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The incorporation of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) into polymers would be a very promising strategy for overcoming the disadvantage of MOF brittleness and for extending the application of MOFs in proton-conducting materials. Here, we prepare a series of hybrid membranes composed of MOFs and chitosan (CS, very cheap polymer), and systemically study the effect of the incorporation of pure MIL-101 ([Cr3O(H2O)3(bdc)3], bdc = terephthalic acid), the ligand-modified MIL-101, namely S-MIL-101 ([Cr3O(H2O)3(STA)3]·nH2O, STA = 2-sulfoterephthalic acid), and the non-volatile acid-loaded MIL-101, namely acids@MIL-101 (acids = H2SO4, H3PO4 or CF3SO3H), on the interface compatibility and proton conduction of the hybrid membrane. The experimental results revealed the well compatible interfaces between MOF-based materials and the CS matrix because of the hydrogen bond interaction between them, which greatly improved the proton conductivity, activation energy, thermal and mechanical stability, and swelling property of the hybrid membranes. The functionality of MIL-101 is less than that of S-MIL-101 and acids@MIL-101 because of the presence of more hydrogen-bonding sites, proton hopping sites and proton carriers in the latter two types of materials. All MOF-based materials tested (MIL-101, S-MIL-101, and acids@MIL-101) and their hybrid membranes with CS are characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), TEM, EDS, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and DSC. Fuel cell performances based on these hybrid membranes have been measured. The investigation provides important information for the design of hybrid membranes containing MOFs and polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of transition metal coordination complexes, {[Cu(3-Sptta)2] ·1/2H2O} n ( 1), {[Cd(3-Sptta)2] ·1/2H2O} n ( 2), [Zn(3-Sptta)2(H2O)4] ( 3), and [Co(3-Sptta)2(H2O)4] ( 4) were synthesized under solvothermal and solvent evaporation conditions using the newly designed heterocyclic N/NS carboxylate ligand [2-(3-pyridyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole-5-]-thio-acetate (3-Sptta) as a main building block. Their structures were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses and further characterized by elemental analyses and IR spectroscopy. The four complexes exhibit structural diversity: complexes 1 and 2 exhibit similar 2D 'wave-like' double-layer framework with two shares of mutually parallel left-handed and right-handed helical chains, whereas 3 and 4 present mononuclear structures. Moreover, the thermal stabilities of complexes 1- 4 were investigated. The luminescent properties of complexes 2, 3 and the free ligand were also studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the lateritic red soil on a typical slopeland in Southern China as test object, this paper studied the soil microbial properties, enzyme activities, and their relationships with soil fertility under four land use types (newly cultivated dryland, shrub land, Eucalyptus land, and or- chard). There existed significant differences in the soil biological properties under different land use types, among which, orchard soil had the highest microbial quantity and enzyme activities, newly cultivated dryland soil had the fastest soil respiration rate, the fewest soil microorganism quantity, and the lowest enzyme activities, whereas shrub land and woodland soils had the biological properties ranged between newly cultivated dryland and orchard soils, and there was a high similarity in the biological properties between shrub land and woodland soils. Under different land use types, the soil microbial quantity and enzyme activities were positively correlated with soil organic carbon and most of the soil nutrients. It was suggested the soils with high soil organic matter content and high fertility level were beneficial to the soil microbial growth and enzyme activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of herb residue vermicompost on maize growth and soil fertility. With the increasing application rate of vermicompost, the plant height, stem diameter, leaf area, and chlorophyll content of maize all increased significantly. After 60 days growth of maize, the soil bulk density in most vermicompost treatments decreased significantly. The soil pH in vermicompost treatments was significantly higher than that in CK and in chemical fertilization treatments. In addition, the soil total nitrogen and organic matter contents in vermicompost treatments were obviously higher than those in chemical fertilization treatments. It was suggested that herb residue vermicompost could be used as an efficient and high-quality organic fertilizer, and its appropriate application could improve soil physical structure, alleviate soil acidification, increase soil organic matter and nitrogen contents, and promote crop growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydroxyapatite-silica (HA-SiO 2 ) scaffolds with different SiO 2 content (0, 2, 5 and 10 wt% SiO 2 ) were fabricated by freeze casting. After sintering, the scaffolds maintained the interconnected unidirectional pore channels by removing the frozen ice crystals via sublimation. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that SiO 2 promoted the decomposition of HA to tricalcium phosphate (TCP), comprised of α-TCP and β-TCP, which became more apparent with the increase of SiO 2 content. The microstructure observation of scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed that the scaffolds surface feature had great changes in terms of grain size and grain boundary with the addition of SiO 2 . Moreover, the addition of SiO 2 could increase the porosity and pore size of the scaffolds, even allowing it to reach a maximum as the SiO 2 content increased to 5 wt%. Compression tests investigated the variation in the compressive strength of the scaffolds with the increase in the SiO 2 content, which showed first decreasing and then increasing behavior. In vitro evaluation results in simulated body fluid (1.5×SBF) revealed that the introduction of SiO 2 enhanced the growth rate of bone-like layer, especially the scaffold with 5 wt% SiO 2 , which exhibited faster growth rate of bone-like layer than the other scaffolds. The XRD and fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) characterization confirmed that the bone-like layer formed on the scaffold surface was a carbonate-containing hydroxyapatite bone-like layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]