Dehydration of tetrahydrofuran by pervaporation using crosslinked PVA/PEI blend membranes

Dense blend membranes were prepared by blending hydrophilic polymers poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI), which were then crosslinked by glutaraldehyde (GA) in a mixture of solvents under the catalysis of hydrochloric acid (HCl) for the dehydration of tetrahydrofuran (THF) by pervaporation. The effect of experimental parameters such as feed water concentration, permeate pressure, and membrane thicknesses on permeate parameters, i.e., flux and selectivity were determined with feed water concentration less than 40 wt %. The membranes were found to have good potential for breaking the azeotrope of 94 wt % THF with a flux of 1.072 and 0.376 kg/m² h for plane PVA/PEI and crosslinked PVA/PEI blend membrane, which exhibited high selectivity of 156 and 579 respectively. Selectivity was found to improve with decreasing feed water concentration and increasing membrane thickness, whereas flux decreased correspondingly. High permeate pressure causes a reduction in both flux and selectivity. These effects were clearly elucidated with the aid of the known relationship among plasticization effect, degree of swelling, permeate pressure, and feed water concentration. These blend membranes were also subjected to sorption studies to evaluate the extent of interaction and degree of swelling in pure as well as binary feed mixtures. Further ion exchange capacity studies were carried out for all the crosslinked and uncrosslinked membranes to determine the total number of interacting groups present in the membranes. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 1152–1161, 2006     

Performance Evaluation Indicator (PEI): A new paradigm to evaluate the competence of machine learning classifiers in predicting rockmass conditions

To illustrate an unprejudiced comparison among machine learning classifiers established on proprietary databases, and to guarantee the validity and robustness of these classifiers, a Performance Evaluation Indicator (PEI) and the corresponding failure criterion are proposed in this study. Three types of machine learning classifiers, including the strictly binary classifier, the normal multiclass classifier and the misclassification cost-sensitive classifier, are trained on four datasets recorded from a water drainage TBM project. The results indicate that: (1) the PEI successfully compares the competence of classifiers under different scenarios by isolating the effects of different overlapping-degree of rockmass classes, and (2) the cost-sensitive algorithm is warranted to classify rockmasses when the ratio of inter-class classes is more than 8:1. The contributions of this research are to fill the gap in performance evaluations of a classifier for imbalanced training data, and to identify the best situation to apply this classifier.     

聚乙烯亚胺含量对( Ni-P) -纳米Si3 N4复合刷镀层性能的影响

聚乙烯亚胺(PEI)是一种水溶性的高分子阳离子聚合物表面活性剂,可通过吸附在颗粒周围来阻止纳米颗粒相互接近,使得它们不能相互碰撞、吸引,防止纳米颗粒絮凝、团聚.研究了聚乙烯亚胺(PEI)表面活性剂对刷镀(Ni-P)-纳米Si3N4复合镀层性能及结构的影响,并确定了聚乙烯亚胺表面活性剂在复合刷镀液中的最佳含量.结果表明:聚乙烯亚胺表面活性剂能有效阻止复合刷镀液中颗粒的絮凝、团聚,其用量对复合刷镀层中Si3N4含量、刷镀层硬度及摩擦性能有显著的影响.当其含量为0.8 g/L时,获得了分散均匀、稳定悬浮的复合刷镀液,复合刷镀层微观表面结构致密,微粒分布均匀,摩擦因数最小为0.16,显微硬度最大为HV910.     

A low-cost and low-temperature processable zinc oxide-polyethylenimine (ZnO:PEI) nano-composite as cathode buffer layer for organic and perovskite solar cells

Nanocomposite buffer layer based on metal oxide and polymer is merging as a novel buffer layer for organic solar cells, which combines the high charge carrier mobility of metal oxide and good film formation properties of polymer. In this work, a nanocomposite of zinc oxide and a commercialized available polyethylenimine (PEI) was developed and used as the cathode buffer layer (CBL) for the inverted organic solar cells and p-i-n heterojunction perovskite solar cells. The cooperation of PEI in nano ZnO offers a good film forming ability of the composite material, which is an advantage in device fabrication. In addition, power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the ZnO:PEI CBL based device was also improved when compared to that of ZnO-only and PEI-only devices. The highest PCE of P3HT:PC₆₁BM and PTB7-Th:PC₆₁BM devices reached to 3.57% and 8.16%, respectively. More importantly, there is no obvious device performance loss with the increase of the layer thickness of ZnO:PEI CBL to 60 nm in organic solar cells, which is in contrast to the PEI based devices, whose device performance decreases dramatically when the PEI layer thickness is higher than 6 nm. Such a nano composite material is also applicable in inverted heterojunction perovskite solar cells. A PCE of 11.76% was achieved for the perovskite solar cell with a thick ZnO:PEI CBL (150 nm) CBL, which is around 1.71% higher than that of the reference cell without CBL, or with ZnO CBL. In addition, stability of the organic and perovskite solar cells having ZnO:PEI CBL was also found to be improved in comparison with that of PEI based device.     

