Variation in the electrical conductivity (EC) of water can reveal environmental disturbance and natural dynamics, including factors such as anthropogenic salinization. Broader application of open ...source (OS) EC sensors could provide an inexpensive method to measure water quality. While studies show that other water quality parameters can be robustly measured with sensors, a similar effort is needed to evaluate the performance of OS EC sensors. To address this need, we evaluated the accuracy (mean error, %) and precision (sample standard deviation) of OS EC sensors in the laboratory via comparison to EC calibration standards using three different OS and OS/commercial-hybrid (OS/C) EC sensors and data logger configurations and two commercial (C) EC sensors and data logger configurations. We also evaluated the effect of cable length (7.5 m and 30 m) and sensor calibration on OS sensor accuracy and precision. We found a significant difference between OS sensor mean accuracy (3.08%) and all other sensors combined (9.23%). Our study also found that EC sensor precision decreased across all sensor configurations with increasing calibration standard EC. There was also a significant difference between OS sensor mean precision (2.85 μS/cm) and the mean precision of all other sensors combined (9.12 μS/cm). Cable length did not affect OS sensor precision. Furthermore, our results suggest that future research should include evaluating how performance is impacted by combining OS sensors with commercial data loggers as this study found significantly decreased performance in OS/commercial-hybrid sensor configurations. To increase confidence in the reliability of OS sensor data, more studies such as ours are needed to further quantify OS sensor performance in terms of accuracy and precision across different settings and OS sensor and data collection platform configurations.
This work develops metallic wood-based phase change materials (MWPCM) with high-performance anisotropic thermal conductivity by impregnating wood with phase change microcapsules and subsequent in ...situ chemical deposition of copper inside the wood cell lumen. Phase change material (PCM) is encapsulated by polymer to form phase change microcapsules, which solve the leakage problem effectively. Benefited with the well-aligned and hierarchical porous structure of wood, phase change microcapsules coated with copper layer are orderly confined inside wood vessels and fibers, developing a continuous and anisotropic heat transfer network along the highly oriented transport tissues of wood. The morphology, chemical structure and crystallization of microcapsules and MWPCM are investigated using scanning electronic microscope (SEM), flourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and the thermal storage capacity, thermal stability and thermal conductivity of the developed PCM composites are examined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and laser flash diffusivity apparatus (LFA) respectively. The results show that PCM capsules were effectively accommodated in orderly porous wood as a carrier; the radial and longitudinal thermal conductivity of MWPCM reached 0.37 W/(m*K) and 0.53 W/(m*K), which increased by 362% and 211% compared to pure wood, respectively. The anisotropic thermal conductivity of MWPCM enabled an efficient heat transfer along the longitudinal direction and reduced the heat loss in the transverse direction. MWPCM exhibited good thermal energy storage capacity (92.9 J/g and 94.6 J/g) and suitable phase change temperature (11.4 °C and 29.4 °C) for indoor thermal energy management. MWPCM also displayed outstanding shape-stability, excellent thermal stability and temperature regulation, which has a great potential for building energy collecting, storage and management.
•Thermal energy storage wood was prepared by incorporating encapsulated PCM into wood.•Phase change microcapsules in wood were coated with copper by in situ mineralization.•Composite realized a unique anisotropic thermal conductivity.•The radial and longitudinal thermal conductivity were improved by 362% and 211%.•Composite had great latent heat, thermal stability and temperature regulation ability.
The conductive polymer poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), and especially its complex with poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), is perhaps the most well‐known example of an organic conductor. ...It is highly conductive, largely transmissive to light, processible in water, and highly flexible. Much recent work on this ubiquitous material has been devoted to increasing its deformability beyond flexibility—a characteristic possessed by any material that is sufficiently thin—toward stretchability, a characteristic that requires engineering of the structure at the molecular‐ or nanoscale. Stretchability is the enabling characteristic of a range of applications envisioned for PEDOT in energy and healthcare, such as wearable, implantable, and large‐area electronic devices. High degrees of mechanical deformability allow intimate contact with biological tissues and solution‐processable printing techniques (e.g., roll‐to‐roll printing). PEDOT:PSS, however, is only stretchable up to around 10%. Here, the strategies that have been reported to enhance the stretchability of conductive polymers and composites based on PEDOT and PEDOT:PSS are highlighted. These strategies include blending with plasticizers or polymers, deposition on elastomers, formation of fibers and gels, and the use of intrinsically stretchable scaffolds for the polymerization of PEDOT.
Strategies to enhance the stretchability of conductive poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and PEDOT: poly(styrene sulfonate) for applications in energy, electronics, and biology are highlighted. The benefits and drawbacks of each method on the mechanical properties and conductivity are discussed along with some of the challenges that remain to be addressed.
