EFFECT OF PARTICLE SIZE ON THE FILMING PROCESS OF POLYSTYRENE LATEX STUDIED BY AFM

The film formation process of micro-PS particles (diameter 742 nm) and nano-PS particles (diameter 29 nm) was studied by atomic force microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. During a step heating process, the particles were annealed for 0.5 h at each selected temperature. It was found that the deformation and interdiffusion temperatures of the micro-PS particles are ca. 120-130degreesC and 140-150degreesC, that of the nano-PS particles are 90degreesC and 100-110degreesC respectively. The DSC traces of nano-PS particles showed that there was an exothermic peak near T-g after annealing for 0.5 h at the selected temperatures below 90degreesC; otherwise, the exothermic peak disappeared after annealing at 100degreesC or above. Compared with the micro-PS particles, the sintering process of nano-PS particles occurs at much lower temperature determined by the confined state of polymer chains with higher conformational energy in nano-particles, and completes in a much narrower temperature range driven mainly by the larger total surface energy.

A new polystyrene-latex-based and EPS-containing synthetic sludge

Since the living microorganisms in activated sludge continuously change, it is difficult to conduct controlled experiments and achieve reproducible results for evaluating sludge characteristics. Synthetic sludge, as a chemical surrogate to activated sludge, could be used to investigate the sludge physicochemical properties, and it is desirable to prepare synthetic sludge with similar structure and properties to real activated sludge to explore the flocculation and settlement processes in activated sludge systems. In this work, a high-strength synthetic sludge was prepared with functional polystyrene latex particles as the framework and extracellular polymeric substances （EPS） to modify its surface. The flocculation and settling characteristics of the microspheres and the prepared synthetic sludge were tested. Compared with other three functional polystyrene latex microspheres, the synthetic sludge prepared with EPS-modified polystyrene latex microspheres showed good settling characteristics and a significantly higher strength. They could be used for studying the physicochemical properties of activated sludge.

Determination of Size Distribution of Nano-particles by Capillary Zone Electrophoresis

A new method was developed for the determination of the size distribution of nano-particles by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). Scattering effect of nanoparticles was studied . This method for the determination of size distribution was statistical.

Photocatalytic activity of ZnO films with micro-grid structure

A layer of zinc oxide(ZnO)micro-grid was deposited on the surface of ZnO film using the DC reactive magnetron sputtering method and the micro-sphere lithography technique on glass substrates.Samples of this layer were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD),scanning electron microscopy(SEM),atomic force microscopy(AFM),and ultraviolet-visible light spectroscopy.X-ray diffraction showed the high crystallinity of ZnO film and the regular arrangement of the micro-grid.The microgrid ZnO has a lower specular reflection and a higher diffuse reflection,allowing incident light to reflect two or three times to enhance the usage of light.Photocatalytic degradation experiments on methylene blue using both ZnO micro-grid and ordinary film showed that the ZnO micro-grid has better photocatalytic properties than ordinary film.The ZnO micro-grid enhanced the photocatalytic efficiency of ZnO film by 28%with a degradation time of 300 min.