Fabrication of highly-conductive porous capacitor electrodes by the insertion of Cu-nanoparticles into N-doped flocculated carbon catalysts.

In carbon-based electric double-layer capacitors (EDLC), an ideal electrode should have convenient mass transport, ensuring rich porosity and rapid electron transfer, guaranteeing the electrode bulk's high conductivity. In this study, ultrafine Cu nanoparticles inserted carbon flocculation is formed on carbon cloth using polydopamine and cupric chloride precursors via pyrolysis and electrochemical oxidation reaction. As a result, the obtained electrode has a large surface area of 55.5 m2g-1 and high conductivity of 48.7 S/mm, which shows excellent charge storage capability with high specific capacitance of 3546 mF cm-2 at a current density of 1 mA cm-2. Moreover, when the as-prepared electrode is used as electrodes in symmetric EDLC, it can provide a high energy density of 23 mWh cm-3 with a power density of 179 mW cm-3, making it as a promising carbon electrode for practical EDLCs.

Hydrodynamic characteristics and microalgae cultivation in a novel flat-plate photobioreactor.

Flat-plate photobioreactors (FPPBRs) are widely reported for cultivation of microalgae. In this work, a novel FPPBR mounted with inclined baffles was developed, which can make the fluid produce a "spirality" flow. The flow field and cell trajectory in the photobioreactor were investigated by using computational fluid dynamics. In addition, the cell trajectory was analyzed using a Fast Fourier transformation. The influence of height of the baffles, the angle α between the inclined baffle and fluid inlet flow direction (z), and the fluid inlet velocity on the frequency of flashing light effect and pressure drop were examined to optimize the structure parameters of the inclined baffles and operating conditions of the photobioreactor. The results showed that with inclined baffles built-in, significant swirl flow could be generated in the FPPBR. In this way, the flashing light effect for microalgal cell could also be achieved and the photosynthesis efficiency of microalgae could be promoted. In outdoor cultivation of freshwater Chlorella sp., the maximum biomass productivity of Chlorella sp. cultivated in the photobioreactor with inclined baffles was 29.94% higher than that of the photobioreactor without inclined baffles.