Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering
·
2025
·
IF 7.2
Jieling Ren,Yuanzhe Peng,Aibin Zhu,Chunli Zheng,Chi He,Mudi Ma
Kaolinite-loaded amorphous zero-valent iron composite (K@AZVI) is a promising material for cadmium-contaminated soil remediation. Still, the impact of iron (Fe) oxides on the surface of K@AZVI on the immobilization of cadmium (Cd) in soils caused by varying water management remains unclear. Hence, this study investigated the transformation of Fe oxides in K@AZVI and their effects on Cd morphology under varying soil water management (drying, wetting, and flooding). The results indicated that under K@AZVI treatment, the pe + pH (pe = Eh (oxidation-reduction potential, mV) / 59.2) values decreased from 11.59 to 9.83 and 5.61 with increased soil water management. Meanwhile, the content of crystalline Fe oxides (Fe c ) decreased significantly by 34.02%-72.76%, while the content of amorphous Fe oxides (Fe o ) increased by 29.01%-55.20%. This transformation from crystalline to amorphous Fe oxides significantly enhanced the immobilization of Cd, resulting in a 30.30%-64.59% reduction in the available Cd content compared to the control. In addition, the proportion of low active Cd was enhanced from 32.94% to 56.10%, further indicating that K@AZVI exhibited superior immobilization in flooded soil. Characterization and calculations showed that water management significantly improved the immobilization of Cd by K@AZVI by regulating the crystallinity of Fe oxides and enhancing their electron transfer rate and adsorption capacity. Therefore, investigating the morphological transformation of Fe under varying water management will help us to understand the mechanism of Fe redox-mediated Cd transport and transformation in the soil system.
研究领域:
环境科学
·
土壤学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
Nature Communications
·
2024
·Vol. 15
·期 1
·1-12
·
IF 14.7
He Xiaoyang,Lin Li,Li Xiangying,Zhu Minzhi,Zhang Qinghong,Xie Shunji,Mei Bingbao,Sun Fanfei,Jiang Zheng,Cheng Jun,Wang Ye
The membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is promising for practical applications of the electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) to multi-carbon (C 2+ ) compounds. Water management is crucial in the MEA electrolyser without catholyte, but few studies have clarified whether the co-feeding water in cathode can enhance C 2+ formation. Here, we report our discovery of pivotal roles of a suitable nanocomposite electrocatalyst with abundant Cu 2 O−Cu 0 interfaces in accomplishing water-promoting effect on C 2+ formation, achieving a current density of 1.0 A cm −2 and a 19% single-pass C 2+ yield at 80% C 2+ Faradaic efficiency in MEA. The operando characterizations confirm the co-existence of Cu + with Cu 0 during CO 2 RR at ampere-level current densities. Our studies reveal that Cu + works for water activation and aids C‒C coupling by enhancing formations of adsorbed CO and CHO species. This work offers a strategy to boost CO 2 RR to C 2+ compounds in industrial-relevant MEA by combining water management and electrocatalyst design.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
化学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Journal of Materials Chemistry A
·
2021
·Vol. 9
·期 11
·7122-7128
·
IF 12.732
Yukun Sun,Xupeng Zong,Dan Qu,Ge Chen,Li An,Xiayan Wang,Zaicheng Sun
Solar water evaporation is a sustainable and efficient way to produce fresh water. Identifying highly efficient photothermal materials is an important step for achieving high evaporation rates. However, the effects of the water interfacial area are rarely paid any attention, although a few reports have demonstrated high evaporation rates from micro-/nanostructured devices. In this work, we introduce a new term, water mass per unit surface area (WMUA), to connect the water mass and interfacial area. We can regulate WMUA using different commercial porous materials to realize water management in devices, which further affects the evaporation rates. The optimized device is composed of suedette sponge, filter paper, and polydopamine as the water-transportation, water-restrictive, and photothermal materials, respectively, and it achieves an evaporation rate of 1.8 kg m−2 h−1 and energy efficiency of ∼92%. This presents a new strategy for the rational design of device structures and the promotion of evaporation rates, pushing this field into new areas.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
FUEL
·
2025
·
IF 7.5
Yu-Ting Liu,Guo-Bao Huang,Xiao-Fang Zhang,Ting-Ting Yao,Li-Xia Cheng,Hong Zhu,Gang-Ping Wu
