Energy Applications of Ionic Liquids: Recent Developments and Future Prospects.

Ionic liquids (ILs) consisting entirely of ions exhibit many fascinating and tunable properties, making them promising functional materials for a large number of energy-related applications. For example, ILs have been employed as electrolytes for electrochemical energy storage and conversion, as heat transfer fluids and phase-change materials for thermal energy transfer and storage, as solvents and/or catalysts for CO2 capture, CO2 conversion, biomass treatment and biofuel extraction, and as high-energy propellants for aerospace applications. This paper provides an extensive overview on the various energy applications of ILs and offers some thinking and viewpoints on the current challenges and emerging opportunities in each area. The basic fundamentals (structures and properties) of ILs are first introduced. Then, motivations and successful applications of ILs in the energy field are concisely outlined. Later, a detailed review of recent representative works in each area is provided. For each application, the role of ILs and their associated benefits are elaborated. Research trends and insights into the selection of ILs to achieve improved performance are analyzed as well. Challenges and future opportunities are pointed out before the paper is concluded.

Investigation into the optoelectrowetting droplet transport mechanism.

To explore the optoelectronic wetting droplet transport mechanism, a transient numerical model of optoelectrowetting (OEW) under the coupling of flow and electric fields is established. The study investigates the impact of externally applied voltage, dielectric constant of the dielectric layer, and interfacial tension between the two phases on the dynamic behavior of droplets during transport. The proposed model employs an improved Young's equation to calculate the instantaneous voltage and contact angle of the droplet on the dielectric layer. Results indicate that, under the influence of OEW, significant variations in the interface contact angle of droplets occur in bright and dark regions, inducing droplet movement. Moreover, the dynamic behavior of droplet transport is closely associated with various parameters, including externally applied voltage, dielectric layer material, and interfacial tension between the two phases, all of which impact the contact angle and, consequently, the transport process. By summarizing the influence patterns of the three key parameters studied, the optimization of droplet transport performance is achieved. The study employs two-dimensional simulation models to emulate the droplet motion under the influence of the electric field, investigating the OEW droplet transport mechanism. The continuous movement of droplets involves three stages: initial wetting, continuous transport, and reaching a steady position. The findings contribute theoretical support for the efficient design of digital microfluidic devices for OEW droplet movement and the selection of key parameters for droplet manipulation.

Voxel-based morphometry and a deep learning model for the diagnosis of early Alzheimer's disease based on cerebral gray matter changes.

This study aimed to analyse cerebral grey matter changes in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using voxel-based morphometry and to diagnose early Alzheimer's disease using deep learning methods based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) evaluating these changes. Participants (111 MCI, 73 normal cognition) underwent 3-T structural magnetic resonance imaging. The obtained images were assessed using voxel-based morphometry, including extraction of cerebral grey matter, analyses of statistical differences, and correlation analyses between cerebral grey matter and clinical cognitive scores in MCI. The CNN-based deep learning method was used to extract features of cerebral grey matter images. Compared to subjects with normal cognition, participants with MCI had grey matter atrophy mainly in the entorhinal cortex, frontal cortex, and bilateral frontotemporal lobes (p < 0.0001). This atrophy was significantly correlated with the decline in cognitive scores (p < 0.01). The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the CNN model for identifying participants with MCI were 80.9%, 88.9%, and 75%, respectively. The area under the curve of the model was 0.891. These findings demonstrate that research based on brain morphology can provide an effective way for the clinical, non-invasive, objective evaluation and identification of early Alzheimer's disease.

Ion transport properties in the pH-dependent bipolar nanochannels.

In recent years, researchers have made significant strides in understanding the ion transport characteristics of nanochannels, resulting in the development of various materials, modifications, and shapes of nano ion channel membranes. The aim is to create a nanochannel membrane with optimal ion transport properties and high stability by adjusting factors, such as channel size, surface charge, and wettability. However, during the nanochannel film fabrication process, controlling the geometric structures of nanochannels can be challenging. Therefore, exploring the stability of nanochannel performance under different geometric structures has become an essential aspect of nanochannel design. This article focuses on the study of cylindrical nanochannel structures, which are categorized based on the different methods for generating bipolar surface charges on the channel's inner surface, either through pH gradient effects or different material types. Through these two approaches, the study designed and analyzed the stability of ion transport characteristics in two nanochannel models under varying geometric structures. Our findings indicate that nanochannels with bipolar properties generated through pH gradients demonstrate more stable ion selection, whereas nanochannels with bipolar properties generated through different materials show stronger stability in ion rectification. This conclusion provides a theoretical foundation for future nanochannel designs.

