Thermoelectric properties of two-dimensional magnet CrI.

The thermoelectric, phonon transport, and electronic transport properties of two-dimensional magnet CrI are systematically investigated by combining density functional theory with Boltzmann transport theory. A low lattice thermal conductivity of 1.355 W mK is presented at 300 K due to the low Debye temperature and phonon group velocity.

Association of Inpatient Use of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors and Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers With Mortality Among Patients With Hypertension Hospitalized With COVID-19.

Rationale: Use of ACEIs (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors) and ARBs (angiotensin II receptor blockers) is a major concern for clinicians treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients with hypertension.

Objective: To determine the association between in-hospital use of ACEI/ARB and all-cause mortality in patients with hypertension and hospitalized due to COVID-19.

Methods And Results: This retrospective, multi-center study included 1128 adult patients with hypertension diagnosed with COVID-19, including 188 taking ACEI/ARB (ACEI/ARB group; median age 64 [interquartile range, 55-68] years; 53.

Solar-Enhanced Plasma-Catalytic Oxidation of Toluene over a Bifunctional Graphene Fin Foam Decorated with Nanofin-like MnO.

In this work, we propose a hybrid and unique process combining solar irradiation and post-plasma catalysis (PPC) for the effective oxidation of toluene over a highly active and stable MnO/GFF (bifunctional graphene fin foam) catalyst. The bifunctional GFF, serving as both the catalyst support and light absorber, is decorated with MnO nanofins, forming a hierarchical fin-on-fin structure. The results show that the MnO/GFF catalyst can effectively capture and convert renewable solar energy into heat (absorption of >95%), leading to a temperature rise (55.

Surveying Manganese Oxides as Electrode Materials for Harnessing Salinity Gradient Energy.

The potential energy contained in the controlled mixing of waters with different salt concentrations (i.e., salinity gradient energy) can theoretically provide a substantial fraction of the global electrical demand.

Neutralization Reaction Assisted Chemical-Potential-Driven Ion Transport through Layered Titanium Carbides Membrane for Energy Harvesting.

Chemical potential energy harvesting from the concentration gradient has been largely improved recently due to the development of nanofluidic energy conversion systems. However, the reported systems mainly focus on improving the membrane's performance but neglect the forms of concentration gradient. Here, we demonstrate the chemical reaction assisted chemical-potential-driven directional ion transport through layered titanium carbides membranes for energy harvesting.

High-Performance Salt-Rejecting and Cost-Effective Superhydrophilic Porous Monolithic Polymer Foam for Solar Steam Generation.

Direct solar desalination with excellent solar photothermal efficiency, lower cost, and extended generator device lifetime is beneficial to increase potable water supplies. To address fundamental challenges in direct solar desalination, herein, we present a new and facile method for the scalable fabrication of the polymer porous foam (VMP) as salt-resistant photothermal materials, which was synthesized through a one-step hydrothermal method using styrene and 1-vinyl-3-ethylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate as monomers and ,'-methylenebisacrylamide as the cross-linking agent. The as-resulted VMP shows excellent mechanical properties which could have a compression strain of 30%, resulting in its superior processability for practical operation.

Improved osmotic energy conversion in heterogeneous membrane boosted by three-dimensional hydrogel interface.

The emerging heterogeneous membranes show unprecedented superiority in harvesting the osmotic energy between ionic solutions of different salinity. However, the power densities are limited by the low interfacial transport efficiency caused by a mismatch of pore alignment and insufficient coupling between channels of different dimensions. Here we demonstrate the use of three-dimensional (3D) gel interface to achieve high-performance osmotic energy conversion through hybridizing polyelectrolyte hydrogel and aramid nanofiber membrane.

Boosting the Heat Dissipation Performance of Graphene/Polyimide Flexible Carbon Film via Enhanced Through-Plane Conductivity of 3D Hybridized Structure.

The development of materials with efficient heat dissipation capability has become essential for next-generation integrated electronics and flexible smart devices. Here, a 3D hybridized carbon film with graphene nanowrinkles and microhinge structures by a simple solution dip-coating technique using graphene oxide (GO) on polyimide (PI) skeletons, followed by high-temperature annealing, is constructed. Such a design provides this graphitized GO/PI (g-GO/PI) film with superflexibility and ultrahigh thermal conductivity in the through-plane (150 ± 7 W m K ) and in-plane (1428 ± 64 W m K ) directions.

