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Melt viscosity control of polyamides is an important issue concerning polymer processing and quality composites which are directly influenced by the melt viscosity in extrusion and injection molding processes. In this work, a series of linear and cyclic PA6 (nylon6), PA46 (nylon46), and PA66 (nylon66)-based amide oligomers consisting of 30%. This result suggests that proper hydrogen bonding mismatching in the polymer chain network plays an important role for lowering viscosity. A6-L/PA66 composites impregnated with 40 wt% glass fiber show a twofold increase in the melt flow index while maintaining their mechanical strengths.

Thin films of Bi2O3-ZnO-Nb2O5 system with cubic pyrochlore structure can be deposited using both cubic and monoclinic (zirconolite) targets. When monoclinic target was used, the as-deposited phase was nonequilibrium cubic monophase. After post-annealing in the 600–800^∘C range, phase decomposition occurred, resulting in more thermodynamically stable cubic pyrochlore and monoclinic zirconolite phases. The dielectric properties, such as dielectric constant and electric field dependent tunability, showed a steep increase along with phase separation. However, dielectric loss had a reverse tendency. The maximum tunability was about 38%, which exceeds that of cubic pyrochlore monophase films deposited from cubic target.

Background Post transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) is a mechanism harnessed by plant biologists to knock down gene expression. siRNAs contribute to PTGS that are synthesized from mRNAs or viral RNAs and function to guide cellular endoribonucleases to target mRNAs for degradation. Plant biologists have employed electroporation to deliver artificial siRNAs to plant protoplasts to study gene expression mechanisms at the single cell level. One drawback of electroporation is the extensive loss of viable protoplasts that occurs as a result of the transfection technology. Results We employed fluorescent conjugated polymer nanoparticles (CPNs) to deliver siRNAs and knockdown a target gene in plant protoplasts. CPNs are non toxic to protoplasts, having little impact on viability over a 72 h period. Microscopy and flow cytometry reveal that CPNs can penetrate protoplasts within 2 h of delivery. Cellular uptake of CPNs/siRNA complexes were easily monitored using epifluorescence microscopy. We also demonstrate that CPNs can deliver siRNAs targeting specific genes in the cellulose biosynthesis pathway (NtCesA-1a and NtCesA-1b). Conclusions While prior work showed that NtCesA-1 is a factor involved in cell wall synthesis in whole plants, we demonstrate that the same gene plays an essential role in cell wall regeneration in isolated protoplasts. Cell wall biosynthesis is central to cell elongation, plant growth and development. The experiments presented here shows that NtCesA is also a factor in cell viability. We show that CPNs are valuable vehicles for delivering siRNAs to plant protoplasts to study vital cellular pathways at the single cell level.

(Bi3xZn2−3x)(ZnxNb2−x)O7 thin films (x=1/2 and 2/3) have potential great for tunable RF and microwave devices due to medium dielectric constant and low dielectric loss. The tunable dielectric properties of Bi-rich, (Bi1.5 Zn0.5)(Zn0.5 Nb1.5)O7 thin films were investigated. To make Bi-rich cubic pyrochlore thin films, Bi2O3–ZnO–Nb2O5 monoclinic pyrochlore ceramic targets were used in reactive RF magnetron sputtering process. Substrate heating was employed to improve surface morphology and tunability. As-deposited films were crystallized or amorphous state depending on substrate temperature. All films were annealed at 600°C ∼ 800°C for 3 hours in the air. There were no zinc niobate secondary phases in the films before and after post-annealing, while quite significant amount BZN thin films were found in sputtered using cubic pyrochlore ceramic targets, especially after post-annealing. It was found that Bi-rich BZN films have much larger tunability when as-deposited phase are amorphous. The maximum tunability 38% was obtained when substrate is heated to 350°C and composition of films is close to exact stoichiometric cubic BZN.