Hollow tubular sea-urchin structure with high catalytic activity of NiCo2Se4@CS2 cathodes for high-performance Al/S batteries.

The shuttle effect of aluminum polysulfides (AlPSs) have been a source of concern for studying Al/S batteries. Due to the weak adsorption of CS composites, research on cathode materials for Al/S batteries has been delayed. As it is generally known that Al2S3 decomposition demands a large Gibbs free energy, this work has tried to reduce the Al2S3 decomposition potential energy. Herein, the Ni/Co bimetallic selenide reduces the energy barrier conversion and mitigates the polarization effects, while morphology control enables the storage and anchoring of S, alleviating the shuttle effect. Additionally, the intermediate products serve as single-atom catalysts, increasing the active sites, synergistically enhancing the ion diffusion kinetics. DFT calculations verify that NiCo2Se4 has a moderate Gibbs free energy change during the rate-limiting step of S reduction and the most robust adsorption energy to Al2S3. NiCo2Se4@CS2/Al has a remaining capacity of 135 mAh/g after 450 cycles (at 200 mA g-1), pioneering novel ideas for the development of Al/S batteries.

High expression levels of haem oxygenase-1 promote ferroptosis in macrophage-derived foam cells and exacerbate plaque instability.

Plaque rupture with consequent thrombosis is the leading cause of acute cardiovascular events, during which macrophage death is a hallmark. Ferroptosis is a pivotal intermediate link between early and advanced atherosclerosis. Existing evidence indicates the involvement of macrophage ferroptosis in plaque vulnerability; however, the exact mechanism remains elusive. The aim of this study was to explore key ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) involved in plaque progression and the underlying molecular mechanisms involved. The expression landscape of FRGs was obtained from atherosclerosis-related GEO datasets. Molecular mechanism studies of ferroptosis were performed using bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) and macrophage-derived foam cells (MDFCs). Bioinformatics analysis and immunohistochemistry revealed that macrophage haem oxygenase-1 (HMOX1) is the key FRG involved in plaque destabilization. Hypoxic conditions induced a significant increase in Hmox1 expression in MDFCs but not in macrophages. In addition, the beneficial or deleterious effects of Hmox1 were dependent on the degree of Hmox1 induction. Hmox1 overexpression drove inflammatory responses and ferroptotic oxidative stress in MDFCs and aggravated the plaque burden in atherosclerotic model mice. Further mechanistic investigations demonstrated that hypoxia-mediated degradation of egl-9 family hypoxia-inducible factor 3 (Egln3) stabilized Hif1a, which subsequently promoted Hmox1 transcription. Our findings suggest that high Hmox1 expression under hypoxia is deleterious to MDFC viability and plaque stability, providing a reference for the management of acute cardiovascular events.

Deciphering the point source carbon footprint puzzle: Land use dynamics and socio-economic drivers.

Point source carbon emissions account for approximately 80 % of total emissions. Investigating the influence of land use and socio-economic indicators on these emissions is crucial for achieving sustainable development goals. Existing research faces challenges such as focusing on specific regions, mixing variables that may exhibit multicollinearity, and lacking sufficient land use information. This study takes China, the largest emitting country, as a case study, utilizing geospatial big data to subdivide land use into 11 categories based on emission sectors. The impacts of land use and socio-economic indicators on different emission sectors are discussed from the perspectives of bivariate and spatial statistical analysis, with spatial hotspots identified. Hierarchical regression is used to evaluate the explanatory power of the indicators and to establish models, and potential carbon reduction strategies are further explored. Key findings reveal: (1) Significant multicollinearity between land use and socio-economic indicators was demonstrated, with land use explaining 57.1 % of emissions compared to 37.4 % explained by socio-economic indicators. The spatial consistency between land use and emissions exceeds 80 %, and the spatiotemporal variability is relatively low, making land use a more advantageous factor in explaining point source carbon emissions. (2) Agricultural mechanization increases emission intensity, but this efficient farming method helps convert surplus plowland, the largest influencing factor (Coefficient = 0.717), into carbon sinks, thereby controlling agricultural emissions. (3) Land intensification helps control industrial land, the main factor influencing industrial emissions (Coefficient = 0.392). It also contributes to the efficient use of carbon reduction technologies and industrial supporting land. (4) Mixed commercial and residential land has the greatest impact on commercial, service, and household emissions. However, its relationship with the economy (Correlation = 0.479) is stronger than its relationship with emissions (Correlation = 0.182), making it more applicable to cities that serve as economic growth hubs.