Gas diffusion layers (GDLs) are critical to optimizing water management capability; however, carbon papers (CPs), as the substrates that provide channels for two-phase counter flows of reactant gases and product water, have rarely been reported for controlling product water. In this study, gradient pore structures were introduced into CPs for GDLs to control the driving forces of water using the capillary pressure gradient. The results showed that the gradual increase in the pore sizes of the CPs from the microporous layer (MPL) to the bipolar plate (BP) side significantly improved the electrochemical performance, regardless of humidity. At 100 % relative humidity (RH), the maximum power density of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) whose CP pore sizes gradually increased from the MPL side to the BP side reached 1.78 W·cm −2 under H 2 -O 2 condition, 40.16 % higher than that of the counterpart with uniform CP pore sizes, and 1.28 W·cm −2 under H 2 -air condition, 85.51 % higher than that with uniform CP pore sizes. The maximum current density increases under both wet and dry conditions. The mechanisms revealed that under dry conditions, the relatively smaller pores in the CPs close to the MPL side enhanced the water retention and thus maintained the proton conductivity; under wet conditions, the CP pores that were gradually enlarged from the MPL to the BP side enabled the capillary pressure gradient to guide the product water from the MPL flowing into and through the CP, and thus out of the GDLs.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ACS Sensors
·
2018
·
IF 5.711
Fenglei Chen,Fang Tang,Chih-Tsung Yang,Xinyao Zhao,Jun Wang,Benjamin Thierry,Vipul Bansal,Jianjun Dai,Xin Zhou
Cryptosporidium parvum (C. parvum) is a highly potent zoonotic pathogen, which can do significant harm to both human beings and livestock. However, existing technologies or methods are deficient for rapid on-site detection of water contaminated with C. parvum. Better detection approaches are needed to allow water management agencies to stop major breakouts of the pathogen. Herein, we present a novel detection method for cryptosporidium in a tiny drop of sample using a magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) probe combined with dark-field microscopy in 30 min. The designed MNP probes bind with high affinity to C. parvum, resulting in the formation of a golden garland-like structure under dark-field microscopy. This MNP-based dark-field counting strategy yields an amazing PCR-like sensitivity of 8 attomolar (aM) (5 pathogens in 1 μL). Importantly, the assay is very rapid (∼30 min) and is very simple to perform as it involves only one step of mixing and magnetic separation, followed by dropping on a slide for counting under dark-field microscope. By combining the advantages of the specific light-scattering characteristic of MNP probe under dark field and the selective magnetic separation ability of functionalized MNP, the proposed MNP-based dark-field enumeration method offers low cost and significant translational potential.
研究领域:
寄生虫学
·
环境科学
·
医学诊断
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF POWER SOURCES
·
2024
·
IF 8.1
Zijie Zhang,Cailin Xiao,Haodong Huang,Mahmood ul Haq,Zheng Li,Lin Zeng
The gas diffusion layer (GDL) enhances the transport efficiency of reaction gases and facilitates the removal of accumulated liquid water, thereby improving water management in anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs). Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are recognized as one of the promising materials to optimize mass transport within GDLs. In this study, we successfully synthesized an abundance of CNTs on the surface of commercial gas diffusion media. The as-prepared CNT layer exhibits exceptionally high hydrophobic properties and forms a hierarchically hydrophobic structure combined with the gas diffusion media, effectively enhancing the mass transfer of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and reducing ohmic impedance. Under supersaturation conditions, the power density of the MEA containing CNTs reaches 1031.7 mW/cm 2 , significantly higher than the 760.64 mW/cm 2 observed for the commercial GDL. Further testing demonstrates that the MEA containing CNTs exhibits a limiting current density of 2507.4 mA/cm 2 , which is much superior to the benchmark MEA with the commercial GDL (1591 mA/cm 2 ). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis reveals that the mass transfer resistance of MEAs with CNTs is lower than that of MEAs with the commercial GDL. More importantly, the phase-field modeling is performed to simulate the transport of the liquid water in the hierarchical GDL.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源科学
·
