liquid crystallization during the cooling process in thermal annealing as follows. The constituent LCBCP with the highest isotropic-transition temperature (Tiso) first liquid-crystallizes and segregates from the other LCBCP mixture remaining in isotropic states to form a noncontaminated layer at the top surface. This preformed LCBCP layer preserves its inherent in-plane pattern and acts as a template guiding the subsequent micro-phase segregations of the other low-TisoLCBCPs underneath. This self-template–assisted micro-phase segregation (STAMPS) readily provides 3D mesostructures, the potential toward rational material design of which is also demonstrated in water-separation applications.

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An Overview of the Photocatalytic Water Splitting over Suspended Particles

Catalysts ◽

10.3390/catal11010060 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 60

Author(s):

Muhammad Amtiaz Nadeem ◽

Mohd Adnan Khan ◽

Ahmed Abdeslam Ziani ◽

Hicham Idriss

Keyword(s):

Water Splitting ◽

Large Scale ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Synthetic Methods ◽

Scale Production ◽

Practical Applications ◽

Co Catalysts ◽

Large Scale Production ◽

Cost Effective Method ◽

Order Of Magnitude

The conversion of solar to chemical energy is one of the central processes considered in the emerging renewable energy economy. Hydrogen production from water splitting over particulate semiconductor catalysts has often been proposed as a simple and a cost-effective method for large-scale production. In this review, we summarize the basic concepts of the overall water splitting (in the absence of sacrificial agents) using particulate photocatalysts, with a focus on their synthetic methods and the role of the so-called “co-catalysts”. Then, a focus is then given on improving light absorption in which the Z-scheme concept and the overall system efficiency are discussed. A section on reactor design and cost of the overall technology is given, where the possibility of the different technologies to be deployed at a commercial scale and the considerable challenges ahead are discussed. To date, the highest reported efficiency of any of these systems is at least one order of magnitude lower than that deserving consideration for practical applications.

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A universal co-solvent dilution strategy enables facile and cost-effective fabrication of perovskite photovoltaics

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-27740-4 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Hong Zhang ◽

Kasra Darabi ◽

Narges Yaghoobi Nia ◽

Anurag Krishna ◽

Paramvir Ahlawat ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Perovskite Solar Cells ◽

Precursor Solution ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Toxic Waste ◽

High Concentration ◽

Colloidal Chemistry ◽

High Volatility ◽

Key Issues ◽

The Stability

AbstractCost management and toxic waste generation are two key issues that must be addressed before the commercialization of perovskite optoelectronic devices. We report a groundbreaking strategy for eco-friendly and cost-effective fabrication of highly efficient perovskite solar cells. This strategy involves the usage of a high volatility co-solvent, which dilutes perovskite precursors to a lower concentration (<0.5 M) while retaining similar film quality and device performance as a high concentration (>1.4 M) solution. More than 70% of toxic waste and material cost can be reduced. Mechanistic insights reveal ultra-rapid evaporation of the co-solvent together with beneficial alteration of the precursor colloidal chemistry upon dilution with co-solvent, which in-situ studies and theoretical simulations confirm. The co-solvent tuned precursor colloidal properties also contribute to the enhancement of the stability of precursor solution, which extends its processing window thus minimizing the waste. This strategy is universally successful across different perovskite compositions, and scales from small devices to large-scale modules using industrial spin-coating, potentially easing the lab-to-fab translation of perovskite technologies.

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Unsettled Issues Concerning eVTOL for Rapid-response, On-demand Firefighting

10.4271/epr2021017 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Johnny Doo ◽

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Fire Suppression ◽

Rapid Development ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Aviation Industry ◽

Successful Implementation ◽

Charging System ◽

On Demand ◽

Key Issues ◽

Fire Stations

Recent advancements of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft have generated significant interest within and beyond the traditional aviation industry, and many novel applications have been identified and are in development. One promising application for these innovative systems is in firefighting, with eVTOL aircraft complementing current firefighting capabilities to help save lives and reduce fire-induced damages. With increased global occurrences and scales of wildfires—not to mention the issues firefighters face during urban and rural firefighting operations daily—eVTOL technology could offer timely, on-demand, and potentially cost-effective aerial mobility capabilities to counter these challenges. Early detection and suppression of wildfires could prevent many fires from becoming large-scale disasters. eVTOL aircraft may not have the capacity of larger aerial assets for firefighting, but targeted suppression, potentially in swarm operations, could be valuable. Most importantly, on-demand aerial extraction of firefighters can be a crucial benefit during wildfire control operations. Aerial firefighter dispatch from local fire stations or vertiports can result in more effective operations, and targeted aerial fire suppression and civilian extraction from high-rise buildings could enhance capabilities significantly. There are some challenges that need to be addressed before the identified capabilities and benefits are realized at scale, including the development of firefighting-specific eVTOL vehicles; sense and avoid capabilities in complex, smoke-inhibited environments; autonomous and remote operating capabilities; charging system compatibility and availability; operator and controller training; dynamic airspace management; and vehicle/fleet logistics and support. Acceptance from both the first-responder community and the general public is also critical for the successful implementation of these new capabilities. The purpose of this report is to identify the benefits and challenges of implementation, as well as some of the potential solutions. Based on the rapid development progress of eVTOL aircraft and infrastructures with proactive community engagement, it is envisioned that these challenges can be addressed soon. NOTE: SAE EDGE™ Research Reports are intended to identify and illuminate key issues in emerging, but still unsettled, technologies of interest to the mobility industry. The goal of SAE EDGE™ Research Reports is to stimulate discussion and work in the hope of promoting and speeding resolution of identified issues. These reports are not intended to resolve the challenges they identify or close any topic to further scrutiny.

