Three-dimensional porous photo-thermal fiber felt with salt-resistant property for high efficient solar distillation

The urgent need for fresh water resource is a public issue facing the world. Solar distillation for seawater desalination is a promising freshwater production method. Interfacial solar evaporation systems based on 2D photo-thermal membranes have been widely studied, but salt pollution is one of the main challenges for solar distillation. In order to solve this problem, a hydrophilic three-dimensional (3D) porous photo-thermal fiber felt (PFF) was obtained by one-step method, through a simple polydopamine (PDA) coating method with hydrophobic graphite felt as a substrate. The PFF had a good evaporation rate of 1.48 kg m^?2 h^-1 and its corresponding light-vapor conversion efficiency reached 87.4%. In addition, the PFF exhibited an excellent salt-resistant ability when applied to photo-thermal evaporation of high-salinity seawater with 10 wt% NaCl, owing to its intrinsic 3D macroporous structure for the migration circulation of salt ions. The development of the PFF offers a new route for the exploration of salt-resistant photo-thermal materials and is promising for the practical application of solar distillation.     

The Compressibility of pH‐Sensitive Microgels at the Oil–Water Interface: Higher Charge Leads to Less Repulsion

pH‐responsive microgels are unique stabilizers for stimuli‐sensitive emulsions that can be broken on demand by changing the pH value. However, recent experiments have indicated that electrostatic interactions play a different role to that in conventional Pickering emulsions. The influence of charges on the interactions between microgels at the oil–water interface is now described. Compression isotherms of microgels with different charge density and architecture were determined in a Langmuir trough, and counter‐intuitive results were obtained: Charged microgels can be compressed more easily than uncharged microgels. The compressibility of microgels is thus not determined by direct Coulomb repulsion. Instead, the different swelling of the microgels in the charged and the uncharged states is proposed to be the key parameter.     

pH-Sensitive Wettability Induced by Topologicaland Chemical Transition on the Self AssembledSurface of Block Copolymer简

pH-sensitive wettability of polystyrene-b-poly（4-vinylpyridine） （PS-b-P4VP） self assembled films, exhibiting superoleophobicity under water and hydrophilicity at low pH value, and oleophobicity under water and hydrophobicity at neutral condition, has been realized. The wettability properties resulted from the surface topological and chemical transition, which were confirmed by in situ AFM measurements under water at different pH. At low pH, P4VP chains, which were confined in the hexagonal-packed nanodomains, got protonated into a swollen state, while at high pH, P4VP chains were deprotonated into a collapsed state. The reversible protonation/deprotonation procedure on the molecular scale leads to surface topological and chemical transition, thereby pH-sensitive wettability.     

烯丙基化碳纳米管改善丙烯酸酯压敏胶的性能

本文利用γ-甲基丙烯酰氧基丙基三甲氧基硅烷(KH570)对多壁碳纳米管(MWNTs)进行修饰使其表面接枝上烯丙基官能团,与丙烯酸酯类单体进行原位聚合,制备了一种耐高温丙烯酸酯压敏胶(PSA)。 通过傅里叶变换红外光谱仪(FT-IR)、热重分析仪(TGA)和扫描电子显微镜(SEM)表征了MWNTs和丙烯酸酯PSA的结构与性能,探讨了改性MWNTs的质量分数对PSA耐热性能和粘接性能的影响。 结果表明,与未改性的丙烯酸酯PSA相比,当改性MWNTs的质量分数为1.5%时,改性丙烯酸酯PSA的耐热性能和粘接性能最佳,热分解温度从360 ℃提高到了382 ℃,耐热温度从80 ℃提高到了155 ℃,初粘力、持粘力和180°剥离强度分别从2 h和13.66 N/(25 mm)(12号小球)提高到了27 h和17.34 N/(25 mm)(17号小球)。     

稀土(Gd3+,La3+)对Eu(p-MOBA)3phen/PMMA荧光及温敏特性的影响

以稀土氧化物(Eu_2O_3,Gd_2O_3,La_2O_3)、对甲氧基苯甲酸(p-MOBA)、菲咯啉(phen)为原料制备了不同稀土离子(Gd~(3+),La~(3+))掺杂的Eu(p-MOBA)_3phen探针分子。将所合成的探针分子与甲基丙烯酸甲酯(MMA)混合,以过氧化苯甲酰(BPO)为引发剂引发聚合,制得不同稀土(Gd~(3+),La~(3+))掺杂的Eu(p-MOBA)_3phen/PMMA温敏漆样品。利用扫描电镜、紫外-可见吸收光谱、红外光谱和荧光光谱对探针分子的形貌、结构、发光性能及温敏漆的荧光温度猝灭特性进行表征。红外光谱、紫外可见吸收光谱及扫描电镜能谱分析表明,Eu~(3+)与配体p-MOBA、phen成功配位,且掺入的稀土离子(Gd~(3+),La~(3+))未改变Eu(p-MOBA)_3phen结构,说明掺入的稀土离子(Gd~(3+),La~(3+))部分取代了Eu~(3+)。荧光光谱表明,稀土离子(Gd~(3+),La~(3+))的掺入对Eu(p-MOBA)_3phen的发光均具有增益作用,并且相应的温敏漆在50～100℃温度范围内都具有良好的荧光温度猝灭特性。而且相比于镧掺杂的Eu(p-MOBA)_3phen/PMMA,钆掺杂的Eu(p-MOBA)_3phen/PMMA具有更强的荧光发射和更高的测温灵敏度。可见,不同的稀土(Gd~(3+),La~(3+))对Eu(p-MOBA)_3phen/PMMA的荧光及温敏特性影响是不同的。     

Synthesis and characterization of graphene‐containing thermoresponsive nanocomposite hydrogels of poly(N‐vinylcaprolactam) prepared by frontal polymerization

Thermoresponsive poly(N‐vinylcaprolactam) nanocomposite hydrogels containing graphene were successfully prepared by frontal polymerization. High concentration of graphene (5.0 mg/mL) was obtained by direct graphite sonication in the self‐same liquid monomer, thus avoiding any chemical manipulation and obtaining “real” graphene as nanofiller instead of one of its more or less oxidized derivative, which is what generally reported in published reports. Furthermore, the corresponding nanocomposites were obtained without using any solvent to be eventually removed. The materials were fully characterized by RAMAN, SEM, and TEM, and their swelling behavior and rheological properties were investigated. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Core–shell nanogels by RAFT crosslinking polymerization: Synthesis and characterization

A synthetic methodology is described for the preparation of core–shell nanogels by reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer. Well‐defined macro chain transfer agents (macro‐CTA's) were prepared in a first step using monomers that yield sensitive polymers. In the second step, a crosslinker alone or with the addition of a functionalized comonomer were used to form a crosslinked core. The ratio of crosslinker to macro‐CTA is crucial to yield nanogels. Furthermore, the polymerization time has an impact in the architecture of the nanomaterial obtained: it evolves from a core‐crosslinked star to a core–shell nanogel. Controlling the molecular weight of the macro‐CTA and the type of comonomer in the core forming step, core–shell nanogels with hydrodynamic diameters from 22 to 168 nm and a core that represents from 35 to 77% of the size, were prepared containing functional groups in the core which could be used as catalytic scaffolds. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012.     

The Susceptibility of Non-UV Fluorescent Membrane Dyes to Dynamical Properties of Lipid Membranes

Fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy are powerful techniques to detect dynamic properties in artificial and natural lipid membrane systems. Unfortunately, most fluorescent dyes that sense dynamically relevant membrane parameters are UV sensitive. Their major disadvantage is a high susceptibility to fluorescence bleaching. Additionally, the risk for hazardous damages in biological components generally increases with decreasing excitation wavelength. Therefore the use of non-UV–sensitive membrane dyes would provide significant advantage, particularly for applications in fluorescence microscopy, which usually implies high local excitation intensities. We applied steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy techniques to several UV and non-UV membrane dyes to detect and compare dynamically relevant excitation and emission characteristics. Small unilamellar liposomes (composed of egg yolk phosphatidylcholine) served as a model system for biological membranes. The dynamic properties of the membranes were varied by two independent parameters: the intrinsic cholesterol content (0–50 mol%) and temperature (10–50°C). We tested four non-UV–sensitive membrane dyes: 9-diethylamino-5H-benzophenoxazine-5-one (Nile Red), 4-(dicyanovinyl)julolidine (DCVJ), N-(3-triethylammoniumpropyl)-4-(4-(dibutylamino)styryl) pyridinium dibromide (FM 4-64), and 1,1-dioctadecyl-3,3,3,3-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate (DiIC₁₈). We also tested three derivatives of DiIC₁₈: DiIC₁₆ and DiIC₁₂ differ in acyl chain length and Fast-DiIC₁₈ provides double bonds between hydrocarbon atoms. The spectral results were compared to established fluorescence characteristics of four UV membrane dyes: the anisotropy of 1-6-phenyl-1,3,5,-hexatrien (DPH), two derivatives of DPH (TMA-DPH and COO^–-DHP), and the generalized polarization of 6-dodecanoyl-2-dimethyl-aminonaphthalene (Laurdan). Our results indicate that the tested non-UV dyes do not reveal dynamically relevant membrane parameters in a direct manner. However, spectral characteristics make DiIC₁₈, Nile Red, and DCVJ promising probes for the microscopic detection of lateral lipid organization, an indirect indicator of membrane dynamics. In particular, DiIC₁₈ showed very selective shifts in the emission spectra at defined temperatures and cholesterol contents that have not been reported elsewhere.     

A class of differentiable toral maps which are topologically mixing

We show that on the 2-torus there exists a open set of regular maps such that every map belonging to is topologically mixing but is not Anosov. It was shown by Mañé that this property fails for the class of toral diffeomorphisms, but that the property does hold for the class of diffeomorphisms on the 3-torus . Recently Bonatti and Diaz proved that the second result of Mañé is also true for the class of diffeomorphisms on the -torus ().

     

Infrared spectral study of molecular vibrations in amorphous, nanocrystalline and AlO(OH) · αH2O bulk crystals

Amorphous, nanocrystalline, and bulk AlO(OH) · xH₂O crystals have six fundamental modes (FM) of vibration in a nonlinear AlO(OH) molecular structure. Most of them appear in groups of four IR and Raman bands. Their positions and relative intensities differ significantly in three specimens. The nanocrystals (monoclinic structure with z=8 molecules per unit cell) have four OH stretching bands at values enhanced by up to 360 cm⁻¹ at 3120, 3450, 3560 cm⁻¹ in comparison to those in bulk crystals or amorphous specimens. The first two bands are broad, bandwidth Δν_1/2200 to 350 cm⁻¹, while the other two are sharp, Δν_1/290 cm⁻¹. The sharp bands shift to 3525 and 3595 cm⁻¹ after heating the sample at 100°C. They no longer appear after heating at 300 or 500°C for 2 h (the specimen decomposes to Al₂O₃), leaving behind only two bands at 3100 and 3400 cm⁻¹. A Δν_1/2 value of 500 cm⁻¹ appears in the 3400 cm⁻¹ in a delocalized distribution of H atoms. Two bands also occur at 3098 and 3300 cm⁻¹ in bulk crystals (orthorhombic structure with z=4) or at 2990 and 3515 cm⁻¹ in an amorphous sample. More than one bands appear in a FM vibration in occurrence of sample in more than one conformers. The amorphous sample has approximately the same conformer structure as the bulk crystals. An amorphous surface structure exists in nanocrystals with a group of three bands at 1420, 1510 and 1635 cm⁻¹ in an interconnected network structure. It encapsulates the nanocrystals in an amorphous shell. Its volume fraction, 33% estimated from the integrated intensity in three bands, determines 2.2 nm thickness in the shell in spherical shape of nanocrystals in 35 nm diameter.