Rice husk silica as a sustainable filler in the tire industry

In this paper, we studied commercially available precipitated rice husk silica (RHS) with conventional precipitated silica, which has nearly the same surface area, and replaced part of the carbon black with RHS and conventional silica in a basic tread formulation. All formulations were mixed with the same amount of filler during the study. Silica was used at 15, 30 and 50 phr loading, and part of the carbon black was replaced by silica. Compound curing characteristics, physical properties, rebound resilience, heat generation, abrasion loss, dynamic properties and morphology were analyzed. The results indicated that RHS demonstrated compound properties comparable to those of conventional silica. As part of the carbon black was replaced with conventional silica, a slower cure rate, higher rebound resilience, lower heat generation, lower abrasion loss, and lower tan delta were observed with no significant change in physical properties, but some changes in physical properties were observed using one way ANOVA analysis. We found the same trend when replacing part of the carbon black with RHS, such as a slower cure rate, higher rebound resilience, lower heat generation, lower abrasion loss, and lower tan delta with no significant change in physical properties, but some changes in physical properties were observed using one way ANOVA. This sustainable material could be used to replace conventional silica in tire compounding, as well as to replace a portion of carbon black with RHS for improved heat build-up, rolling resistance, and abrasion loss.     

Recent advances and challenges in the recovery and purification of cellular exosomes

Exosomes are nanovesicles secreted by most cellular types that carry important biochemical compounds throughout the body with different purposes, playing a preponderant role in cellular communication. Because of their structure, physicochemical properties and stability, recent studies are focusing in their use as nanocarriers for different therapeutic compounds for the treatment of different diseases ranging from cancer to Parkinson's disease. However, current bioseparation protocols and methodologies are selected based on the final exosome application or intended use and present both advantages and disadvantages when compared among them. In this context, this review aims to present the most important technologies available for exosome isolation while discussing their advantages and disadvantages and the possibilities of being combined with other strategies. This is critical since the development of novel exosome‐based therapeutic strategies will be constrained to the effectiveness and yield of the selected downstream purification methodologies for which a thorough understanding of the available technological resources is needed.     

Highly dispersed palladium nanoclusters incorporated in amino‐functionalized silica spheres for the selective hydrogenation of succinic acid to γ‐butyrolactone

Highly dispersed palladium nanoclusters incorporated on amino‐functionalized silica sphere surfaces (Pd/SiO₂‐NH₂) were fabricated by a simple one‐pot synthesis utilizing 3‐(2‐aminoethylamino)propyltrimethoxysilane (AAPTS) as coordinating agent. Uniform palladium nanoclusters with an average size of 1.1 nm can be obtained during the co‐condensation of tetraethyl orthosilicate and AAPTS owing to the strong interaction between palladium species and amino groups in AAPTS. The palladium particle size can be controlled by addition of AAPTS and plays a significant role in the catalytic performance. The Pd/SiO₂‐NH₂ catalyst exhibits high catalytic activity for succinic acid hydrogenation with 100% conversion and 94% selectivity towards γ‐butyrolactone using 1,4‐dioxane as solvent at 240°C and 60 bar for 4 h. Moreover, the Pd/SiO₂‐NH₂ catalyst is robust and readily reusable without loss of its catalytic activity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Scaling properties of fracture surfaces on glass strengthened by ionic exchange

In this work the results of the statistical topometric analysis of fracture surfaces of soda-lime-silica glass with and without ionic exchange treatment are reported. In this case, the mechanism of substitution is K⁺-Na⁺. atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to record the topometric data from the fracture surface. The roughness exponent (ζ) and the correlation length (ξ) were calculated by the variable bandwidth method. The analysis for both glasses (subjected and non-subjected to ionic exchange) for ζ shows a value ∼0.8, this value agrees well with that reported in the literature for rapid crack propagation in a variety of materials. The correlation length shows different values for each condition. These results, along with those of microhardness indentations suggest that the self-affine correlation length is influenced by the complex interactions of the stress field of microcracks with that resulting from the collective behavior of the point defects introduced by the strengthening mechanism of ionic exchange.     

掩埋式多模干涉型分束器的反射性能

通过束传播方法(BPM)模拟了SiO2基掩埋式波导结构多模干涉(MMI)型分束器的反射性能,模拟结果表明,MMI工作在分束模式时存在最优的多模干涉长度实现最大输出和最小反射,而在合束模式下实现最大输出时反射也达到最大,这是由自映象原理决定的。SiO2基掩埋式波导结构MMI分束器对反射具有良好的抑制作用,其最大反射功率为-60dB。分析表明,多模干涉区末端的界面反射率决定了器件的反射强弱,SiO2基掩埋式波导的界面反射率非常低,这是其低反射的原因。     

Fabrication of Dendrimer－like PAMAM Based on Silica Nanoparticles

A G 4.0 dendrimer-like poly (amido amine) (PAMAM) based on silica nanoparticles was fabricated via a divergent approach.It was built from γ-aminopropyi silica nanoparfides (APSN) core via repetitive addition of acrylate (MA) and hexylenediamine (HDA). FT-IR and EA were used to monitor the progress of dendrimer during each step. The amino group content of the resulting product increased from 0.49 to 3.72 mmol/g after the 4th generation. In addition, the percentage of grafting increased with increasing generation and reached to 65.9% after 4th generation. It was found that the resulting silica nanoparticles could be dispersed in methanol with a mean hydrodynamic particle diameter of 152.7 nm although the silica nanoparticles had agglomerated during the storage period.     

