Optically switchable liquid crystal photonic structures

Photo-optic materials offer the possibility of light controlled photonic devices, intelligent and environmentally adaptive optical materials. One strategy for creating these materials is the combination of structure formation through holographic photopolymerization and the variable optical properties of liquid crystals. Holographically patterned, polymer stabilized liquid crystals (HPSLCs) have proven to be useful optical materials. By incorporating photo-optic, azobenzene-derived liquid crystal blends into such material systems, we have generated practical photoresponsive optical materials.     

"Click saccharides": novel separation materials for hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography

Bonded mono-, di- and oligosaccharides were developed as novel separation materials for HILIC via click chemistry and proven to have excellent chromatographic properties for separation of polar compounds.     

Photopatternable silicon elastomers with enhanced mechanical properties for high-fidelity nanoresolution soft lithography

Soft lithography has been widely used in stamping and printing processes for microfabrication as a low cost alternative to photolithography. However, conventional poly(dimethyl)siloxane (PDMS) stamp materials have limitations, especially in the submicrometer range, due to their low physical toughness and requirements for thermocuring. A new version of functional stamp materials with adjustable physical toughness has been developed for advanced soft lithography. We thus demonstrate here its photopatternability and nanoresolution soft lithography, which have proven to be difficult using commercial stamp materials.     

Microwave synthesis of nanoporous materials.

Studies in the last decade suggest that microwave energy may have a unique ability to influence chemical processes. These include chemical and materials syntheses as well as separations. Specifically, recent studies have documented a significantly reduced time for fabricating zeolites, mixed oxide and mesoporous molecular sieves by employing microwave energy. In many cases, microwave syntheses have proven to synthesize new nanoporous structures. By reducing the times by over an order of magnitude, continuous production would be possible to replace batch synthesis. This lowering of the cost would make more nanoporous materials readily available for many chemical, environmental, and biological applications. Further, microwave syntheses have often proven to create more uniform (defect-free) products than from conventional hydrothermal synthesis. However, the mechanism and engineering for the enhanced rates of syntheses are unknown. We review the many studies that have demonstrated the enhanced syntheses of nanoporous oxides and analyze the proposals to explain differences in microwave reactions. Finally, the microwave reactor engineering is discussed, as it explains the discrepancies between many microwave studies.     

How easy are the syntheses of allenes?

Allenes have proven themselves to be valuable building blocks toward complex molecular targets, revealing novel applications in natural product synthesis, pharmaceutical chemistry and materials science. The ongoing interest in allene chemistry results in a variety of new methodologies and pathways for the synthesis of allenes. This feature article highlights some of the recent important developments on the synthesis of allenes and the applications on the synthesis of allenic natural products and allenic-based optoelectronic materials.     

Functional organic materials based on polymerized liquid-crystal monomers: supramolecular hydrogen-bonded systems

Functional organic materials are of great interest for a variety of applications. To obtain precise functional properties, well-defined hierarchically ordered supramolecular materials are crucial. The self-assembly of liquid crystals has proven to be an extremely useful tool in the development of well-defined nanostructured materials. We have chosen the illustrative example of photopolymerizable hydrogen-bonding mesogens to show that a wide variety of functional materials can be made from a relatively simple set of building blocks. Upon mixing these compounds with other reactive mesogens, nematic, chiral nematic, and smectic or columnar liquid-crystalline phases can be formed that can be applied as actuators, sensors and responsive reflectors, and nanoporous membranes, respectively.     

Review and prospect of layered lithium nickel manganese oxide as cathode materials for Li-ion batteries

Layered structural lithium metal oxides with rhombohedral α-NaFeO₂ crystal structure have been proven to be particularly suitable for application as cathode materials in lithium-ion batteries. Compared with LiCoO₂, lithium nickel manganese oxides are promising, inexpensive, nontoxic, and have high thermal stability; thus, they are extensively studied as alternative cathode electrode materials to the commercial LiCoO₂ electrode. However, a lot of work needs to be done to reduce cost and extend the effective lifetime. In this paper, the development of the layered lithium nickel manganese oxide cathode materials is reviewed from synthesis method, coating, doping to modification, lithium-rich materials, nanostructured materials, and so on, which can make electrochemical performance better. The prospects of lithium nickel manganese oxides as cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries are also looked forward to.     

