Disclosed is a method for enhancing thermal energy storage performance of industrial grade hydrated salts based on phase change, comprising: heating an aqueous system of industrial grade hydrated salts containing 105-130 percent (%) by mass of m.sub.0 industrial grade hydrated salt to m.sub.0, taking a sample for differential scanning calorimeter testing and recording its melting enthalpy as ΔH.sub.1; melting and adding water into, or melting and evaporating the residual aqueous system of industrial grade hydrated salts or the residual industrial grade hydrated salts system with a mass of m.sub.1 to increase or decrease the mass by 0.4-0.8% m.sub.0 until a melting enthalpy ΔH.sub.n of a sample that taken from the residual aqueous system of industrial grade hydrated salts with a mass of m.sub.n satisfies ΔH.sub.2< . . . <ΔH.sub.n>ΔH.sub.n+1.

Ultrasensitive, ultrathin thermodynamic sensing platforms for the detection of chemical compounds at trace levels are disclosed. Embodiments of the ultrathin sensor comprise substrate, adhesion, microheater, and catalyst layers. A sensor array may include a plurality of sensors each having a different catalyst. When a sensor array exposed to an analyte, each of the various sensors of the array may experience an endothermic reaction, an exothermic reaction, or no reaction. A comparison of the reaction results to data comprising previously-obtained reaction results may be used to determine information on the analyte. Advantageously, these ultrathin vapor sensors utilize less power and provide greater sensitivity, and may be used to detect and identify analytes at the PPT level. Specialized sensors configured to detect analytes falling into a certain category (e.g., explosives, drugs and narcotics, biomarkers, etc.) are disclosed, as well as general purpose sensors capable of detecting analytes from a plurality of categories.

A fluid sensor for sensing a concentration or composition of a fluid, the sensor comprising: a semiconductor substrate comprising a first etched portion and a second etched portion; a dielectric region located on the semiconductor substrate, wherein the dielectric region comprises a first dielectric membrane located over the first etched portion of the semiconductor substrate, and a second dielectric membrane located over the second etched portion of the semiconductor substrate; two temperature sensing elements on or within the first dielectric membrane and two temperature sensing elements on or within the second dielectric membrane; an output circuit configured to measure a differential signal between the two temperature sensing elements of the first dielectric membrane and the two temperature sensing elements of the second dielectric membrane; wherein the first dielectric membrane is exposed to the fluid and the second dielectric membrane is isolated from the fluid.

A gas monitor apparatus includes a sorbent material that adsorbs a target gas based on a concentration of the target gas in a monitored environment and a reference material that does not respond to the target gas. The gas monitor also includes a first thermistor disposed within the sorbent material and a second thermistor disposed within the reference material, the first thermistor to provide a first indication of a first temperature of the sorbent material and the second thermistor to provide a second indication of a second temperature of the reference material. A processing device determines a concentration of the target gas based at least in part on a differential measurement between the first temperature and the second temperature.

The supporting device (10) includes: a body (14), designed to be mounted on an enclosure of a calorimeter, an end-fitting (34) for supporting the measurement cell (12), including elements (36) for fastening the measurement cell (12) on that supporting end-fitting (34), and fluid flow members in the measurement cell (12), able to control the pressure in that measurement cell (12).

A method of determining thermal properties of a sample using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), the method comprises injecting a first separation fluid, a sample plug, and a second separation fluid into a sample cell. The first separation fluid and the sample plug have a first separation interface, and the sample plug and the second fluid have a second separation interface. The method further comprises injecting a reference fluid into a reference cell, heating the sample cell and reference cell, and determining thermal properties of the sample using DSC analysis.

A gas sensor (1) including a first gas detection element (2) and a second gas detection element (3), a first storage portion (4) having a first internal space (4A), and a first opening (4B) establishing communication between the first internal space (4A) and the outside space thereof exposed to a detection subject atmosphere, a second storage portion (5) having a second internal space (5A) and a second opening (5B) establishing communication between the second internal space (5A) and the outside space, a first membrane (4C) allowing permeation of water vapor and substantially not allowing permeation of a detection target gas, and covering the first opening (4B), and a calculation unit (12) for calculating the concentration of a detection target gas contained in the detection subject atmosphere, based on outputs from the first and second gas detection elements (2, 3), respectively.

Provided are a gas sensor, a gas detection device, a gas detection method and a device provided with the gas detection device, capable of improving gas detection performance. The gas detection device is provided with a gas sensor comprising a thermosensitive resistance element and a porous gas molecule adsorptive material thermally bonded to the thermosensitive resistance element that releases specified gas molecules due to heating and cooling, and a power supply control unit that heats and cools the thermosensitive resistance element by controlling the supply of power thereto. The gas detection method comprises a heating step for putting the porous gas molecule adsorptive material in a heated state and a detecting step for detecting a specific gas due to the temperature change in the thermosensitive resistance element by heating.

Disclosed is a method for enhancing thermal energy storage performance of industrial grade hydrated salts based on phase change, comprising: heating an aqueous system of industrial grade hydrated salts containing 105-130 percent (%) by mass of m.sub.0 industrial grade hydrated salt to m.sub.0, taking a sample for differential scanning calorimeter testing and recording its melting enthalpy as ΔH.sub.1; melting and adding water into, or melting and evaporating the residual aqueous system of industrial grade hydrated salts or the residual industrial grade hydrated salts system with a mass of m.sub.1 to increase or decrease the mass by 0.4-0.8% m.sub.0 until a melting enthalpy ΔH.sub.n of a sample that taken from the residual aqueous system of industrial grade hydrated salts with a mass of m.sub.n satisfies ΔH.sub.2< . . . <ΔH.sub.n>ΔH.sub.n+1.

A method for measuring the oil content of a lithium battery separator by using DSC includes the following steps: taking 5-10 mg of an oil-containing separator sample from the lithium battery separator, and taking 5-10 mg of an oil-free separator sample from an oil-free separator; performing an enthalpy test on the oil-free separator sample at room temperature by using a differential scanning calorimeter to obtain a first enthalpy value, and performing an enthalpy test on the oil-containing separator sample by using the differential scanning calorimeter to obtain a second enthalpy value; subtracting the second enthalpy value from the first enthalpy value to obtain a difference, and then dividing the difference by the first enthalpy value to obtain the oil content of the oil-containing separator sample.