Comparative thermal decomposition characteristics and fire behaviors of commercial cables

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The decomposition and fire behaviors of two commonly used cables were studied by a calorimeter. The effects of the cable type, the incident heat flux,...     

Triplet excitation dynamics of β-carotene studied in three solvents by ns flash photolysis spectroscopy

Upon anthracene-sensitizing, triplet excitation dynamics of β-carotene(β-Car) were studied in nhexane, in methanol, and in acetonitrile, respectively, by ns flash photolysis spectroscopy. In n-hexane,only the bleaching of the ground state absorption(GSB) and the excitation triplet(~3Car*) absorption were observed, and there were no cationic species detected. In both methanol and acetonitrile, similar excitation dynamics were observed, i.e.,~3Car* having a similar lifetime to that in n-hexane, and the immediate generation of the cation dehydrodimer(~#[Car]2~+) upon excitation following transformation into the radical cation Car*~+, since Car*~+ has much longer lifetime in acetonitrile than in methanol. The results prove that both solvent and carotenoid structure determine the triplet excitation mechanism.     

A highly sensitive dopamine sensor based on a polyaniline/reduced graphene oxide/Nafion nanocomposite

A nanocomposite of polyaniline/reduced graphene oxide (PANI-rGO) was synthesized using a hydrothermal method. The product was characterized by FT-IR, Raman spectra, XRD, SEM and TEM. Then the hybrid material of PANI-rGO and Nafion (PANI-rGO-NF) was prepared and used to modify glassy carbon electrode for the trace determination of dopamine (DA) employing differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). It was found that the hybrid material showed good catalytic activity toward the oxidation of DA, and no response to ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA) was observed, suggesting a high selectivity of the sensor toward DA. The peak currents were linearly correlated with the concentration of DA in the range from 0.05 μmol/L to 60.0 μmol/L (R=0.996) and 60.0 μmol/L to 180.0 μmol/L (R=0.996) with a detection limit of 0.024 μmol/L (S/N=3). The modified electrode also exhibited excellent repeatability and stability.     

Topochemical polymerisation of assembled diacetylene macrocycle bearing dibenzylphosphine oxide in solid state

Novel diacetylene macrocycles 1 and 2 bearing dibenzylphosphine oxide were synthesised via Eglinton acetylenic intramolecular coupling. The X-ray analysis of crystals of macrocycles 1 and 2 demonstrated that the better-aligned tubular supramolecular structure was formed in macrocycle 1 than in macrocycle 2, which provided the possibility of diacetylene topochemical polymerisation in solid state of macrocycle 1. UV–vis, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray analysis indicated that the crystals of macrocycle 1 could undergo topochemical diacetylene polymerisation only on their surface by light irradiation; differential scanning calorimetry, solid-state ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and solubility test demonstrated that the crystals of macrocycle 1 could undergo diacetylene topochemical polymerisation inside solid by heat. As expected, based on the topological analysis of crystal structure, the crystals of macrocycle 2 could not undergo diacetylene topochemical polymerisation either by light irradiation or heat.     

Dynamic Modulation of Enzyme Activity by Near-Infrared Light

Engineering near-infrared (NIR) light-sensitive enzymes remains a huge challenge. A photothermal effect-associated method is developed for tailoring the enzymatic activity of enzymes by exposure to NIR light. An ultrasmall platinum nanoparticle was anchored in an enzyme to generate local heating upon NIR irradiation, which enhanced the enzyme activity without increasing bulk temperature. Following NIR irradiation, the enzyme activity was tailored rapidly and reversibly, and was modulated by varying laser power density and irradiation time. Four enzymes were engineered, including glucoamylase, glucose oxidase, catalase, and proteinase K with NIR-light sensitivity, and demonstrated their utility in practical applications such as photolithography and NIR light-responsive antibacterial or anticancer actions. Our investigation suggests that this approach could be broadly used to engineer enzymes with NIR-light sensitivity for many biological applications.     

A multi-detector integrated automation system of routine INAA

An integrated automation system of routine instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) with three HPGe detectors has been built at China Institute of Atomic Energy. This system is mainly composed of sample counting system, pneumatic transfer system, software control and analysis systems, etc. The characteristics include more than 200 samples can be controlled for a batch of INAA with three detectors simultaneously, sample counting position can be optimized automatically according to the counting dead time, the real-time tracking and the high consistency between the spectrum and counting sample are possible to be realized through radio frequency identification tag.

     

Radiolysis products and degradation mechanism studies on di-1-methyl heptyl methyl phosphonate

Di-1-methyl heptyl methyl phosphonate (DMHMP) is a promising alternative extractant for Th-U fuel reprocessing, in which the irradiation stability of extractant should be systematically studied. In this paper, the radiolysis products of DMHMP were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively with gas and ion chromatograph, the possible radiolysis mechanism of DMHMP was also concluded. Moreover, the effect of structure on the radiolysis products and irradiation stability of neutral organophosphorus compound extractant was also discussed.

     

Denitration of simulated high-level liquid waste by formic acid for the connection of PUREX process with TRPO process

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Denitration of simulated high level liquid waste (HLLW) by formic acid was performed for the connection of Plutonium Uranium Recovery by...     

Transflective BPIII mode with no internal reflector

A transflective device without reflector using room temperature blue phase III (BPIII) material is demonstrated in this study. In this device, the coupling of an induced birefringence and field-induced BP, relating the ordered orientation of the double-helix cylinders, causes the reflection and transmission. Compared with other reported transflective liquid crystal devices, the BPIII device shown here does not need any type of internal reflector. Well-matched voltage-dependent transmittance and reflectance curves can be obtained easily without considering the cell gap and incident wavelength. The total response time is less than 2 ms, which is also independent of the cell gap. The experimental results exhibit a simple way to get a transflective device with good ability based on the electro-optical properties of BPIII.     

Broadband reflective liquid crystal films induced by facile temperature-dependent coexistence of chiral nematic and TGB phase

A wide pitch gradient covering the near infrared region (750.0–2500.0 nm) were facilely obtained by simple controlling temperature difference to LC mixtures with a twist grain boundary (TGB)–N* phase transition. After the pitch gradient formed, the structure of broad reflective bandwidth was fixed through polymerisation of monomers in mixtures by UV irradiation. It was found that the temperature difference between the up and down side of the samples was critical to form wide-pitch gradient distribution. Additionally, the reflection wavelength and bandwidth of films could be adjusted by the applied temperature difference with the widest bandwidth up to 1750 nm. This simple method for the preparation of broad reflective films was expected to be used in the fields like architectural energy conservation or infrared shield.