Study on the High-Efficiency Preparation of Superhydrophobic Polymer Thin Films by Continuous Micro/Nano Imprinting.

In order to improve the preparation efficiency, quality stability, and large-area preparation of superhydrophobic thin films, a roll-to-roll continuous micro-nano imprinting method for the efficient preparation of superhydrophobic polymer films is proposed. A wear-resistant mold roller with hierarchical microstructure is prepared by wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM). The rheological filling model is constructed for revealing the forming mechanism of superhydrophobic polymer films during continuous micro/nano imprinting. The effects of imprinting temperature, rolling speed and the surface texture size of the template on the surface texture formation rate of polymer films are analyzed. The experimental results show that, compared with other process methods, the template processed by WEDM shows excellent wear resistance. Moreover, the optimal micro/nano imprinting parameters are the mold temperature of 190 °C (corresponding film temperature of 85 ± 5 °C), rolling speed of 3 rpm and roller gap of 0.1 mm. The maximum contact angle of the polymer film is 154°. In addition, the superhydrophobic polymer thin film has been proven to have good self-cleaning and anti-icing performance.

The potential of wastewater-source heat pump in decarbonising buildings sector of China.

As China's economy and society continue to advance, there has been a notable enhancement in the quality of life for its people. However, the escalating energy consumption in buildings, particularly for heating and cooling purposes, has emerged as a pressing concern, accounting for nearly 60% of the overall energy consumption. In response to this challenge, heat pumps have emerged as a promising solution by efficiently meeting the demand for heating and cooling. Among these options, wastewater-source heat pumps (WWSHP) have garnered attention as an innovative choice, harnessing the waste heat in available wastewater resources in China to provide efficient heating and cooling services. The objective of this study was to comprehensively investigate the decarbonisation potential associated with sewage source heat pumps in China. By employing both techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment methods, we conducted a thorough comparison between conventional heating and cooling systems and various heat pump systems. The results of our analysis demonstrate that WWSHPs not only exhibit the lowest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but also yield the lowest production costs. Our findings reveal that the potential capacity of WWSHPs amounted to a total of 2.4 EJ in 2020, with the capability to mitigate 99 Mt CO2-eq emissions and achieve cost savings of 24 billion RMB. Importantly, WWSHPs' maximum potential cannot be fully realised by replacing heating alone. However, by replacing both heating and cooling options, WWSHPs unlock substantial decarbonisation potential and cost savings.

Modeling polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in India: Seasonal variations, sources and associated health risks.

Atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are in high levels in developing countries like India. However, limited measurements are inadequate for better understanding of their ambient levels and health effects. This study predicted PAHs concentrations in atmosphere and estimated their sources and health risks in India in four representative months of winter, pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon in 2015 using an updated version of the Community Multiscale Air Quality model (CMAQ). Predicted PAHs were in agreement with observations from literature. Surface 16-PAHs were highest in winter, with a peak value of 2.5 µg/m3 and population-weighted average of 0.5 µg/m3 in northern and eastern India, where biomass burning and coal combustion were chief contributors. Pre-monsoon and monsoon had lower concentrations ∼0.2 µg/m3. The incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) was greater than 4E-4 in many industrial and urban areas. Exposure to PAHs resulted in 7431 excess lifetime cancer cases. Coal combustion and biomass burning were major contributors to ILCR, followed by gas and oil activities. Much higher health risks were observed in urban than in rural areas. India showed much higher levels of total PAHs and cPAHs than the U.S but moderately less than China.

Sources and health risks of ambient polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in China.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the environment are of significant concerns due to their high toxicity to human health. PAHs measurements at limited air quality monitoring stations alone are insufficient to gain a complete understanding of ambient levels and public exposure of PAHs in China. This study simulated the concentrations of PAHs in China, identified the source contributions, and estimated the health risks. Anthropogenic emissions of 16 priority PAHs directly associated with health risks were generated from the global high-resolution PKU-FUEL-2007 inventory. Open biomass burning emissions were generated from the Fire Inventory from NCAR (FINN). PAHs concentrations in January, April, July, and October 2013 were simulated using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model after incorporation of chemistry, partitioning, and deposition of PAHs. Predicted PAHs were in good agreement with seasonal and annual averaged observations from previous studies. The surface concentrations of 16-PAHs were higher in winter, with population weight average of 0.8 µg/m3 and peak value of 2.0 µg/m3 in urban areas in the North China Plain (NCP) and the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). Summer and spring exhibited lower concentrations of approximately 0.2 µg/m3 in most areas. The most important sources to PAHs were biomass burning and coal combustion in winter and industrial processes and oil and gas activities in summer. The cancer risk due to inhalation exposure of naphthalene (NAPH) and seven carcinogenic PAHs was significant, with the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) of >5 × 10-4 in many urban and industrial areas. Exposure to PAHs was estimated to result in 15,198 excess lifetime cancer cases in China. Oil and gas burning associated with transport, residential and commercial activities were major contributors to ILCR in China. Coal combustion was predominant in Shanxi but less important in other regions.

Deposition of sulfur and nitrogen components in Louisiana in August, 2011.