High Thermoelectric Performance of Co-Doped P-Type Polycrystalline SnSe via Optimizing Electrical Transport Properties.

This work systematically investigated the thermoelectric properties of p-type Na and M (M = K, Li, Ag) codoped polycrystalline SnSe. It is found that the electrical properties of polycrystalline SnSe can be improved significantly for (Na, Ag) codoped samples, contributed by the enhanced carrier concentration. Specifically, a carrier concentration of 6.

One-Step Photocontrolled Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly (Photo-PISA) by Using In Situ Bromine-Iodine Transformation Reversible-Deactivation Radical Polymerization.

Polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) has become an effective strategy to synthesize high solid content polymeric nanoparticles with various morphologies in situ. In this work, one-step PISA was achieved by in situ photocontrolled bromine-iodine transformation reversible-deactivation radical polymerization (hereinafter referred to as Photo-BIT-RDRP). The water-soluble macroinitiator precursor α-bromophenylacetate polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether ester (mPEG-BPA) was synthesized in advance, and then the polymer nanomicelles (mPEG--PBnMA and mPEG--PHPMA, where BnMA means benzyl methacrylate and HPMA is hydroxypropyl methacrylate) were successfully formed from a PISA process of hydrophobic monomer of BnMA or HPMA under irradiation with blue LED light at room temperature.

Thermoelectric Flexible Silver Selenide Films: Compositional and Length Optimization.

Silver selenide is considered as a promising room temperature thermoelectric material due to its excellent performance and high abundance. However, the silver selenide-based flexible film is still behind in thermoelectric performance compared with its bulk counterpart. In this work, the composition of paper-supported silver selenide film was successfully modulated through changing reactant ratio and annealing treatment.

Photocontrolled Iodine-Mediated Reversible-Deactivation Radical Polymerization: Solution Polymerization of Methacrylates by Irradiation with NIR LED Light.

Herein, near-infrared (NIR) photocontrolled iodide-mediated reversible-deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP) of methacrylates, without an external photocatalyst, was developed using an alkyl iodide (e.g., 2-iodo-2-methylpropionitrile) as the initiator at room temperature.

Construction of Core-Shell Nanowire Arrays in a Cu-CuO Film Electrode for High Efficiency in Heat Dissipation.

Thermal engineering dramatically impacts the efficiency of microelectronics, but the corresponding technology lags far behind the need. For energy-efficient thermal management, a Cu-CuO film with highly ordered core-shell nanowire arrays and a good self-protection property was successfully fabricated using the magnetron sputtering method. The dense arrangement of nanowires in the films enhances the electronic transport property (220 mΩ sq), while the modified stable CuO layer maintained its perfect heat dissipation property, along with long-term thermal stability.

The influences of electronic effect and isomerization of salalen titanium(iv) complexes on ethylene polymerization in the presence of methylaluminoxane.

Herein, two salalen titanium(iv) complexes were synthesized and characterized. These complexes coexisted as two isomers in certain conditions and underwent isomerization, as evidenced by H NMR spectroscopy. Furthermore, the molar ratio of the two isomers ranged from 100 : 15 at 30 °C to 100 : 34 at 120 °C, driven by thermal energy, based on variable temperature H NMR characterization.

Ultralight Biomass Porous Foam with Aligned Hierarchical Channels as Salt-Resistant Solar Steam Generators.

The creation of solar steam generators with both high energy conversion efficiency and desired salt-resistant performance is essential for practical desalination. Herein, we report for the first time the fabrication of polypyrrole-coated biomass porous foam as efficient solar steam generators. The as-prepared foams possess a low thermal conductivity of 0.

Elevated Choline Kinase α-Mediated Choline Metabolism Supports the Prolonged Survival of TRAF3-Deficient B Lymphocytes.

Specific deletion of the tumor suppressor TRAF3 from B lymphocytes in mice leads to the prolonged survival of mature B cells and expanded B cell compartments in secondary lymphoid organs. In the current study, we investigated the metabolic basis of TRAF3-mediated regulation of B cell survival by employing metabolomic, lipidomic, and transcriptomic analyses. We compared the polar metabolites, lipids, and metabolic enzymes of resting splenic B cells purified from young adult B cell-specific and littermate control mice.

Design of Domain Structure and Realization of Ultralow Thermal Conductivity for Record-High Thermoelectric Performance in Chalcopyrite.