The rise of miniaturized, integrated, and functional electronic devices has intensified the need for heat dissipation. To address this challenge, it is necessary to develop novel thermally conductive ...polymer composites as packaging materials. In this paper, a number of factors for the construction and design of thermally conductive polymers are concluded. Special attention is focused on the analysis and comparison of the thermally conductive composites prepared by various fillers or strategies to provide guidelines and references for future design of composite materials. The current commonly used preparation strategies of thermally conductive polymer are summarized, such as using a variety of fillers, vacuum filtration, template method, and so on. The challenges of thermally conductive polymer composites are finally sketched. This review can inspire the design of polymer composites with brilliant thermal conductivity.
This review discusses the factors affecting the design and manufacturing of thermally conductive polymer composites including type of filler, morphology of filler, filler loading, and surface treatment. The preparation strategies and performance of resultant composites are analyzed and compared. The challenges in the field of thermally conductive polymer composites are discussed.
Typical design strategies for mixed ion–electron conduction in polymers have focused on overall ionic conductivity, without specificity for anion vs cation conduction. Here, we demonstrate that side ...chain chemistry can be used to control Li+ conductivity in semiconducting polymers. This design principle is significant for applications that require Li+-specific transport, such as Li-ion batteries. We show that a polythiophene functionalized with an ionic liquid side chain demonstrates higher conductivity and lithium transference than a more commonly studied ether-functionalized P3AT derivative. Poly(3-(6′-(N-methylimidazolium) hexyl)thiophene TFSI–) (P3HT-Im+TFSI–) can solvate and conduct ions up to salt concentrations of r = 1.0 (where r = moles of salt/moles of monomer) while achieving an ionic conductivity of ∼10–3 S/cm at 80 °C and a lithium transference number of 0.36. On the other hand, poly(3-(methoxyethoxyethoxymethyl)thiophene) (P3MEEMT) shows a peak conductivity of ∼10–5 S/cm at r = 0.05 and 80 °C, with near-zero lithium transport. This work shows that multiple high dielectric moieties can be used to drive ion conduction in semiconducting polymers, but diffuse, cationic side chains such as imidazolium are preferred for Li-ion conduction.
•Expanded perlite/n-eicosane composite for thermal energy storage was prepared.•Addition of CNTs increases considerably the thermal conductivity of the composite.•The composite PCM including 1wt% ...CNTs is promising material.
Paraffins constitute a class of solid-liquid organic phase change materials (PCMs). However, low thermal conductivity limits their feasibility in thermal energy storage (TES) applications. Carbon nano tubes (CNTs) are one of the best materials to increase the thermal conductivity of paraffins. In this regard, the present study is focus on the preparation, characterization, and improvement of thermal conductivity using CNTs as well as determination of TES properties of expanded perlite (ExP)/n-eicosane (C20) composite as a novel type of form-stable composite PCM (F-SCPCM). It was found that the ExP could retain C20 at weight fraction of 60% without leakage. The SEM and FTIR analyses were carried out to characterize the microstructure and chemical properties of the composite PCM. The TES properties of the prepared F-SCPCM were determined using DSC and TG analyses. The analysis results showed that the components of the composite are in good compatibleness and C20 used as PCM are well-infiltrated into the structure of ExP/CNTs matrix. The DSC analysis indicated that the ExP/C20/CNTs (1wt%) composite has a melting point of 36.12°C and latent heat of 157.43J/g. The TG analysis indicated that the F-SCPCM has better thermal durability compared with pure C20 and also it has good long term-TES reliability. In addition, the effects of CNTs on the thermal conductivity of the composite PCM were investigated. Compared to ExP/C20 composite, the use of CNTs has apparent improving effect for the thermal conductivity without considerably affecting the compatibility of components, TES properties, and thermal stability.
•PCM insertion lowers the base temperature.•Low melting point PCMs are suitable for low heating loads.•Lower porosity foam has better heat transfer performance both for charging and discharging.
In ...this paper, experimental investigations are carried out to study the thermal performance of metallic foams impregnated with phase change material (PCM) based heat sinks for thermal management of electronics. Herein, RT-35HC with melting point 34–36 °C is chosen as PCM and copper foam1 (95% porosity), copper foam2 (97% porosity) and Iron-Nickel foam (97% porosity) are used as thermal conductivity enhancer. Various configurations of the heat sink are investigated for 5400 s each for charging and discharging processes under heat flux 0.8–2.4 kW/m2 for PCM volume fractions 0.0, 0.6, 0.7 and 0.8. Results revealed that copper foam-based heat sink showed 5–6 °C less base temperature as compared to that of Iron-Nickel foam. While investigating the effect of foam porosity, copper foam with lower porosity (95%) has shown 11% less base temperature at the end of the charging cycle. It was also noticed that the maximum thermal conductivity enhancement of PCM was found to be 34 times for 95% porosity copper foam with the latent heat reduction of 37%. Copper foam1-PCM composite posed the maximum enhancement in operation time of heat sink 7.9 times more as compared to that of the empty aluminum heat sink. Copper foam -PCM composite with 95% porosity of foam with 0.8 vol fraction of PCM is best recommended configuration for the present experimental study.
