Scaling analysis of a charged jet formed upon electrospinning of a viscoelastic liquid

The dependences of the parameters of a jet and the intensity of the current generated in it during electrospinning of a viscoelastic liquid on the conductivity, viscosity, surface tension, and other characteristics of the liquid, as well as the strength of an external electric field and the liquid flow rate, are considered. The process is described in terms of the Maxwell liquid model, which is characterized by a single relaxation time and convective-type nonlinearity. Two regimes corresponding to high and low liquid flow rates are identified. The jet diameter is shown to decrease with a rise in the liquid conductivity coefficient and electric field strength. Moreover, at high flow rates, the current intensity almost linearly grows with the field strength.     

Analysis of liquid structure without construction of any structure models by the X-ray scattering method.

A simple approach for determining a liquid structure using X-ray scattering data, in which a liquid structure is uniquely evaluated without construction of any plausible structure models, has been applied to liquid acetonitrile, acetone and cyclohexane. For a pair of molecules, a given point within a molecule is located at the origin with a given molecular orientation. The site of the given point of another molecule is defined by the polar coordinates and the molecular orientation is treated by three Eulerian angles. These parameters are optimized by a non-linear least-squares calculation applied to X-ray scattering data. The reliability of the method was examined by determining the liquid structure of polar acetonitrile and the obtained intermolecular interatomic distances are in good agreement with the previously reported values. The method was then successfully applied to the determination of the liquid structure of acetone and cyclohexane. Especially for nonpolar cyclohexane, the construction of a variety of plausible structural models is very difficult. It was revealed that acetone has an ordered liquid arrangement similar to that found in its crystal, although the intermolecular distances in liquid acetone are different from those in the crystal. On the other hand, the liquid structure of cyclohexane is disordered.     

Liquid—liquid equilibrium data: Their retrieval,correlation and prediction Part II: Correlation

The correlation of liquid—liquid equilibrium data using models for the liquid phase activity coefficients — for example NRTL and UNIQUAC — is reviewed. Different numerical procedures used in the computation of liquid—liquid equilibrium compositions on the basis of these models are evaluated. Methods for obtaining parameters from liquid—liquid equilibrium data are described, and a method leading to improved representation of tie lines using relatively few parameters is recommended. The NRTL and UNIQUAC equations are compared with respect to their ability of representing binary and ternary liquid—liquid equilibrium data. The UNIQUAC equation appears to be more convenient to use and to correlate the data slightly better than does NRTL with the same number of parameters.     

Liquid Marble Photosensor

A liquid marble is a liquid droplet coated by a hydrophobic powder. The liquid marble does not wet adjacent surfaces and therefore can be manipulated as a dry soft body. A Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction is an oscillatory chemical reaction exhibiting waves of oxidation. We demonstrate how to make a photo-sensor from BZ medium liquid marbles. We insert electrodes into a liquid marble, prepared from BZ solution and coated with polyethylene powder. The electrodes record a potential difference which oscillates due to oxidation wave-fronts crossing the electrodes. When the BZ marble is illuminated by a light source, the oxidation wave-fronts are hindered and, thus, the electrical potential recorded ceases to oscillate. We characterise several types of responses of BZ marble photosensors to various stimuli, and provide explanations of the recorded activity. BZ liquid marble photosensors may find applications in the fields of liquid electronics, soft robotics and unconventional computing.     

射流携带床反应器液体停留时间分布及模拟

对射流携带床液体停留时间分布进行了研究,考察了液体流量、气体流量和气体动量对液体停留时间分布的影响。结果表明,增加液体流量使停留时间分布密度曲线变得高而窄,且平均停留时间变短;气体流量增大使得停留时间出峰略有提前,气体流量大于4L/min时,继续增大气体流量对液体停留时间分布影响较小;当液体流量小于60L/h时,气体动量对液体停留时间的影响较明显,主要表现气体动量越大液体平均停留时间越长。基于实验结果分析及实验中观测的现象,将射流携带床内液体流动结构分为中心区和壁面区进行研究,建立了描述射流携带床内液体停留时间分布的数学模型,模型模拟结果和实验数据吻合良好。     

