From capacitive deionization to desalination batteries and desalination fuel cells

The considerable growth of the world population, concomitant with an increase in environmental pollution, aggravates the antinomy between supply and demand for drinking water. Various desalination technologies have been developed to address this issue, allowing for abundant saltwater as a source for drinking water. Electrochemical desalination attracts more and more attention due to its high energy efficiency, facile operation, and low cost. Especially within the last decade, tremendous scientific progress on electrochemical desalination technologies has been made. This article reviews the development of electrochemical desalination technologies and introduces a facile classification into three generations based on the different working principles. The cell architecture, metrics, advantages, and disadvantages of other electrochemical desalination technologies are introduced and compared.     

8‐Aminoquinoline‐Assisted Synthesis and Crystal Structure Studies of Ferrocenyl Aryl Sulfones

A copper‐catalyzed 8‐aminoquinoline‐directed oxidative cross‐coupling of the C?H bond of ferrocene with sodium arylsulfinates has been achieved. The robust copper catalyst tolerates a range of methyl, tert‐butyl, bromo, chloro, iodo and nitro functional groups in the phenyl ring, and set the stage for the synthesis of substituted ferrocene sulfones. Furthermore, X‐ray crystal structure study on several ferrocenyl sulfones reveals the tetrahedral geometry around sulfur; interestingly, the O‐S‐O angle is larger than the electropositive substituent C‐S‐C angle which could be explained by Bent's rule. Further, unusual intramolecular O(S)???N(amide) short contacts (2.925–3) and O(S)???C=O were also noticed in ferrocenyl sulfones.     

Preparation and characterization of MgB2 superconductor

The MgB₂ superconductor, synthesized using solid-state and liquid-phase sintering methods, have been characterized for various properties. The upper critical field, irreversibility line and critical current density have been determined using magnetization data. The current-voltage characteristics recorded under an applied magnetic field revealed the existence of vortex glass transition. The surface analysis using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that MgB₂ is sensitive to atmospheric degradation.     

Site-Specific <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-Glycosylation of Recombinant Pentameric and Hexameric Human IgM

Glycosylation is known to play an important role in IgG antibody structure and function. Polymeric IgM, the largest known antibody in humans, displays five potential N-glycosylation sites on each heavy chain monomer. IgM can exist as a pentamer with a connecting singly N-glycosylated J-chain (with a total of 51 glycosylation sites) or as a hexamer (60 glycosylation sites). In this study, the N-glycosylation of recombinant pentameric and hexameric IgM produced by the same human cell type and culture conditions was site-specifically profiled by RP-LC-CID/ETD-MS/MS using HILIC-enriched tryptic and GluC glycopeptides. The occupancy of all putative N-glycosylation sites on the pentameric and hexameric IgM were able to be determined. Distinct glycosylation differences were observed between each of the five N-linked sites on the IgM heavy chains. While Asn171, Asn332, and Asn395 all had predominantly complex type glycans, differences in glycan branching and sialylation were observed between the sites. Asn563, a high mannose-rich glycosylation site that locates in the center of the IgM polymer, was only approximately 60% occupied in both the pentameric and hexameric IgM forms, with a difference in relative abundance of the glycan structures between the pentamer and hexamer. This study highlights the information obtained by characterization of the site-heterogeneity of a highly glycosylated protein of high molecular mass with quaternary structure, revealing differences that would not be seen by global glycan or deglycosylated peptide profiling.

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Liquid chromatographic detection of Dowtherm A contamination in oleochemicals and edible oils.

A rapid and direct liquid chromatographic (LC) technique is described for the determination of a eutectic mixture of diphenyl oxide and biphenyl such as Dowtherm A thermal heating fluid (THF) in oleochemicals and palm olein. Analysis is performed with an RP-18 column with fluorescence detection (excitation at 247 nm and emission at 310 nm). The isocratic mobile phase (1.0 mL/min) consists of methanol and water (90 + 10, v/v). A linear calibration model (correlation coefficient = 0.9999) was developed directly from used Dowtherm A THF with the biphenyl peak (4.70 min) as a marker. Average recoveries from spiked glycerin, fatty alcohol mixture, methyl ester mixture, fatty acids, and palm olein were 90.9-108.7%, with a detection limit of 0.1 microgram/mL. The technique requires no prior sample cleanup nor extraction steps and is good for quality assurance purposes.     

Enhancing photocatalytic activity of titanium dioxide through incorporation of MIL‐53(Fe) toward degradation of organic dye

Photocatalytic activity of titanium(IV) oxide (TiO₂) can be enhanced through modification of its surface‐active sites. Here, iron(III) carboxylate [MIL‐53[Fe]]‐incorporated TiO₂ (as MIL‐53(Fe)/TiO₂) was prepared using a hydrothermal method. This material was then calcined at 500°C to obtain a MIL‐53(Fe)‐derived γ‐Fe₂O₃/TiO₂ photocatalyst. A photocatalytic study of MIL‐53(Fe)/TiO₂ and MIL‐53(Fe)‐derived γ‐Fe₂O₃/TiO₂ toward cationic methylene blue (MB) and anionic methyl orange (MO) showed that MIL‐53(Fe)/TiO₂ (0.25 wt%) and MIL‐53(Fe)‐derived γ‐Fe₂O₃/TiO₂ (0.75 wt%) resulted the best degree of dye degradation. The MIL‐53(Fe)‐derived γ‐Fe₂O₃/TiO₂ (0.75 wt%) composite for instance is capable of degrading almost 100% of 20‐ppm MB and MO, respectively, within 6 hr. Photocatalytic degradation of MB and MO was well fitted to the Langmuir‐Hinshelwood pseudo‐first order kinetics model, which indicates physisorption as the key partway that facilitates dye decomposition on the surface of a photocatalyst under UV‐A irradiation. This study provides new insights into the exploration of MILs/TiO₂ materials for the environmental remediation and pollution control.     

Polymer solar cells based on copolymers of dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]silole and thienopyrroledione

Novel low band gap copolymers based on dithienosilole and thienopyrroledione units were synthesized. Copolymer P1 with branched side chains on the TPD units demonstrated a PCE of 4.4% with a high V(oc) of 0.89 V for OPV applications while OTFT devices fabricated from a copolymer containing linear side chains (P2) performed better in OTFT device configurations.