Paraffin is one of the most common and promising phase change materials to store and release thermal energy. The inadequacy of paraffin lies in its low thermal conductivity, which affects its further application on thermal energy storage. In this work, hollow fibers derived from pitch were spun. The graphitization (treated at 2773 K under argon atmosphere) induced the carbon atom arrangement and lattice order development, which endowed the hollow graphite fibers (HGFs) with good graphite structure. The HGFs applied as thermal additives into paraffin significantly improved its thermal conductivity. The high thermal conductivity of the HGFs/paraffin composite was achieved up to 2.50 W/(m·K) along the fiber axis, which displayed an over 680% enhancement as compared with that of the pure paraffin. The HGFs displayed significant improvement of the heat transfer rate and heat flow of paraffin, which indicated the promising potential application of the HGFs/paraffin PCM in thermal energy storage systems.

Herein, a double strategy to modify the cycling performance of pure silicon nanoparticles (SiPs) was applied. Hollow graphite fibers (HGFs) with a good graphite structure could improve the electrical conductivity of the electrode. The SiP/HGF composite maintained a discharge capacity of 556.2 mA h g⁻¹ and a charge capacity of 548.6 mA h g⁻¹ after 50 cycles at the current density of 50 mA g⁻¹, which obviously promoted the lifetime as compared to that of the anode of pure SiPs. Carbon coating could minimize the direct contact between the SiPs and electrolyte and buffer the volume changes during cycling. The silicon nanoparticle/hollow graphite fiber/carbon-coated (SiP/HGF/C) composite delivered the initial discharge and charge capacities of 1327.2 and 936.6 mA h g⁻¹, respectively, at a current density of 50 mA g⁻¹. After the first cycle, the charge capacity began to steadily increase to 1122.7 mA h g⁻¹ until the thirty-first cycle. The double strategy effectively buffered the volume changes, enhanced the intensity of the electrode, and improved the overall electrical conductivity during discharge–charge cycles. The low-cost SiP/HGF/C composite showed an optimized electrochemical performance as compared to the pure SiP anode.

Through experimental and theoretical investigations, multiphase phosphide nanoflakes equipped with AlP-induced phosphorus vacancies (P_V) are proved to be efficient electrocatalysts for boosting hydrogen production.

Using a top-down magnetron sputtering technique with a high deposition-rate, a one-step method for preparing germanium (Ge) hybrid film is presented. At present, graphite film is used as a current collector because it is flexible, self lubricating, and possesses a stress–strain-relieving property. In order to further suppress the volume changes of the Ge, a multilayered electrically conductive nickel film is deposited between multilayered Ge films. The cells are cycled at a current density of 200 mA g⁻¹. An initial discharge and charge capacity of 1180.7 and 949.3 mAh g⁻¹ are achieved by the prepared integrated pyramid patterned Ge composite film anode, respectively. The average capacity was maintained at 580 mAh g⁻¹ after 280 cycles. In the rate capability measurement, the Ge composite demonstrated a reversible capacity of 1163.1 mAh g⁻¹. It is easily made using magnetron sputtering, which is widely accepted in the industry. A physical approach to increase pure Ge’s specific capacity and its cycle life for LIBs is demonstrated in this work.

A high-efficiency surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection method with ultra-high sensitivity has been widely applied in drug component detection to optimize the product quality verification standards. Herein, a controllable strategy of sputtering Ag nanoislands on carbon fiber (C-fiber) via magnetron sputtering technology was proposed to fabricate a versatile Ag-C-fiber SERS active substrate. A wide range of multi-level electromagnetic enhancement “hot spots” distributed on Ag-C-fiber nanostructures can efficiently amplify Raman signals and the experimental enhancement factor (EEF) value was 3.871 × 10⁶. Furthermore, substantial “hot spots” of large-scale distribution guaranteed the superior reproducibility of Raman signal with relative standard deviation (RSD) values less than 12.97%. Limit of detection (LOD) results indicated that when crystal violet (CV) is employed as probe molecule, the LOD was located at 1 × 10⁻¹³ M. By virtue of ultra-sensitivity and good flexibility of the Ag-C-fiber nanotemplate, Raman signals of two kinds of antiepileptic drugs called levetiracetam and sodium valproate were successfully obtained using an SERS-based spectral method. The Ag-C-fiber SERS detection platform demonstrated a good linear response (R² = 0.97486) in sensing sodium valproate concentrations in the range of 1 × 10³ ng/μL⁻¹–1 ng/μL. We believe that this reliable strategy has potential application for trace detection and rapid screening of antiepileptic drugs in the clinic.

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in energy storage and power systems due to their high energy density, long cycle life, and stability. Accurate prediction of the state of health (SOH) of batteries is critical to ensuring their safe and reliable operation. However, the prediction task remains challenging due to various complex factors. This paper proposes a hybrid TCN–Transformer–BiLSTM prediction model for battery SOH estimation. The model is first validated using the NASA public dataset, followed by further verification with dynamic operating condition simulation experimental data. Health features correlated with SOH are identified through Pearson analysis, and comparisons are conducted with existing LSTM, GRU, and BiLSTM methods. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model achieves outstanding performance across multiple datasets, with root mean square error (RMSE) values consistently below 2% and even below 1% in specific cases. Furthermore, the model maintains high prediction accuracy even when trained with only 50% of the data.