A new type of rubidium ion-imprinted polymer has been synthesized by the surface-imprinting technique using methacrylic acid as the functional monomer, the rubidium ion as the template, methanol as the solvent, and silica as a carrier. Ethylene glycol dimethacrylate and 2,2-azobisisobutyronitrile were used as acrosslinker and an initiator, respectively. In addition, based on the macrocyclic effect of crown ethers, the 18-crown-6 ligand was introduced as a ligand to fix the template ions better. Scanning electron microscopy, zeta-potential analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were performed to characterize the ion-imprinted polymer. The effects of the preparation and adsorption conditions on the adsorption performance of the rubidium ion-imprinted polymer were investigated. The results indicated that the rubidium ion-imprinted polymer has high selectivity and faster kinetics than other adsorbents, with an equilibrium adsorption capacity of 200.19 mg·g^-1 at 298 K within 25 min. The sorption isotherm was well described by the Freundlich isotherm model, while the adsorption kinetics fitted the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Consecutive adsorption–desorption experiments showed that the ion-imprinted polymer had good chemical stability and reusability.

Adopting organic phase change materials (PCMs) for the management of electronic devices is restricted by low thermal conductivity. In this paper, the composite PCMs are established by freeze-drying and vacuum impregnation. Herein, polyethylene glycol (PEG) is induced as heat storage materials, boron nitride (BN) is embedded as filler stacking in an orderly fashion on the foam walls to improve thermal conductivity and sodium alginate (SA) is formed as supporting material to keep the shape of the composite stable. X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectrometer, thermal gravimetric analysis, thermal conductivity meter, differential scanning calorimeter, and Fourier transform infrared were used to characterize the samples and thermal cycles were employed to measure the shape stability. The results exhibit the BN@SA/PEG composite PCMs have good chemical compatibility, stable morphology, and thermal stability. Due to the high porosity of foam, PEG endows the composite PCMs with high latent heat (149.11 and 141.59 J·g^-1). Simultaneously, BN@SA/PEG shows an excellent heat performance with high thermal conductivity (0.99 W·m^-1·K^-1), reusability, and shape stability, contributing the composite PCMs to application in the energy storage field. This study provides a strategy to manufacture flexible, long-serving, and shape-stable PCMs via introducing BN@SA foam as a storage framework, and these PCMs have great potential in thermal management in the electronic field.

Tetrahydrofuran (THF) extract of coal tar pitch (CTP) was used instead of blending CTP with pretreated pyrolysis fuel oil to prepare an isotropic pitch precursor with excellent spinnability for general-purpose carbon fibre through bromination–dehydrobromination. The feasibility and effectiveness of synthesising an isotropic pitch precursor derived from THF-soluble (CTP-THFs) is demonstrated in this study. The results show that CTP-THFs contains more light components than CTP; CTP-THFs and CTP monomer proportions were 62.52% and 45.32%, respectively. However, based on comparisons of CTP-THFsBr0 and CTPBr0 characterisations, CTP-THFs exhibits better polycondensation than CTP. Bromination–dehydrobromination promotes polycondensation of pitch precursors, leading to greater carbon aromaticity in CTP-THFsBr5, CTP-THFsBr10, and CTP-THFsBr15 than that in CTP-THFsBr0 and CTPBr0. CTP-THFsBr5 and CTP-THFsBr10 have excellent spinnability even with softening points as high as 230 ℃. The peri-condensed carbon and carbon aromaticity of CTP-THFsBr5 and CTP-THFsBr10 are high owing to the higher degree of polycondensation; however, they still possess a more linear molecular structure. The as-prepared carbon fibre exhibits homogeneity and uniformity, and the mechanical performance is comparable with that of commercial general-purpose carbon fibre products.

Concentration distribution of the deterrent in single-base propellant during the process of firing plays an important role in the ballistic properties of gun propellant in weapons. However, the diffusion coefficient calculated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is 6 orders of magnitude larger than the experimental values. Meanwhile, few simple and comprehensive theoretical models can explain the phenomenon and accurately predict the concentration distribution of the propellant. Herein, an onion model combining with MD simulation and finite element method of diffusion in propellants is introduced to bridge the gap between the experiments and simulations, and correctly predict the concentration distribution of deterrent. Furthermore, a new time scale is found to characterize the diffusion process. Finally, the time- and position-depended concentration distributions of dibutyl phthalate in nitrocellulose are measured by Raman spectroscopy to verify the correctness of the onion model. This work not only provides guidance for the design of the deterrent, but could be also extended to the diffusion of small molecules in polymer with different crystallinity.

A mesoporous UiO-66-NH₂ aerogel is prepared via a straightforward sol–gel method without using any binders or mechanical pressures, in which the amine groups are directly introduced into the matrix by using 2-aminoterephthalic acid. The novel UiO-66-NH₂ aerogel also exhibits high specific surface area and mesopore-dominated structure, implying its highly potential use in CO₂ adsorption. For ulteriorly investigating the effect of amine loading on the CO₂ adsorption ability, a series of UiO-66-NH₂ aerogel with different amino content is fabricated by changing the ligand/metal molar ratio. When the molar ratio is 1.45, the CO₂ adsorption capacity reaches the optimum value of 2.13 mmol·g^-1 at 25 ℃ and 0.1 MPa, which is 12.2% higher than that of pure UiO-66 aerogel. Additionally, UiO-66-NH₂-1.45 aerogel also has noticeable CO₂ selectivity against N₂ and CH₄ as well as good regeneration stability. Such results imply that it has good application prospect in the field of CO₂ adsorption, and also contains the potential to be applied in catalysis, separation and other fields.

