Improving the Flame Retardancy of Polybenzoxazines with a Reactive Phosphorus-Containing Compound

A novel flame retardant resin was prepared by modifying benzoxazines with a reactive phosphorus-containing compound, 2-(6-Oxido-6H-dibenzo[c,e][1,2]oxa-phosphorin-6-yl) 1,4-benzenediol (ODOPB). The curing reactions of the benzoxazines containing ODOPB (ODOPB-BOZ) and a type of bifunctional benzoxazine (B-BOZ) were investigated via differential scanning calorimetry. The ODOPB-BOZ precursors exhibited lower curing temperature in comparison with the B-BOZ. Through dynamic mechanical analysis tests, it was found that the glass transition temperature and storage modulus of the cured ODOPB-BOZ were lower than those of the cured B-BOZ. Moreover, the tensile and flexural properties of the cured ODOPB-BOZ were also lower than those of the cured B-BOZ. The TGA tests proved that, owing to the presence of ODOPB, the char yield of the polybenzoxazines were remarkably raised while the decomposition rates at higher temperature were reduced. It was found that the flame retardancy of cured ODOPB-BOZ attained V-0 grade upon the UL-94 tests while that of cured B-BOZ was V-1 grade. SEM images showed that more compact char layers were formed in the cured ODOPB-BOZ after combustion, resulting in the improvement of flame retardance.     

Palladium‐Catalyzed Regioselective C‐Benzylation via a Rearrangement Reaction: Access to Benzyl‐Substituted Anilines

An unprecedented C‐benzylation rearrangement reaction, catalyzed by palladium, is reported. The reaction proceeds by rearrangement leading to the direct synthesis of para or ortho benzyl‐substituted N‐methylanilines. The product is obtained in high regioselectivity, without the need to use a ligand for the catalytic process.     

Cyclic welding behavior of covalent adaptable network polymers

Surface welding effect of covalent adaptable network (CAN) polymers enables self‐healing, reprocessing and recycling of thermosets, but little is known about their welding behaviors during repeated welding‐peeling cycles. In this article, we study the cyclic welding effect of an epoxy based thermal‐sensitive CAN. Surface roughness is generated by rubbing the sample on sandpapers with different grid sizes. The welding‐peeling cycles are repeated on the same pair of samples for five times, with roughness amplitude and interfacial fracture energy measured in each cycle. It is shown that the roughness gradually decreases during the repeated welding cycles, especially when a long welding time or high welding pressure is applied. Even though lower roughness amplitude promotes the contact area, the interfacial fracture energy reduces due to the increased BER activation energy after long‐time heating. A multiscale constitutive model is adopted, where we incorporate an explicit expression of interfacial contact area as a function of root‐mean‐square roughness parameter. The model is able to capture the evolving interfacial fracture energy during repeated welding cycles by using the measured roughness parameter, network modulus and BER activation energy. The study provides theoretical basis for the design and applications of CANs involving cyclic welding‐peeling operations. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2018 , 56, 402–413.     

Probing nanocolumnar silver nanoparticle/zinc oxide hierarchical assemblies with advanced surface plasmon resonance and their enhanced photocatalytic performance for formaldehyde removal

Recent advances in photocatalysis focus on the development of materials with hierarchical structure and on the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) phenomenon exhibited by metal nanoparticles (NPs). In this work, both are combined in a material where size‐controllable Ag‐NPs are uniformly loaded onto the hierarchical microporous and mesoporous and nanocolumnar structures of ZnO, resulting in Ag‐NP/ZnO nanocomposites. The embedded Ag‐NPs slightly decrease the hydrophobicity of fibrous ZnO, improve its wettability, and increase the absorption of formaldehyde (H₂CO) onto the photocatalyst, all of this resulting in excellent photodegradation of formaldehyde in aqueous solution. Besides, we found that Ag‐NPs with optimal size not only accelerate the charge transfer to the surface of ZnO, but also strengthen the SPR effect in the intercolumnar channels of fibrous ZnO particles combining with high concentration of photo‐generated radical species. The micro‐to‐mesoporous ZnO is like a nanoarray packed Ag‐NPs. With Ag‐NPs of diameter 2.5 < ? < 6.5 nm, ZnO exhibits the most superior photodegradation rate constant value of 0.0239 min^?1 with total formaldehyde removal of 97%. This work presents a new feasible approach involving highly sophisticated Ag‐NP/ZnO architecture combining the SPR effect and hierarchically ordered structures, which results in high photocatalytic activity for formaldehyde photodegradation.     

Synergistic Surface Passivation of CH3NH3PbBr3 Perovskite Quantum Dots with Phosphonic Acid and (3-Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane

CH₃NH₃PbBr₃ perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) are synthesized by using four different linear alkyl phosphonic acids (PAs) in conjunction with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) as capping ligands. The resultant PQDs are characterized by means of XRD, TEM, Raman spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, UV/Vis, photoluminescence (PL), time-resolved PL, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). PA chain length is shown to control the PQD size (ca. 2.9–4.2 nm) and excitonic absorption band positions (λ=488–525 nm), with shorter chain lengths corresponding to smaller sizes and bluer absorptions. All samples show a high PL quantum yield (ca. 46–83 %) and high PL stability; this is indicative of a low density of band gap trap states and effective surface passivation. Stability is higher for smaller PQDs; this is attributed to better passivation due to better solubility and less steric hindrance of the shorter PA ligands. Based on the FTIR, Raman, and XPS results, it is proposed that Pb²⁺ and CH₃NH₃⁺ surface defects are passivated by R−PO₃²⁻ or R−PO₂(OH)⁻, whereas Br⁻ surface defects are passivated by R−NH₃⁺ moieties. This study establishes the combination of PA and APTES ligands as a highly effective dual passivation system for the synergistic passivation of multiple surface defects of PQDs through primarily ionic bonding.     

Ideal Free Distribution in Two Patches

In this paper, the formats of Julia sets for a class of nonlinear complex dynamic systems with variable coefficients were studied under certain conditions. For the complex dynamic systems in piecewise cases, we proposed some methods to control the forms of their Julia sets and stable domains analytically. What’s more, we illustrated that our methods worked well by computational simulations. Our work provides a better understanding about how to control the Julia sets of certain complex dynamic systems.