Cataloging the Genetic Response: Unveiling Drought-Responsive Gene Expression in Oil Tea Camellia (Camellia oleifera Abel.) through Transcriptomics.

Drought stress is a critical environmental factor that significantly impacts plant growth and productivity. However, the transcriptome analysis of differentially expressed genes in response to drought stress in Camellia oleifera Abel. is still unclear. This study analyzed the transcriptome sequencing data of C. oleifera under drought treatments. A total of 20,674 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified under drought stress, with the number of DEGs increasing with the duration of drought. Specifically, 11,793 and 18,046 DEGs were detected after 8 and 15 days of drought treatment, respectively, including numerous upregulated and downregulated genes. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs were primarily involved in various biological processes. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis revealed that carbon metabolism, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, proteasome, glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism were the main affected pathways. Among the DEGs, 376 protein kinases, 42 proteases, 168 transcription factor (TF) genes, and 152 other potential functional genes were identified, which may play significant roles in the drought response of C. oleifera. The expression of relevant functional genes was further validated using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). These findings contribute to the comprehension of drought tolerance mechanisms in C. oleifera and bolster the identification of drought-resistant genes for molecular breeding purposes.

Construction of V2O5@MXene Cathodes toward a High Specific Capacity Aqueous Aluminum-Ion Battery.

Aqueous aluminum-ion batteries (AAIBs) are considered a strong candidate for the new generation of energy storage devices. The lack of suitable cathode materials has been a bottleneck factor hindering the future development of AAIBs. In this work, we design and construct a highly effective cathode with dual morphologies. Two-dimensional (2D) layered MXene materials possessed good conductivity and hydrophilicity, which are used as the substrates to deposit rod-shaped vanadium oxides (V2O5) to form a three-dimensional (3D) cathode. The cathode design provides a strong boost for the rapid electrochemical activities of rod-shaped V2O5 by embedding/extracting both protons (H+) and aluminum-ion (Al3+). As a result, the V2O5@MXene cathode based AAIB delivers an ultrahigh initial specific capacity of 626 mAh/g at 0.1 A/g with a stable cycle performance up to 100 cycles. This work is a breakthrough for the development of cathode materials for AAIBs.

Aging affects Mandarin speakers' understanding of focus sentences in quiet and noisy environments.

INTRODUCTION: Older adults experiencing normal aging make up most patients seeking services at audiology clinics. While research acknowledges that the speech perception abilities of aging adults can be diminished in lower-level speech identification or discrimination, there is less concern about how aging affects higher-level speech understanding, particularly in tonal languages. This study aimed to explore the effects of aging on the comprehension of implied intentions conveyed through prosodic features in Mandarin focus sentences, both in quiet and noisy environments. METHODS: Twenty-seven younger listeners (aged 17 to 26) and 27 older listeners (aged 58 to 77) participated in a focus comprehension task. Their task was to interpret SAVO (subject-adverbial-verb-object) sentences with five focus conditions (initial subject-focus, medial adverbial-focus, medial verb-focus, final object-focus, and neutral non-focus) across five background conditions: quiet, white noise (at 0 and -10-dB signal-to-noise ratios, SNRs), and competing speech (at 0 and -10-dB SNRs). Comprehension performances were analyzed based on accuracy rates, and underlying processing patterns were evaluated using confusion matrices. RESULTS: Younger listeners consistently excelled across focus conditions in quiet settings, but their scores declined in white noise at the SNR of -10-dB. Older adults exhibited variability in scores across focus conditions but not in background conditions. They scored lower than their younger counterparts, with the highest scores observed in the comprehension of sentences featuring a medial adverbial-focus. Analysis of confusion matrices revealed that younger adults seldom mistook focus conditions, whereas older adults tended to comprehend the other focused items as medial adverbials. CONCLUSIONS: Older listeners' performance reflects their over-reliance on top-down language knowledge, while their bottom-up acoustic processing decreases when interpreting Mandarin focus sentences. These findings provide evidence of active cognitive processing in prosody comprehension among aging adults and offer insights for diagnosing and intervening with speech disorders in clinical settings.