To better understand the benzene alkylation with chloroaluminate ionic liquids (ILs) as catalyst, the interfacial properties between the benzene/butene binary reactants and chloroaluminate ILs with varying cation alkyl chain length and different anions were investigated using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results indicate that ILs can obviously improve the interfacial width, solubility and diffusion of reactants compared to H₂SO₄. The longer alkyl chains of cations present a density enrichment at the interface and protrude into the binary reactants phase. Furthermore, the ILs consisting of 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium cations ([Omim]⁺) and the stronger acidity heptachlorodialuminate anions ([Al₂Cl₇]^-) are more beneficial to promote the interfacial width and facilitate the dissolution and diffusion of benzene in both the IL bulk and the interfacial region in comparison to the ones with shorter alkyl chains cations and weaker acidity anions. The information gives us a better guideline for the design of ILs for benzene alkylation.

A liquid–solid circulating fluidized bed boiler is designed and built for visualization research by applying the fluidized bed heat transfer and fouling prevention technology to the water side of the boiler. Four types of engineering plastic particles with different physical properties are selected as the solid working media. The effect of particle types on the fluidization and distribution of particles in the boiler is investigated under different feedwater flow rates and amount of added particles by using the charge couple device image measurement and acquisition system. The results show that all kinds of particles can’t be normally fluidized and accumulate in the drum at low amount of added particles and feedwater flow rate. The particles with great density and low sphericity are more likely to accumulate. The average solid holdup in the riser tubes increases with the increase in feedwater flow rate and the amount of added particles. The non-uniform degree of particle distribution in the riser tubes generally decreases with the increase in feedwater flow rate and the amount of added particles. The particles with small density and settling velocity have high average solid holdup in the riser tubes under close sphericity. In generally, the smaller the density and settling velocity, the more uniform the particle distribution in the riser tubes. Three-dimensional diagrams of the non-uniform degree of particle distribution in the riser tubes of the boiler are established.

The study of liquid film characteristics in multiphase flow is a very important research topic, however, the characteristics of the liquid film around Taylor bubble structure in gas, oil and water three-phase flow are not clear. In the present study, a novel liquid film sensor is applied to measure the distributed signals of the liquid film in three-phase flow. Based on the liquid film signals, the liquid film characteristics including the structural characteristics and the nonlinear dynamics characteristics in three-phase flows are investigated for the first time. The structural characteristics including the proportion, the appearance frequency and the thickness of the liquid film are obtained and the influences of the liquid and gas superficial velocities and the oil content on them are investigated. To investigate the nonlinear dynamics characteristics of the liquid film with the changing flow conditions, the entropy analysis is introduced to successfully uncover and quantify the dynamic complexity of the liquid film behavior.

Biofouling, which comprises the absorption of proteins and the adhesion of bacteria to the surface of living entities, is a severe concern for the maritime sector since it ultimately leads to hydrodynamic drag, resulting in a higher increase in fuel consumption. As a result, polymer resins are crucial in the marine sector for anti-biofouling coatings. In this work, the poly(caprolactone-ethylene glycol-caprolactone)-polyurethane (PECL-PU) are prepared through ε-caprolactone (CL), poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), 4,4'-methylene bis(cyclohexyl isocyanate) and 1,4 butanediol. Our study demonstrate that the PECL-PU copolymer degraded in artificial seawater (5.21%), enzymatic solution (12.63%), and seawater (13.75%) due to the presence of PEG segments in the laboratory-based test under static condition. Because the addition of PEG segments are increased the polymer's amorphous area and decreased the crystallization of the polycaprolactone (PCL) in the copolymer, as demonstrated by differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and water contact angle studies. Therefore, the hydrolysis rates of PECL-PU were higher than the caprolactone-co-polyurethane (CL-PU). The antifouling test showed that PECL-PU3 copolymer had about 90.29% protein resistance, 85.2% Escherichia coli (E. coli) reduction and 94.61% marine diatom Navicula incerta reduction comparison to the control. We have developed an eco-friendly and inexpensive promising degradable polyurethane for reduction of bacterial biofilm, which can preserve the formation of biofouling on marine coating under practical sea conditions.

