Low‐Temperature Facile Template Synthesis of Crystalline Inorganic Composite Hollow Spheres

This report presents a facile approach for the low‐temperature synthesis of crystalline inorganic‐oxide composite hollow spheres by employing the bulk controlled synthesis of inorganic‐oxide nanocrystals with polymer spheres as templates. The sulfonated polystyrene gel layer can adsorb the target precursor and induce inorganic nanocrystals to grow on the template in situ. The crystalline phase and morphology of the composite shell is tunable. By simply adjusting the acidity of the titania sol, crystalline titania composite hollow spheres with tunable crystalline phases of anatase, rutile, or a mixture of both were achieved. The approach is general and has been extended to synthesize the representative perovskite oxide (barium and strontium titanate) composite hollow spheres. The traditional thermal treatment for crystallite transformation is not required, thus intact shells can be guaranteed. The combination of oxide properties such as high refractive index, high dielectric constant, and catalytic ability with the cavity of the hollow spheres is promising for applications such as opacifiers, photonic crystals, high‐κ‐gate dielectrics, and photocatalysis.     

Development of MEMS-based direct methanol fuel cell with high power density using nanoimprint technology

Performance of MEMS-based DMFC is low, because graphite-based porous electrodes show poor compatibility with MEMS technology. Nanoimprint technology was adopted in this paper to prepare fine pattern on proton exchange membrane (PEM) in MEMS-based DMFC as a promising alternative to the graphite-based porous electrodes. Micro-convex with the diameter of about 600 nm and the height of 50–70 nm was prepared on Nafion^® 117 membrane by the nanoimprint at 130 °C using silicon mold. Thick Pt film (20 nm) was deposited as catalyst directly on the nanoimprinted Nafion^® 117 membrane. Then the Pt-coated PEM was sandwiched with micro-channeled silicon plates to form a micro-DMFC. With passively feeding of 1 M methanol solution and air at room temperature, the as-prepared cell had the open circuit voltage (OCV) of 0.74 V and the maximum power density of 0.20 mW/cm². The measured OCV was higher than those (0.1–0.3 V) of the state-of-the-art MEMS-based DMFC with planar electrode and pure Pt catalyst.     

A cytotoxic compound from the leaves of Juglans mandshurica

From Juglans mandshurica leaves, a new quinone compound was isolated through bioassay-guided fractionation. The structure elucidation of the compound was established based on spectroscopic studies, notably of the 2D NMR spectra. The compound exhibited moderate cytotoxic activities against Hela, MCF-7, BGC823 and 3T3-Llcell lines with IC50 ranges from 7.5 to 26.8 μmol/L.     

Sorption of Co(II) ong-alumina in the presence and absence of fulvic acid</p> </p>

Summary The removal of heavy metal ion Co(II) from aqueous solution was studied usingg-Al₂O₃ by batch technique. The experiments were performed at T=20±2 °C, in 0.01M NaNO₃ solutions and under aerobic conditions. The effect of pH, ionic strength, fulvic acid (FA) and alumina amount on the sorption of Co(II) on alumina were also investigated. The pH affected the sorption of Co(II) significantly as compared with the effect of FA and ionic strength. The results indicated that strong chemical bonds are formed between Co(II) and functional groups of the bare or FA coated alumina, and a precipitation of Co(II) takes place on the alumina surface, induced by a transition from the adsorption to surface. The addition sequences of Co/FA on Co(II) sorption were also studied: the sorption of Co(II) in the ternary system was found independent of addition sequences.</p> </p>     

Synthesis and crystallization behaviors of poly(styrene-b-isoprene-b-ε-caprolactone) triblock copolymers

The triblock copolymers, poly(styrene-b-isoprene-b-ε-caprolactone)s (PS-b-PI-b-PCL) have been synthesized successfully by combination of anionic polymerization and ring-opening polymerization. Diblock copolymer capped with hydroxyl group, PS-b-PI-OH was synthesized by sequential anionic polymerization of styrene and isoprene and following end-capping reaction of EO, and then it was used as macro initiator in the ring-opening polymerization of CL. The results of DSC and WAXD show big effect of amorphous PS-b-PI on the thermal behaviors of PCL block in the triblock copolymers and the lower degree of crystalline in the triblock copolymer with higher molecular weight of PS-b-PI was observed. The real-time observation on the polarized optical microscopy shows the spherulite growth rates of PCL₂₇, PCL₃₂₈ and PS-b-PI-b-PCL₃₄₄ are 0.71, 0.46 and 0.07 μm s⁻¹, respectively. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of the PS₉₀-b-PI₆₆-b-PCL₂₈ show the columns morphology formed by it’s self-assembling.     

