Publications

Bodachivskyi, I, Kuzhiumparambil, U & Williams, DBG 2021, 'Biomass Processing via Acid Catalysis', Wiley, pp. 23-55.
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Bodachivskyi, I, Kuzhiumparambil, U & Williams, DBG 2021, 'Biomass Processing via Acid Catalysis' in Biomass Valorization: Sustainable Methods for the Production of Chemicals, pp. 25-55.
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This chapter aims to define efficient methods for the acid-catalyzed conversion of biomass into targeted value-added products. Acid catalysts can be classified as Lewis acids or Brønsted acids and may be further classified as heterogeneous or homogeneous. Polysaccharides, such as glucans and xylans, can be depolymerized into monomer sugars in the presence of Brønsted acid catalysts; such monosaccharides have many applications from organic synthesis to energy sources for fermentation. ionic liquids are a class of green solvents that consist solely of ions and, under certain conditions, are able to fully dissolve cellulosic polysaccharides. The chapter discusses the chemistry accompanying catalytic transformations of carbohydrates and lignin into specific products, defining the overall role of the acidic catalyst, solvent, and processing parameters. In numerous bench-scale processes, acid catalysis has been shown to be a universal tool to source value-added products from reactions of low value or waste cellulosic materials.

Ali, S, Gupta, A, Shafiei, M & Langford, SJ 2021, 'Recent Advances in Perylene Diimide-Based Active Materials in Electrical Mode Gas Sensing', Chemosensors, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 30-30.
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This review provides an update on advances in the area of electrical mode sensors using organic small molecule n-type semiconductors based on perylene. Among small organic molecules, perylene diimides (PDIs) are an important class of materials due to their outstanding thermal, chemical, electronic, and optical properties, all of which make them promising candidates for a wide range of organic electronic devices including sensors, organic solar cells, organic field-effect transistors, and organic light-emitting diodes. This is mainly due to their electron-withdrawing nature and significant charge transfer properties. Perylene-based sensors of this type show high sensing performance towards various analytes, particularly reducing gases like ammonia and hydrazine, but there are several issues that need to be addressed including the selectivity towards a specific gas, the effect of relative humidity, and operating temperature. In this review, we focus on the strategies and design principles applied to the gas-sensing performance of PDI-based devices, including resistive sensors, amperometric sensors, and operating at room temperature. The device properties and sensing mechanisms for different analytes, focusing on hydrazine and ammonia, are studied in detail, and some future research perspectives are discussed for this promising field. We hope the discussed results and examples inspire new forms of molecular engineering and begin to open opportunities for other rylene diimide classes to be applied as active materials.

Ali, S, Jameel, MA, Gupta, A, Langford, SJ & Shafiei, M 2021, 'Capacitive humidity sensing performance of naphthalene diimide derivatives at ambient temperature', Synthetic Metals, vol. 275, pp. 116739-116739.
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We report for the first-time the development of capacitive type humidity sensors employing naphthalene diimide derivatives (NDI) as sensing layer. Three different naphthalene diimide derivatives bearing imide side chains of different hydrophilicity were designed, synthesised and characterised. X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analyses gave useful information about structural and thermal behaviour of the newly developed materials, indicating their crystallinity and stability. Atomic force microscopy analysis revealed a variety of morphologies in thin films as a result of the structural properties of the NDIs. Devices bearing NDI layers were fabricated on ceramic substrates with gold interdigitated electrodes spaced 200 µm apart. Humidity sensing performance, as a change in capacitance, was studied upon exposure to a wide range of relative humidity levels (0–95%) at ambient temperature. Importantly, an increase in the capacitance of the sensors was recorded with an increase in relative humidity. The developed sensors exhibited high sensitivity, good long-term stability, excellent reproducibility, and low hysteresis. The sensor performance was also tested against different operating frequencies (250 Hz–2 kHz) to improve linearity, illustrating directions for optimised performance. These results confirm that sensors based on NDIs possess better sensing performance to other types of reported capacitive humidity sensors.

Ali, S, Jameel, MA, Harrison, CJ, Gupta, A, Evans, RA, Shafiei, M & Langford, SJ 2021, 'Enhanced Capacitive Humidity Sensing Performance at Room Temperature via Hydrogen Bonding of Cyanopyridone-Based Oligothiophene Donor', Chemosensors, vol. 9, no. 11, pp. 320-320.
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Cyanopyridone-based oligothiophene donors with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic characters have been evaluated as active layers within simple capacitive devices for humidity sensing at room temperature. Surface studies using atomic force microscopy revealed a self-assembled nanofibrous network with a thin needle-like structure for the terminal hydroxy example (CP6), devoid in the methyl example (CP1). The sensing performance of each sensor was investigated over a broad range of relative humidity levels as a function of capacitance at room temperature. The sensor CP6 demonstrated favourable features such as high sensitivity (12.2 pF/%RH), quick response/recovery (13 s/20.7 s), wide working range of relative humidity (10%–95% RH), low hysteresis (0.57%), outstanding recyclability, and excellent long-term stability. From the results obtained, hydrophilicity and hydrogen bonding appear to play a vital role in enhancing humidity sensing performance, leading to possible new design directions for simple organic semiconductor-based sensors.

Amjadipour, M, Bradford, J, Zebardastan, N, Motta, N & Iacopi, F 2021, 'MoS₂/Epitaxial graphene layered electrodes for solid-state supercapacitors', Nanotechnology, vol. 32, no. 19, pp. 195401-195401.
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Abstract The potential of transition metal dichalcogenides such as MoS2 for energy storage has been significantly limited so far by the lack of conductivity and structural stability. Employing highly conductive, graphitic materials in combination with transition metal dichalcogenides can address this gap. Here, we explore the use of a layered electrode structure for solid-state supercapacitors, made of MoS2 and epitaxial graphene (EG) on cubic silicon carbide for on-silicon energy storage. We show that the energy storage of the solid-state supercapacitors can be significantly increased by creating layered MoS2/graphene electrodes, yielding a substantial improvement as compared to electrodes using either EG or MoS2 alone. We conclude that the conductivity of EG and the growth morphology of MoS2 on graphene play an enabling role in the successful use of transition metal dichalcogenides for on-chip energy storage.

Ba, X, Wang, P, Zhang, C, Zhu, JG & Guo, Y 2021, 'Improved Deadbeat Predictive Current Control to Enhance the Performance of the Drive System of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors', IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 31, no. 8, pp. 1-4.
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Bake, A, Rezoanur Rahman, M, Evans, PJ, Cortie, M, Nancarrow, M, Abrudan, R, Radu, F, Khaydukov, Y, Causer, G, Callori, S, Livesey, KL, Mitchell, D, Pastuovic, Z, Wang, X & Cortie, D 2021, 'Structure and magnetism of ultra-small cobalt particles assembled at titania surfaces by ion beam synthesis', Applied Surface Science, vol. 570, pp. 151068-151068.
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Bao, W, Wang, R, Qian, C, Zhang, Z, Wu, R, Zhang, Y, Liu, F, Li, J & Wang, G 2021, 'Porous Heteroatom-Doped Ti₃C₂T_x MXene Microspheres Enable Strong Adsorption of Sodium Polysulfides for Long-Life Room-Temperature Sodium–Sulfur Batteries', ACS Nano, vol. 15, no. 10, pp. 16207-16217.
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The practical application of Na-S batteries is largely hindered by their low mass loading, inferior rate capability, and poor cycling performance. Herein, we report a design strategy for encapsulation of sodium polysulfides using Ti3C2Tx MXene. Porous nitrogen-doped Ti3C2Tx MXene microspheres have been synthesized by a facile synthesis method. Porous nitrogen-doped Ti3C2Tx MXene microspheres contain abundant pore structures and heteroatom functional groups for structural and chemical synergistic encapsulation of sodium polysulfides. Sodium-sulfur batteries, based on the as-proposed cathode, demonstrated outstanding electrochemical performances, including a high reversible capacity (980 mAh g-1 at 0.5 C rate) and extended cycling stability (450.1 mAh g-1 at 2 C after 1000 cycles at a high areal sulfur loading of 5.5 mg cm-2). This MXene-based hybrid material is a promising cathode host material for polysulfide-retention, enabling high-performance Na-S batteries.

Begum, M, Eskandari, M, Abuhilaleh, M, Li, L & Zhu, J 2021, 'Fuzzy-Based Distributed Cooperative Secondary Control with Stability Analysis for Microgrids', Electronics, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 399-399.
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This research suggests a novel distributed cooperative control methodology for a secondary controller in islanded microgrids (MGs). The proposed control technique not only brings back the frequency/voltage to its reference values, but also maintains precise active and reactive power-sharing among distributed generation (DG) units by means of a sparse communication system. Due to the dynamic behaviour of distributed secondary control (DSC), stability issues are a great concern for a networked MG. To address this issue, the stability analysis is undertaken systematically, utilizing the small-signal state-space linearized model of considering DSC loops and parameters. As the dynamic behaviour of DSC creates new oscillatory modes, an intelligent fuzzy logic-based parameter-tuner is proposed for enhancing the system stability. Accurate tuning of the DSC parameters can develop the functioning of the control system, which increases MG stability to a greater extent. Moreover, the performance of the offered control method is proved by conducting a widespread simulation considering several case scenarios in MATLAB/Simscape platform. The proposed control method addresses the dynamic nature of the MG by supporting the plug-and-play functionality, and working even in fault conditions. Finally, the convergence and comparison study of the offered control system is shown.

Berger, PR, Hussain, MM, Iacopi, F, Schulze, J, Ye, P, Rachmady, W, Wen, H-C & Krishnan, S 2021, 'Foreword Special Issue on Low-Temperature Processing of Electronic Materials for Cutting Edge Devices', IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 68, no. 7, pp. 3138-3141.
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Chen, Y, Wang, T, Tian, H, Su, D, Zhang, Q & Wang, G 2021, 'Advances in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries: From Academic Research to Commercial Viability', Advanced Materials, vol. 33, no. 29, pp. 1-67.
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AbstractLithium‐ion batteries, which have revolutionized portable electronics over the past three decades, were eventually recognized with the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry. As the energy density of current lithium‐ion batteries is approaching its limit, developing new battery technologies beyond lithium‐ion chemistry is significant for next‐generation high energy storage. Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries, which rely on the reversible redox reactions between lithium and sulfur, appears to be a promising energy storage system to take over from the conventional lithium‐ion batteries for next‐generation energy storage owing to their overwhelming energy density compared to the existing lithium‐ion batteries today. Over the past 60 years, especially the past decade, significant academic and commercial progress has been made on Li–S batteries. From the concept of the sulfur cathode first proposed in the 1960s to the current commercial Li–S batteries used in unmanned aircraft, the story of Li–S batteries is full of breakthroughs and back tracing steps. Herein, the development and advancement of Li–S batteries in terms of sulfur‐based composite cathode design, separator modification, binder improvement, electrolyte optimization, and lithium metal protection is summarized. An outlook on the future directions and prospects for Li–S batteries is also offered.

Chong, H, Xu, Y, Han, Y, Yan, C, Su, D & Wang, C 2021, 'Pillar[5]arene‐based “Three‐components” Supramolecular Assembly and the Performance of Nitrobenzene‐based Explosive Fluorescence Sensing', ChemistrySelect, vol. 6, no. 34, pp. 9363-9367.
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AbstractA “three‐components” supramolecular assembly has been fabricated by mixing 2, 2’: 6’, 2”‐terpyridine attached pillar[5]arene, cyano and triazole bearing alkyl chain and Zn2+ in solvent of CHCl3 and CH3CN. The driving forces for the assembly were believed to be host‐guest and metal chelating interactions as characterized by 1H NMR, UV‐vis and fluorescence spectra. The supramolecular organo‐gel formed upon the concentration of components amount to 1 M. The supramolecular displayed nitrobenzene based explosive sensing capability using picric acid, ortho‐nitrobenzene and phenol as samples. The assembly was most sensitive towards picric acid among the three analytes. The limit of detection for picric acid was determined to be 1.66 × 10−4 M.

Chotithammakul, S, Cortie, MB & Pissuwan, D 2021, 'Comparison of Single- and Mixed-Sized Gold Nanoparticles on Lateral Flow Assay for Albumin Detection', Biosensors, vol. 11, no. 7, pp. 209-209.
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The sensitivity and reproducibility of the lateral flow assay can be influenced by multiple factors, such as the size of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) employed. Here, we evaluated the analytical performance of single-sized and mixed-sized GNPs using a simple lateral flow assay (LFA) platform. This platform was used as a model assay to diagnose albumin levels and demonstrate the analytical performance of single-sized and mixed-sized GNPs in LFA tests. Two sizes of GNPs@anti-bovine serum albumin (BSA) conjugate proteins were mixed at different ratios. The unique optical properties of the GNPs induced a distinguishing color-shedding effect on the single- and mixed-sized GNPs@anti-BSA conjugates interacting with the target analyte BSA spotted on the test line. The use of mixed-sized GNPs@anti-BSA conjugates enhanced signal relative to the 20 nm GNPs, and provided superior stability compared with solely employing the large GNPs (50 nm). The proposed platform in this study could provide an efficient BSA detection mechanism that can be utilized as a model biomarker for confronting chronic kidney disease.

Coetzee, L-CC, Muller, AJ, Adeyinka, AS, Sonopo, MS & Williams, DBG 2021, 'Synthesis, characterisation and DFT studies of [3,5-bis(2-hydroxyphenyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl](phenyl)methanone derivatives', Results in Chemistry, vol. 3, pp. 100165-100165.
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Dai, R, Sun, W, Lv, L, Wu, M, Liu, H, Wang, G & Wang, Y 2021, 'Bimetal‐Organic‐Framework Derivation of Ball‐Cactus‐Like Ni‐Sn‐P@C‐CNT as Long‐Cycle Anode for Lithium Ion Battery', Small, vol. 17, no. 49, pp. 2106491-2106491.
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Diao, K, Sun, X, Lei, G, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2021, 'Multimode Optimization of Switched Reluctance Machines in Hybrid Electric Vehicles', IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 2217-2226.
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IEEE The belt-driven starter/generator (BSG), as a cost-effective solution, has been widely employed in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) to improve the stability and reduce the fuel consumption of the vehicles. It can provide more than 10% reduction in CO2. Electrical machine is the heart of the BSG system, which is functioned both as motor and generator. In order to optimize both aspects of motor and generator simultaneously, this paper presents a new multimode optimization method for the switched reluctance machines. First, the general multimode concept and optimization method are presented. The switched reluctance motor and the switched reluctance generator are the two operation modes. The optimization models are established based on motor and generator functions. Sensitivity analysis, surrogate models and genetic algorithms are employed to improve the efficiency of the multimode optimization. Then, a design example of a segmented-rotor switched reluctance machine (SSRM) is investigated. Seven design variables and four driving modes are considered in the multiobjective optimization model. The Kriging model is employed to approximate the finite element model (FEM) in the optimization. Finally, the optimization results are depicted, and an optimal solution is selected. The comparison between the initial and optimal designs shows that the proposed method can improve the foremost performance of the SSRM under all driving modes.