High and cost-efficient capture of CO₂ is a prerequisite and an inevitable path of carbon emission reduction. To address the challenges (high cost, low efficiency, less sustainability, etc.) of existing petroleum-based CO₂ absorbents, herein, a class of efficient and sustainable lignin-based absorbents were resoundingly prepared by grafting the active amine group on a lignin derived compound vanillin and alkali lignin. The results demonstrated that vanillin modified by acrylamide achieved the excellent absorption capacity among the three absorbents, whose ability was 0.114 g CO₂ per gram of absorbent under 25 ℃ and 100 kPa.In addition, the absorbent retained stable absorbability of CO₂ after 6 cycles. The absorbing capacity of the absorbent formed by the coupling of vanillin and acrylamide to CO₂ was much greater than their own (i.e. 0 g CO₂·g^-1 vanillin, 0.01 g CO₂·g^-1 acrylamide, respectively). Detailed information revealed the multi-site synergistic absorption mechanism, in which CO₂ has C and O double interactions with the amide group of the absorbent, and single interaction with the hydroxyl oxygen on the benzene ring of the absorbent. The absorption capacity of modified lignin for CO₂ is as high as 0.12 g CO₂ per gram of absorbent, which is comparable with that of model compound vanillin. This work not only provides a new idea for the design of bio-absorbents for CO₂ capture, but explores the application potential of lignin-based materials.

Hydrogen peroxide synthesis by electro-reduction of O₂ to substitute the current anthraquinone process has attracted a great deal of attention. Low oxygen utilization rate and low hydrogen peroxide production remain obstacles to electro-Fenton application. In situ H₂O₂ generated by electrochemical reaction depends on the electrochemical performance of the cathode and the structure of the reactor. Here, novel graphite felt (GF) modified by La-doped CeO₂ (La–CeO₂) was developed as a cathode. A new double chamber electro-Fenton reactor was proposed, where an organic ultrafiltration membrane was used to prevent H₂O₂ from spreading to the anode. The effects of hydrothermal temperature, time and urea concentration on the electrochemical properties of graphite felt were investigated. The accumulated concentration of H₂O₂ on the modified cathode reached 218.4 mg·L^–1 in 1 h when the optimal conditions of hydrothermal temperature 120 ℃ and urea concentration 0.55% (mass) in 24 h. The degradation rate of methyl orange reached 98.29%. The new electro-Fenton reactor can efficiently produce hydrogen peroxide to degrade various organic substances and has a high potential for treating wastewater in the chemical industry.

The searching of highly efficient catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has attracted particular attention. In this work, we construct the graphene-based bilayers BG/X that consists by the CoN₄ embedded graphene as the upper layer and the X modified graphene as the bottom layer (X = Si, P, S). The interfacial bonding between CoN₄ site and the X dopant is spontaneously formed due to the strong pd hybridization, which changes the Co ligand from the planar-four N₄ coordination into spatial-five N₄ + X one. The additive glue atom weakens too strong adsorptions of the ORR intermediates on CoN₄ site and thereby improves the ORR activities in comparison with the monolayer counterpart. From the free energy profiles, the overpotentials η are 0.47, 0.49 and 0.45 V for BG/Si_a, BG/P_a and BG/S_a, respectively, being comparable to that of state-of-the-art Pt material. Besides, the kinetic barriers for the bilayers are less than 0.75 eV, an indicative of the room temperature activity. Furthermore, the combination of thermodynamic and kinetic analysis ensures the preference of 4e^--OOH associative mechanism over 2e^--H₂O₂ mechanism, being beneficial for membrane stability against the H₂O₂ corrosion. Therefore, the graphene-based bilayers deliver the high efficiencies for oxygen reduction electrocatalysis. Therefore, the interfacial bonding in the graphene-based bilayers provides an interesting strategy to suppress the poisoning phenomenon for the material design from atom scale.

In this work, the liquid–liquid two-phase mass transfer characteristics in the microchannel with deformed insert were studied. The experiment used di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid/kerosene-Cu²⁺ as the mass transfer evaluation system. The effects of some key factors such as the total flow velocity, channel inner diameter, channel length, insert diameter, extractant concentration on the extraction efficiency and mass transfer coefficient were systematically investigated. Compared with a simple microreactor, the liquid–liquid mass transfer enhancement effect of the insert was quantitatively analyzed. The study found that the regular deformation of the insert could cause fluid interface deformation and promote flow state chaos, effectively increasing the mass transfer rate. And the enhancement effect of the insert was more significant at high flow velocities. The highest mass transfer coefficient in the microchannel with deformed insert was 7.886 s^-1, the enhancement factor could reach 4.17. And only needed 0.095 s to approach the extraction equilibrium. The deformed center insert exhibited an effective liquid–liquid mass transfer enhancement effect, which can be used as a micro-chemical process enhancement method to be applied in the fields of higher throughput mass transfer and chemical synthesis, and at the same time provide ideas for development and structural optimization of microreactors.

The experiments were conducted to focus on the desulfurization and evaporation characteristics of lime slurry droplets at 298–383 K. We designed an evaporation-reaction chamber with quartz glass windows. The monodisperse slurry droplet stream was injected into the evaporation reaction chamber, and the inlet gas components (air, air + SO₂) were introduced into the chamber. We applied the magnified digital in-line holography to measure the droplet parameters and calculated the evaporation rate. The effects of temperature, droplet concentration, and SO₂ concentration on the evaporation rate of Ca(OH)₂ droplets were discussed. Moreover, the Ca(OH)₂ droplets under different experimental conditions were sampled, and the droplets were observed and analyzed using an off-line microscope. The evaporation rate of the Ca(OH)₂ droplet increased at first, and then decreased during the falling process, and remained constant at last. The average evaporation rate of the Ca(OH)₂ droplets increased significantly with the temperature increasing.

