Removal of chromium(Ⅲ) from aqueous waste solution by predispersed solvent extraction

The extraction experiments of chromium（W） from aqueous waste solution by predispersed solvent extraction （PDSE） process with extractant （HEHPEHE） and its mixture, including acidic extractant （D2EHPA）, alkaline extractant （TOA） and neutral extractant （TBP） were carried out respectively. It is found that the extractant HEHPEHE exhibited high extraction selectivity to chromium（III） from aqueous waste solution. The colloidal liquid aphrons （CLAs） were successfully generated using kerosene as a solvent, HEHPEHE as an extractant, sodium dodecyl benzene sulphate （SDBS） as a surfactant in aqueous phase and polyoxyethylene sorbitol anhydride monolaurate （Tween-20） in oil phase. To study the extraction efficiency and advantages of the PDSE process in the removal of chromium（III）, the effects of major factors, such as initial chromium（III） concentration, volume of colloidal gas aphrons （CGAs）, HEHPEHE volume fraction, phase ratio （solvent phase to water phase）, mass fraction of dodecyl trimethylammonium bromide （HTAB）, mass fraction of SDBS, mass fraction of Tween-20 and initial pH of aqueous waste solution were also investigated and the appropriate process conditions were obtained. Under the appropriate conditions, the extraction efficiency of chromium（III） above 99.9 % can be achieved and the treated aqueous waste solution can be discharged directly without polluting the environment.

Green‑Solvent Processed Blade‑Coating Organic Solar Cells with an Efficiency Approaching 19%Enabled by Alkyl‑Tailored Acceptors

Power-conversion-efficiencies(PCEs)of organic solar cells(OSCs)in laboratory,normally processed by spin-coating technology with toxic halogenated solvents,have reached over 19%.However,there is usually a marked PCE drop when the bladecoating and/or green-solvents toward large-scale printing are used instead,which hampers the practical development of OSCs.Here,a new series of N-alkyl-tailored small molecule acceptors named YR-SeNF with a same molecular main backbone are developed by combining selenium-fused central-core and naphthalene-fused endgroup.Thanks to the N-alkyl engineering,NIR-absorbing YR-SeNF series show different crystallinity,packing patterns,and miscibility with polymeric donor.The studies exhibit that the molecular packing,crystallinity,and vertical distribution of active layer morphologies are well optimized by introducing newly designed guest acceptor associated with tailored N-alkyl chains,providing the improved charge transfer dynamics and stability for the PM6:L8-BO:YRSeNF-based OSCs.As a result,a record-high PCE approaching 19%is achieved in the blade-coating OSCs fabricated from a greensolvent o-xylene with high-boiling point.Notably,ternary OSCs offer robust operating stability under maximum-power-point tracking and well-keep>80%of the initial PCEs for even over 400 h.Our alkyl-tailored guest acceptor strategy provides a unique approach to develop green-solvent and blade-coating processed high-efficiency and operating stable OSCs,which paves a way for industrial development.

THE EFFECTS OF SOLVENTS ON THE INTRAMOLECULAR PROCESSES ——NMR STUDY

The influences of methanol-d_4(MeOD), dimethylsulfoxide-d_6 (Me_2SO(D)) and dioxane(C_4H_8O_2) solvents on the intramolecular processes are studied by NMR. It has been shown that the addition of these solvents in CdEGTA complex aqueous solution can increase the rate constant (k) of the nitrogen inversion and decrease the activation energy of this process. The linear relations between In(k) and the reciprocal of the solvent dielectric constants (1/ε) are obtained for all the three solvents.

Polymer donors with hydrophilic side-chains enabling efficient and thermally-stable polymer solar cells by non-halogenated solvent processing

Polymer solar cells(PSCs)with high power conversion efficiency(PCE)and environment-friendly fabrication are the main requirements enabling their production in industrial scale.While the use of non-halogenated solvent processing is inevitable for the PSC fabrication,it significantly reduces the processability of polymer donors(PDS)and small-molecule acceptors(SMAs).This often results in unoptimized blend morphology and limits the device performance.To address this issue,hydrophilic oligoethylene glycol(OEG)side-chains are introduced into a PD(2EG)to enhance the molecular compatibility between the PD and L8-BO SMA.The 2EG PD induces higher crystallinity and alleviates phase separation with the SMA compared to the reference PD(PM7)with hydrocarbon side-chains.Consequently,the 2EG-based PSCs exhibit a higher PCE(15.8%)than the PM7-based PSCs(PCE=14.4%)in the ortho-xylene based processing.Importantly,benefitted from the reduced phase separation and increased crystallinity of 2EG PDS,the 2EG-based PSCs show enhanced thermal stability(84%of initial PCE after 120 h heating)compared to that of the PM7-based PSCs(60%of initial PCE after 120 h heating).This study demonstrates the potential of OEG side-chain-incorporated materials in developing efficient,stable,and eco-friendly PSCs.

