Silane Terminated Prepolymers: An Alternative to Silicones and Polyurethanes

Silane terminated prepolymers for adhesives, sealants and coatings are of great industrial importance. They are very important because of their low toxicity over polyurethanes, silicones, and solvent-based products. Hence, many pieces of literature which deal with the synthesis, properties and applications of this Silane terminated polymers hybrid system exist. Silylated polyether (MS polymers) and Silylated Polyurethane Polymers (SPUR) are the bases for numerous sealants, adhesives and coatings used worldwide. A hybrid system mixed with organic-polyurethane proportion and inorganic-alkoxysilane proportion combines the benefits of conventional polyurethane and silicone-based products. This article reviews the chemistry of MS polymers and SPUR and their advantages and disadvantages in silyl terminated prepolymer-based adhesives, sealants and coatings as well as provides information on different end applications.

Electronic and Optical Properties of O-Terminated Armchair Graphene Nanoribbons

The structure, electromagnetic and optical properties of the O-terminated graphene nanorib- bons with armchair edge are studied using first-principles theory. The results show that the O-terminated armchair edge are more stable than the H-terminated ribbons and show metal- lic character. Spin-polarized calculations reveal that the antiferromagnetic state are more stable than the ferromagnetic state. The energy band and density of states analyses show that the O-terminated armchair edge are antiferromagnetic semiconductors. Because of the terminated 0 atoms, the dielectric function has an evident red shift and the first peak is the strongest with its main contribution derived from the highest valence band. The peaks of the dielectric function, reflection, absorption, energy loss are related to the transition of electrons. Our results suggest that the O-terminated graphene nanoribbons have potential applications in nanoelectronics, opto-electric devices.

Surface Oxygen Adsorption and Electric Property of Hydrogen-Terminated Single Crystal Diamonds by UV/ozone Treatment

Surface terminations of diamond play an important role in determining the electric properties of diamond-based electronic devices.We report an ultraviolet/ozone(UV/ozone)treatment process on hydrogen-terminated single crystal diamond(H-diamond)to modulate the carrier behavior related to varying oxygen adsorption on surfaces.By UV/ozone treatments,the induced oxygen radicals are chemically adsorbed on the H-terminated diamond and replace the original adsorbed H,which is analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.The concentration of oxygen adsorbed on surface increases from^3%to^8%with increasing the ozone treatment time from 20 s to 600 s.It is further confirmed by examining the wettability properties of the varying diamond surfaces,where the hydrophobic for H-termination transfers to hydrophilic for partly O-termination.Hall effect measurements show that the resistance(hole mobility)of the UV/ozone-treated H-diamond continuously increases(decrease)by two orders of magnitude with increasing UV/ozone treatment time from 20 s to 600 s.The results reveal that UV/ozone treatment becomes an efficient method to modulate the surface electrical properties of H-diamonds for further investigating the oxygenation effect on two-dimensional hole gas based diamond devices applied in some extreme environments.

CURE CHARACTERISTICS OF HYDROXYL TERMINATED POLYBUTADIENE PREPOLYMER WITH BLOCKED TOLUENE DIISOCYANATE-Ⅱ

Cure characteristics of hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) prepolymer with avariety of blocked toluene diisocyanate (TDI) in the presence of triethylamine (TEA) andchloroacetic acid catalyst are reported. Phenol, thiophenol, p-chloropheno1, p-nitrophenol,p-cresol, resorcinol, naphthols, caprolactam and butylated-hydroxytoluene were used as blockingagents. Viscosity measurements have been carried out using a mixture of HTPB and blocked TDIin cyclohexanone in the presence of the catalysts at 50℃ and 60℃ using Haake rotational vis-cometer. Viscosity measurements have also been carried out with 50% solids such as ammonium sulphate along with HTPB and TDI adduct.