Du, G, Huang, N, Zhao, Y, Lei, G & Zhu, J 2021, 'Comprehensive Sensitivity Analysis and Multiphysics Optimization of the Rotor for a High Speed Permanent Magnet Machine', IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 358-367.
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To improve the reliability of high speed permanent magnet machines (HSPMMs) under multiphysics constraints, including the electromagnetic properties, losses, rotor stress, rotor dynamics, and temperature, the rotor of an HSPMM is optimized to achieve low loss and temperature in this paper. To assess the impact of each rotor design parameter on multiphysics performance, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis of the rotor parameters on multiphysics performance is first implemented. On this basis, a multiphysics optimization process for HSPMM rotor is proposed to obtain the optimal design parameters. A comparison of the multiphysics performances of the initial and optimized design schemes shows that the optimized scheme can achieve much lower rotor loss and temperature. The optimization scheme is verified by comprehensive experimental tests on a 400 kW, 10 000 rpm HSPMM prototype.

Faisal, SN, Amjadipour, M, Izzo, K, Singer, JA, Bendavid, A, Lin, C-T & Iacopi, F 2021, 'Non-invasive on-skin sensors for brain machine interfaces with epitaxial graphene', Journal of Neural Engineering, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 066035-066035.
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Abstract Objective. Brain–machine interfaces are key components for the development of hands-free, brain-controlled devices. Electroencephalogram (EEG) electrodes are particularly attractive for harvesting the neural signals in a non-invasive fashion. Approach. Here, we explore the use of epitaxial graphene (EG) grown on silicon carbide on silicon for detecting the EEG signals with high sensitivity. Main results and significance. This dry and non-invasive approach exhibits a markedly improved skin contact impedance when benchmarked to commercial dry electrodes, as well as superior robustness, allowing prolonged and repeated use also in a highly saline environment. In addition, we report the newly observed phenomenon of surface conditioning of the EG electrodes. The prolonged contact of the EG with the skin electrolytes functionalize the grain boundaries of the graphene, leading to the formation of a thin surface film of water through physisorption and consequently reducing its contact impedance more than three-fold. This effect is primed in highly saline environments, and could be also further tailored as pre-conditioning to enhance the performance and reliability of the EG sensors.

Fan, L, Guo, Z, Zhao, D, Zhao, C, Lu, X, Chen, A, Yin, X, Zhang, Y, Sun, B & Zhang, N 2021, 'Stable and Dendrite‐Free Lithium Metal Anodes Enabled by Ionic/Electronic Li₂S/Mo Interlayer', Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research, vol. 2, no. 11, pp. 1-8.
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The wide applications of high‐capacity lithium metal anodes for lithium metal batteries are restricted by the uncontrollable lithium dendrite growth caused by the uneven lithium deposition and the infinite volume change of lithium anodes during the plating/stripping process. Herein, the composite ionic/electronic interlayer of Li2S/Mo is deposited on the surface of stainless steel mesh (SSM) by in situ electrochemical conversion reaction from MoS2 nanosheet arrays. The Li2S/Mo interlayer with high ionic conductivity can regulate uniform lithium‐ion flux and promote homogeneous lithium deposition without dendrite growth. The half cells with Li2S/Mo‐modified SSM current collector show stable cycling performance of more than 400 cycles at 1 and 1 mAh cm−2, with the average Coulombic efficiency higher than 96%. By coupling with LiFePO4 cathodes, the assembled full cells demonstrate improved cycling performance. This work provides a new idea for using metal sulfides as a lithiophilic interlayer to facilitate dendrite‐free lithium deposition.

Fan, L, Sun, B, Yan, K, Xiong, P, Guo, X, Guo, Z, Zhang, N, Feng, Y, Sun, K & Wang, G 2021, 'A Dual‐Protective Artificial Interface for Stable Lithium Metal Anodes', Advanced Energy Materials, vol. 11, no. 48, pp. 1-10.
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AbstractConstructing an advanced artificial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on lithium metal anodes is a promising strategy to protect Li anodes and enable them to maintain long‐term cycling stability and safety. Herein, the development of a dual‐protective interface as an artificial SEI with high ionic conductivity and appropriate mechanical strength to protect Li anodes from parasitic reactions and dendrite formation is reported. The dual‐protective interface consists of a Prussian blue (PB) inner layer and a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) outer layer. The compact and uniform PB layer with abundant Li‐ion diffusion channels facilitates fast and uniform Li‐ion flux to or from the surface of the Li metal anode, guiding uniform Li deposition without dendrite formation. In addition, the flexible rGO layer on the top of the PB layer enhances the structural integrity of the PB film against severe volume change during repeated Li plating and stripping. As a result, the Li metal anodes with the dual‐protective interfaces show significantly improved cycling stability with high Coulombic efficiency and dendrite‐free morphology. This work provides a new strategy to enhance the stability and safety of Li metal anodes for lithium metal batteries.

Gao, Y, Sun, S, Zhang, X, Liu, Y, Hu, J, Huang, Z, Gao, M & Pan, H 2021, 'Amorphous Dual‐Layer Coating: Enabling High Li‐Ion Conductivity of Non‐Sintered Garnet‐Type Solid Electrolyte', Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 31, no. 15, pp. 2009692-2009692.
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AbstractGarnet‐type oxide Li6.4La3Zr1.4Ta0.6O12 (LLZTO) has attracted considerable attention as a highly promising solid state electrolyte. However, its high ionic conductivity is achievable only after high temperature sintering (≈1200 °C) to form dense pellets but with detrimental brittleness and poor contact with electrodes. Herein, a novel strategy to achieve high Li+ ion conductivity of LLZTO without sintering is demonstrated. This is realized by ball milling LLZTO together with LiBH4, which results in a LLZTO composite with unique amorphous dual coating: LiBO2 as the inner layer and LiBH4 as the outer layer. After cold pressing the LLZTO composite powders under 300 MPa to form electrolyte pellets, a high Li+ ion conductivity of 8.02 × 10–5 S cm–1 is obtained at 30 °C, which is four orders of magnitude higher than that of the non‐sintered pristine LLZTO pellets (4.17 × 10–9 S cm–1). The composite electrolyte displays an ultrahigh Li+ transference number of 0.9999 and enables symmetric Li–Li cells to be cycled for 1000 h at 60 °C and 300 h at 30 °C. The significant improvements are attributed to the continuous ionic conductive network among LLZTO particles facilitated by LiBH4 that is chemically compatible and electrochemically stable with Li metal electrode.

Guo, Z, Jasin Arachchige, L, Qiu, S, Zhang, X, Xu, Y, Langford, SJ & Sun, C 2021, 'p-Block element-doped silicon nanowires for nitrogen reduction reaction: a DFT study', Nanoscale, vol. 13, no. 35, pp. 14935-14944.
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B-doping on 1D SiNWs can reduce N2into NH3with an ultralow overpotential of 0.34 V and suppressed HER performance.

Guo, Z, Qiu, S, Li, H, Xu, Y, Langford, SJ & Sun, C 2021, 'Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction Performance of Si‐doped 2D Nanosheets of Boron Nitride Evaluated via Density Functional Theory', ChemCatChem, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 1239-1245.
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AbstractElectrochemical nitrogen fixation under ambient conditions is proposed as a sustainable alternative to the traditional Haber‐Bosch method to combat both a global energy crisis and climate change. However, effective catalysts for electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (eNRR) under ambient conditions, a crucial part for the electrocatalysis system, still face large challenges of low Faradic efficiency (FE) and low yield of ammonia. Here, we propose Si‐doped BN 2D nanosheets (BNNS) as a new class of metal‐free catalysts, and computationally study their performance in eNRR by density functional theory (DFT). The calculations show that the Si atom in the boron‐edge site exhibits the highest activity with the over‐potential (η) of 1.06 V from the first hydrogenation step, which is close in value to the benchmark of this reaction, the flat Ru(0001) surface (η=0.92 V). Moreover, Si‐doping can greatly enhance the conductivity of pristine BNNS, making it a good candidate for electrocatalysis. Overall, this research opens up a new direction of designing high‐performance Si‐based 2D catalysts for dinitrogen fixation beyond the hotspot research of boron‐ or transition metal‐based catalysts.

Guo, Z, Qiu, S, Li, H, Xu, Y, Langford, SJ & Sun, C 2021, 'Evaluation of electrocatalytic dinitrogen reduction performance on diamond carbon via density functional theory', Diamond and Related Materials, vol. 111, pp. 108210-108210.
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Carbon-based electrocatalysts for nitrogen fixation under ambient conditions has attracted tremendous attention but still encounter great challenges of low Faradic efficiency (FE) and a sluggish kinetics. Inspired by intrinsic defects (vacancies, edges and dislocation) on graphene showing activity towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR), here, two commonly exposed surfaces of diamond carbon, i.e., C(111) & C(110), were calculated for electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (eNRR) by the density functional theory (DFT) method, and calculations show that, compared with C(110), C(111) could be highly promising towards eNRR with a low over-potential (η) of 0.57 V (ΔGmax = 0.73 eV, η = 0.57 V), which are distinctly less than that (ΔGmax = 1.08 eV, η = 0.92 V) of flat benchmark Ru(0001) catalysts. Importantly, these two surfaces are shown to exhibit the suppression of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This work is the first reported indication that the low-coordinated carbons (LCCs) on sp3-hybridized diamond-carbon framework are active for eNRR, which gives a brand-new direction of designing/synthesizing sp3-configured diamond-carbon-composited catalysts for eNRR.

Han, C, Wang, X, Peng, J, Xia, Q, Chou, S, Cheng, G, Huang, Z & Li, W 2021, 'Recent Progress on Two-Dimensional Carbon Materials for Emerging Post-Lithium (Na+, K+, Zn2+) Hybrid Supercapacitors', Polymers, vol. 13, no. 13, pp. 2137-2137.
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The hybrid ion capacitor (HIC) is a hybrid electrochemical energy storage device that combines the intercalation mechanism of a lithium-ion battery anode with the double-layer mechanism of the cathode. Thus, an HIC combines the high energy density of batteries and the high power density of supercapacitors, thus bridging the gap between batteries and supercapacitors. Two-dimensional (2D) carbon materials (graphite, graphene, carbon nanosheets) are promising candidates for hybrid capacitors owing to their unique physical and chemical properties, including their enormous specific surface areas, abundance of active sites (surface and functional groups), and large interlayer spacing. So far, there has been no review focusing on the 2D carbon-based materials for the emerging post-lithium hybrid capacitors. This concept review considers the role of 2D carbon in hybrid capacitors and the recent progress in the application of 2D carbon materials for post-Li (Na+, K+, Zn2+) hybrid capacitors. Moreover, their challenges and trends in their future development are discussed.

Han, R, Diao, J, Kumar, S, Lyalin, A, Taketsugu, T, Casillas, G, Richardson, C, Liu, F, Yoon, CW, Liu, H, Sun, X & Huang, Z 2021, 'Boron nitride for enhanced oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene', Journal of Energy Chemistry, vol. 57, pp. 477-484.
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Hasan, M, Altaf, M, Zafar, A, Hassan, SG, Ali, Z, Mustafa, G, Munawar, T, Saif, MS, Tariq, T, Iqbal, F, Khan, MW, Mahmood, A, Mahmood, N & Shu, X 2021, 'Bioinspired synthesis of zinc oxide nano-flowers: A surface enhanced antibacterial and harvesting efficiency', Materials Science and Engineering: C, vol. 119, pp. 111280-111280.
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Despite of broad range application, the cost effective, highly stable and reproduceable synthesis of ZnO is needed, especially which can make it biosafe as well. Here, a unique bioinspired synthesis of ZnO nanoflowers (NFs) has been introduced using Withania coagulans extract as reducing agent. Different molar concentrations were assessed to counter the effect of structural, morphological, antibacterial activity and high efficiency of algae harvesting. The UV-spectroscopy authenticates the synthesis of ZnO NFs having Wurtzite hexagonal structure with the size in the range of 360-550 nm. While surface analysis revealed the presence of stabilizing agent like phenolic, amine, etc. on surface of ZnO NFs. These perineum ZnO NFs exhibited a stronger antibacterial with Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus as compare to Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa and greater harvesting efficiency up to 94% on the account of greater surface area and unique surface chemistry, thus leading a new horizon of more efficient and effective applications for ethanol production.