磁性离子液体的应用研究

磁性离子液体是指能够吸附在磁铁上,在外加磁场作用下具有一定磁化强度的离子液体。本文综述了自2004年磁性离子液体概念提出至今在各领域的应用,其可以催化吡咯、3-甲基噻吩等单体合成导电高分子纳米微球,同时起到溶剂和模板的作用;还可以通过外加磁场调整产物的微观结构和形貌,从而得到不同的纳米结构;它也可以充当Lewis酸催化剂,催化傅克反应等一系列化学反应,并可以回收重复使用,而且回收有望通过磁场简单实现;与碳纳米管以共价键结合可以制备具有磁性的碳纳米管。除此之外,磁性离子液体在光控顺磁性超分子体系、吸收有机挥发物等领域的应用在近年也陆续有报道。     

Multiple Phases of Liquid Water

The history of the study of the anomalies of liquid water, from the 17th century up to the present, is reviewed and the current view on the origin of these anomalies is summarized. The hypothesis of the multiple liquid–liquid transitions of water in the supercooled region is consistent with the available experimental and simulation data and provides physical explanation of water behavior in a wide thermodynamic range. The general character of the liquid–liquid transitions of fluids is discussed and the remaining questions are formulated.     

生物液晶

液晶是一种介于液相和固相之间的中间相，具有流动性和有序性，其性质表明它是一种极适于生命特征的状态。生命体中的蛋白质、核酸、多糖、脂类等都能够通过自组装而呈现液晶态，其液晶行为与细胞和组织功能的表达有关。本文介绍了液晶的分类、表征方法及生命体内的蛋白质、脱氧核糖核酸、多糖、脂类的液晶特性以及液晶态的生物材料与细胞的相互作用。     

Modifying the liquid/liquid interface: pores, particles and deposition

The modification of the liquid/liquid interface with solid phases is discussed in this article. Modified interfaces can be formed with molecular assemblies, but here attention is focussed on solid materials such as mesoscopic particles, or microporous and mesoporous membranes. Charge transfer across the modified liquid/liquid interface is considered in particular. The most obvious consequence of the introduction of such modifying components is their effect on the transport to, and the transfer of material across, the liquid/liquid interface, as measured voltammetrically for example. One particularly interesting reaction is interfacial metal deposition, which can also be studied under electrochemical control: the initial formation of metal nuclei at the interface transforms it from the bare, pristine state to a modified state with very different reactivity. Deposition at interfaces between liquids is compared and contrasted with the cases of metal deposition in bulk solution and conventional heterogeneous deposition on conducting solid surfaces. Comparison is also made with work on the assembly of pre-formed micron and nanometre scale solids at the liquid/liquid interface.     

Electrospun polystyrene nanofibers as a novel adsorbent to transfer an organic phase from an aqueous phase

The aim of this work is to develop a simple phase‐transfer method for dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction. For this purpose, a polystyrene nanofiber was prepared by a facile electrospinning strategy and used for the first time as an adsorbent to transfer the organic phase in dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction procedure. The fiber was characterized and its chemical stability and excellent hydrophobicity enable it to selectively adsorb the organic solvent in an aqueous sample. High porosity and specific surface area provide a large adsorption capacity. Under the optimal conditions, the developed dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction with high‐performance liquid chromatography method was successfully applied to the analysis of aldehydes in environmental water samples. The merits of this approach are that it is easy‐to‐operate, low‐cost, time‐saving, and has satisfactory sensitivity. It provides an alternative way for fast and convenient phase transfer of the hydrophobic organic solvent from the aqueous phase.     

液/液两相催化新进展--温控非水液/液两相催化

温控非水液/液两相催化,是指一类由两种或多种液态有机物组成的催化反应体系,其特点是体系的相态变化可通过温度来调控,即体系在高温时相互混溶呈均相,低温不溶分成两相,催化剂和产物分别处于两相,从而为解决均相催化剂分离难的问题开拓了一个新方向,是液/液两相催化研究领域最引人注目的进展之一.首次以"温控"为主线将氟两相催化作为温控液/液两相催化的一个特定类型纳入"温控非水液/液两相催化"范畴,并与其它通过温度来调控的有机液/液两相和作者提出的温控相分离催化串在一起作一较为详细的评述.     

