SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF STRUCTURALLY WELL-DEFINED POLYMER-INORGANIC HYBRID NANOPARTICLES VIA ATRP

Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using cuprous chloride/2,2'-bipyridine (bipy) was applied to graft polymerization of styrene on the surface of silica nanoparticles to synthesize polymer-inorganic hybrid nanoparticles, 2-(4Chloromethylphenyl) ethyltriethoxysilane (CTES) was immobilized on the surface of silica nanoparticles through condensation reaction of the silanol groups on silica with triethoxysilane group of CTES. Then ATRP of St was initiated by this surface-modified silica nanoparticles bearing benzyl chloride groups, and formed PSt graft chains on the surface of silica nanoparticles. The thickness of the graft chains increased with reaction time. End group analysis confirmed the occurrence of ATRP. Thermal analysis indicated that thermal stabilization of these resulting hybrid nanoparticles also increases with polymerization conversion. The results above show that this 'grafting from' reaction could be used for the preparation of polymer-inorganic hybrid nanoparticles with controlled structure of the polymer's end groups.

A self-repairing polymer-inorganic composite coating to enable high-performance Zn anodes for zinc-ion batteries

There are some critical issues hindering the practical applications of aqueous zinc-ion batteries(zIBs),although they possess high safety and low cost as one of promising energy storge devices,such as the Zn dendrite growth and the by-product of Zn_(4)SO_(4)(OH)_(6)-xH_(2)O(ZHS)resulted from some side reactions in a mild electrolyte.Herein,a compact and self-repairing solid electrolyte interface(SEl)film,as labeled the PVDF-Zn(TFSI)_(2)-ZHS coating[The PVDF and Zn(TFSI)_(2)are polyvinylidene fluoride and zinc bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide,respectively],which turns the in-situ generated ZHS into a beneficial ingredient onto the pre-coated PVDF-based composite coating layer containing Zn(TFSI)_(2),was designed and fabricated by a simple doctor blade method.It is shown that the SEl layer can effectively isolate Zn from the electrolyte and homogenize the Zn^(2+)flux,and thus effectively suppress side reactions and dendrites growth.Benefiting from the hybrid SEl layer,a symmetric cell exhibits a high cycling stability over 750h at 2.0 mA/cm^(2)and 2.0 mAh/cm^(2),and meanwhile,a full-cell,coupled with K^(+) pre-intercalationα-MnO_(2)(KMO)cathode,displays excellent rate performance,stable coulombic efficiency and an acceptable cycle life.This work provides a feasible approach for simple and scalable modification of Zn anodes to achieve high performance.

Recent Progress in π-Conjugated Polymer-Inorganic Heterostructures for Photocatalysis

Polymer-inorganic(P-Ⅰ) soft-hard heterostructures & heterojunction photocatalysts,featured by large interfacial contact, efficient charge separation, broad light absorption and maximized redox capacity, have received great attention for their applications in energy conversion and environmental remediation. In this minireview, the classification and mechanism of P-Ⅰ heterojunctions, i.e., type-Ⅰ/Ⅱ, p-n, Z-scheme and S-scheme heterojunctions, and their preparation methods are firstly introduced. Next, the photocatalytic applications of P-Ⅰ heterojunctions, including water splitting, environmental remediation and carbon dioxide reduction, are extensively reviewed. Lastly,a brief summary and perspectives on ongoing challenges and opportunities to construct high performance P-Ⅰ soft-hard photocatalysts are intensively highlighted. We envision this review will provide a picture of the state-of-the-art achievements and promote the photocatalytic applications of P-Ⅰ heterostructures in energy conversion and environmental remediation.

SYNTHESIS AND BIOTECHNOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS OF VINYL POLYMERINORGANIC HYBRID AND MESOPOROUS MATERIALS

We describe the sol-gel synthesis of a new family of organic-inorganic hybrid materials, in which various vinyl polymers are covalently bonded to and uniformly distributed in inorganic oxide matrices. The materials can be tailored to have both good toughness and hardness while maintaining excellent optical transparency. Doping the sol-gel metal oxides with optically active compounds such as D-glucose results in new optical rotatory composite materials. Removal of the dopant compounds from the composites affords mesoporous oxide materials; which represents a new, nonsurfactant-templated route to mesoporous molecular sieves. We have successfully immobilized a series of enzymes and other bioactive agents in mesoporous materials. Catalytical activities of the enzyme encapsulated in mesoporous materials were found to be much higher than those encapsulated in microporous materials.