Chalcopyrite compound CuGaTe is the focus of much research interest due to its high power factor. However, its high intrinsic lattice thermal conductivity seriously impedes the promotion of its thermoelectric performance. Here, it is shown that through alloying of isoelectronic elements In and Ag in CuGaTe , a quinary alloy compound system Cu Ag Ga In Te (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.

Cyanate ester composites containing surface functionalized BN particles with grafted hyperpolyarylamide exhibiting desirable thermal conductivities and a low dielectric constant.

Surface functionalized BN particles with grafted hyperbranched polyarylamide (BN-HBP) were prepared and used to improve the thermal conductivity and low dielectric constant of BN-filled cyanate ester resin (BN-HBP/CE) composites. The thermal stability, dielectric properties, thermal conductivity and dynamic mechanical properties of the BN-HBP/CE composites were investigated. The results illustrate that BN-HBP/CE composites with a load of 32 wt% exhibit a high glass transition temperature of 283 °C, low dielectric constant of 3.

Lightweight, mechanically flexible and thermally superinsulating rGO/polyimide nanocomposite foam with an anisotropic microstructure.

We report that lightweight, anisotropic, mechanically flexible, and high performance thermally insulating materials are fabricated by the assembly of graphene oxide (GO) and polyimide (PI). With an appropriate ratio between GO and PI building blocks, the rGO/PI thermally insulating material exhibits hierarchically aligned microstructures with high porosity. These microstructures endow the rGO/PI nanocomposite with low mass density and super-insulating property (extremely low thermal conductivity of 0.

Tree-inspired radially aligned, bimodal graphene frameworks for highly efficient and isotropic thermal transport.

Highly-oriented, interconnected graphene frameworks have been considered as promising candidates to realize high-performance thermal management in microelectronics. However, the obvious thermal boundary resistance and anisotropic heat conduction still remain major bottlenecks for efficient heat dissipation. Herein, a biomimetic design enabled by radially aligned, bimodal graphene frameworks (RG-Fin) is proposed to achieve highly efficient and isotropic thermal transport.

Synergistic boost of output power density and efficiency in In-Li-codoped SnTe.

We report enhanced thermoelectric performance of SnTe by further increasing its intrinsic high carrier concentration caused by Sn vacancies in contrast to the traditional method. Along with InTe alloying, which results in an enhanced Seebeck coefficient, LiTe is added to further increase the carrier concentration in order to maintain high electrical conductivity. Finally, a relatively high of ∼28 μW cm K in the range between 300 and 873 K is obtained in an optimized SnTe-based compound.

n-Type TaCoSn-Based Half-Heuslers as Promising Thermoelectric Materials.

Half-Heusler compounds are recognized as promising thermoelectric materials for high-temperature power generation, but their relatively high lattice thermal conductivity impedes further improvement of . Here, we report the synthesis of a new half-Heusler compound TaCoSn with a low thermal conductivity. Experimentally, the pristine TaCoSn exhibits a low lattice thermal conductivity of ∼5.

Monolayer SnP: an excellent p-type thermoelectric material.

Monolayer SnP is a novel two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor material with high carrier mobility and large optical absorption coefficient, implying its potential applications in the photovoltaic and thermoelectric (TE) fields. Herein, we report on the TE properties of monolayer SnP utilizing first principles density functional theory (DFT) together with semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory. Results indicate that it exhibits a low lattice thermal conductivity of ∼4.

Wintertime Optical Properties of Primary and Secondary Brown Carbon at a Regional Site in the North China Plain.

The light-absorbing properties of atmospheric brown carbon (BrC) are poorly understood due to its complex chemical composition. Here, a black-carbon-tracer method was coupled with source apportionments of organic aerosol (OA) to explore the light-absorbing properties of primary and secondary BrC from the North China Plain (NCP). Primary emissions of BrC contributed more to OA light absorption than secondary processes, and biomass burning OA accounted for 60% of primary BrC absorption at λ = 370 nm, followed by coal combustion OA (35%) and hydrocarbon-like OA (5%).

Research on the thermal conductivity and dielectric properties of AlN and BN co-filled addition-cure liquid silicone rubber composites.

The present work aims at studying the thermal and dielectric properties of addition-cure liquid silicone rubber (ALSR) matrix composites using boron nitride (BN) and aluminum nitride (AlN) as a hybrid thermal conductive filler. Composite samples with different filler contents were fabricated, and the density, thermal conductivity, thermal stability, dielectric properties, and volume resistivity of the samples were measured. According to the experimental results, the density, thermal conductivity, dielectric constant and dielectric loss tangent values all increased with the increasing addition of filler.