Hasan, M, Gulzar, H, Zafar, A, ul Haq, A, Mustafa, G, Tariq, T, Khalid, A, Mahmmod, A, Shu, X & Mahmood, N 2021, 'Multiplexing surface anchored functionalized iron carbide nanoparticle: A low molecular weight proteome responsive nano-tracer', Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, vol. 203, pp. 111746-111746.
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Hiscocks, HG, Yit, DL, Pascali, G & Ung, AT 2021, 'Incorporation of the pentafluorosulfanyl group through common synthetic transformations', Monatshefte für Chemie - Chemical Monthly, vol. 152, no. 4, pp. 449-459.
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Hossain, R, Ahmed, AJ, Yun, FF, Sang, L, Islam, SMKN, Yang, G, Cortie, MB & Wang, X 2021, 'Significant enhancement of electrical conductivity by incorporating carbon fiber into CoSb3 thermoelectric skutterudite fabricated by spark plasma sintering method', Journal of Materials Science, vol. 56, no. 36, pp. 20138-20153.
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Hundal, AK, Ali, S, Agarwal, A, Jameel, MA, Jones, LA, Li, J-L, Evans, RA, Langford, SJ & Gupta, A 2021, 'Enhanced Photovoltaic Efficiency via Control of Self-Assembly in Cyanopyridone-Based Oligothiophene Donors', The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 919-924.
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The optoelectronic properties of functional π-conjugated organic materials are affected by their ability to self-assemble within thin films of devices. There are limited reports that demonstrate the positive impact of self-assembly on the photovoltaic performance of organic solar cells. Here, we demonstrate that hydrogen-bonded supramolecular arrays of a cyanopyridone-based oligothiophene donor, CP6, show notable improvement in photovoltaic performance upon self-assembly into a nanofibrous network. The honeycomb-like blend network exhibited higher hole mobility, leading to efficient charge generation and transport. The photovoltaic performance of CP6 was superior to that of two structural analogues, CP5 and CP1, and was attributed to the enhanced capability of CP6 to self-assemble into a film morphology favorable for BHJ devices. The BHJ devices comprising CP6 and the conventional fullerene acceptor (PC71BM) exhibited an efficiency of 7.26%, which is greater than that of CP5 (5.19%) and CP1 (3.11%) and is among the best-performing, cyanopyridone-based oligothiophene donors described to date.

Ibrahim, I, Seo, DH, Angeloski, A, McDonagh, A, Shon, HK & Tijing, LD 2021, '3D microflowers CuS/Sn2S3 heterostructure for highly efficient solar steam generation and water purification', Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, vol. 232, pp. 111377-111377.
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Solar-driven interfacial steam generation is a promising method to produce potable water using renewable energy and help solve global clean water scarcity problems. However, the design of photothermal materials (PTMs) with excellent light absorption that can localize heat at the air/water interface, and facilitate water vapor generation remains a key challenge for its practical implementation. In this work, we demonstrate the synthesis of heterostructure microflowers composed of vertically aligned CuS/Sn2S3 nanosheets (3D CSS-NS MF) using a single-step solvothermal method for solar steam generation application. The microflower structures and the abundant nanocavities between the vertically aligned nanosheets resulted in significant sunlight harvesting over the solar spectrum, excellent heat localization through trapping and re-absorbing the heat, and fast escape of water vapor. Under 1 sun (1 kW m-2) illumination, a high water evaporation rate of 1.42 kg m-2 h-1, corresponding to an efficiency of 82.93% was obtained. The 3D CSS-NS MF based solar evaporator exhibited remarkable salt ions rejection efficiency and good reusability over 10 cycles. Furthermore, efficient removal of organic dyes was observed in application geared towards wastewater treatment with a rejection ∼99.9%. Our work demonstrates the potential of using novel semiconductor-based nanocomposites as effective photothermal materials for high-performance solar steam generation in water desalination and wastewater treatment applications.

Ibrahim, I, Seo, DH, McDonagh, AM, Shon, HK & Tijing, L 2021, 'Semiconductor photothermal materials enabling efficient solar steam generation toward desalination and wastewater treatment', Desalination, vol. 500, pp. 114853-114853.
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© 2020 Elsevier B.V. Water scarcity issues around the world have renewed interest in the use of solar water evaporation as a means of providing fresh water. Advances in photothermal materials and thermal management, together with new interfacial system designs, have considerably improved the overall efficiency of solar steam generation (SSG) for desalination and wastewater treatment. Several classes of rationally-designed photothermal materials (PTMs) and nanostructures have enabled effective absorption of broad solar spectrum resulting in improved solar evaporation efficiency. Among several classes of PTMs, semiconductor-based PTMs have demonstrated great potential for SSG. In this review, we highlight the progress and prospects in SSG with emphasis on the use and evolution of advanced semiconductor materials for PTMs and their various designs and engineered architectures. Applications and future prospects for desalination and wastewater treatment are also discussed.

Jamil, R, Ali, R, Loomba, S, Xian, J, Yousaf, M, Khan, K, Shabbir, B, McConville, CF, Mahmood, A & Mahmood, N 2021, 'The role of nitrogen in transition-metal nitrides in electrochemical water splitting', Chem Catalysis, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 802-854.
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H2 as a storable fuel can be sustainably generated from direct cleavage of water with a catalytic approach. However, H2 generation is severely affected by poor catalytic activities and the instability of catalyst materials. Recently, transition-metal-based nitrides (TMNs) have been widely explored because of their intrinsic abilities to catalyze water splitting, wide pH stability, high corrosion resistance, and potential for structural modulations. Most investigations have focused on the design of advanced heterostructures for improving catalytic activity. However, identification of the active sites and decoding the inherent mechanisms are often neglected. Here, we investigate the fundamental aspects of H2 production to elucidate the cutting-edge progress of TMNs. First, we explore the engineering of the active sites of ordered and disordered structures and the relation with hydrogen evolution reaction activity. Second, we explain the development of advanced oxygen evolution reaction catalysts by focusing on minimizing autoxidation. Third and finally, we discuss complementary strategies for converting unifunctional TMNs to bifunctional catalysts for overall water splitting.

Jaumaux, P, Wu, J, Shanmukaraj, D, Wang, Y, Zhou, D, Sun, B, Kang, F, Li, B, Armand, M & Wang, G 2021, 'Non‐Flammable Liquid and Quasi‐Solid Electrolytes toward Highly‐Safe Alkali Metal‐Based Batteries', Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 31, no. 10, pp. 2008644-2008644.
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AbstractRechargeable alkali metal (i.e., lithium, sodium, potassium)‐based batteries are considered as vital energy storage technologies in modern society. However, the traditional liquid electrolytes applied in alkali metal‐based batteries mainly consist of thermally unstable salts and highly flammable organic solvents, which trigger numerous accidents related to fire, explosion, and leakage of toxic chemicals. Therefore, exploring non‐flammable electrolytes is of paramount importance for achieving safe batteries. Although replacing traditional liquid electrolytes with all‐solid‐state electrolytes is the ultimate way to solve the above safety issues, developing non‐flammable liquid electrolytes can more directly fulfill the current needs considering the low ionic conductivities and inferior interfacial properties of existing all‐solid‐state electrolytes. Moreover, the electrolyte leakage concern can be further resolved by gelling non‐flammable liquid electrolytes to obtain quasi‐solid electrolytes. Herein, a comprehensive review of the latest progress in emerging non‐flammable liquid electrolytes, including non‐flammable organic liquid electrolytes, aqueous electrolytes, and deep eutectic solvent‐based electrolytes is provided, and systematically introduce their flame‐retardant mechanisms and electrochemical behaviors in alkali metal‐based batteries. Then, the gelation techniques for preparing quasi‐solid electrolytes are also summarized. Finally, the remaining challenges and future perspectives are presented. It is anticipated that this review will promote a safety improvement of alkali metal‐based batteries.

Jaumaux, P, Yang, X, Zhang, B, Safaei, J, Tang, X, Zhou, D, Wang, C & Wang, G 2021, 'Localized Water‐In‐Salt Electrolyte for Aqueous Lithium‐Ion Batteries', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, vol. 60, no. 36, pp. 19965-19973.
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AbstractWater‐in‐salt (WIS) electrolytes using super‐concentrated organic lithium (Li) salts are of interest for aqueous Li‐ion batteries. However, the high salt cost, high viscosity, poor wettability, and environmental hazards remain a great challenge. Herein, we present a localized water‐in‐salt (LWIS) electrolyte based on low‐cost lithium nitrate (LiNO3) salt and 1,5‐pentanediol (PD) as inert diluent. The addition of PD maintains the solvation structure of the WIS electrolyte, improves the electrolyte stability via hydrogen‐bonding interactions with water and NO3− molecules, and reduces the total salt concentration. By in situ gelling the LWIS electrolyte with tetraethylene glycol diacrylate (TEGDA) monomer, the electrolyte stability window can be further expanded to 3.0 V. The as‐developed Mo6S8|LWIS gel electrolyte|LiMn2O4 (LMO) batteries delivered outstanding cycling performance with an average Coulombic efficiency of 98.53 % after 250 cycles at 1 C.

Jaumaux, P, Yang, X, Zhang, B, Safaei, J, Tang, X, Zhou, D, Wang, C & Wang, G 2021, 'Localized Water‐In‐Salt Electrolyte for Aqueous Lithium‐Ion Batteries', Angewandte Chemie, vol. 133, no. 36, pp. 20118-20126.
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AbstractWater‐in‐salt (WIS) electrolytes using super‐concentrated organic lithium (Li) salts are of interest for aqueous Li‐ion batteries. However, the high salt cost, high viscosity, poor wettability, and environmental hazards remain a great challenge. Herein, we present a localized water‐in‐salt (LWIS) electrolyte based on low‐cost lithium nitrate (LiNO3) salt and 1,5‐pentanediol (PD) as inert diluent. The addition of PD maintains the solvation structure of the WIS electrolyte, improves the electrolyte stability via hydrogen‐bonding interactions with water and NO3− molecules, and reduces the total salt concentration. By in situ gelling the LWIS electrolyte with tetraethylene glycol diacrylate (TEGDA) monomer, the electrolyte stability window can be further expanded to 3.0 V. The as‐developed Mo6S8|LWIS gel electrolyte|LiMn2O4 (LMO) batteries delivered outstanding cycling performance with an average Coulombic efficiency of 98.53 % after 250 cycles at 1 C.

Jin, J, Sheng, G, Bi, Y, Song, Y, Liu, X, Chen, X, Li, Q, Deng, Z, Zhang, W, Zheng, J, Coombs, T, Shen, B, Zhu, J, Zhao, Y, Wang, J, Xiang, B, Tang, Y, Ren, L, Xu, Y, Shi, J, Islam, MR, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2021, 'Applied Superconductivity and Electromagnetic Devices - Principles and Current Exploration Highlights', IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 31, no. 8, pp. 1-29.
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With regard to the state-of-the-art technologies in the fields of applied superconductivity and electromagnetic devices, research and development highlights are presented. The recent progress and achievement described with principle and technical details include mainly i) applied superconducting materials; ii) superconducting magnets and their applications such as in ITER and Tokamaks; iii) high Tc superconducting (HTS) magnetic levitation and applications; iv) HTS smart grids; v) superconducting and electromagnetic material modelling and characterization; and vi) advanced electromagnetic devices. The applied superconductivity technology and availability are especially focused and verified with the trend of development prospection.

Jin, Z, Sun, X, Cai, Y, Zhu, J, Lei, G & Guo, Y 2021, 'Comprehensive Sensitivity and Cross-Factor Variance Analysis-Based Multi-Objective Design Optimization of a 3-DOF Hybrid Magnetic Bearing', IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 1-4.
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Khan, SA, Barzegarkhoo, R, Guo, Y, Siwakoti, Y, Khan, MNH, Lu, DD-C & Zhu, J 2021, 'Topology, Modeling and Control Scheme for a new Seven-Level Inverter With Reduced DC-Link Voltage', IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 2734-2746.
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Kiran, MR, Farrok, O, Islam, MR & Zhu, J 2021, 'Increase in the Power Transfer Capability of Advanced Magnetic Material Based High Frequency Transformer by Using a Novel Distributed Winding Topology', IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 57, no. 6, pp. 6306-6317.
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Kiran, MR, Farrok, O, Islam, MR, Zhu, J, Kouzani, AZ & Mahmud, MAP 2021, 'The High Frequency Magnetic-Link With Distributed HTS YBCO Windings for Power Converter Applications', IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 31, no. 8, pp. 1-5.
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Li, M, Yang, Y, Iacopi, F, Yamada, M & Nulman, J 2021, 'Compact Multilayer Bandpass Filter Using Low-Temperature Additively Manufacturing Solution', IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 68, no. 7, pp. 3163-3169.
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This article presented an additively manufactured bandpass filter (BPF) based on a second-order stub-loaded resonator consisting of multimetal layer components. The proposed BPF is fabricated by a low-temperature (140°) additively manufactured electronics (AME) solution that can fabricate conductive and dielectric materials simultaneously with multimetal-layer and flexible interlayer distance. By reducing the interlayer distance, constant inductance and capacitance can be realized in smaller sizes, which helps to achieve device minimization. Taking advantage of this inkjet printing technology, a second-order multimetal layer resonator is proposed. To understand the principle of the BPF, an equivalent circuit with odd- and even-mode analysis is demonstrated. For verification, the frequency response of the circuit's mathematical model is calculated to compare with the electromagnetic simulation results. Good agreement can be achieved among the calculated, simulated, and measured results. The proposed BPF is designed at 12.25 GHz with a bandwidth of 40.8% and a compact size of 2.7 mm \times1.425 mm \times0.585 mm or 0.186\lambda {g} \times 0.098\lambda {g}\times 0.040\lambda {g} , which is suitable for circuit-in-package applications in television programs, radar detection, and satellite communications.

Li, P, Guo, X, Zang, R, Wang, S, Zuo, Y, Man, Z, Li, P, Liu, S & Wang, G 2021, 'Nanoconfined SnO2/SnSe2 heterostructures in N-doped carbon nanotubes for high-performance sodium-ion batteries', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 418, pp. 129501-129501.
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Tin-based compounds are promising anode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), owing to their high theoretical capacities and relatively low sodiation potential. However, their high-rate performance and cycle life-span are severely impeded by the inherent sluggish reaction kinetics and large structural change during charging and discharging. Herein, we report a composite anode consisting of SnO2/SnSe2 heterostructure nanoparticles uniformly encapsulated in N-doped carbon nanotubes (SnO2/SnSe2@C) for high-performance SIBs. The hollow tube nano-architecture not only accommodates the volume expansion of SnO2/SnSe2, but also facilitates the electrolyte penetration and shortens Na+ pathways. Meanwhile, the N-doped carbon shells provide highways for electron transport and contribute to the total capacity. More importantly, the construction of heterostructures boosts the charge transfer kinetics and further stabilizes the electrode structure by the additional confining effects of the increased crystalline boundaries. Benefiting from the synergistic effects between the elaborately-designed electrode architecture and the incorporation of heterostructures, the SnO2/SnSe2@C composite delivered a superior rate capability (322 mAh g−1 at 4 A g−1) and remarkable cycling stability with a capacity retention of 87.7% after 1000 cycles at 2 A g−1.

