Microencapsulated oleic–capric acid/hexadecane mixture as phase change material for thermal energy storage

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Thermal energy storage systems provide efficiency in order to have better utilization of energy sources while protecting the environment. Thermal...     

Furo- and thieno-fused 1,3-diazepine-4,6-diones

We report the first preparation of furo- and thieno-fused 1,3-diazepine-4,6-dione derivatives starting from ethyl 2-(2-methoxy-2-oxoethyl)-3-furancarboxylate and -thiophencarboxylate. The ester functionalities connected to the hetero-ring were converted regiospecifically into the desired amides. The ester groups attached to the methylene unit were converted into isocyanates via Curtius rearrangement. The ring-closure reaction was performed in the presence of lithium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide at room temperature to give furo- and thieno-fused diazepinone derivatives.     

Norms and lower bounds of some matrix operators on Fibonacci weighted difference sequence space

Norm of an operator T:X→Y is the best possible value of U satisfying the inequality and lower bound for T is the value of L satisfying the inequality where ‖.‖_X and ‖.‖_Y are the norms on the spaces X and Y, respectively. The main goal of this paper is to compute norms and lower bounds for some matrix operators from the weighted sequence space ?_p(w) into a new space called as Fibonacci weighted difference sequence space. For this purpose, we firstly introduce the Fibonacci difference matrix and the space consisting of sequences whose ‐transforms are in .     

Role of polydimethylsiloxane in properties of ternary materials based on polyimides containing zeolite Y

Mixed matrix materials, containing poly(dimethylsiloxane), phosphine oxide-based polyimide, and zeolite Y were prepared by means of blending hybridisation. The thermal stability of the materials and the hydrophobic properties were enhanced. The decrease in the glass transition temperature of the materials with the increase in poly(dimethylsiloxane) content supported the polymer-chain flexibility. The pristine polyimide and the zeolite-filled polyimide exhibited the highest transparency. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy confirmed that the increase in the amount of the lowest molecular mass poly(dimethylsiloxane) ingredient indicated strong alkyl and Si-O-Si stretching modes, whilst the alkyl and Si-O-Si stretching intensity decreased in the presence of the highest amount of and the highest molecular mass poly(dimethylsiloxane). The hydrophobic poly(dimethylsiloxane) moiety created an inverse relationship between the porosity of the materials (surface roughness) and the hydrophilicity. The nanocrystallite domain, identified by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and possessing an exotherm crystallisation peak, occurred in the lowest amount of poly(dimethylsiloxane) with the highest molecular mass-based hybrid material. The nanocrystallite enhanced the storage modulus as determined by the dynamic mechanical analyser (DMA). The nanocrystalline formation resulted in a slight increase in the alkyl stretching and the Si-O-Si stretching of the lowest amount of and the highest molecular mass poly(dimethylsiloxane)-containing material over those of the lowest molecular mass poly(dimethylsiloxane) in the same amounts of material involved.     

Synthesis of thio- and furan-fused heterocycles: furopyranone,furopyrrolone, and thienopyrrolone derivatives

We report herein the synthesis of a novel class of compounds, ethyl 4-oxo-4H-furo[3,2-c]pyran-6-yl carbonate, (7E)-7-[(dimethylamino)methylene]-4H-furo[3,2-c]pyran-4,6(7H)-dione, 5-oxo-N-phenyl-2,5-dihydro-4H-furo[3,2-b]pyrrole-4-carboxamide, and 5-oxo-N-phenyl-5,6-dihydro-4H-thieno[3,2-b]pyrrole-4-carboxamide starting from the corresponding acid derivatives. Intramolecular cyclization in the presence of thionyl chloride formed the target fused ring systems. Additional transformation was seen in the cyclization of furan-fused heterocycle. A mechanism was proposed based on experimental and computational findings.     