电化学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ACS Applied Energy Materials
·
2020
·
IF 4.473
Manojkumar Balakrishnan,Pranay Shrestha,Nan Ge,ChungHyuk Lee,Kieran F. Fahy,Roswitha Zeis,Volker P. Schulz,Benjamin D. Hatton,Aimy Bazylak
We present electrospinning as a versatile technique to design and fabricate tailored polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell gas diffusion layers (GDLs) with a pore-size gradient (increasing from catalyst layer to flow field) to enhance the high current density performance and water management behavior of a PEM fuel cell. The novel graded electrospun GDL exhibits highly robust performance over a range of inlet gas relative humidities (RH). At relatively dry (50% RH) inlet conditions that exacerbate ohmic losses, the graded GDL lowers ohmic resistance and improves high current density performance compared to a uniform GDL with larger pores and fiber diameters. Specifically, the graded GDL facilitates a beneficial degree of liquid water retention at the catalyst layer/GDL interface due to the high capillary pressure inherent in its microstructure, thereby improving membrane hydration. Additionally, enhanced graphitization and connectivity of the graded electrospun fibers improves heat dissipation from the catalyst layer interface compared to the GDL with larger fiber diameters, thereby reducing membrane dehydration. When the inlet RH is raised to fully humid (100% RH) conditions, the graded GDL mitigates liquid water accumulation and lowers mass transport resistance. Specifically, the pore size gradient directs the removal of liquid water from the GDL, resulting in superior performance at high current densities.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
DESALINATION
·
2024
·
IF 8.3
Lei Sun,Xiang Zhang,Xuan Wang,Yu Shen,Suchang Zou,Haoyuan Qin,Kaiqu Sun,Jianhua Hou,Weilong Shi,Chunsheng Li,Feng Guo
Facing the global challenge of water scarcity, solar-driven seawater desalination has been emerged as a green, non-polluting and sustainable technology, but the practical application of existing solar evaporators was hindered by their low evaporation efficiency and poor mechanical property. Inspired by the binding effect of cell walls, a novel and high-efficiency three-dimensional (3D) evaporator (CDs/CF/CS-LF) was constructed, in which loofah (LF) served as a natural 3D skeleton to support the hydrogel evaporator, resisted deformation, and created an efficient dual water supply mode with the chitosan (CS) hydrogel ensuring that the evaporator maintains high evaporation rate even under high salt environment. Additionally, the cellulose nanofibers (CF) filler enhanced the mechanical property of the hydrogel, ensuring shape stability under pressure impact, and carbon dots (CDs) facilitated the aggregation and cross-linking of chitosan chains through hydrogen bonds, further improving the mechanical property of the evaporator, while also enhancing the photothermal conversion capability of the 3D-CDs/CF/CS-LF evaporator as a photothermal material. The experimental results indicated that the 3D-CDs/CF/CS-LF evaporator could achieve an ultra-high solar vapor production rate of 8.08 kg m −2 h −1 under 1 sunlight intensity in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. Outdoor seawater desalination experiments demonstrated the utility of 3D-CDs/CF/CS-LF evaporator for practical applications. This work provided a new approach for the improvement of CS-based evaporators and demonstrated their potential application in seawater desalination and purification.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
·
能源工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF POWER SOURCES
·
2022
·
IF 9.794
Qian Zhang,Tianyi Gu,Ruhua Shi,Jin Yan,Wei Wang,Wei Qian,Bowen Zhai,Mingzheng Zhou,Maorong Chai,Ruizhi Yang
The hydrophobicity of microporous layer (MPL) plays an important role in the water management and thereby performance improvement of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Hydrophobic additive polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) used in the conventional MPL requires post-heat treatment at high temperature and tends to block the pores of MPL. Herein, we develop a facile and low-cost method to fabricate the MPL layer by functionalizing carbon with 3-(Trimethoxysilyl) propyl methacrylate (KH570). Covalently grafted KH570 endows carbon black with super-hydrophobicity and high stability. The contact angle of carbon black increases from 63° to 157° upon covalent cross-linking with KH570, resulting in super-hydrophobicity. The MPL fabricated with thus-functionalized carbon black is tested in a PEMFC, which delivers a maximum power density up to 1265 mW cm −2 , superior to that of PEMFC based on traditional MPL. This fluorine-free, covalent grafting protocol may open up a new avenue for the construction of MPL for PEMFC.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