Effect of PEI cathode interlayer on work function and interface resistance of ITO electrode in the inverted polymer solar cells

In this paper, we investigated the effect of PEI cathode interlayer on the work function and the interface resistance of ITO electrode in the inverted polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on PBDTTT-C-T:PC₇₀BM. It is found that a very thin layer of PEI (⩽5.5 nm), either linear PEI (l-PEI) or branched PEI (b-PEI) with different molecular weights, is enough to lower the work function of the ITO electrode and to enhance the photovoltaic performance of the devices. The champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the devices with the PEI cathode interlayer is 7.84%, more than doubled of that without the interlayer. However, a thicker PEI interlayer (⩾10 nm) results in abrupt decrease of the PCEs due to the increase of the resistance. Interestingly, for the thicker interlayers, the l-PEI shows high photovoltaic performance than that of b-PEI, which can also be explained by their difference in the resistances. This work supplies an insight into the function of PEI cathode interlayer on improving the work function and resistance of ITO electrode in the inverted PSCs, and provides some instructions on the future design of interlayer materials in PSCs.     

Dendrimer as nanocarrier for drug delivery

Dendrimers are novel three dimensional, hyperbranched globular nanopolymeric architectures. Attractive features like nanoscopic size, narrow polydispersity index, excellent control over molecular structure, availability of multiple functional groups at the periphery and cavities in the interior distinguish them amongst the available polymers. Applications of dendrimers in a large variety of fields have been explored. Drug delivery scientists are especially enthusiastic about possible utility of dendrimers as drug delivery tool. Terminal functionalities provide a platform for conjugation of the drug and targeting moieties. In addition, these peripheral functional groups can be employed to tailor-make the properties of dendrimers, enhancing their versatility. The present review highlights the contribution of dendrimers in the field of nanotechnology with intent to aid the researchers in exploring dendrimers in the field of drug delivery.     

多壁碳纳米管的PEI修饰及NO吸附性能研究

采用CVD法以SBA-16为模板、以Fe为催化剂合成多壁碳纳米管,并对多壁碳纳米管进行羧基化,羧基化后的多壁碳纳米管分别与直链和支链结构的聚乙烯亚胺(PEI)作用.SEM、TEM及IR结果表明,羧基化后的多壁碳纳米管与PEI作用后,多壁碳纳米管表面具有酰氨基和吸附态的PEI.Ram an和XRD研究表明,PEI修饰后的多壁碳纳米管的结构并未改变.采用TG-MS对PEI修饰前后的碳纳米管进行的等温NO吸附-脱附实验表明,经支链PEI修饰的多壁碳纳米管,其NO选择性、吸附能力和吸附量较直链PEI修饰和纯化的多壁碳纳米管明显提高.     

制备处理镉废水的复合螯合-吸附剂的试验研究

以聚乙烯亚胺、二硫化碳、氢氧化钠、尿素为原料合成改性复合螯合-吸附剂,采用了XRD对其进行了表征,并研究了该体系的合成化学,探讨了晶化时间和晶化温度、体系PH值等因素对本合成体系改性复合螯合-吸附剂的结晶度、晶化速度的影响。     

Preparation and characterization of PEG-PEI/Fe3O4 nano-magnetic fluid by co-precipitation method

PEG-PEI/Fe3O4 nano-magnetic fluids with different mass fractions of reactant were prepared by co-precipitation method. Besides particle size analyzer, the methods of XRD, IR, VSM and AFM were adopted to characterize the synthesized samples. Covalent bonding of PEG, PEI and Fe3O4 exhibits superparamagnetism. The TEM photograph shows that the particles are of stable dispersion and little aggregation, with smooth surface, spherical shape and a diameter of about 80 nm, which meets the requirements of nano-materials. When the mass fraction of PEI in reactant is 25%, the particle size, Zeta-potential and pEGFP-CI DNA loading efficiency are all satisfactory. In this case, PEG-PEI/Fe3O4 nano-magnetic fluids can be used as gene vectors or targeted drug carriers.     

Polymer brush coatings for combating marine biofouling

A variety of functional polymer brushes and coatings have been developed for combating marine biofouling and biocorrosion with much less environmental impact than traditional biocides. This review summarizes recent developments in marine antifouling polymer brushes and coatings that are tethered to material surfaces and do not actively release biocides. Polymer brush coatings have been designed to inhibit molecular fouling, microfouling and macrofouling through incorporation or inclusion of multiple functionalities. Hydrophilic polymers, such as poly(ethylene glycol), hydrogels, zwitterionic polymers and polysaccharides, resist attachment of marine organisms effectively due to extensive hydration. Fouling release polymer coatings, based on fluoropolymers and poly(dimethylsiloxane) elastomers, minimize adhesion between marine organisms and material surfaces, leading to easy removal of biofoulants. Polycationic coatings are effective in reducing marine biofouling partly because of their good bactericidal properties. Recent advances in controlled radical polymerization and click chemistry have also allowed better molecular design and engineering of multifunctional brush coatings for improved antifouling efficacies.