A decision support method for designing vegetation layers with minimised irrigation need

Annals of Operations Research - Selecting a vegetation layer design goes along with determining its future irrigation need. Therefore, it is essential to take a design decision that is minimising...     

Consolidation of composite cathodes with NCM and sulfide solid-state electrolytes by hot pressing for all-solid-state Li metal batteries

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - In this study, hot pressing was evaluated as a method of cell fabrication to increase the energy density of next-generation all-solid-state batteries with...     

Coordination mode of cyclohex-1-enylolonium cation and bridging pyridyl derivatives as gem-diol chelates to rhenium(I) and (VII)

Transition Metal Chemistry - Rhenium(I) and (VII) complexes with cyclohex-1-enylolonium cation and bridging pyridyl derivatives are reported. Additionally, the CO-bridged pyridyl and their related...     

Reactivity of urethanes at high temperature: Transurethanization and side reactions

The reactivity of urethanes based on 1,6‐hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) and 4,4′‐methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) was investigated at temperatures between 190 °C and 235 °C. Diurethane model compounds end‐capped with either 1‐dodecanol (D‐core‐D) or 1‐hexadecanol (H‐core‐H) were mixed and annealed at high temperature. The core was either MDI or HDI. The transurethanization reaction was followed based on the formation of the compounds (H‐core‐D). The amount of H‐core‐D and of side products, which had formed after variable annealing times, were identified with ¹H NMR, FTIR, SEC, and MALDI‐TOF. Transurethanization was considerably faster for MDI‐based urethanes than for HDI‐based urethanes. Only traces of side products were formed during annealing of MDI‐based urethanes, whereas a significant amount of allophanates was formed from HDI‐based urethanes under the same conditions. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019 , 57, 621–629     

Thermal behavior of Ni,Co and Fe succinates embedded in silica matrix

This paper presents the thermal behavior of Co, Ni and Fe succinates obtained by sol-gel synthesis using Co(II), Ni(II) and Fe(III) nitrates, 1,4-butanediol and tetraethyl orthosilicate as reactants. The thermal analysis revealed the formation of succinates at 413–453 K and their decomposition to ferrites at 503–623 K. The rate constants for the decomposition of succinates to ferrites, calculated using the isotherms at 473, 523, 573 and 623 K, were used to determine the activation energy of each ferrite (NiFe₂O₄, Ni_0.3Co_0.7Fe₂O₄, Ni_0.7Co_0.3Fe₂O₄ and CoFe₂O₄) embedded in the silica matrix. By increasing the Ni content in the mixed Ni–Co ferrites, the activation energy decreases from 13.530 to 1.944 kJ mol^?1. The formation and decomposition of succinate precursors and the formation of silica matrix were confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy, while the formation of CoFe₂O₄ and NiFe₂O₄ single-phases embedded in the silica matrix was confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. The nanocrystallites size decreases from 31.7 (CoFe₂O₄) to 18.5 nm (NiFe₂O₄). The optical band gap of mixed Co–Ni ferrites was significantly higher than that corresponding to CoFe₂O₄. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was evaluated against Rhodamine B under visible light. All the samples have photocatalytic activities, the best performance being obtained in the case of Ni_0.7Co_0.3Fe₂O₄.

     

Size‐Dependence of the Melting Temperature of Individual Au Nanoparticles

Nanoparticles have an immense importance in various fields, such as medicine, catalysis, and various technological applications. Nanoparticles exhibit a significant depression in melting point as their size goes below ≈10 nm. However, nanoparticles are frequently used in high temperature applications such as catalysis where temperatures often exceed several 100 degrees which makes it interesting to study not only the melting temperature depression, but also how the melting progresses through the particle. Using high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy, the melting process of gold nanoparticles in the size range of 2–20 nm Au nanoparticles combined with molecular dynamics studies is investigated. A linear dependence of the melting temperature on the inverse particle size is confirmed; electron microscopy imaging reveals that the particles start melting at the surface and the liquid shell formed then rapidly expands to the particle core.     

Self‐emulsion polymerization of amphiphilic monomers—a green route to synthesis of polymeric nanoscaffolds

Self‐emulsion polymerization (SEP), a green route developed by us for the polymerization of amphiphilic monomers, does not require any emulsifier or an organic solvent except that the water‐soluble initiators such as 2,2′‐azobis[2‐(2‐imidazolin‐2‐yl)propane]dihydrochloride (VA‐044) and potassium persulfate (KPS) are only used. We report here the polymer nanoscaffolds from a number of amphiphilic monomers, which can be used for in situ encapsulation of a variety of nanoparticles. As a demonstration of the efficacy of these nanoscaffolds, the synthesis of a biocompatible hybrid nanoparticle (nanohybrid), prepared by encapsulating Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticle (Fe₃O₄ MNPs) in poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) in water, for MRI application is presented. The nanohybrid prepared following the SEP in the form of an emulsion does not involve the use of any stabilizing agent, crosslinker, polymeric emulsifier, or surfactant. This water‐soluble, spherical, and stable nanohybrid containing Fe₃O₄ MNPs of average size 10 ± 2 nm has a zeta potential value of ?41.89 mV under physiological conditions. Magnetic measurement confirmed that the nanohybrid shows typical magnetic behavior having a saturation magnetization (Ms) value of 32.3 emu/g and a transverse relaxivity (r2) value of 29.97 mM^?1 s^?1, which signifies that it can be used as a T2 contrast agent in MRI. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019