Improving the gas barrier,mechanical and thermal properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) with molybdenum disulfide nanosheets

New multifunctional materials with both high structural and gas barrier performances are important for a range of applications. Herein we present a one‐step mechanochemical process to prepare molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) nanosheets with hydroxy functional groups that can simultaneously improve mechanical strength, thermal conductivity, and gas permittivity of a polymer composite. By homogeneously incorporating these functionalized MoS₂ nanosheets at low loading of less than 1 vol %, a poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) polymer exhibits elongation at break of 154%, toughness of 82 MJ/m³, and in‐plane thermal conductivity of 2.31 W/m K. Furthermore, this composite exhibits significant gas barrier performance, reducing the permeability of helium by 95%. Under fire condition, the MoS₂ nanosheets form thermally stable char, thus enhancing the material's resistance to fire. Hydrogen bonding has been identified as the main interaction mechanism between the nanofillers and the polymer matrix. The present results suggest that the PVA composite reinforced with 2D layered nanomaterial offers great potentials in packaging and fire retardant applications. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019 , 57, 406–414     

Magnesium-Based Clusters as Building Blocks of Electrolytes in Lithium-Ion Batteries

Superhalogens, owing to their large electron affinity (EA, exceeding those of any halogen atom), play an essential role in physical chemistry as well as new material design. They have applications in hydrogen storage and lithium-ion batteries. Owing to the unique geometries and electronic features of magnesium-based clusters, their potential to form a new class of lithium salts has been investigated here theoretically. The idea is assessed by conducting ab initio computations on Li⁺/Mg_nF_2n+1-2mO_m⁻ compounds (n=2, 3; m=0-3) and analyzing their performance as potential Li-ion battery electrolytes. The Mg₃F₇⁻ cluster, with large electron binding energy (EA of 7.93 eV), has been proven to serve as a building block for lithium salts. It is shown that, apart from high electronic stability, the new superhalogen-based electrolytes exhibit a set of desirable properties, including a large band gap, high electrolyte stability window, easy mobility of the Li⁺, and favorable insensitivity to water.     

Synthesis of μ2-Oxo-Bridged Iron(III) Tetraphenylporphyrin–Spacer–Nitroxide Dimers and their Structural and Dynamics Characterization by using EPR and MD Simulations

Iron(III) porphyrins have the propensity to form μ₂-oxo-dimers, the structures of which resemble two wheels on an axle. Whereas their crystal structure is known, their solution structure and internal dynamics is not. In the present work, the structure and dynamics of such dimers were studied by means of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and quantum chemistry based molecular dynamics (MD) simulations by using the semiempirical tight-binding method (GFN-xTB). To enable EPR investigation of the dimers, a nitroxide was attached to each of the tetraphenylporphyrin cores through a linear and a bent linker. The inter-nitroxide distance distributions within the dimers were determined by continuous-wave (cw)-EPR and pulsed electron–electron double resonance (PELDOR or DEER) experiments and, with the help of MD, interpreted in terms of the rotation of the porphyrin planes with respect to each other around the Fe–O–Fe axis. It was found that such rotation is restricted to the four registers defined by the phenyl substituents. Within the registers, the rotation angle swings between 30° and 60° in the proximal and between 125° and 145° in the distal register. With EPR, all four angles were found to be equally populated, whereas the 30° and 145° angles are strongly favored to the expense of the 60° and 125° angles in the MD simulation. In either case, the internal dynamics of these dimers thus resemble the motion of a step motor.     

Relaxation dynamics in a stochastic bosonic Josephson junction

We consider a bosonic Josephson junction in the Bose-Hubbard two-mode approximation where some of the parameters are corrupted by physically meaningful noise processes and study the corresponding relaxation dynamics towards its equilibrium state. We show with numerical simulations that this model can essentially capture all the important features observed in a recent experiment regarding the relaxation dynamics in one-dimensional bosonic Josephson junctions, namely the damped oscillations of the population imbalance and the relative phase, as well as the large final coherence factor. We expect that this work will further motivate research about the origin of relaxation mechanism in these systems.     