Li, Y, Lei, G, Bramerdorfer, G, Peng, S, Sun, X & Zhu, J 2021, 'Machine Learning for Design Optimization of Electromagnetic Devices: Recent Developments and Future Directions', Applied Sciences, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 1627-1627.
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This paper reviews the recent developments of design optimization methods for electromagnetic devices, with a focus on machine learning methods. First, the recent advances in multi-objective, multidisciplinary, multilevel, topology, fuzzy, and robust design optimization of electromagnetic devices are overviewed. Second, a review is presented to the performance prediction and design optimization of electromagnetic devices based on the machine learning algorithms, including artificial neural network, support vector machine, extreme learning machine, random forest, and deep learning. Last, to meet modern requirements of high manufacturing/production quality and lifetime reliability, several promising topics, including the application of cloud services and digital twin, are discussed as future directions for design optimization of electromagnetic devices.

Li, Y, Li, Y, Zhu, J, Zhu, L & Liu, C 2021, 'Vibration Estimation in Power Transformers Based on Dynamic Magnetostriction Model and Finite-Element Analysis', IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 31, no. 8, pp. 1-4.
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This paper presents a modeling approach for estimating the vibration of power transformers based on a magnetostriction model and maxwell stress calculation. The magnetostriction model, accounting for the dynamic hysteresis behavior, is constructed by combining the Becker-Doring crystal magnetostriction model and J-A dynamic hysteresis model. By incorporating the proposed model into the finite-element method (FEM), both the Maxwell stress and the magnetostriction force in each mesh element can be readily obtained simultaneously. To verify the calculation method, the vibration of a three-phase transformer prototype is measured and compared with simulated results. It demonstrated that the proposed method is accurate enough to predict the vibration of power transformers.

Li, Y, Zhu, J, Li, Y, Wang, H & Zhu, L 2021, 'Modeling dynamic magnetostriction of amorphous core materials based on Jiles–Atherton theory for finite element simulations', Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, vol. 529, pp. 167854-167854.
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Due to its favorable properties of low core loss and high saturation magnetic flux density, amorphous material is widely used as the core material of low and medium frequency transformers. However, its magnetostriction is much higher than that of grain-oriented sheet steel, a very common material for conventional transformers, resulting in high acoustic noises. This paper proposes a comprehensive model of magnetostriction in amorphous material based on the interdependence between magnetostriction and magnetization by combining the isotropic magnetostriction effect and Jiles-Atherton energy balance theory. Incorporated in coupled magneto-mechanical field calculation, the proposed model can correctly simulate the butterfly loops of magnetostriction, magnetic hysteresis loops and vibration displacements. The theoretical results of magnetostriction characteristic are verified by both single sheet test and the experimental results of amorphous transformer prototype.

Liu, C, Wang, D, Wang, S, Niu, F, Wang, Y, Lei, G & Zhu, J 2021, 'Design and Analysis of a New Permanent Magnet Claw Pole Machine With S-Shape Winding', IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 1-5.
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With the continuous improvement of magnetic and mechanical properties of soft magnetic composite (SMC) material, there is a trend to develop novel electrical machines with SMC cores for some special applications. Among these electrical machines, permanent magnet claw pole machine (CPM) has been extensively studied over the past few decades. As linear global winding has been used in this machine, it can be regarded as a linear winding CPM (LWCPM). To improve the performance of LWCPM, a new S-shape winding CPM (SWCPM) is proposed in this article. The main stator structures of the LWCPM and SWCPM are optimized to achieve maximum torque ability. Compared with LWCPM, SWCPM provides higher average torque, power factor, and higher efficiency. The main disadvantage of the proposed SWCPM is its lower flux weakening ability. 3-D finite element model is used to evaluate the performance of the proposed LWCPM and SWCPM. The accuracy of the 3-D finite element model is verified by using a previous prototype.

Liu, F, Han, R, Naficy, S, Casillas, G, Sun, X & Huang, Z 2021, 'Few-Layered Boron Nitride Nanosheets for Strengthening Polyurethane Hydrogels', ACS Applied Nano Materials, vol. 4, no. 8, pp. 7988-7994.
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Two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS) are an outstanding filler and additive, since they are transparent, thermally stable, and chemically inert. However, it is difficult to obtain few-layered BNNS with large lateral sizes in an efficient way due to the strong interlayer interactions in h-BN. Herein, a facile and efficient molten salt-assisted synthesis has been developed to prepare few-layered BNNS with a few microns in lateral size. Ammonia borane was mixed with KCl and NaCl and then heated to 1000 °C and held for 2 min, and the resultant powders were sonicated in water to produce hydroxylated BNNS. Used as an additive with 0.066 wt % loading, the functionalized BNNS can effectively improve the mechanical modulus of polyurethane (PU) hydrogels from 1635 to 2776 kPa, and the optical property of the hydrogel is not compromised. The BNNS-reinforced PU hydrogel with significantly improved mechanical properties can be highly useful in the application of printed electronics.

Liu, F, Han, R, Nattestad, A, Sun, X & Huang, Z 2021, 'Carbon- and oxygen-doped hexagonal boron nitride for degradation of organic pollutants', Surface Innovations, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 222-230.
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Carbon- and oxygen-doped hexagonal boron nitrides (BCNOs) with good chemical stability and photoresponsiveness to visible light are found to be promising metal-free catalysts for degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). By doping with heteroatoms of carbon and oxygen, insulating hexagonal boron nitride was transformed into semiconducting BCNO. The BCNO photocatalyst presents photodegradation performance towards RhB, with degradation rates up to 1.39 h−1 (0.05 wt% catalyst loading). The active species involved in the photoreaction were demonstrated to be superoxide anion radical (˙O2 −) and holes (h+), as opposed to ˙OH in the most studied titanium dioxide. The stability of BCNO in highly acidic environments was exploited for catalyst regeneration, as is necessary after long-term use and poisoning. This work demonstrates that BCNO is a promising low-cost and metal-free photocatalyst for environmental pollution remediation.

Liu, Q, Wang, Y, Yang, X, Zhou, D, Wang, X, Jaumaux, P, Kang, F, Li, B, Ji, X & Wang, G 2021, 'Rechargeable anion-shuttle batteries for low-cost energy storage', Chem, vol. 7, no. 8, pp. 1993-2021.
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As promising alternatives to lithium-ion batteries, rechargeable anion-shuttle batteries (ASBs) with anions as charge carriers stand out because of their low cost, long cyclic lifetime, and/or high energy density. In this review, we provide for the first time, comprehensive insights into the anion shuttling mechanisms of ASBs, including anion-based rocking-chair batteries (ARBs), dual-ion batteries (DIBs), including insertion-type, conversion-type, and conversion-insertion-type, and reverse dual-ion batteries (RDIBs). Thereafter, we review the latest progresses and challenges regarding electrode materials and electrolytes for ASBs. In addition, we summarize the existing dilemmas of ASBs and outline the perspective of ASB technology for future grid storage.

Ma, H, Li, J, Yang, J, Wang, N, Liu, Z, Wang, T, Su, D, Wang, C & Wang, G 2021, 'Bismuth Nanoparticles Anchored on Ti₃C₂T_x MXene Nanosheets for High‐Performance Sodium‐Ion Batteries', Chemistry – An Asian Journal, vol. 16, no. 22, pp. 3774-3780.
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AbstractSodium‐ion batteries are promising energy‐storage systems, but they are facing huge challenges for developing fast‐charging anode materials. Bismuth (Bi)‐based anode materials are considered as candidates for fast‐charging anodes of sodium‐ion batteries due to their excellent rate performance. Herein, we designed a two‐dimensional Bi/MXene anode material based on a hydrogen thermal reduction strategy. Benefitting from microstructure advantages, Bi/MXene anodes exhibited an excellent rate capability and superior cycle performance in Na//Bi/MXene half‐batteries and Na3V2(PO4)3/C//Bi/MXene full‐batteries. Moreover, full‐batteries can complete a charge/discharge cycle in 7 min and maintain an excellent cycle life (over 7000 cycles). The electrochemical test results showed that Bi/MXene is a promising anode material with fast charge/discharge capability for sodium‐ion batteries.

Ma, H, Wang, T, Li, J, Yang, J, Liu, Z, Wang, N, Su, D & Wang, C 2021, 'Nitrogen Doped Carbon Coated Bi Microspheres as High‐performance Anode for Half and Full Sodium Ion Batteries', Chemistry – An Asian Journal, vol. 16, no. 16, pp. 2314-2320.
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AbstractAs two‐dimensional (2D) materials, bismuth (Bi) has large interlayer spacing along c‐axis (0.395 nm) which provides rich active sites for sodium ions, thus guaranteeing high sodium ion storage activity. However, its poor electrical conductivity, combined with its degraded cycling performance, restricts its practical application. Herein, Bi microsphere coated with nitrogen‐doped carbon (Bi@NC) was synthesized. Owing to the unique Bi crystals and nitrogen‐doped carbon layer, the obtained Bi@NC anode exhibited satisfactory cycling stability and superior rate capability. Moreover, after assembling Bi@NC anode with Na3V2(PO4)3@C cathode to full battery, excellent sodium storage performance was obtained (57 mA h g−1 after 2000 cycles at 1.0 A g−1).

Ma, J, Li, Y, Grundish, NS, Goodenough, JB, Chen, Y, Guo, L, Peng, Z, Qi, X, Yang, F, Qie, L, Wang, C-A, Huang, B, Huang, Z, Chen, L, Su, D, Wang, G, Peng, X, Chen, Z, Yang, J, He, S, Zhang, X, Yu, H, Fu, C, Jiang, M, Deng, W, Sun, C-F, Pan, Q, Tang, Y, Li, X, Ji, X, Wan, F, Niu, Z, Lian, F, Wang, C, Wallace, GG, Fan, M, Meng, Q, Xin, S, Guo, Y-G & Wan, L-J 2021, 'The 2021 battery technology roadmap', Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, vol. 54, no. 18, pp. 183001-183001.
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Abstract Sun, wind and tides have huge potential in providing us electricity in an environmental-friendly way. However, its intermittency and non-dispatchability are major reasons preventing full-scale adoption of renewable energy generation. Energy storage will enable this adoption by enabling a constant and high-quality electricity supply from these systems. But which storage technology should be considered is one of important issues. Nowadays, great effort has been focused on various kinds of batteries to store energy, lithium-related batteries, sodium-related batteries, zinc-related batteries, aluminum-related batteries and so on. Some cathodes can be used for these batteries, such as sulfur, oxygen, layered compounds. In addition, the construction of these batteries can be changed into flexible, flow or solid-state types. There are many challenges in electrode materials, electrolytes and construction of these batteries and research related to the battery systems for energy storage is extremely active. With the myriad of technologies and their associated technological challenges, we were motivated to assemble this 2020 battery technology roadmap.

Mahmood, A, Yuan, Z, Sui, X, Riaz, MA, Yu, Z, Liu, C, Chen, J, Wang, C, Zhao, S, Mahmood, N, Pei, Z, Wei, L & Chen, Y 2021, 'Foldable and scrollable graphene paper with tuned interlayer spacing as high areal capacity anodes for sodium-ion batteries', Energy Storage Materials, vol. 41, pp. 395-403.
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Nazrul Islam, SMK, Mayank, P, Ouyang, Y, Chen, J, Sagotra, AK, Li, M, Cortie, MB, Mole, R, Cazorla, C, Yu, D, Wang, X, Robinson, RA & Cortie, DL 2021, 'Copper diffusion rates and hopping pathways in superionic Cu2Se', Acta Materialia, vol. 215, pp. 117026-117026.
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Payne, M, Bottomley, AL, Och, A, Asmara, AP, Harry, EJ & Ung, AT 2021, 'Synthesis and biological evaluation of 3,5-substituted pyrazoles as possible antibacterial agents', Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 48, pp. 116401-116401.
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The emergence of multi-drug resistant bacteria has increased the need for novel antibiotics to help overcome what may be considered the greatest threat to modern medicine. Here we report the synthesis of fifteen novel 3,5-diaryl-1H- pyrazoles obtained via one-pot cyclic oxidation of a chalcone and hydrazine-monohydrate. The synthesised pyrazoles were then screened against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli to determine their antibacterial potential. The results show that compound 7p is bacteriostatic at MIC 8 µg/mL. The compound is non-toxic against healthy mammalian cells, 3T3-L1 at the highest test concentration 50 µg/mL. Furthermore, compound 7p significantly affected bacterial morphogenesis before cell lysis in Bacillus subtilis when treated above the MIC concentration. From the results, a promising lead compound was identified for future development.

Qi, Y, Li, Q-J, Wu, Y, Bao, S-J, Li, C, Chen, Y, Wang, G & Xu, M 2021, 'A Fe3N/carbon composite electrocatalyst for effective polysulfides regulation in room-temperature Na-S batteries', Nature Communications, vol. 12, no. 1, p. 6347.
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AbstractThe practical application of room-temperature Na-S batteries is hindered by the low sulfur utilization, inadequate rate capability and poor cycling performance. To circumvent these issues, here, we propose an electrocatalyst composite material comprising of N-doped nanocarbon and Fe3N. The multilayered porous network of the carbon accommodates large amounts of sulfur, decreases the detrimental effect of volume expansion, and stabilizes the electrodes structure during cycling. Experimental and theoretical results testify the Fe3N affinity to sodium polysulfides via Na-N and Fe-S bonds, leading to strong adsorption and fast dissociation of sodium polysulfides. With a sulfur content of 85 wt.%, the positive electrode tested at room-temperature in non-aqueous Na metal coin cell configuration delivers a reversible capacity of about 1165 mA h g−1 at 167.5 mA g−1, satisfactory rate capability and stable capacity of about 696 mA h g−1 for 2800 cycles at 8375 mA g−1.

