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Summary: There have been tremendous efforts made to investigate various materials to enhance the electrical performance of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) but there is still demand for some techniques to further enhance the performance of tribomaterials. Therefore, we fabricated a bimetallic hybrid cryogel via cheap and facile UV‐radiation as well as in situ reduction method. Fabricated TENG device made up of porous hybrid bimetallic cryogel film containing silver and gold nanoparticles as tribopositive material and poly dimethyl siloxane (PDMS) as a tribonegative layer with dimension of 1 × 2 cm2 has the ability to produced output voltage of 262.14 V with current density of 27.52 mA/m2 and 7.44 W/m2 peak power density, which was sufficient to light up more than 120 white light emitting‐diodes (LEDs). Porous and rough structure, interaction of nanoparticles was the reason behind the performance enhancement of tribopositive material. Thus, this study introduces a very stable and easily synthesized bimetallic hybrid cryogel as a tribopositive material to enhance the performance of tribomaterials to design high performance TENG devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNs) grafted with a photo-responsive copolymer containing coumarin groups were successfully prepared. With uniform polystyrene nanoparticles and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide correspondingly as the template of core and channel, HMSNs were made from tetraethyloxysilane in alkalic condition. Epoxy groups were introduced onto the outer surface of HMSNs with γ-(2,3-epoxypropoxy)propyltrimethoxysilane and converted into azido groups with sodium azide, resulting in azido-functionalized HMSNs (azido-HMSNs). Meanwhile, single-electron transfer-living radical copolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and 7-(2-methacryloyloxy)-4-methylcoumarin (CMA) with propargyl 2-bromoisobutyrate as the initiator produced alkynyl-capped P(MMA- co-CMA) [alkynyl-P(MMA- co-CMA)]. Finally, photo-responsive HMSNs grafted with P(MMA- co-CMA) [HMSN- g-P(MMA- co-CMA)] was achieved through the click reaction between azido-HMSNs and alkynyl-P(MMA- co-CMA). Different techniques such as transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermal gravimetric analysis confirmed the successful preparation of the resultant hybrid nanoparticles and their intermediates. Because of its hollow core, mesoporous shell channels and light responsiveness, the coumarin-modified HMSNs would be an interesting nano-vehicle for guest molecules. Thus, the loading and release of pyrene with HMSN- g-P(MMA- co-CMA) was studied. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013, 51, 3791-3799 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-subchain hyperbranched polystyrene (lsc-hp PSt) with uniform subchain length was obtained through copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition click chemistry from seesaw macromonomer of PSt having one alkynyl group anchored at the chain centre and two azido group attached to both chain ends [alkynyl-(PSt-N3)2]. After precipitation fraction, different portions of lsc-hp PSt having narrow overall molecular weight distribution were obtained for further grafting with alkynyl-capped poly( N-isopropylacrylamide) (alkynyl-PNIPAM), which was obtained via single-electron transfer living radical polymerization of NIPAM with propargyl 2-bromoisobutyrate as the initiator and grafted onto the peripheral azido groups of lsc-hp PSt via click chemistry. Thus, amphiphilic lsc-hp PSt grafted with PNIPAM chains (lsc-hp PSt- g-PNIPAM) was obtained and would have star-like conformation in tetrahydrofuran (THF). By replacing THF with water, lsc-hp PSt- g-PNIPAM was dissolved at molecular level in aqueous solution due to the hydrophilicity of PNIPAM and exhibited thermal induced shrinkage of PNIPAM arms. The water-insoluble lsc-hp PSt would collapse densely and could be served as a reservoir to absorb hydrophobic chemicals in aqueous solution. The influence of overall molecular weight of lsc-hp PSt on the absorption of pyrene was studied. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2013 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simulated graft copolymer of poly(acrylic acid-co-stearyl acylate) [P(AA-co-SA)] and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was synthesized, where acrylic acid, stearyl acylate and PEG was employed as the pH-sensitive, hydrophobic and hydrophilic segment, respectively. Polymeric nanoparticles prepared by the dialysis of simulated graft copolymer solution in dimethylformamide against citrate buffer solution with different pH values were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), fluorescence technique and laser light scattering (LLS). TEM image revealed the spherical shape of the self-aggregates, which was further confirmed by LLS measurements. The critical aggregation concentration increased markedly (10 to 150 mg/L) with increasing pH (4.6 to 7.0), consistent with the de-protonation of carboxylic groups at higher pH. The hydrodynamic radius of polymeric nanoparticles decreased from 118 nm at pH 3.4 to 90 nm at pH 7.0. The controlled release of indomethacin from those nanoparticles was investigated, and the self-assembled nanoparticles exhibited improved performance in controlled drug release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Core/shell nanoparticles with movable silver (Ag) core and polystyrene (PSt) shell (Ag@PSt nanoparticle) were successfully synthesized at room temperature and under ambient pressure via two steps: γ-irradiation and interfacial-initiated polymerization. Firstly, mono-dispersed Ag nanoparticles with diameters 20nm were synthesized in inversed microemulsion by reducing silver nitrate under γ-irradiation. Then, Ag nanoparticles were coated with PSt via interfacial-initiated polymerization with cumene hydroperoxide/ferrous sulfate/disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate/sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate (CHPO–Fe 2+ –EDTA–SFS) as the redox initiation pair. The resulted Ag@PSt nanoparticles were identified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]