Determination of the Diffusion Coefficient for SDS Micelle with Different Shape and the Effects of Ethanol by Cyclic Voltammetry Without Probes

Micelle diffusion coefficient of SDS with different micelle shape in aqueous and water-ethanol solutions are determined by cyclic voltammetry without any probe. The diffusion coefficient decreases with as increasing SDS concentration. The first critical micellar concentration is 8.0xl0³, mol 1¹.corresponding to the transformation from premicelle to spherical micelle. The second critical micellar concentration is 5.60x10²and corresponding to transformation from spherical micelle to rod-like micelle. The less the weight ratio of SDS to ethanol is, the larger the diffusion coefficient is. The influence of added water to the micelle solution is almost the same for SDS-ethanol-HaO system with different micelle shape. Mechanism of electrochemical reaction for SDS at platinum electrode is discussed as well.     

Relationship Between the Polymer Structures and Destabilization of Polymer‐Containing Water‐in‐Oil Emulsions

The viscous properties, scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), and water/oil interfacial tension (IFT) of partially hydrolyzed polyacryamide (HPAM) and hydrophobically associating hydrolyzed polyacryamides modified with N‐dodecylacrylamide were studied with the objective of investigating the influence on destabilization of emulsions. As expected, the copolymers exhibit significant viscosity enhancing capacity and three‐dimensional network structures due to intermolecular hydrophobic associations, and also present high interfacial activities as the IFT decrease with increasing polymer concentration. As a result, the existences of copolymers increased both the viscosity of emulsions and the intensity of interfacial film, in which case slow down the diffusion of demulsifier molecules and enhance the stability of emulsions, finally, the separation of water from oil becomes more difficult.     

Swelling of Water/Nonionic Surfactant Lamellar Liquid Crystals: A Model

A model is presented to provide quantitative measures to estimate the trends of the change in the penetration of the added component into the polar part of the amphiphile layer in lamellar liquid crystals of water and ethoxylated surfactants with added water (or polar solvents). The total thickness of the bi‐layer is treated as composed of an aqueous layer, of a layer of the polar groups from the surfactant and of the hydrocarbon chains of the latter. A fraction α of the added water is assumed penetrating the polar group layer leading to its expansion. The evaluation is built on the fact that experimental determinations of the interlayer spacing in the overwhelming majority of cases show a first order linear dependence on the ratio of added water. In the model this linearity is obtained by variation of the degree of penetration of water. The model indicated a reduction in the degree of penetration with added water, which is a rational trend. The model demonstrates the earlier interpretation of a structure, whose interlayer spacing is invariant with water contents as nonswelling; for example, in which all added water penetrates the amhiphile layer, is not appropriate. The model demonstrates the constancy of the interlayer spacing to be a consequence of a balance between the expansion of the amphiphile layer and the increase of a “free water” layer.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Multi‐Walled Carbon Nanotube/Polythiophene Composites

Multi‐walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/polythiophene (PTh) composites have been prepared by in situ chemical oxidative polymerization. PTh is synthesized onto the sidewalls of the MWCNTs, which play a role as hard templates for PTh to produce one‐dimensional nanostructures. The morphology and structures of the MWCNT/PTh composites are characterized by High‐resolution transmission electron microscopy, x‐ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry. Their electrical property and thermal stability are determined using vector network analyzer and thermal gravimetric analyzer. Moreover, the mechanism of MWCNT/PTh nanowire formation is described. The studies show that the composites are nanowires with core‐shell structure, in which the outer shells and inner cores are formed by PTh and MWCNTs, respectively. The addition of MWCNTs does not change the backbone structure of PTh and affect the amorphous condition of PTh very slightly, however, it improves the electrical conductivity and thermal stability of PTh.     

Interphase Transport in an Emulsion: Tartaric Acid

The individual compounds in an emulsion of tartaric acid stabilized by a commercial surfactant, Laureth 4, were brought into contact in order to estimate the deviation from equilibrium conditions during emulsion evaporation. The transfer of compounds between the phases was followed by visual observation of new phases appearing and the movement of the interfaces with time. The results revealed that, conversely to the equilibrium processes in the corresponding salicylate emulsions, in the present system the dissolution of the acid was faster than the formation of birefringent structures and the variation of different colloidal structures could be followed in the experiment. A suitable choice of initial ratio between the three compounds enabled the transfer of compounds to result in an early depletion of the solid acid and subsequently information could be obtained about the relation between the transport of surfactant and water-acid solution into the birefringent layer. A significant dependence was found between the composition of the entrants into the layer and the amount of surfactant liquid remaining.     

