干燥制度对ZnO压敏电阻片复合添加剂颗粒团聚的影响

对采用籽晶分步包膜技术制备氧化锌压敏电阻片粉体所获得的添加剂复合粉体前驱体聚沉物的干燥分解过程进行了研究.提出了采用'半干'干燥技术处理聚沉物的思路,试验证明聚沉物经清洗净化'半干'处理,即半干状态(水分约20%～30%)直接煅烧分解,可以获得无团聚或弱团聚的添加剂氧化物复合粉体颗粒;煅烧分解温度与其颗粒细度密切相关,得出(600～650)℃下煅烧分解效果最佳.由此得到的添加剂氧化物复合粉体与ZnO混合烧成所得压敏电阻片的电位梯度约(2.1～2.6)kV/cm和能量耐受能力提高近1倍的优异性能.半干思路与技术为解决湿法制备粉体,避免颗粒团聚尤其是避免形成硬团聚提供了一条新途径.

Evaluation of substrates for zinc negative electrode in acid PbO_2–Zn single flow batteries

An investigation was performed on the suitability of carbon materials, metallic lead and its alloys as substrates for zinc negative electrode in acid PbO2-Zn single flow batteries. The zinc deposition process was carried out in the mediumofl mol.L 1H2SO4 at room temperature. No maximum current appears on the potentiostatic current transients for the zinc deposition on lead and its alloys. With increasing overpotential, the progressive nucleation turns to be a 3D-instantaneous nucleation process for the resin-graphite composite. Hydrogen evolution on the graphite composite is effectively suppressed with the doping of a polymer resin. The hydrogen evolution reaction on the lead is relatively weak, while on the lead alloys, it becomes serious to a certain degree. Although the ex- change current density of zinc deposition and dissolution process on the graphite composite is relatively low, the zinc corrosion is weakened to a great extent. With the increase of deposition time, zinc deposits are more compact. The cyclings of zinc galvanostatic charge-discharge on the graphite composite provide more than 90% of coulombic and 80% of energy efficiencies, and exhibit superior cycling stability during the first 10 cycles.

Water-dispersed bone morphogenetic protein nanospheres prepared by co-precipitation method

A modified complex coacervation-co-precipitation method was used to prepare bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-loaded nanospheres. Three natural polymers were used as packing materials to obtain nanoscale delivery device for BMP,in the presence of phosphatidylcholine functioning as stabilizer. Positively charged polysaccharide, N,N-diethylaminoethyl dex-tran (DEAE-dextran) tended to form stable, uniform and smaller size particles carrying BMP. Negatively charged bovine serum albumin (BSA) induced precipitation of the produced BMP particles due to its weak interaction with BMP molecules, although it produced nanosized BMP spheres. While collagen, a weakly positively charged protein shaped larger particles due to the strong interaction among themselves. A mechanism of co-precipitation process was also deduced to depict the formation of stable nanospheres.

Effect of Process Parameters on Co-precipitation of Paclitaxel and Poly(L-lactic Acid) by Supercritical Antisolvent Process

Paclitaxel(PTX) is an effective anticancer drug with poor solubility in water.Recently,much effort has been devoted into alternative formulations of PTX for improving its aqueous solubility.In this study,PTX and poly(L-lactic acid)(PLLA) were co-precipitated by a supercritical antisolvent(SAS) process using dichloromethane(DCM) and the mixtures of DCM/ethanol(EtOH) or DCM/dimethyl sulfoxide(DMSO) as the solvent,with super-critical carbon dioxide as the antisolvent.The effects of solvent,solvent ratio,temperature,pressure,polymer con-centration and solution flow rate on particle morphology,mass median diameter(Dp50) and PTX loading were in-vestigated using single-factor method.The particle samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction(XRD),scanning electron microscopy(SEM),laser diffraction particle size analyzer and high pressure liquid chromatogra-phy(HPLC).XRD results indicate that the micronized PTX is dispersed into the PLLA matrix in an amorphous form.SEM indicates that the solvent and the solvent ratio have great effect on the particle morphologies,and particle morphology is good at the volume ratio of DCM/EtOH of 50/50.For the mixed DCM/EtOH solvent,Dp50 increases with the increase of the temperature,pressure,PLLA concentration and solution flow rate,and PTX loading in-creases with pressure.Suitable operating conditions for the experimental system are as follows:DCM/EtOH 50/50(by volume),35 ℃,10-12 MPa,PLLA concentration of 5 g·L-1 and solution flow rate of 0.5 ml·min-1.

Aggregation-induced emission （ALE） dye loaded polymer nanoparticles for gene silencing in pancreatic cancer and their in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility evaluation

We have developed aggregation-induced emission （AIE） dye loaded polymer nanoparticles with deep-red emission for siRNA delivery to pancreatic cancer cells. Two US Food and Drug Administration （FDA） approved surfactant polymers, Pluronics F127 and PEGylated phospholipid, were used to prepare the dye-loaded nanoparticle formulations and they can be used as nanovectors for gene silencing of mutant K-ras in pancreatic cancer cells. The successful transfection of siRNA by the developed nanovectors was confirmed by the fluorescent imaging and quantified through flow cytometry. Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction （PCR） indicates that the expression of the mutant K-ras oncogene from the MiaPaCa-2 pancreatic cancer cells has been successfully suppressed. More importantly, our in vivo toxicity study has revealed that both the nanoparticle formulations are highly biocompatible in BALC/c mice. Overall, our results suggest that the AIE dye-loaded polymer nanoparticle formulations developed here are suitable for gene delivery and have high potential applications in translational medicine research.

