Colossal barocaloric effects in plastic crystals

Li, B.*; Kawakita, Yukinobu; Kawamura, Seiko; Sugahara, Takeshi*; Wang, H.*; Wang, J.*; Chen, Y.*; Kawaguchi, Saori*; Kawaguchi, Shogo*; Ohara, Koji*; et al.

Nature, 567(7749), p.506 - 510, 2019/03

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1042-5

Refrigeration is of vital importance for modern society for example, for food storage and air conditioning- and 25 to 30% of the world's electricity is consumed for refrigeration. Current refrigeration technology mostly involves the conventional vapour compression cycle, but the materials used in this technology are of growing environmental concern because of their large global warming potential. As a promising alternative, refrigeration technologies based on solid-state caloric effects have been attracting attention in recent decades. However, their application is restricted by the limited performance of current caloric materials, owing to small isothermal entropy changes and large driving magnetic fields. Here we report colossal barocaloric effects (CBCEs) (barocaloric effects are cooling effects of pressure-induced phase transitions) in a class of disordered solids called plastic crystals. The obtained entropy changes in a representative plastic crystal, neopentylglycol, are about 389 joules per kilogram per kelvin near room temperature. Pressure-dependent neutron scattering measurements reveal that CBCEs in plastic crystals can be attributed to the combination of extensive molecular orientational disorder, giant compressibility and highly anharmonic lattice dynamics of these materials. Our study establishes the microscopic mechanism of CBCEs in plastic crystals and paves the way to next-generation solid-state refrigeration technologies.

Application of Bayesian nonparametric models to the uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of source term in a BWR severe accident

Zheng, X.; Ito, Hiroto; Kawaguchi, Kenji; Tamaki, Hitoshi; Maruyama, Yu

Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 138, p.253 - 262, 2015/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2015.02.004

An Adaptive time-stepping scheme with local convergence verification using support vector machines

Kawaguchi, Kenji; Ishikawa, Jun; Maruyama, Yu

International Journal of Engineering and Technology, 6(2), p.104 - 108, 2014/04

http://www.ijetch.org/papers/675-W00015.pdf

Radiation effects of the boron nano-belt on the electronic conductivity

Kirihara, Kazuhiro*; Kawaguchi, Kenji*; Shimizu, Yoshiki*; Sasaki, Takeshi*; Koshizaki, Naoto*; Kimura, Kaoru*; Yamada, Yoichi; Yamamoto, Hiroyuki; Shamoto, Shinichi

no journal, , 

Radiation effects of the boron nano-belt on the electronic conductivity have been studied.

Effect of neutron irradiation on the electrical transport of boron nanobelt devices

Kirihara, Kazuhiro*; Kawaguchi, Kenji*; Shimizu, Yoshiki*; Sasaki, Takeshi*; Koshizaki, Naoto*; Kimura, Kaoru*; Yamada, Yoichi; Yamamoto, Hiroyuki; Shamoto, Shinichi

no journal, , 

Isotopic B atom has large thermal neutron capture cross section. Li atom and particle as a product of the neutron reaction can change the electrical transport property of the boron-rich semiconductor because they provide carrier doping and lattice defects. We successfully synthesized catalyst-free single-crystalline boron nanobelts (BNBs) and clarified the electrical transport and photoconduction mechanism of individual nanobelt. The BNB device is promising candidates for solid-state neutron sensors with both high resolution and good discrimination performance between neutron and -ray. In the presentation, we discuss the performance of thermal neutron detection of BNB devices. Isotopic B enriched BNBs was synthesized to detect thermal neutrons efficiently. Electrical conductance of a nanobelt increased to eight times after the thermal neutron irradiation with a dose of 1.810 cm by the neutron reaction of B.

Study on microwave heating of Pu/U mixed nitrate medium in solid state on denitration process

Imai, Suguru*; Taguchi, Kenji*; Kashiwa, Tatsuya*; Kawaguchi, Koichi; Segawa, Tomoomi

no journal, , 

In the nuclear cycle system, reprocessing solutions (plutonium and uranium mixed nitrate solution) produced from spent nuclear fuel is converted to Mixed Oxide (MOX) by a microwave heating (MH) method in Japan. The electric constant of the reprocessing solution is varied by its phase state on heating and denitration reaction and affects the microwave heating property. It is important to understand the property of the microwave heating for improving the efficiency. Therefore the temperature distribution of the solid state of the reprocessing solution is investigated by the electromagnetic analysis and thermal analysis using FDTD method and thermal analysis method. As a result, the absorbed power of the solid-state Pu-U mixed nitrate are concentrated at upper surface and periphery, and generated heat flows to below.

Evaluation on the denitration characteristics heated by the circular polarized microwave

Segawa, Tomoomi; Tanigawa, Masafumi; Kato, Yoshiyuki; Kawaguchi, Koichi; Ishii, Katsunori; Suzuki, Masahiro; Kitazawa, Toshihide*; Taguchi, Kenji*; Kashiwa, Tatsuya*

no journal, , 

For the purpose of improving the microwave heating denitration technology, the denitration characteristics of cobalt nitrate aqueous solutions as a simulated materials were analyzed and evaluated by using the microwave heating equipment whichi was controlled to circular polarized wave. Numerical simulation confirmed that the circular polarized wave controlled microwave irradiation uniformed the absorbed power distribution in the circumferential direction. Moreover, it was confirmed that the denitration proceeded uniformly even in the radial direction by the microwave heating denitration experiments of cobalt nitrate aqueous solutions. From these results, it was revealed that favorable heating and denitration characteristics can be obtained by the circularly polarized wave controlled microwave heating equipment.