Aerosol-assisted self-assembly of hybrid Layered Double Hydroxide particles into spherical architectures

Over the last decade, the use of nanocellulose in advanced technological applications has been promoted both due the excellent properties of this material in combination with its renewability. In this study, multilayered thin films composed of nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC), polyvinyl amine (PVAm) and silica nanoparticles were fabricated on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using a layer-by-layer adsorption technique. The multilayer build-up was followed in situ by quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation, which indicated that the PVAm-SiO(2)-PVAm-NFC system adsorbs twice as much wet mass material compared to the PVAm-NFC system for the same number of bilayers. This is accompanied with a higher viscoelasticity for the PVAm-SiO(2)-PVAm-NFC system. Ellipsometry indicated a dry-state thickness of 2.2 and 3.4 nm per bilayer for the PVAm-NFC system and the PVAm-SiO(2)-PVAm-NFC system, respectively. Atomic force microscopy height images indicate that in both systems, a porous network structure is achieved. Young's modulus of these thin films was determined by the Strain-Induced Elastic Buckling Instability for Mechanical Measurements (SIEBIMM) technique. The Young's modulus of the PVAm/NFC films was doubled, from 1 to 2 GPa, upon incorporation of silica nanoparticles in the films. The introduction of the silica nanoparticles lowered the refractive index of the films, most probably due to an increased porosity of the films.     

One‐pot synthesis of 1‐ and 5‐substituted 1H‐tetrazoles using 1,4‐dihydroxyanthraquinone–copper(II) supported on superparamagnetic Fe3O4@SiO2 magnetic porous nanospheres as a recyclable catalyst

An effective one‐pot, convenient process for the synthesis of 1‐ and 5‐substituted 1H‐tetrazoles from nitriles and amines is described using1,4‐dihydroxyanthraquinone–copper(II) supported on Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ magnetic porous nanospheres as a novel recyclable catalyst. The application of this catalyst allows the synthesis of a variety of tetrazoles in good to excellent yields. The preparation of the magnetic nanocatalyst with core–shell structure is presented by using nano‐Fe₃O₄ as the core, tetraethoxysilane as the silica source and poly(vinyl alcohol) as the surfactant, and then Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ was coated with 1,4‐dihydroxyanthraquinone–copper(II) nanoparticles. The new catalyst was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, thermogravimetric analysis, vibration sample magnetometry, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherm analysis and inductively coupled plasma analysis. This new procedure offers several advantages such as short reaction times, excellent yields, operational simplicity, practicability and applicability to various substrates and absence of any tedious workup or purification. In addition, the excellent catalytic performance, thermal stability and separation of the catalyst make it a good heterogeneous system and a useful alternative to other heterogeneous catalysts. Also, the catalyst could be magnetically separated and reused six times without significant loss of catalytic activity. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cr(VI) ion removal from artificial waste water using supported liquid membrane

In this study, a novel flat-type synergic-supported liquid membrane was evaluated with a mixture of N-methyl-N,N,N-trioctylammonium chloride (Aliquat 336) and tributyl phosphate (TBP) as the carrier and kerosene as the diluent to remove Cr(VI) from synthetic waste water. The main parameters involved in the process were identified and optimised. The parameters were divided into two groups, those that were independent and those having an interaction. The parameters of the carrier/kerosene volumetric proportion and stirring rate were optimised individually due to their nature. The optimal values of these parameters were 0.5 and 500 min^?1, respectively, for a constant carrier/kerosene ratio and stirring rate in the designed experiments using the response surface method (RSM). The four parameters of TBP/Aliquat 336, chromium concentration in the feed phase, feed and product pH were optimised using RSM; it was observed that the TBP/Aliquat 336 ratio, feed pH, pH of the stripping phase and interaction of this parameter with feed concentration have the most important effects on the removal of Cr(VI). The optimal levels of these parameters were 0.61, 71.75 mg L^?1, 3.5 and 12.66 for the ratio of TBP/Aliquat 336, feed chromium concentration, pH of the feed and pH of the product, respectively. An experimental removal rate of 94.63 % at the optimized levels was obtained.     

Vapor pressures and osmotic coefficients of the acetone solutions of three bis(tetraalkylammonium)tetrathiomolybdates at 298.15 K measured by head-space gas chromatography

The vapor pressures and osmotic coefficients of solutions of (R₄N)₂[MoS₄] (R = ethyl, n-propyl and n-butyl) in acetone have been measured by head space-gas chromatography (HS-GC). Experimental data for the osmotic coefficients have been expressed by three thermodynamic models including the ionic interaction model of Pitzer, the electrolyte non-random two liquid (e-NRTL) model and the non-random factor (NRF) model. The ability of the models to fit the osmotic coefficient was compared on the basis of the standard deviation of the fittings. The results show that the considered models provide reliable results, but the Pitzer's model gives better results than the NRTL and the NRF methods, especially in the dilute region.     