Oxidative dehydrogenation of n-octane over a vanadium–magnesium oxide catalyst: Influence of the gas hourly space velocity

Oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of n-octane was carried out over a vanadium–magnesium oxide catalyst in a continuous flow fixed bed reactor. The catalyst was characterized by ICP–OES, powder XRD and SEM. The catalytic tests were carried out at different gas hourly space velocities (GHSVs), viz. 4000, 6000, 8000, and 10,000 h^?1. The best selectivity for octenes was obtained at the GHSV of 8000 h^?1, while that for C8 aromatics was attained at the GHSV of 6000 h^?1 at high temperatures (500 and 550 °C). The catalytic testing at the GHSV of 10,000 h^?1 showed the lowest activity, while that at the GHSV of 4000 h^?1 consistently showed the lowest ODH selectivity. Generally, the best ODH performance was obtained by the catalytic testing at the GHSVs of 6000 and 8000 h^?1. No phasic changes were observed after the catalytic testing.     

Automated chemical resonance generation and structure filtration for kinetic modeling

This work discusses efficient and automated methods for constructing a set of representative resonance structures for arbitrary chemical species, including radicals and biradicals, consisting of the elements H, C, O, N, and S. Determining the representative reactive structures of chemical species is crucial for identification of reactive sites and consequently applying the correct reaction templates to generate the set of important reactions during automated chemical kinetic model generation. We describe a fundamental set of resonance pathway types, accounting for simple resonating structures, as well as global approaches for polycyclic aromatic species. Automatically discovering potential localized structures along with filtration to identify the representative structures was shown to be robust and relatively fast. The algorithms discussed here were recently implemented in the Reaction Mechanism Generator (RMG) software. The final structures proposed by this method were found to be in reasonable agreement with quantum chemical computation results of localized structure contributions to the resonance hybrid.     

基于电化学发光和阻抗技术研究DNA单碱基错配

单碱基错配的识别和稳定性差异在核酸多态性研究中至关重要。在同一电化学传感器平台上，采用电化学发光（ECL）和电化学阻抗（EIS）2种技术，协同研究DNA链中不同类型和不同位点的单碱基错配识别和稳定性差异。电极表面具有茎环构象的探针DNA与完全互补DNA、不同类型或不同位点单碱基错配DNA杂交前后的ECL和EIS信号强度变化有显著差异。信号强度变化可揭示单碱基错配识别的稳定性。结果表明，DNA链中心位点的C-A单碱基错配稳定性低于链两端的，靠近键合电极表面双链链端的C-A单碱基错配稳定性低于非键合电极表面双链链端的，同一中心位点C-X碱基对的稳定性顺序为C-G?C-T>C-A≥C-C。研究结果可为核酸多态性研究提供参考。     

Mechanical property and deformation mechanism of gold nanowire with non-uniform distribution of twinned boundaries:A molecular dynamics simulation study

The mechanical property and deformation mechanism of twinned gold nanowire with non-uniform distribution of twinned boundaries(TBs) are studied by the molecular dynamics(MD) method. It is found that the twin boundary spacing(TBS) has a great effect on the strength and plasticity of the nanowires with uniform distribution of TBs. And the strength enhances with the decrease of TBS, while its plasticity declines. For the nanowires with non-uniform distribution of TBs, the differences in distribution among different TBSs have little effect on the Young's modulus or strength, and the compromise in strength appears. But the differences have a remarkable effect on the plasticity of twinned gold nanowire. The twinned gold nanowire with higher local symmetry ratio has better plasticity. The initial dislocations always form in the largest TBS and the fracture always appears at or near the twin boundaries adjacent to the smallest TBS. Some simulation results are consistent with the experimental results.     

Cycloparaphenylene and their radicals anchored to a metal−organic framework

Cycloparaphenylene (CPP) shows modulated photophysical and electronic properties due to its strained structure and radially oriented π-electron system. Incorporation of CPP into metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) could transfer its extensive properties in solution to porous solids. Moreover, with the unique arrangement of the macrocycles and their interactions with the framework, emerging characteristics are anticipated. As an example of “robust dynamics”, we synthesized the first MOF structure (FDM-1001) with CPP precisely anchored to the ordered framework by employing a [8]CPP-containing linear dicarboxylate linker. Metric relationship between the dynamic macrocycles and the robust backbone creates ideal π-π interactions between them, which leads to an essentially directional arrangement of [8]CPP in the three-dimensional space. Furthermore, the MOF with [8]CPP could be successfully oxidized to generate an infinite array of radicals that show enhanced air stability compared to its molecular analogue.