Study on the Effect of Carboxyl Terminated Butadiene Acrylonitrile (CTBN) Copolymer Concentration on the Decomposition Kinetics Parameters of Blends of Glycidyl Epoxy and Non-Glycidyl Epoxy Resin

The degradation of the epoxy system was studied for the prepared six blend samples with the incorporation of 0 wt% - 25 wt% carboxyl terminated butadiene acrylonitrile (CTBN) copolymer, on a dynamic basis using Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) technique under a nitrogen atmosphere. The blends were prepared by physical mixing and were cured with diamine. The degradation of each sample followed second-order degradation kinetics, which was calculated by Coats-Redfern equation using best-fit analysis. This was further confirmed by linear regression analysis. The validity of data was checked by t-test statistical analysis. From this value of reaction order, activation energy (E), and pre-exponential factor (Z) were calculated. It was found that the activation energy increased with the addition of liquid elastomer.

PROPERTIES AND MORPHOLOGY OF UNSATURATED POLYESTER/ACRYLATE-TERMINATED POLYURETHANE/ORGANO-MONTMORILLONITE NANOCOMPOSITES

Unsaturated polyester resin （UPR）/acrylate-terminated polyurethane （ATPU）/organo-modified montmorillonite （OMMT） nanocomposites were prepared by the in situ intercalative polymerization method. Samples were prepared by the sequential mixing, i.e. mixture of the ATPU and styrene （S） and OMMT were prepared in the first step; UPR was then added to the pre-intercalates of ATPU/S/OMMT. Results indicate that the mechanical properties and thermal properties of UPR/ATPU/OMMT nanocomposites greatly depend on the amount of ATPU and OMMT. Results show that the addition of ATPU could increase the impact strength of UPR/ATPU composites, but the tensile strength, flexural strength and heat resistance of the materials are obviously decreased. When the weight ratio between UPR, ATPU and OMMT were 82：15：3, the impact strength and heat distortion-temperature of nanocomposite were greatly improved, meanwhile there was little change for other properties of the nanocomposites. The synergistic enhancement effects of ATPU and OMMT on the composites were observed. The structures and morphology of the composites were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.

Low-cost fabrication of highly dispersed atomically-thin MoS2 nanosheets with abundant active Mo-terminated edges

In this work,highly dispersed atomically-thin MoS2 nanosheets were fabricated at one thousandth of the commercial cost using sepiolite(SEP)mineral nanofibers as carriers via a microwave hydrothermal method.Atomresolved microscopy revealed the MoS2 nanosheets were only 1–4 atomic layers thick.The Mo atoms anchored on the mineral surface served as nucleation sites for the nanosheet growth.The MoS2 layers were in staggered stacking yielding abundant atomic steps at the nanosheets’edges,where catalytically active molybdenum terminations dominated instead of the inert sulfur atoms commonly reported.DFT calculations disclosed that the bonding of Mo(MoS2)and O(SEP)at the MoS2/sepiolite(MSEP)interface enabled SEP to be a unique support,superior to the other minerals for growing such highly-dispersed ultrathin MoS2 architecture.In a typical photocatalyisis application,the MSEP demonstrated a significantly improved photocatalytic performance for RhB degradation compared with the MoS2 nanosheets assembled microspheres.This work provides an important new strategy for low-cost batch preparation of high quality 2D materials via assembly on mineral materials.

Optical properties of F- and H-terminated armchair silicon nanoribbons

The optical properties of F- and H-terminated silicon nanoribbons with armchair edges（F- and H- terminated ASi NRs）are compared by using the first-principles within the density function theory（DFT） framework. The results show that compared with for H-terminated 7-ASi NR, the dielectric function for the F-terminated 7-ASi NR has a red shift, which is mainly attributed to the narrower band gap because of the σ–π mixing effect of F–Si bonds in F-terminated 7-ASi NR.The peaks in the energy loss spectra for both systems represent the characteristics associated with the plasma resonance,which correspond to the trailing edges in the reflection spectra. These properties show that the different terminated atoms in7-ASi NRs affect mainly the optical properties in the low energy range. Because of the rich optical properties, the 7-ASi NR could be a potential candidate for photoelectric nanodevice.