·
2024
·
IF 7.1
Xinyuan Wang,Gang-Ping Wu
The microporous layer (MPL) in membrane electrodes is critical for mass transfer in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The mass transfer loss in electrodes is very serious when operating in high-current-density and high-humidity environments, which greatly reduces the output performance and durability of fuel cells. To address these challenges, we designed an MPL with a graded pore structure. By controlling the content of the pore former in the MPL slurry, conventional MPLs with uniform pores are constructed, and then structural MPL with ordered gradient pore distribution is formed through layered coating and sintering. The capillary driving force provided by such a gradient structure can effectively improve the cathode water management capability. In this study, the MPL with the graded pore structure (G-MPL) shows the highest output performance of 2.28 W cm–2 at a high relative humidity of 100%. This is mainly due to its gradient pore structure, which significantly facilitates water discharge and gas diffusion, thereby upgrading the mass transfer capacity of fuel cells. In addition to its outstanding electrochemical performance, G-MPL also has the advantages of low production cost and a simplified preparation process, making it an exceptional candidate to promote the practical application of PEMFCs.
研究领域:
能源科学
·
材料科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE
·
2020
·Vol. 55
·期 11
·4558-4569
·
IF 3.553
Li Tianya,Wang Kejian,Wang Jihao,Liu Yueqi,Han Yufen,Song Jinghui,Hu Hengwei,Lin Guangyi,Liu Yong
Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is a promising automotive power source that has been gradually applied due to its many advantages such as pollution-free and low-temperature start-up. The gas diffusion layer (GDL) is a key component for water and gas management in PEMFC. It can directly affect the performance of PEMFC. In this paper, we prepared a new type of GDL with hierarchical pores to improve the performance of PEMFC at high current density. The new GDL mainly includes a commercial carbon paper layer and two microporous layers on the same side of carbon paper. The microporous layer near carbon paper was modified with pore former, and another layer was produced without pore former. The pore size of the middle microporous layer was controlled by the content of pore former and times of sonication. From the results of the polarization curve, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, water contact angle, conductivity, and pore size distribution, it was found that GDL with hierarchical pores shows obvious advancement than commercial GDL. The PEMFC performance was tested to compare the new and commercial GDL. The results show that the peak power of our GDL at 100% humidity reaches 1.24 W/cm 2 and the limit current density is 3.500 A/cm 2 . The modification of the pore size of the microporous layer near the carbon paper side can improve the water management ability of the fuel cell.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
RSC Advances
·
2021
·Vol. 11
·期 4
·2010-2019
·
IF 3.361
Ke Zhou,Tianya Li,Yufen Han,Jihao Wang,Jia Chen,Kejian Wang
The gas diffusion layer (GDL) is an important component in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), and the main function of GDL is to transfer water and gas. This paper explores the effect of the gradient hydrophobicity of GDL on the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The gradient GDL design uses two microporous layers (MPL). First, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) : carbon black in MPL near the carbon paper side was fixed at 3 : 7, and then the content of PTFE : carbon black in MPL near the catalyst layer (CL) was set to 3 : 7, 2 : 8 and 1 : 9. Second, the fixed PTFE : carbon black in MPL near the carbon paper side was 2 : 8, and the PTFE : carbon black in MPL near CL was 2 : 8 and 1 : 9. We found that, when near the carbon paper side and PTFE : carbon black = 3 : 7, GDL can obtain good cell performance through gradient hydrophobic treatment. Moreover, when near the carbon paper side and PTFE : carbon black = 2 : 8, the cell performance did not change much after GDL gradient hydrophobic treatment. We found that when GDL is subjected to a gradient hydrophobic treatment, the content of PTFE and carbon black must be rationally allocated to obtain good water management capabilities.
研究领域:
能源科学
·
材料科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）