Search

As the most straightforward synthetic strategy for cyclic polymers in theory, the traditional homodifunctional bimolecular ring-closure methods showed limited success for preparing pure cyclic polymers in practice even after several decades of development. A breakthrough was achieved in this paper to develop a successful homodifunctional bimolecular ring-closure method using a self-accelerating double strain-promoted azide-alkyne click reaction as the intermolecular and subsequent intramolecular coupling reactions. Because of the self-accelerating property of coupling reaction, this novel approach eliminated the usage of equimolar quantities between telechelic polymers and small molecule linkers, which was the prerequisite of traditional homodifunctional bimolecular ring-closure methods for pure cyclic polymers. More importantly, this approach could use an excess amount of small linkers to increase the intermolecular coupling reaction rate, further resulting in a significantly enhanced preparation efficiency of cyclic polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report the technical breakthroughs to synthesize outer-selective thin-film composite (TFC) hollow fiber membranes, which is in an urgent need for osmotic power generation with the pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) process. In the first step, a defect-free thin-film composite membrane module is achieved by vacuum-assisted interfacial polymerization. The PRO performance is further enhanced by optimizing the support in terms of pore size and mechanical strength and the TFC layer with polydopamine coating and molecular engineering of the interfacial polymerization solution. The newly developed membranes can stand over 20 bar with a peak power density of 7.63 W/m2, which is equivalent to 13.72 W/m2 of its inner-selective hollow fiber counterpart with the same module size, packing density, and fiber dimensions. The study may provide insightful guidelines for optimizing the interfacial polymerization procedures and scaling up of the outer-selective TFC hollow fiber membrane modules for PRO power generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal pyrolysis of pharmaceutical wastewater sludge, brown coal, and sludge-coal blends were studied by TG dynamic runs carried out at 20 °C min in the temperature range from 25 to 850 °C. Different possible kinetic models of thermal decomposition have been considered. The best models of mechanism function for brown coal, pharmaceutical wastewater sludge, and coal-sludge blends are a first-order reaction, a N-dimensional nucleation, and growth reactions with N = 2 and 4, respectively. The Arrhenius kinetic parameters for brown coal, pharmaceutical wastewater sludge, and coal-sludge blends are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neutral starch microspheres (NSMs) were synthesized by an inverse microemulsion technology with epichlorohydrin as a crosslinker and soluble starch as starting material. Anionic starch microspheres (ASMs) were prepared from NSMs by the secondary polymerization with chloroacetic acid as the anionic etherifying agent. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and laser diffraction particle size analyzer were used to characterize the anionic starch microspheres. The results showed that structure of the microspheres was compact and the hardness of microspheres was great, and the average diameter of the product was about 75 μm. The anionic starch microspheres (ASMs) were used to adsorb methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution. Effects of adsorption time, initial concentration of MB, and temperature on the adsorption of MB onto ASMs were studied, and the equilibrium and kinetics of the adsorption process were further investigated. It shows that ASMs can effectively remove MB from the solution. The adsorption equilibrium data correlates well with the Langmuir isotherm model compared with Frendlich isotherem model. The pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models were applied to test the experimental data. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model provided a better correlation of the experimental data in comparison with the pseudo-first-order model. Temperature variations did not significantly affect the adsorption of MB onto ASMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The kinetics of several fast heterogeneous electron-transfer reactions were investigated by steady-state voltammetry at nanoelectrodes and scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM). The disk-type, polished Pt nanoelectrodes (3.7–400-nm radius) were characterized by a combination of voltammetry, scanning electron microscopy, and SECM. A number of experimental curves were obtained at the same nanoelectrode to attain the accuracy and reproducibility similar to those reported previously for micrometer-sized probes. A new analytical approximation was developed and used for analysis of steady-state tip voltammograms. The self-consistent kinetic parameter values with the uncertainty margin of ∼10% were obtained for electrodes of different radii and for a wide range of the SECM tip/substrate separation distances. The determined standard rate constants are compared to those previously measured at the electrodes of different dimensions, and the correlation between the heterogeneous and self-exchange rate constants is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report an innovative development of novel double layered photoanodes made of hierarchical TiO2 micro-corollas as the overlayer and TiO2 nanoforest as the underlayer (HTCF), for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). They are obtained by a facile hydrothermal reaction of TiO2 nanorods array with top microspheres (MS)/FTO (Fluorine-doped tin oxide) glass substrate in an alkaline solution. In this process, the microspheres and nanorods are transformed into micro-corollas and nanotrees, respectively. The photoanodes with HTCF structure can greatly improve the light scattering ability due to their novel structures. Moreover, the enhanced surface area of HTCF can lead to larger dye loading, which achieves the higher light harvesting capacity. Base on the fast electron transport of the interior nanorods, higher light scattering and harvesting capacities, this novel HTCF photoanode realizes tri-functions. The overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the HTCF DSSCs are 51% increase in the conversion efficiency compare with those of constructed by bare TiO2 nanorod arrays. In our work, tri-functions of photoanodes are obtained by improving the 1D TiO2 nanostructures (nanorod, nanowire, nanotube et al.). To the best of our knowledge, it is a significant fabrication technology breakthrough for the photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study about direct benzylic alkylation using Ni-catalyzed selective benzylic sp 3 C-O activation. This study focuses on the coupling of kumada as an aid in constructing C-C bonds using aryl halides and Grignard reagents. New developments are reported and comparisons are made to back up the findings.