Wettability and Surface Energy of Hydrogen-and Oxygen-Terminated Diamond Films

The contact angle and surface energy values of diamond are systemically investigated in terms of surface treatments(hydrogen-and oxygen-terminations), structure feature(single crystal diamonds and polycrystalline diamond films), crystal orientation((100),(111) and mixed(100)/(111) orientations), different fluids(probes of polar deionized water and nonpolar di-iodomethane). It is found that the hydrophobic/hydrophilic characteristic and surface energy values of diamond are mainly determined by the surface hydrogen/oxygen termination, and less related to the structural features and crystal orientation. Based on the contact angle values with polar water and nonpolar di-iodomethane, the surface energies of diamond are estimated to be about 43 m J/m^2 for hydrogen-termination and about 60 m J/m^2 for oxygen-termination. Furthermore, the varying surface roughness of diamond and fluids with different polarities examined determine the variation of contact angles as well as the surface energy values. These results would be helpful for a more detailed understanding of the surface properties of diamond films for further applications in a broad number of fields, such as optical and microwave windows,biosensors, and optoelectronic devices, etc.

A Self-Terminated Interleaver Design for Turbo Codes

Turbo codes can achieve excellent performance at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), but the performance can be severely degraded if no trellis termination is employed. This paper proved that if trellis termination bits were appended to RSC1, trellis of RSC2 could be terminated by designing the interleaver properly, consequently, derived the designing condition of such self-terminated interleaver (STI). Then we presented an algorithm of implementing a kind of STI, which could terminate RSC2 as well on condition that the RSC1 was terminated. We verified the performance of STI for turbo codes by simulation, and the simulation results showed that turbo codes with STI outperformed interleavers that could not terminate RSC2 as well.

<i>In Situ</i>Imposing Bias ATR-FTIR Observation at Hydrogen Terminated Si(111) Electrode Surface-Modified with Adsorbed Monolayer

Since hydrogen-terminated Si surface has hydrophobicity, it is expected that adsorbed monomolecular film of surfactant will be formed on the Si surface in aqueous solution containing the surfactant. Such an adsorbed monolayer film is very effective for the development of a functional electrode. In this study, we have investigated the state of adsorption about an aerosol OT as the monolayer on the electrode surface and its orientation with hydrogen-terminated Si(111) surface by in situ ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. At this time, in situ observation performed while imposing bias to the electrode. The results suggested that the aerosol OT were desorbed by the oxidation of back-bonds in the Si atoms on the electrode surface under the imposing noble potential, although no change was observed especially when imposing less-noble potential.

<i>In Situ</i>ATR-FTIR Observation about Surfactant/Hydrogen-TerminatedSi(111) Interface in Solution

Development of novel functional devices has been expected by modification for Si surface. This study investigated immobilization and roles of the Si surface with flowing surfactant by in situ ATR-FTIR method. This result suggested that the surfactant prevented oxidation of the hydrogen-terminated Si surface from the higher concentration in aqueous solution. These would guard the Si surface against H2O molecules.

Electronic Transport Properties of Transition-Metal Terminated Trigonal Graphene Nanoribbons

With the non-equilibrium Green’s function method and density functional theory, we have studied the electronic properties of trigonal graphene nanoribbons, with Fe terminal and H terminal, coupled to gold electrodes. Rectification behavior can be observed when the electrode-molecule contact distance is larger than 2.2 &Aring. The electronic transport is greatly improved in case of Fe terminal which is analyzed in terms of transmission spectra and density of states.

Polyethylene glycol fusion repair of severed rat sciatic nerves reestablishes axonal continuity and reorganizes sensory terminal fields in the spinal cord

Peripheral nerve injuries result in the rapid degeneration of distal nerve segments and immediate loss of motor and sensory functions;behavioral recovery is typically poor.We used a plasmalemmal fusogen,polyethylene glycol(PEG),to immediately fuse closely apposed open ends of severed proximal and distal axons in rat sciatic nerves.We have previously reported that sciatic nerve axons repaired by PEG-fusion do not undergo Wallerian degeneration,and PEG-fused animals exhibit rapid(within 2–6 weeks)and extensive locomotor recovery.Furthermore,our previous report showed that PEG-fusion of severed sciatic motor axons was non-specific,i.e.,spinal motoneurons in PEG-fused animals were found to project to appropriate as well as inappropriate target muscles.In this study,we examined the consequences of PEG-fusion for sensory axons of the sciatic nerve.Young adult male and female rats(Sprague–Dawley)received either a unilateral single cut or ablation injury to the sciatic nerve and subsequent repair with or without(Negative Control)the application of PEG.Compound action potentials recorded immediately after PEG-fusion repair confirmed conduction across the injury site.The success of PEG-fusion was confirmed through Sciatic Functional Index testing with PEG-fused animals showing improvement in locomotor function beginning at 35 days postoperatively.At 2–42 days postoperatively,we anterogradely labeled sensory afferents from the dorsal aspect of the hindpaw following bilateral intradermal injection of wheat germ agglutinin conjugated horseradish peroxidase.PEG-fusion repair reestablished axonal continuity.Compared to unoperated animals,labeled sensory afferents ipsilateral to the injury in PEG-fused animals were found in the appropriate area of the dorsal horn,as well as inappropriate mediolateral and rostrocaudal areas.Unexpectedly,despite having intact peripheral nerves,similar reorganizations of labeled sensory afferents were also observed contralateral to the injury and repair.This central reorganization may contribute to the improved behavioral recovery seen after PEG-fusion repair,supporting the use of this novel repair methodology over currently available treatments.

