Effectiveness of Compatibilizer on Mechanical Properties of Recycled PET Blends with PE, PP, and PS

Recycled PET (R-PET) is well known to exhibit brittle behavior in the presence of notches and indicated the low heat distortion temperature. In addition, it is hard to prevent some impurities such as cap or label of the bottle that mixed into R-PET during the recycling process. In this paper, the effect of the amounts and kinds of compatibilizers on the morphological characteristics and mechanical performance of recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) (R-PET) compounded with polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) was investigated. From the results, with an increase in the glycidyl methacrylate modified PE (EGMA) additive contents, in the increment of the Izod impact strength of Composite-G was obtained. In addition, it was found that the miscibility of Composite-G was improved with increasing the amount of EGMA, which indicated from the result of SEM images.

Copper Zinc Sulfur Compound Solar Cells Fabricated by Spray Pyrolysis Deposition for Solar Cells

Cu-Zn-S (CZS) films were deposited by the spray pyrolysis method. As-deposited CZS film showed a low crystallinity. The resistivity of CZS film with Cu/(Cu+Zn) ratio of 50% is around 10-2Ω﹒cm. The CZS film elements using spray Cu-Zn (=1:1) solution with thiourea was confirmed as? Cu:Zn:Sn=2:2:3 by ICP-MS and EDX. The band gap of CZS films was varied in the range of 1.8 - 3.5 ev when the? Cu/(Cu+Zn)ratio was increased from 0 to 67%;CZS film with Cu/(Cu+Zn)ratio of 50 % showed an wide band gap of 2 eV. The photovoltaic characteristics were confirmed with cell structure of . The best cell was observed at the CZS films with Cu/(Cu+Zn)ratio of 50%;these cells depicted a conversion efficiency of 1.7%.

Adsorption of α-Chymotrypsin on Plant Biomass Charcoal

The adsorption of α-chymotrypsin onto plant biomass charcoal (PBC), which was prepared from plant biomass wastes such as bagasse and dumped adzuki beans by pyrolysis, has been examined. The PBC was characterized by SEM, specific surface area, and pore size distribution. The adsorption isotherms were successfully correlated by the Freundlich equation. The amount of α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on PBC was dramatically dependent upon the solution pH and temperature. Maximum adsorptions of α-chymotrypsin on adzuki bean charcoal and bagasse charcoal were observed at weak acidic and near neutral pH, respectively. The amount of α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on PBC decreased with an increase in the concentration of salts. Plots of the amount of α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on PBC versus temperature exhibited an optimum temperature.

Synthesis of Polysilanes Using Mg and Lewis Acid and the Consideration of This Reaction Mechanism

Reduction of dichlorosilanes with Mg metal in the presence of LiCl and Lewis acid such as FeCl2 or ZnCl2 was found to be the highly practical method for the synthesis of polysilanes (PS). This method is so useful and practical that PS can be prepared by stirring dichlorosilanes at room temperature. This method was successfully applied for the synthesis of various types of PS having a linear structure, a cyclic structure and silane-styrene copolymers as another type of PS. The structure of the reaction intermediates was also analyzed. At the initiation stage the results of FD-MS (Field desorption mass spectrometry) and GPC (Gel permeation chromatography) showed that linear oligomers were mainly formed by stepwise reactions, and then the high polymers and cyclic oligomers were formed in parallel.

Effects of Polysilane-Coating on Interface of Electrofusion Joints for Maintaining Strength

The fusion strength of electrofusion joints using the polyethylene (PE) pipe connection greatly depends on the amount of sand which adheres to the interface by wind and so on, because there is no flow of melted resin at the fusion interface on electrofusion joints. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a method to prevent the fusion strength from reducing even in the case of sand adhesion. In this study, the fusion interface coated with polysilane, a kind of silicon polymer, effectively prevented the reduction of the fusion strength even if contaminated by sand. It was found that it brought the improvement of the fusion strength since when there was polysilane on the fusion interface. PS deeply permeated the polyethylene layer and lowered the viscosity of polyethylene.

Research on Treatment Technology for the Industrial Wastewaters with High Concentrationin China

By using the introduced CWO technology and its 200 L/d plant, more than 10 kinds of industrial wastewaters with high concentration in China, such as the waste liquor of coking, the black liquor of paper making, the waste mother liquor of bio-pharmacy and so on, were treated in this test research. The results showed that the CWO technology and its equipment had a good applicability for treating the industrial wastewaters with high concentration in China. One set of CWO-20 m^3/d industrial plant, as a demonstration engineering installation of CWO technology, was independently designed, made and operated in Kunming city. During the running test, the CWO-20 m^3/d plant displayed a favorable treatment capability for the bio-degradedly difficult industrial wastewaters with high concentration. For the treatment of the waste liquor from coking and the black liquor of paper making, more than 99% of CODcr and NH3-N in the wastewater could be removed. The CWO-20 m^3/d plant could be run continuously and stably. The treated wastewater could meet the discharge standard and the treatment process with CWO technology shown up a good economic advantage.