Three-dimensional modelling of GeSi growth in presence of axial and rotating magnetic fields

A three-dimensional numerical simulation has been performed to study the growth of Ge_0.98Si_0.02 by the Traveling Solvent Method. We attempted to suppress the buoyancy convection, in the Ge_0.98Si_0.02 melt zone, by applying axial and rotating magnetic fields. The effects of the applied magnetic field intensity, on the transport structures in the melt (flow and concentration fields, heat and mass transfer), have been investigated in detail. The steady-state full Navier–Stokes equations, as well as energy, mass species transport and continuity equations are numerically solved using the finite element method. By applying an axial magnetic field of various intensities (2, 10, and 22 mT), we found that as the axial magnetic field increases, the silicon distribution nearby the growth interface becomes more uniform. In the case of a rotating magnetic field, with different applied rotational speeds (2, 7 and 10 rpm), we found that such kind of magnetic field has a marked effect on the silicon concentration, which changes its shape from a convex one to a nearly flat shape as the magnetic field intensity increases. An alternative method to reduce or suppress buoyancy convection, in the melt zone, is the growing of the sample in a microgravity environment, with a gravity level of at least 10^?4 the earth normal gravity level; in this case the results revealed smooth and almost perfect straight concentration contours, due to the buoyancy convection weakness.     

Magnetic Solid Phase Extraction Coupled with HPLC Towards Removal of Pigments and Impurities from Leaf-derived Paclitaxel Extractions of Taxus baccata and Optimization via Response Surface Methodology

A reusable and cost-effective magnetic graphite oxide (Fe₃O₄NPs@GO) nanocomposite was fabricated and applied for pre-purification of paclitaxel from leaf-derived crude extract of Taxus baccata. Furthermore, the potential roles of three crucial criteria (i.e., adsorbent dosage, sorption temperature and agitation/shaking power) on the two responses [i.e., efficiency of plant pigments removal (EPPR) and efficiency of taxol purity (ETP)] were examined and simultaneously optimized through response surface methodology. The nanocomposite was accurately characterized using TEM, AFM, BET, FT-IR, Raman and VSM. Moreover, for both proposed second-degree polynomial regression models, highly significant correlations were achieved between the experimental and predicted data (p < 0.0001). Meanwhile, the optimum conditions to simultaneously acquire the maximum EPPR (94.0 %) and ETP (11.4 %) were recorded as adsorbent dosage of 37.7 g L⁻¹, sorption temperature of 30.7 °C and agitation power of 153.1 rpm; and the predictive results were confirmed using experimental rechecking survey. Interestingly, upon five consecutive treatments, the nanocomposite still exhibited substantial potency in eliminating large amounts of plant pigments and impurities (up to 90 %), without significant reduction on sorption capacity and magnetism thereof. Our results demonstrated that the current nanocomposite, as SPE sorbent for MSPE, could be a simple, fast and reusable approach for HPLC-based purification studies of paclitaxel, and probably other plant secondary metabolites.

     

Modeling Dislocation-Stacking Fault Interaction Using Molecular Dynamics

In a number of fcc materials such as copper or aluminum, as well as more complex materials such as twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) steels, the interaction between dislocations and other defects such as stacking faults or twins plays an important role in the hardening behavior of such materials. Interactions of dislocation and twin or stacking fault layers have been studied in this work using molecular dynamics. Depending on the material and the loading conditions, possible interaction modes include (i) penetration of the dislocation into the faulted layer, (ii) reduction of the faulted layer after interaction, (iii) growth of the faulted layer after interaction. Such studies up to this point have been performed without temperature control near zero K (0 to 2 K). In this work, we extend the previous studies to higher temperature with the help of two methods, both based on molecular dynamics (MD) modeling. (© 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Crystal structure of a silver(I) complex with the 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid (pyromellitic acid)

The reaction between freshly precipitated silver oxide Ag₂O and an aqueous solution of tetrabenzenecarboxylic acid H₄L leads to the anhydrous Ag₂H₂L complex. It crystallizes in the space groupP2₁/c, witha=6.457(1),b=8.180(1),c=9.982(1) Å, β=97.83(1)°,V=522.3(1) ų,Z=2,d=2.976 g cm^?3. This structure is a three dimensional polymeric network polymer without any silver...silver interaction. The silver environment is a bipyramid trigonal polyhedron with three short bond distances in the equatorial plane (Ag?O=2.255(2), 2.295(2), and 2.499(2) Å) and two longer bond distances in axial positions (Ag?O=2.558(2) and 2.617(2) Å). Thus, the silver polyhedron involves five different ligands. It is noteworthy that the (H₂L₂)^2? ligand is located around an inversion centre.