Selective Gold Deposition on a Nanostructured Block Copolymer Film Crystallized by Epitaxy

An ordered nanostructure formed by epitaxial crystallization of a semicrystalline block copolymer on a substrate has been used as a patterned template for the selective deposition of thermally evaporated gold nanoparticles, resulting in the formation of structure-guiding host nanocomposites in which the ordered distribution of the guest particles is guided by the ordering of the host nanostructured block copolymer matrix. This opens new perspectives in the field of polymeric composites related to the maximum enhancement of effective physical properties and to the numerous possible applications that arise due to the presence of long-range order in the spatial distribution of functional nanoparticles.

Large matrix polymer solar cells fabricated by low cost air-brush spray deposition

In this paper,a 64 mm×64 mm matrix polymer solar cell(PSC) was fabricated by air-brush spray deposition.Although the open-circuit voltage(Voc) and the fill factor(FF) both need to be improved,the efficiency of matrix PSCs still reaches about 1.82%,and especially the current density achieves nearly 20 m A/cm2.The results verify that air-brush spray deposition is a suitable method to prepare large area PSC devices,and the process we use in this paper can be easily transplanted to roll-to-roll production.

Optimization of the thermoelectric properties of poly(nickel-ethylenetetrathiolate) synthesized via potentiostatic deposition

The coordination polymer poly（nickel-ethylenetetrathiolate） （poly（Ni-ett））, formed by nickel（Ⅱ） and 1,1,2,2-ethenetetrathiolate （ett）, is the most promising N-type organic thermoelectric material ever reported; it is synthesized via potentiostatic deposition, and the effect of different applied potentials on the optimal performance of the polymers is investigated. The optimal thermoelectric property ofpoly（Ni-ett） synthesized at 0.6 V is remarkably greater than that of the polymers synthesized at 1 and 1.6 V, exhibiting a maximum power factor of up to 131.6μW/mK2 at 360 K. Furthermore, the structure-property correlation ofpoly（Ni-ett） is also extensively investigated. X-ray diffraction （XRD） and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） analyses revealed that the larger size of crystalline domains and the higher oxidation state of poly（Ni-ett） synthesized at 0.6 V possibly results in the higher bulk mobility and carrier concentration in the polymer chains, respectively, accounting for the enhanced power factor.

Large-area nanopatterned graphene for ultrasensitive gas sensing

Chemical vapor deposited （CVD） graphene is nanopatterned using a spherical block copolymer etch mask. The use of spherical rather than cylindrical block copolymers allows homogeneous patterning of cm-scale areas without any substrate surface treatment. Raman spectroscopy was used to study the con- trolled generation of point defects in the graphene lattice with increasing etching time, confirming that alongside the nanomesh patterning, the nanopatterned CVD graphene presents a high defect density between the mesh holes. The nanopatterned samples showed sensitivities for NO2 of more than one order of magnitude higher than for non-patterned graphene. NO2 concentrations as low as 300 ppt were detected with an ultimate detection limit of tens of ppt. This is the smallest value reported so far for non-UV illuminated graphene chemiresistive NO2 gas sensors. The dramatic improvement in the gas sensitivity is believed to be due to the high adsorption site density, thanks to the combination of edge sites and point defect sites. This work opens the possibility of large area fabrication of nanopatterned graphene with extremely high densities of adsorption sites for sensing applications.

A PKS gene, pks-1, is involved in chaetoglobosin biosynthesis, pigmentation and sporulation in Chaetomium globosum

Chaetomium globosum is one of the most common fungi in nature. It is best known for producing chaetoglobosins; however, the molecular basis of chaetoglobosin biosynthesis is poorly understood in this fungus. In this study, we utilized RNA inter- ference （RNAi） to characterize a polyketide synthase gene, pks-1, in C. globosum that is involved in the production of chaeto- globosin A. When pks-1 was knocked down by RNAi, the production of chaetoglobosin A dramatically decreased. Knock-down mutants also displayed a pigment-deficient phenotype. These results suggest that the two polyketides, melanin and chaetoglobosin, are likely to share common biosynthetic steps. Most importantly, we found that pks-I also plays a critical role in sporulation. The silenced mutants ofpks-1 lost the ability to produce spores. We propose that polyketides may modulate cellular development via an unidentified action. We also suggest that C. globosum pks-1 is unique because of its triple role in melanin formation, chaetoglobosin biosynthesis and sporulation. This work may shed light on chaetoglobosin biosynthesis and indicates a relationship between secondary metabolism and fungal morphogenesis.

Efficient perovskite solar cells based on novel three-dimensional TiO2 network architectures

Mesoscopic lead halide perovskite solar cells typically use TiO2 nanoparticle films as the scaffolds for electron-transport pathway and perovskite deposition. Here, we demonstrate that swelling-induced mesoporous block copolymers can be templates for producing three- dimensional TiO2 networks by combining the atomic layer deposition technique. Thickness adjustable TiO2 network is an excellent alternative scaffold material for efficient per- ovskite solar cells. Our best performing cells using such a 270 nm thick template have achieved a high efficiency of 12.5 % with pristine poly-3-hexylthiophene as a hole transport material. The high performance is attributed to the direct transport pathway and high absorption of scaf- folds, small leakage current and largely reduced recombi- nation rate at interfaces. The results show that TiO2 network architecture is a promising scaffold for meso- scopic perovskite solar cells.