Age effects on prosodic boundary perception.

The redundancy hypothesis proposes that older listeners need a larger array of acoustic cues than younger listeners for effective speech perception. This research investigated this hypothesis by examining the aging effects on the use of prosodic cues in speech segmentation in Mandarin Chinese. We examined how younger and older listeners perceived prosodic boundaries using three main prosodic cues (pause, final lengthening, and pitch change) across eight conditions involving different cue combinations. The stimuli consisted of syntactically ambiguous phrase pairs, each containing two or three objects. Participants (22 younger listeners and 22 older listeners) performed a speech recognition task to judge the number of objects they heard. Both groups primarily relied on the pause cue for identifying prosodic boundaries, using final lengthening and pitch change as secondary cues. However, older listeners showed reduced sensitivity to these cues, compensating by integrating the primary cue pause with the secondary cue pitch change for more precise segmentation. The present study reveals older listeners' integration strategy in using prosodic cues for speech segmentation, supporting the redundancy hypothesis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Designable Nanoadaptor for Enhanced Recognition of Natural Killer Cell to Tumor via Bio-orthogonal Click Reaction.

Highly efficient recognition of cancer cells by immune cells is important for successful therapeutic-cell-based cancer immunotherapy. Herein, we present a facile NIR-II nanoadaptor [hyaluronic acid (HA)/dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO)-Au:Ag2Te quantum dots (QDs)] for enhancing the tumor recognition and binding ability of natural killer (NK) cells via a bio-orthogonal click reaction in vivo. The Nanoadaptor possesses superior tumor-targeting capacity, facilitating the accumulation of the chemical receptor DBCO at the tumor sites. Subsequently, the enrichment of DBCO on tumor cell surfaces provides multivalent recognition sites for capturing pretreated azide engineered NK92 cells (NK92-N3) through an efficient click reaction, thereby significantly enhancing the therapeutical efficiency. The dynamic process of nanoadaptor-mediated recognition of NK cells to tumor cells could be vividly observed using multiplexed NIR-II fluorescence imaging in a mouse model of lung cancer. Such a nanoadaptor strategy can be extended to other therapeutic cellular systems and holds promise for future clinical applications.

Aging affects auditory contributions to focus perception in Jianghuai Mandarina).

Speakers can place their prosodic prominence on any locations within a sentence, generating focus prosody for listeners to perceive new information. This study aimed to investigate age-related changes in the bottom-up processing of focus perception in Jianghuai Mandarin by clarifying the perceptual cues and the auditory processing abilities involved in the identification of focus locations. Young, middle-aged, and older speakers of Jianghuai Mandarin completed a focus identification task and an auditory perception task. The results showed that increasing age led to a decrease in listeners' accuracy rate in identifying focus locations, with all participants performing the worst when dynamic pitch cues were inaccessible. Auditory processing abilities did not predict focus perception performance in young and middle-aged listeners but accounted significantly for the variance in older adults' performance. These findings suggest that age-related deteriorations in focus perception can be largely attributed to declined auditory processing of perceptual cues. Poor ability to extract frequency modulation cues may be the most important underlying psychoacoustic factor for older adults' difficulties in perceiving focus prosody in Jianghuai Mandarin. The results contribute to our understanding of the bottom-up mechanisms involved in linguistic prosody processing in aging adults, particularly in tonal languages.

Functional analysis of a wheat class III peroxidase gene, TaPer12-3A, in seed dormancy and germination.