Natural Cellulose Substance Based Energy Materials

Natural cellulose substances have been proven to be ideal structural templates and scaffolds for the fabrication of artificial functional materials with designed structures, psychochemical properties and functionalities. They possess unique hierarchically porous network structures with flexible, biocompatible, and environmental characteristics, exhibiting great potentials in the preparation of energy-related materials. This minireview summarizes natural cellulose-based materials that are used in batteries, supercapacitors, photocatalytic hydrogen generation, photoelectrochemical cells, and solar cells. When natural cellulose substances are employed as the structural template or carbon sources of energy materials, the three-dimensional porous interwoven structures are perfectly replicated, leading to the enhanced performances of the resultant materials. Benefiting from the mechanical strengths of natural cellulose substances, wearable, portable, free-standing, and flexible materials for energy storage and conversion are easily obtained by using natural cellulose substances as the substrates.     

Rheology of polymer layered silicate nanocomposites

Layered silicate based polymer nanocomposites have gained significant technological interest because of the recent commercialization of nylon 6 and polypropylene based materials. Aside from the natural interests in understanding and improving the processing of these hybrids, viscoelastic measurements have also proven to be a sensitive tool to probe the mesoscale structure and the strength of polymer–nanoparticle interactions.     

Combining C-H functionalisation and flow photochemical heterocyclic metamorphosis (FP-HM) for the synthesis of benzo[1,3]oxazepines

C-H Activation/functionalisation and Flow Photochemical Heterocyclic Metamorphosis (FP-HM) have been combined to synthesize a library of benzo [1,3]oxazepines, a rarely described heterocyclic family. This combined protocol allows a range of arylated products to be made from simple starting materials, and the cheap flow photochemical system has proven effective for rapid synthesis of gram-quantities of benzo [1,3]oxazepines.     

Biaryl phosphane ligands in palladium-catalyzed amination

Palladium-catalyzed amination reactions of aryl halides have undergone rapid development in the last 12 years, largely driven by the implementation of new classes of ligands. Biaryl phosphanes have proven to provide especially active catalysts in this context. This Review discusses the application of these catalysts in C-N cross-coupling reactions in the synthesis of heterocycles and pharmaceuticals, in materials science, and in natural product synthesis.     

New reactive polymeric systems for use as waveguide materials in integrated optics

Cross-linked polymeric materials are used in a wide range of applications. Special compositions are used in micro-system technologies and its utilization is extending to integrated optics. We have been working for several years in the field of polymers for optical applications. Highly fluorinated polycyanurate systems have been proven as promising waveguide materials in integrated optics. The refractive index can be adjusted reproducibly in a wide range almost continuously. The layer quality was optimized. Low optical losses of less than 0.3 dB/cm@1550nm were obtained and working optical prototypes were developed. The birefringence had been a major problem, but this was solved by adjusting the coefficient of thermal expansion of substrate and film. We will report in this paper on the polycyanurate ester resins and the new triazine containing polymeric systems.     

Novel antibacterial hybrid materials based on polyvinyl alcohol and mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane with embedded silver nanoparticles (PVA/AgNps/MPTES)

Hybrid materials based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane (MPTES) with embedded silver nanoparticles (AgNps) have been synthesized via a sol–gel method. Silver nanoparticles were obtained via thermal reduction in the presence of PVA as a stabilizer and reducing agent. The formation of silver nanoparticles within the PVA/MPTES matrix was proven by FTIR, XRD, and TEM analysis. The antibacterial activity of PVA/AgNps/MPTES materials was determined against strains belonging to Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria by disk diffusion and growth curve methods. The hybrid materials showed high antibacterial activity, which depends on the concentration of the silver nanoparticles.     

RECENT ADVANCES IN THE PREPARATION OF MOLECULARLY IMPRINTED POLYMERS VIA CONTROLLED RADICAL POLYMERIZATION TECHNIQUES

Molecular imprinting technique is a simple and efficient method for the preparation of polymer materials （i. e., molecularly imprinted polymers, MIPs） with tailor-made recognition sites for certain target molecules. The resulting MIPs have proven to be versatile synthetic receptors due to their high specific recognition ability, favorable mechanical, thermal and chemical stability, and ease of preparation. Recent years have witnessed significant progress in the synthesis and applications of MIPs. This review focus on the recent developments and advances in the preparation of MIPs via various controlled radical polymerization techniques.     

Applications of synchrotron radiation in forensic trace evidence analysis

Synchrotron radiation sources have proven to be highly beneficial in many fields of research for the characterization of materials. However, only a very limited proportion of studies have been conducted by the forensic science community. This is an area in which the analytical benefits provided by synchrotron sources could prove to be very important. This review summarises the applications found for synchrotron radiation in a forensic trace evidence context as well as other areas of research that strive for similar analytical scrutiny and/or are applied to similar sample materials. The benefits of synchrotron radiation are discussed in relation to common infrared, X-ray fluorescence, tomographic and briefly, X-ray diffraction and scattering techniques. In addition, X-ray absorption fine structure analysis (incorporating XANES and EXAFS) is highlighted as an area in which significant contributions into the characterization of materials can be obtained. The implications of increased spatial resolution on microheterogeneity are also considered and discussed.     