Replacing alkyl side chain of non-fullerene acceptor with siloxane-terminated side chain enables lower surface energy towards optimizing bulk-heterojunction morphology and high photovoltaic performance

Towards a good control of the morphology of bulk-heterojunction(BHJ)active layers for polymer solar cells(PSCs),selecting an appropriate side chain for a polymer donor and a nonfullerene acceptor(NFA)is very crucial.In this work,two novel NFAs i-IE-4F and i-IESi-4 F comprising alkyl and siloxane-terminated side chains on the central indacenodithiophene(IDT)core,respectively,were synthesized.Attaching the siloxane-terminated side chain to i-IESi-4 F affords surface energy(γ)of33.32 mN/m,much lower than that of 39.83 mN/m for i-IE-4F,supplying a big chance to tune miscibility with a polymer donor.Two fluorobenzotriazole-based polymer donors J52 and PBZ-2Si bearing alkyl and siloxane-terminated side chains,respectively,showγvalues of 36.08 and 33.10 mN/m,respectively.The estimated Flory-Huggins interaction parameters(χD,A)indicate that the i-IESi-4 F is more miscible than i-IE-4F in pairing with J52 or PBZ-2Si.The resulting i-IESi-4 F-based blend film exhibits low film roughness and accompanies obviously improved BHJ uniformity.In PSCs,the J52:i-IESi-4F and PBZ-2Si:i-IESi-4 F active layers display power conversion efficiencies(PCEs)of 12.67%and 14.54%,respectively,all remarkably higher than PCEs≤7.34%of the i-IE-4F-based active layers.Interestingly,the PBZ-2Si:i-IESi-4 F active layer,a donor:acceptor blend system comprising siloxane-terminated side chains(DSi:ASimatching)with the highest BHJ miscibility due to the combinatory effect of the side chains,shows the highest efficiency,as supported by efficient exciton dissociation,the lowest bimolecular recombination,and the optimal charge transport.Our results demonstrate that attaching siloxane-terminated side chains to NFAs,as a side chain engineering,has big potential in lowering their surface energy towards fine control of BHJ morphology and leading to a better donor:acceptor blend system.

Nanobarrier-Terminated Growth of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes on Quartz Surfaces

Using carbon nanotubes as nanobarriers,the growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWNTs)on a quartz surface can be terminated.First,carbon nanotube nanobarriers were grown on a quartz surface by the gas ow-directed growth mode.Then,the SWNTs were grown on the quartz surface via the lattice-oriented growth mode,in which growth of SWNTs can be terminated by hitting the nanotube nanobarriers.Moreover,using the carbon nanotube nanobarrier as a marker,the mechanism of the growth of SWNTs on the quartz surface can be studied;a base-growth mechanism is indicated.Based on this termination process and the base-growth mechanism,SWNT arrays with controlled lengths can be grown on a quartz surface by xing the sites of bothcatalysts and nanobarriers.