Development of coal mine methane concentration technology for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions

In coal mines in such countries as China and Russia,most of the coal mine methane(CMM) generated during mining is emitted to the atmosphere without any effective usage,because the methane concentration of CMM is relatively low and not allowed to be used as fuel for safety reasons.Methane is one of the greenhouse gases.Therefore,if it becomes possible to concentrate CMM to an acceptable level for use as fuel,this will greatly contribute to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.With the aim of gaining approval as a greenhouse gas emission reduction of the clean development mechanism(CDM) or joint implementation(JI) project,we developed a CMM concentration system to apply the vacuum pressure swing adsorption(VPSA) technology using a high methane-selective adsorbent by Osaka Gas Co.,Ltd.The pilot-scale plant of a CMM concentration system was installed in a coal mine in Fuxin City in the northeastern China and a demonstration test was commenced in December 2008.As the result,the pilot-scale plant successfully concentrated the raw material gas with a methane concentration of 21% and a flow rate of 1000 Nm3/h to 48%,which exceeded the target of the methane concentration performance(a 25% increase).The methane recovery rate reached 93%.

Study on the Structure of Peroxide Cross-Linked Polyethylene Pipes with Several Stabilizers

Cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) pipes used in hot water supply are required for high mechanical strength and high creep resistance at high temperature. Especially PEX-a pipes which are made by peroxide cross-linking have better performance, such as creep resistance and thermal shock resistance than the pipes made by the other cross-linking method. Because the PEX-a pipes indicate the higher cross-link degree as compared with the other PEX pipes. In this study, the PEX-a pipes which were mixed with several stabilizers were tested to evaluate the effects on cross-link degree and the oxygen induction time. And also they are evaluated with the chlorine aqueous solution by the performance of the long-term hydrostatic pressure test and the long-term hydro dynamic pressure test. As a result, it was found that the combination of antioxidants for PEX-a pipes plays an important role to prolong the oxygen induction time without inhibiting the cross-linking. From the results of the 1H pulsed NMR measurement over the melting point of polyethylene, it was found that each peroxide PEX pipe with different antioxidant combinations indicated the different proportion and crosslink density of cross-linked region, in addition, that these pipes had the effective structure of cross-linking for the hydrostatic and hydrodynamic pressure test with the chlorine aqueous solution. Therefore, it was considered to be useful results for studies of the stricture of cross-linking of polyethylene.

Effects of PBr₃Addition to Polysilane Thin Films on Structures and Photovoltaic Properties

Organic thin film solar cells are potential next generation solar cells. Many p-type semiconductors have been used in organic solar cells, but there have been far fewer reports involving n-type organic semiconductors. Developing new n-type organic semiconductors is therefore desirable. Polysilane thin films were spin-coated from solutions containing phosphorus (P), and the effects of P addition on film microstructures and electronic properties as n-type semiconductors were investigated. Microstructures of poly-methyl-phenyl-silane (PMPS), dimethyl-polysilane (DMPS) and deca-phenyl-penta-silane (DPPS) thin films were investigated by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. PMPS thin films doped with P (PMPS(P)) were amorphous upon annealing at 300&#176C, while DMPS(P) and DPPS(P) thin films exhibited crystalline structures. PMPS(P) and DMPS(P) thin films exhibited decreased electrical resistances upon P doping. The energy gaps of PMPS(P), DMPS(P) and DPPS(P) were 3.5, 3.9 and 3.8 eV, respectively. Decreased photoluminescence intensities of PMPS, DMPS and DPPS were observed upon P doping. The desorption of phenyl and methyl groups from PMPS(P) thin films was observed from Raman scattering measurements. Solar cells containing polysilane(P)/poly[3-hexylthiophene] heterojunction structures were fabricated and exhibited photovoltaic behavior.

Fabrication of Perovskite-Type Photovoltaic Devices with Polysilane Hole Transport Layers

Perovskite-type photovoltaic devices with polysilane hole transport layers were fabricated by a spin-coating method. In the present work, poly(methyl phenylsilane) (PMPS) and decaphenylcyclopentasilane (DPPS) were used as the hole transport layers. First, structural and optical properties of the PMPS and DPPS films were investigated, and the as-prepared PMPS and DPPS films were amorphous. Optical absorption spectra of the amorphous PMPS and DPPS showed some marked features due to the nature of polysilanes. Then, microstructures, optical and photovoltaic properties of the perovskite-type photovoltaic devices with polysilane hole transport layers were investigated. Current density-voltage characteristics and incident photon to current conversion efficiency of the photovoltaic devices with the polysilane layers showed different photovoltaic performance each other, attributed to molecular structures of the polysilanes and Si content in the present hole transport layers.

Observation of Environmental Stress Cracking in Polymethylmethacrylate by Using the Chemiluminescence Method

Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) is highly regarded for its transparency, and is used in such products as cameras and Video Tape Recorders as plastic lenses to take advantage of its excellent optical properties. Also, it is used in numerous other industrial fields like automobile lamp lenses, billboards, and lighting equipment. The phenomenon of environmental stress cracking is known to occur in PMMA due to ethanol, and there are cases when this may become a factor which causes damage of molded products. In the present paper, upon close observation by using the method of chemiluminescence in order to elucidate the mechanism by which this environmental stress cracking occurs, we report that we are able to capture the formation of a radical at the moment of cracking.

Fabrication and Characterization of Poly[Decaphenylcyclopentasilane]-Based Solar Cells

Poly[decaphenylcyclopentasilane] (PDPS)-based photovoltaic cells were fabricated by using mixture solution of PDPS including boron and phosphorous elements. A doping effect of phosphorus and boron into PDPS was investigated on the performance of the photovoltaic devices. The solar cell provided short-circuit current density of 0.11 mA/cm2 and open-circuit voltage of 0.81 V under simulated sunlight. Microstructural analysis indicated that PDPS had an amor-phous structure, which would result in the photovoltaic properties.