Composite Silica Particles Using a Mixture of Organosilane Monomers

Composite silica particles were synthesized by a two-step (acid-base) process in an aqueous solution with a mixture of organoalkoxysilane monomers. The two-step process separates the hydrolysis and condensation procedures to easily control condensation rate. In this study, the silane monomers used were phenyltrimethoxysilane (PTMS), vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMS), methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS), and tetraethyl-orthosilicate (TEOS). The physical properties of the resultant composite particles were investigated with the change in the molar ratio of monomers. The size of the particles increased with increasing the molar ratio of R_aSi(OR)₃/R_bSi(OR)₃ or R_aSi(OR)₃/TEOS (R_a: phenyl; R_b: vinyl, methyl).     

Influence of surfactant and lipid chain length on the solubilisation of phosphatidylcholine vesicles by micelles comprised of polyoxyethylene sorbitan monoesters

Photon correlation spectroscopy and freeze-fracture electron microscopy have been used to determine the ability of a range of micelle-forming, polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monoesters (Tweens) to solubilise vesicles prepared from phosphatidylcholines of different acyl chain lengths and degrees of saturation with a view to rationalising (in terms of their membrane toxicity) which of the micelle-forming surfactants to use as drug delivery vehicles. The phosphatidylcholines used were dimyristoyl-, dipalmitoyl-, distearoyl- and dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC, DPPC, DSPC and DOPC, respectively) while the nonionic polyoxyethylene sorbitan monoesters studied were polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monolaurate (Tween 20), a 9:1 weight ratio mixture of polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monopalmitate and monostearate (Tween 40), a 1:1 weight ratio mixture of polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monopalmitate and monostearate (Tween 60), and polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monooleate (Tween 80). The ability of the Tween micelles to solubilise phospholipid vesicles was found to depend both upon the length of the surfactant acyl chain and the length of the acyl chains of the phospholipid comprising the vesicle. Vesicles composed of long saturated diacyl chain phospholipids, namely DSPC and DPPC, were the most resistant to solubilisation, while those prepared from the shorter acyl chained DMPC were more readily solubilised. In terms of their solubilisation behaviour, vesicles made from phospholipids containing long, unsaturated acyl chains, namely DOPC behaved more akin to those vesicles prepared from DMPC. None of the Tween surfactants were effective at solubilising vesicles prepared from DPPC or DSPC. In contrast, there were clear differences in the ability of the various surfactants to solubilise vesicles prepared from DMPC and DOPC, in that micelles formed from Tween 20 were the most effective solubilising agent while those formed by Tween 60 were the least effective. As a consequence of these observations it was considered that Tween 60 was the surfactant least likely to cause membrane damage in vivo and, therefore, is the most suitable surfactant for use as a micellar drug delivery vehicle.     

NMR investigation of concentrated alumina and silica slurries

The longitudinal relaxation times (T₁) of water in concentrated silica and alumina slurries were measured as a function of solids content. It was shown that the results could be fit very well with a two-phase fast-exchange model between free and surface-bound water. As expected, values of T₁ for bound water were in the order of 20–2000 times lower than that for free water, indicating a higher effective viscosity of the surface-bound water. The strength of the interaction depended on the particular surface, and all of the aluminas examined interacted more strongly with water than the two silicas studied, which themselves differed considerably. The chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) removal rate of tantalum by silica slurries was shown to be directly correlated with the interaction parameters, derived from the NMR relation times rather than with total surface hydroxyl group concentration.     

Thermal treatment on composite γ-zirconium phosphate-silica

The prepared amorphous γ-ZrP\SiO₂ composite had a complicated composition, since a part of γ-ZrP is converted to α-form during the exfoliation of it. The γ-ZrP\SiO₂ composite have specific surface area of 421 m²g^–1. The acidic P–OH groups of the lamellae species placed on the surface (it is ≈1.0 meq g^–1), do not destroy until the temperature of 1030 K. During the thermal treatment the total mass loss of 7.79% was found. This value corresponds to 0.42 mole of H₂O per molecule unit. The water loss process was found very slow, because of the placing of bilamellar species in the composite.