Hydrogel photocatalysts for efficient energy conversion and environmental treatment

Photocatalysts have attracted great research interest owing to their excellent properties and potential for simultaneously addressing challenges related to energy needs and environmental pollution. Photocatalytic particles need to be in contact with their respective media to exhibit efficient photocatalytic performances. However, it is difficult to separate nanometer-sized photocatalytic materials from reaction media later, which may lead to secondary pollution and a poor recycling performance. Hydrogel photocatalysts with a three-dimensional (3D) network structures are promising support materials for photocatalysts based on features such as high specific surface areas and adsorption capacities and good environmental compatibility. In this review, hydrogel photocatalysts are classified into two different categories depending on their elemental composition and recent progresses in the methods for preparing hydrogel photocatalysts are summarized. Moreover, current applications of hydrogel photocatalysts in energy conversion and environmental remediation are reviewed. Furthermore, a comprehensive outlook and highlight future challenges in the development of hydrogel photocatalysts are presented.     

Breakdown characteristics of oil and paper insulation for a very fast transient voltage

This paper describes the dielectric breakdown characteristics of oil and oil‐impregnated paper for very fast transient (VFT) voltages. Blumlein circuits generate VFT voltages of 60 and 300 ns in a pulse width that simulates disconnecting switching surges in gas‐insulated switch gears. We measured the breakdown voltages of needle‐to‐plane, plane‐to‐plane oil gaps and several pieces of paper between plane electrodes for VFT and lightning impulse voltages. The measured data were formulated in V‐t characteristics and Weibull probability distributions. The inclination n of V‐t characteristics of insulating paper is 150, which is less than n = 13.7 of the plane‐to‐plane oil gap in the VFT time range. The shape parameters of Weibull distribution obtained in this study show that the scattering of breakdown voltages of paper is much less than that of oil. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 141(4): 16–24, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10043     

Effects of Oxygen Absorber and Temperature on ω3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids of Sardine Oil during Storage

To prevent loss of w3 polyunsaturated fatty acids over long-term preservation, the effects of temperature and oxygen absorber on the fatty acids of sardine oil stored in air-tight film were studied. The fatty acids of sardine oil and lipids in the diet of experimental animals rapidly decreased over 1 month at 22°C. The amounts in the diet decreased slowly at 2°C; however, no alterations in the oil samples were observed for 6 months. Also, the amounts did not change at -30°C. Significant changes in samples treated with oxygen absorber were not observed under all temperatures during 6 months storage (P > 0.05). These results indicate that treatment with an oxygen absorber and/or freezing can prevent ω3 polyunsaturated fatty acids of fish oil from decreasing during storage.     

Polarity control of GaN epilayers grown on ZnO templates

We report the successful growth of Ga-polar GaN epilayers on O-polar ZnO templates pre-deposited on c-sapphire. Prior to GaN growth, NH₃ is exposed onto the ZnO template. The polarity of the GaN layers is confirmed by etching of the surface and by conversion beam electron diffraction (CBED), while the O-polar ZnO is confirmed by CBED. It is suggested that the NH₃ pre-exposure helps form a Zn₃N₂ layer, which possesses inversion symmetry and inverts the crystal from anion polar to cation polar.     

氧浓度对近临界水中纤维素分解的影响

研究了不同初始氧浓度对纤维素在近临界水中分解的影响，实验结果表明，氧浓度显著地影响产物总碳收支平衡，液相不同组分的收率、气体的产量以及气相产物的组成，微量氧对产物总碳收支平衡影响不大，而对液相不同组分的收率有一定的影响。从实验结果可以看出，离子型反应机理在纤维素水解的第一步中起主导作用。而单糖的进一步分解是一个以自由基反应机理为主的过程。     

New polylactide/layered silicate nanocomposites. 5. Designing of materials with desired properties

Understanding the structure/property relationship in polymer/layered silicate nanocomposites is of great importance in designing materials with desired properties. In order to understand these relations, a series of polylactide (PLA)/organically modified layered silicate (OMLS) nanocomposites have been prepared using a simple melt extrusion technique. Four different types of OMLS have been used for the preparation of nanocomposites, three were modified with functionalized ammonium salts while fourth one was a phosphonium salt modified OMLS. The structure of the nanocomposites in the nanometer scale was characterized by using wide-angle X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopic observations. Using four different types of layered silicates modified with four different types of surfactants, the effect of OMLS in nanocomposites was investigated by focusing on four major aspects: structural analysis, thermal properties and spherulite morphology, materials properties, and biodegradability. Finally, we draw conclusions about the structure/property relationship in the case of PLA/OMLS nanocomposites.     