Rangsinth, P, Sillapachaiyaporn, C, Nilkhet, S, Tencomnao, T, Ung, AT & Chuchawankul, S 2021, 'Mushroom-derived bioactive compounds potentially serve as the inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 main protease: An in silico approach', Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 158-172.
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Ren, Z, Zhang, X, Li, H-W, Huang, Z, Hu, J, Gao, M, Pan, H & Liu, Y 2021, 'Titanium Hydride Nanoplates Enable 5 wt% of Reversible Hydrogen Storage by Sodium Alanate below 80°C', Research, vol. 2021, pp. 9819176-13.
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Sodium alanate (NaAlH 4 ) with 5.6 wt% of hydrogen capacity suffers seriously from the sluggish kinetics for reversible hydrogen storage. Ti-based dopants such as TiCl 4 , TiCl 3 , TiF 3 , and TiO 2 are prominent in enhancing the dehydrogenation kinetics and hence reducing the operation temperature. The tradeoff, however, is a considerable decrease of the reversible hydrogen capacity, which largely lowers the practical value of NaAlH 4 . Here, we successfully synthesized a new Ti-dopant, i.e., TiH 2 as nanoplates with ~50 nm in lateral size and ~15 nm in thickness by an ultrasound-driven metathesis reaction between TiCl 4 and LiH in THF with graphene as supports (denoted as NP-TiH 2 @G). Doping of 7 wt% NP-TiH 2 @G enables a full dehydrogenation of NaAlH 4 at 80°C and rehydrogenation at 30°C under 100 atm H 2 with a reversible hydrogen capacity of 5 wt%, superior to all literature results reported so far. This indicates that nanostructured TiH 2 is much more effective than Ti-dopants in improving the hydrogen storage performance of NaAlH 4 . Our finding not only pushes the practical application of NaAlH 4 forward greatly but also opens up new opportunities to tailor the kinetics with the minimal capacity loss.

Rufangura, P, Khodasevych, I, Agrawal, A, Bosi, M, Folland, TG, Caldwell, JD & Iacopi, F 2021, 'Enhanced Absorption with Graphene-Coated Silicon Carbide Nanowires for Mid-Infrared Nanophotonics', Nanomaterials, vol. 11, no. 9, pp. 2339-2339.
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The mid-infrared (MIR) is an exciting spectral range that also hosts useful molecular vibrational fingerprints. There is a growing interest in nanophotonics operating in this spectral range, and recent advances in plasmonic research are aimed at enhancing MIR infrared nanophotonics. In particular, the design of hybrid plasmonic metasurfaces has emerged as a promising route to realize novel MIR applications. Here we demonstrate a hybrid nanostructure combining graphene and silicon carbide to extend the spectral phonon response of silicon carbide and enable absorption and field enhancement of the MIR photon via the excitation and hybridization of surface plasmon polaritons and surface phonon polaritons. We combine experimental methods and finite element simulations to demonstrate enhanced absorption of MIR photons and the broadening of the spectral resonance of graphene-coated silicon carbide nanowires. We also indicate subwavelength confinement of the MIR photons within a thin oxide layer a few nanometers thick, sandwiched between the graphene and silicon carbide. This intermediate shell layer is characteristically obtained using our graphitization approach and acts as a coupling medium between the core and outer shell of the nanowires.

Safaei, J, Mashkani, SMH, Tian, H, Ye, C, Xiong, P & Wang, G 2021, 'Self-Assembled NbOPO₄ Nanosheet/Reduced Graphene Oxide Heterostructure for Capacitive Desalination', ACS Applied Nano Materials, vol. 4, no. 11, pp. 12629-12639.
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Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a promising and energy-efficient technology for desalination. The development of high-performance capacitive electrodes is essential for enhancing the CDI properties for practical applications. Here, a 2D heterostructure was rationally designed and synthesized by face-to-face restacking of NbOPO4 nanosheets and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) via an electrostatic self-assembly process. The as-prepared 2D NbOPO4/rGO heterostructure achieved an excellent ion storage capacity, electronic conductivity, and unimpeded ion kinetics. When applied as electrodes for CDI, the 2D NbOPO4/rGO heterostructure delivered a high specific capacitance of 258.3 F g-1 and an electrosorption capacity of 73 mg g-1 for NaCl solution of 10 000 mg L-1 at an applied voltage of 1.2 V, which is more than five times larger than that of activated carbon. The heterostructure electrode also showed high desalination stability for up to 50 adsorption/desorption cycles. The high CDI performance is attributed to the strong 2D/2D coupling between NbOPO4 nanosheets and rGO. The strong 2D/2D coupling reduced the charge transfer resistance, affirmed via the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy technique, attesting to the enhanced charge transportation across the heterointerface. The robust 2D/2D coupling was affirmed via the uniform and identical Raman shifts at various random regions, and larger XPS binding energy shifts for the self-assembled NbOPO4/rGO heterostructure. This work demonstrated the potential of self-assembled nanoheterostructures for water desalination via capacitive deionization.

Sarker, PC, Guo, Y, Lu, HY & Zhu, JG 2021, 'Measurement and Modeling of Rotational Core Loss of Fe-Based Amorphous Magnetic Material Under 2-D Magnetic Excitation', IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 57, no. 11, pp. 1-8.
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Fe-based amorphous magnetic materials are recently attracting strong interests for constructing high-power density and high-efficiency rotating electrical machines due to their attractive properties, such as low core loss and high magnetic saturation. Accurate measurement and modeling of the rotational core losses of the core magnetic materials, and the corresponding patterns of rotating magnetic flux density ( $B$ ) and magnetic field strength ( $H$ ) are important for the analysis and design of electrical machines. This article presents the measurement of rotational core loss of a Fe-based amorphous magnetic material (amorphous 1k101), and its corresponding modelings under two-dimensional (2-D) circularly and elliptically rotating magnetic fields. In addition, an improved and simplified analogical model of rotational hysteresis loss is proposed for such magnetic materials. The circular and elliptical $B$ loci and the corresponding $H$ loci have been investigated to acquire the perception of anisotropy and permeability of the amorphous materials. The proposed theory and models are experimentally verified.

Sharif, HMA, Li, T, Mahmood, N, Ahmad, M, Xu, J, Mahmood, A, Djellabi, R & Yang, B 2021, 'Thermally activated epoxy-functionalized carbon as an electrocatalyst for efficient NOx reduction', Carbon, vol. 182, pp. 516-524.
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Large toxic emissions like nitrogen and sulphur oxides (NOx, SO2) are causing serious environmental and health issues. Catalytic reduction of NOx and SOx into friendly gases is considered one of the best approaches. However, regeneration of catalyst, higher bond-dissociation energy for NOx, i.e., 150.7 kcal/mol, escape of intermediate gas (N2O, a greenhouse gas) with treated flue-gas, and limited activity of catalyst remains a great challenge. Here, a cheap, binderless naturally-extracted bass-wood thin carbon electrode (TCE) was fabricated, which shows excellent catalytic activity towards NOx reduction. The bass-wood carbonization was carried out at 900 °C followed by thermal activation in the presence of CO2 gas at 750 °C. The thermal activation resulted in increased epoxy groups on the surface of the TCE and enhancement in the surface area as well as the degree of graphitization. The TCE unique 3D strongly inter-connected network through hierarchical micro/meso/macro pores that allow large electrode/electrolyte interface. Owing to these characteristics, the TCE exhibited excellent catalytic efficiency towards NOx (∼83.3%) under ambient conditions and enhanced catalytic response around neutral pH and sulphite exposure as well as excellent stability up to 168 h. Moreover, a temperature-dependent activity trend was found where the highest catalytic activity was achieved at 80 °C beyond which the electrolyte became evaporative and resulted in performance decrease. The designed electrocatalyst is low-cost, sustainable and showed great potential for effective NOx-reduction, which might be used for NOx abatement at large scale.

Sharif, HMA, Mahmood, A, Djellabi, R, Cheng, H-Y, Dong, H, Ajibade, FO, Ali, I, Yang, B & Wang, A-J 2021, 'Utilization of electrochemical treatment and surface reconstruction to achieve long lasting catalyst for NOx removal', Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 401, pp. 123440-123440.
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The development of catalysts has seen tremendous growth recently but most strategies only report utilization of catalysts for a few initial cycles without taking into account the influence of oxygen poisoning. Here, the magnetic Fe3O4@EDTA-Fe (MEFe, having a core Fe3O4 particle with EDTA-Fe coating) was investigated as a model catalyst for long-term recycling for the removal of nitrogen oxide (NOx) from NO/O2 mixture, followed by N2O recovery. The concentration of oxygen in the flue gas was found to have a strong impact on NOx absorption and catalytic response. To circumvent the oxygen poisoning, the MEFe was subjected to electrochemical treatment in the presence of neutral red (N.R.) and NO removal efficiency was ∼95 % noted. Furthermore, the surface of the catalyst degraded significantly (p < 0.05) after 6-7 repetitive cycling due to surface catalytic reactions, surface poisoning, oxidation of metallic species as well as residual stresses. The MEFe surface was reconstructed after 7 cycles using EDTA solution and Fe source to achieve similar surface coating as the fresh MEFe catalyst. The reconstructed MEFe exhibited similar NOx absorption capability as the fresh MEFe and the reconstruction loop was repeated several times to achieve long term cycling, which make the catalyst cost-effective. Hence, it is proposed that a successful regeneration process can be employed for promising, sustainable and long-lasting catalytic treatment of air pollutants.

Shi, Y, Tuan, HD, Savkin, AV, Lin, C-T, Zhu, JG & Poor, HV 2021, 'Distributed model predictive control for joint coordination of demand response and optimal power flow with renewables in smart grid', Applied Energy, vol. 290, pp. 116701-116701.
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Sillapachaiyaporn, C, Rangsinth, P, Nilkhet, S, Ung, AT, Chuchawankul, S & Tencomnao, T 2021, 'Neuroprotective Effects against Glutamate-Induced HT-22 Hippocampal Cell Damage and Caenorhabditis elegans Lifespan/Healthspan Enhancing Activity of Auricularia polytricha Mushroom Extracts', Pharmaceuticals, vol. 14, no. 10, pp. 1001-1001.
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Oxidative stress is associated with several diseases, particularly neurodegenerative diseases, commonly found in the elderly. The attenuation of oxidative status is one of the alternatives for neuroprotection and anti-aging. Auricularia polytricha (AP), an edible mushroom, contains many therapeutic properties, including antioxidant properties. Herein, we report the effects of AP extracts on antioxidant, neuroprotective, and anti-aging activities. The neuroprotective effect of AP extracts against glutamate-induced HT-22 neuronal damage was determined by evaluating the cytotoxicity, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, and expression of antioxidant enzyme genes. Lifespan and healthspan assays were performed to examine the effects of AP extracts from Caenorhabditis elegans. We found that ethanolic extract (APE) attenuated glutamate-induced HT-22 cytotoxicity and increased the expression of antioxidant enzyme genes. Moreover, APE promoted in the longevity and health of the C. elegans. Chemical analysis of the extracts revealed that APE contains the highest quantity of flavonoids and a reasonable percentage of phenols. The lipophilic compounds in APE were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), revealing that APE mainly contains linoleic acid. Interestingly, linoleic acid suppressed neuronal toxicity and ROS accumulation from glutamate induction. These results indicate that AP could be an exciting natural source that may potentially serves as neuroprotective and anti-aging agents.

Singh, G, Bahadur, R, Ruban, AM, Davidraj, JM, Su, D & Vinu, A 2021, 'Synthesis of functionalized nanoporous biocarbons with high surface area for CO₂ capture and supercapacitor applications', Green Chemistry, vol. 23, no. 15, pp. 5571-5583.
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The article highlights the green synthesis of nanoporous biocarbons and their utilization as adsorbents for CO₂ capture and electrode materials for supercapacitors.

Su, L, Zhang, J, Chen, Y, Yang, W, Wang, J, Ma, Z, Shao, G & Wang, G 2021, 'Cobalt-embedded hierarchically-porous hollow carbon microspheres as multifunctional confined reactors for high-loading Li-S batteries', Nano Energy, vol. 85, pp. 105981-105981.
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The shuttle effect of dissolved polysulfides migrating to and depositing on anodes often leads to low round-trip efficiency and short cycle life for lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Herein, we report the rational design of cobalt-embedded nitrogen-doped hollow carbon microspheres (Co@N-HCMSs) as a multifunctional sulfur host for Li-S batteries. The hollow carbon microspheres exhibit large central cavities wrapped by a hierarchically porous shell, showing a large surface area of 1954 m2 g−1. Furthermore, the carbon shells display a unique porous architecture, in which small pores are scattered on the outside and large pores are inside, thereby functioning as a selection barrier to confine polysulfides and diffuse Li+ simultaneously. Moreover, the highly dispersed cobalt nanoparticles in the porous shell activate the surrounding N-doped carbon layer, which not only promote chemical adsorption of polysulfides but also catalyze polysulfide conversion. This facilitation effect has been confirmed by Bader charge and density function theory (DFT) calculations. When applied in Li-S batteries, the sulfur-impregnated Co@N-HCMSs cathode material exhibits excellent electrochemical performances, especially with a high sulfur content of 90.5 wt% and a high areal sulfur loading of 5.1 mg cm−2.

Sun, X, Cao, J, Lei, G, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2021, 'A Composite Sliding Mode Control for SPMSM Drives Based on a New Hybrid Reaching Law With Disturbance Compensation', IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 1427-1436.
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Sun, X, Cao, J, Lei, G, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2021, 'A Robust Deadbeat Predictive Controller With Delay Compensation Based on Composite Sliding-Mode Observer for PMSMs', IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 36, no. 9, pp. 10742-10752.
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This article proposes an improved deadbeat predictive controller for permanent-magnet synchronous motor drive systems. It can eliminate the influence of the parameter mismatch of inductance, resistance, and flux linkage. First, the performance of the conventional predictive current method is investigated to analyze sensitivities of the electric parameters. Then, a composite sliding-mode disturbance observer (SMDO) based on the stator current and lumped disturbance is proposed, which can simultaneously estimate the future current value and lumped disturbance caused by the parameter mismatch of inductance, resistance, and flux linkage. Based on the discrete-time SMDO, currents are estimated and used to replace the sampled values to compensate one-step delay caused by the calculation and sampling delay. Both simulation and experimental performances of the proposed method have been validated and compared with the conventional control methods under different conditions. The comparison results show the superiority of the proposed predictive current control method based on the composite SMDO.