For a cyclone, it is possible to improve separation efficiency and reduce pressure drop by increasing the cyclone height. However, an exceeded height increase could result in a dramatical drop in separation efficiency. In this study, experimental and computational fluid dynamics simulation results exhibit that the introduction of an apex cone at the dust outlet could avoid the risk of separation efficiency drop but lead to a continuous reducing of the pressure drop. Generally, the optimal cyclone height should be closely related to the natural vortex length. While, when the vortex end contracts into the separation space in the cyclone with an exceeded height, severe back-mixing of particles always occurs, which will result in the decrease of separation efficiency. Herein, it is found that when an apex cone is installed at the dust outlet, the vortex end can be grasped by the cone so as to weaken the back-mixing of particles. Meanwhile, the introduction of this apex cone can enhance the secondary separation to capture the back-mixed particles again so as to protect the efficiency. In addition, it is found that the enhanced secondary separation could come from either the stagnant current of axial velocity in the center or the improved tangential velocity of inner vortex whereas the forcibly extending the length of vortex to exceed its natural length will not significantly increase efficiency.

Deposition of β-amyloid protein (Aβ) is the main hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and it has been well recognized that Cu²⁺-mediated Aβ aggregation plays a crucial role in AD pathological processes. Cu²⁺ binding to Aβ can promote the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) through Fenton-like reactions and produce more toxic Aβ-Cu²⁺ species under Cu²⁺ stimulation. Thus, the development of nanomaterials that can inhibit Cu²⁺-mediated Aβ aggregation and degrade Aβ-Cu²⁺ complexes is considered an effective strategy for the prevention and treatment of AD. In this study, polydopamine nanoparticles (PDA NPs) were prepared and the results reveal that PDA NPs potently inhibit Cu²⁺-mediated Aβ aggregation and effectively reduce the formation of Aβ-Cu²⁺ complexes. In vitro experiments show that PDA NPs efficiently eliminate ROS generation catalyzed by Cu²⁺ or Aβ-Cu²⁺ complexes, thus rescuing cultured cells by reducing intracellular ROS levels. More importantly, PDA NPs can depolymerize Aβ-Cu²⁺ complexes, and the degradation of Aβ-Cu²⁺ complexes is promoted by near-infrared light irradiation due to their high photothermal conversion ability. In vivo studies reveal that PDA NPs significantly reduce the deposition of Aβ plaques in the presence of Cu²⁺ and extend the lifespan of AD nematodes from 11 to 14 d. Thus, the PDA NPs developed herein are multifunctional against Cu²⁺-mediated Aβ aggregation for the potential prevention and treatment of AD.

The double salt of glucosamine sulfate sodium chloride (glucosamine-SP) is an important pharmaceuticals ingredient for healing osteoarthritis. However, the study about its industrial production is rarely documented, let alone the optimization over the whole process to produce glucosamine-SP using glucosamine hydrochloride and anhydrous sodium sulfate as synthetic raw materials. In order to improve the production efficiency, this study screened the process parameters based on the concept of quality by design (QbD), optimized 13 operational parameters related to reaction and separation in the process, and finally proposed the mixed dropping process. The reaction conditions for the preparation of glucosamine-SP were found as follows: the molar ratio of anhydrous sodium sulfate to glucosamine hydrochloride is 0.42, the mass ratio of water to glucosamine hydrochloride is is 2.0, the reaction temperature is 50 ℃ and the reaction time is 1 h. Through step-by-step scaling up following QbD, the mixed dropping process was successfully applied to achieve a trial production of 200 kg products satisfying national quality standards. In all, the results of this study have high technical value and guiding significance for the industrial mass production of glucosamine-SP.

Photocatalysis is an environmentally friendly and energy-saving technology, which can effectively remove persistent dangerous pollutants in the water. Pitifully, optical absorption capacity and carrier separation have become major bottlenecks for marvelous photocatalytic performance of photocatalysts. Herein, to address these issue, Nanodiamonds/yolk-shell ZnFe₂O₄ spheres (NDs/ZFO) nanocomposites were successfully constructed via a facile two-step of solvothermal and calcination methods. The synthesized optimal NDs/ZFO-10 nanocomposite exhibits superior photocatalytic degradation activity of antibiotic under visible light, approximately 85% of the total tetracycline (TC) is degraded, and this photocatalyst shows durable cycling stability. This stems from two aspects of refinement: improvement of light absorption capacity and photo-induced charges migration and separation. In addition, the NDs/ZFO composite photocatalyst features excellent magnetic recovery capability, facilitating the recovery of photocatalyst in industry. This study opens a new chapter in the combination of NDs with magnetic materials, and deepens the understanding of the application of NDs modified composite photocatalysts.

