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Thermokinetics of Biochar production.

The objective of this study was to investigate the thermal stability of poly(urethane-isocyanurate) networks with increasing amount of dangling chains. In order to improve thermal stability of elastomeric materials, networks were prepared by adding some heat resistant isocyanurate rings as a junction points by catalytic cyclotrimerisation of telechelic diisocyanates. The thermal degradation kinetics of samples has been studied by means of high-resolution thermal analyzer SDT Q600 TA Instruments, under nitrogen atmosphere. The activation energy for the two step reactions of thermal decomposition of different species was calculated and compared.

En esta publicación se ha empleado el procedimiento sol-gel con el fin de elaborar capas de TiO2 en sustratos de ITO mediante la inmersión denominada "Dip-Coating". Se emplearon técnicas de caracterización XRD, espectroscopia Raman, AFM, UV-Vis y espectroscopia elipsométrica, que evaluaron las consecuencias del espesor de la película en las propiedades microestructurales, morfológicas y ópticas, así como su función como capa transportadora de electrones para células solares planas de perovskita (PSC). En todos los casos, se obtuvieron películas de Anatasa TiO2 bien cristalizadas con una superficie lisa y homogénea. La banda prohibida óptica de las películas aumentó de 3.25 eV a 3.4 eV al aumentar el espesor de la película de 50 nm a 90 nm. En cambio, el índice de refracción (n) alcanza un valor de 2 por encima de 400 nm, mientras que los coeficientes de extinción (k) descienden a cero. Los resultados revelaron una mejora en el transporte de carga y el comportamiento de extracción de electrones mediante la capa de TiO2 de 50 nm, así como un aumento en la eficiencia de conversión de energía del dispositivo. El resultado indica que es posible usar el método de recubrimiento por inmersión para la elaboración de una célula solar de perovskita plana eficiente. También sugiere usar un espesor optimizado de 50 nm para optimizar el rendimiento del dispositivo.

We present a strategy to break the salt barrier for sustainable solar steam generation from seawater, by constructing an efficient water–salt loop and employing a highly porous, super-hydrophobic material with high photothermal conversion capability.

Abstract This paper presents a cross-country benchmarking study of natural gas distribution to final consumers and compares two samples of companies in Italy and Ukraine. A 2-stage DEA procedure calculating efficiency of gas providers and identifying critical context factors and policy issues that affect it is implemented. Both countries are low performing in terms of operators’ technical and scale efficiency and there is room to design more efficient market configurations. Some issues need attention to develop an effective gas market policy: a) search for efficiency requires accurate investigation of its main drivers that depend on context factors; b) while greater efficiency is necessary to reduce cost and increase service quality, at different stages of progress of the reform process other goals may be more important; c) gas industry reform process should be planned adopting a systemic perspective as its development does not remain confined to the sector, but implies changes in the whole country economy, particularly when the gas market is of primary relevance to the economy; d) a more comprehensive package of reforms may be necessary to make gas market reform successful; e) even though the gas market reform is an economic process, it has unavoidably social and political implications.