TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE OF AIR SEPARATION OF LIQUID CRYSTALLINE TRIHEPTYL CELLULOSE/ETHYL CELLULOSE MEMBRANES

Triheptyl cellulose/ethyl cellulose(3/97)binary blend membranes were prepared from tetrahydrofuran,chloroform and dichloromethane solutions and their air separation capabit- ities were studied at different temperatures.With increasing temperature from 25 to 85℃,the flux QOEA of O_2-enriched air(OEA),O_2 permselectivity and the O_2 concentration Yo_2 in the OEA all increase.The membranes show a unique trend in their Yo_2～QOEA relationship,that is,the air separation capability increases simultaneously with the OEA permeation capability.The magnitudes of QOEA and Yo_2 for 17μm-thick membrane after the testg time of 36hours at 70℃ are 5×10^(-4)cm^3 (STP)/s·cm^2 and 37.6%,respectively.The air separation capability depends slightly on membrane forming solvents.

CHARACTERIZATION OF REGENERATED CELLULOSE MEMBRANES HYDROLYZED FROM CELLULOSE ACETATE

A series of cellulose acetate membranes were prepared by using formamide as additive, and then were hydrolyzed in 4 wt% aqueous NaOH solution for 8 h to obtain regenerated cellulose membranes. The dependence of degree of substitution, structure, porous properties, solubility and thermal stability on hydrolysis time was studied by chemical titration, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, wide-angle X-ray diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry, respectively. The results indicated that the pore size of the regenerated cellulose membranes was slightly smaller than that of cellulose acetate membrane, while solvent-resistance, crystallinity and thermostability were significantly improved. This work provides a simple way to prepare the porous cellulose membranes, which not only kept the good pore characteristics of cellulose acetate membranes, but also possessed solvent-resistance, high crystallinity and thermostability. Therefore, the application range of cellulose acetate membranes can be expanded.

Nanofluidic osmotic power generation from CO_(2) with cellulose membranes

The diffusion of chemical species down concentration gradient is a ubiquitous phenomenon that releases Gibbs free energy.Nanofluidic materials have shown great promise in harvesting the energy from ionic diffusion via the reverse electrodialysis process.In principle,any chemicals that can be converted to ions can be used for nanofluidic power generation.In this work,we demonstrate the power generation from the diffusion of CO_(2) into air using nanofluidic cellulose membranes.By dissolving CO_(2) in water,a power density of 87 mW/m^(2) can be achieved.Using monoethanolamine solutions to dissolve CO_(2),the power density can be increased to 2.6 W/m^(2).We further demonstrate that the waste heat released in industrial and carbon capture processes,can be simultaneously harvested with our nanofluidic membranes,increasing the power density up to 16 W/m^(2) under a temperature difference of 30°C.Therefore,our work should expand the application scope of nanofluidic osmotic power generation and contribute to carbon utilization and capture technologies.

Cellulose membranes as moisture-driven actuators with predetermined deformations and high load uptake

We report the synthesis of cellulose membranes from balsa wood with an exceptionally high responsivity to humidity change by chemical processing and mechanical compression.By varying the ambient humidity,the produced cellulose membranes can provide a variety of predetermined deformations,such as curve,s-like deformation and curl.The high humidity responsivity is originated from a self-maintained moisture gradient induced by an asymmetrical design of membrane surfaces,aided by the hygroscopic swelling of the cellulose.The moisture-driven actuators are then demonstrated as a three-finger gripper that can grab,hold and release objects 40 times the weight of its own.The combination of natural wood and stimuli-responsive behavior open a way to designing smart structures,actuators and soft robots with environmentally friendly,recyclable and biocompatible materials.

