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Amongst thermoelectrics, Bi2Te3 is special owing to its peak performance near room temperature, which enables it to be used for both energy harvesting and cooling. Despite extensive studies on this compound, Bi2Te3-based bulk materials are usually prepared by field-assisted sintering and hot pressing. This necessitates sophisticated equipment and tedious compositional control, both of which are undesirable for large scale applications. In this work, a low-temperature liquid phase sintering (LPS) method was employed to prepare p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3/SiC composites with enhanced thermoelectric properties. In addition, a nearly two-fold increase in the power factor was observed post heat treatment at 350 °C. This can be ascribed to carrier concentration modulation due to porosity induced by heat treatment. Further addition of 0.6 vol% SiC results in a low lattice thermal conductivity of 0.33 W m−1 K−1, which can be ascribed to phonon scattering due to various defects induced by the SiC inclusion. Ultimately, a figure of merit ZT of 1.05 at 340 K was achieved for Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3/0.6 vol% SiC, 20% higher than that of the pristine sample. Moreover, an average ZT of 0.87 at 300–500 K was attained, comparable to state-of-the-art values via high-temperature processing. This work showcases the promising application of the low-temperature LPS technique for energy-efficient processing of thermoelectrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LiTMPO4 materials, such as LiNiPO4, can maintain structural stability and Li+ transport activity up to 4.8 V, showing great potential to stabilize layered nickel-rich cathodes at high voltage. But achieving a uniform LiTMPO4 coating layer remains a great challenge. Herein, an ultrathin and uniform LiTMPO4 layer (mainly LiNiPO4) is successfully coated on the surface of LiNi0.8Co0.15Mn0.05O2 (NMC@LTMP) via utilizing the surface chelation of phytic acid with NMC precursors and a subsequent high-temperature in situ reaction. The reconstructed surface and interface could act as stable paths for Li+ transport and efficient barriers against electrolyte corrosion. Thus, harmful side reactions like solid electrolyte interphase overgrowth, irreversible phase transformation, and metal dissolution are inhibited simultaneously. Impressively, the optimized NMC@LTMP2 cathode exhibits remarkably improved capacity, as high as 215 mA h g−1 at 2.8–4.5 V, with capacity retention of 87.21% after 200 cycles and outstanding rate capability of 140 mA h g−1 at 10C, significantly better than a pristine cathode. Furthermore, a pouch cell assembled with an NMC@LTMP2 cathode and graphite anode also exhibits robust capacity retention of 82.42% after 100 cycles. These results provide useful insights towards enabling the application of NMC cathodes via developing facile modification methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genetic improvement of Hanwoo is dependent on the estimated breeding value (EBV) of pedigree‐based Korean proven bull's number, and the genetic evaluation for cows is difficult due to insufficient pedigree and test records. Genomic selection involves utilizing the individual's genotype to estimate the breeding value (BV) and is determined to be an appropriate evaluation method for cows who lack test information. This study used pedigree and genotype to estimate and analyse BV and accuracy of Hanwoo cows in the Gyeongnam area using pedigree best linear unbiased prediction (PBLUP) and genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP). The test group acquired pedigree and genotype of 919 Hanwoo cows in the Gyeongnam area. The traits used for analysis were carcass weight (CWT), eye muscle areas (EMA), backfat thickness (BFT) and marbling score (MS). PBLUP used Reference group 1 containing the pedigree and phenotype of 919 Hanwoo cows and 545,483 heads to construct the numeric relationship matrix and estimated the EBV and accuracy. GBLUP used Reference group 2 containing the genotype and phenotype of 919 Hanwoo cows and 17,226 heads to construct the genomic relationship matrix and estimated the genomic EBV (GEBV) and accuracy. In the order of CWT, EMA, BFT and MS, the accuracy of PBLUP was 0.488, 0.480, 0.482 and 0.486 while the accuracy of GBLUP was higher with 0.779, 0.758, 0.766 and 0.791. And for 104 cows without relationship coefficient on pedigree to the reference group, the accuracy as PBLUP was estimated to be 0, but for GBLUP, it was possible to estimate the accuracy for all individuals. If GBLUP is applied to cows raised in general farms, the genetic evaluation can be performed even on animals without pedigree and high‐accuracy estimation, enabling selection of excellent cows. Accordingly, by securing the genetic diversity of cows, it is expected to increase the profitability of farms by decreasing the inbreeding rate and increasing efficiency of elite calf production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal cyanamides have an organic–inorganic hybrid structure similar to MOFs, which are expected to possess interesting catalytic properties. However, the structural complexity of these compounds sets up a big barrier to realize shape manipulation and further understanding on the structure–activity relationship. Here, we describe seed-mediated colloidal synthesis as a facile approach to obtain Ag2NCN near-monodisperse nanocrystals (NCs: nanorods, nanowires, and nanosheets) and their related CO2 catalytic activity. The control experiment unveiled the prominent role of the anisotropy for quasi-linear [NCN]2– anions in obtaining the desired growth order of different crystal planes. The formic acid production of nearly 20% Faradaic efficiency is observed when the as-prepared Ag2NCN NCs were tested for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reactions. The exposed (200) planes exhibit evident higher catalytic activity compared to other planes, showing morphology-dependent activity. Our result reveals that the anisotropic structure of ions leads to their preferential growth of the NCs and thus may have greater implications for the shape-controlled synthesis of complex ions containing compounds and their related catalytic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]