Mobility of water molecules in Li+, Na+ and Cs+ ionic forms of Nafion membrane studied by NMR

Correlation times and diffusion coefficients of water molecules were measured for the first time by ¹H spin relaxation and pulsed field gradient NMR in Li⁺, Na⁺ and Cs⁺ ionic forms of Nafion 117 membrane. Hydration numbers of Li⁺, Na⁺ and Cs⁺ cations were calculated. It was shown that at high humidity macroscopic transfer is controlled by the local translational motion of water molecules.     

开关型Pickering乳液体系

Pickering乳液以胶体尺寸的固体粒子代替传统表面活性剂作为稳定剂,具有超稳定,生物相容性好以及对环境友好等优点。开关型Pickering乳液可随pH值、CO₂/N₂浓度、温度、磁场强度及光强度等条件的变化而改变固体乳化剂的表面润湿性,实现在“乳化”与“破乳”之间的快速转换,在非均相催化、乳液聚合等诸多领域有广泛的应用前景。本文全面总结了近年来开关型Pickering乳液的研究进展及其在界面催化系统、液膜处理有机废水、药物的包封与释放等方面的应用。     

Molecularly Engineered 6FDA-Based Polyimide Membranes for Sour Natural Gas Separation

Glassy polyimide membranes are attractive for industrial applications in sour natural gas purification. Unfortunately, the lack of fundamental understanding of relationships between polyimide chemical structures and their gas transport properties in the presence of H₂S constrains the design and engineering of advanced membranes for such challenging applications. Herein, 6FDA-based polyimide membranes with engineered structures were synthesized to tune their CO₂/CH₄ and H₂S/CH₄ separation performances and plasticization properties. Under ternary mixed sour gas feeds, controlling polymer chain packing and plasticization tendency of such polyimide membranes via tuning the chemical structures were found to offer better combined H₂S and CO₂ removal efficiency compared to conventional polymers. Fundamental insights into structure–property relationships of 6FDA-based polyimide membranes observed in this study offer guidance for next generation membranes for sour natural gas separation.     

Dynamics of Bacteriorhodopsin in the Dark-Adapted State from Solution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

To achieve efficient proton pumping in the light-driven proton pump bacteriorhodopsin (bR), the protein must be tightly coupled to the retinal to rapidly convert retinal isomerization into protein structural rearrangements. Methyl group dynamics of bR embedded in lipid nanodiscs were determined in the dark-adapted state, and were found to be mostly well ordered at the cytosolic side. Methyl groups in the M145A mutant of bR, which displays only 10 % residual proton pumping activity, are less well ordered, suggesting a link between side-chain dynamics on the cytosolic side of the bR cavity and proton pumping activity. In addition, slow conformational exchange, attributed to low frequency motions of aromatic rings, was indirectly observed for residues on the extracellular side of the bR cavity. This may be related to reorganization of the water network. These observations provide a detailed picture of previously undescribed equilibrium dynamics on different time scales for ground-state bR.     

Proton conductivity study on three CS/IL@fle-MOF membranes

The low-cost, high specific surface area and porosity, controlled pore size, and chemical properties of metal–organic framework (MOF) materials have attracted much attention in the exploration of proton conduction. The method of chemically modifying MOF structures or introducing conductive medium into the holes can effectively improve the proton conductivities of the materials. Here, the structural tunability of ionic liquid (IL) and flexible MOF (fle-MOF) materials are matched to give full play to the conductivity of IL, the framework support, and the microporous effect of MOFs, which achieves the synergistic effect of performance and expands the temperature range of proton transfer. Three kinds of CS/IL@fle-MOF membranes were prepared by combining three fle-MOFs with 1-carboxymethyl-3-methylimidazole (CMMIM) in different proportions to obtain 15 pieces of membranes. The comparative analyses show that CS/IL@fle-MOF membranes have excellent proton conduction performance at a wider temperature range (263–353 K) and lower relative humidity (75% RH). Among them, the proton conductivities of CS/CMMIM@MIL-88A-25% and CS/CMMIM@MIL-88B-125% are up to 1.33 and 1.42 S cm⁻¹ at 75% RH and 353 K, respectively; whereas those of CS/CMMIM@MIL-53(Fe)-75% and CS/CMMIM@MIL-88B-125% reach up to 2.1 × 10⁻³ and 1.28 × 10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ at 75% RH and 263 K, respectively. The E_a of CS/CMMIM@fle-MOFs is in the range of 0.1–0.5 eV, suggesting that the proton transport follows predominantly the typical Grotthuss transfer mechanism. The results of this study indicate that the CS/CMMIM@fle-MOF membranes combinations offer great potential for the design of composite porous proton-conducting materials.     

