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Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) have proven the potential for future power sources due to the ultrahigh theoretical specific capacity, material abundance, and eco-friendliness. However, the insulation of sulfur and the notorious shuttle effect of polysulfides impede the practical use. In this work, we introduced the hollow carbonized cotton cloth (CCC) as an interlayer by simple one-step carbonization. CCC reduces the charge transfer resistance and inhibits the shuttle effect, enabling LSBs with high rate and cycling performances in all climates. Specifically, the LSBs based on the CCC interlayer deliver rate capacities of 118, 399, and 879 mAh g–1at 2 C at −30, 0, and 50 °C, respectively. Correspondingly in the 1 C cycling tests, the initial specific capacities are 168, 490, and 885 mAh g–1; the decay rates are 0.029% (1000 cycles), 0.034% (1000 cycles), and 0.056% (800 cycles). Moreover, with a higher sulfur loading of 2.3 mg cm–2, the ambient CCC battery achieves a decay rate of only 0.03% per cycle in the 1 C test (800 cycles). Compared with commercial carbon cloth, the ultralow price, light weight, easily scalable preparation, and all-climate good performance of CCC can extremely push LSBs to practical use in the future.

ABSTRACTThe present work investigated the effect of ultrasonic impact treatment (UIT) assisted with electropulsing (EP) on the microstructure of D36 low-carbon steel. Optical microscope and scanning electron microscope were employed to reveal the microstructural evolution of the specimen subjected to the treatment. In comparison with UIT solely, a higher hardness on the superficial layer was obtained by EP-UIT and the fracture on treated surface was avoided effectively which meant a better plasticity. The electron back scatter diffraction analysis indicated a high density of low-angle boundary network owing to the large strain introduced. The distinguishing features of EP-UIT were ascribed to the athermal effect of drifting electrons which facilitate the mobilising of dislocations in the deformation.This paper is part of a themed issue on Materials in External Fields.

The present work investigated the effect of ultrasonic impact treatment (UIT) assisted with electropulsing (EP) on the microstructure of D36 low-carbon steel. Optical microscope and scanning electron microscope were employed to reveal the microstructural evolution of the specimen subjected to the treatment. In comparison with UIT solely, a higher hardness on the superficial layer was obtained by EP-UIT and the fracture on treated surface was avoided effectively which meant a better plasticity. The electron back scatter diffraction analysis indicated a high density of low-angle boundary network owing to the large strain introduced. The distinguishing features of EP-UIT were ascribed to the athermal effect of drifting electrons which facilitate the mobilising of dislocations in the deformation.This paper is part of a themed issue on Materials in External Fields.

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The automated energy generating complex allows obtaining heat energy from waste coal-water slurry fuel (WCF) that is a mixture of fine coal particles from coal enrichment wastes with water. The mixture is blown into the swirl chamber under the pressure through the special sprayers. The received heat energy is used in different ways. One of the important issues is to estimate the heat losses through the walls of this chamber. In this paper we solved the boundary problem of mathematical physics to estimate the temperature fields in the walls of the swirl chamber. The obtained solution allows us to estimate the heat losses through the walls of the swirl chamber. The task of the mathematical physics has been solved by a numerical finite-difference method. The method for solving this problem can be used in the calculation of temperature fields and evaluation of heat losses in other thermal power units.