Polyvinylidene fluoride/polystyrene hybrid fibers with high ionic conductivity and enhanced mechanical strength as lithium-ion battery separators

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Ionic conductivity is an important separator parameter influencing the cycle life and rate capability of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). To improve the ionic...     

Sensitive and selective determination of 4-nitrophenol in water and food using modified polyethyleneimine-capped carbon dots

Hazardous 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) has created serious threats to humans and the environment; therefore, it is highly desirable to develop a facile and practical method for the monitoring of 4-NP in environment and food. Here, a fluorescence method based on modified polyethyleneimine-capped carbon dots (mPEI-CDs) was developed for sensitive and selective determination of 4-NP in water, fruit, and vegetable samples. First, highly fluorescent mPEI-CDs (quantum yield about 40.3%) were easily synthesized via a one-step hydrothermal method by using novel acetic anhydride modified polyethyleneimine (mPEI) and citric acid as precursors. Compared to the unmodified PEI-CDs, the acetic anhydride mPEI-CDs exhibited excellent fluorescent stability in a wider pH range of 4.0–9.0. Under pH 8.0, a selective determination of 4-NP was achieved based on the inner filter effect (IFE) mechanism. After optimization, good linear relationships between fluorescence intensity function (F₀-F)/F₀ and the concentration of 4-NP were obtained in ranges of 0.5–10 and 10–100 μM, respectively, while efficiently avoiding the interferences from two other nitrophenol isomers, possible coexisting metal cations and anions in samples. Finally, the proposed approach was successfully applied for the determination of 4-NP in water, honey, strawberry, and tomato samples.     

On limiting behavior of stationary measures for stochastic evolution systems with small noise intensity

The limiting behavior of stochastic evolution processes with small noise intensity ε is investigated in distribution-based approaches.Let μ~ε be a stationary measure for stochastic process X~ε with small ε and X~0 be a semiflow on a Polish space.Assume that {μ~ε:0 ε≤ε_0} is tight.Then all their limits in the weak sense are X~0-invariant and their supports are contained in the Birkhoff center of X~0.Applications are made to various stochastic evolution systems,including stochastic ordinary differential equations,stochastic partial differential equations,and stochastic functional differential equations driven by Brownian motion or Levy processes.     

Bromine-Functionalized Covalent Organic Frameworks for Efficient Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) enable precise integration of various organic building blocks into porous skeletons through topology predesign. Here, we report the first example of COFs by integrating electron withdrawing bromine group onto the skeletons for triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG). The resulting framework exhibits high surface area and good crystallinity. Thus, the bromine functionalized COF has more regular aligned π columns and arrays over the skeleton than bare COFs, which in turn significantly enhances charge transport ability. As a result, bromine functionalized COFs showed higher electrical output performance at 5 Hz with a peak value of short circuit current density of 43.6 μA and output voltage of 416 V, which is 2 and 1.3 times higher than those of bare COFs (21.6 μA and 318 V), respectively. These results demonstrated that this strategy for engineering electron withdrawing groups on the skeleton could open a new aspect of COFs for developing TENG devices.     

Enhanced dielectric properties of lead barium zirconate thin films by manganese doping

(Pb_0.5Ba_0.5)ZrO₃ (PBZ) and 1 mol% Mn-doped (Pb_0.5Ba_0.5)ZrO₃ (Mn-PBZ) sol were successfully fabricated, and corresponding thin films were deposited on Pt(1 1 1)/TiO₂/SiO₂/Si(1 0 0) substrates by spin-coating method. Effects of Mn doping on the microstructure and electrical properties of PBZ thin films were investigated systemically. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that both films had a polycrystalline perovskite structure, and that the degree of (1 1 1) orientation were increased by Mn doping. Dielectric measurements illustrated that Mn-doped PBZ thin films not only had a larger dielectric constant, but also possessed a smaller dielectric loss. Accordingly, the tunability and the figure of merit of PBZ films were improved by Mn doping.     

Global solutions to the damped MHD system

The global existence of solutions to a damped MHD system in Besov spaces is obtained. This research is motivated by the open question [Wu et al., J. Nonlinear Sci. 25 (2015), 157–192, Remark 5.1] on the possibility of extension to the existence of global small solutions from a potential Banach space to a Besov space. The present result positively confirms the open question. What is more, the initial data are not required to be uniformly small.     

An effective method of accelerating Bose gases using magnetic coils

Based on the experimental device which is a non-uniform magnetic field to trap an atom, we show how to obtain a certain velocity of a Bose gas by controlling the magnetic coils. By comparing the relationship of the different current supply and delay time versus the ultimate velocity of the atom, we theoretically predict the method of accelerating the gases to an expected velocity. This method is of great convenience and significance for the applications in cold atom physics and precision measurements.     

Synthesis of arylsulfonyl-substituted indolo[2,1-a]isoquinolin-6(5H)-one derivatives via a TBAI-catalyzed radical cascade cyclization

We have developed a metal-free radical cascade reaction of N-substituted 2-aryl indoles with readily available sulfonyl hydrazides for the rapid construction of arylsulfonyl-substituted indolo[2,1-a]isoquinolin-6(5H)-one derivatives. With the TBAI–TBHP catalytic system, a broad series of structurally diverse indolo[2,1-a]isoquinolin-6(5H)-one derivatives were obtained in moderate to excellent yields. The reaction features mild reaction conditions, operationally easiness, scaled-up feasibility, and high functional-group-tolerance.     

Catalytic enantioselective allyl- and crotylboration of aldehydes using chiral diol x SnCl4 complexes. optimization, substrate scope and mechanistic investigations

We report a novel class of C2-symmetric chiral diols derived from the hydrobenzoin skeleton. The combination of these diols with SnCl4 under Yamamoto's concept of Lewis acid assisted Br?nsted acidity (LBA catalysis) leads to high levels of asymmetric induction in the allylboration of aldehydes by commercially available allylboronic acid pinacol ester 1a. The corresponding homoallylic alcohol products of synthetically useful aliphatic aldehydes are obtained in excellent yields with up to 98:2 er. This combined acid manifold is also efficient in catalyzing the diastereo- and enantioselective crotylboration of aldehydes, thus providing the propionate units in >95:5 dr and up to 98:2 er. The X-ray crystal structure of the optimal diol x SnCl4 complex, Vivol (4m) x SnCl4, unambiguously shows the Br?nsted acidic character of this LBA catalyst and its highly dissymmetrical environment. Further controls have ruled out a possible boron trans-esterification mechanism with the chiral diol and point to LBA catalyst-derived activation of the pinacol allylic boronates 1. Due to slow dissociation of the diol x SnCl4 complex, a small excess of diol is required in order to suppress a competing racemic cycle catalyzed by free SnCl4.