Challenge and Solution of Characterizing Glass Transition Temperature for Conjugated Polymers by Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Thermomechanical properties of polymers highly depend on their glass transition temperature (T _g). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is commonly used to measure T _g of polymers. However, many conjugated polymers (CPs), especially donor–acceptor CPs (D–A CPs), do not show a clear glass transition when measured by conventional DSC using simple heat and cool scan. In this work, we discuss the origin of the difficulty for measuring T _g in such type of polymers. The changes in specific heat capacity (Δc _p) at T _g were accurately probed for a series of CPs by DSC. The results showed a significant decrease in Δc _p from flexible polymer (0.28 J g^?1 K^?1 for polystyrene) to rigid CPs (10^?3 J g^?1 K^?1 for a naphthalene diimide‐based D–A CP). When a conjugation breaker unit (flexible unit) is added to the D–A CPs, we observed restoration of the Δc _p at T _g by a factor of 10, confirming that backbone rigidity reduces the Δc _p. Additionally, an increase in the crystalline fraction of the CPs further reduces Δc _p. We conclude that the difficulties of determining T _g for CPs using DSC are mainly due to rigid backbone and semicrystalline nature. We also demonstrate that physical aging can be used on DSC to help locate and confirm the glass transition for D‐A CPs with weak transition signals. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019 , 57, 1635–1644     

Anomalously high heat capacity of liquids: relation to structural properties

ABSTRACT

Heat capacity of several liquids which demonstrate anomalous behaviour is studied. It is shown that isochoric heat capacity of these liquids shows anomalously high values which is related to smooth structural crossover in these liquids. This phenomenon can be used for qualitative explanation of high heat capacity of water and some other substances.     

Pitch-Based Laminated Carbon Formed by Pressure Driving at Low Temperature as High-Capacity Anodes for Lithium Energy Storage Systems

Pitch has been used to prepare electrodes by high-temperature heat treatments for supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries, on account of its rich aromatic ring structure. Here, the toluene-soluble component of pitch is used to prepare a kind of laminated carbon. This was realized by a template-free synthesis at low temperature with the addition of pressure. The toluene-soluble component has a small molecular weight, which makes the thermal deformation ability stronger and then enhances the orientation of the carbon layer with the help of pressure. The prepared anode exhibits a splendid electrochemical performance compared with the traditional graphite anode. A high stable capacity of approximately 550 mAh g⁻¹ at 50 mA g⁻¹, which is much higher than graphite (372 mAh g⁻¹), is obtained. Also, when the current density is up to 2 A g⁻¹, the capacity is about 150 mAh g⁻¹. Surprisingly, it also delivers a superior cycling performance. And when used as the anode/cathode electrode for lithium-ion capacitors, a high energy density can be obtained. The present work offers an opportunity to utilize the pitch source in lithium energy storage with promising cycle life, high energy/power density, and low cost.     

Magnetic suspectibilities of liquid gold alloys

Abstract

The temperature dependences of the magnetic susceptibilities of liquid Au-Zn and Au-Cd alloys have been measured. Curves of the susceptibilities of these alloys for all concentrations show rather a big deviation from the linearly interpolated ones. With the increase of temperature, these curves approach the interpolated curves. This fact might be related to the change of clustering in the liquid state, which approaches a random mixture with the increase in temperature.     

Chemical data,ways and means,past and future

A brief outline of various data handling methods, from linear learning machines, principal component analysis, experimental design, and modeling to visualization, optimization, and validation together with a personal view on the historical development of the use of these methods, is given. Some future trends in handling chemical data are proposed as well. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new type of cation‐exchange polymeric microspheres with pendant methylenethiol groups