Dry and wet deposition of sulfur and nitrogen contained air pollutants lead to increase of sulfur and nitrogen to the surface, causing acidification of surface water bodies and subsequent damage to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Louisiana has abundant water resources and it is important to protect water resources from excessive atmospheric deposition of sulfur and nitrogen. However, the information for understanding sulfur and nitrogen deposition and adverse effects in Louisiana is limited. In this study, a source-oriented version of the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was used to simulate emission, formation, transport, and deposition of sulfur and nitrogen species in Louisiana in August 2011 to understand the forms and quantities of sulfur and nitrogen deposition due to wet and dry processes in Louisiana, to show the spatial and temporal variations of deposition fluxes, and to quantify the contributions of different sources to sulfur and nitrogen deposition. Aerosol phase sulfate (AeroSO4) has the highest monthly total flux of 6 kg S/ha in wet deposition of sulfur. Major forms of sulfur dry depositions are AeroSO4 (~1 kg S/ha) and SO2 (~3 kg S/ha). Nitrogen deposition is mainly in forms of NO2, HNO3, NH3, and aerosol phase nitrate (AeroNO3). Electric generating utilities (EGU) are the largest contributor to sulfur depositions with monthly total flux of 1.6 kg S/ha, followed by industry (1 kg S/ha) and upwind sources. On-road vehicles and industry are important to nitrogen (except ammonia) depositions with maximum contributions of 0.6 kg N/ha and 0.8 kg N/ha, respectively. The dominate source of ammonia is "Other" implicit sector including agricultural activities.

Source apportionment of PM2.5 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana during 2009-2014.

Particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <2.5µm (PM2.5) chemical composition data from the Speciation Trends Network (STN) site located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana were analyzed using the receptor Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model version 5.0. The PM2.5 samples were collected every third day from January 2009 to December 2014. Seven sources were identified, including secondary sulfate, secondary nitrate, industrial emissions, traffic, crustal dust, road dust and sea salt. The contributions of these seven sources to PM2.5 total mass were 38.4%, 17.6%, 18.7%, 11.5%, 6.1%, 4.2% and 3.6%, respectively. Secondary sulfate, industrial emissions and secondary nitrate were the top three sources. The contributions of industrial emissions and crustal dust have been rising in recent years while that of traffic and sea salt were decreasing. Secondary sources were higher than primary sources during the winter. The crustal and road dust were dominant during the summer, while traffic was more significant during the fall compared to other seasons. During summer, traffic emission and crustal dust were driven by northeast-north winds, traffic is also driven by northeast-north winds in winter, while industry emissions and sea salt were driven by prevailing west and northwest winds during other seasons. PM mass clearly showed the synergetic effects of local sources and distance sources. Thus, measurements and strategies should focus on not only local sources, but also regional transport. Attention should also be paid to industrial and traffic sources since they also account for secondary sources in addition to the primary contributions.

Understanding the Solubility of Acetaminophen in 1-n-Alkyl-3-methylimidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids Using Molecular Simulation.

During the manufacturing of pharmaceutical compounds, solvent mixtures are commonly used, where the addition of a cosolvent allows for the tuning of the intermolecular interactions present in the system. Here we demonstrate how a similar effect can be accomplished using a room temperature ionic liquid. The pharmaceutical compound acetaminophen is studied in 21 common ionic liquids composed of a 1-n-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium cation with 1 of 7 anions. Using the acetate anion, we predict a large enhancement in solubility of acetaminophen relative to water. We show how this is caused by a synergistic effect of favorable interactions between the ionic liquid and the phenyl, hydroxyl and amide groups of acetaminophen, demonstrating how the ionic liquid cation and anion may be chosen to preferentially solvate different functional groups of complex pharmaceutical compounds. Additionally, while the use of charge scaling in ionic liquid force fields has previously been found to have a minute effect on ionic liquid structural properties, we find it appreciably affects the computed solvation free energy of acetaminophen, which in turn affects the predicted solubility.

[Simulating climate change effect on aboveground carbon sequestration rates of main broadleaved trees in the Xiaoxing'an Mountains area, Northeast China].

LANDIS Pro 7.0 model was used to simulate the dynamics of aboveground biomass of ten broadleaved tree species in the Xiao Xing' an Mountains area under current and various climate change scenarios from 2000 to 2200, and carbon content coefficients (CCCs) were coupled to cal- culate the aboveground carbon sequestration rates (ACSRs) of these species. The results showed that in the initial year of simulation, the biomasses and their proportions of Fraxinus mandshurica, Phellodendron amurense, Quercus mongolica, Ulmus propinqua, and Acer mono were relatively low, while those of Betula costata, Betula platyphylla, and Populus davidiana were higher. A trend of rise after decline occurred in ACSR for pioneer species in the mid and late periods of simulation years, but ACSRs for the other broadleaved tree species were considerably complex. The ACSRs of Q. mongolica and Tilla amurensis fluctuated in the ranges of -0.05-0.25 t · hm(-2) · 10 a(-1) and 0.16-1.29 t · hm(-2) · 10 a(-1) in simulation years, respectively. The ACSRs of F. mandshurica, U. propinqua, A. mono, and B. costata showed a trend of decline after rise in late simulation years. There were significant differences in ACSR for P. amurense and B. davurica among various climate change scenarios in the periods of 2050-2100 and 2150-2200, while no significant difference in ACSR for the other species would be detected. Difference of sensitivity of various species in ACSR for future climate scenarios in the Small Khingan Mountains area existed. However, the un- certainty of future climates would not yield significant difference in ACSR for most broadleaved tree species. Moreover, a time lag would exist in the process of climate change effects on temperate forest's ACSR.