Insights into MWCNTs/polyimide nanocomposites: from synthesis to application as free-standing flexible electrodes in low-cost micro-supercapacitors

In the pursuit to enlarge the library of polyimide materials for energy applications, new polyimide/MWCNTs composite films have been developed by MWCNTs-assisted polycondensation reaction of a hydroxyl and triphenylmethane-containing diamine with benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride targeting to highlight their electrical storage capability as flexible electrodes in micro-supercapacitors (mSCs). The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance, UV–vis, fluorescence, and Raman spectroscopies were used to demonstrate the evolution of interfacial interactions between MWCNTs and the precursors (diamine monomer and intermediate polyamidic acid) and polyimide matrix that proved to be the origin of MWCNTs homogeneous dispersion. Thus, composite films incorporating 1, 3, 5, and 10 w.t.% MWCNTs were obtained and thoroughly investigated with regard to their morphology, mechanical behavior, thermal stability, and electrical conductivity. The electrochemical performance of these composites was first analyzed in a classical three-electrode cell by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge in both aqueous and organic electrolyte systems. By far, the best electrical storage capacity was obtained with the composite polyimide film containing 10% MWCNTs that was further used as both active material and current collector in a flexible symmetric mSC realized by a straightforward and low-cost procedure. In the attempt to better exploit the advantages of this composite film, it was layered with a graphite-containing paint and tested as an electrode in a flexible mSC, which provided satisfactory results. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the electrical charge storage capability of a polyimide/MWCNTs free-standing film as a flexible electrode in mSCs, which do not require time- and resource-consuming processing steps.     

Developing automated valuation models for estimating property values: a comparison of global and locally weighted approaches

Annals of Operations Research - Automated valuation models are widely used in real estate to provide estimates for property prices. Such models are typically developed through regression...     

Functionalized Silver-Ion-Mediated α-dC/β-dC Hybrid Base Pairs with Exceptional Stability: α-d-5-Iodo-2′-Deoxycytidine and Its Octadiynyl Derivative in Metal DNA

Silver-mediated α-dC–Ag⁺–β-dC hybrid base pairs decorated with 5-iodo- or 5-octadiynyl residues are well accommodated in duplex DNA. A strong T_m increase and favorable thermodynamic data for duplex DNA were observed after addition of silver ions. The phenomenon is particularly obvious when both nucleobases of the base pairs are functionalized. Neither the position of the base pair, nor the type of 5-substituent had a negative influence. On the contrary, functionalization of conventional silver-mediated β-dC–Ag⁺–β-dC homo base pairs showed a negative impact induced by the bulky substituents. To this end, cytosine modified 12-mer oligodeoxynucleotides were prepared by solid-phase synthesis employing new α-anomeric 2′-deoxycytidine phosphoramidites. A multigram scale synthesis was developed for 5-iodo-α-d -2′-deoxycytidine ( 1 ) employing the direct glycosylation of cytosine with Hoffer's α-d -halogenose followed by separation of anomeric DMT nucleosides. Regarding base-pair stability and functionalization silver-mediated α/β-dC hybrid base pairs were found to be superior to β/β-dC homo pairs. According to their extraordinary properties, they might find applications in DNA diagnostics, material science, or nanotechnology.     

A Facile Method for the Separation of Methionine Sulfoxide Diastereomers,Structural Assignment,and DFT Analysis

Methionine (Met) oxidation is an important biological redox node, with hundreds if not thousands of protein targets. The process yields methionine oxide (MetO). It renders the sulfur chiral, producing two distinct, diastereomerically related products. Despite the biological significance of Met oxidation, a reliable protocol to separate the resultant MetO diastereomers is currently lacking. This hampers our ability to make peptides and proteins that contain stereochemically defined MetO to then study their structural and functional properties. We have developed a facile method that uses supercritical CO₂ chromatography and allows obtaining both diastereomers in purities exceeding 99 %. ¹H NMR spectra were correlated with X-ray structural information. The stereochemical interconversion barrier at sulfur was calculated as 45.2 kcal mol⁻¹, highlighting the remarkable stereochemical stability of MetO sulfur chirality. Our protocol should open the road to synthesis and study of a wide variety of stereochemically defined MetO-containing proteins and peptides.     

Cycloaddition Reactions of an Active Cyclic Phosphane/Borane Pair with Alkenes,Alkynes, and Carbon Dioxide

The active six-membered cyclo-FLP 6 undergoes a rapid P/B addition reaction to carbon dioxide. At elevated temperature, the resulting heterobicyclo[2.2.2]octane derived product 7 undergoes ring opening and equilibrates with the cyclotetramer (7)₄ . In the large macrocyclic structure, four monomeric six-membered cyclo-FLP units are connected by four CO₂ molecules to form the supramolecular ring system. The P/B cyclo-FLP 6 undergoes a variety of additional cycloaddition reactions.     

Correction to: convergence rates for Kaczmarz-type algorithms

Numerical Algorithms - We will refer to the paper “Convergence rates for Kaczmarz-type algorithms”, published in Numerical Algorithms, 79(1)(2018), 1-17. It was observed by Dr. Mokhtar...     

Absence of Anomalous Dissipation of Energy in Forced Two Dimensional Fluid Equations

We prove the absence of anomalous dissipation of energy for long time averaged solutions of the forced critical surface quasi-geostrophic equation in two spatial dimensions.