Preparation of TiO2 nanocrystallites by hydrolyzing with gaseous water and their photocatalytic activity

TiO₂ nanocrystallites were prepared from precursors tetra-n-butyl titanate (Ti(OC₄H₉)₄) and titanium tetrachloride (TiCl₄). The precursors were hydrolyzed by gaseous water in autoclave, and then calcined at predetermined testing temperatures. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry–differential thermal analysis (TG–DTA), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS). The photocatalytic activities of the samples were evaluated by the photobleaching of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution and the photocatalytic oxidation of propylene in gas phase at ambient temperature. The results showed that the anatase phase nanocrystalline TiO₂ could be obtained at relatively low temperatures (for precursor Ti(OC₄H₉)₄ at 110 °C and for TiCl₄ at 140 °C, respectively), and that the as prepared samples exhibited high photocatalytic activities to photobleach MB in aqueous solution. As the calcination temperatures increasing, the decolor ratio of MB increased and reached the maximum value of nearly 100% at 600 °C, and then decreased. The photobleaching of MB by all samples followed the pseudo-first-order kinetics with respect to MB concentration. The photodecomposition amount of propylene by TiO₂ nanocrystallites calcined at 600 °C from precursor of Ti(OC₄H₉)₄ is 21.6%, which is approaching to that by Degussa P25 TiO₂ (24.9%).     

Influence of drying method on morphology and properties of asymmetric cellulose hollow fiber membrane

Using a dry/wet spinning process, asymmetric cellulose hollow fiber membranes (CHFM) were prepared from a dope composed of cellulose/N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide/water. The formation mechanism for the finger-like macrovoids at the inner portion of as-spun fibers was explained. Naturally drying and three solvent exchange drying methods were tried to investigate their influence on morphology and properties of CHFM. It was found that the ethanol–hexane exchange drying was an appropriate method to minimize morphology change of the as-spun CHFM, whereas the naturally drying caused the greatest shrinkage of the fibers that made the porous membrane become dense. As a result, CHFM from ethanol–hexane exchange drying performed the highest gas permeation rate but gas permeation of the naturally dried membrane could not be detectable. The resultant CHFM from the ethanol–hexane exchange drying also showed acceptable mechanical properties, thus it was proposed to be an appropriate method for gas separation purpose. The experimental results supported the proposed drying mechanism of CHFM. The free water would evaporate or be replaced by a solvent that subsequently would evaporate but the bonded water would remain in the membrane. What dominated the changes of membrane morphology during drying should be the molecular affinities of cellulose–water, water–solvent and solvent–solvent.     

不同取向的CoSb3纳米线阵列的电化学法制备

近年来,金属纳米线及其阵列由于其新奇的物理和化学特性和在纳米器件方面潜在的应用前景,越来越受到人们的关注。氧化铝模板合成一维纳米材料具有设备简单、制作方便等优点,因而成为近年来人们常用的一种方法。利用电化学沉积的方法在多孔氧化铝模板中沉积各种成分的纳米线已成为纳米材料制备的一种常见的方法。这种方法不仅可以得到大面积有序的纳米线阵列,还可以根据需要调节孔洞的大小来控制纳米线的直径[1￣3]。最近理论研究结果预言[4￣6],由于纳米材料的量子限域效应,热电材料的纳米线将有比其相应块体材料更高的品质因数n,这极大地激…     

微波辅助溶剂热合成In-Si共改性TiO2的增强光催化性能

利用微波辅助溶剂热法合成了In-Si 共改性的TiO₂ 光催化剂. 粉末X 射线衍射（XRD）、激光拉曼（Raman）光谱、N₂吸脱附（BET）、X射线光电子能谱（XPS）、光致发光（PL）光谱和紫外-可见漫反射光谱（UV-VisDRS）等实验表明,尽管掺杂和改性后TiO₂结晶度略有降低,但不影响光催化剂锐钛相的形成. Si 掺杂入TiO₂晶格使颗粒变小,比表面积变大. In 不能进入TiO₂晶格,在TiO₂表面形成了In₂O₃. 罗丹明B（RhB）降解实验显示,In-Si 共改性TiO₂表现出很高的紫外和可见光催化活性,Si：In：Ti 的摩尔比为0.03：0.02：1 的样品（IST-2）光催化活性最高,紫外光下3 min 即可将RhB降解完全,可见光下120 min RhB降解率为97%,这是由材料的高表面积,In₂O₃-TiO₂复合半导体之间高效电荷转移及染料敏化等共同作用所致. 对于苯酚,光催化降解则相对缓慢,700 min内尚不能降解完全.     

A novel zirconocene/ultradispersed diamond black powder supported catalytic system for ethylene polymerization

A novel carrier of ultradispersed diamond black powder (UDDBP) was used to support metallocene catalyst. Al₂O₃ was also used as carrier in order to compare with UDDBP. Supported catalysts for ethylene polymerization were synthesized by two different reaction methods. One way was direct immobilization of the metallocene on the support, the other was adsorption of MAO onto the support followed by addition of the metallocene. Four supported catalysts Cp₂ZrCl₂/UDDBP, Cp₂ZrCl₂/Al₂O₃, Cp₂ZrCl₂/MAO/UDDBP and Cp₂ZrCl₂/Al₂O₃/MAO were obtained. The content of the zirconium in the supported catalyst was determined by UV spectroscopy. The activity of the ethylene polymerization catalyzed by supported catalyst was investigated. The influence of Al/Zr molar ratio and polymerization temperature on the activity was discussed. The polymerization rate was also observed.