Thermoelectric materials have potential applications in energy harvesting and electronic cooling devices, and bismuth antimony telluride (BiSbTe) alloys are the state-of-the-art thermoelectric materials that have been widely used for several decades. It is demonstrated that mixing SiC nanoparticles into the BiSbTe matrix effectively enhances its thermoelectric properties; a high dimensionless fi gure of merit ( ZT ) value of up to 1.33 at 373 K is obtained in Bi 0.3 Sb 1.7 Te 3 incorporated with only 0.4 vol% SiC nanoparticles. SiC nanoinclusions possessing coherent interfaces with the Bi 0.3 Sb 1.7 Te 3 matrix can increase the Seebeck coeffi cient while increasing the electrical conductivity, in addition to its effect of reducing lattice thermal conductivity by enhancing phonon scattering. Nano-SiC dispersion further endows the BiSbTe alloys with better mechanical properties, which are favorable for practical applications and device fabrication.

Polycrystalline AgSbTe2 ternary compound materials with high phase purity were fabricated using a combined process of mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering. It was found that stoichiometric AgSbTe2 is a promising composition for low-and-mediate temperature applications, whose ZT reaches 1.59 at 673K, benefiting from its extremely low thermal conductivity (0.30W∕mK) in addition to its low electrical resistivity (<1.1×10−4Ωm) and large positive Seebeck coefficient (260μV∕K). On the other hand, deviating from this formula would lead to unstable phase structures and higher thermal conductivity, which make the samples less attractive as thermoelectric materials or components of thermoelectric systems.

No abstract

The climatological characteristics of water vapor transport over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) were investigated in this study by using the ERA-interim and JRA55 monthly reanalysis dataset. The trends of water vapor budget and water vapor sources during the past 40 years were also revealed. The analyses show that the TP is a water vapor convergence area, where the convergence was enhanced from 1979 to 2018. In addition, the convergence is much stronger in JJA, with a linear trend that is twice the annual average trend. The climatological water vapor sources over the TP were identified mainly at the southern and western boundaries, with the vapor sources at the southern boundaries originating from the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal and the vapor sources at the western boundary being transported by mid-latitude westerlies. The TP is a moisture sink at a climatological mean, with an annual average net water vapor flux of 11.86 × 10 6 kg • s −1 . Water vapor transport is much stronger in JJA than in other times of the year, and the net water vapor flux is 29.60 × 10 6 kg • s −1 . The net water vapor flux in the TP increased with a linear trend of 0.12×10 6 kg • s −1 • year −1 (α = 0.01), while the increase in the flux was more significant in JJA than in other times of the year with a linear trend of 0.30 ×10 6 kg • s −1 • year −1 (α = 0.01). Detailed features in the water vapor flux and transport changes across the TP's four boundaries were explored by simulating backward trajectories with a Lagrangian trajectory model (hybrid singleparticle Lagrangian integrated trajectory model, HYSPLIT). In the study period, the water vapor contribution rate of western channel is increased. However, the Southern channel's water vapor contribution decreased.

MIL-101(Cr) is one of the most well-studied chromium-based metal–organic frameworks, which consists of metal chromium ion and terephthalic acid ligand. It has an ultra-high specific surface area, large pore size, good thermal/chemical/water stability, and contains unsaturated Lewis acid sites in its structure. Due to the physicochemical properties and structural characteristics, MIL-101(Cr) has a wide range of applications in aqueous phase adsorption, gas storage and separation, and catalysis. In this review, the latest synthesis of MIL-101(Cr) and its research progress in adsorption and catalysis are reviewed.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract