Effect of carbon nanotubes addition on electrochemical performance and thermal stability of Li4Ti5O12 anode in commercial LiMn2O4/Li4Ti5O12 full-cell

Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ (LTO)/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) composite material is synthesized based on a solid-state method by sand-milling, spray-drying and calcining at 850 ℃ under N₂ flow. The LTO/CNTs samples with 1 wt% and 3 wt% weight ratio of CNTs addition and the pristine LTO sample are prepared. The rate performance and the thermal stability of these samples are investigated based on LiMn₂O₄ (LMO)/LTO full-cell. The results show that theweight ratio of CNTs addition has distinct effect on LTO performances. The composite materials of LTO composited CNTs have better performance at high-rate due to the intercalation enhancement by conductive network of CNTs. At second, the overcharging temperature response of the cell's surface with 1 wt% CNTs addition is the lowest. The particle size distribution is measured and the most uniform particles are obtained with 1 wt% CNTs addition. This trend could explain that the mediumquantity of CNTs is optimal to improve the heat and mass transfer and prevent the problems of crystallite growing interference and aggregation during the calcination process.     

Improving the impact property and heat‐resistance of PLA/PC blends through coupling molecular chains at the interface

The influences of both the molecular structure and the melt viscosity differences between Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and polycarbonate (PC) on the interpenetration of molecular chains at the interface were investigated by comparing the dynamic mechanical properties and morphologies of the as‐prepared PLA/PC solution‐casting blends with those of their corresponding annealed (180°C, 8 h) samples or PLA/PC melt blends. Additionally, two chain extenders containing epoxy groups (ADR and TGDDM) were used to improve the interfacial strength. Subsequently, the interpenetration of PLA and PC molecular chains at the interface was also surveyed. Finally, the effects of the morphology formed by after adding ADR or TGDDM on the impact property, and heat resistance were discussed. The results showed that there was no interpenetration of molecular chains at the interface in PLA/PC melt blends because of the serious hindrance of the molecular structure and the melt viscosity differences. Although the interfacial strength achieved significant increase after adding ADR or TGDDM, the increase of the interfacial strength should be caused by the connection of ADR or TGDDM molecules with PLA and PC molecules at the interface through chemical bonds rather than the entanglements of PLA and PC molecular chains because of no interpenetration of PLA and PC molecular chains at the interface. Thus, the morphology formed after adding ADR or TGDDM is still the type of complete phase separation, which may be the most suitable morphology for achieving high impact and heat resistance PLA/PC blends because these two properties strongly depend on the crystallinity of PLA phase. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Redox‐Neutral α‐Allylation of Amines by Combining Palladium Catalysis and Visible‐Light Photoredox Catalysis

An unprecedented α‐allylation of amines was achieved by combining palladium catalysis and visible‐light photoredox catalysis. In this dual catalysis process, the catalytic generation of allyl radical from the corresponding π‐allylpalladium intermediate was achieved without additional metal reducing reagents (redox‐neutral). Various allylation products of amines were obtained in high yields through radical cross‐coupling under mild reaction conditions. Moreover, the transformation was applied to the formal synthesis of 8‐oxoprotoberberine derivatives which show potential anticancer properties.     

Light‐Directing Omnidirectional Circularly Polarized Reflection from Liquid‐Crystal Droplets

Constructing and tuning self‐organized three‐dimensional (3D) superstructures with tailored functionality is crucial in the nanofabrication of smart molecular devices. Herein we fabricate a self‐organized, phototunable 3D photonic superstructure from monodisperse droplets of one‐dimensional cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) containing a photosensitive chiral molecular switch with high helical twisting power. The droplets are obtained by a glass capillary microfluidic technique by dispersing into PVA solution that facilitates planar anchoring of the liquid‐crystal molecules at the droplet surface, as confirmed by the observation of normal incidence selective circular polarized reflection in all directions from the core of individual droplet. Photoirradiation of the droplets furnishes dynamic reflection colors without thermal relaxation, whose wavelength can be tuned reversibly by variation of the irradiation time. The results provided clear evidence on the phototunable reflection in all directions.     

藤黄酸重排反应产物研究

藤黄酸能显著抑制多种人类肿瘤细胞的增殖,在酸性环境中易发生重排反应,其重排产物对肿瘤细胞也具有很强的抑制作用.通过波谱技术确定了两个藤黄酸的重排反应产物的结构并归属了其波谱数据.细胞毒活性测试显示,两个重排产物对A549,HCT116和MDA-MB-231显示很强的抑制作用.     

固体核磁共振研究分子筛的新进展

分子筛由于具有独特的孔道及可调控酸碱性等特征,被作为离子交换剂、吸附剂及催化剂而广泛应用于石油化工的各种催化过程中。固体核磁共振是研究分子筛结构、酸性及主客体相互作用的强有力谱学手段之一。简单概述了固体核磁共振研究分子筛的最近进展。     

Flame-retardant Wrapped Ramie Fibers towards Suppressing “Candlewick Effect” of Polypropylene/Ramie Fiber Composites

In this work, a flame-retardant polypropylene(PP)/ramie fiber(RF) composite was prepared. The ramie fibers were wrapped chemically by a phosphorus- and nitrogen-containing flame retardant(FR) produced via in situ condensation reaction so as to suppress their candlewick effect. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM) demonstrated that the ramie fibers wrapped chemically by FR(FR-RF) were obtained successfully. Thermogravimatric test showed that the PP/FR-RF composite had more residue and better thermal stability at high temperatures than the PP/RF composite. Cone calorimeter(CC) results indicated that the peak of heat release rate(PHRR) and total heat release(THR) correspondingly decreased by 23.4% and 12.5% compared with the values of neat PP/RF. The PP/FR-RF composite created a continuous and compact char layer after the combustion. Combining FTIR analysis of char residue after CC test with heat conduction coefficient results, it could be concluded that the charring of FR on RF greatly weakened the candlewick effect of RF, and more char residue in the RF domain facilitated the formation of more continuous and compact char layer in the whole combustion zone, consequently protected PP composites during combustion, resulting in the better flame retardancy of PP/FR-RF composite than that of PP/RF composite.     

Flow-injection chemiluminescence method for determination of critical micelle concentration of surfactants

In this study, chemiluminescence (CL) behaviour of Luminol-H₂O₂ in the presence of the different concentrations of four surfactants, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), cetylpyridinium bromide (CPB), sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and polyoxyethylene dodecyl ether (Brij-35), was investigated. A novel method for the direct determination of critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the surfactants using flow-injection CL is described. Under the optimum conditions, the luminescence intensity of the Luminol-H₂O₂ system increased gradually with increasing concentration of the surfactants before the CMC, but rapidly reached to the emission maximum at the CMC, followed by a decrease after the CMC. The concentrations of the surfactants corresponding to the luminescence maximum are in agreement with the literature CMC values. The main factors affecting the determination of CMC are discussed. The mechanistic studies show that the luminescence peaks observed in the experiment were mainly because of the protective effect of the micelle against the transition of the excited species and the retarding effect of the micelle structures on the CL reaction rate.     

Density of lithium fluoride—lithium carbonate-based molten salts

The density of the LiF-Li₂CO₃ melts system was measured using the Archimedean method. Using the quadratic regression orthogonal design with two factors, a regression equation for the density of LiF-Li₂CO₃ melts was obtained in which the concentration of LiF and temperature were considered. The results indicated that the density of the LiF-Li₂CO₃ melts decreased with either increasing the concentration of LiF or increasing temperature; a linear relation was observed between density and temperature. In addition, the influences of NaF, KF, NaCl, and KCl additives on the densities of the given systems were studied. The addition of NaF and KF increased the density of the melts, whereas NaCl and KCl resulted in an initial increase and subsequent decrease with an increasing additive concentration. The density attained a maximum at NaCl and KCl mass fraction of approximately 15%.