Structural development in cycloolefin copolymers under uniaxial elongational flow

Development of structures in new cycloolefin copolymers (COCs) of ethylene–norbornene (E–NB) and ethylene–tetracyclododecene (E–TD) of different NB/TD compositions were investigated under uniaxial elongational flow. For E–NB copolymer, which has multiblock sequences, a shoulder in WAXD at 0.76 nm was evident besides its amorphous halo, and the relative intensity of the peak increased with increasing comonomer content (NB). The appearance of a new peak for E–TD copolymer, and a relatively higher intense peak for E–NB copolymer at the same position of 0.76 nm, indicated that local ordering of the segments occurred when the COC was subjected to uniaxial flow. A lower comonomer composition of elongated COC, at a constant Hencky strain rate, exhibited two T_g values, whereas a higher composition showed a single T_g. Both local ordering and segmentization occurred in low comonomer content COCs but only local ordering occurred in higher comonomer content COCs. Both the shear viscosity and roll processing experiments exhibited similar phenomena of segregation. A model is proposed to illustrate the structure of COC after uniaxial elongation/deformation. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 91: 3421–3427, 2004     

Multi-step precipitation separation system using mixture of thermosensitive polymers

Summary Multi-step precipitation separation system was developed by using aqueous mixtures of some thermosensitive polymers. The following three polymers were used here; poly(N-n-propylacrylamide), poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), and poly(N-isopropylmethacrylamide). A mixture of the three polymers showed three endothermic peaks, and the peak top temperatures were almost consistent with that of the each polymer solution. The polymers were purified by thermal precipitation to obtain fractions which can respond in narrow temperature ranges prior to use. In the case of the precipitation separation of two polymers mixtures, purities of the obtained precipitate and supernatant fractions became high comparing with the case in which the unpurified polymers were used. Parts of the polymers which were not the precipitation targets were also precipitated by the separation procedures. This was caused not only by insolubilization of the non-targeted polymers due to their phase transitions but also by their non-specific entanglement with the targeted polymers. The purities of the fractions also improved when the difference of the phase transition temperature between two polymers was large enough to avoid the coprecipitation. In the case of the precipitation separation of mixtures of the three polymers, purities of each fraction also improved when the purified polymers were used.     

Rapid Quenching Technique Using Thermal-Image Furnace for Glass Preparation

A new technique combining a thermal-image furnace and a twin roller is described for quenching the melt to form glass. The technique was applied to the simple system Li₂O-SiO₂, since its fundamental parameters in the estimation of critical cooling rate are available. Glass flakes were obtained in the composition Li₄SiO₄, for which a very large critical cooling rate (∼10⁹ K·s⁻¹) was needed for glass formation.     

Reactive processing of polymer blends: Analysis of the change in morphological and interfacial parameters with processing

The change in morphology and interface quantities have been analyzed for an immiscible polymer blend during reactive processing. A model polymer/polymer combination, hydroxy-terminated poly(ε-caprolactone)/liquid rubber with α, ω-carboxy groups, was employed. The blend was subjected to light scattering measurements, ellipsometry, and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Size reduction of the dispersed phase during processing was followed by a systematic decrease in the correlation distance ζ and an increase in the specific interfacial area Ssp, both by the Debye-Bueche plot of light scattering profiles. Also observed was the time variation of the volume fraction of interface V_λ estimated as a product of the Ssp and the interfacial thickness by ellipsometry. The changes in ζ, Ssp, and V_λ with processing were accelerated when a coupling agent,γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS), was added. The amount of block copolymer formed in-situ in the APS-loaded system was estimated by GPC with RI and UV detectors. For the size reduction kinetics in both APS-loaded and -unloaded systems, Rittinger's law was found to be applicable.