Since the application in fuel cell, the electrochemical adsorption of hydroxyl has received considerable attention in recent years. While most research mainly focus on the room temperature, in this paper, the electrochemical adsorption of hydroxyl in alkaline solution at high temperature was investigated. An unusual oxidation peak was observed at -0.27 V, suggesting new behavior of hydroxyl adsorption occurred. As is known two kinds of cation hydrated clusters exist in alkaline solution, (H₂O)_x-1M⁺-H₂O-O_adH and (H₂O)_xM⁺-O_adH. For K⁺ and Cs⁺, the cluster shows unstable structure due to the weak interaction between hydrated cation and OH^- especially at high temperature. However, For Li⁺, Na⁺ the cluster structure would be stable, as the interaction force between the hydrated cation and OH^- is so strong. It was revealed that the unusual oxidation peak has some relationship with the (H₂O)_x-1M⁺-H₂O-O_adH cluster (K⁺ and Cs⁺) absorbed at Pt electrode surface. When the temperature was raised, (H₂O)_x-1M⁺-H₂O- and -O_adH was disconnected, then the O_adH absorbed at Pt surface got oxidated. Based on the SEM observation, it was showed the unusual electrochemical oxidation reaction would generate platinum oxides, blocking the reactive sites at Pt electrode surface, thus reducing the electrochemical reactivity of Pt electrode. Accordingly, parameters of alkaline concentration and temperature were systematically studied, it was found that increase temperature or alkaline concentration was in favor of the unusual oxidation reaction. This study provides more understanding of hydroxyl adsorption behavior at Pt electrode surface for the high temperature water solution environment.

The selective oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) into 2,5-diformylfuran (DFF) is an important reaction for renewable biomass building blocks. Compared with thermal catalytic processes, photocatalytic production of DFF from HMF has attracted tremendous attention. Herein, the MoS₂/CdIn₂S₄ (MC) flower-like heterojunctions were prepared and considered as photocatalysts for selective oxidation of HMF into DFF under visible-light irradiation in aqueous solution. Results demonstrated MoS₂ in MC heterojunction could promote the separation of photoexcited electron-hole pairs, while the amount of MoS₂ dropping was proved influenced on the photocatalytic performance. 80.93% of DFF selectivity was realized when using 12.5% MC as photocatalyst. In addition, the MC catalyst also showed great potential in transformation of other biomass derived benzyl- and furyl-alcohols. The catalytic mechanism suggested that ·O₂^- was the decisive active radical for HMF oxidation. Therefore, the MC heterojunction could be applied in photocatalytic conversion of biomass to valuable chemicals under ambient condition.

In industry, ethylene (C₂H₄)/propylene (C₃H₆) separations are usually performed by a cryogenic process, which is energy intensive. Membrane separation technology is an alternative separation process that saves energy and is efficient. In this study, blend membranes were prepared by doping polyethylene glycol (PEG600) into a poly(ether-block-amide) (Pebax^® 2533) matrix and were used to separate the C₂H₄/C₃H₆ mixture. The PEG 600 and Pebax^® 2533 polymers have good compatibility because they share hydrogen bonds. The addition of PEG600 is conducive to the hydrophilicity and the free volume of blend membranes, and it is also conducive to the solubility of C₂H₄ and C₃H₆ in the membranes, which improves the ability of the membranes to separate this gas pair. The Pebax^® 2533/PEG600 blend membrane with 15% (mass) PEG600 showed the highest separation performance in our investigated membranes, with a C₃H₆/C₂H₄ selectivity of 8.9 and a C₃H₆ permeability of 196 barrer (1 barrer = 1.33×10¹⁴ m³(STP)·m·m^-2·s^-1·kPa^-1) at 238 K and 0.2 MPa, which is higher than that of the Pebax^® 2533/NaY-6% (mass) membrane (α_C3H6=C2H4 =6.5, =211 barrer) reported in our previous work. It is confirmed that incorporating PEG600 into the Pebax^® 2533 matrix to fabricate blend membranes is an efficient strategy for separating light olefins.

The efficient separation of amphoteric organic compounds from dilute solutions is of great importance in the industrial field. In the present work, the reactive extractions of 4-hydroxypyridine (4-HP) with tributyl phosphate (TBP), di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) and TBP + D2EHPA dissolved in 1-octanol were investigated, respectively. The influences of the initial concentrations of TBP, D2EHPA and TBP + D2EHPA on distribution ratio (D) were discussed, as well as the reactive extraction mechanism were proposed. The obvious intensification effect was observed when the mixture of TBP and D2EHPA was used as extractant. The best extraction conditions were found to be of the molar ratio of D2EHPA and TBP at 2:1 and the equilibrium aqueous pH at 3.50–4.50. D values increased with the increase of the total concentration of TBP and D2EHPA in 1-octanol. Especially, the analysis on the extraction mechanisms clearly indicate (i) TBP in 1-octanol shows negligible reactive extraction toward 4-HP, (ii) D2EHPA in 1-octanol exhibits moderate extraction effect by forming 4-HP:D2EHPA (1:1) and 4-HP:2D2EHPA (1:2) type complexes, while (iii) D2EHPA in TBP/1-octanol demonstrates the maximum distribution ratio with the 4-HP:D2EHPA (1:1) type complex domination. The discussion provides new insights on the mechanism and opens a new way for the intensified extraction of amphoteric organic compounds by using the mixture of multiple extractants in the diluent.

