Ji, Xiaoying; Chen, Dayong; Zheng, Yu; Shen, Jiabin; Guo, Shaoyun; Harkin-Jones, Eileen
Multilayered assembly of poly(vinylidene fluoride) and poly(methyl methacrylate) for achieving multi-shape memory effects
The alternately-organized poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) multilayer materials were prepared through layer-multiplying coextrusion. With the multiplication of layers, the thickness of each layer was reduced in proportion and the layer interfaces were enriched generating a broader and more continuous thermal transition temperature (Ttrans) from PVDF to PMMA layers
Controllable synthesis of a peapod-like nanostructure via nanoconfining CoFe2O4 in CMK-5 for high-performance lithium-ion batteries
Sun, Yuanyuan; Zou, Yihui; Yuan, Fang; Yan, Chunyun; Chen, Shuai; Jia, Yi Alec; Zhang, Huawei; Yang, Dongjiang; She, Xilin
The CoFe2O4 with spinel structure has been identified as a promising anode material of lithium-ion battery because of high theoretical capacity of 914?mAh?g?1, low price, high chemical durability and environmental friendliness. However, the poor electrical conductivity and significant volume change in the charge and discharge process lead to a severe…
Melt-Spun Nanocomposite Fibers Reinforced with Aligned Tunicate Nanocrystals
Redondo, Alexandre; Chatterjee, Sourav; Brodard, Pierre; Korley, LaShanda T. J.; Weder, Christoph; Gunkel, Ilja; Steiner, Ullrich
The fabrication of nanocomposite films and fibers based on cellulose nanocrystals (P-tCNCs) and a thermoplastic polyurethane (PU) elastomer is reported. High-aspect-ratio P-tCNCs were isolated from tunicates using phosphoric acid hydrolysis, which is a process that affords nanocrystals displaying high thermal stability. Nanocomposites were produced by solvent casting (films) or melt-mixing…
Gold and silver dichroic nanocomposite in the quest for 3D printing the Lycurgus cup
Kool, Lars; Dekker, Floris; Bunschoten, Anton; Smales, Glen J.; Pauw, Brian R.; Velders, Aldrik H.; Saggiomo, Vittorio
The Lycurgus cup is an ancient glass artefact that shows dichroism as it looks green when a white light is reflected on it and a red colouring appears when a white light is transmitted through it. This peculiar dichroic effect is due to silver and gold nanoparticles present in the…
Exploiting In-Situ NMR to Monitor the Formation of a Metal-Organic Framework
Jones, Corey; Hughes, Colan; Yeung, Hamish; Paul, Alison; Harris, Kenneth D. M.; Easun, Timothy
The formation processes of metal-organic frameworks are increasingly widely researched using in-situ techniques, although there remains a scarcity of NMR studies in the field. In this work, the synthesis of MFM-500(Ni) has been investigated using the Combined Liquid- And Solid-State In?situ Crystallization NMR strategy, which provides information on the time-evolution…
Effect of Phosphaphenanthrene Skeleton in Sulfonated Polyimides for Proton Exchange Membrane Application
Mandal, Arun Kumar; Bisoi, Soumendu; Banerjee, Susanta
Sulfonic acid groups containing aromatic polyimides are of great interest as polymer electrolyte membranes owing to their high thermal and mechanical stability, strong resistance to fuel crossover, excellent film-forming ability, and high proton conductivity. However, these polymers generally experience reduced oxidative permanence. To alleviate the problems associated with the oxidative
Physical Chemical Properties of Shea/Cocoa Butter Blends and their Potential for Chocolate Manufacture
Rodriguez-Negrette, Ana Carolina; Huck-Iriart, Cristián; Herrera, María Lidia
Cocoa butter (CB) is the preferred fat for chocolates and confections. However, for technological and economic reasons, there have been strong efforts for partially replacing it. As shea butter (SB) has become an important natural source of symmetrical stearic-rich triacylglycerols (TAG), the aim of this work was to study physical…
Scalable synthesis of dispersible iron carbide (Fe3C) nanoparticles by nanocasting
Fletcher, D. C.; Hunter, R.; Xia, W.; Smales, G. J.; Pauw, B. R.; Blackburn, E.; Kulak, A.; Xin, Huolin; Schnepp, Z.
Metal carbides have shown great promise in a wide range of applications due to their unique catalytic, electrocatalytic and magnetic properties. However, the scalable production of dispersible metal carbide nanoparticles remains a challenge. Here, we report a simple and scalable route to dispersible iron carbide (Fe3C) nanoparticles. This uses MgO…
A π-Conjugated, Covalent Phosphinine Framework
Huang, Jieyang; Tarábek, Ján; Kulkarni, Ranjit; Wang, Cui; Dracínský, Martin; Smales, Glen J.; Tian, Yu; Ren, Shijie; Pauw, Brian R.; Resch-Genger, Ute; Bojdys, Michael J.
Structural modularity of polymer frameworks is a key advantage of covalent organic polymers, however, only C, N, O, Si, and S have found their way into their building blocks so far. Here, the toolbox available to polymer and materials chemists is expanded by one additional nonmetal, phosphorus. Starting with a…
Role of the Hydrophilic Latex Particle Surface in Water Diffusion into Films from Waterborne Polymer Colloids
Konko, Iuliia; Guriyanova, Svetlana; Boyko, Volodymyr; Sun, Lichao; Liu, Dong; Reck, Bernd; Men, Yongfeng
The diffusion mechanism and growth of large-scale domains during the immersion of latex films in water have been thoroughly investigated with scattering techniques in a combination with the gravimetric method. Latex dispersions for film formation studies had identical main monomer compositions and only differ in the hydrophilic comonomers that result…