Syntheses and optoelectronic properties of quinoxaline polymers: The effect of donor unit

Tuning the bandgap of electrochromic polymers is one of the important research topics in electrochromism. To understand clearly the effect of donor unit in donor–acceptor–donor‐type polymers, 2,3‐bis(4‐tert‐butylphenyl)‐5,8‐di(thiophen‐2‐yl)quinoxaline and 2,3‐bis(4‐tert‐butylphenyl)‐5‐(2,3‐dihydrothieno[3,4‐b][1,4]dioxin‐ 5‐yl)‐8‐(thiophen‐2‐yl)quinoxaline were synthesized and polymerized potentiodynamically. Their electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical studies were performed, and the results were compared with those of poly(2,3‐bis(4‐tert‐butylphenyl)‐5,8‐bis(2,3‐dihydrothieno[3,4‐b][1,4]dioxin‐5‐yl)quinoxaline) (Gunbas et al., Adv Mater 2008, 20, 691–695). A blue shift in the polymer π–π* transitions revealed that the bandgap of such polymers with the same acceptor unit is related to the electron density of donor units. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Soluble alkyl substituted poly(3,4‐propylenedioxyselenophene)s: A new platform for optoelectronic materials

Optical and electrochemical properties of regiosymmetric and soluble alkylenedioxyselenophene‐based electrochromic polymers, namely poly(3,3‐dibutyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐selenopheno[3,4‐b][1,4]dioxephine) (PProDOS‐C₄), poly(3,3‐dihexyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐selenopheno[3,4‐b][1,4]dioxephine) (PProDOS‐C₆), and poly(3,3‐didecyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐selenopheno[3,4‐b][1,4]dioxephine) (PProDOS‐C₁₀), are highlighted. It is noted that these unique polymers have low bandgaps (1.57–1.65 eV), and they are exceptionally stable under ambient atmospheric conditions. Polymer films retained 82–97% of their electroactivity after 5000 cycles. The percent transmittance of PProDOS‐C_n (n = 4, 6, 10) films found to be between 55 and 59%. Furthermore, these novel soluble PProDOS‐C_n polymers showed electrochromic behavior: a color change form pure blue to highly transparent state in a low switching time (1.0 s) during oxidation with high coloration efficiencies (328–864 cm² C^?1) when compared to their thiophene analogues. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Building an Iron Chromophore Incorporating Prussian Blue Analogue for Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation

The replacement of traditional ruthenium-based photosensitizers with low-cost and abundant iron analogs is a key step for the advancement of scalable and sustainable dye-sensitized water splitting cells. In this proof-of-concept study, a pyridinium ligand coordinated pentacyanoferrate(II) chromophore is used to construct a cyanide-based CoFe extended bulk framework, in which the iron photosensitizer units are connected to cobalt water oxidation catalytic sites through cyanide linkers. The iron-sensitized photoanode exhibits exceptional stability for at least 5 h at pH 7 and features its photosensitizing ability with an incident photon-to-current conversion capacity up to 500 nm with nanosecond scale excited state lifetime. Ultrafast transient absorption and computational studies reveal that iron and cobalt sites mutually support each other for charge separation via short bridging cyanide groups and for injection to the semiconductor in our proof-of-concept photoelectrochemical device. The reorganization of the excited states due to the mixing of electronic states of metal-based orbitals subsequently tailor the electron transfer cascade during the photoelectrochemical process. This breakthrough in chromophore-catalyst assemblies will spark interest in dye-sensitization with robust bulk systems for photoconversion applications.     

Copper(II) complexes with pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid from the oxidation of copper(I) iodide

Via an oxidation reaction of Cu(I) iodide with pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid (H₂L) in DMF three copper(II) complexes, [(CH₃)₂NH₂]₂[CuL₂] (1), K₂[CuL₂]?H₂L?H₂O (2) and [Cu(L)(H₂O)]_n (3), were synthesized and characterized. The structures of 1–3 were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies. In-situ DMF decomposition produces dimethylamine base under solvothermal conditions and a proton transfer reaction takes place for the complex formation of 1. 3-D networks are stabilized in 1 and 2 via hydrogen bonds. Complex 3 is a 1-D coordination polymer with Cu-O semi-coordination bonds. Thermal decomposition of the complexes results in the corresponding metal oxides. Also, the electrochemical behavior of 1 was determined to be a metal-centered and diffusion-controlled, one-electron reduction process.