Preparation of macroporous polyHIPE foams via radiation-induced polymerization at room temperature

PolyHIPEs are highly porous, crosslinked polymer foams typically synthesized within high internal-phase emulsions (HIPEs). Two kinds of polyHIPEs including poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) [P(St-DVB)] and poly(methyl methacrylate-divinylbenzene) [P(MMA-DVB)] foams are synthesized in this work, which are fabricated from HIPEs template via radiation-induced polymerization at room temperature. Traditional free radical polymerization initiated by potassium peroxydisulfate (KPS) at 60 °C for producing polyHIPE P(St-DVB) foams is also conducted for comparison. It is found that the amount of emulsifier can be reduced greatly in the radiation-induced polymerization of HIPEs at room temperature, compared with the traditional polymerization approach. Besides, P(MMA-DVB) PolyHIPE foams with a fine microstructure of highly interconnected pores have been successfully fabricated via radiation-induced polymerization in this work, which is usually difficult to be prepared by thermal-initiation method because of the intermediate hydrophobicity of methyl methacrylate monomer. The influences of the fraction of internal aqueous phase and the concentration of emulsifier on the structure and performance of foams are carefully explored. The structure and compression strength of the foams are characterized by scanning electron microscopy and a mechanical testing machine, respectively.

Preparation of a new metallomicelle catalyst for the hydrolysis of bis(4-nitrophenyl) phosphate

A new metallomicellar system containing cerium(III), a macrocylic polyamine ligand, and the nonionic surfactant Brij35(polyoxyethylene(23) lauryl ether) was prepared and used as a catalyst in the hydrolysis of bis(4-nitrophenyl) phosphate (BNPP). Catalytic rate of the BNPP hydrolysis was measured kinetically using the UV-VIS spectrophotometric method. The results indicate that the metallomicellar system has relatively high stability and excellent catalytic function in the BNPP hydrolysis; also, the reaction rate of the BNPP catalytic hydrolysis increased by a factor of ca. 1 × 10¹⁰ compared to the BNPP spontaneous hydrolysis due to the catalytic effect of the active species and the local concentration effect of the micelles in the metallomicellar system. Experimental results also showed that the mono-hydroxy complex containing the macrocyclic polyamine ligand and cerium(III) is the real active species in the BNPP catalytic hydrolysis, and that the micelles provide a useful catalytic environment for the reaction. On basis of the research results, the reaction mechanism of BNPP catalytic hydrolysis has been proposed.     

Chemiluminescent enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay on a strip to detect Escherichia coli O157:H7

A fast and sensitive chemiluminescent enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method to measure pathogenic bacteria, Escherichia coli O157:H7, on immuno-chromatographic membrane was studied. Non-specific binding of proteins on membrane strip was controlled to attain the best performance of immunosensor by optimising the composition of a running buffer. The specificity of the proposed immunostrip was confirmed by conducting experiments for four different micro-organisms. A chemiluminescent signal could be successfully generated from a proposed immunostrip sensing system, and a significant change in the chemiluminescent light intensity with the concentration of target microbes was obtained. E. coli O157:H7 could be quantitatively measured in the range of 1.1?×?10^3?–1.1?×?10⁷ CFU (colony forming units) mL^?1 within 16?min by using the developed chemiluminescent immunostrip.     