Phase Separation Microparticles as a Three-Dimensional Cell Culture System To Promote Stem Cell Expansion.

Stem cell therapy is developing rapidly, but existing expansion techniques are insufficient for the use of a large number of cells. The surface chemistry and surface morphology characteristics of materials play a critical role in cellular behaviors and functions and have guiding significance for the design of biomaterials. Many studies have proven that these factors are essential to affect cell adhesion and growth. How to design a suitable biomaterial interface is the focus of recent studies. Here, the mechanosensing of human adipose-derived stem cells (hASC) on a set of materials and materials with various porosity is systematically studied. Guided by the mechanism discoveries, three-dimensional (3D) microparticles with optimized hydrophilicity and morphology are designed via liquid-liquid phase separation technology. The microparticles support scalable stem cell culture and extracellular matrix (ECM) collection, exhibiting great potential for stem cell applications.

Numerical investigation of the blocking effect of a short duct on propeller noise.

Electric vertical and takeoff/landing vehicles for urban aerial mobility have attracted considerable attention in recent years. Some of these vehicles are equipped with ducted propellers to improve power efficiency, but the duct may also affect propeller noise generation and radiation. This work presents thorough numerical investigations to assess the importance of a short duct on propeller noise radiation. An analytical model is employed to predict noise emission from an isolated propeller, and the boundary element method is adopted to account for acoustic scattering effects. Additionally, an efficient data-clustering method is proposed to accelerate the overall noise prediction process. Parametric studies concerning geometries and the propeller's installation location are performed to exploit the duct's feasibility for low-noise vehicle development. Results suggest that the blocking effect can significantly benefit noise control for different rotating speeds, and installing the propeller at the symmetric plane of the duct can achieve the most noise reduction.

The interaction between silica flat substrate and functional group-modified nanoparticles.

Inspired by nature, the research of functionalized nanoparticles and nanodevices has been in-depth developed in recent years. In this paper, we theoretically studied the interaction between functional polyelectrolyte brush layer-modified nanoparticles and a silica flat substrate. Based on the Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations, the mathematical model is established. The changes of the volume charge density and electric field energy density when the nanoparticle interacts with the silica flat substrate under multi-ions regulation were investigated. The results show that when there is a strong interaction between the silica flat substrate and nanoparticles, such as the distances between the nanoparticle and silica flat substrate, which are 2 or 5 nm, the isoelectric point shift under the influence of silica flat substrate and the total charge density in the brush layer is jointly controlled by the cations in the solution and the volume charge density of the brush layer. With the increase of the distances between the nanoparticle and silica flat substrate, the regulation of the volume charge density of the brush layer dominates. These results will provide guidance for the movement mechanism of functionalized nanoparticles in silica nanochannels.

The electrodynamics of rod-like microparticles based on optically induced dielectrophoresis.

Due to its characteristics of noncontact, non-damage, high flux, and easy-to-achieve flexible manipulation, optically induced dielectrophoresis (ODEP) technology has been employed to manipulate microspherical biological particles, including separation, enrichment, capture, arrangement, and fusion. However, in nature, biomolecules are morphologically diverse, and some of them are rodlike. In order to illustrate the electrodynamics of rodlike particles under the action of ODEP, a transient multi-physical field coupling model of ODEP chip under the hypothesis of electrical double layer thin layer was established in this paper. The arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian method is used to track single-rod particle in the strong coupled flow field and electric field simultaneously. The influence of several key factors, including the applied alternating current (AC) electric voltage, the width of optical bright area, and the initial position of particle, on the trajectory of particle center was analyzed in positive dielectrophoresis (DEP) action and negative DEP action, respectively. Especially, the planar motion process of rodlike particles was discussed together. The research results reveal the electrodynamics behavior of rodlike particles based on the action of ODEP, which may provide theoretical support for the further design of rodlike biological cells manipulation chip based on AC ODEP technology in the future.

Conductivity-difference-enhanced DC dielectrophoretic particle separation in a microfluidic chip.

