Polymer network liquid crystal grating/Fresnel lens fabricated by holography

In this article, polymer network liquid crystal (PNLC) grating/Fresnel lens is fabricated by holography. The exposure light pattern for the grating is obtained by interfering two planar wave fronts, while the Fresnel pattern is achieved by interfering a planar wave front and a spherical wave front. Owing to the alignment effect and anchoring power of polymer network, the holographic PNLC grating achieves improved diffraction efficiency, and remarkably reduced operation voltage (reduced by 80%) compared with holographic polymer-dispersed-liquid-crystal and holographic polymer-stabilised blue-phase liquid-crystal gratings, while maintaining submillisecond response. Moreover, it achieves high spatial frequency with a 2-μm grating period, thanks to the holographic fabrication. The holographic PNLC Fresnel lens also exhibits attractive electro-optical properties.     

双分布聚乙二醇接枝纳米二氧化硅的高效可控制备

在混合溶剂中通过"grafting to"的方法将2种分子量不同的聚乙二醇单甲醚(MPEG M_w=750,4000)接枝到氨基修饰的St?ber法二氧化硅(SiO_2-NH_2)表面,制备双分布纳米接枝复合物.采用二步法,先将带环氧端基的低分子量聚乙二醇单甲醚(MPEG-EO)与SiO_2-NH_2在甲苯溶剂中充分反应后,与高分子量的MPEG-EO在甲苯和正癸烷的混合溶剂中使用相同的反应条件和后处理方法,能便捷制备出具有双分布接枝的纳米复合物.在接枝反应体系中,分子链的链段尺寸和接枝密度之间存在着密切关系.一定的范围内,接枝密度随链段尺寸减小而增大.通过改变混合溶剂比例来调控接枝链段的尺寸,可以很好控制聚合物的接枝密度.在双分布接枝的纳米复合物中,低分子量的接枝密度为0.85 chains/nm~2,高分子量的接枝密度能达到0.40 chains/nm~2,体现出了简单、高效、可控的特点,与聚环氧乙烷(PEO)共混后分散良好,对于制备出均匀分散的纳米复合材料起到了一定的指导作用.     

拉曼光谱子空间重合识别修正液中氯代烃

利用拉曼光谱子空间重合对修正液中氯代烃成分进行识别分析。通过计算混合卤代烃组分与标准样品数据库拉曼光谱之间的子间空夹角,依据夹角变化排列筛选出含有最少标准样品数目的子空间,该子空间所含的标准样品组成为待定性混合氯代烃组成,从而实现对混合氯代烃组分的定性分析。将该方法用于修正液中氯代烃的成分定性分析,准确率达100%。该方法操作简单,检测时间短,准确率高,适用于多组分混合体系中的物质定性分析。     

Enzyme-free colorimetric assay for mercury(II) using DNA conjugated to gold nanoparticles and strand displacement amplification

The authors describe a colorimetric method for the determination of Hg(II) ion. It is based on the color change from red to colorless as displayed by gold nanoparticle (AuNP) modified with thymine - rich DNA. Signal amplification is accomplished by free strand displacement recycling. In this strategy, Hg(II) unfolds the arch-trigger duplex due to the high affinity between Hg(II) and the thymines to form T-Hg(II)-T structures, thereby causing the release of trigger. The liberated trigger unfolds the hairpin structure of H1, and unfolded H1 further unfolds with H2. As a result, the H2 hairpin displaces trigger, and the released trigger unfolds another H1. This results in strong and enzyme-free strand displacement recycling amplification. The aggregation of DNA-AuNPs occurs in the presence of the duplex formed by hairpins H2 and H1. This results in a color change from red to colorless that can be visually observed. Under optimal conditions, the assay has a detection range over 4 orders of magnitude and a 3.4 nM detection limit. The assay is selective, sensitive, rapid and cost-effective. In our perception, it represents a useful platform for determination of Hg(II).

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Graphical abstract Schematic presentation of the  simple, rapid, low cost colorimetric detection of mercury(II) based on enzyme-free strand displacement amplification along with DNA-labeled AuNP.

     

Isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of novel biobased poly(ethylene succinate-<Emphasis Type="Italic">co</Emphasis>-ethylene sebacate) copolymers from the amorphous state

In this work, the isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of three novel biobased poly(ethylene succinate-co-ethylene sebacate) (PESSe) copolymers was systematically investigated with differential scanning calorimetry under different crystallization conditions from the amorphous state. For the isothermal cold crystallization kinetics study, the Avrami equation could well describe the crystallization process of PESSe at various crystallization temperatures. All three PESSe copolymers crystallized through the same crystallization mechanism; moreover, the overall isothermal cold crystallization rate of PESSe decreased with increasing ethylene sebacate (ESe) comonomer content. The nonisothermal cold crystallization kinetics of PESSe was also studied at different heating rates. With increasing ESe content or heating rate, the nonisothermal cold crystallization exotherm of PESSe copolymers shifted to high temperature range. Both the crystallization rate parameter and crystallization rate coefficient of PESSe copolymers decreased with increasing ESe content, indicating that PESSe copolymer with higher ESe content crystallized more slowly than that with lower ESe content. The Ozawa equation was used to analyze the nonisothermal cold crystallization kinetics of PESSe copolymers, which was found to fit the crystallization process very well.     

Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue over Hexagonal WO<Subscript>3</Subscript>/Graphene under Visible-Light Irradiation

A series of composites containing hexagonal tungsten trioxide (h-WO₃) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets are synthesized via a modified one-step hydrothermal route without assisted additive. The composites are characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. The new procedure made it possible to increase the reduction degree of GO. Based on the evidence presented hexagonal WO₃ grows on the surface of graphene through chemical interactions with the surface. The visible-light photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue shows that the h-WO₃/rGO composites exhibit superior photocatalytic performance of 96% with a maximum degradation rate achieved under visible-light irradiation for 6 h. The speculations concerning the mechanism of photocatalytic reactions are discussed. The improved photocatalytic activity can be accounted for by the increased adsorption toward chemical species, the enhanced light absorption and an efficient separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs and transfer of charge carriers.