BACKGROUND: Class III peroxidases (PODs) perform crucial functions in various developmental processes and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, their roles in wheat seed dormancy (SD) and germination remain elusive. RESULTS: Here, we identified a wheat class III POD gene, named TaPer12-3A, based on transcriptome data and expression analysis. TaPer12-3A showed decreasing and increasing expression trends with SD acquisition and release, respectively. It was highly expressed in wheat seeds and localized in the endoplasmic reticulum and cytoplasm. Germination tests were performed using the transgenic Arabidopsis and rice lines as well as wheat mutant mutagenized with ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) in Jing 411 (J411) background. These results indicated that TaPer12-3A negatively regulated SD and positively mediated germination. Further studies showed that TaPer12-3A maintained H2O2 homeostasis by scavenging excess H2O2 and participated in the biosynthesis and catabolism pathways of gibberellic acid and abscisic acid to regulate SD and germination. CONCLUSION: These findings not only provide new insights for future functional analysis of TaPer12-3A in regulating wheat SD and germination but also provide a target gene for breeding wheat varieties with high pre-harvest sprouting resistance by gene editing technology.

Analysis of the impact of temperature on the spectral shift in ultraviolet hyperspectral imaging spectrometers.

The imaging spectrometer's high performance in practical applications may be compromised by environmental factors, particularly temperature variations, posing a challenge to its stability. Temperature fluctuations can induce spectral shift, directly impacting the accuracy of spectral measurements, subsequently influencing the precision of radiometric measurements. To address this issue, this study investigates a dual-channel UV imaging spectrometer. This instrument boasts a wavelength calibration accuracy of 0.01 nm. This paper conducts an in-depth analysis of the various mechanisms through which temperature changes influence the spectral line offset in the imaging spectrometer, integrating actual orbital temperature data to discuss the instrument's temperature load settings. The impact of temperature on spectral shift is examined using finite element analysis and optical design software. Estimations of spectral shift were made based on temperature variations. Simulation results indicated that the maximum deviation of spectral shift is estimated at 0.018 nm under a temperature condition of 16 ± 1°C. Under a more controlled orbital temperature condition (16 ± 0.3°C), the maximum deviation of spectral shift decreased to 0.01 nm. Experimental data revealed that at 16 ± 1°C, the maximum deviation of spectral shift did not exceed 0.01 nm. This effectively corroborates our theoretical analysis. The relationship between temperature and spectral shift offers a crucial theoretical foundation for calibrating spectral measurements and managing the thermal conditions of the instrument.

α-MnO2 Cathode with Oxygen Vacancies Accelerated Affinity Electrolyte for Dual-Ion Co-Encapsulated Aqueous Aluminum Ion Batteries.

Aluminum batteries (ABs) are identified as one of the most promising candidates for the next generation of large-scale energy storage elements because of their efficient three-electron reaction. Compared to ionic electrolytes, aqueous aluminum-ion batteries (AAIBs) are considered safer, less costly, and more environmentally friendly. However, considerable cycling performance is a key issue limiting the development of AAIBs. Stable, efficient, and electrolyte-friendly cathodes are most desirable for AAIBs. Herein, a rod-shaped defect-rich α-MnO2 is designed as a cathode, which is capable to deliver high performance with stable cycling for 180 cycles at 500 mA g-1 and maintains a discharge specific capacity of ≈100 mAh g-1. In addition, the infiltrability simulation is effectively utilized to corroborate the rapid electrochemical reaction brought about by the defective mechanism. With the formation of oxygen vacancies, the dual embedding of protons and metal ions is activated. This work provides a brand-new design for the development and characterization of cathodes for AAIBs.

Programmed Remodeling of the Tumor Milieu to Enhance NK Cell Immunotherapy Combined with Chemotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer.