Sun, X, Diao, K, Lei, G, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2021, 'Direct Torque Control Based on a Fast Modeling Method for a Segmented-Rotor Switched Reluctance Motor in HEV Application', IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 232-241.
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Sun, X, Li, T, Yao, M, Lei, G, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2021, 'Improved Finite-Control-Set Model Predictive Control with Virtual Vectors for PMSHM Drives', IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. PP, no. 99, pp. 1-1.
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Finite-control-set model predictive current control (FCS-MPCC) always has large steady-state fluctuation and computational burden. In this paper, a novel FCS-MPCC without a modulator to drive permanent magnet synchronous hub motors (PMSHMs), which combines virtual vectors expansion scheme and duty cycle control was proposed. The lack of a modulator reduces the complexity of the control system. The virtual vectors are synthesized by using active vectors, which improve the accuracy of voltage selection, and further improve PMSHMs steady-state performance and reduce current harmonics. The duty cycle control uses a zero vector to obtain better steady-state performance. However, the duty cycle of the virtual vectors is limited by the synthesis method, and further analysis is needed. A new calculation process is proposed to reduce the amount of calculation. The deadbeat principle is used to get reference voltage which determines sectors. Then, the best voltage vector in the selected sector is determined by the predetermined cost function. The traditional MPCC and the duty cycle MPCC (DCMPCC) are used as a comparison item to compare with the proposed method to illustrate its effectiveness. Results confirm that improved MPCC has good steady-state performance while maintaining a fast dynamic response.

Sun, X, Li, T, Zhu, Z, Lei, G, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2021, 'Speed Sensorless Model Predictive Current Control Based on Finite Position Set for PMSHM Drives', IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 2743-2752.
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As an efficient control strategy, model predictive current control (MPCC) has rapid response and simple calculation. This paper proposes an improved MPCC scheme for permanent-magnet synchronous hub motor (PMSHM) drives. The mentioned control scheme uses the parameter values at the last moment to obtain the back electromotive force (EMF) and utilizes the obtained back EMF to obtain the predicted current value at the next moment. In the actual application of the motor, to enhance the robustness of the control system, a sliding mode controller is used to replace the conventional PI speed loop, and a finite position phase-locked loop based on the dichotomy is added to achieve sensorless speed control and provide an accurate rotor position angle. To improve the steady-state performance, the method of duty cycle is introduced, and the null vector and the actual vector are used together in the same control cycle. The simulation and experimental results both show the effectiveness of the proposed MPCC scheme, and the steady-state performance of MPCC is greatly improved compared with traditional MPCC.

Sun, X, Shi, Z & Zhu, J 2021, 'Multiobjective Design Optimization of an IPMSM for EVs Based on Fuzzy Method and Sequential Taguchi Method', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 68, no. 11, pp. 10592-10600.
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The Taguchi optimization method is an efficient method for motor design optimization. However, it is hard to handle the multiobjective motor optimization problem with big design space for the parameters. To deal with this problem, in this article, a fuzzy method and sequential Taguchi method to optimize an inter permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) is employed. The fuzzy inference system is introduced to convert the multiple objectives to a single-objective optimization problem. The sequential Taguchi method is used to optimize the structural parameters at multiple levels to improve the accuracy of optimization. After the optimal selection analysis, the best combination of motor structure factors is obtained. By comparing the optimization result of the proposed method with that of the conventional Taguchi optimization method, the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method are verified.

Sun, X, Wu, M, Lei, G, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2021, 'An Improved Model Predictive Current Control for PMSM Drives Based on Current Track Circle', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 68, no. 5, pp. 3782-3793.
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Model predictive current control (MPCC) is a high-performance control strategy for permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drives, with the features of quick response and simple computation. However, the conventional MPCC results in high torque and current ripples. This article proposes an improved MPCC scheme for PMSM drives. In the proposed scheme, the back electromotive force is estimated from the previous stator voltage and current, and it is used to predict the stator current for the next period. To further improve the steady state and dynamic performance, the proposed MPCC selects the optimal voltage vector based on a current track circle instead of a cost function. Compared with the calculation of cost function, the prediction of the current track circle is simple and quick. The proposed MPCC is compared with conventional MPCC and a duty-circle based MPCC by simulation and experiment in the aspect of converter output voltage and sensitivity analysis. Results prove the superiority of the proposed MPCC and its effectiveness in reducing the torque and current ripples of PMSM drives.

Sun, X, Yang, J, Su, D, Wang, C & Wang, G 2021, 'Highly Efficient Adsorption of Bilirubin by Ti₃C₂T_x MXene', Chemistry – An Asian Journal, vol. 16, no. 14, pp. 1949-1955.
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AbstractWe discovered that the 2D Ti3C2Tx MXene sheet displays an ultra‐high removal capability for bilirubin (BR). In particular, MXene shows 47.6 times higher removal efficiency over traditional activated carbon absorbents. The effect of MXene on the removal rate of BR in BR solution containing different concentrations of bovine serum albumin (BSA) was studied. The adsorption capacity of BSA for BR at high concentration of 5 g L−1 was about 85% of the best adsorption capacity. The MXene before and after adsorption was characterized by SEM, FT‐IR and XPS. Furthermore, MXene beads were prepared, and the hemoperfusion simulation experiment was carried out. The results show that the adsorption capacity of MXene for bilirubin can reach 1192.9 mg g−1. This study suggests that MXene may be promising in the treatment of hyperbilirubinemia.

Tang, X, Zhou, D, Zhang, B, Wang, S, Li, P, Liu, H, Guo, X, Jaumaux, P, Gao, X, Fu, Y, Wang, C, Wang, C & Wang, G 2021, 'A universal strategy towards high–energy aqueous multivalent–ion batteries', Nature Communications, vol. 12, no. 1, p. 2857.
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AbstractRechargeable multivalent metal (e.g., Ca, Mg or, Al) batteries are ideal candidates for large–scale electrochemical energy storage due to their intrinsic low cost. However, their practical application is hampered by the low electrochemical reversibility, dendrite growth at the metal anodes, sluggish multivalent–ion kinetics in metal oxide cathodes and, poor electrode compatibility with non–aqueous organic–based electrolytes. To circumvent these issues, here we report various aqueous multivalent–ion batteries comprising of concentrated aqueous gel electrolytes, sulfur–containing anodes and, high-voltage metal oxide cathodes as alternative systems to the non–aqueous multivalent metal batteries. This rationally designed aqueous battery chemistry enables satisfactory specific energy, favorable reversibility and improved safety. As a demonstration model, we report a room–temperature calcium-ion/sulfur| |metal oxide full cell with a specific energy of 110 Wh kg–1 and remarkable cycling stability. Molecular dynamics modeling and experimental investigations reveal that the side reactions could be significantly restrained through the suppressed water activity and formation of a protective inorganic solid electrolyte interphase. The unique redox chemistry of the multivalent–ion system is also demonstrated for aqueous magnesium–ion/sulfur||metal oxide and aluminum–ion/sulfur||metal oxide full cells.

Tian, H, Song, A, Tian, H, Liu, J, Shao, G, Liu, H & Wang, G 2021, 'Single-atom catalysts for high-energy rechargeable batteries', Chemical Science, vol. 12, no. 22, pp. 7656-7676.
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Single-atom catalysts are reviewed, aiming to achieve optimized properties to boost electrochemical performances of high-energy batteries.

Tian, H, Tian, H, Yang, W, Zhang, F, Yang, W, Zhang, Q, Wang, Y, Liu, J, Silva, SRP, Liu, H & Wang, G 2021, 'Stable Hollow‐Structured Silicon Suboxide‐Based Anodes toward High‐Performance Lithium‐Ion Batteries', Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 31, no. 25, pp. 1-14.
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AbstractSilicon has been regarded as an attractive high‐capacity anode material for next‐generation lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs). However, Si anodes suffer from huge volume variation during cycling, which poses a critical challenge for stable battery operation. Compared with Si, Si suboxide (SiOx) is one of the most promising candidates for high‐energy‐density LIBs because of its alleviated swelling and highly stable cycling performance. Whereas, the poor electronic conductivity and low (initial) Coulombic efficiency of SiOx anodes severely hinder practical applications for LIBs. Herein, for the first time, these issues are successfully solved through rationally designing hollow‐structured SiOx@carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/C architectures with graphitic carbon coatings and in situ growth of CNTs. When applied as anodes in LIBs, the SiOx@CNTs/C anodes exhibit high reversible capacity, high initial Coulombic efficiency (88%), outstanding cycling performance, and extraordinary mechanical strength during the calendaring process (200 MPa). This work paves the way for developing SiOx‐based anode materials for high‐energy‐density LIBs.

Tkacheva, A, Sun, B, Zhang, J, Wang, G & McDonagh, AM 2021, 'Nitronyl Nitroxide-Based Redox Mediators for Li-O₂ Batteries', The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, vol. 125, no. 5, pp. 2824-2830.
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Electrochemical processes in Li-O2 batteries benefit from the action of soluble electrocatalysts (redox mediators, RMs) that can facilitate charge or discharge reactions and minimize the blockage of the cathode with the insoluble discharge product Li2O2. In this work, 2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl 3-oxide (PTIO) analogues (RPTIOs) as new redox mediators for Li-O2 batteries have been investigated. Cyclic voltammetry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction studies, and the galvanostatic cycling of the Li-O2 batteries showed that the RPTIOs could effectively catalyze the charge process while having a low impact on the discharge reaction. A direct connection was observed between the character of the substituent on the 2-position of the imidazoline ring, the oxidation redox potential of the RPTIO, and the value of the charge voltage of the battery with this RM, paving a path for further optimization.

Wang, F, Langford, S & Nakai, H 2021, 'Robust design of D-π-A model compounds using digital structures for organic DSSC applications', Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modelling, vol. 102, pp. 107798-107798.
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Wang, M, Zhu, J, Guo, L, Wu, J & Shen, Y 2021, 'Analytical Calculation of Complex Relative Permeance Function and Magnetic Field in Slotted Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines', IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 1-9.
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Wang, S, Ma, J, Liu, C, Wang, Y, Lei, G, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2021, 'Design and performance analysis of a novel PM assisted synchronous reluctance machine', International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics, vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 131-140.
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This paper proposes a novel permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance (PMAREL) machine, the main structure of this machine is quite similar to that of traditional PMAREL machine, and the main difference is that the grain-oriented silicon steel is used to replace some part of the stator teeth. The rolling direction of the grain-oriented silicon steel is along the radial direction of the machine, thus the advantage of higher permeability and higher kneel point in this material can be used to release the flux saturation problem of the traditional non-grain-oriented steel used in the PMAREL machine when the applied current density is high. Firstly, the structure of both proposed novel and traditional PMAREL machines are optimized and the design parameters are determined. Secondly the electromagnetic and mechanical performance are compared in these two machines which includes the demagnetization analysis, mechanical stress analysis when the rotor at the maximum speed, torque ability, efficiency by using the finite element method (FEM). It can be seen that the problem of stator teeth saturation in the novel PMAREL has been alleviated, and compared with the traditional PMAREL machine, the novel PMAREL has higher efficiency, wider speed range and 7% higher torque ability.

Wang, Y, Zhang, T, Duan, R, Zhao, Y, Su, D, Liu, Z & Li, C 2021, 'A novel conjugated heterotriangulene polymer for high performance organic lithium-ion battery', Dyes and Pigments, vol. 191, pp. 109352-109352.
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Due to their different structures and virtually unlimited raw material source, organic materials could triumph over many inorganic compounds as electrodes. However, most organic materials suffer the weaknesses of poor electron conducting and being soluble in electrolytes, which leads to low capacities and short lifetimes of batteries. In order to address these weaknesses, we present a readily scale-up-able process to polymerize N-heterotriangulene triketone, resulting in an essentially insoluble, two-dimensional conjugated polymer PHTA, showing a layered morphology with an interlayer spacing of 3.53 Å. Benefiting from the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbonic features, PHTA is insoluble in electrolytes and has high electrical conductivities (2.33 × 10−2 S cm−1). In LIBs, the PHTA electrode reveals a specific capacity of 380 mAh g−1 with an average attenuation rate of 0.026%. These results indicate PHTA to be a superior candidate and open a seminal future for N-heterotriangulene polymers for energy storage.

Waziri, I, Isa, MA, Sonopo, M, Williams, DBG & Muller, A 2021, 'Synthesis, anti-microbial, toxicity and molecular docking studies of N-nitroso-N-phenylhydroxylamine (cupferron) and its derivatives', Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, vol. 52, pp. 128381-128381.
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Wei, X, Xu, L, Luo, R, Cheng, M & Zhu, J 2021, 'Model Predictive Power Control of Brushless Doubly-Fed Induction Generator Considering Saturation Effect', Diangong Jishu Xuebao/Transactions of China Electrotechnical Society, vol. 36, no. 17, pp. 3721-3729.
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This paper proposes a model predictive power control strategy based on a dynamic model and analysis of the power distribution, considering the effects of magnetic saturation of the brushless doubly-fed induction generator (BDFIG). This strategy can realize accurate power control, so as to assure the quality of control winding current and reduce the switching frequency by estimating the magnetic inductance based on the saturation effect and correcting the inductance parameters input to the controller each period. Simulation and experiments were conducted on the BDFIG control system to identify the factors influencing the saturation effect, and validate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

Williams, DBG & Bodachivskyi, I 2021, 'Comment on ‘Chitosan dissolution with sulfopropyl imidazolium Brønsted acidic ionic liquids’', Journal of Molecular Liquids, vol. 328, pp. 115403-115403.
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Wu, M, Sun, X, Zhu, J, Lei, G & Guo, Y 2021, 'Improved Model Predictive Torque Control for PMSM Drives Based on Duty Cycle Optimization', IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 1-5.
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Xiao, M, Zuo, Y, Li, Y, Zhu, J, Li, Y & Zhu, L 2021, 'Core Loss Calculation of Anode Saturable Reactor in Damping Oscillation State Based on J-A Theory', IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 31, no. 8, pp. 1-4.
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Anode saturable reactor (ASR) is an important part of the HVDC converter valve. Due to the surge current during the transient processes of thyristors, a sharp increase will occur in core losses and over temperature-rising of the reactor, which may cause premature failure and is difficult to estimate in the design optimization of the reactors. To investigate the single core loss of anode saturable reactor, during such operating conditions, this paper proposes an approach to calculate the core loss from the Jiles-Atherton (J-A) dynamic hysteresis model, which can be applied for various operating conditions with good accuracy. Finally, the model is incorporated into the finite element method (FEM) to investigate the core loss distribution of the iron core during the oscillation process at off-state.