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New Limits for Stability of Supercapacitor Electrode Material Based on Graphene Derivative

Nanomaterials ◽

10.3390/nano10091731 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 1731

Author(s):

Veronika Šedajová ◽

Petr Jakubec ◽

Aristides Bakandritsos ◽

Václav Ranc ◽

Michal Otyepka

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Electrode Materials ◽

High Current Density ◽

Rate Capability ◽

Cycling Stability ◽

Supercapacitor Electrode ◽

Promising Alternative ◽

Practical Applications ◽

High Durability ◽

Graphene Derivatives

Supercapacitors offer a promising alternative to batteries, especially due to their excellent power density and fast charging rate capability. However, the cycling stability and material synthesis reproducibility need to be significantly improved to enhance the reliability and durability of supercapacitors in practical applications. Graphene acid (GA) is a conductive graphene derivative dispersible in water that can be prepared on a large scale from fluorographene. Here, we report a synthesis protocol with high reproducibility for preparing GA. The charging/discharging rate stability and cycling stability of GA were tested in a two-electrode cell with a sulfuric acid electrolyte. The rate stability test revealed that GA could be repeatedly measured at current densities ranging from 1 to 20 A g−1 without any capacitance loss. The cycling stability experiment showed that even after 60,000 cycles, the material kept 95.3% of its specific capacitance at a high current density of 3 A g−1. The findings suggested that covalent graphene derivatives are lightweight electrode materials suitable for developing supercapacitors with extremely high durability.

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Growth of Carbon Nanocoils by Porous α-Fe2O3/SnO2 Catalyst and Its Buckypaper for High Efficient Adsorption

Nano-Micro Letters ◽

10.1007/s40820-019-0365-y ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Yongpeng Zhao ◽

Jianzhen Wang ◽

Hui Huang ◽

Tianze Cong ◽

Shuaitao Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Purity ◽

Large Scale ◽

Blue Dye ◽

Adsorption Efficiency ◽

Promising Alternative ◽

Practical Applications ◽

Key Points ◽

High Efficient ◽

Reported Data ◽

Efficient Adsorbent

AbstractHigh-purity (99%) carbon nanocoils (CNCs) have been synthesized by using porous α-Fe2O3/SnO2 catalyst. The yield of CNCs reaches 9,098% after a 6 h growth. This value is much higher than the previously reported data, indicating that this method is promising to synthesize high-purity CNCs on a large scale. It is considered that an appropriate proportion of Fe and Sn, proper particle size distribution, and a loose-porous aggregate structure of the catalyst are the key points to the high-purity growth of CNCs. Benefiting from the high-purity preparation, a CNC Buckypaper was successfully prepared and the electrical, mechanical, and electrochemical properties were investigated comprehensively. Furthermore, as one of the practical applications, the CNC Buckypaper was successfully utilized as an efficient adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue dye from wastewater with an adsorption efficiency of 90.9%. This study provides a facile and economical route for preparing high-purity CNCs, which is suitable for large-quantity production. Furthermore, the fabrication of macroscopic CNC Buckypaper provides promising alternative of adsorbent or other practical applications.

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A facile, inexpensive and green electrochemical sensor for sensitive detection of imidacloprid residue in rice using activated electrodes

Analytical Methods ◽

10.1039/d1ay00984b ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yitao Lv ◽

Jingming Sun ◽

Sen Qiao ◽

Min Zhang ◽

Juxiu Li

Keyword(s):

Electrochemical Sensor ◽

Large Scale ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Sensitive Detection ◽

Advanced Materials ◽

Electrochemical Activation

The development of sensitive, facile, cost-effective and eco-friendly sensors is essential for monitoring imidacloprid (IDP) residue in large scale. Compared with popular modification of electrodes by advanced materials, electrochemical activation...

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Current Research Trends and Perspectives on Solid-State Nanomaterials in Hydrogen Storage

Research ◽

10.34133/2021/3750689 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 ◽

pp. 1-39

Author(s):

Jie Zheng ◽

Chen-Gang Wang ◽

Hui Zhou ◽

Enyi Ye ◽

Jianwei Xu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solid State ◽

Hydrogen Storage ◽

Large Scale ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Pure Hydrogen ◽

Hydrogen Energy ◽

Practical Applications ◽

Main Challenge ◽

Porous Aromatic Frameworks ◽

Storage Technologies

Hydrogen energy, with environment amicable, renewable, efficiency, and cost-effective advantages, is the future mainstream substitution of fossil-based fuel. However, the extremely low volumetric density gives rise to the main challenge in hydrogen storage, and therefore, exploring effective storage techniques is key hurdles that need to be crossed to accomplish the sustainable hydrogen economy. Hydrogen physically or chemically stored into nanomaterials in the solid-state is a desirable prospect for effective large-scale hydrogen storage, which has exhibited great potentials for applications in both reversible onboard storage and regenerable off-board storage applications. Its attractive points include safe, compact, light, reversibility, and efficiently produce sufficient pure hydrogen fuel under the mild condition. This review comprehensively gathers the state-of-art solid-state hydrogen storage technologies using nanostructured materials, involving nanoporous carbon materials, metal-organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, porous aromatic frameworks, nanoporous organic polymers, and nanoscale hydrides. It describes significant advances achieved so far, and main barriers need to be surmounted to approach practical applications, as well as offers a perspective for sustainable energy research.

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