Manufacturing and characterizing of CCTO/SEBS dielectric elastomer as capacitive strain sensors

Calcium copper titanate(CCTO)/polystyrenepolyethylene-polybutylene-poly styrene(SEBS)dielectric elastomers were prepared via blending method.A capacitive strain sensor using CCTO/SEBS as dielectric layer and polyaniline-dodecylbenzensulfonic acid(PANI-DB S A)/SEBS as electrodes was designed and manufactured by thermoforming process.X-ray diffractometer(XRD),scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and Raman spectra analyses were carried out;no impurities were found in the composite and CCTO particles were well dispersed.The dielectric tests showed that the samples filled with 20 wt%CCTO have their permittivity improved by 70%.The capacitive strain sensors have a stabilized capacitance variety range at different strain ranges or stretch speeds,and could remain synchronized after 500-time-stretching,showing high reproducibility.

Phenolic Composition Analysis and Gene Expression in Developing Seeds of Yellow-and Black-seeded Brassica napus

Breeders have focused on yellow-seeded Brassica napus （rapeseed） for its better quality com- pared with the black-seeded variety. Moreover, flavonoids have been associated with this kind of rapeseed. In this study, we applied lipid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spec- trometry （LC-ESI-MSn ） to compare flavonoids in developing seeds of natural black-seeded B. na- pus and yellow-seeded introgression lines selected from progenies of B. napus–Sinapis alba so- matic hybrids. Aside from the most abundant phenolic compounds （sinapine and sinapic acid） and 1, 2-disinapoylglucose, 16 different flavonoids were identified and quantified, including （-）- epicatechin, five monocharged oligomers of （-）-epicatechin （[DP 2]- , [DP 3]- , [DP 4] [DP 2]- B2 and [DP 2]- B5）, quercetin, kaempferol, isorhamnetin-dihexoside, kaempferol-sinapoyl-trihexoside, isorhamnetin- sinapoyl-trihexoside, isorhamnetin-hexoside-sulfate, and isorhamnetin-3-O-glucoside. Most of the flavonoids accumulated with seed development, whereas some rapidly decreased during maturation. The content of these flavonoids was lower in the yellow-seeded materials than in the black seeds. In addition, variations of insoluble procyanidin oligomers and soluble phenolic acids were observed among both rapeseed varieties. Transcriptome changes of genes participating in the flavonoid pathway were discovered by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis. Consistent with flavonoid changes identified by high performance liquid chromatography analysis, the expression of most genes in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway was also downregulated.

TPE based aggregation induced emission fluorescent sensors for viscosity of liquid and mechanical properties of hydrogel

Two amphiphilic TPE E/Z isomers with aggregation induced emission(AIE)property have been synthesized and characterized.The logarithmic fluorescent intensity of the two molecules was in positive relationship with logarithmic viscosity of liquid.To note,the Z-TPE isomer exhibited more sensitivity in the viscosity of liquid sensing in comparison with the corresponding E-TPE counterpart(around 1.80 folds).Furthermore,two molecules could be used as fluorescent sensors for mechanical properties(viscosity and storage modulus)of hydrogel as well.In addition,two sensors displayed low cytotoxicity in normal tissue cell line(L929)within the concentration range of 2–10μmol/L.These results potentially promised their applications as fluorescent sensors for mechanical properties in the fields of biological and biomedical.