Metal bis-1,2-dithiolene complexes in conducting or magnetic crystalline assemblies

Crystalline materials studied for their conducting or magnetic properties based on metal complexes of 1,2-dithiolene ligands are discussed emphasising the wide diversity of ligands now available and the variety of materials prepared from these. Complexes have been prepared using electronically delocalised dithiolene ligands where the core complex is extended with units such as thioethers, aromatics, tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and other heterocycles to explore the influence of these variations on the solid-state structures and properties derived from them. Although superconductivity in dithiolene complexes has so far been limited to [M(dmit)₂]^X− salts, other ligand systems have given rise to numerous conducting and metallic salts and have proven informative in rationalising the criteria for design of the molecular units. Novel material properties have been observed in systems such as hybrid conducting ∣ magnetic materials and mixed dithiolene-metallocene salts. In particular, highly conducting and metallic single-component materials have recently been found uniquely within materials based on metal-bis-1,2-dithiolene complexes. Magnetic materials containing dithiolene-complex building blocks have yielded systems such as ferromagnets, ferrimagnets, metamagnets and spin ladders in addition to other model systems suitable for the study of magnetic ordering. These can involve systems where the dithiolene complex is the only paramagnetic component in addition to more complex systems involving other types of building block.     

An interlaboratory study to evaluate potential matrix reference materials for herbicides in water

Matrix reference materials (MRM) are essential tools for the validation of analytical protocols. Nowadays, there are no such materials for the determination of herbicides in water. Pesticides stored in acetonitrile and stored on solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridges previously percolated with a water sample spiked with triazines and phenylureas have proven to be good candidates for reference materials because of their satisfactory stability under appropriate temperature conditions. To evaluate the behaviors of these materials containing pesticides and to be analyzed by liquid chromatography, a collaborative study including 15 laboratories has been organized. Observed reproducibility on candidate materials after the removal of extreme results was 16.1% for the vials with pesticides in acetonitrile (at around 0.125 mg/L) directly analyzed, 29.2% for a water sample spiked with the pesticides (at around 0.5 microg/L) analyzed after preconcentration on a cartridge and 26.7% for the cartridges previously percolated with a water containing the pesticides (250 mL at around 0.5 microg/L for each pesticide) analyzed after elution. Such dispersion values are quite compatible with the requirement of a further certification for such materials.     

Detailed‐atomistic molecular modeling of small molecule diffusion and solution processes in polymeric membrane materials

Atomistic molecular modeling techniques have proven to be a very useful tool for the investigation of the structure and dynamics of dense amorphous membrane polymers and of transport processes in these materials. As illustrations, the results of extensive atomistic molecular dynamics investigations on the transport of different small molecules in flexible chain rubbery and stiff chain glassy polymers are discussed. For this purpose bulk polymer models and interface models for liquid feed mixtures in contact with the upstream site of the respective membrane have been employed. A comparison between the static structure and the dynamic behavior of the free volume in the simulated flexible chain rubbery polymers and stiff chain glassy polymers reveals qualitative differences which are decisive for experimentally observable differences in the diffusion of small molecules in these materials. The simulation results for the interface models reflect important features of experimentally well characterized pervaporation processes.     

Homogeneity studies in a variety of reference materials using solid sampling Zeeman graphite furnace AAS

Summary For evaluation and homogeneity estimation in several plant reference and candidate reference materials from different sources, including two 2nd generation environmental specimen bank (ESB) candidate reference materials, prepared by cryogenic milling of fresh spruce shoots, solid sampling graphite furnace AAS (SSGFAAS) was used. The results obtained for the elements cadmium, copper, lead and nickel demonstrate good homogeneity even at intakes from 0.1 to 2 mg for the ESB materials in comparison to classical NIST and NIES certified reference materials of proven homogeneity and reliability.     

Material parameters for the evaluation of PA welds using laser extensometry

The deformation and fracture behaviour of welded polymer slabs under tensile stress has been investigated by laser extensometry. The necessity of a position-sensitive materials testing method for describing the properties of welds of polymers, and the special requirements for the testing and evaluation method, have been introduced. The mechanical heterogeneity H representing the ratio of the local strain differences and the integral strain has proven to be a good indicator for the evaluation of welding quality. The information got by means of this testing method was then compared to results obtained conventionally.