Production of light olefins from CO₂, the primary greenhouse gases, is of great importance to mitigate the adverse effects of CO₂ emission on environment and to supply the value-added products from non-petroleum resource. However, development of robust catalyst with controllable selectivity and stability remains a challenge. Herein, we report that Zn-promoted Fe catalyst can boost the stable and selective production of light olefins from CO₂. Specifically, the Zn-promoted Fe exhibits a highly stable activity and olefin selectivity over 200 h time-on-stream compared to the unpromoted Fe catalyst, primarily owing to the preservation of active χ-Fe₅C₂ phase. Structural characterizations of the spent catalysts suggest that Zn substantially regulates the content of iron carbide on the surface and suppresses the re-oxidation of bulk iron carbide during the reaction. DFT calculations confirm that adsorption of surface carbon atoms and graphene-like carbonaceous species are not thermochemically favored on Zn-promoted Fe catalyst. Carbon deposition by C-C coupling reactions of two surface carbon atoms and dehydrogenation of CH intermediate are also inhibited. Furthermore, the effects of Zn on antioxidation of iron carbide were also investigated. Zn favored the hydrogenation of surface adsorbed oxygen atoms to H₂O and the desorption of H₂O, which reduces the possibility of surface carbide being oxidized by the chemisorbed oxygen.

The Joule–Thomson effect is one of the important thermodynamic properties in the system relevant to gas switching reforming with carbon capture and storage (CCS). In this work, a set of apparatus was set up to determine the Joule–Thomson effect of binary mixtures (CO₂ + H₂). The accuracy of the apparatus was verified by comparing with the experimental data of carbon dioxide. The Joule–Thomson coefficients (μ_JT) for (CO₂ + H₂) binary mixtures with mole fractions of carbon dioxide (χ_CO2 = 0.1, 0.26, 0.5, 0.86, 0.94) along six isotherms at various pressures were measured. Five equations of state EOSs (PR, SRK, PR, BWR and GERG-2008 equation) were used to calculate the μ_JT for both pure systems and binary systems, among which the GERG-2008 predicted best with a wide range of pressure and temperature. Moreover, the Joule–Thomson inversion curves (JTIC) were calculated with five equations of state. A comparison was made between experimental data and predicted data for the inversion curve of CO₂. The investigated EOSs show a similar prediction of the low-temperature branch of the JTIC for both pure and binary systems, except for the BWRS equation of state. Among all the equations, SRK has the most similar result to GERG-2008 for predicting JTIC.

Oriented ligand immobilization is one of the most effective strategies used in the design and construction of a high-capacity protein A chromatography. In this work, cysteine was introduced as anchoring sites by substituting a specific residue on Helix I, II, and at C-terminus of antibody binding domain Z from protein A, respectively, to investigate structural evolution and binding behavior of protein A ligands at liquid–solid interfaces. Among the three affinity dextran-coated Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄@Dx MNPs), affinity MNPs with the immobilized ligand via N11C on Helix I (Fe₃O₄@Dx-Z₁ MNPs) had the highest helical content, and MNPs with the immobilized ligand via G29C on Helix II (Fe₃O₄@Dx-Z₂ MNPs) had the lowest helical content at the same pHs. It was attributed to less electrostatic attraction of ligand to negatively charged surface on Fe₃O₄@Dx-Z₁ MNPs because of less positive charged residues on Helix I (K6) than Helix II (R27/K35). Among the three affinity MNPs, moreover, the highest affinity to immunoglobulin G (IgG) binding was observed on Fe₃O₄@Dx-Z₁ MNPs in isothermal titration calorimetry measurement, further validating greater structural integrity of the ligand on Fe₃O₄@Dx-Z₁ MNPs. Finally, the study of IgG binding on MNPs and 96-well plates showed that anchoring sites for ligand immobilization had distinct influences on IgG binding and IgG-mediated antigen binding. This work illustrated that anchoring sites of the ligands had a striking significance for the molecular structure of the ligand at liquid–solid interfaces and raised an important implication for the design and optimization of protein A chromatography and protein A-based immunoassay analysis.

Water can be used as oxidant in conjunction with metal particles to form metal–water propellant to increase the energy of propellant. For this application, water needs to be stored in form of solid and capable of becoming liquid when use. Stable and thixotropic hydrogel has good potential as water-retaining material and oxidant of metal-based propellant. In this study, we prepared organic/inorganic composite hydrogels by combining inorganic gellants hectorite and fumed silica with organic gellant agarose, respectively. The total content of the gellants can be reduced to less than 2% by adding agarose. The influence of agarose on water content, phase transition temperature, centrifugal stability and other basic physical properties of composite hydrogels were discussed. The results show that the composite hydrogels have better thixotropy and stability than pure inorganic hydrogels, and the gel–sol transformation can be realized by applying shear force or heating to the phase transition temperature. The composite hydrogels have good shear thinning ability and improved mechanical stability. Fumed silica/agarose hydrogels have better physical stability, while the thixotropy and shear thinning ability of hectorite/agarose hydrogels are better.

