Rui Zhang

The charging rate of molten-salt phase-change thermal storage systems is primarily constrained by the low thermal conductivity of phase-change materials. To address this issue, this study numerically investigates a medium–low temperature molten-salt shell-and-tube heat exchanger using the enthalpy–porosity method. The effects of annular fins, fin number, fin thickness, and multi-tube coupling on melting behavior and heat-storage performance were systematically analyzed. Compared with the smooth single-tube configuration, the introduction of annular fins reduced the complete melting time from 1392 s to 1105 s (20.6%). In addition, the melting time of the final 10% decreased by 92 s, indicating reduced thermal resistance in the late stage. Increasing the fin number from four to nine further shortened the melting time by 148 s, although the enhancement diminished due to restricted natural convection. A fin thickness of 2 mm provided optimal performance. When combined with a multi-tube design, the melting time was further reduced to 928 s (33.3%), demonstrating that the integration of distributed tubes and annular fins significantly enhances heat storage performance. These results demonstrate that annular fins and multi-tube coupling effectively enhance heat transfer, improve temperature-field uniformity, and accelerate molten-salt thermal storage.

Hermetia illucens can digest toxic castor meal and tolerate ricinine stress. However, the underlying mechanisms of ricinine degradation and detoxification within the larval gut microbiome remain largely unknown. Here, the enhanced degradation kinetic process, and the roles of the gut bacterial community and metabolomics were investigated. When the ricinine content was 1000 mg kg⁻¹ in feeding substrate, larval development was not significantly affected. The ricinine degradation kinetics, facilitated by larval digestion, were significantly enhanced, reducing the degradation half-life to 5.13 days. The gut bacterial community structure adjusted in response to ricinine stress, suggesting that genera such as Dysgonomonas, Actinomyces, Phascolarctobacterium, Lachnoclostridium and Sedimentibacter might play key roles in ricinine resistance and degradation. Furthermore, the gut microbial metabolism responded to toxin stress, reflected by variations in metabolite expression and the enrichment of key metabolic pathways involved in amino acid and vitamin metabolism. This emphasizes the potential role of microbial metabolism in ricinine degradation and detoxification. The close association between gut bacteria and metabolites suggests a cooperative metabolic network within the gut microbiota, where bacteria may participate in ricinine degradation and detoxification either directly or through metabolic cooperation. These findings provide insights into host–microbe interactions and ricinine resistance, highlighting the need for further exploration into the microbiota’s role in host metabolism and the development of new therapeutic strategies.

Lu@C ₈₂ is captured and demonstrated as Lu ²⁺ @[ C _2v (9)-C ₈₂ ] ³⁻ , resolving the long-standing valence paradox. Encapsulation energy rationalizes the formation preference.

The importance of internal non-metallic elements in stabilizing metallofullerenes has been investigated through a comparative study of Lu₂C₂/Lu₂O/Lu₂@C₂(13333)-C₇₄.

Carbon nano peapods, with their electronic properties and spintronics, have attracted great attention regarding their potential applications when combined with fullerenes or their derivatives encapsulated inside. Herein, we have designed and synthesized a series of fullerene derivatives with different functional groups, which are then encapsulated into single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). Accurate morphological characterization with high-resolution TEM reveals a clear correlation between the filling ratio of the peapods and the steric bulk of the functionalized groups. Further spectroscopic characterizations reveal diameter-selective interactions between the fullerene derivatives and SWCNTs, which, in turn, influence the electronic structures of the nanotubes. Our results have shed new light on the controlled synthesis and property-tuning of nano peapods.

Fabricating high performing chalcopyrite absorber material from environmental benign solvent is very important for large scale manufacturing production. Here, N, N‐dimethylformamide (DMF) is used as a single solvent to make CuIn(S,Se)₂ (CIS) molecular precursor solution and fabricate CIS absorber material. A power conversion efficiency of 10.3% has been achieved from film selenized under 1.6 atmosphere Ar pressure which is 0% for film selenized under 1 atmosphere pressure. Characterizations using XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX reveal a Cu‐rich absorber material consisting of loosely connected grains with vertical holes in film selenized under 1 atmosphere and a Cu‐poor compact large‐grain top layer with large hole bottom layer in film selenized under high Ar pressure. Further optimization of precursor formulation and device fabrication conditions to address the non‐perfect double layer structure is expected to further improve DMF solution processed CIS solar cell efficiency. Our results demonstrate annealing precursor film under increased atmosphere pressure is a new and promising strategy to fabricate high performing thin film solar cells, which can be applied to all solution processed chalcogenide solar cells including CIS, CIGS and CZTS.