Influence of coagulation bath on morphology of cellulose membranes prepared by NMMO method

To control the morphology of cellulose membranes used for separation,they were prepared by the NMMO method using water,methanol,ethanol and their binary solution as coagulation baths.Morphologies of the surface and cross section of dry membranes were observed.The pore structure parameters of wet membranes were determined.By comparison,the process and mechanism of pore formation in dry membranes were suggested,and the relativity of cellulose crystal size to average pore diameter in wet membranes and their influences were discussed.The results show that the morphology of dry membranes is clearly varied with coagulation baths,while the porosity of wet membranes is almost constant.Porous structures can appear in the compact region of dry membranes due to swelling from water.These pores have a virtual effect on the average pore diameter of wet membranes.By changing the composition of coagulation baths,the microstructure of cellulose membranes in a dry or wet environment can be adjusted separately.

Preparation of High Quality Indium Tin Oxide Film on a Microbial Cellulose Membrane Using Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputtering

Microbial cellulose （MC） membranes produced by Acetobacter xylinum NUST4.1,were used as flexible substrates for the fabrication of transparent indium tin oxide （ITO） electrodes.Transparent and conductive ITO thin films were deposited on MC membrane at room temperature using radio frequency （RF） magnetron sputtering.The optimum ITO deposition conditions were achieved by examining crystalline structure,surface morphology and op-toelectrical characteristics with X-ray diffraction （XRD）,scanning electron microscopy （SEM）,atomic force mi-croscopy （AFM）,and UV spectroscopy.The sheet resistance of the samples was measured with a four-point probe and the resistivity of the film was calculated.The results reveal that the preferred orientation of the deposited ITO crystals is strongly dependent upon with oxygen content （O2/Ar,volume ratio） in the sputtering chamber.And the ITO crystalline structure directly determines the conductivity of ITO-deposited films.High conductive [sheet resis-tance ～120 Ω·square-1 （Ω·sq-1）] and transparent （above 76%） ITO thin films （240 nm thick） were obtained with a moderate sputtering power （about 60 W） and with an oxygen flow rate of 0.25 ml·min-1 （sccm） during the deposi-tion.These results show that the ITO-MC electrodes can find their potential application in optoelectrical devices.

Evaluation of Several Procedures for Immobilizing Cholesterol Oxidase Based on Cellulose Acetate Membrane

Immobilized cholesterol oxidase (COD) membrane with higher catalytic activity is important for biosensor. In this paper, several procedures for immobilizing COD based on cellulose acetate (CA) membrane are studied. Reasons causing different catalytic activities are also discussed.

Biorenewable materials for water remediation: The central role of cellulose in achieving sustainability

As the population increases and manufacturing grows,greenhouse gas and other harmful emissions increase.Contaminated with chemicals such as dyes,pesticides,pharmaceuticals,oil,heavy metals or radionuclides,wastewater purification has become an urgent issue.Various technologies exist that can remove these contaminants from wastewater sources,but they often demand high energy and/or high cost,and in some cases produce contaminant laden sludge that requires safe disposal.The need for methods which are less capital intensive,less operationally costly and more environmentally friendly is suggested.Cellulose-based materials have emerged as promising candidates for wastewater treatment due to their renewability,low cost,biodegradability,hydrophilicity,and antimicrobial property.In this review article,we focussed on developing sustainable and biodegradable cellulose-based materials for wastewater treatment.This article deals with cellulose-based materials’scope and their conversion into valuable products like hydrogel,aerogel,cellulose composites,and nanocellulose.The cellulose-based materials have no harmful environmental impact and are plentiful.The modified cellulose-based materials applying as membrane,adsorbent,sorbent,and beads to purify the wastewater were discussed.Finally,the challenges and future prospects of cellulose-based materials for wastewater treatment were considered,emphasizing their potential to be sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives to traditional materials used in wastewater treatment.

Fabrication and performance of PET mesh enhanced cellulose acetate membranes for forward osmosis

Polyethylene terephthalate mesh（PET） enhanced cellulose acetate membranes were fabricated via a phase inversion process. The membrane fabrication parameters that may affect the membrane performance were systematically evaluated including the concentration and temperature of the casting polymer solution and the temperature and time of the evaporation, coagulation and annealing processes. The water permeability and reverse salt flux were measured in forward osmosis（FO） mode for determination of the optimal membrane fabrication conditions. The optimal FO membrane shows a typical asymmetric sandwich structure with a mean thickness of about 148.2 μm. The performance of the optimal FO membrane was tested using 0.2 mol/L Na Cl as the feed solution and 1.5 mol/L glucose as the draw solution. The membrane displayed a water flux of 3.47 L/（m2·hr） and salt rejection of95.48% in FO mode. While in pressure retarded osmosis（PRO） mode, the water flux was4.74 L/（m2·hr） and salt rejection 96.03%. The high ratio of water flux in FO mode to that in PRO mode indicates that the fabricated membrane has a lower degree of internal concentration polarization than comparable membranes.

