Study of the fire resistant behavior of unfilled and carbon nanofibers reinforced polybenzimidazole coating for structural applications

With increasing interest in epoxy‐based carbon fiber composites for structural applications, it is important to improve the fire resistant properties of these materials. The fire resistant performance of these materials can be improved either by using high performance epoxy resin for manufacturing carbon fiber composite or by protecting the previously used epoxy‐based composite with some fire resistant coating. In this context, work is carried out to evaluate the fire resistance performance of recently emerged high performance polybenzimidazole (PBI) when used as a coating material. Furthermore, the effect of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) on fire resistant properties of inherently flame retardant PBI coating was studied. Thermogravimetric analysis of carbon/epoxy composite, unfilled PBI and nano‐filled PBI shows that the carbon/epoxy composite maintained its thermal stability up to a temperature of 400°C and afterwards showed a large decrease in mass, while both unfilled PBI and nano‐filled PBI have shown thermal stability up to a temperature of 575°C corresponding to only 11% weight loss. Cone calorimeter test results show that unfilled PBI coating did not improve the fire retardant performance of carbon/epoxy composite. Conversely, nano‐filled PBI coating has shown a significant improvement in fire retardant performance of the carbon/epoxy composite in terms of increased ignition time, reduced average and peak heat release rate and reduced smoke and carbon monoxide emission. These results indicate that addition of carbon nanofibers to inherently flame retardant coating can significantly be helpful for improving the fire resistance performance of composite materials even with low coating thickness. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Catalytic Enantioselective Addition of Thioacids to Trisubstituted Nitroalkenes

The first example of a catalytic enantioselective addition to and nitronate protonation of trisubstituted nitroalkenes to produce highly enantioenriched products with a tetrasubstituted carbon is reported. Thioacids added in excellent yields and with high enantioselectivities to both activated and unactivated nitroalkenes. The 1,2‐nitrothioacetate products can be readily converted in two steps to biomedically relevant 1,2‐aminosulfonic acids without loss of enantiopurity.     

Polysaccharide‐Based Oleogels Prepared with an Emulsion‐Templated Approach

The preparation and characterization of oleogels structured by using a combination of a surface‐active and a non‐surface‐active polysaccharide through an emulsion‐templated approach is reported. Specifically, the oleogels were prepared by first formulating a concentrated oil‐in‐water emulsion, stabilized with a combination of cellulose derivatives and xanthan gum, followed by the selective evaporation of the continuous water phase to drive the network formation, resulting in an oleogel with a unique microstructure and interesting rheological properties, including a high gel strength, G′>4000 Pa, shear sensitivity, good thixotropic recovery, and good thermostability.     

Recent Advances in the Applications of Ionic Liquids in Protein Stability and Activity: A Review

Room temperatures ionic liquids are considered as miraculous solvents for biological system. Due to their inimitable properties and large variety of applications, they have been widely used in enzyme catalysis and protein stability and separation. The related information present in the current review is helpful to the researchers working in the field of biotechnology and biochemistry to design or choose an ionic liquid that can serve as a noble and selective solvent for any particular enzymatic reaction, protein preservation and other protein based applications. We have extensively analyzed the methods used for studying the protein–IL interaction which is useful in providing information about structural and conformational dynamics of protein. This can be helpful to develop and understanding about the effect of ionic liquids on stability and activity of proteins. In addition, the affect of physico-chemical properties of ionic liquids, viz. hydrogen bond capacity and hydrophobicity on protein stability are discussed.     

Square Planar Platinum(II) Complexes with N,S-Donor Ligands: Synthesis,Characterisation, DNA Interaction and Cytotoxic Activity

The platinum(II) complexes with N,S-donor ligand have been synthesised and characterised by physiological techniques like elemental, electronic, Fourier transform infrared, hydrogen-1 nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry spectra. The synthesised complexes have been checked for their DNA binding ability by absorption titration and viscosity measurement, and the results show that the complexes binds to herring sperm DNA (HS DNA) via covalent mode of binding. The DNA cleavage activity of synthesised complexes has been carried out by gel electrophoresis experiment using supercoiled form of pUC19 DNA, showing the unwinding of the negatively charged supercoiled DNA. Brine shrimp (Artemia cysts) lethality bioassay technique has been applied for the determination of toxic property of synthesised complexes in terms of micromolars.     

3D-printed electrochemical sensors: A new horizon for measurement of biomolecules

Electrochemical sensors are widely used to monitor biomolecules. However, limitations in sensor geometry have restricted the scope of currently used electrochemical sensors. 3D-printing has emerged as a promising manufacturing approach, to robustly make electrochemical sensors, that can stably measure in biological environments. This review highlights the recent trends in the development of 3D-printed electrodes and biosensors for measurement of biomolecules. Novel geometries of 3D-printed electrodes have provided the means to conduct ex vivo measurement in the intestinal tract and in vivo measurements in the brain. 3D-printing is providing the ability to manufacture electrochemical sensors that can measure biomolecules in diverse areas of the body.     