A conductivity-difference-based method for increasing dielectrophoretic (DEP) force for particle separation in a microfluidic chip is presented in this paper. By applying a direct-current (DC) voltage across two immiscible electrolyte solutions with a conductivity difference, an enhanced electric field gradient is generated at the liquid-liquid interface. Theoretical analysis based on equivalent circuit theory found that the gradient of the electric field squared increases with the decrease in the conductivity ratio of the two liquids (main channel to the side channel). As a result, the particle separation distance (an indicator of DEP force) increases with the decrease in the conductivity ratio, which is both numerically predicted and experimentally verified. Numerical simulations also show that the separation distance increases with the increase in the magnitude of the electric field and the decrease in the width of the orifice. The method presented in this paper is simple and advantageous for increasing DEP force without applying higher DC voltages or fabricating smaller orifices.

Di- and Tetranuclear Dysprosium Single-Molecule Magnets Bridged by Unprecedentedly Disassembled Nitrogen-Enriched Tetrazine Derivatives.

A series of di- and tetranuclear lanthanide complexes with the formulas [Dy2bmzch(tmhd)5 (CH3OH)]·CH3OH (1), [Dy2bmzch(dbm)4 (CH3O)(CH3OH)]·0.5CH3OH·0.5H2O (2), and Dy4bmzch(btfa)10 (3), where tmhd = 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionate, dbm = dibenzoylmethane, btfa = benzoyltrifluoroacetone, and bmzch = (Z)-N-[(E)-pyrimidin-2-ylmethylene]pyrimidine-2-carbohydrazonate, were structurally and magnetically characterized. More strikingly, although the nitrogen-enriched bridged ligand 3,6-di(pyrimidin-2-yl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazine (bmtz) was initially adopted, the structures of the complexes obtained indicated that bmtz underwent unprecedented asymmetric ring opening and generated a new ligand bmzch. Combined with different ß-diketonates, di- and tetranuclear dysprosium complexes were constructed in which the structural patterns are very sensitive to the selected ß-diketonates. In view of this, the bilateral and unilateral dinuclear Dy2 complexes 1 and 2 and tetranuclear Dy4 complex 3 were obtained by choosing different ß-diketonates. Magnetic test results reveal that both complexes 1 and 3 showcase typical slow magnetic relaxation behavior without an external direct-current field and the effective energy barrier of the latter is almost twice that of the former, while complex 2 only displays in-field single-molecule-magnetic behavior. Also of note is that these are the first tetrazine-type dysprosium-based single-molecule-magnets undergoing in situ asymmetric ring-opening reaction of this ligand that are formed.

An experimental investigation of aerodynamic and aeroacoustic performance of a wind turbine airfoil with trailing edge serrations.

Trailing edge (TE) serrations are widely used as an effective passive control method to reduce the turbulent TE noise from wind turbine blades. Other than the acoustic effects, the aerodynamic performance of serrations is also an important issue that should be considered, since it determines the power output of the blade. To this end, the far-field sound pressure level, flow field, and aerodynamic force of the serrated airfoil were measured in an anechoic wind tunnel, and the lift increase and noise reduction effects of the TE serrations were comprehensively evaluated. The result showed that the presence of TE serrations could achieve noise reduction by about 2 dB at the low-to-moderate frequency range at small angles of attack, and meanwhile it could suppress the fluctuation of aerodynamic forces. In addition, the proper orthogonal decomposition method was deployed to decompose the wake flow into various vortex structures with different portions of turbulent kinetic energy so as to reveal the noise reduction mechanism of the serrated TE. The result suggested that TE serrations could effectively inhibit large-scale vortex structures that shed from the boundary layer on the suction side, thereby achieving noise reduction around the vortex shedding frequency.

Macropore Regulation of Hydroxyapatite Osteoinduction via Microfluidic Pathway.