Formulating Highway Paving Asphalts from the Vacuum Residue of a Paraffinic Crude

Many specifications of paving asphalts are closely related to their colloidal stability, which is, however, determined by their exact chemical compositions. The Yumen vacuum residue (YVR), the bottoms of a paraffinic crude oil is unfit for the production of highway paving asphalts directly, Neither are the de-oiled asphalts of the YVR. In this research a blending method and an optimal process of solvent de-asphalts are adopted to investigate the feasibility of formulating highway-paving asphalts from YVR. Results show that highway paving asphalts are formulated by blending solvent de-oiled asphalts with one or more of the materials including YVR, decanted oil from FCC process, and furfural extracts from lubricating base stocks. Further investigations indicate that adding oil decanted from FCC process to the solvent de-asphalting process can increase the de-asphalted oil production, improve the de-oiled asphalts quality, and thus optimize the refinery processes. The methodology of this research can be extended even to refineries processing non-paraffinic crude oils.

A novel akermanite/poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) porous composite scaffold fabricated via a solvent casting-particulate leaching method improved by solvent self-proliferating process

Desirable scaffolds for tissue engineering should be biodegradable carriers to supply suitablemicroenvironments mimicked the extracellular matrices for desired cellular interactions and to providesupports for the formation of new tissues. In this work, a kind of slightly soluble bioactiveceramic akermanite (AKT) powders were aboratively selected and introduced in the PLGA matrix,a novel L-lactide modified AKT/poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (m-AKT/PLGA) composite scaffold wasfabricated via a solvent casting-particulate leaching method improved by solvent self-proliferatingprocess. The effects of m-AKT contents on properties of composite scaffolds and on MC3T3-E1 cellularbehaviors in vitro have been primarily investigated. The fabricated scaffolds exhibited threedimensionalporous networks, in which homogenously distributed cavities in size of 300–400 lmwere interconnected by some smaller holes in a size of 100–200 lm. Meanwhile, the mechanicalstructure of scaffolds was reinforced by the introduction of m-AKT. Moreover, alkaline ionic productsreleased by m-AKT could neutralize the acidic degradation products of PLGA, and the apatitemineralizationability of scaffolds could be largely improved. More valuably, significant promotionson adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of MC3T3-E1 have been observed, which implied thecalcium, magnesium and especially silidous ions released sustainably from composite scaffoldscould regulate the behaviors of osteogenesis-related cells.

Over 9% efficiency achieved for all-polymer solar cells processed by a green solvent

Bulk-heterojunction polymer solar cells （PSCs） have at- tracted considerable attention owning to their potential for fabricating flexible, light-weight and large area solar cell panels via high-throughput roll-to-roll technologies. Compared with conventional PSCs comprising small mol- ecule acceptors, such as fullerenes, all-polymer solar cells （all-PSCs） containing blends of p-type/n-type polymers in the photoactive layer provide advantages including easily tunable absorption band, enhanced absorption coefficient,

Polydiacetylene-Tb3＋ Nanosheets of Which Both the Color and the Fluorescence Can Be Reversibly Switched between Two Colors

Polydiacetylenes （PDAs）, an organic layered compound, show a series of intriguing properties, such as thermo- chromism and fluorescence emission in the red-phase. However, their irreversible color change, and weak and sin- gle-color fluorescence emitted only from the red-phase PDAs, have limited their applications. Herein, we report double-reversible PDA-Tb3＋ nanosheets of which both the color and the fluorescence can be reversibly switched between two colors. PDA-Tb3＋ nanosheets have the nearly defect-free intercalated structure in which a layer of Tb3＋ ions was intercalated in between each two PDA bilayers to tether almost all of the carboxyl groups at the end of the side chains of the PDA. When the PDA is in the blue phase, the PDA-Tb3＋ nanosheets emit the green fluo- rescence of Tb3＋ ions. When the PDA is in the red phase, the Tb3＋ fluorescence disappears while the intrinsic red fluorescence of PDA is effectively enhanced through the fluorescence resonance energy transfer （FRET） process; the PDA-Tb3＋ nanosheets emit stronger red fluorescence compared with the PDA in red phase. Moreover, the teth- ering of almost all of the carboxyl groups at the end of the side chains of the PDA endows the nanosheets with the double reversibility in both the color and fluorescence transitions.

Deuterated chloroform replaces ultra-dry chloroform to achieve high-efficient organic solar cells

Chloroform is a common and excellent solvent for preparing high-efficient organic solar cells(OSCs),however,it is toxic and poisonable chemical.In comparisons,deuterated chloroform(DC)is less toxic and costly,and particularly,it is non-poisonable chemical.In this paper,we use DC to replace ultra-dry chloroform(UC)as the processing solvent for preparation of active layers of organic solar cells.First,we selected PM6:BTP-e C9 as the basic binary and counted 100 solar cells'data,from which comparable device performance were obtained with use of DC and UC.Interestingly,DC showed better reproducibility,superior storage under a nitrogen atmosphere and a little better performance than UC.Both DC and UC gave rise of comparable hole and electron mobilities and similar charge recombination losses.Second,we based PM6:Y6 and D18-Cl:Y6 as the binaries and similar effects were obtained from both UC and DC when counting 30 devices for each binary.Third,the universality of the use of DC for preparing highefficient OSCs were again checked with several binary and ternary systems.In all,this study demonstrate that DC can replace UC for use in the field of OSCs.