Super‐ and Ferroelastic Organic Semiconductors for Ultraflexible Single‐Crystal Electronics

Like silicon, single crystals of organic semiconductors are pursued to attain intrinsic charge transport properties. However, they are intolerant to mechanical deformation, impeding their application in flexible electronic devices. Such contradictory properties, namely exceptional molecular ordering and mechanical flexibility, are unified in this work. We found that bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene (TIPS‐P) crystals can undergo mechanically induced structural transitions to exhibit superelasticity and ferroelasticity. These properties arise from cooperative and correlated molecular displacements and rotations in response to mechanical stress. By utilizing a bending‐induced ferroelastic transition of TIPS‐P, flexible single‐crystal electronic devices were obtained that can tolerate strains (?) of more than 13 % while maintaining the charge carrier mobility of unstrained crystals (μ>0.7 μ₀). Our work will pave the way for high‐performance ultraflexible single‐crystal organic electronics for sensors, memories, and robotic applications.     

High Na+ Mobility in rGO Wrapped High Aspect Ratio 1D SbSe Nano Structure Renders Better Electrochemical Na+ Battery Performance

We chose to understand the cyclic instability and rate instability issues in the promising class of Na⁺ conversion and alloying anodes with Sb₂Se₃ as a typical example. We employ a synthetic strategy that ensures efficient rGO (reduced graphene oxide) wrapping over Sb₂Se₃ material. By utilization of the minimum weight of additive (5 wt.% of rGO), we achieved a commendable performance with a reversible capacity of 550 mAh g⁻¹ at a specific current of 100 mA g⁻¹ and an impressive rate performance with 100 % capacity retention after high current cycling involving a 2 Ag⁻¹ intermediate current step. The electrochemical galvanostatic intermittent titration technique (GITT) has been employed for the first time to draw a rationale between the enhanced performance and the increased mobility in the rGO wrapped composite (Sb₂Se₃-rGO) compared to bare Sb₂Se₃. GITT analysis reveals higher Na⁺ diffusion coefficients (approx. 30 fold higher) in the case of Sb₂Se₃-rGO as compared to bare Sb₂Se₃ throughout the operating voltage window. For Sb₂Se₃-rGO the diffusion coefficients in the range of 8.0×10⁻¹⁵ cm² s⁻¹ to 2.2×10⁻¹² cm² s⁻¹ were observed, while in case of bare Sb₂Se₃ the diffusion coefficients in the range of 1.6×10⁻¹⁵ cm² s⁻¹ to 9.4×10⁻¹⁵ cm² s⁻¹ were observed.     

Improving the Yield and Rate of Acid-Catalyzed Deconstruction of Lignin by Mechanochemical Activation

Lignin is a potential biomass feedstock from plant material, but it is particularly difficult to economically process. Inspired by recent ball-milling results, state-of-the-art quantum mechanochemistry calculations have been performed to isolate and probe the purely mechanochemical stretching effect alone upon acid-catalyzed deconstruction of lignin. Effects upon cleavage of several exemplary simple ethers are examined first, and with low stretching force they all are predicted to cleave substantially faster, allowing for use of milder acids and lower temperatures. Effects upon an experimentally known lignin fragment model (containing the ubiquitous β-O-4 linkage) are next examined; this first required a mechanism refinement (3-step indirect cleavage, 1-step side reaction) and identification of the rate-limiting step under zero-force (thermal) conditions. Mechanochemical activation using very low stretching forces improves at first only yield, by fully shutting off the ring-closure side reaction. At only somewhat larger forces, in stark contrast, a switch in mechanism is found to occur, from 3-step indirect cleavage to the direct cleavage mechanism of simple ethers, finally strongly enhancing the cleavage rate of lignin. It is concluded that mechanochemical activation of the common β-O-4 link in lignin would improve the rate of its acidolysis via a mechanism switch past a low force threshold. Relevance to ball-milling experiments is discussed.     

Modified sub-population teaching-learning-based optimization for design of truss structures with natural frequency constraints

In this paper, a modified sub-population teaching-learning-based optimization (MS-TLBO) algorithm is proposed to improve the exploration and exploitation capacities by including the concept of number of teachers, adaptive teaching factor, learning through tutorial, and self-motivated learning in the basic TLBO algorithm. The multiple frequency responses to the structural optimization problems are challenging due to its search space, which is implicit, nonconvex, nonlinear, and often leading to divergence. The viability and efficiency of the proposed method are tested by five structural benchmark problems of shape and size optimization with multiple natural frequency constraints on the planar and space trusses. The results reveal that MS-TLBO is more effective as compared to the original TLBO and other state-of-the-art algorithms.