The properties of the beta batteries are compared, which are made on the basis of the different β-isotopes with beta decay. Tritium and Ni-63 make it possible to make β-sources of high activity, without harmful associated emissions, with low self-absorption, emitting high-energy β-electrons that penetrate deep into the semiconductor and generate a large number of electron-hole pairs. The efficiency of beta batteries needs to be analyzed based on the real energy distribution of β-electrons. It makes possible to obtain the real value of the energy absorbed inside the β-source, correctly estimate the amount of self-absorption of the β-electrons and part of the β-electronsthere is a penetrate into the semiconductor, the number of electrons and holes that are generated in the semiconductor, and the magnitude of the idling voltage. Formulas for these quantities are calculated in this paper.

In view of the large energy consumption of the regeneration process in the chemical absorption decarburization process, on the basis of the enrichment classification flow process, the nanoscale ceramic film is used as a new heat exchanger between the enriched liquid and the regeneration gas. The porous ceramic film is capable of coupling thermal-mass transfer to effectively recover part of the water vapor and the heat carried in the regeneration gas, so as to reduce the regenerative energy consumption of the system. The effects of parameters such as regeneration temperature, flow rate, molar fraction of water vapor, and MEA enrichment temperature, flow rate, and MEA concentration of shunt on the hydrothermal recovery effect of ceramic membranes of different pore sizes and lengths were studied by using the heat recovery flux and water recovery rate as the indicators. The results show that the hydrothermal recovery performance of the ceramic membrane increases with the increase of MEA enrichment flow, but decreases significantly with the increase of the enrichment temperature. At the same time, with the increase of regenerative gas velocity and the molar fraction of water vapor in the regenerative gas, the heat recovery flux will increase. The heat recovery performance of the 10 nm ceramic membrane is better than that of the 20 nm ceramic membrane.

Metamaterial perfect absorber is very important in the study of refractive index sensor. The time domain finite difference method is used to simulate the surface plasmon structure. The double nanorod periodic structure is designed, and the parameters of the top layer structure are optimized according to the impedance matching principle, and the absorption rate of the structure to the light wave reaches 99.6% when the wavelength is about 12 mm. The absorption spectroscopy of the structure is studied with the change of the refractive index of the spatial medium around the structure, and the sensitivity of the double nanorod structure is 4,008 nm/RIU, which can be used to measure the refractive index of the gas.

Due to the short cost-effective heat transportation distance, the existing geothermal heating technologies cannot be used to develop deep hydrothermal-type geothermal fields situated far away from urban areas. To solve the problem, a new multi-energy source coupling a low-temperature sustainable central heating system with a multifunctional relay energy station is put forward. As for the proposed central heating system, a compression heat pump integrated with a heat exchanger in the heating substation and a gas-fired water/lithium bromide single-effect absorption heat pump in the multifunctional relay energy station are used to lower the return temperature of the primary network step by step. The proposed central heating system is analyzed using thermodynamics and economics, and matching relationships between the design temperature of the return water and the main line length of the primary network are discussed. The studied results indicate that, as for the proposed central heating system, the cost-effective main line length of the primary network can approach 33.8 km, and the optimal design return temperature of the primary network is 23 ℃. Besides, the annual coefficient of performance and annual energy efficiency of the proposed central heating system are about 3.01 and 42.7%, respectively.

Herein, we report a facile preparation of super-hydrophilic sand by coating the sand particles with cross-linked polyacrylamide (PAM) hydrogels for enhanced water absorption and controlled water release aimed at desert agriculture. To prepare the sample, 4 wt% of aqueous PAM solution is mixed with organic cross-linkers of hydroquinone (HQ) and hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) in a 1:1 weight ratio and aqueous potassium chloride (KCl) solution. A specific amount of the above solution is added to the sand, well mixed, and subsequently cured at 150 °C for 8 h. The prepared super-hydrophilic sands were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) for chemical composition and X-ray diffraction (XRD) for successful polymer coating onto the sand. The water storage for the samples was studied by absorption kinetics at various temperature conditions, and extended water release was studied by water desorption kinetics. The water swelling ratio for the super-hydrophilic sand has reached a maximum of 900% (9 times its weight) at 80 °C within 1 h. The desorption kinetics of the samples showed that the water can be stored for up to a maximum of 3 days. Therefore, super-hydrophilic sand particles were successfully prepared by coating them with PAM hydrogels, which have great potential to be used in sustainable desert agriculture.