Natural killer (NK) cell-based adoptive immunotherapy has demonstrated encouraging therapeutic effects in clinical trials for hematological cancers. However, the effectiveness of treatment for solid tumors remains a challenge due to insufficient recruitment and infiltration of NK cells into tumor tissues. Herein, a programmed nanoremodeler (DAS@P/H/pp) is designed to remodel dense physical stromal barriers and for dysregulation of the chemokine of the tumor environment to enhance the recruitment and infiltration of NK cells in tumors. The DAS@P/H/pp is triggered by the acidic tumor environment, resulting in charge reversal and subsequent hyaluronidase (HAase) release. HAase effectively degrades the extracellular matrix, promoting the delivery of immunoregulatory molecules and chemotherapy drugs into deep tumor tissues. In mouse models of pancreatic cancer, this nanomediated strategy for the programmed remodeling of the tumor microenvironment significantly boosts the recruitment of NK92 cells and their tumor cell-killing capabilities under the supervision of multiplexed near-infrared-II fluorescence.

Danhong formula alleviates endothelial dysfunction and reduces blood pressure in hypertension by regulating MicroRNA 24 - Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase-Serine/Threonine Kinase- Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase axis.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Essential hypertension (EH) is one of the important risk factors of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, and it can significantly increase the incidence and mortality of acute myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction and hemorrhage. Danhong Formula (DHF) was consisting of Radix et Rhizoma Salviae Miltiorrhizae (Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge., Labiatae, Danshen in Chinese) and Flos Carthami (Carthamus tinctorius L., Compositae, Honghua in Chinese) (Plant names have been checked with http://www.the plant list.org on June 28th, 2023) was approved by State Food and Drug Administration of China, that has been used for thousands of years in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in China with proven safety and efficacy. Though our previous studies have found that DHF improved endothelial dysfunction (ED) and decreased high blood pressure (BP), the underlying mechanisms of its antihypertensive effect still remain unclear. AIM OF THE STUDY: This study investigated whether DHF regulated MicroRNA 24- Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase-Serine/Threonine Kinase- Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase (miR-24 - PI3K/AKT/eNOS) axis to produce antihypertensive effect and improve endothelial dysfunction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Firstly, the chemical components of DHF were analyzed by UHPLC-MS. After that, BP was continuously monitored within the 1st, 3rd, and 4th week in SHR to evaluate the antihypertensive effect of DHF intraperitoneal injection. In addition, not only the contents of serum nitric oxide (NO), prostacyclin (PGI2), and angiotensin II (Ang II) were detected, but also the isolated aorta ring experiment was conducted to evaluate the vasomotoricity to evaluate of DHF on improving endothelial dysfunction. Key proteins or mRNA expression associated with miR-24 - PI3K/AKT/eNOS axis in aorta were detected by capillary Western blot, immunohistochemistry or RT-PCR to explore the underlying mechanisms. Index of NO, Ang II PGI2 and key proteins or mRNA expression were also conducted in miR-24-3p over-expression HUVECs model. RESULTS: Compared with SHR control group, DHF (4 mL/kg/day, 2 mL/kg/day, 1 mL/kg/day) treatment significantly reduced high BP in SHR and selectively increased acetylcholine (Ach) induced vasodilation, but not sodium nitroprusside (SNP) in a manner of concentration dependency in isolated aorta ring. DHF (4 mL/kg/day, 1 mL/kg/day) treatment was accompanying an increment of NO and PGI2, and lowering AngII in SHR. Moreover, DHF treatment significantly up-regulated expression of p-PI3K, p-AKT, mTOR, eNOS and p-eNOS, but down-regulated miR-24-3p expression in aorta. Compared with miR-24-3p over-expression HUVECs model group, DHF treatment inhibited miR- 24-3p expression and up-regulated p-PI3K, p-AKT, mTOR and eNOS mRNA expression. Similarly, DHF treatment increased PI3K, AKT, mTOR and eNOS protein expression in HUVECs by Western blot. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that DHF alleviates endothelial dysfunction and reduces high BP in SHR mediated by down-regulating miR-24 via ultimately facilitating up-regulation of PI3K/AKT/eNOS axis. This current study firstly demonstrates a potential direction for antihypertensive mechanism of DHF from microRNA aspect and will promote its clinical applications.