Electrochemical separation of uranium and cerium in molten LiCl–KCl

The electrochemical separation of uranium from cerium in LiCl–KCl eutectic and the electrochemical behavior of Ce(III) were studied. According to the cyclic voltammogram of Ce(III) and the former result of U(III), electrodeposition potential was determined at ?1.65 V (vs Ag/AgCl). The uranium metal was successfully deposited and separated from cerium. The morphology of deposit and cross section of electrode were investigated by SEM, firstly uranium deposit alloys with stainless steel and forms a thin transition layer, and secondly the uranium metal layer grows from the transition layer. The separation factors of uranium/cerium on different recovery ratios were determined through a series of steps. It was found that the content of cerium in the deposit and separation factors declined with increasing the initial concentration of U³⁺ in molten salts; the separation factors remained stable at around 20 in different uranium recovery ratios.     

Study on sorption of U(VI) onto ordered mesoporous silicas

The mesoporous silicas (MCM-41 and MCM-48) are synthesized by hydrothermal method, which are characterized by XRD and BET techniques. The application of mesoporous silicas for the sorption of U(VI) from aqueous solution are studied by using batch technique under ambient condition. The effects of contact time, solid-to-liquid ratio (m/V), solution pH, ionic strength and temperature are determined, and the results indicate that the sorption of U(VI) to MCM-41 or MCM-48 are strongly dependent on pH values but independent of ionic strength. Compared with Langmuir model, the sorption isotherms can be simulated by Freundlich model well according to the high relative coefficients. The parameters for Langmuir and Freundlich sorption isotherms are calculated from the temperature at 298, 318 and 338 K, respectively, and the results suggest that the sorption of U(VI) on MCM-41 or MCM-48 is a spontaneous and exothermic process. In contrast to its sorption capacity for U(VI), MCM-48 is a suitable material for the preconcentration of U(VI) from large volumes of aqueous solutions.     

Fast switching beam steering based on ferroelectric liquid crystal phase shutter and polarisation grating

We report on fast-switching and high-efficient optical beam steering based on a polymerisable liquid crystal polarisation grating (PG) in combination with ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) phase shutter. The PG was fabricated in a convenient single-step holographic exposure process using photo-sensitive azo-dye material as alignment layer for liquid crystal (LC) director. A binary electro-optical FLC was employed for circular polarisation selection, which enables the electro-tunable steering of the combined system. The efficiency of 95.7% with 82 μs switching time is obtained for 1064 nm laser. This work provides a versatile candidate for non-mechanical beam steering devices.     

Microstructure transition of hydrophilic modified ibuprofen and Pluronic copolymer F127 complexes

The effect of the aggregation state of Pluronic copolymer (PEO₁₀₀–PPO₆₅–PEO₁₀₀, F127) and the concentration of hydrophilic modified ibuprofen (Ibuprofen–PEG800, IP800) on the interaction between F127 and IP800 was systematically investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance, dynamic light scatter (DLS), surface tension, and freeze-fractured transmission electron microscopy. In the solution of F127 unimers (5 °C), F127 unimers tended to wrap around IP800 micelles, and the binding model of F127 unimers to IP800 micelles transferred from wrapping around to partly threading through with increasing IP800 concentration. The latter binding model was straightly confirmed by nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy. As the aggregation state of F127 is in the beginning of the micellization (20 °C), the addition of IP800 significantly promoted the micellization of F127 to form the F127/IP800 complex with F127 micelles as the skeleton called the F127–micelle complex. The sudden decrease of the size obtained from DLS stemmed from the disruption of the F127–micelle complex and accompanying rehydration of PPO which is weaker compared with refs. The amount of IP800 to disintegrate the F127–micelle complex increased in the F127–micelle-dominated solution (40 °C) compared to that at 20 °C.     

Exon Array Analysis of Alternative Splicing of Genes in SOD1G93A Transgenic Mice

Alternative splicing is a common strategy for creating functional diversities of proteins. While conventional identification of splice variants generally targets individual genes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, we present a novel exon-centric array that allows genome-wide identification of splice variants and concurrently provides analysis of gene expression. Compare 1 was asymptomatic SOD1G93A transgenic mice with nontransgenic littermates; compare 2 was symptomatic with asymptomatic transgenic mice. RT-PCR was performed to validate. Pathway and GO analysis were performed on abnormal genes. These findings could guide us to demonstrated the potential influence of mutant human CuZn-SOD1 and of splicing regulation in pathological processes.