Pervasive diffusion of climate signals recorded in ice-vein ionic impurities

A theory of vein impurity transport conceived two decades ago predicts that signals in the bulk concentration of soluble ions in ice migrate under a temperature gradient. If valid, it would mean that some palaeoclimatic signals deep in ice cores (signals from vein impurities as opposed to matrix/grain-boundary impurities) suffer displacements that upset their dating and alignment with other proxies. We revisit the vein physical interactions to show that a strong diffusion prevents such signals from surviving into deep ice. It arises because the Gibbs–Thomson effect, which the original theory had neglected, perturbs the impurity concentration of the vein water wherever the bulk impurity concentration carries a signal. Thus no distinct vein signals will reach a depth where their displacement matters; accordingly, the palaeoclimatic concern posed by the original theory no longer stands. Simulations with signal peaks introduced in shallow ice at the GRIP and EPICA Dome C ice-core sites confirm that rapid damping and broadening eradicates their form by two-thirds way down the ice column; artificially reducing the solute diffusivity in water (to mimic partially-connected veins) by 103 times or more is necessary for signals to penetrate into the lowest several hundred metres with minimal loss of amplitude. The deep solute peaks observed in ice cores can only be explained by widespread vein disconnection or a dominance of matrix/grain-boundary impurities at depth (including their recent transfer to veins); in either case, the deep peaks would not have displaced far. Decomposing the vein and matrix impurity contributions will aid robust reconstruction from ion records.

MXenes as Flow Electrodes for Capacitive Deionization of Wastewater

The energy-water nexus poses an integrated research challenge, while opening up an opportunity space for the development of energy efficient technologies for water remediation. Capacitive Deionization (CDI) is an upcoming reclamation technology that uses a small applied voltage applied across electrodes to electrophoretically remove dissolved ionic impurities from wastewater streams. Similar to a supercapacitor, the ions are stored in the electric double layer of the electrodes. Reversing the polarity of applied voltage enables recovery of the removed ionic impurities, allowing for recycling and reuse. Simultaneous materials recovery and water reclamation makes CDI energy efficient and resource conservative, with potential to scale it up for industrial applications. The efficiency of the technology depends on the architectural design of the CDI cell, control of operating conditions, and the nature of the electrodes used. In this project we report on the performance of Ti3C2Tx MXenes flow electrodes in a CDI cell design. MXenes are a novel class of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides, nitrides and carbonitrides with the general formula Mn+1XnTx where M is an early transition metal, X is carbon and/or nitrogen, Tx represents the surface terminations. Ti3C2Tx MXenes synthesized at Boise State, were employed as a flow electrode solution in an established CDI cell for targeted and selective ion removal. Performance metrics of achieved adsorption capacity, ion removal efficiency, regeneration efficiency, energy consumption, and charge efficiency, exceed those of currently prevalent electrode systems. In addition, rheological properties of the Ti3C2Tx MXenes colloidal solution were evaluated. This work establishes the deionization performance of Ti3C2Tx MXene based flow electrodes while providing further insight towards understanding the effect of structure and surface functionalization on the resultant deionization efficiency.

Tricalcium phosphate powder: Preparation, characterization and compaction abilities

In this work, we characterize tricalcium phosphate powders Ca9(HPO4)(PO4)5(OH) resulting from a reaction between calcium hydroxide and orthophosphoric acid at room temperature, without pH adjustment and in absence of ionic impurities. The prepared powder has an atomic ratio Ca/P of 1.512 ± 0.005. The real density is 2.68 ± 0.02 g/cm3 and the specific surface area is 80 ± 02 m2 /g. During compression, the microstructure of Cadeficient apatite powder with the presence of HPO4 groups seems to support the cohesion between particles. The transmission ratio is 90%, the transfer ratio is 41.8 and the ratio of the die-wall friction is 0.22. These results show that apatitic tricalcium powder gives a good aptitude to the compaction which leads to a good tensile strength (0.79 MPa). The heat treatment of the prepared powder shows the precise temperature for the formation of pyrophosphate, β-TCP and α-TCPa phases. The purity and aptitude to compaction of the prepared powders are very promising for pharmaceutical and medical applications.

Why organically functionalized nanoparticles increase the electrical conductivity of nematic liquid crystal dispersions

We demonstrate that ionic impurities trapped in the dense ligand shell of functionalized nanoparticles significantly increase the conductivity in LC nanodispersions.