Levulinic acid (LA) is one of the top-12 most promising biomass-based platform chemicals, which has a wide range of applications in a variety of fields. However, separation and purification of LA from aqueous solution or actual hydrolysate continues to be a challenge. Among various downstream separation technologies, liquid–liquid extraction is a low-cost, effective, and simple process to separate LA. The key breakthrough lies in the development of extractants with high extraction efficiency, good hydrophobicity, and low cost. In this work, three hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (DESs) based on tri-n-octylamine (TOA) as hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA) and alcohols (butanol, 2-octanol, and menthol) as hydrogen bond donors (HBDs) were developed to extract LA from aqueous solution. The molar ratios of HBD and HBA, extraction temperature, contact time, solution pH, and initial LA concentration, DES/water volume ratios were systematically investigated. Compared with 2-octanol–TOA and menthol–TOA DES, the butanol–TOA DES exhibited the superior extraction performance for LA, with a maximum extraction efficiency of 95.79 ±1.4%. Moreover, the solution pH had a great impact on the LA extraction efficiency of butanol–TOA (molar ratio = 3:1). It is worth noting that the extraction equilibrium time was less than 0.5 h. More importantly, the butanol–TOA (3:1) DES possesses good extraction abilities for low, medium, and high concentrations of LA.

By virtue of the flexibility and safety, polyethylene oxide (PEO) based electrolytes are regarded as an appealing candidate for all-solid-state lithium batteries. However, their application is limited by the poor ionic conductivity at room temperature, narrow electrochemical stability window and uncontrolled growth of lithium dendrite. To alleviate these problems, we introduce the ultrathin graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets (GCN) as advanced nanofillers into PEO based electrolytes (GCN-CPE). Benefiting from the high surface area and abundant surface N-active sites of GCN, the GCN-CPE displays decreased crystallinity and enhanced ionic conductivity. Meanwhile, Fourier transform infrared and chronoamperometry studies indicate that GCN can facilitate Li⁺ migration in the composite electrolyte. Additionally, the GCN-CPE displays an extended electrochemical window compared with PEO based electrolytes. As a result, Li symmetric battery assembled with GCN-CPE shows a stable Li plating/stripping cycling performance, and the all-solid-state Li/LiNi_0.6Co_0.2Mn_0.2O₂ (NCM622) batteries using GCN-CPE exhibit satisfactory cyclability and rate capability in a voltage range of 3–4.2 V at 30 ℃.

The development of pollution-free dyeing technology, including anhydrous dyeing and non-aqueous dyeing technologies, has always been an important way and research hot in energy conservation and emission reduction. Designing new structural dye molecules is the key to water-saving dyeing processes. Herein, three reactive dyes were designed and synthesized, which contained large planar multi-conjugated systems and multi-reactive groups. The designed reactive dyes are expected to have high affinity and high fixations in non-aqueous or small bath dyeing processes. The reactive dyes were applied in the decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (DMCS) reverse micelle dyeing for cotton fabric. High exhaustion rate of 99.35%, 98.10% and 98.80%, and fixation rate of 95.15%, 96.34% and 94.40% for three dyes, R1, R2 and R3, could be respectively obtained. The dyes can be fully utilized and had excellent dyeing performance, fastness and levelling properties under the revere micelle dyeing. The cotton fabric is like an oil-water separator in the dyeing process, where the dye micelles rapidly absorb and permeate into the cotton fibers. DMCS circulates around the fabric to transfer mass and energy. After dyeing, the solvent can be separated quickly and reused. The new reactive dyes containing large planar and multi-conjugated systems have potential application in green and sustainable dyeing technology with less wastewater and higher utilization.

Cadmium (Cd) contamination in soils is a global ecological threat. Conventional powdered biochar added to soil can temporarily immobilize Cd but is difficult to separate from soil, leading to secondary release of Cd and posing potential ecological and human health risks. The blocky biochar is also difficult to separate from the soil due to its fragile nature. One of the keys to overcome the difficulties in separating biochar from soil is to improve its mechanical strength. Blocky zeolite-biochar composites (ZBC) that have good mechanical strength were obtained after pyrolyzing the mixture of 50% feedstock and 50% zeolite powder at 400 ℃. ZBC and NaOH-activated ZBC (ZBC_a) were applied to remove Cd from soil. After sieving Cd-loaded ZBC and ZBC_a from soil, the bioavailable Cd content in the soil decreased by 59.70% and 68.54%, respectively. Zeolite contributed to improving both adsorption performance and mechanical properties of the composites. After repeating the process of “remediation-sieving-desorption-regeneration” three times, the recoveries of ZBC and ZBC_a were above 97.00%, and regeneration rates were 48.70–83.26%, respectively. Under simulated mechanical sieving conditions, ZBC and ZBC_a lost only 4.06% and 5.40% of their mass and retained their integrity. Remediation of Cd-contaminated soil with blocky zeolite-biochar composite is sustainable and safe because the removal of bioavailable Cd from soil is permanent rather than a temporary decrease of bioavailability. This study provides a reference for the preparation of separable and recyclable adsorbents for the removal of contaminants from soil.