Synthesis and characterization of the new styrene microspheres with pendant methylenethiol groups are presented. At the first stage, the polymeric matrices were obtained by the suspension–emulsion polymerization of monomers: styrene (St) with 2,3‐(2‐hydroxy‐3‐methacryloyloxypropoxy)naphthalene (NAF.DM) or (bis[4(2‐hydroxy‐3‐methacryloyloxypropoxy)phenyl]sulfide (BES.DM) or divinylbenzene (DVB). At the second stage, the modification of the sythesized matrices was performed as follows: the matrices were reacted with paraformaldehyde in the presence of hydrochloric acid forming chloromethyl derivatives. Next, by reaction with thiourea, a thiouronium salt was obtained, and then the hydrolysis with NaOH solution and acidification with HCl were carried out. Finally, microspheres with –CH₂SH groups on their surface were obtained. The –SH group content (elemental analysis), thermal properties (thermogravimetric analysis), Fourier transform infrared as well as the swelling characteristics of the functional microspheres were examined. The surface texture was also visualized by the atomic force microscopy (AFM) method. The obtained polymers were screened towards sorption of Cu(II) ions. It was found that a better correlation between the experimental Cu(II) uptake and the theoretical curves predicted by the Langmuir or Freundlich models is obtained in the case of the DVB–St–SH polymer. In the case of the BES.DM–St–SH and 2,3‐NAF–St–SH ones, the Freundlich model corresponded quite well to the experimental data. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adsorption in columns packed with porous adsorbent particles having partially fractal structures

A mathematical model is constructed and solved that could describe the dynamic behavior of the adsorption of a solute of interest in single and stratified columns packed with partially fractal porous adsorbent particles. The results show that a stratified column bed whose length is the same as that of a single column bed, provides larger breakthrough times and a higher dynamic utilization of the adsorptive capacity of the particles than those obtained from the single column bed, and the superior performance of the stratified bed becomes especially more important when the superficial velocity of the flowing fluid stream in the column is increased to accommodate increases in the system throughput. This occurs because the stratified column bed provides larger average external and intraparticle mass transfer and adsorption rates per unit length of packed column. It is also shown that increases in the total number of recursions of the fractal and the ratio of the radii between larger and smaller microspheres that make up the partially fractal particles, increase the intraparticle mass transfer and adsorption rates and lead to larger breakthrough times and dynamic utilization of the adsorptive capacity of the particles. The results of this work indicate that highly efficient adsorption separations could be realized through the use of a stratified column comprised from a practically reasonable number of sections packed with partially fractal porous adsorbent particles having reasonably large (i) total number of recursions of the fractal and (ii) ratio of the radii between larger and smaller microspheres from which the partially fractal particles are made from. It is important to mention here that the physical concepts and modeling approaches presented in this work could be, after a few modifications of the model, applied in studying the dynamic behavior of chemical catalysis and biocatalysis in reactor beds packed with partially fractal porous catalyst particles.     

Temperature Effect on the Phase Behavior of the Systems Water/Sucrose Laurate/Ethoxylated‐mono‐di‐glyceride/Oil

The phase behavior of the systems water/sucrose laurate/ethoxylated mono‐di‐glyceride/oil was investigated as function of temperature and the weight ratio of EMDG in the mixed surfactants. The oils were R (+)‐limonene, isopropylmyristate, and caprylic‐capric triglyceride. This study demonstrates that the phase inversion temperature (PIT) decreases and the efficiency of the mixed surfactants (γ¯) increase as the weight ratio of the EMDG in the mixed surfactants increases. R (+)‐limonene gave lower phase inversion temperatures and higher efficiencies compared to isopropylmyristate, and caprylic‐capric triglyceride. The solubilization capacity of the system water/sucrose laurate/oil increased upon the addition of ethoxylated mono‐di‐ glyceride which stabilize the surfactant layer and increase the interfacial area.     

Simple Device for Isolation of Organic Compounds from Water

Abstract

A simple device for isolation of organic compounds from aqueous samples has been designed and its operating parameters tested during bioth periodic and continuous operation using isolation of organochlorine compounds as an example.

A stream of an aqueous sample is pumped at elevated temperature by a piston pump to an unit for expransion of the liquid phase surface, where the liquid is sprayed on the walls of the unit and flows down freely.

Organochlorine compounds passing to the gaseous phase are purged with a stream of purified air, oxidied and the chlorides formed are determined coulometrically. The designed device, due to its simplicity, can be built and employed in each averagely equipped laboratory.