Biosynthesis of Callose and Cellulose by Detergent Extracts of Tobacco Cell Membranes and Quantification of the Polymers Synthesized in vitro

The conditions that favor the in vitro synthesis of cellulose from tobacco BY-2 cell extracts were determined. The procedure leading to the highest yield of cellulose consisted of incubating digitonin extracts of membranes from 11-day-old tobacco BY-2 cells in the presence of 1 mM UDP-glucose, 8 mM Ca^2＋ and 8 mM Mg^2＋. Under these conditions, up to nearly 40% of the polysaccharides synthesized in vitro corresponded to cellulose, the other polymer synthesized being callose. Transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed the occurrence of two types of structures in the synthetic reactions. The first type consisted of small aggregates with a diameter between 3 and 5 nm that associated to form fibrillar strings of a maximum length of 400 nm. These structures were sensitive to the acetic/nitric acid treatment of Updegraff and corresponded to callose. The second type of structures was resistant to the Updegraff reagent and corresponded to straight cellulose microfibrils of 2-3 nm in diameter and 200 nm to up to 5 μm in length. In vitro reactions performed on electron microscopy grids indicated that the minimal rate of microfibril elongation in vitro is 120 nm/min. Measurements of retardance by liquid crystal polarization microscopy as a function of time showed that small groups of microfibrils increased in retardance by up to 0.047 nm/min per pixel, confirming the formation of organized structures.

Aluminum（Ⅲ）ion sensor based on the sensitive membrane containing nano.sizedAL2O3 powders

An AI^3＋ sensor based on the membrane of acetyl cellulose containing nano γ-Al2O3 crystals was studied. In the buffer solution of 0.5 mol/L CH3COOH-CH3COONa （pH=5.0）, the sensor responds to AI^3＋ in a linear range from 1.00×10^-5 to 1.00x10-^2 mol/L. A near-Nernstian response was obtained and the regression equation was E （mv） = -161.4-26.54 Ig [AI^3＋] with a detection limit of 7.90x10^-6 mol/L. More than 14 different ions as the considered interferences were tested and the relevant selectivity coefficients were determined using the separate solution method （SSM）. The sensor possesses many advantages including short conditioning time, fast response, and, especially, very good selectivity over a wide variety of other co-existing ions. The sample analysis on the aluminium migration amount from aluminium utensils to the solution was determined by this sensor. The analytical results were agreed with that of inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy（ICP-RES）.

Comparison of concentration methods for detection of hepatitis A virus in water samples

Hepatitis A virus is a pathogen associated with water pollution.Contaminated drinking water can cause hepatitis A outbreaks,lead to economic losses,and even threaten human lives.It is difficult to detect low levels of hepatitis A virus in water,so the virus must be concentrated in order to quantify it accurately.Here,we present a simple,rapid,efficient technique for the concentration and detection of hepatitis A virus in water.Our data showed that adding phosphate-buffered saline to the water,pre-filtering the water,and adding Trizol reagent directly to the filtration membrane can significantly improve concentration efficiency.Of three types of filtration membranes studied(mixed cellulose ester membrane,polyvinylidene fluoride membrane,and nylon membrane),the concentration efficiency using mixed cellulose ester membrane with a 0.1-μm pore size was the highest,reaching 92.62 ± 5.17%.This method was used to concentrate hepatitis A virus in water samples from Donghu Lake.Using SYBR Green real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis,the detection sensitivity of this method reached 10~1 copies/μL and its concentration efficiency reached 79.45 ± 9.88%.