Suppression of endoplasmic reticulum stress by 4-PBA enhanced atherosclerotic plaque stability via up-regulating CLOCK expression.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress refers to a condition where the normal functioning of the ER is disrupted due to a variety of cellular stress factors. As a result, there is an accumulation of unfolded and misfolded proteins within the ER. Numerous studies have shown that ER stress can exacerbate inflammatory reactions and contribute to the development of various inflammatory diseases. However, the role of ER stress in the stability of atherosclerotic plaques remains poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to explore the potential impact of a specific ER stress inhibitor known as 4-phenyl butyric acid (4-PBA) on atherosclerosis in mice. The mice were fed a high-fat diet, and treatment with 4-PBA significantly improved the stability of the atherosclerotic plaques. This was evidenced by a reduction in oxidative stress and an increase in circadian locomotor output cycles kaput (CLOCK) protein and mRNA expression within the plaques. Additionally, 4-PBA reduced the expression of ER stress-related proteins and decreased apoptosis in the atherosclerotic plaques. In vitro investigation, we observed the effect of 4-PBA on vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) that were exposed to oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL), a significant contributor to the development of atherosclerosis. 4-PBA reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and attenuated apoptosis, GRP78 and CHOP protein expression in ox-LDL-Induced VSMCs via up-regulating CLOCK expression. However, when the short hairpin RNA against CLOCK (sh-CLOCK) was introduced to the VSMCs, the protective effect of 4-PBA was abolished. This suggests that the up-regulation of CLOCK expression is crucial for the beneficial effects of 4-PBA on atherosclerotic plaque stability. This finding suggests that targeting ER stress and modulating CLOCK protein levels might be a promising way to enhance the stability of atherosclerotic plaques.

Oxygen Vacancies Boosted Proton Intercalation Kinetics for Aqueous Aluminum-Manganese Batteries.

Aluminum-ion batteries have garnered an extensive amount of attention due to their superior electrochemical performance, low cost, and high safety. To address the limitation of battery performance, exploring new cathode materials and understanding the reaction mechanism for these batteries are of great significance. Among numerous candidates, multiple structures and valence states make manganese-based oxides the best choice for aqueous aluminum-ion batteries (AAIBs). In this work, a new cathode consists of γ-MnO2 with abundant oxygen vacancies. As a result, the electrode shows a high discharge capacity of 481.9 mAh g-1 at 0.2 A g-1 and a sustained reversible capacity of 128.6 mAh g-1 after 200 cycles at 0.4 A g-1. In particular, through density functional theory calculation and experimental comparison, the role of oxygen vacancies in accelerating the reaction kinetics of H+ has been verified. This study provides insights into the application of manganese dioxide materials in aqueous AAIBs.

Energy-saving optimization of the parallel chillers system based on a multi-strategy improved sparrow search algorithm.

The energy usage of parallel chillers systems accounts for 25-40 % of the total energy cost of a building. In light of global warming concerns and the need for energy conservation, it is essential to distribute the load of the parallel chillers systems effectively to achieve energy savings in buildings. Accordingly, this study presents a multi-strategy improved sparrow search algorithm (MSSA) to address optimization of the optimal chillers loading (OCL) problem. The proposed algorithm augments the basic sparrow search algorithm (SSA) by introducing the Sine chaotic map, Levy flight method, and Cauchy variation to enhance diversity, avoid local optima, and increase global and local search capacities. We use 9 benchmark functions to check the performance of the proposed MSSA algorithm, and the results are better than the selected algorithms such as particle swarm algorithm (PSO), harris hawks optimization (HHO), artificial rabbit optimization (ARO) and sparrow search algorithm (SSA). In addition, MSSA is applied to two typical cases to demonstrate its performance to optimal chillers loading and the results indicate that the MSSA outperforms similar algorithms. This study validates that MSSA can provide a promising solution to resolve the OCL problem.

Effects of porous carbon materials on heat storage performance of CaCl2 hydrate for low-grade thermal energy.