Macroporous characteristics have been shown to play a key role in the osteoinductivity of hydroxyapatite ceramics, but the physics underlying the new bone formation and distribution in such scaffolds still remain elusive. The work here has emphasized the osteoinductive capacity of porous hydroxyapatite scaffolds containing different macroporous sizes (200-400 µm, 1200-1500 µm) and geometries (star shape, spherical shape). The assumption is that both the size and shape of a macropore structure may affect the microfluidic pathways in the scaffolds, which results in the different bone formations and distribution. Herein, a mathematical model and an animal experiment were proposed to support this hypothesis. The results showed that the porous scaffolds with the spherical macropores and large pore sizes (1200-1500 µm) had higher new bone production and more uniform new bone distribution than others. A finite element analysis suggested that the macropore shape affected the distribution of the medium-high velocity flow field, while the macropore size effected microfluid speed and the value of the shear stress in the scaffolds. Additionally, the result of scaffolds implanted into the dorsal muscle having a higher new bone mass than the abdominal cavity suggested that the mechanical load of the host tissue could play a key role in the microfluidic pathway mechanism. All these findings suggested that the osteoinduction of these scaffolds depends on both the microfluid velocity and shear stress generated by the macropore size and shape. This study, therefore, provides new insights into the inherent osteoinductive mechanisms of bioceramics, and may offer clues toward a rational design of bioceramic scaffolds with improved osteoinductivity.

Surface Charge Regulated Asymmetric Ion Transport in Nanoconfined Space.

The asymmetric ion transport in the nanoconfined space, similar to that of natural ion channels, has attracted broad interest in sensor, energy conversion, and other related fields. Among these systems, the surface charge plays an important role in regulating ion transport behaviors. Herein, this surface charge-regulated asymmetric ion transport behavior is systematically explored in the nanoconfined space and the influence on the performance of nanofluidic energy conversion system. The ion transport behaviors in the nanoconfined space are classified into pure diffusion, electrical double layer, and the polarization controlled state. The asymmetric solution environment or surface charge distribution induces asymmetric ion transport behavior which is largely controlled by the low concentration side. The ion-selectivity and the energy conversion performance can be effectively enhanced by improving the local apparent surface charge (more active sites and higher charge strength) or introducing a selective layer with dense surface charge on the low concentration side. These material design concepts for asymmetric ion transport are further supported by both simulation and experiment. The results provide a significant comprehension for ion behaviors in nanoconfined space and the development of high-performance energy storage and conversion systems.

Electrokinetic translocation of a deformable nanoparticle controlled by field effect in nanopores.

Nanopores have become a popular single-molecule manipulation and detection technology. In this paper, we have constructed a continuum model of the nanopore; the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method is used to describe the motion of particles and fluid. The mathematical model couples the stress-strain equation for the dynamics of a deformable particle, the Poisson equation for the electric field, the Navier-Stokes equations for the flow field, and the Nernst-Planck equations for ionic transport. Based on the model, the mechanism of field-effect regulation of particles passing through a nanopore is investigated. The results show that the transport of particles which is controlled by the field effect depends on the electroosmotic flow (EOF) generated by the gate electrode in the nanopore and the electrostatic interaction between the nanopore and particles. That also explains the asymmetry of particle transport velocity in the nanopore with a gate electrode. When the gate potential is negative, or the gate electrode length is small, the maximum deformation of the particles is increased. The field-effect regulation in the nanopore provides an active and compatible method for nanopore detection, and provides a convenient method for the active control of the particle deformation in the nanopore.

Multi-particle interaction in AC electric field driven by dielectrophoresis force.

When the dielectrophoresis technology is used to manipulate micron-sized particles, the interaction between particles should not be ignored because of the particle-particle interaction. Especially, when multiple particles (number of particles is above 2) are simultaneously manipulated, the interaction between neighboring particles will affect the results of the manipulation. This research investigates the interaction of particles caused dielectrophoresis effect by the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method based on the hypothesis of the thin layer of the electric double layer at the microscale. The mathematics model can be solved simultaneously by the finite element method for the AC electric field, the flow field around the suspended particles and the particle mechanics at the micrometer scale. In this study, the particle conductivity and the direction of the electric field are investigated, we find that particle conductivity and electric field direction pose an impact on particle movement, and the research reveal the law of microparticle dielectrophoresis movement, which could offer theoretical and technology support to profoundly understand the precise manipulation of particles in microfluidic chips by the dielectrophoresis effect.

A new droplet breakup phenomenon in electrokinetic flow through a microchannel constriction.

