The evolution of surfaces and mechanisms of contact electrification between metals and polymers

Contact electrification (CE) is a pretty common phenomenon, but still is poorly understood. The long-standing controversy over the mechanisms of CE related to polymers is particularly intense due to their complexity. In this paper, the CE between metals and polymers is systematically studied, which shows the evolution of surfaces accompanied by variations of CE outputs. The variations of CE charge are closely related to the creep and deformation of the polymer and metal surfaces. Then the relationship between CE and polymer structures is put forward, which is essentially determined by the electronegativity of elements and the functional groups in the polymers. The effects of load and contact frequency on the CE process and outputs are also investigated, indicating the increase of CE charge with load and frequency. Material transfer from polymer to metal is observed during CE while electrons transfer from metal to polymer, both of which are believed to have an influence on each other. The findings advance our understanding on the mechanism of CE between metal and polymers, and provides insights into the performance of CE-based application in various conditions, which sheds light on the design and optimization of CE-based energy harvest and self-powered sensing devices.

Coupling aqueous zinc batteries and perovskite solar cells for simultaneous energy harvest, conversion and storage

Simultaneously harvesting, converting and storing solar energy in a single device represents an ideal technological approach for the next generation of power sources. Herein, we propose a device consisting of an integrated carbon-based perovskite solar cell module capable of harvesting solar energy (and converting it into electricity) and a rechargeable aqueous zinc metal cell. The electrochemical energy storage cell utilizes heterostructural Co2P-CoP-NiCoO2 nanometric arrays and zinc metal as the cathode and anode, respectively, and shows a capacity retention of approximately 78% after 25000 cycles at 32 A/g. In particular, the battery cathode and perovskite material of the solar cell are combined in a sandwich joint electrode unit. As a result, the device delivers a specific power of 54 kW/kg and specific energy of 366 Wh/kg at 32 A/g and 2 A/g, respectively. Moreover, benefiting from its narrow voltage range (1.40–1.90 V), the device demonstrates an efficiency of approximately 6%, which is stable for 200 photocharge and discharge cycles.

Flux profile at focal area of concentrating solar dishes

We analytically, experimentally and computationally explore the solar radiation flux distribution in the interior region of a spherical mirror and compare it to that of a paraboloidal one with the same aperture area. Our investigation has been performed in the framework of geometrical optics. It is shown that despite one can assign a quasi focus, at half the radius, to a spherical mirror, the light concentration occurs as well on an extended line region which starts at half-radius on the optical axis. In contrast to a paraboloidal concentrator, a spherical mirror can concentrate the radiation parallel to its optical axis both in a point-focus and in a line-focus manner. The envelope of the reflected rays is also obtained. It is shown that the flux distribution has an axial symmetry. The radial dependence of the flux on a flat circular receiver is obtained. The flux longitudinal dependence is shown to exhibit three distinctive regions in the interval [0, R] (R is mirror radius). We obtain the radiational (optical) concentration ratio characteristics and find the optimal location of the flat receiver of a given size at which the concentration ratio is maximised. In contrast to a parabolic mirror, it is shown that this location depends on the receiver size. Our findings offers that in spherical mirrors one can alternatively use a line receiver and gains a considerable thermal energy harvest. Our results are supported by Monte Carlo ray tracing performed by Zemax optical software. Experimental validation has been performed in lab with a silver-coated lens as the spherical mirror.

Optimal Control of Centralized Thermoelectric Generation System under Nonuniform Temperature Distribution Using Barnacles Mating Optimization Algorithm

The need for renewable energy resources is ever-increasing due to the concern for environmental issues associated with fossil fuels. Low-cost high-power-density manufacturing techniques for the thermoelectric generators (TEG) have added to the technoeconomic feasibility of the TEG systems as an effective power generation system in heat recovery, cooling, electricity, and engine-efficiency applications. The environment-dependent factors such as the nonuniform distribution of heat, damage to the heat-transfer coating between sinks and sources, and mechanical faults create nonuniform current generation and impedance mismatch causing power loss. As a solution to this nonlinear multisolution problem, an improved MPPT control is presented, which utilizes the improvised barnacle mating optimization (BMO). The case studies are formulated to gauge the performance of the proposed BMP MPPT control under nonuniform temperature distribution. The results are compared to the grey wolf optimization (GWO), particle swarm optimization (PSO), and cuckoo search (CS) algorithm. Faster global maximum power point tracking (GMPP) within 381 ms, higher power tracking efficiency of up to 99.93%, and least oscillation ≈0.8 W are achieved by the proposed BMO with the highest energy harvest on average. The statistical analysis further solidifies the better performance of the proposed controller with the least root mean square error (RMSE), RE, and highest SR.

DESIGN AND MODELING OF STRAIGHT-BLADE VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINE IN PAKISTAN

Pakistan is one of those countries which has large potential of energy harvest from renewable energy sources and specially from wind. With the surge of global warming, the world is moving towards cleaner and viable sources of energy. Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT) currently dominates the most of the wind power farm markets in the world but Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) are also capable of harvesting large amounts of energy with benefits over the HAWTS. VAWTS do not need a control system to be pointed in the direction of wind because with its blade in radial arrangement, wind from any direction is useful. In this report, a Straight-Blade VAWT is designed for low speeds and its performance parameters are also identified for which the improvement of the VAWT will be obtained. Self-starting ability of VAWT is also analyzed and stress and vibration analysis will be investigated in ANSYS Fluent.

Ultrathin Sulfonated Mesoporous Silica Film with Well-Ordered Perpendicular Mesochannels: In-Situ Preparation, Characterization and Permselectivity

In this paper, a new type of ultrathin sulfonated mesoporous silica film (SMSF) with well-ordered perpendicular mesochannels was in-situ synthesized by Stöber approach and co-condensation method. The mesostructure of the synthesized SMSF was characterized. The results of small-angle XRD, high-resolution TEM, and cyclic voltammetry (CV) exhibited that, after loading of MPTMS, SMSF had an ordered mesostructure with a perpendicular orientation and open ends. SEM showed that SMSF could be entirely transferred and easily handled. FT-IR presented that sulfonic groups were successfully added to the surface of the nanochannels of silica film. Compared with mesoporous silica film (MSF) and commercial cation exchange membrane (CEM), SMSF had the highest permselectivity. The permselectivity of SMSF was not lined with the loading of the sulfonic groups (–SO3H). The highest permselectivity of SMSF to Na[Formula: see text] was 94% when the loading of MPTMS was 5.98% (wt.%). SMSF is a promising material in the application of salinity gradient energy harvest.