The lithium-ion battery is a viable power source for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and, more recently, electric vehicles (EVs). Its performance, especially in terms of state of charge (SOC), plays a significant role in the energy management of these vehicles. The extended Kalman filter (EKF) is widely used to estimate online SOC as an efficient estimation algorithm. However, conventional EKF algorithms cannot accurately estimate the difference between individual batteries, which should not be ignored. However, the internal resistance of a battery can represent this difference. Therefore, this work proposes using an EKF with internal resistance measurement based on the conventional algorithm. Lithium-ion battery real-time resistances can help the Kalman filter overcome defects from simplistic battery models. In addition, experimental results show that it is useful to introduce online internal resistance to the estimation of SOC.

This letter reports an experimental study of a pulse-modulated radio-frequency dielectric-barrier discharge in atmospheric helium. By controlling the duty cycle at a modulation frequency of 10 and 100kHz, the 13.56MHz discharge is shown to operate in three different glow modes: the continuum mode, the discrete mode, and the transition mode. By investigating plasma ignition, residual electrons during power off are found to affect different glow modes. Duty cycle dependences of power density, gas temperature, optical emission intensities at 706 and 777nm are used to capture clearly the characteristics of the three glow modes.

An atmospheric non-thermal plasma jet was developed for sterilizing the Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). The plasma jet was generated by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD), which was characterized by electrical and optical diagnostics. The survival curves of the bacteria showed that the plasma jet could effectively inactivate 106 cells of S. aureus within 120 seconds and the sterilizing efficiency depended critically on the discharge parameter of the applied voltage. It was further confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) that the cell morphology was seriously damaged by the plasma treatment. The plasma sterilization mechanism of S. aureus was attributed to the active species of OH, N2+ and O, which were generated abundantly in the plasma jet and characterized by OES. Our findings suggest a convenient and low-cost way for sterilization and inactivation of bacteria.

In this paper, polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) films with and without plasma pretreatment were modified by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (PA-ALD). It demonstrates that the Al₂O₃ films are successfully deposited onto the surface of PET films. The cracks formed on the deposited Al₂O₃ films in the ALD, plasma pretreated ALD, and PA-ALD were attributed to the energetic ion bombardment in plasmas. The surface wettability in terms of water contact angle shows that the deposited Al₂O₃ layer can enhance the wetting property of modified PET surface. Further characterizations of the Al₂O₃ films suggest that the elevated density of hydroxyl -OH group improve the initial growth of ALD deposition. Chemical composition of the Al₂O₃-coated PET film was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which shows that the content of C 1s reduces with the growing of O 1s in the Al₂O₃-coated PET films, and the introduction of plasma in the ALD process helps the normal growth of Al₂O₃ on PET in PA-ALD.

Superhydrophobic antibacterial fabric possesses properties of antibacterial and antibacterial adhesion and shows huge demand in the field of medical textiles. However, current technologies are unable to fully address this. Hence, a simple method is highly desirable. Herein, the pristine polyester (PET) fabric is immersed into the solution containing ZnO nanoparticle and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and the fiber surfaces are uniformly covered by a ZnO-PDMS layer after being treated by low pressure Ar plasma. The weight gain rate of the treated fabric is 3.5%, which is basically unchanged, and the air permeability, moisture permeability, and tensile properties of the fabric are basically not affected. It is found that the water contact angle (WCA) of the fabric is over 162.7°and sliding angle (SA) is less than 10°. The stable binding of PDMS and PET fibers induces a robust superhydrophobicity; even after 300 washing cycles and 600 friction cycles, it still remains superhydrophobic. The antibacterial rates of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus before washing were 99.89% and 99.85%, respectively, and after 100 cycles of washing, the antibacterial rates decreased to 99.36% and 99.17%, respectively. Therefore, it shows a good development prospect in the application of protecting clothing or textiles that require good antibacterial properties (such as bed sheets, duvet covers, etc.).

The existing coating systems used for the preparation of super-hydrophobic surfaces are facing new challenges because the use of organic solvents and long-carbon-chain organic fluorine monomers is banned. In this article, the authors have proven that by using inductively coupled plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) with argon (Ar), which is a completely dry process, lauryl methacrylate (LMA) can produce a stable super-hydrophobic coating effect. The effect of electron temperature on the super-hydrophobicity of cotton fabrics is investigated in terms of water repellency, chemical composition, and surface morphology. It is found that the improvement in the hydrophobicity of cotton fabric is attributed to the deposition of alkyl and ester groups, and the formation of a micro–nano-structure on the surface of the fabric after plasma treatment. The electron temperature plays an important role in achieving the super-hydrophobicity of cotton fabrics. The plasma-enhanced coating may offer a safe and dry super-hydrophobic technique with diverse applications.