Xiong, P, Zhang, F, Zhang, X, Liu, Y, Wu, Y, Wang, S, Safaei, J, Sun, B, Ma, R, Liu, Z, Bando, Y, Sasaki, T, Wang, X, Zhu, J & Wang, G 2021, 'Atomic-scale regulation of anionic and cationic migration in alkali metal batteries', Nature Communications, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 1-15.
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AbstractThe regulation of anions and cations at the atomic scale is of great significance in membrane-based separation technologies. Ionic transport regulation techniques could also play a crucial role in developing high-performance alkali metal batteries such as alkali metal-sulfur and alkali metal-selenium batteries, which suffer from the non-uniform transport of alkali metal ions (e.g., Li+ or Na+) and detrimental shuttling effect of polysulfide/polyselenide anions. These drawbacks could cause unfavourable growth of alkali metal depositions at the metal electrode and irreversible consumption of cathode active materials, leading to capacity decay and short cycling life. Herein, we propose the use of a polypropylene separator coated with negatively charged Ti0.87O2 nanosheets with Ti atomic vacancies to tackle these issues. In particular, we demonstrate that the electrostatic interactions between the negatively charged Ti0.87O2 nanosheets and polysulfide/polyselenide anions reduce the shuttling effect. Moreover, the Ti0.87O2-coated separator regulates the migration of alkali ions ensuring a homogeneous ion flux and the Ti vacancies, acting as sub-nanometric pores, promote fast alkali-ion diffusion.

Xu, W, Junejo, AK, Liu, Y, Hussien, MG & Zhu, J 2021, 'An Efficient Antidisturbance Sliding-Mode Speed Control Method for PMSM Drive Systems', IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 6879-6891.
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Xu, W, Li, X, Zhu, J & Wang, Q 2021, '3-D Modeling and Testing of a Stator-Magnet Transverse-Flux Linear Oscillatory Machine for Direct Compressor Drive', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 68, no. 9, pp. 8474-8486.
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A stator-magnet transverse-flux linear oscillatory machine is proposed for direct compressor drive. The robust transverse-flux structure with permanent magnets embedded in the stator yoke and a moving-iron translator can yield high reliability and is relatively simple to fabricate. For electromagnetic performance analysis, a linear model under the no-load condition and a nonlinear model under the loaded condition are developed by taking into account the axial leakage flux and saturation effects of iron core, respectively. The effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed analytical models are verified by comparing the results with those of the finite element analysis and the static experimental tests. Based on the measured static characteristics and damping coefficient, a system kinetic model is developed in the form of coupled equivalent electromechanical circuit, and validated by the results of dynamic test on a prototype. The key indices of the new machine are compared with those of an existing moving-magnet linear oscillatory machine, including the amount of permanent magnet usage, efficiency, and thrust density, etc. The case study results show that the proposed linear oscillatory machine is suitable for linear compressor drives.

Xu, W, Zhang, Y, Du, G, He, M & Zhu, J 2021, 'No-Load Performance Analysis of an Asymmetric-Pole Single-Phase Doubly Salient Permanent Magnet Machine', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 68, no. 4, pp. 2907-2918.
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Yuan, C, Chen, W, Yang, Z, Huang, Z & Yu, X 2021, 'The effect of various cations/anions for MgH2 hydrolysis reaction', Journal of Materials Science & Technology, vol. 73, pp. 186-192.
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MgH2 is regarded as a potential hydrolysis material for the hydrogen generation due to its high theoretical hydrogen yield, abundant source on earth and environmentally friendly hydrolysates. However, the quickly formed passive magnesium hydroxide layer on the surface of MgH2 will hinder its further hydrolysis reaction, leading to sluggish reaction kinetics and low H2 yield. In this paper, we explore the improvement of different anions and cations in solutions for the hydrolysis of MgH2. It is found that the cations in the solution promote the reaction rate of MgH2 hydrolysis through the hydrolysate-induced growth effect, among which the fastest hydrogen yield can get 1664 mL/g within a few minutes in the Fe2(SO4)3 solution. As for the anions, it enables different microstructures of the Mg(OH)2 hydrolysate which give rise to enhanced water utilization. Specially, for the mixed 0.5 M MgCl2 + 0.05 M MgSO4 solution, the water utilization rate attains the optimum value of 51.3 %, much higher than that of the single MgCl2 or MgSO4 solutions. These findings are of great significance for the application of MgH2 hydrolysis as hydrogen generation.

Zhang, G, Morrison, D, Bao, G, Yu, H, Yoon, CW, Song, T, Lee, J, Ung, AT & Huang, Z 2021, 'An Amine–Borane System Featuring Room‐Temperature Dehydrogenation and Regeneration', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, vol. 60, no. 21, pp. 11725-11729.
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AbstractAmine–borane complexes have been extensively studied as hydrogen storage materials. Herein, we report a new amine–borane system featuring a reversible dehydrogenation and regeneration at room temperature. In addition to high purity H2, the reaction between ethylenediamine bisborane (EDAB) and ethylenediamine (ED) leads to unique boron–carbon–nitrogen 5‐membered rings in the dehydrogenation product where one boron is tricoordinated by three nitrogen atoms. Owing to the unique cyclic structure, the dehydrogenation product can be efficiently converted back to EDAB by NaBH4 and H2O at room temperature. This finding could lead to the discovery of new amine boranes with potential usage as hydrogen storage materials.

Zhang, G, Morrison, D, Bao, G, Yu, H, Yoon, CW, Song, T, Lee, J, Ung, AT & Huang, Z 2021, 'An Amine–Borane System Featuring Room‐Temperature Dehydrogenation and Regeneration', Angewandte Chemie, vol. 133, no. 21, pp. 11831-11835.
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AbstractAmine–borane complexes have been extensively studied as hydrogen storage materials. Herein, we report a new amine–borane system featuring a reversible dehydrogenation and regeneration at room temperature. In addition to high purity H2, the reaction between ethylenediamine bisborane (EDAB) and ethylenediamine (ED) leads to unique boron–carbon–nitrogen 5‐membered rings in the dehydrogenation product where one boron is tricoordinated by three nitrogen atoms. Owing to the unique cyclic structure, the dehydrogenation product can be efficiently converted back to EDAB by NaBH4 and H2O at room temperature. This finding could lead to the discovery of new amine boranes with potential usage as hydrogen storage materials.

Zhang, W, Zhang, X, Huang, Z, Li, H-W, Gao, M, Pan, H & Liu, Y 2021, 'Recent Development of Lithium Borohydride‐Based Materials for Hydrogen Storage', Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research, vol. 2, no. 10, pp. 2100073-2100073.
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Lithium borohydride (LiBH4) has been attracting extensive attention as an exemplary high‐capacity complex hydride for solid‐state hydrogen storage applications because of its high hydrogen capacities (18.5 wt% and 121 kg H2 m−3). However, the strong and highly directional covalent and ionic bonds within LiBH4 structure induce high desorption temperatures, slow kinetics, and poor reversibility, which make large‐scale application impractical. To improve its hydrogen cycling performance, several strategies including cation/anion substitution, catalyst doping, reactive compositing, and nanoengineering, have been developed to tailor the thermodynamics and kinetics of hydrogen storage process. For example, largely reduced operation temperatures and remarkably improved hydrogen storage reversibility under moderate conditions have been achieved by the synergistic effect of nanostructuring and nanocatalysis. Herein, the state‐of‐the‐art development of LiBH4‐based hydrogen storage materials is summarized, including the basic physical and chemical properties, the principles of thermodynamic and kinetic manipulation and the strategies to improve hydrogen storage properties. The remaining challenges and the main directions of future research are also discussed.

Zhang, X, Liu, Y, Ren, Z, Zhang, X, Hu, J, Huang, Z, Lu, Y, Gao, M & Pan, H 2021, 'Realizing 6.7 wt% reversible storage of hydrogen at ambient temperature with non-confined ultrafine magnesium hydrides', Energy & Environmental Science, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 2302-2313.
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Non-confined MgH₂ nanoparticles of 4–5 nm diameter enable reversible storage of hydrogen up to 6.7 wt% at 30 °C.

Zhang, X, Zhang, L, Zhang, W, Ren, Z, Huang, Z, Hu, J, Gao, M, Pan, H & Liu, Y 2021, 'Nano-synergy enables highly reversible storage of 9.2 wt% hydrogen at mild conditions with lithium borohydride', Nano Energy, vol. 83, pp. 105839-105839.
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In this work, we report an effective synthetic strategy to obtain LiBH4 featuring low-temperature and highly reversible hydrogen cycling. This is achieved by a unique nanocomposite structure where LiBH4 nanoparticles of 5–10 nm on graphene are decorated by Ni nanocrystals of 2–4 nm. The prepared LiBH4 nanocomposite reversibly desorbs and absorbs ~9.2 wt% hydrogen at 300 °C with a stable cyclability for up to 100 cycles, superior to all the literature results reported so far. The decisive factor affecting the hydrogen cycling is the reactivity of boron toward hydrogen. The formation of stable B12H122- cluster during hydrogen cycling has been successfully prevented. The synergetic effects of nanostructuring and nanocatalysis lead to efficient formation of BH4¯ during hydrogenation and elemental boron during dehydrogenation. This breakthrough sheds light on new strategies to explore borohydride family for practical hydrogen storage applications.

Zhao, S, Guo, Z, Yan, K, Guo, X, Wan, S, He, F, Sun, B & Wang, G 2021, 'The Rise of Prussian Blue Analogs: Challenges and Opportunities for High‐Performance Cathode Materials in Potassium‐Ion Batteries', Small Structures, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 2000054-2000054.
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Potassium‐ion batteries (PIBs) are emerging as one of the potential alternatives to lithium‐ion batteries for next‐generation rechargeable battery systems. Nevertheless, the lack of suitable cathode materials with high capacity hinders their practical applications. Recently, Prussian blue analogs (PBAs) cathode materials stand out as promising candidates for PIBs. Their unique crystal structure with open 3D frameworks and large interstitial voids favors fast K+ intercalation without causing drastic volume expansion, which is the prerequisite for high‐rate and long‐term battery operation. Herein, a fundamental review on the development and advance of PBAs cathode materials is presented for PIBs with in‐depth elucidation of their crystal structures, chemical compositions, and electrochemical performances. Particularly, the unique and prominent advantages of PBAs in both aqueous and nonaqueous PIBs are highlighted. In addition, to bridge the current gap from the laboratory to future commercialization, potential improvement strategies are proposed to overcome the present drawbacks. Finally, perspectives and new insights are provided for further exploration and research in PBAs for better PIBs.

Zhao, S, Guo, Z, Yan, K, Wan, S, He, F, Sun, B & Wang, G 2021, 'Towards high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries: Strategies for developing high-capacity lithium-rich cathode materials', Energy Storage Materials, vol. 34, pp. 716-734.
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With the growing demand for high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries, layered lithium-rich cathode materials with high specific capacity and low cost have been widely regarded as one of the most attractive candidates for next-generation lithium-ion batteries. However, issues such as voltage decay, capacity loss and sluggish reaction kinetics have hindered their further commercialization for decades. Intensive investigations have been devoted to developing high-performance lithium-rich cathode materials, highlighting the importance of improvement strategies as a potential approach. Herein, we summarize various strategies for improving performances of layered lithium-rich cathode materials for next-generation high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries. These include surface engineering, elemental doping, composition optimization, structure engineering and electrolyte additives, with emphasis on the effect and functional mechanism of corresponding techniques. In the subsequent section, we illustrate opportunities and challenges for designing high-performance lithium-rich cathode materials and bridging the gap between the laboratory and practical applications.

Zhao, S, Guo, Z, Yang, J, Wang, C, Sun, B & Wang, G 2021, 'Nanoengineering of Advanced Carbon Materials for Sodium‐Ion Batteries', Small, vol. 17, no. 48, pp. 1-5.
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AbstractRecent research shows that the continuing importance of carbon anode materials plays an important role in the development of sodium‐ion batteries. Nevertheless, the practical deployment of sodium‐ion batteries still faces many challenges such as mediocre sodium storage capability and short cycle life. Therefore, it is imperative to explore improvement methods to boost their competitiveness. Herein, various nanoengineering strategies, including nanostructure design, defect and heteroatom doping, and nanocomposite optimization, are proposed as reliable and effective approaches to improve electrochemical performances and structural stability of carbon‐based anode materials for sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs). The feasibility of nanoengineering is highlighted as a promising approach to develop next‐generation carbon materials for sodium‐ion batteries.

Zhao, S, Liu, Z, Xie, G, Guo, X, Guo, Z, Song, F, Li, G, Chen, C, Xie, X, Zhang, N, Sun, B, Guo, S & Wang, G 2021, 'Achieving High‐Performance 3D K⁺‐Pre‐intercalated Ti₃C₂T_x MXene for Potassium‐Ion Hybrid Capacitors via Regulating Electrolyte Solvation Structure', Angewandte Chemie, vol. 133, no. 50, pp. 26450-26457.
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AbstractThe development of high‐performance anode materials for potassium‐based energy storage devices with long‐term cyclability requires combined innovations from rational material design to electrolyte optimization. A three‐dimensional K+‐pre‐intercalated Ti3C2Tx MXene with enlarged interlayer distance was constructed for efficient electrochemical potassium‐ion storage. We found that the optimized solvation structure of the concentrated ether‐based electrolyte leads to the formation of a thin and inorganic‐rich solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the K+‐pre‐intercalated Ti3C2Tx electrode, which is beneficial for interfacial stability and reaction kinetics. As a proof of concept, 3D K+‐Ti3C2Tx//activated carbon (AC) potassium‐ion hybrid capacitors (PIHCs) were assembled, which exhibited promising electrochemical performances. These results highlight the significant roles of both rational structure design and electrolyte optimization for highly reactive MXene‐based anode materials in energy storage devices.

