Crystallization and morphology of poly(vinylidene fluoride)/poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) blends. I. Spherulitic morphology and growth by polarized microscopy

The development of the poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) morphology in the presence of already existent poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) spherulites was studied by two‐stage solidification with two separate crystallization temperatures. PVDF formed irregular dendrites at lower temperatures and regular, banded spherulites at elevated temperatures. The transition temperature of the spherulitic morphology from dendrites to regular, banded spherulites increased with increasing PVDF content. A remarkable amount of PHB was included in the PVDF dendrites, whereas PHB was rejected into the remaining melt from the banded spherulites. When PVDF crystallized as banded spherulites, PHB could consequently crystallize only around them, if at all. In contrast, PHB crystallized with a common growth front, starting from a defined site in the interfibrillar regions of volume‐filling PVDF dendrites. It formed by itself dendritic spherulites that included a large number of PVDF spherulites. For blends with a PHB content of more than 80 wt %, for which the PVDF dendrites were not volume‐filling, PHB first formed regular spherulites. Their growth started from outside the PVDF dendrites but could later interpenetrate them, and this made their own morphology dendritic. These PHB spherulites melted stepwise because the lamellae inside the PVDF dendrites melted at a lower temperature than those from outside. This reflected the regularity of the two fractions of the lamellae because that of those inside the dendrites of PVDF was controlled by the intraspherulitic order of PVDF, whereas that from outside was only controlled by the temperature and the melt composition. The described morphologies developed without mutual nucleating efficiency of the components. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 873–882, 2003     

Crystallographic report: catena‐Aqua(2,2′‐bipyrimidine)lithium(I) perchlorate

A lithium(I) coordination polymer has been formed from LiClO₄ and the 2,2′‐bipyrimidine (bpym) ligand in which each square pyramidal lithium(I) atom is coordinated in the basal plane by four nitrogen donor atoms derived from two bpym ligands and one water molecule at the apical position. These are connected into a layer structure via hydrogen‐bonding interactions involving the perchlorate anions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A New Two‐Dimensional Coordination Polymer of Mercury(II) with very High Thermal Stability

A 2D Hg^II coordination polymer containing ligands 1,2,4‐triazole (Htrz) and thiocyanate, [Hg(μ₃‐trz)(SCN)]_n ( 1 ) has been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and IR spectroscopy. The single‐crystal X‐ray data show the coordination number of Hg atoms is four and the ligand trz^? acts as a three‐fold donor. The thermal stability of compound 1 was studied by thermal gravimetric and differential thermal analyses. The composition and formation of the complex in methanol solution were found to be in support of its solid state structure.     

A model study for the steady state error of numerical approximations of inviscid flow equations on Cartesian grid

The widely used locally adaptive Cartesian grid methods involve a series of abruptly refined interfaces. In this paper we consider the influence of the refined interfaces on the steady state errors for second‐order three‐point difference approximations of flow equations. Since the various characteristic components of the Euler equations should behave similarly on such grids with regard to refinement‐induced errors, it is sufficient enough to conduct the analysis on a scalar model problem. The error we consider is a global error, different to local truncation error, and reflects the interaction between multiple interfaces. The steady state error will be compared to the errors on smooth refinement grids and on uniform grids. The conclusion seems to support the numerical findings of Yamaleev and Carpenter (J. Comput. Phys. 2002; 181: 280–316) that refinement does not necessarily reduce the numerical error. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis and characterization of a polyfluorene containing carbazole and oxadiazole dipolar pendent groups and its application to electroluminescent devices

We have synthesized a blue‐light‐emitting polyfluorene (PF) derivative ( PF‐CBZ‐OXD ) that presents bulky hole‐transporting carbazole and electron‐transporting oxadiazole pendent groups functionalized at the C‐9 positions of alternating fluorene units. The results from photoluminescence and electrochemical measurements indicate that both the side chains and the PF main chain retain their own electronic characteristics in the copolymer. An electroluminescent device incorporating this polymer as the emitting layer was turned on at 4.5 V; it exhibited a stable blue emission with a maximum external quantum efficiency of 1.1%. Moreover, we doped PF‐CBZ‐OXD and its analogue PF‐TPA‐OXD with a red‐light‐emitting iridium phosphor for use as components of phosphorescent red‐light emitters to investigate the effect of the host's HOMO energy level on the degree of charge trapping and on the electrophosphorescent efficiency. We found that spectral overlap and individual energy level matching between the host and guest were both crucial features affecting the performance of the electroluminescence devices. Atomic force microscopy measurements indicated that the dipolar nature of PF‐CBZ‐OXD , in contrast to the general nonpolarity of polydialkylfluorenes, provided a stabilizing environment that allowed homogeneous dispersion of the polar iridium triplet dopant. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 2925–2937, 2007     

Band bending at the Ni/Si(100)-2×1 submonolayer interface

Band bending at the Ni/Si(100)-2×1 interface has been monitored by using Si 2p core level photoemission spectra. Two nickel-induced Si 2p components appear in the initial interaction between Ni and Si(100)-2×1, which is confined at the top surface and the first subsurface layers. At Ni coverage less than 0.0375 ML, Ni atoms prefer the adamantane interstitial sites on the first subsurface, but switch to the pedestal sites on Si dimer rows at higher Ni coverage. The change in the preferred occupation sites of Ni atoms on the Si(100)-2×1 surface strongly affects the amount of band bending shift. The shift towards higher binding energy, when Ni atoms occupy the adamantane interstitial sites, is attributed to metal-induced-gap states. While Ni atoms occupy the pedestal sites, the band bending shift is reduced which is attributed to the passivation of surface states.     

Numerical approximation of generalized Newtonian fluids using Powell–Sabin–Heindl elements: I. theoretical estimates

In this paper we consider the numerical approximation of steady and unsteady generalized Newtonian fluid flows using divergence free finite elements generated by the Powell–Sabin–Heindl elements. We derive a priori and a posteriori finite element error estimates and prove convergence of the method of successive approximations for the steady flow case. A priori error estimates of unsteady flows are also considered. These results provide a theoretical foundation and supporting numerical studies are to be provided in Part II. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An efficient one‐pot synthesis of novel pyrimidoquinoline derivatives under microwave irradiation without catalyst

A series of pyrimidoquinoline derivatives were synthesized through one‐pot condensation of 2,6‐diaminopyrimidin‐4‐one, aldehyde and cyclic a 1,3‐dicarbonyl compound in glycol under microwave irradiation without catalyst. The protocol in the absence of catalyst has the advantage of good yield (87‐95%), short reaction time (4‐7 min) and an environmentally friendly technique.     

Evidences of phase separation in moisture‐cured poly(urethane urea)s by means of temperature modulated differential scanning calorimetry

The degree of phase separation in several moisture‐cured poly(urethane urea)s (PUUs) was studied by FTIR spectroscopy, wide angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD), and temperature‐modulated differential scanning calorimetry (TMDSC). This latter technique was shown to be particularly useful in analysing the degree of phase separation in PUU polymers. Both phase mixing and phase segregation coexisted in the PUUs and the degree of phase separation increased as the urea hard segment (HS) content in the PUU increased. The maximum solubility of urea HSs into the polyol soft segments (SSs) was achieved for 50 wt % urea HS content in diol‐based PUUs, whereas for triol‐based PUUs the highest solubility between HS and SS was reached for lower urea HS amount. Finally, the higher the urea HS content the higher the extent of phase separation in the PUU. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 3034–3045, 2007