The extensive exploration of energy conversion harvested from the environment into electricity is recently driven by the significant demand to power off-grid electronics, particularly Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensors. This highlight previews the latest advance of a charging-free thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC) for continuous electricity generation from solar heat and darkness with the aid of dual-mode thermal regulations. Such a spontaneous all-day electricity generation with high power and efficiency shows great potential for powering a wide range of distributed electronics for IoT and other applications.
Abstract Graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C 3 N 4 ) is a highly recognized two‐dimensional semiconductor material known for its exceptional chemical and physical stability, environmental friendliness, and pollution‐free advantages. These remarkable properties have sparked extensive research in the field of energy storage. This review paper presents the latest advances in the utilization of g‐C 3 N 4 in various energy storage technologies, including lithium‐ion batteries, lithium‐sulfur batteries, sodium‐ion batteries, potassium‐ion batteries, and supercapacitors. One of the key strengths of g‐C 3 N 4 lies in its simple preparation process along with the ease of optimizing its material structure. It possesses abundant amino and Lewis basic groups, as well as a high density of nitrogen, enabling efficient charge transfer and electrolyte solution penetration. Moreover, the graphite‐like layered structure and the presence of large π bonds in g‐C 3 N 4 contribute to its versatility in preparing multifunctional materials with different dimensions, element and group doping, and conjugated systems. These characteristics open up possibilities for expanding its application in energy storage devices. This article comprehensively reviews the research progress on g‐C 3 N 4 in energy storage and highlights its potential for future applications in this field. By exploring the advantages and unique features of g‐C 3 N 4 , this paper provides valuable insights into harnessing the full potential of this material for energy storage applications.
Load forecasting is the basic work of power system planning, power consumption, dispatching, etc. Accurate and rapid load forecasting could greatly save the cost of electricity consumption. In order to improve the accuracy of power load forecasting of characteristic enterprises, this paper proposes a short-term load forecasting method based on improved neural network with load subdivision applied to feature enterprises by studying the feature quantity and influencing factors of characteristic enterprises. By clustering the sample sets to construct the similar day sets, the improved particle swarm optimization radial basis neural network and improved particle swarm optimization extreme learning machine prediction model algorithm are trained. This method effectively reduces the prediction error and improves the prediction speed. The study shows that the proposed method could effectively describe the daily load change law of various types of the load of characteristic enterprises and achieve better prediction results.
Zinc–air batteries (ZABs) have recently attracted revived interest. However, critical issues pertaining to the labile zinc anode and sluggish air cathode have yet to be adequately addressed. Here, we demonstrate a redox-mediated zinc–air fuel cell (RM-ZAFC) to tackle the above problems. Upon operation, the complex cobalt triisopropanolamine serves as an electrolyte-borne electron carrier and homogeneous catalyst to boost the 4e– oxygen reduction reaction in a separate gas diffusion tank, which makes the system free of a sophisticated air electrode. With mediation by the ultrafast reaction with a phenazine derivative, zinc could be liberated from the electrode to a separate "fuel" tank at high utilization (>90%), making it feasible to be "refueled" after it is depleted. Above all, RM-ZAFC has the combined advantages of both ZABs and alkaline fuel cells and can operate with high energy density, good flexibility, scalability and safety at low cost and thus is promising for various energy storage applications.
Macrophages are involved in wound healing after myocardial infarction (MI). The role of Dectin-2, a pattern recognition receptor mainly expressed on myeloid cells, in the infarct healing remains unknown.The aim of this study is to determine whether Dectin-2 signaling is involved in the healing process and cardiac remodeling after MI and to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms.In a mouse model of permanent coronary ligation, Dectin-2, mainly expressed in macrophages, was shown to be increased in the early phase after MI. Dectin-2 knockout mice showed an improvement in the infarct healing and cardiac remodeling, compared with wild-type mice, which was demonstrated by significantly lower mortality because of cardiac rupture, increased wall thickness, and better cardiac function. Increased expression of α-smooth muscle actin and collagen I/III was observed, whereas the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 were decreased in the hearts of Dectin-2 knockout mice after MI. Dectin-2 deficiency inhibited the rate of apoptotic and necrotic cell death. However, Dectin-2 did not affect immune cell infiltration and macrophage polarization, but it led to a stronger activation of the Th1/interferon-γ immune reaction, through the enhancement of interleukin-12 production in the heart. Interferon-γ was shown to downregulate transforming growth factor-β-induced expression of α-smooth muscle actin and collagen I/III in isolated cardiac fibroblasts, leading to a decrease in migration and myofibroblast differentiation. Finally, Dectin-2 knockout improved myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury and infarct healing.Dectin-2 leads to an increase in cardiac rupture, impairs wound healing, and aggravates cardiac remodeling after MI through the modulation of Th1 differentiation.
With the rapid development of the world economy, the problem of energy crisis and environmental pollution is increasingly prominent. The traditional power generation mode not only consumes a lot of energy, but also causes a lot of pollution. Although distributed power supply brings benefits to people, due to the randomness and volatility of distributed power supply and the lack of unified grid-connected management system, the access of a large number of distributed power supply seriously affects the static voltage stability in the grid-connected area, resulting in voltage fluctuations, such as frequent high-voltage problems. Therefore, simulation research based on Matlab/Simulink platform is conducted in this paper. By changing the capacity and position of the distributed power supply connected to the distribution network, the optimal position and capacity of the distributed power supply connected to the distribution network are sought, so that the voltage on the distribution network is relatively stable at this time.
Layered tin selenide (SnSe) has recently emerged as a high-performance thermoelectric material with the current record for the figure of merit (ZT) observed in the high-temperature Cmcm phase. So far, access of the Cmcm phase has been mainly obtained via thermal equilibrium methods based on sample heating or application of external pressure, thus restricting the current understanding only to ground-state conditions. Here, we investigate the ultrafast carrier and phononic dynamics in SnSe. Our results demonstrate that optical excitations can transiently switch the point-group symmetry of the crystal from Pnma to Cmcm at room temperature in a few hundreds of femtoseconds with an ultralow threshold for the excitation carrier density. This non-equilibrium Cmcm phase is found to be driven by the displacive excitation of coherent Ag phonons and, given the absence of low-energy thermal phonons, exists in SnSe with the status of 'cold lattice with hot carriers'. Our findings provide important insight for understanding non-equilibrium thermoelectric properties of SnSe.
Low-grade heat (<100 °C) from natural sources, electronics, and industrial plants is abundant and ubiquitous and has great potential to be converted to electricity. Thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle is a promising method for effectively converting low-grade heat into electricity. In this review, the operating mechanism of thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle systems and the ways of evaluating their thermoelectric performance, based on apparent and absolute thermoelectric efficiency, are first introduced. The recent progress of electrically assisted thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle systems including the static, flow, redox targeting-based flow, and charging-free thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle systems is then critically reviewed. Although substantial progress has been made, challenges such as unsatisfactory thermoelectric efficiency, low power density, poor stability at high temperatures, and high cost remain, which hinders the practical use of thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle for low-grade heat harnessing. A perspective is thus provided with suggestions from the material aspects to system optimizations, which could potentially lead to a boost of the thermoelectric performance of thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle systems for practical applications.
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