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Comprehensive utilization of coal fly ashes (CFA) solid waste is a worldwide urgent issue. In China, tens of millions of tons of CFA are un-utilized and stored or discarded in landfills per year, causing a significant waste of resources and a serious environmental hazard. Herein, we developed a new process to reuse CFA and recycled polyvinyl chloride (r-PVC) to produce door or window sub-frame (DWSF) composite materials, realized CFA and r-PVC trash to treasure. In this process, aluminate-modified CFA mixing with r-PVC and other additives obtain a mixture, subsequently extruding into pellets, re-extrusion, cooling, shaping, hauling, and cutting to DWSF materials. The mechanical properties of these are excellent and meet the National Standards, with static bending and tensile strengths of 33 and 13.6 MPa, respectively, and a hardness of 89.2 HRR. Compared with the traditional CaCO3-based DWSF, our CFA-based DWSFs have higher competitive both from the perspective of “carbon neutrality” and production costs. More strikingly, this process is simple, robust, and easy to industrialize, which allows large-scale, value-added utilization of CFA.

Salt and drought limit the range of applications of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), which is one of the important turf and forage grasses. Previous studies have suggested that pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase (P5CR) might play a central role in proline accumulation in plants that are responsive to stresses. In the present study, the Lolium perenne L. pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase (LpP5CR) gene was cloned from leaves of the cultivar ‘Derby’ using the RACE technique. The full-length LpP5CR gene was 1 047 bp in length, which comprised an open reading frame (ORF) of 840 bp in size. Sequence alignment revealed that the putative LpP5CR had a 94.3% similarity to TaP5CR. qRT-PCR displayed that the mRNA levels of the LpP5CR gene were almost the same as that in the roots, stems, and leaves of perennial ryegrass seedlings subjected to normal condition or NaCl treatment for 1 h. Moreover, the transcription level of LpP5CR was up- or down-regulated with NaCl, polyethylene glycol (PEG), cold, or abscisic acid (ABA) treatment for 3 to 48 h. In addition, confocal microscopy localized the GFP-LpP5CR fusion protein to the cytoplasm of onion epidermal cells. These findings suggest that LpP5CR encodes a cytoplasmic P5CR protein that plays an important role in the response of perennial ryegrass to various stresses.

Incorporating support structures into solid–liquid phase change materials (SLPCMs) addresses fluid dynamics challenges during phase transitions, albeit at the cost of reduced phase change enthalpy. We propose a novel approach for developing self-sustaining, porous phase change materials. This process begins with the fabrication of self-sustaining poly(acrylic acid) octadecyl ester aerogels through cross-linking polymerization and thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) followed by ambient drying to shape the aerogel. This aerogel demonstrates exceptional energy storage capacity, impressive room-temperature elasticity, and significant load-bearing strength. Leveraging this aerogel as a scaffold, we employ a 'one-step' technique to produce phase change gels (PCGs). This method, in which EI functions both as a solvent and as SLPCMs, yields PCGs with a high latent heat capacity of 192 J g−1, outstanding phase change elasticity, and structural stability, proving highly effective in photoelectric thermal management. Notably, the 'one-step' process for fabricating self-supporting PCGs circumvents conventional steps like solvent extraction and phase change material absorption in traditional porous foam production. This simplification streamlines manufacturing and facilitates the large-scale production of phase change materials that are morphologically stable, possess high latent heat, and exhibit superior mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]