Anodic stripping voltammetry of antimony at unmodified carbon electrodes

Antimony is an element of significant environmental concern, yet has been neglected relative to other heavy metals in electroanalysis. As such very little research has been reported on the electroanalytical determination of antimony at unmodified carbon electrodes. In this paper we report the electrochemical determination of Sb(III) in HCl solutions using unmodified carbon substrates, with focus on non-classical carbon materials namely edge plane pyrolytic graphite (EPPG), boron doped diamond (BDD) and screen-printed electrodes (SPE). Using differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry, EPPG was found to give a considerably greater response towards antimony than other unmodified carbon electrodes, allowing highly linear ranges in nanomolar concentrations and a detection limit of 3.9?nM in 0.25?M HCl. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the response from EPPG was 100 times greater than for glassy carbon (GC). Unmodified GC gave a comparable response to previous results using the bare substrate, and BDD gave an improved, yet still very high limit of detection of 320?nM compared to previous analysis using an iridium oxide modified BDD electrode. SPEs gave a very poor response to antimony, even at high concentrations, observing no linearity from standard additions, as well as a major interference from the ink intrinsic to the working electrode carbon material. Owing to its superior performance relative to other carbon electrodes, the EPPG electrode was subjected to further analytical testing with antimony. The response of the electrode for a 40?nM concentration of Sb(III) was reproducible with a mean peak current of 1.07?µA and variation of 8.4% (n?=?8). The effect of metals copper, bismuth and arsenic were investigated at the electrode, as they are common interferences for stripping analysis of antimony.     

Validity of Inorganic Nanosheets as an Efficient Planar Substituent To Enhance the Enantioselectivity of Transition‐Metal‐Catalyzed Asymmetric Synthesis

Effectively enhancing the enantioselectivity is a persistent challenge in heterogeneous asymmetric catalysis. Here, the validity of a layered double hydroxides (LDH) nanosheet as an efficient planar substituent to enhance the enantioselectivity has been investigated theoretically; first in vanadium‐catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols, and then in zinc‐catalyzed direct asymmetric aldol addition. The computational predication is further confirmed experimentally in zinc‐catalyzed direct asymmetric aldol addition by controlling the location of catalytic sites.     

Designed Synthesis of Well‐Defined Pd@Pt Core–Shell Nanoparticles with Controlled Shell Thickness as Efficient Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts

Improving the electrocatalytic activity and durability of Pt‐based catalysts with low Pt content toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is one of the main challenges in advancing the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Herein, a designed synthesis of well‐defined Pd@Pt core–shell nanoparticles (NPs) with a controlled Pt shell thickness of 0.4–1.2 nm by a facile wet chemical method and their electrocatalytic performances for ORR as a function of shell thickness are reported. Pd@Pt NPs with predetermined structural parameters were prepared by in situ heteroepitaxial growth of Pt on as‐synthesized 6 nm Pd NPs without any sacrificial layers and intermediate workup processes, and thus the synthetic procedure for the production of Pd@Pt NPs with well‐defined sizes and shell thicknesses is greatly simplified. The Pt shell thickness could be precisely controlled by adjusting the molar ratio of Pt to Pd. The ORR performance of the Pd@Pt NPs strongly depended on the thickness of their Pt shells. The Pd@Pt NPs with 0.94 nm Pt shells exhibited enhanced specific activity and higher durability compared to other Pd@Pt NPs and commercial Pt/C catalysts. Testing Pd@Pt NPs with 0.94 nm Pt shells in a membrane electrode assembly revealed a single‐cell performance comparable with that of the Pt/C catalyst despite their lower Pt content, that is the present NP catalysts can facilitate low‐cost and high‐efficient applications of PEMFCs.     

Preparation of Gradient Surfaces by Using a Simple Chemical Reaction and Investigation of Cell Adhesion on a Two‐Component Gradient

This article describes a simple method for the generation of multicomponent gradient surfaces on self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold in a precise and predictable manner, by harnessing a chemical reaction on the monolayer, and their applications. A quinone derivative on a monolayer was converted to an amine through spontaneous intramolecular cyclization following first‐order reaction kinetics. An amine gradient on the surface on a scale of centimeters was realized by modulating the exposure time of the quinone‐presenting monolayer to the chemical reagent. The resulting amine was used as a chemical handle to attach various molecules to the monolayer with formation of multicomponent gradient surfaces. The effectiveness of this strategy was verified by cyclic voltammetry (CV), matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight (MALDI‐TOF) mass spectrometry (MS), MS imaging, and contact‐angle measurements. As a practical application, cell adhesion was investigated on RGD/PHSRN peptide/peptide gradient surfaces. Peptide PHSRN was found to synergistically enhance cell adhesion at the position where these two ligands are presented in equal amounts, while these peptide ligands were competitively involved in cell adhesion at other positions. This strategy of generating a gradient may be further expandable to the development of functional gradient surfaces of various molecules and materials, such as DNA, proteins, growth factors, and nanoparticles, and could therefore be useful in many fields of research and practical applications.     

