The microwave-assisted synthesis and characterization of novel metal-free and metallophthalocyanines peripherally fused to four 13-membered diazadithia macrocycles

The novel tetrasubstituted metal-free phthalocyanine and metallophthalocyanines 7, bearing four 13-membered diazadithia macrocycle moieties at peripheral positions were synthesized by cyclotetramerization of the corresponding phthalonitrile derivative in a multi-step reaction sequence. The metal-free phthalocyanine was synthesized by microwave irradiation of the corresponding dicyano compound in 2-(dimethylamino)ethanol for 10 min. Metallophthalocyanines were obtained from the respective dicyano derivative and corresponding anhydrous metal salts NiCl₂ and ZnCl₂, CoCl₂, CuCl₂, respectively, by microwave irradiation in 2-(dimethylamino)ethanol at 175 °C, 350 W for 10 min. The new compounds were characterized by a combination of IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, UV–vis, elemental analysis and MS spectral data.     

Zinc oxide nanowire enhanced multifunctional coatings for cotton fabrics

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires have been grown on cotton fabric to impart self-cleaning, superhydrophobicity and ultraviolet (UV) blocking properties. ZnO nanowires were grown by the microwave assisted hydrothermal method and subsequently functionalized with steraic acid to obtain a water contact angle of 150°, showing their superhydrophobic nature which is found to be stable up to 4 washings. UV protection of the resulting cotton fabric was also examined and significant decrease in the transmission of UV range was observed. Self-cleaning activity of the ZnO nanowire coated cotton fabric was also studied and it showed considerable degradation of methylene blue under UV light irradiation. These results suggest that ZnO nanowires could form ideal multifunctional coatings for textiles.     

Electrochemical impedance study of polyaniline electrocoated porous carbon foam

Electropolymerization of aniline on mesophase pitch based carbon foam has been studied in order to evaluate the influence of conductive polymer coating on the properties of carbon foam. The surface morphology of the coating was determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to investigate the electrochemical properties of resulting modified carbon foam samples. Polyaniline (PANI) electrocoated-mesophase pitch based carbon foam showed good capacitor behavior in 0.5 M H₂SO₄. Better capacitive behavior is obtained for 100 and 150 mV/s compared to other scan rates, under these faster scan rates thinner films of PANI coatings were combined with more porous structure of carbon foam. Conductivity of the carbon foam was increased from 9.23 to 13.73 S/cm by electrocoating of PANI.     

Probabilistic neural networks combined with wavelet coefficients for analysis of electroencephalogram signals

Abstract: In this paper, the probabilistic neural network is presented for classification of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Decision making is performed in two stages: feature extraction by wavelet transform and classification using the classifiers trained on the extracted features. The purpose is to determine an optimum classification scheme for this problem and also to infer clues about the extracted features. The present research demonstrates that the wavelet coefficients obtained by the wavelet transform are features which represent the EEG signals well. The conclusions indicate that the probabilistic neural network trained on the wavelet coefficients achieves high classification accuracies (the total classification accuracy is 97.63%).     

Mechanical and Thermal Properties of 3D-Printed Biocomposites of Polylactic Acid and Thermally Modified Wood Flour with Silver Nanoparticles

This study investigates the effects of thermal treatment and silver nanoparticles on the mechanical and thermal properties of additively manufactured wood/polylactic acid (PLA) specimens. The 5 and 10 wt% additions of the wood flour into the PLA matrix are done in the twin screw extruder. The test specimens are produced from the filaments with a diameter of 1.75 mm using 3D printer. The mechanical properties of the 3D-printed wood/PLA specimens are affected by the wood flour content, thermal treatment of wood, and silver nanoparticles. The 3D-printed neat PLA specimens have better mechanical properties than the wood flour-filled PLA specimens. The bending strength of the specimens enhances with increasing wood flour content while the tensile strength decreases. The increases in the mechanical properties reveal that the thermal treatment of the wood improves the compatibility between wood and PLA matrix, which hereby improves the interfacial adhesion. The addition of the silver nanoparticles positively affects the mechanical properties and it is more compatible with thermally modified wood particles as compared to the untreated wood particles.     

Effects of electrospraying parameters on deposition of La0.3Sr0.7Fe0.7Cr0.3O3−δ cathode layer on GDC

High performance in intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells requires improvements especially in the microstructure of the cathode layer. New cobalt-free cathode materials are used because cobalt-containing cathodes have higher thermal expansion coefficients, poor long-term chemical stability, and lower mechanical stability. Recently cobalt-free cathodes have been proposed to solve these issues by using deposition methods other than electrospray deposition (ESD). In this study, ESD method is used to develop a cobalt-free cathode layer. The electrolyte layer is gadolinium-doped ceria that is deposited with La_0.3Sr_0.7Fe_0.7 Cr_0.3O_3−δ (LSFCr) prepared by 2-butoxyethanol and ethylene glycol solvents as opposed to conventional solvents. Experimental ESD parameters are tested at different levels and combinations by applying statistical experimental design methods to optimize the microstructure. Coating deposited as such demonstrated higher electrochemical performance than similar electrodes fabricated by other methods.     

Diffusion coefficients and phase equilibria of carbon dioxide–ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF6]) system

This article presents the mutual diffusion coefficients of a carbon dioxide–ionic liquid, [bmim][PF₆], system at temperatures of 313.15 and 323.15 K and pressures of 5 and 8 MPa. In order to estimate the diffusion coefficients, we have carried out experiments to find time-dependent carbon dioxide solubilities in the ionic liquid and then fit a transport model to the data. In a system containing high pressure carbon dioxide and ionic liquid, carbon dioxide dissolves in the liquid until its equilibrium mole fraction is reached. During this process, the position of the liquid–vapour interface and the density of the liquid phase change. To account for the variation in liquid density, an equation fit to the experimental density data is included in the transport model. To track the moving interface, the volume-of-fluid method is used. The diffusivities at dilute concentration and at thermodynamic phase equilibrium are determined and compared with the literature values and those obtained from correlations.     

Understanding the role of d-Allulose and soy protein addition in pectin gels

d -Allulose (a monosaccharide and C3 epimer of fructose), one of the common rare sugars is getting attention due to its low caloric values. In this study, d -Allulose was used as a replacement of sucrose at different ratios (d -Allulose/Sucrose: 35/0, 20/15, 10/25, 0/35) to formulate pectin-based soft confectionery gels. Soy protein isolate was also added to increase the protein content. Physical properties, such as hardness, moisture content, pH, and color, were measured for the gels. Higher hardness values were obtained for the soy protein containing gels due to pectin–soy protein interaction (p < 0.05). Also, higher moisture content was observed in soy protein containing gels (p < 0.05). In addition, nuclear magnetic resonance T₂ relaxation times were measured at low field (~0.5 T) to determine how the water distribution in the samples changed and to observe how d -Allulose affected the polymer–water interactions. The study also showed that the presence of d -Allulose increased the crystallization tendency (% crystallinity of 7.9) of the pectin gels. X-ray diffraction results showed the d -allulose peaks at 33.76 and 48.68^oθ. Morphologies of the gels were also examined by scanning electron microscope. Sugar type and soy protein isolate addition were found to have significant impact on the gel formulations.