Magnesium fertilization has a greater impact on soil and leaf nutrient concentrations than nitrogen or calcium fertilization in Florida orange production

Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems - Citrus production has been declining in Florida since 2004, mainly because of Huanglongbing (HLB), a deadly disease that is affecting an increasingly large...     

Films made from polyethylene‐co‐acrylic acid and soluble biopolymers sourced from agricultural and municipal biowaste

Blends were obtained from polyethylene‐co‐acrylic acid (PEAA) with 248 kDa molecular weight and two water soluble biopolymers isolated from the hydrolysate of postharvest tomato plant and urban biowaste compost. The two hydrolysates were constituted respectively from a polysaccharide (SP) with 27 kDa molecular weight and a lignin‐like polymer (LP) with 75 kDa molecular weight containing aliphatic and aromatic C moieties substituted by carboxyl, hydroxyl, and amino groups. Evidence was obtained for reactions occurring between the biopolymers and the synthetic polymer leading to new polymers with 151 to 1243 kDa molecular weights. The thermal and mechanical properties of the blends were studied. Compared with neat PEAA, the PEAA‐LP blends containing 5 to 10% LP exhibited 2 to 5× higher molecular weights, 10 to 50% lower crystallinity, 2 to 6× higher Young's modulus, over 3× higher stress at yield point and somewhat lower strain at break (55–280% vs. over 300%). On the contrary the PEAA‐SP blends exhibited 6 to 13% lower crystallinity and the same mechanical properties as neat PEAA. The results offer scope for investigating biopolymers sourced from other biowastes to understand more the reasons of the observed effects and exploit their full potential to modify or to replace synthetic polymers. Perspectives of economic and environmental benefits are discussed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41909.     

Single-crystal organic charge-transfer interfaces probed using Schottky-gated heterostructures

Organic semiconductors based on small conjugated molecules generally behave as insulators when undoped, but the heterointerfaces of two such materials can show electrical conductivity as large as in a metal. Although charge transfer is commonly invoked to explain the phenomenon, the details of the process and the nature of the interfacial charge carriers remain largely unexplored. Here we use Schottky-gated heterostructures to probe the conducting layer at the interface between rubrene and PDIF-CN(2) single crystals. Gate-modulated conductivity measurements demonstrate that interfacial transport is due to electrons, whose mobility exhibits band-like behaviour from room temperature to ~150 K, and remains as high as ~1 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) at 30 K for the best devices. The electron density decreases linearly with decreasing temperature, an observation that can be explained quantitatively on the basis of the heterostructure band diagram. These results elucidate the electronic structure of rubrene/PDIF-CN(2) interfaces and show the potential of Schottky-gated organic heterostructures for the investigation of transport in molecular semiconductors.     

SMART Silly Putty: Stretchable,Malleable, Adherable,Reusable, and Tear-Resistible Hydrogels

Cell engineering, soft robotics, and wearable electronics often desire soft materials that are easy to deform, self-heal readily, and can relax stress rapidly. Hydrogels, a type of hydrophilic networks, are such kind of materials that can be made responsive to environmental stimuli. However, conventional hydrogels often suffer from poor stretchability and repairability. Here, hydrogels consisting of boronic ester dynamic covalent bonds in a double network of poly(vinyl alcohol)/boric acid and chitosan are synthesized, which demonstrate extreme stretchability (up to 310 times the original length), instant self-healing (within 5 s), and reusability and inherent adhesion. Their instant stress relaxation stems from a low activation energy of the boronic ester bond exchange (≤20 kJ mol⁻¹) and contributes to the extreme stretchability and self-healing behaviors. Various water-dispersible additives can be readily incorporated in the hydrogels via hand kneading for potential applications such as soft electronics, bio-signal sensing, and soft artificial joints.     

New material for orthopedic implants: Electrochemical study of nickel free P558 stainless steel in minimum essential medium

Nickel, a component of stainless steels (SS) applied in orthopedic implants may cause allergic processes in human tissues. P558 nickel free SS was studied to verify its viability as a substitute for stainless steel containing nickel. Its performance is compared to ISO 5832-9 and F138 most used nowadays grades in implants fabrications, in minimum essential medium, MEM, at 37 °C. Potentiodynamic polarization curves, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and “in vitro” cytotoxicity were used as techniques. From the electrochemical point of view P558 SS is comparable to ISO 5832-9 SS in MEM. It remains passivated until the transpassivation potential, above which generalized corrosion occurs. F138 presents pitting corrosion at 370 mV/SCE. The cytotoxicity results showed that P558, ISO 5832-9 and F138 do not present cytotoxic character. Therefore, these results suggest that P558 SS can be applied in orthopedic implants.     

Fire behavior and smoke emission of phosphate–based inorganic fire‐retarded polyester resin

The fire behavior and the smoke emission of an unsaturated polyester resin modified by the addition of three phosphorus‐based fire‐retardant materials (ammonium polyphosphate (APP), silane‐coated APP, and melamine pyrophosphate) at two concentration levels (20% w/w, 35% w/w) have been investigated. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and optical microscopy analysis have been performed to verify the dispersion and the action mechanism of additives within the resin. Results from cone calorimetric tests demonstrated that the incorporation of the fire retardants at 35% w/w has a strong effect on flammability and smoke suppressant properties with respect to both the neat resin and the loaded systems at 20% (w/w). In particular, the smoke formation and smoke parameters are reduced by 50% and 80%, respectively, leading to the conclusion that APP can be used single‐handedly without combination with specific smoke suppressors. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preparation of MnO<Subscript><Emphasis Type=Italic>x</Emphasis></Subscript>/AISI 304 Austenitic Stainless Steel Monoliths for Catalytic Combustion of Ethyl Acetate

Abstract  

The objective of this study is to explore the treatment conditions of austenitic stainless steel, AISI 304, for catalytic devices used in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) combustion. The variables studied were treatment exposure time, temperature and atmosphere. AISI 304 steel surface resulted in different morphologies depending on temperature and atmosphere. The oxide layer was composed of mixed oxides of Cr–Fe and Cr–Mn–Fe, forming octahedral and hexagonal crystals. The addition of manganese with the objective of reaching the ideal Mn/Fe ratio improved notably the catalytic performance.     

Study on bisphenol-A polycarbonates samples crystallized by acetone vapor induction

Bisphenol-A polycarbonate (PC) is an important amorphous engineering polymer, which can have its crystallinity induced by special environmental conditions. Such crystallization can alter PC properties leading to flaws during its use or to new applications. Cast film samples of PC, prepared from chloroform solutions, were submitted to acetone vapor and characterized by polarized light microscopy (PLM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). PLM showed that the PC crystalline structure was presented as spherulites of different sizes. DSC analysis exhibited a multiple melting behavior for the crystalline structure. FTIR has presented bands shifting and intensity decrease, compared to the samples before treatment. Compression molded samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), DSC and mechanical properties tests. For those samples, DSC also showed the presence of a crystalline phase, with a little increase on surface rugosity observed through SEM. Stress–strain tests presented a decrease on samples performance after acetone exposure.