The Cusped Field Thruster (CFT) concept has demonstrated significantly improved performance over the Hall Effect Thruster and the Gridded Ion Thruster; however, little is understood about the complexities of the interactions and interdependencies of the geometrical, magnetic and ion beam properties of the thruster. This study applies an advanced design methodology combining a modified power dis...

We evaluated transmembrane potential changes at the ends of isolated rabbit ventricular myocytes during defibrillation-strength shocks given in the cellular refractory period. The myocytes were stimulated (S1 pulse) to produce an action potential. Then a constant-field shock (S2 pulse) with an electric field of 20 or 40 V/cm was given at an S1-S2 interval of 50 msec. The cells were stained with...

Pathologic tilt of subjective visual vertical (SVV) frequently has adverse functional consequences for patients with stroke and vestibular disorders. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the supramarginal gyrus can produce a transitory tilt on SVV in healthy subjects. However, the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on SVV has never been systematically stu...

In this paper, rutile TiO2 nanorod arrays are fabricated by a template-free method and proposed as a promising anode for aqueous Li-ion battery. The as-prepared TiO2 nanorod arrays exhibited reversible Li-ion insertion/extraction ability in aqueous LiOH electrolyte. Moreover, galvanostatic charge/discharge test results demonstrated that the reversible capacity of TiO2 nanorods could reach about...

Topological state of matter and lithium batteries are currently two hot topics in science and technology. Here we combine these two by exploring the possibility of using all-carbon-based porous topological semimetal for lithium battery anode material. Based on density-functional theory and the cluster-expansion method, we find that the recently identified topological semimetal bco-C16 is a prom...

Na-ion batteries are emerging as one of the most promising energy storage technologies, particularly for grid-level applications. Among anode candidate materials, hard carbon is very attractive due to its high capacity and low cost. However, hard carbon anodes often suffer a low first-cycle Coulombic efficiency and fast capacity fading. In this study, we discover that doping graphene oxide into...

Anode-supported micro-tubular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) offers many advantages over the electrolyte and cathode-supported confgurations in terms of simplicity, reliability, and efciency. In such design, the anode substrates should possess a highly porous structure, provide active sites reaction as well as serving good mechanical strength. This structure is desired to ...

Reducing the high charge potential is a crucial concern in advancing the performance of lithium-oxygen batteries. Here, for water-containing lithium-oxygen batteries with lithium hydroxide products, we find that a hydrogen peroxide aqueous solution added in the electrolyte can effectively promote the decomposition of lithium hydroxide compounds at the ultralow charge potential on a catalyst-fre...

To fulfill the high power and high energy density demands for Li-ion batteries (LIBs) new anode materials need to be explored to replace conventional graphite. Herein, we report the urea assisted facile co-precipitation synthesis of spinel NiCo2O4 and its application as an anode material for LIBs. The synthesized NiCo2O4 exhibited an urchin-like microstructure and polycrystalline and mesoporous...

Carbon nanotubes exhibit excellent field-emission behavior characterized by low turn-on fields and large current densities. The present work investigates the transport of electrons by field emission and the resulting spatial distribution at the anode surface through simulation of the tunneling process and the trajectory of electrons across the vacuum gap. Beam spreading is characterized by a mu...