Chemical resistance tests on PP-ternary nanocomposite for its application in bioreactor liner fabrication

Continuous usage of bioreactor causes early degradation of most bioreactor liner materials due to the effects of various chemicals, consequently resulting in contamination in the bioprocess. Performance of PP-ternary nanocomposite (PPTN) for its potential application in the fabrication of bioreactor liner material was investigated in this study. The chemical resistance of the composite samples obtained was tested by exposing them to chemicals such as acid, alkaline, water and bacterial solutions, according to ASTM 543-06, and their effects on the composite samples were carefully observed. Specifically, the investigation focused on the changes in the physico-mechanical properties of PPTN following long term of exposure to these chemicals. The results show slight increase in the weight and dimensions of samples in the first few days, followed by constant reading for the period of 4 weeks. The performance in terms of physical properties was in the range of PPTN with 0.61% MWCNT > PPTN 0.45% > PPTN 0.17%. The maximum percentage change in tensile properties, observed in this study, was approximately 10% against PPTN (0.17%), which indicates stable mechanical properties of the composite and invariably suggests that the nanocomposites could serve as a better alternative for bioreactor liner fabrication.

Transparent flexible ZnO/MWCNTs/PBMA ternary nanocomposite film with enhanced mechanical properties

Functional organic-inorganic nanocomposites with high transparency show significant potential application in many fields. However, it is still a great challenge to prepare flexible transparent nanocomposites due to the intrinsic stiffness of the nanoparticles and the poor interaction between nanopartieles and organic matrices. In this work, a transparent ternary nanocomposite film with enhanced mechanical performance is fabricated by two-steps. First, the transparent ternary ZnO/MWCNTs/n-butyl methacrylate （BMA） nanodispersion is prepared by mixing the ZnO/BMA and MWCNTs/BMA dispersions directly. Then, the ternary nanocoposites film is fabricated via in-situ bulk polymerization of the above nanodispersions. As a result, the tensile strength of the ZnO/MWCNTs/poly-n-butyl methacrylate （PBMA） ternary film is enhanced by 42% and the elongation at break is three times that of ZnO/PBMA nanocomposite. The hardness of the film increases from 5B to 1H with 40 wt% ZnO. These results indicate that ZnO and MWCNTs can improve the mechanical properties of the composite significantly. Importantly, the ternary nanocomposite film still remains high transparency and exhibit excellent UV-shielding performance. The as-prepared transparent multifunctional nanocomposite films have promising applications in optical materials and devices, such as optical filters, contact lenses and protection packing.

Newly-modeled graphene-based ternary nanocomposite for the magnetophotocatalytic reduction of CO_(2) with electrochemical performance

The development of CO_(2)into hydrocarbon fuels has emerged as a green method that could help mitigate global warning.The novel structured photocatalyst is a promising material for use in a photocatalytic and magneto-electrochemical method that fosters the reduction of CO_(2)by suppressing the recombination of electron−hole pairs and effectively transferring the electrons to the surface for the chemical reaction of CO_(2)reduction.In our study,we have developed a novel-structured AgCuZnS_(2)–graphene–TiO_(2)to analyze its catalytic activity toward the selective evolution of CO_(2).The selectivity of each nanocomposite substantially enhanced the activity of the AgCuZnS_(2)–graphene–TiO_(2)ternary nanocomposite due to the successful interaction,and the selectivity of the final product was improved to a value 3 times higher than that of the pure AgCuZnS_(2)and 2 times higher than those of AgCuZnS_(2)–graphene and AgCuZnS_(2)–TiO_(2)under ultraviolet(UV)-light(λ=254 nm)irradiation in the photocatalytic process.The electrochemical CO_(2)reduction test was also conducted to analyze the efficacy of the AgCuZnS_(2)–graphene–TiO_(2)when used as a working electrode in laboratory electrochemical cells.The electrochemical process was conducted under different experimental conditions,such as various scan rates(mV·s^(–1)),under UV-light and with a 0.07 T magneticcore.The evolution of CO_(2)substantially improved under UV-light(λ=254 nm)and with 0.07 T magnetic-core treatment;these improvements were attributed to the facts that the UV-light activated the electron-transfer pathway and the magnetic core controlled the pathway of electrontransmission/prevention to protect it from chaotic electron movement.Among all tested nanocomposites,AgCuZnS_(2)–graphene–TiO_(2)absorbed the CO_(2)most strongly and showed the best ability to transfer the electron to reduce the CO_(2)to methanol.We believe that our newly-modeled ternary nanocomposite opens up new opportunities for the evolution of CO_(2)to methanol through an electrochemical and photocatalytic process.