Oxygen Vacancies on Layered Niobic Acid That Weaken the Catalytic Conversion of Polysulfides in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Oxygen vacancies are usually considered to be beneficial in catalytic conversion of polysulfides in lithium–sulfur batteries. Now it is demonstrated that the conversion of polysulfides was hindered by oxygen vacancies on ultrathin niobic acid. The inferior performance induced by the oxygen vacancy was mainly attributed to the decreased electric conductivity as well as the weakened adsorption of polysulfides on the catalyst surface. This work shows that the care should be taken when designing a new catalyst for the lithium–sulfur battery using a defect‐engineering strategy.     

羟基封端聚丁二烯的临界点色谱定量方法研究

为建立混合物中羟基封端聚丁二烯（HTPB）的临界点色谱定量方法，以C18为固定相，考察了HTPB在四氢呋喃-乙腈和四氢呋喃-水两种流动相体系下的临界点色谱条件。结果表明，四氢呋喃-乙腈体积比为70.7：29.3以及四氢呋喃-水体积比为92：8时，HTPB的保留值与其相对分子质量无关。将该临界点色谱方法用于胶黏剂混合组分中HTPB的测定，结果表明，HTPB在46.7~216.4 mg/L范围内呈良好线性关系，相关系数（r）>0.99，检出限为4.2 mg/L。自配HTPB和矿物油双组分样品的加标回收率为89.2%~101.1%，相对标准偏差小于0.66%（n=6）。应用该方法对市售聚氨酯胶黏剂进行检测，测定结果为HTPB成分占26.6%。该方法快速、准确，能满足聚合物混合产品的生产质量控制和失效分析的要求。     

Nanodiamonds Interfere with Wnt‐Regulated Cell Migration and Adipocyte Differentiation in Cells and Embryonic Development In Vivo

Biocompatible nanoparticles hold a great promise for biomedical applications, whereas their biosafety has raised extensive concerns. Nanodiamonds (NDs) are generally regarded as “inert” nanocarriers and widely employed in biomedical studies; however, it is yet to explore their biological effects in more general contexts. In this study, the authors observe that intracellular NDs block signal transduction of the Wnt signaling pathway, an effect that is not caused by general cytotoxicity. The authors find that NDs attenuate activities of Wnt signaling in several types of cell lines and in Zebrafish, and interfere with Wnt signaling‐controlled biological processes, including cancer cell migration, adipocyte differentiation, and embryonic development. Significantly, the authors show that intracellular NDs trigger degradation of the disheveled protein, a key component of Wnt signaling cascade, while they do not affect protein stability of other Wnt signal transducers or other signaling molecules. This work thus illustrates a novel crosstalk between nanoparticles and the Wnt signaling pathway, and expands the understanding of biological effects induced by nanoparticles. In addition, given the clinical implications of Wnt signaling in tumorigenesis and cancer metastasis, this study also provides the rationale for potential applications of NDs in cancer therapies.     

Reverse atom transfer radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate in room‐temperature ionic liquids

The reverse atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of methyl methacrylate (MMA) was successfully carried out in 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate with 2,2′‐azobisisobutyronitrile/CuCl₂/bipyridine as the initiating system, which had been reported as not able to promote a controlled process of MMA in bulk. The living nature of the polymerization was confirmed by kinetic studies, end‐group analysis, chain extension, and block copolymerization results. The polydispersity of the polymer obtained was quite narrow, with a weight‐average molecular weight/number‐average molecular weight ratio of less than 1.2. In comparison with other reverse ATRPs in bulk or conventional solvents, a much smaller amount of the catalyst was used. After a relatively easy removal of the polymer and residue monomer, the ionic liquid and catalytic system could be reused without further treatment. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 143–151, 2003     

Structure and Properties of Violet Phosphorus and Its Phosphorene Exfoliation

Black phosphorene has attracted much attention as a semiconducting two‐dimensional material. Violet phosphorus is another layered semiconducting phosphorus allotrope with unique electronic and optoelectronic properties. However, no confirmed violet crystals or reliable lattice structure of violet phosphorus had been obtained. Now, violet phosphorus single crystals were produced and the lattice structure has been obtained by single‐crystal x‐ray diffraction to be monoclinic with space group of P2/n (13) (a=9.210, b=9.128, c=21.893 Å, β=97.776°). The lattice structure obtained was confirmed to be reliable and stable. The optical band gap of violet phosphorus is around 1.7 eV, which is slightly larger than the calculated value. The thermal decomposition temperature was 52 °C higher than its black phosphorus counterpart, which was assumed to be the most stable form. Violet phosphorene was easily obtained by both mechanical and solution exfoliation under ambient conditions.     