Optimal method for preparing sulfonated polyaryletherketones with high ion exchange capacity by acid-catalyzed crosslinking for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Sulfonated polyaryletherketones (SPAEK) bearing four sulfonic acid groups on the phenyl side groups were synthesized. The benzophenone moiety of polymer backbone was further reduced to benzydrol group with sodium borohydride. The membranes were crosslinked by acid-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts reaction without sacrifice of sulfonic acid groups and ion exchange capacity (IEC) values. Crosslinked membranes with the same IEC value but different water uptake could be prepared. The optimal crosslinking condition was investigated to achieve lower water uptake, better chemical stability (Fenton's test), and higher proton conductivity. In addition, the hydrophilic ionic channels from originally course and disordered could be modified to be narrow and continuous by this crosslinking method. The crosslinked membranes, CS4PH-40-PEKOH (IEC = 2.4 meq./g), reduced water uptake from 200 to 88% and the weight loss was reduced from 11 to 5% during the Fenton test compared to uncrosslinked one (S4PH-40-PEK). The membrane showed comparable proton conductivity (0.01–0.19 S/cm) to Nafion 212 at 80°C from low to high relative humidity (RH). Single H₂/O₂ fuel cell based on the crosslinked SPAEK with catalyst loading of 0.25 mg/cm² (Pd/C) exhibited a peak power density of 220.3 mW/cm², which was close to that of Nafion 212 (214.0 mW/cm²) at 80°C under 53% RH. These membranes provide a good option as proton exchange membrane with high ion exchange capacity for fuel cells.     

基于红外光谱聚类分析的纳滤膜污染动态发展行为研究

污水再生利用是解决水资源短缺问题的有效对策。纳滤技术由于能够生产高质量的再生水，成为污水深度处理、再生利用的有效方法之一。然而，在纳滤过程中存在复杂的、动态的膜污染现象，会导致产水通量、产水质量下降等问题。研究膜污染动态发展的行为，对于膜污染的分阶段针对性控制具有重要意义。有机物是污染层动态发展过程的重要指示性成分，红外光谱是表征污染层发展过程中表面有机物官能团变化情况的重要手段。但由于红外光谱中峰的数量多，系列样品之间峰强度的差别较小（尤其是当膜污染过程中的采样间隔较小时），利用直观观察不易甄别不同样品间的谱图差异及其变化趋势，在此水平上难以对膜污染阶段进行准确识别、对各阶段特征进行有说服力的分类概括。为探索膜污染的动态发展过程，本研究将傅里叶变换红外光谱与统计学聚类分析相结合，对膜污染过程中不同时间点的膜样本进行红外光谱分析，再对红外光谱数据进行一系列预处理和系统聚类分析，从而客观解读膜污染动态发展过程中系列样品红外光谱分阶段变化规律。考虑到类别间距离度量方法、红外吸收峰强度标准化、峰之间自相关性、峰与样本之间交互作用等因素的影响，研究采用对应分析对红外数据进行预处理，提取各样本在主要维度上的得分，随后基于标准化欧式距离对各样本进行聚类。在为期一个月的城市污水深度处理纳滤试验过程中，由于污染物在膜表面累积，纳滤膜发生了较为严重的污染。通过对13个不同时间点的膜样本进行红外光谱聚类发现，膜污染可清晰划分为如下阶段：空白膜、阶段Ⅰ（3 h～8 d）、阶段Ⅱ（10～15 d）和阶段Ⅲ（20～30 d）。采用红外聚类，得到膜表面X射线光电子能谱（XPS）和三磷酸腺苷（ATP）含量分析等方法的交互验证。结果表明，随着膜污染的发展，膜表面有机物成分与共存微生物量发生协同变化，各阶段大致特征为：阶段Ⅰ各类有机污染物初步覆盖，微生物开始富集；阶段Ⅱ多糖类污染物比例上升，微生物的富集趋于稳定；阶段Ⅲ整体污染趋于成熟，有机污染物氢键特征更加明显。该研究通过对红外数据进行聚类分析，能够灵敏地探测各红外图谱之间的差别，有助于对红外光谱规律的深度挖掘，为膜污染阶段的识别和划分提供了一种客观、自动、可量化的辅助性方法，并且有助于归纳出不同阶段的污染层特征，可作为膜污染时序特征的侦查手段。此外，除了膜污染的研究，在材料、吸附等领域，只要有一系列变化的红外光谱，均可尝试采用红外光谱聚类分析方法，获取基于红外特征的定类信息或分阶段规律。     

Display of Potassium Channel–Blocking Tertiapin‐Q Peptides on Gold Nanoparticles Enhances Depolarization of Cellular Membrane Potential

The use of nanoparticle (NP) systems to control cellular physiology, including membrane potential, can facilitate furthered understanding of many disparate cellular processes ranging from cellular proliferation to tissue regeneration. A gold NP (AuNP) bioconjugate system based on the honeybee venom peptide, tertiapin‐Q (AuNP‐TPN‐Q), that depolarizes membrane potential by targeting inward rectifier potassium channels (Kir), is developed. The conjugate elicits, in a peptide concentration–dependent manner, a greater and more rapid depolarization response compared to the free peptide alone. The specificity of the interaction of the AuNP‐TPN‐Q conjugate with the Kir channel using immunocytochemistry and competition binding assays is confirmed. It is further shown that membrane depolarization is photothermally reversible via the laser‐induced plasmonic heating of the AuNP, providing a level of control over Kir channels not afforded by currently available drugs. The functional nanobioconjugate described herein provides a new research tool for understanding the intricacies of ion channel activity and the modulation of cellular membrane potential.