A completely new droplet breakup phenomenon is reported for droplets passing through a constriction in an electrokinetic flow. The breakup occurs during the droplet shape recovery process past the constriction throat by the interplay of the dielectrophoretic stress release and the interface energy for droplets with smaller permittivity than that of the ambient fluid. There are conditions for constriction ratios and droplet size that the droplet breakup occurs. The numerical predictions provided here require experimental verification, and then can give rise to a novel microfluidic device design with novel droplet manipulations.

AC dielectrophoretic deformable particle-particle interactions and their relative motions.

This paper develops a numerical simulation model to research the deformable particle-particle interactions caused by dielectrophoresis (DEP) under AC electric fields. The DEP force is calculated by using Maxwell stress tensor method, and the hydrodynamic force is obtained by calculating the hydrodynamic stress tensor. Simulation results show that the DEP interactive motion will facilitate the particles forming particle chains that are parallel to the electric field, and the particles with low shear modulus present a lower x-component velocity. Also, the electric field intensity and particles radius have some effects on the DEP motions, and for different particles, smaller particles with larger electric field intensity easily reach a larger velocity. The numerical research may provide universal guidance for biological cells manipulation and assembly.

Brush Layer Charge Characteristics of a Biomimetic Polyelectrolyte-Modified Nanoparticle Surface.

Nanoparticle surface charge regulation technology plays an important role in ion rectification, drug delivery, and cell biology. The biomimetic polyelectrolyte can be combined with nanoparticles by nanomodification technology to form a layer of coating, which is called the brush layer of nanoparticles. In this study, based on the Poisson-Nernst-Planck (PNP) equation system, a theoretical model considering a bionic electrolyte brush layer with charge density regulated by a chemical reaction is constructed. The charge properties of brushed nanoparticles are studied by changing the sizes of nanoparticles, the pH value of the solution, background salt solution concentration, and brush layer thickness. The result shows that the charge density of brushed nanoparticles increases with the increase of particle size. The isoelectric point (IEP) of the equilibrium reaction against the brush layer is pH = 5.5. When the pH < 5.5, the charge density of the particle brush layers decreases with the increase of pH, and when the pH > 5.5, the charge density of the particle brush layer increases with the increase of pH. By comparing the charge density of different brush thicknesses, it is found that the larger the brush thickness, the smaller the charge density of the brush layer. This research provides theoretical support for the change of the through pore velocity when macromolecular organic compounds pass through nanopores.

A noise-immune LSTM network for short-term traffic flow forecasting.

Accurate and timely short-term traffic flow forecasting plays a key role in intelligent transportation systems, especially for prospective traffic control. For the past decade, a series of methods have been developed for short-term traffic flow forecasting. However, due to the intrinsic stochastic and evolutionary trend, accurate forecasting remains challenging. In this paper, we propose a noise-immune long short-term memory (NiLSTM) network for short-term traffic flow forecasting, which embeds a noise-immune loss function deduced by maximum correntropy into the long short-term memory (LSTM) network. Different from the conventional LSTM network equipped with the mean square error loss, the maximum correntropy induced loss is a local similar metric, which is immunized to non-Gaussian noises. Extensive experiments on four benchmark datasets demonstrate the superior performance of our NiLSTM network by comparing it with the frequently used models and state-of-the-art models.

An experimental study of trailing edge noise from a heaving airfoil.

In this study, the far-field noise and near-field flow properties from a heaving NACA 0012 airfoil at the Reynolds number of 6.6×104 were investigated experimentally in a 0.4 m2 anechoic wind tunnel. The airfoil had an incident angle of 0° and followed a sinusoidal heaving motion. The Strouhal number, controlled by changing the heaving frequency and amplitude, varied from 0.0024 to 0.008. The acoustic properties were measured by a free-field microphone placed at a distance of 1.2 m away from the tunnel central line, and the flow structures near the trailing edge were acquired using the particle image velocimetry. It was found that the heaving motion could reduce the sound pressure level (SPL) of the primary peak in the time-averaged spectra. The spectrograms obtained by the short-time Fourier transform revealed that the discrete tones were produced when the airfoil passed through the maximum heaving position. During the corresponding period, a sequence of large-scaled vortices convected on the airfoil surface was observed, and then was shed from the trailing edge to the wake region at the same frequency as the primary tone of the induced sound. With the increase of Strouhal number, the sound signals tended to be broadband, and the overall SPL was increased in the far field.