High pressure X-ray diffraction study of ReS2

The high-pressure behavior of rhenium disulfide (ReS₂) has been investigated to 51.0 GPa by in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction in a diamond anvil cell at room temperature. The results demonstrate that the ReS₂ triclinic phase is stable up to 11.3 GPa, at which pressure the ReS₂ transforms to a new high-pressure phase, which is tentatively identified with a hexagonal lattice in space group P6?m2. The high-pressure phase is stable up to the highest pressure in this study (51.0 GPa) and not quenchable upon decompression to ambient pressure. The compressibility of the triclinic phase exhibits anisotropy, meaning that it is more compressive along interlayer directions than intralayer directions, which demonstrates the properties of the weak interlayer van der Waals interactions and the strong intralayer covalent bonds. The largest change in the unit cell angles with increasing pressures is the increase of β, which indicates a rotation of the sulfur atoms around the rhenium atoms during the compression. Fitting the experimental data of the triclinic phase to the third-order Birch-Murnaghan EOS yields a bulk modulus of K_OT=23±4 GPa with its pressure derivative K_OT′= 29±8, and the second-order yields K_OT=49±3 GPa.     

Novel silsesquioxane mixture-modified high elongation polyurethane with reduced platelet adhesion

We have successfully synthesized a kind of novel silsesquioxane mixture that can be used to modify the surface of biomaterial polyurethane (PU) for the purpose of making silsesquioxane/PU as low-price and high-quality biomaterial. HPLC, FTIR and ²⁹Si NMR are used to characterize as-synthesized silsesquioxane mixture. XPS figure and SEM images show the silsesquioxane particles really self-assemble on the PU surface. Contact angle measurements verify that there is a large hysteresis loop, which relates to low- and high-surface free energy component on the surface. Platelet adsorption at 90 min of PU/silsesquioxane mixture is lower than that of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) and PU (two-way ANOVA, p < 0.05). Furthermore, SEM images show “island” morphologic pattern with Cooper grades I platelet adsorption morphology on the smooth PU/silsesquioxane surface, and mechanic test shows that the samples with silsesquioxane mixture can increase mechanic property of PU. On the basis of these results, we conclude that this kind of nanocomposite has promise for application in biomaterials.     

Electrochromic Poly(chalcogenoviologen)s as Anode Materials for High‐Performance Organic Radical Lithium‐Ion Batteries

A series of electrochromic electron‐accepting poly(chalcogenoviologen)s with multiple, stable, and reversible redox centers were used as anodic materials in organic radical lithium‐ion batteries (ORLIBs). The introduction of heavy atoms (S, Se, and Te) into the viologen scaffold significantly improved the capacity and cycling stability of the ORLIBs. Notably, the poly(Te‐BnV) anode was able to intercalate 20 Li ions and showed higher conductivity and insolubility in the electrolyte, thus contributing to a reversible capacity of 502 mAh g^?1 at 100 mA g^?1 when the Coulombic efficiency approached 100 %. The charged/discharged state of flexible electrochromic batteries fabricated from these anodic materials could be monitored visually owing to the unique electrochromic and redox properties of the materials. This study opens a promising avenue for the development of organic polymer‐based electrodes for flexible hybrid visual electronics.     

Enhanced electrochemical performance of Li1.2Ni0.13Co0.13Mn0.54O2 composited with Ti3C2Tx MXene nanosheets

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Li1.2Ni0.13Co0.13Mn0.54O2/Ti3C2Tx (LMR/TC) composite materials have been synthesized through mixing LMR particles with TC nanosheets. SEM result shows that...