Zhao, S, Liu, Z, Xie, G, Guo, X, Guo, Z, Song, F, Li, G, Chen, C, Xie, X, Zhang, N, Sun, B, Guo, S & Wang, G 2021, 'Achieving High‐Performance 3D K⁺‐Pre‐intercalated Ti₃C₂T_x MXene for Potassium‐Ion Hybrid Capacitors via Regulating Electrolyte Solvation Structure', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, vol. 60, no. 50, pp. 26246-26253.
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AbstractThe development of high‐performance anode materials for potassium‐based energy storage devices with long‐term cyclability requires combined innovations from rational material design to electrolyte optimization. A three‐dimensional K+‐pre‐intercalated Ti3C2Tx MXene with enlarged interlayer distance was constructed for efficient electrochemical potassium‐ion storage. We found that the optimized solvation structure of the concentrated ether‐based electrolyte leads to the formation of a thin and inorganic‐rich solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the K+‐pre‐intercalated Ti3C2Tx electrode, which is beneficial for interfacial stability and reaction kinetics. As a proof of concept, 3D K+‐Ti3C2Tx//activated carbon (AC) potassium‐ion hybrid capacitors (PIHCs) were assembled, which exhibited promising electrochemical performances. These results highlight the significant roles of both rational structure design and electrolyte optimization for highly reactive MXene‐based anode materials in energy storage devices.

Zhao, S, Yan, K, Liang, J, Yuan, Q, Zhang, J, Sun, B, Munroe, P & Wang, G 2021, 'Phosphorus and Oxygen Dual‐Doped Porous Carbon Spheres with Enhanced Reaction Kinetics as Anode Materials for High‐Performance Potassium‐Ion Hybrid Capacitors', Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 31, no. 31, pp. 1-12.
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AbstractHard carbons with low cost and high specific capacity hold great potential as anode materials for potassium‐based energy storage. However, their sluggish reaction kinetics and inevitable volume expansion degrade their electrochemical performance. Through rational nanostructure design and a heteroatom doping strategy, herein, the synthesis of phosphorus/oxygen dual‐doped porous carbon spheres is reported, which possess expanded interlayer distances, abundant redox active sites, and oxygen‐rich defects. The as‐developed battery‐type anode material shows high discharge capacity (401 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1), outstanding rate capability, and ultralong cycling stability (89.8% after 10 000 cycles). In situ Raman spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations further confirm that the formation of PC and PO/POH bonds not only improves structural stability, but also contributes to a rapid surface‐controlled potassium adsorption process. As a proof of concept, a potassium‐ion hybrid capacitor is assembled by a dual‐doped porous carbon sphere anode and an activated carbon cathode. It shows superior electrochemical performance, which opens a new avenue to innovative potassium‐based energy storage technology.

Zhao, S, Yan, K, Zhang, J, Sun, B & Wang, G 2021, 'Reaction Mechanisms of Layered Lithium‐Rich Cathode Materials for High‐Energy Lithium‐Ion Batteries', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, vol. 60, no. 5, pp. 2208-2220.
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AbstractLayered lithium‐rich cathode materials have attracted extensive interest owing to their high theoretical specific capacity (320–350 mA h g−1). However, poor cycling stability and sluggish reaction kinetics inhibit their practical applications. After many years of quiescence, interest in layered lithium‐rich cathode materials is expected to revive in answer to our increasing dependence on high‐energy‐density lithium‐ion batteries. Herein, we review recent research progress and in‐depth descriptions of the structure characterization and reaction mechanisms of layered lithium‐rich manganese‐based cathode materials. In particular, we comprehensively summarize the proposed reaction mechanisms of both the cationic redox reaction of transition‐metal ions and the anionic redox reaction of oxygen species. Finally, we discuss opportunities and challenges facing the future development of lithium‐rich cathode materials for next‐generation lithium‐ion batteries.

Zhao, Y, Zhang, J, Xie, Y, Sun, B, Jiang, J, Jiang, W-J, Xi, S, Yang, HY, Yan, K, Wang, S, Guo, X, Li, P, Han, Z, Lu, X, Liu, H & Wang, G 2021, 'Constructing Atomic Heterometallic Sites in Ultrathin Nickel-Incorporated Cobalt Phosphide Nanosheets via a Boron-Assisted Strategy for Highly Efficient Water Splitting', Nano Letters, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 823-832.
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Identification of active sites for highly efficient catalysts at the atomic scale for water splitting is still a great challenge. Herein, we fabricate ultrathin nickel-incorporated cobalt phosphide porous nanosheets (Ni-CoP) featuring an atomic heterometallic site (NiCo_16-xP₆) via a boron-assisted method. The presence of boron induces a release-and-oxidation mechanism, resulting in the gradual exfoliation of hydroxide nanosheets. After a subsequent phosphorization process, the resultant Ni-CoP nanosheets are implanted with unsaturated atomic heterometallic NiCo_16-xP₆ sites (with Co vacancies) for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The optimized Ni-CoP exhibits a low overpotential of 88 and 290 mV at 10 mA cm^-2 for alkaline HER and OER, respectively. This can be attributed to reduced free energy barriers, owing to the direct influence of center Ni atoms to the adjacent Co/P atoms in NiCo_16-xP₆ sites. These provide fundamental insights on the correlation between atomic structures and catalytic activity.

Zhu, G, Li, L, Fu, W, Xue, M, Liu, T & Zhu, J 2021, 'A Novel Neural Network Cell Method for Solving Nonlinear Electromagnetic Problems', Advanced Theory and Simulations, vol. 4, no. 12, pp. 2100216-2100216.
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AbstractEffective analysis of nonlinear electromagnetic fields is essential for the accurate modeling of electromagnetic devices, such as transformers, generators, and motors. This paper proposes a novel approach of coupled neural network (NN) and cell method (CM) or NNCM for solving nonlinear electromagnetic problems with ferromagnetic domains. While the topologically linear relations of the cell complexes are mathematically assembled through a transformation in the Tonti diagram by the CM, and the constitutive nonlinear magnetic relations are dealt with by partially connected NN for the fast prediction of the permeability distribution inside the ferromagnetic domain. Since the construction of NN is directly related to the grid connections, a partially connected NN structure with a small number of neurons can reduce the computational cost of the training process. By using a compact NN, the proposed NNCM can effectively eliminate the time consuming iterations for determining the nonlinear permeability distribution, and improve the computational efficiency significantly. The NNCM is employed to analyze the transient electromagnetic field distribution inside a cylindrical ferromagnetic core. The results are compared with those obtained by the traditional iterative CM, which determines the nonlinear permeability distribution by lengthy numerical iterations, to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed NNCM.

Zhu, J, Yang, Y, Li, M, Mcgloin, D, Liao, S, Nulman, J, Yamada, M & Iacopi, F 2021, 'Additively Manufactured Millimeter-Wave Dual-Band Single-Polarization Shared Aperture Fresnel Zone Plate Metalens Antenna', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 69, no. 10, pp. 6261-6272.
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Fresnel zone plate (FZP) lens antenna, consisting of a set of alternative transparent and opaque concentric rings arranged on curvilinear or flat surfaces, have been widely used in various fields for sensing and communications. Nevertheless, the state-of-art FZP lens antennas are limited to a single band due to the frequency-dependent feature, which hinders their use in multi-band applications. In this work, a shared-aperture dual-band FZP metalens antenna is proposed by merging two single-band FZP metalens antenna operating at distinct frequency bands seamlessly into one. Instead of using conventional metallic conductors, double-screen meta-grids are devised in this work to form the concentric rings. Because the meta-grids show distinct transmission/reflection properties at different frequencies, the performance of one set of concentric rings operating at the one band will not be affected by the other operating at the different band. In addition, to compensate for the phase shift introduced by the meta-grids, an additional dielectric ring layer is added atop the FZP taking advantage of additive manufacturing. Thus, the radiation performance of the dual-band FZP lens antenna is comparable to that of each single FZP metalens antenna. For proof-of-concept, an antenna prototype operating at the dual-band, 75 GHz and 120 GHz with a frequency ratio of 1.6, is fabricated using an integrated additively manufactured electronics (AME) technique. The measured peak gains of 20.3 dBi and 21.9 dBi are achieved at 75 GHz and 120 GHz, respectively.

Zhu, Y, Zhong, H, Wang, H, Ouyang, L, Liu, J, Huang, Z & Zhu, M 2021, 'Breaking the Passivation: Sodium Borohydride Synthesis by Reacting Hydrated Borax with Aluminum', Chemistry – A European Journal, vol. 27, no. 35, pp. 9087-9093.
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AbstractA significant obstacle in the large‐scale applications of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) for hydrogen storage is its high cost. Herein, we report a new method to synthesize NaBH4 by ball milling hydrated sodium tetraborate (Na2B4O7 ⋅ 10H2O) with low‐cost Al or Al88Si12, instead of Na, Mg or Ca. An effective strategy is developed to facilitate mass transfer during the reaction by introducing NaH to enable the formation of NaAlO2 instead of dense Al2O3 on Al surface, and by using Si as a milling additive to prevent agglomeration and also break up passivation layers. Another advantage of this process is that hydrogen in Na2B4O7 ⋅ 10H2O serves as a hydrogen source for NaBH4 generation. Considering the low cost of the starting materials and simplicity in operation, our studies demonstrate the potential of producing NaBH4 in a more economical way than the commercial process.

Li, M, Yang, Y, Iacopi, F & Nulman, J 1970, 'Additively Manufactured Multi-Layer Bandpass Filter Based on Vertically Integrated Composite Right and Left Handed Resonator', 2021 IEEE Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference (APMC), 2021 IEEE Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference (APMC), IEEE, Brisbane, Australia, pp. 175-177.
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This paper proposed a miniaturised multi-layer composite right/left-handed (CRLH) resonator. The odd- and even-mode circuit analysis method is presented to explain the resonance properties of the three-dimension (3D) CRLH resonator. Based on the CRLH resonator, a bandpass filter (BPF) with wide bandwidth, low-loss, and compact size is proposed. A fully-integrated additive manufacturing (AM) approach is introduced to fabricate the proposed BPF. Finally, the proposed compact BPF is designed at 8.3 GHz with a bandwidth of 72.3%, a low insertion loss of 0.51 dB, and a compact size of 5.8mm × 2.1 mm × 0.89 mm (0.269λg × 0.097λg× 0.041λg), which is suitable for circuit-in-package applications.

Li, M, Yang, Y, Zhang, Y, Iacopi, F, Ram, S & Nulman, J 1970, 'A Fully Integrated Conductive and Dielectric Additive Manufacturing Technology for Microwave Circuits and Antennas', 2020 50th European Microwave Conference (EuMC), 2020 50th European Microwave Conference (EuMC), IEEE, pp. 392-395.
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© 2021 EuMA. A fully-integrated additive manufacturing (AM) approach for microwave devices is presented in this work. The applied AM technology can print the circuit models simultaneously with conductive and dielectric materials. Taking advantage of this one-stop 3D manufacturing technology, multilayer circuit board with vias or holes can be prototyped rapidly and precisely. The electrical properties of the dielectric ink material are measured up to 40 GHz using a quasi-optical cavity test system. To further demonstrate the merit of this technology, an infilled-ground transmission line, as well as a microstrip patch antenna, are designed and fabricated. For proof-of-concept, the return loss, gain and radiation patterns of the antenna are measured, which demonstrate a good agreement with the simulated results.

Li, Y, Feng, Y, Huang, S, Ma, B, Zhu, S & Zhu, J 1970, 'An Acceleration Method for AC Steady State Performance of Dual Three-Phase Machine: Modeling and Implementation', 2021 13th International Symposium on Linear Drives for Industry Applications (LDIA), 2021 13th International Symposium on Linear Drives for Industry Applications (LDIA), IEEE.
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Liu, L, Guo, Y, Lei, G & Zhu, J 1970, 'Design and Analysis Technologies of High Speed Permanent Magnet Machines', 2021 31st Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference (AUPEC), 2021 31st Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference (AUPEC), IEEE, Perth, Australia, pp. 1-6.
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Concerns about advantages such as high efficiency and power density, small size and weight as well as fast dynamic response contribute to the increasing industrial applications of high speed permanent magnet machines (HSPMMs). This paper presents a review on the design and analysis technologies for HSPMMs. Specifically, the stator/rotor structures and materials used in HSPMMs are firstly introduced. Then, the calculation models in terms of stator copper loss, stator iron loss, rotor eddy-current loss and air-friction loss are summarized. Because of the non-negligible influences of high working temperature on motor performance, different calculation approaches of HSPMM temperature distribution and rise as well as the cooling methods are compared. Moreover, the research status of HSPMM mechanical characteristics, including the rotor material strength, bearing support and dynamic behaviors, are analyzed, followed by the conclusions and future directions.

Soomro, WA, Guo, Y, Lu, HY, Zhu, JG, Jin, JX & Shen, B 1970, 'Numerical Investigation of AC Loss in HTS Bulks Subjected to Rotating Magnetic Fields', 2021 31st Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference (AUPEC), 2021 31st Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference (AUPEC), IEEE, Perth, Australia.
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High-temperature superconductor (HTS) bulks have shown very promising potential for industrial applications due to their highly attractive superconducting characteristics. The practical application, however, has been handicapped by the AC losses. In rotating electrical machines, the magnetic field is a combination of alternating and rotating fields. All the AC loss studies presented in the literature so far have only focused on the alternating AC loss due to the unavailability of experimental techniques and analytical models. This paper presents a numerical investigation of AC loss by using the H-formulation under various two-dimensional rotating magnetizations with the magnetic flux density vectors rotating in clockwise and anti-clockwise directions in the XOY, XOZ, and YOZ planes. The modeling results show that the rotational AC loss of HTS bulk material is significantly higher than the alternating AC loss.

Wang, M, Li, H, Xu, X, Zhu, J & Shen, Y 1970, 'Magnetic Field Analysis of Permanent Magnet Linear Synchronous Motor Based on the Improved Complex Relative Permeance Function', 2021 13th International Symposium on Linear Drives for Industry Applications (LDIA), 2021 13th International Symposium on Linear Drives for Industry Applications (LDIA), IEEE.
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Zhang, J, Zhao, Y, Sun, B, Xie, Y, Tkacheva, A, Qiu, F, He, P, Zhou, H, Yan, K, Guo, X, Wang, S, McDonagh, A, Peng, Z, Lu, J & Wang, G 2021, 'A long-life lithium-oxygen battery via a molecular quenching/mediating mechanism', Research Square Platform LLC.
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