Thermochemical energy storage (TES) is a promising technology to overcome supply-demand mismatch in the recycling of low-grade industrial waste heat. A novel sorbent is developed for low-grade TES system by employing an ordered mesoporous carbon, CMK-3, as the matrix of CaCl2 hydrates. Expanded graphite (EG) and activated carbon (AC) as matrixes are also discussed for a comparative study. All the composites show quick kinetic within 120 °C. Salt upload ability and heat storage capacity of the composites follow the order of CMK-3/CaCl2 (2037.2 kJ kg-1, 50.4 wt%) > EG/CaCl2 (1637.6 kJ kg-1, 48.1 wt%) > AC/CaCl2 (1221.8 kJ kg-1, 46.3 wt%). CMK-3/CaCl2 show the best heat storage performance due to the ordered tubular mesostructure, which limits the deliquescence at a proper level and provided good accommodation for salt solution. The inner solution absorption presents positive thermal effect that add to total heat storage capacity, making actual heat sorption of CMK-3/CaCl2 much higher than pure chemical reaction heat. A 25-cycle sorption-desorption experiment shows excellent cycling stability of CMK-3/CaCl2. This study proves CMK-3/CaCl2 to be a promising composite for low-grade TES system below 120 °C, and provides new insights for improving energy density of the heat storage materials.

Refinement and predicting formaldehyde concentrations of indoor fabric: Effects of temperature and humidity.

Indoor air pollution resulting from volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is a significant health concern, especially formaldehyde. Therefore, predicting indoor formaldehyde concentration is essential for environmental control. In this research, the authors develop a thermal and wet coupling calculation model of porous fabric that considers the influence of different phases of wet components and the coupling effect of heat and humidity on formaldehyde migration. We propose a modified calculation method of the formaldehyde mass transfer characteristic parameters of fabric to obtain the diffusion coefficient D and partition coefficient K. The heat and humidity coupling model and formaldehyde mass transfer model of fabric are simultaneously solved, and the authors analyze the influence mechanism of fabric loading rate, fabric type, temperature, and humidity on indoor formaldehyde mass transfer characteristics. We study the variation trend of fabric formaldehyde mass transfer characteristics coefficient and the temporal and spatial distribution of indoor formaldehyde concentration. The theoretical model is applied to practical problems by pre-evaluating the indoor formaldehyde concentration of decorated residential buildings in typical climate areas of China before occupancy. The authors obtain the variation rule of indoor formaldehyde concentration of residential buildings under typical hot and humid climate conditions, building materials, furniture, and fabrics. To provide theoretical support for indoor environmental control and human health protection.

Performance investigation of LiCl·H2O-γ-Al2O3 composite materials for low-grade heat storage.

In this study, the influences of nano γ-Al2O3 on the thermal storage performance of LiCl were experimentally investigated. The XRD results show that a complex of lithium aluminium oxychloride (LiAlOCl2) was formed through the LiCl·H2O and γ-Al2O3 composites preparation process. The in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy measurement reveals that the addition of γ-Al2O3 accelerated the hydration rate of LiCl composites, concentrated the spectrum utilization range, and promoted the desorption rate of physical adsorbed H2O and low-frequency structural -OH in the materials. The highest specific surface area of the composite is 34.5 times higher than that of pure LiCl. The addition of γ-Al2O3 can increase the conversion rate of LiCl·H2O to approximately 100% at the hydration time of 1 h and the addition content of γ-Al2O3 at 15 wt%. A maximum heat storage density (HSD) for the LiCl·H2O-γ-Al2O3 composite can reach 714.7 kJ kgLiCl·H2O-1 in 1 h when the addition content of γ-Al2O3 was 15%wt and its water uptake can reach 0.26 g g-1 in 1 h. It also can be found that the addition of Al2O3 in LiCl resulted in a decrease of the activation energy from 90.89 kJ mol-1 to 79.76 kJ mol-1. However, the thermal conductivity of the LiCl·H2O-γ-Al2O3 composite slightly decreased with the increase of nano γ-Al2O3 content.