Preparation and characterization of cotton fabrics with antibacterial properties treated by crosslinkable benzophenone derivative in choline chloride-based deep eutectic solvents

Cotton fabrics with antibacterial properties were prepared by the treatment with 3,3′4,4′-benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride (BPTCD) in a combined process of shaking immersion in dyeing machine and pad-dry-cure. Environmentally-benign choline chloride (ChCl)-based deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were mainly examined as treatment media instead of using organic solvent. The results revealed that cotton fabrics treated with BPTCD in urea-ChCl DES showed a strong ester carbonyl peak in fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, indicating fixation of BPTCD on cotton cellulose. Detailed characterizations of the BPTCD-treated cotton were carried out by FTIR, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, dye staining, and evaluation of hydrophilicity and strength. The treated fabrics demonstrated a high level of antibacterial characteristics before and after UV irradiation. This indicated that addition of ChCl could enhance antibacterial activity of cotton before UV irradiation. Therefore, use of ChCl-based DES along with BPTCD incorporation provided environmentally-acceptable and economically-feasible treatment process for preparation of novel antibacterial cotton.     

Effect of post-synthetic processing conditions on structural variations and applications of bacterial cellulose

Physicochemical properties of materials can be amended by altering their physical structure through different processing conditions. The present study was conducted to investigate the post-synthesis structural variations and physico-mechanical properties of bacterial cellulose (BC) sheets prepared using different drying methods. Wet BC sheets of the same origin were freeze dried (BC-FD), dried at room temperature (25 °C) (BC-DRT), and dried at elevated temperature (50 °C) (BC-DHT). FE-SEM micrographs revealed that BC-DRT and BC-DHT had a more tightly packed and compact structure than the loosely held fibrils of BC-FD. XRD analysis revealed the relative crystallinity of the BC sample to be 64.60, 59.16, and 47.20 % for BC-DHT, BC-DRT and BC-FD, respectively. The water holding capacity (WHC) of the BC-FD was higher than that of the other two samples. Four consecutive drying and rewetting cycles demonstrated that the WHC of all samples decreased with each cycle. The WHC of BC-DRT and BC-DHT was reduced to almost 0 after the first drying cycle, but the BC-FD samples were able to regain some of their WHC. The tensile strength and elongation modulus were in the order of BC-DHT > BC-DRT > BC-FD. Overall, the results of this study revealed that the post-synthetic processing conditions had a strong effect on the structure and physico-mechanical properties of BC.     

负载纳米银复合微球制备及其催化性能

以具有温度和pH双重敏感性能的N-异丙基丙烯酰胺(NIPAM)共聚丙烯酸(AA) P(NIPAM-co-AA)高分子微凝胶为模板, 以乙醇为还原剂, 原位还原得到负载纳米银的微米尺度Ag/P(NIPAM-co-AA)复合微凝胶材料. 通过扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、X射线衍射(XRD)仪和紫外-可见(UV-Vis)分光光度计等对复合材料的形貌、组成和催化性能进行表征. 研究结果表明, Ag/P(NIPAM-co-AA)复合微球具有均一的表面结构, 微凝胶的限域作用显著提高了纳米银的分散性和稳定性. 另外, Ag/P(NIPAM-co-AA)复合微球对对硝基苯酚(4-NP)的还原具有较好的催化活性, 且其催化活性与微凝胶网络结构的溶胀、收缩行为有一定关系, 即模板微凝胶的温敏特性可以实现对对硝基苯酚催化反应活性的调控作用.