Phase separation of gas–liquid and liquid–liquid microflows in microchips

Phase separation of gas–liquid and liquid–liquid microflows in microchannels were examined and characterized by interfacial pressure balance. We considered the conditions of the phase separation, where the phase separation requires a single phase flow in each output of the microchannel. As the interfacial pressure, we considered the pressure difference between the two phases due to pressure loss in each phase and the Laplace pressure generated by the interfacial tension at the interface between the separated phases. When the pressure difference between the two phases is balanced by the Laplace pressure, the contact line between the two phases is static. Since the contact angle characterizing the Laplace pressure is restricted to values between the advancing and receding contact angles, the Laplace pressure has a limit. When the pressure difference between the two phases exceeds the limiting Laplace pressure, one of the phases leaks into the output channel of the other phase, and the phase separation fails. In order to experimentally verify this physical picture, microchips were used having a width of 215 μm and a depth of 34 μm for the liquid–liquid microflows, a width of 100 μm and a depth of 45 μm for the gas–liquid microflows. The experimental results of the liquid–liquid microflows agreed well with the model whilst that of the gas–liquid microflows did not agree with the model because of the compressive properties of the gas phase and evaporation of the liquid phase. The model is useful for general liquid–liquid microflows in continuous flow chemical processing.     

Environmental stress cracking of polyethylene: Criteria for liquid efficiency

The environmental stress cracking (ESC) of polyethylene in nonreacting, nonswelling liquids has been studied using uniaxial creep tests. For active liquids, three types of behavior have been recognized. At low stresses, “pure” ESC occurs; at intermediate stresses, time to failure is largely controlled by the ability of the liquid to flow into a growing crack; and at high stresses, ESC is in competition with failure by necking, and the latter prevails. The liquid does not therefore play a significant role in this last case. Nonactive liquids produce results similar to those observed in air. It is believed that this is because these liquids are unable to flow into growing cracks sufficiently quickly even at low stresses and thus the liquid does not influence failure behavior. This criterion for activity of the liquid is largely determined by the viscosity of the liquid and by the spreading coefficient of the liquid on the solid—a parameter defining the ability of the liquid to wet the solid.     

Liquid–liquid transition in polymers and glass-forming liquids

It is shown that many simple glass-forming liquids exhibit a phenomenon known in the area of polymer science as the liquid–liquid transition. The phenomenon manifests itself as a third-order transition in the equilibrium liquid-specific heat data around approximately 1.2 T_g and also as a bifurcation of the liquid relaxation into primary and secondry processes. It is stressed that the above phenomenon is due to a smooth changeover of the liquid from one dynamic regime to the other and hence is not due to any real phase transition. It is suggested that a liquid cluster kind of picture for the supercooled liquid regime, is capable of explaining the above phenomenon and is consistent with observation made on polymers and monomeric liquids. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Detachment force of particles from air-liquid interfaces of films and bubbles

The detachment force required to pull a microparticle from an air-liquid interface is measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and the colloidal probe technique. Water, solutions of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and silicone oils are tested in order to study the effects of surface tension and viscosity. Two different liquid geometries are considered: the air-liquid interface of a bubble and a liquid film on a solid substrate. It was shown that detaching particles from liquid films is fundamentally different than from bubbles or drops due to the restricted flow of the liquid phase. Additional force is required to detach a particle from a film, and the maximum force during detachment is not necessarily at the position where the particle breaks away from the interface (as seen in bubble or drop systems). This is due to the dynamics of meniscus formation and viscous effects, which must be considered if the liquid is constrained in a film. The magnitude of these effects is related to the liquid viscosity, film thickness, and detachment speed.     