Effect of molecular weight on reaction-induced phase separation of epoxy resin modified with fluorocarbon chain terminated polyetherimide

A series of fluorocarbon chain terminated polyetherimide is added to epoxy resin,and the effect of molecular weight on the process of phase separation is studied by time-resolved light scattering(TRLS),differential scanning calorimeter(DSC),scanning microscopy(SEM).The results indicate that the phase separation rate decreases due to the preventing effect in-duced by low surface energy of fluorocarbon chain terminated polyetherimide.In addition,evolu-tion time of morphology is shortened and the domain size decreases with the introduction of fluorocarbon chain terminated polyetherimide.Furthermore,when the molecular weight of fluorocarbon chain terminated polyetherimide increases,the morphology can change from dis-persed phase to co-continuous phase.Thus,changing the molecular weight of fluorocarbon chain terminated polyetherimide can control the morphology of the epoxy/polyetherimide blend,which is of great significance in many industries.

Highly chemoselective lipase from Candida sp.99-125 catalyzed ring-opening polymerization for direct synthesis of thiol-terminated poly(e-caprolactone)

Lipase from Candida sp.99-125 catalyzed ring-opening polymerization of e-caprolactone in the presence of 6-mercapto-1-hexanol was presented as a new metal-free approach for direct synthesis of welldefined thiol-terminated poly（e-caprolactone）.Remarkably,high chemoselectivity of lipase from Candida sp.99-125 toward hydroxyl and thiol was exhibited and quantitative thiol fidelity over 90% was achieved.The tedious protecting/deprotecting steps for thiol and metal residue were avoided.The polymerizations with around 70% monomer conversion were conducted in bulk and toluene at relative low temperature of 40 ℃.Number–average molecular weight of resulted polymers ranged from 3000 to4700 Da by changing the feed ratio between monomer and initiator.The structures of obtained thiolterminated poly（e-caprolactone） were demonstrated by combining NMR and SEC analyses.

Acute suppurative terminal cholangitis:Clinical characteristics of a new subtype of acute cholangitis

Background:Acute suppurative terminal cholangitis(ASTC)is rarer than acute obstructive cholangitis and is not well studied.To explore this subtype of acute cholangitis,we described our clinical experience with ASTC.Methods:We performed a retrospective review of patients with ASTC admitted to our center from September 2014 to August 2020.We analyzed their clinical characteristics,including etiology,clinical manifestations,imaging features,treatment and prognosis.Results:A total of 32 ASTC patients were included in the analysis.The majority of the patients had a history of biliary operations,and clinical manifestations were occult and atypical.The positive rate of bacterial culture was 46.9%.All the patients had typical imaging features on computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging.Treatment with effective antibiotics was provided as soon as diagnosis was established.After treatment,most patients had a good outcome.Elevated levels of total bilirubin,aspartate aminotransferase,procalcitonin and gamma-glutamyltransferase were the characteristics of critically ill patients and were associated with relatively poor prognosis.Conclusions:Our results demonstrated that ASTC should be recognized as a new subtype of acute cholangitis,and that earlier diagnosis and more personalized treatments are needed.

Machine learning for predicting the outcome of terminal ballistics events

Machine learning(ML) is well suited for the prediction of high-complexity,high-dimensional problems such as those encountered in terminal ballistics.We evaluate the performance of four popular ML-based regression models,extreme gradient boosting(XGBoost),artificial neural network(ANN),support vector regression(SVR),and Gaussian process regression(GP),on two common terminal ballistics’ problems:(a)predicting the V50ballistic limit of monolithic metallic armour impacted by small and medium calibre projectiles and fragments,and(b) predicting the depth to which a projectile will penetrate a target of semi-infinite thickness.To achieve this we utilise two datasets,each consisting of approximately 1000samples,collated from public release sources.We demonstrate that all four model types provide similarly excellent agreement when interpolating within the training data and diverge when extrapolating outside this range.Although extrapolation is not advisable for ML-based regression models,for applications such as lethality/survivability analysis,such capability is required.To circumvent this,we implement expert knowledge and physics-based models via enforced monotonicity,as a Gaussian prior mean,and through a modified loss function.The physics-informed models demonstrate improved performance over both classical physics-based models and the basic ML regression models,providing an ability to accurately fit experimental data when it is available and then revert to the physics-based model when not.The resulting models demonstrate high levels of predictive accuracy over a very wide range of projectile types,target materials and thicknesses,and impact conditions significantly more diverse than that achievable from any existing analytical approach.Compared with numerical analysis tools such as finite element solvers the ML models run orders of magnitude faster.We provide some general guidelines throughout for the development,application,and reporting of ML models in terminal ballistics problems.