Liao, Tao; Zhao, Xintong; Yang, Xiao; Whiteside, Ben; Coates, Phil; Jiang, Zhiyong; Men, Yongfeng
Predicting the location of weld line in microinjection-molded polyethylene via molecular orientation distribution
The microstructure and molecular orientation distribution over both the length and the thickness of microinjection-molded linear low-density polyethylene with a weld line were characterized as a function of processing parameters using small-angle X-ray scattering and wide-angle X-ray diffraction techniques. The weld line was introduced via recombination of two separated melt…
Synthesis of Anthracene Conjugates of Truncated Antifreeze Protein Sequences: Effect of the End Group and Photocontrolled Dimerization on Ice Recrystallization Inhibition Activity
Graham, Ben; Fayter, Alice E. R.; Gibson, Matthew I.
Biomacromolecular antifreezes distinguish ice from water, function by binding to specific planes of ice, and could have many applications from cryobiology to aerospace where ice is a problem. In biology, antifreeze protein (AFP) activity is regulated by protein expression levels via temperature and light-regulated expression systems, but in the laboratory…
Crystallization of forms I? and form II of polybutene-1 in stretched polypropylene/polybutene-1 blends
Xu, Yao; Ma, Yaping; Liu, Chenguang; Men, Yongfeng; He, Aihua
In this work, the effects of orientated crystal morphology of polypropylene (PP) induced by tensile stretching on the subsequent crystallization behavior of polybutene-1 (PB-1) in the incompatible PP/PB-1 (50/50) blends were studied. When the PP/PB-1 blends were stretched at a temperature above melting temperature (Tm) of PB-1 but below the…
Elaboration of microporous CeO2 thin layers having nanocrystallites network controlled by Pluronic P123: Impact of key experimental parameters
Lu, Zijie; Rébiscoul, Diane; Causse, Jeremy; le Goff, Xavier; Mollard, Nicolas; Deschanels, Xavier
Microporous ceria thin films having nanocrystallites network were synthesized by evaporation-induced self-assembly process, using P123 amphiphilic copolymer as structure-directing agent. The impact of key experimental parameters, i.e., the sol ageing, the relative humidity (RH), the thermal treatment, on the thin layer elaboration were investigated. The results show that the organization…
Influence of hydrogen bonding on the crystallization behavior of poly(ethylene oxide)/ionic liquids mixtures
Li, Wenze; Gong, Pengjian; Huang, Yajiang; Niu, Yanhua; Li, Guangxian
Two types of imidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs) and and their mixtures were blended with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) matrix to tune the strength of intermolecular hydrogen bonding in the system. With the addition of ILs, particularly increasing ratio, significantly reduced overall crystallization kinetics in the order of pure
Introducing Functionality to Fluorinated Electroactive Polymers
Kallitsis, Konstantinos; Soulestin, Thibaut; Tencé-Girault, Sylvie; Brochon, Cyril; Cloutet, Eric; Domingues Dos Santos, Fabrice; Hadziioannou, Georges
Fluorinated electroactive polymers (FEPs) are among the most interesting insulating materials for the production of organic electronic devices. Their ability to tune their response to an applied electric field makes them appropriate for vastly different applications in electronics. However, due to the chemical inertness of such polymers and the rather…
Periodic Polyethylene Sulfonates from Polyesterification: Bulk and Nanoparticle Morphologies and Ionic Conductivities
Rank, Christina; Yan, Lu; Mecking, Stefan; Winey, Karen I.
A series of polyethylene-like ionomers with periodic sulfonate groups were synthesized by polyesterification of octatetracontane-1,48-diol and tetrabutylammonium dimethyl sulfosuccinate. Optional cation exchange in aqueous dispersions replaced the NBu4+ counterions for Na+ or Cs+. The defined periodic microstructure of the polymers leads to the formation of layered structures in bulk and…
Variance of Zein Protein and Starch Granule Morphology between Corn and Steam Flaked Products Determined Starch Ruminal Degradability Through Altering Starch Hydrolyzing Bacteria Attachment
Xu, NingNing; Wang, DiMing; Liu, JianXin
The current study investigated differences of ?-zein protein contents and starch granule characteristics between raw and steam flaked corns and their influences on ruminal starch hydrolyzing bacteria (SHB) attached to corn grain. Two types of raw (Corn1 and Corn2) and their steam-flaked products (SFCorn1 and SFCorn2) were applied to explore…
Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Ultrasmall Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles
Saloga, Patrick E. J.; Thünemann, Andreas F.
We report on ultrasmall zinc oxide single-crystalline nanoparticles of narrow size distribution and long-term colloidal stability. These oleate-stabilized nanoparticles were synthesized using microwave-assisted synthesis for 5 min, corresponding to a 99% decrease in synthesis time, when compared to the conventional synthesis method. It was observed that the average particle radius…
Moebius strips of chiral block copolymers
Geng, Zhen; Xiong, Bijin; Wang, Liquan; Wang, Ke; Ren, Min; Zhang, Lianbin; Zhu, Jintao; Yang, Zhenzhong
The Moebius topology (twisted, single-sided strip) is intriguing because of its structural elegance and distinct properties. Here we report the generation of block copolymer Moebius strips via a fast self-assembly of chiral block copolymer polystyrene-block-poly(D-lactide acid) (PS-b-PDLA) in tetrahydrofuran/water mixed solvents. The Moebius strip is formed by morphological evolution from…