Nucleation and Growth of Amino Acid and Peptide Supramolecular Polymers through Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation

The transition of peptides and proteins from the solution phase into fibrillar structures is a general phenomenon encountered in functional and aberrant biology and is increasingly exploited in soft materials science. However, the fundamental molecular events underpinning the early stages of their assembly and subsequent growth have remained challenging to elucidate. Here, we show that liquid–liquid phase separation into solute‐rich and solute‐poor phases is a fundamental step leading to the nucleation of supramolecular nanofibrils from molecular building blocks, including peptides and even amphiphilic amino acids. The solute‐rich liquid droplets act as nucleation sites, allowing the formation of thermodynamically favorable nanofibrils following Ostwald's step rule. The transition from solution to liquid droplets is entropy driven while the transition from liquid droplets to nanofibrils is mediated by enthalpic interactions and characterized by structural reorganization. These findings shed light on how the nucleation barrier toward the formation of solid phases can be lowered through a kinetic mechanism which proceeds through a metastable liquid phase.     

Liquid structure of benzene and its derivatives as studied by means of X-ray scattering

The liquid structures of benzene, toluene, aniline, benzaldehyde and nitrobenzene were investigated by the X-ray scattering method. The X-ray scattering data were analysed by a method without constructing any structure models. The obtained liquid structure of benzene is different from the previous X-ray scattering results which were derived from the quasi-lattice structure for the liquid based on the crystal structure of benzene. This is because a molecular arrangement which is not found in the crystal structure is left out of consideration. In liquid toluene, benzaldehyde and nitrobenzene, two molecules are associated with the dipole–dipole interaction in the antiparallel fashion. Two aniline molecules are hydrogen-bonded in liquid aniline. The third molecule weakly interacts with the other two in liquid toluene, aniline and benzaldehyde. In liquid nitrobenzene, the parallel dipole–dipole interaction of the third molecule with another one is present in the coplanar form. The substituent effect on the liquid structures is discussed.     

Liquid Metastable Precursors of Ibuprofen as Aqueous Nucleation Intermediates

The nucleation mechanism of crystals of small organic molecules, postulated based on computer simulations, still lacks experimental evidence. In this study we designed an experimental approach to monitor the early stages of the crystallization of ibuprofen as a model system for small organic molecules. Ibuprofen undergoes liquid–liquid phase separation prior to nucleation. The binodal and spinodal limits of the corresponding liquid–liquid miscibility gap were analyzed and confirmed. An increase in viscosity sustains the kinetic stability of the dense liquid intermediate. Since the distances between ibuprofen molecules within the dense liquid phase are similar to those in the crystal forms, this dense liquid phase is identified as a precursor phase in the nucleation of ibuprofen, in which densification is followed by generation of structural order. This discovery may make it possible to enrich poorly soluble pharmaceuticals beyond classical solubility limitations in aqueous environments.     

Influence of water on the surface of the water-miscible ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate: a sum frequency generation analysis

Sum frequency generation spectroscopy (SFG) was used to study the influence of water on the surface of the water-miscible ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate. The orientation of the cation at the gas-liquid interface was analyzed as a function of ionic liquid concentration in water for concentrations from 0 to 1 mole fraction of the ionic liquid. The cation was found to be oriented with the imidazolium ring nearly parallel to the surface plane with a tilt angle > or = 70 degrees when the ionic liquid was dry. Furthermore, no noticeable change in the orientation was observed when high concentrations of water were mixed with the ionic liquid. The cation butyl chain is projecting into the gas phase with a CH(3) tilt angle of 54 +/- 2 degrees when the ionic liquid is dry and 46 +/- 4 degrees when mixed with water. Water is oriented at the surface only for concentration < or = 0.02 mole fraction of the ionic liquid. At higher ionic liquid concentrations (mole fractions > or = 0.05) the gas-liquid interface resembles that of the pure ionic liquid.     

A capsule with a fractal shell in a uniform liquid flow

The problem of a liquid flow, which is uniform at infinity, around a capsule comprising a fractal shell filled with a liquid identical to the ambient liquid has been solved. The flow in the fractal layer is described by the Brinkman equation, assuming that the viscosity of the effective medium differs from the viscosity of the pure liquid. Velocity and pressure distributions have been found, and the viscous drag force applied to the capsule has been calculated.