Sound absorption properties of polyurethane foams derived from crude glycerol and liquefied coffee grounds polyol

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the sound absorption properties of rigid polyurethane foams (PUFs) produced from crude glycerol (CG) and/or liquefied coffee grounds derived polyol (POL). The lignin content of POL proved to have a major influence on the structure and mechanical properties of the foams. Indeed, the POL content increased the cell size of the foams and their stiffness, which subsequently influenced the sound absorption coefficients. The POL derived foam has slightly higher sound absorption coefficient values at lower frequencies, while the CG foam has higher sound absorption coefficient values at higher frequencies. In turn, the foam prepared using a 50/50 mixture of polyols presents slightly higher sound absorption coefficient values in the medium frequencies range due to a balance between the cell structure and the mechanical properties. The results obtained seem to suggest that the mechanisms involved in sound wave absorption depend on the formulation used to prepare the foams. Additionally higher POL contents improved the thermal stability of PUFs as well as their mechanical properties. From this work the suitability of CG and/or POL derived PUFs as sound absorbing materials has been proven.     

Tailorable PC71BM Isomers: Using the Most Prevalent Electron Acceptor to Obtain High‐Performance Polymer Solar Cells

Despite being widely used as electron acceptor in polymer solar cells, commercially available PC₇₁BM (phenyl‐C₇₁‐butyric acid methyl ester) usually has a “random” composition of mixed regioisomers or stereoisomers. Here PC₇₁BM has been isolated into three typical isomers, α‐, β₁‐ and β₂‐PC₇₁BM, to establish the isomer‐dependent photovoltaic performance on changing the ternary composition of α‐, β₁‐ and β₂‐PC₇₁BM. Mixing the isomers in a ratio of α/β₁/β₂=8:1:1 resulted in the best power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.67 % for the polymer solar cells with PTB7:PC₇₁BM as photoactive layer (PTB7=poly[[4,8‐bis[(2‐ethylhexyl)oxy]benzo[1,2‐b:4,5‐b′]dithiophene‐2,6‐diyl][3‐fluoro‐2‐[(2‐ethylhexyl)carbonyl]thieno[3,4‐b]thiophenediyl]]). The three typical PC₇₁BM isomers, even though sharing similar LUMO energy levels and light absorption, render starkly different photovoltaic performances with average‐performing PCE of 1.28–7.44 % due to diverse self‐aggregation of individual or mixed PC₇₁BM isomers in the otherwise same polymer solar cells.     

Photoisomerization Mechanism of Ruthenium Sulfoxide Complexes: Role of the Metal‐Centered Excited State in the Bond Rupture and Bond Construction Processes

Phototriggered intramolecular isomerization in a series of ruthenium sulfoxide complexes, [Ru(L)(tpy)(DMSO)]ⁿ⁺ (where tpy=2,2’:6’,2’’‐terpyridine; DMSO=dimethyl sulfoxide; L=2,2’‐bipyridine (bpy), n=2; N,N,N’,N’‐tetramethylethylenediamine (tmen) n=2; picolinate (pic), n=1; acetylacetonate (acac), n=1; oxalate (ox), n=0; malonate (mal), n=0), was investigated theoretically. It is observed that the metal‐centered ligand field (³MC) state plays an important role in the excited state S→O isomerization of the coordinated DMSO ligand. If the population of ³MC_S state is thermally accessible and no ³MC_O can be populated from this state, photoisomerization will be turned off because the ³MC_S excited state is expected to lead to fast radiationless decay back to the original ¹GS_S ground state or photodecomposition along the Ru²⁺?S stretching coordinate. On the contrary, if the population of ³MC_S (or ³MC_O) state is inaccessible, photoinduced S→O isomerization can proceed adiabatically on the potential energy surface of the metal‐to‐ligand charge transfer excited states (³MLCT_S→³MLCT_O). It is hoped that these results can provide valuable information for the excited state isomerization in photochromic d⁶ transition‐metal complexes, which is both experimentally and intellectually challenging as a field of study.     

美国NGSS科学与工程实践构架与化学教学案例——影响化学反应速率的因素

美国《新一代科学标准》（NGSS）强调科学实践的重要性并提出科学与工程实践的关键要素，不仅为科学实践的具体实施提供了方向而且使科学实践的评价标准更加明确。在介绍NGSS科学与工程实践的构架基础上，以“影响化学反应速率的因素”为例分析了科学与工程实践的关键要素在教学中的反映及实施特点，并基于案例分析提出对我国中学化学教学过程设计的借鉴与启示。     

二氧化碳直接高选择性合成液体燃料

正作为主要温室气体的CO_2,也是一种自然界大量存在的"碳资源",若能借助太阳能和风能等可再生能源获取电能分解水制得的氢气,将CO_2转化为化学品或燃料,不仅能实现温室气体的减排,而且有助于解决对化石燃料的过度依赖以及可再生能源的存储问题~1。作为一类高碳烃类     

Estimation of the solubility product of hydrocalumite–hydroxide,a layered double hydroxide with the formula of [Ca2Al(OH)6]OH·nH2O

From aqueous NaOH/Ca(OH)₂/NaAl(OH)₄ mixtures, after allowing short reaction times we observed the precipitation of Ca(OH)₂(s) at lower, and a mixture of Ca(OH)₂(s) and a layered double hydroxide, hydrocalumite (HC) at higher aluminate concentrations. From the maximum aluminate concentration, at which the equilibrium solid phase is still portlandite (i.e., further increase in the aluminate concentration results in HC appearing in the precipitate beside the portlandite), the concentration based solubility products of two polymorphs of HC with the formula of [Ca₂Al(OH)₆]OH·nH₂O (differing in n) has been estimated and was found to be log L_HC=−11.4 at 25 °C and −12.1 at 75 °C, respectively (where L_HC=[Ca²⁺]²[Al(OH)₄⁻][OH⁻]³) and at constant ionic strength (I=1 M NaCl). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published estimate for the solubility product of hydrocalumite. Additionally, from the composition obtained for NaOH/Ca(OH)₂/NaAl(OH)₄ mother liquors in equilibrium with Ca(OH)₂(s), attempts were made to extract the formation constant of the ion pair CaAl(OH)₄⁺. It was found, that the effects caused by the supposed formation of this solution species are too small to be reliably determined, which allowed an upper estimate for its formation constant, K, to be suggested in the temperature range of 25–75 °C (K<200 and 40 M⁻¹ at 25 and 75 °C, respectively).     

Morphological evolution and visible light-induced degradation of Rhodamine 6G by nanocrystalline bismuth tungstate prepared using a template-based approach

The cleaning of water contaminated with organic dyes is a crucial problem nowadays. The search for good catalysts is intense, and bismuth tungstates have attracted a lot of attention because of their catalytic properties which are related to their crystal structure and morphology. In this study, we show that Bi₂WO₆ (BWO) crystals synthesized by the surfactant-assisted hydrothermal method create a different morphology than non-assisted crystals. With the assistance of the PVP surfactant, even the BWO crystalline structure could change, crystallizing into a high-symmetry metastable phase. These changes in morphology imply a decrease in BWO catalytic activity, which shows that insightful control of BWO synthesis is necessary to improve the BWO properties.