Oxide-based ceramics could be promising thermoelectric materials because of their thermal and chemical stability at high temperature. However, their mediocre electrical conductivity or high thermal ...conductivity is still a challenge for the use in commercial devices. Here, we report significantly suppressed thermal conductivity in SrTiO
3
-based thermoelectric ceramics via high-entropy strategy for the first time, and optimized electrical conductivity by defect engineering. In high-entropy (Ca
0.2
Sr
0.2
Ba
0.2
Pb
0.2
La
0.2
)TiO
3
bulks, the minimum thermal conductivity can be 1.17 W/(m·K) at 923 K, which should be ascribed to the large lattice distortion and the huge mass fluctuation effect. The power factor can reach about 295 μW/(m·K
2
) by inducing oxygen vacancies. Finally, the
ZT
value of 0.2 can be realized at 873 K in this bulk sample. This approach proposed a new concept of high entropy into thermoelectric oxides, which could be generalized for designing high-performance thermoelectric oxides with low thermal conductivity.
High integration development of electronics requires materials possessing excellent thermal conductivity, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, and electrical insulation. In this work, Fe2O3 ...particles are deposited on carbon fibers (CF) and then utilized as fillers (CF@Fe2O3) in boron nitride/silicone rubber (BN/SR) to fabricate sandwich structured CF@Fe2O3/(BN/SR) composites, herein, BN/SR as top & substrate layer, and CF@Fe2O3 as middle layer. Orientation of BN in CF@Fe2O3/(BN/SR) composites realizes excellent in-plane thermal conductivity coefficient (λ∥), and the core-sheath structure of CF@Fe2O3 achieves good EMI shielding performance by the “absorption-reflection (transmittance)-reabsorption” process of electromagnetic waves, insulation modification of CF and the sandwich structure strengthen the electrical insulation. When the amount of BN and CF@Fe2O3 are 20.6 wt% and 45.5 wt%, respectively, the λ∥, EMI shielding effectiveness, volume resistance and breakdown strength of CF@Fe2O3/(BN/SR) composites reach 3.86 W/(m·K), 37.7 dB, 6.2 × 1014 Ω cm and 26.8 kV/mm, respectively, which are all higher than those of commonly fabricated CF/(BN/SR) composites with same amount of BN and CF (3.83 W/(m·K), 19.4 dB, 8.6 × 1013 Ω cm and 21.4 kV/mm). CF@Fe2O3/(BN/SR) composites possess better cooling effect (5.6 °C) than that of commercial silicon grease (QM850) on the testing platform of computer's central processing unit, whose functions are more abundant and have wide application prospects in electronics.
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•Designing core-sheath CF@Fe2O3 to enhance electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and reduce electrical conductivity of carbon fiber (CF).•Realizing orientation of boron nitride to enhance the in-plane thermal conductivity.•Silicone rubber composites possess excellent thermal conductivity, EMI shielding and insulating performances.
•Delamination is analyzed using a coupled thermal–mechanical cohesive zone model.•Cohesive strength distribution has a remarkable impact on the delamination.•Influences of thermal-conductivity ...degradation caused by delamination are studied.
Epoxy-impregnated pancake coil is observed to delaminate locally when its temperature is cooled from room temperature to 77 K. The delaminations cause the degradation of the critical current of the coil. Besides, the delamination may degrade the thermal conductivity and affect the thermal conductive path. Thus, in this study, the delamination behavior of epoxy-impregnated pancake coil during the cooling process is analyzed through a coupled thermal–mechanical cohesive zone model. The measured transverse tensile strength of coated conductors has shown considerable scatter and Weibull distribution has been adopted to fit the transverse tensile strength. The simulations are able to capture the main characterizations of the observed delaminations with the cohesive strength of the cohesive element following a Weibull distribution. After the cooling process, a heat spot is applied to the degraded positions to analyze the temperature field and the thermal conductive path in the damaged coil. Compared to the original undamaged coil, the delaminations indeed degrade the thermal conductivity and increase the thermal resistance. What’s more, the effects of the variation of the thickness of the epoxy and different interfacial cohesive strength distributions of the coated conductor are considered. The results show that reduction of the thickness of the epoxy can lower the radial stress and release the damage, and the random distribution of the cohesive strength inside the coated conductor dominantly determines the delamination pattern of the coil.
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