Viscous behavior is important for the process design, especially for the non-Newtonian fluid. In this study, the viscous behaviors of slurry, i.e., 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([Hmim][NTf₂])/titanium dioxide (TiO₂)-polyethylene glycol (PEG200), were determined experimentally and systematically. The pressure drop was estimated when [Hmim][NTf₂]/TiO₂-PEG200 was used as the solvent in the absorption/desorption towers. The results show that the slurry belongs to the non-Newtonian fluid with shear-thinning behavior. High temperature and low solid content are beneficial to reduce the viscosity of [Hmim][NTf₂]/TiO₂-PEG200, and the presence of [Hmim][NTf₂] can effectively reduce the viscosity of the slurry. In addition, high temperature is preferable for reducing the pressure drop, and the pressure drop of slurry with the solid content value of 8.0% (mass) can reduce by 28.0% when the temperature increases from 313 to 333 K.

The mass and thermal coupling makes the control of the reactive double dividing-wall distillation column (R-DDWDC) an especially challenging issue with a highly interactive nature. With reference to the separation of an ideal endothermic quaternary reversible reaction with the most unfavorable ranking of relative volatilities (A + B ⇋ C + D with α_A > α_C > α_D > α_B), the operation rationality of the R-DDWDC is studied in this contribution. The four-point single temperature control system leads to great steady-state discrepancies in the compositions of products C and D and the reason stems essentially from the failure in keeping strictly the stoichiometric ratio between reactants A and B. A temperature plus temperature cascade control scheme is then employed to reinforce the stoichiometric ratio control and helps to secure a substantial abatement in the steady-state discrepancies. A temperature difference plus temperature cascade control scheme is finally synthesized and leads even to better performance than the most effective double temperature difference control scheme. These outcomes reveal not only the operation feasibility of the R-DDWDC but also the general significance of the proposed temperature difference plus temperature cascade control scheme to the inferential control of any other complicated distillation columns.

In this paper, the superhydrophobic polyurethane sponge (SS-PU) was facilely fabricated by etching with Jones reagent to bind the nanoparticles of Ni-Co double layered oxides (LDOs) on the surface, and following modification with n-dodecyl mercaptan (DDT). This method provides a new strategy to fabricate superhydrophobic PU sponge with a water contact angle of 157° for absorbing oil with low cost and in large scale. It exhibits the strong absorption capacity and highly selective characteristic for various kinds of oils which can be recycled by simple squeezing. Besides, the as-prepared sponge can deal with the floating and underwater oils, indicating its application value in handling oil spills and domestic oily wastewater. The good self-cleaning ability shows the potential to clear the pollutants due to the ultra-low adhesion to water. Especially, the most important point is that the superhydrophobic sponge can continuously and effectively separate the oil/water mixture against the condition of turbulent disturbance by using our designed device system, which exhibit its good superhydrophobicity, strong stability. Furthermore, the SS-PU still maintained stable absorption performance after 150 cycle tests without losing capacity obviously, showing excellent durability in long-term operation and significant potential as an efficient absorbent in large-scale dispose of oily water.

Efficient and low-cost recycling of spent lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO₄, LFP) batteries has become an inevitable trend. In this study, an integrated closed-loop recycling strategy including isomorphic substitution leaching and solvent extraction process for spent LFP was proposed. An inexpensive FeCl₃ was used as leaching agent to directly substitute Fe²⁺ from LFP. 99% of Li can be rapidly leached in just 30 min, accompanied by 98% of FePO₄ precipitated in lixivium. The tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP)-sulfonated kerosene (SK) system was applied to extract Li from lixivium through a twelve-stage countercurrent process containing synchronous extraction and stepwise stripping of Li⁺ and Fe³⁺. 80.81% of Li can be selectively enriched in stripping liquor containing 3.059 mol·L^-1 of Li⁺ under optimal conditions. And the Fe stripping liquor was recovered for LFP re-leaching, of which, Fe²⁺ was oxidized to Fe³⁺ by appropriate H₂O₂. Raffinate and lixivium were concentrated and entered into extraction process to accomplished close-loop recycling process. Overall, the results suggest that more than 99% of Li was recovered. FeCl₃ holding in solution was directly regenerated without any pollutant emission. The sustainable mothed would be an alternative candidate for total element recycling of spent LFP batteries with industrial potential.

In order to satisfy the growing global demand for lithium, selective extraction of lithium from brine has attracted extensive attention. LiMn₂O₄-based electrochemical lithium recovery system is one of the best choices for commercial applications because of its high selectivity and low energy consumption. However, the low ion diffusion coefficient of lithium manganate limits the further development of electrochemical lithium recovery system. In this work, a novel porous disc-like LiMn₂O₄ was successfully synthesized for the first time via two-step annealing manganese (II) precursors. The as-prepared LiMn₂O₄ exhibits porous disc-like morphology, excellent crystallinity, high Li⁺ diffusion coefficient (average 7.6×10^-9 cm²·s^-1), high cycle stability (after 30 uninterrupted extraction and release cycles, the crystal structure hardly changed) and superior rate capacity (93.5% retention from 10-120 mA·g^-1). The porous structure and disc-like morphology further promote the contact between lithium ions and electrode materials. Therefore, the assembled electrochemical lithium extraction device with LiMn₂O₄ as positive electrode and silver as negative electrode can realize the rapid and selective extraction of lithium in simulated brine (adsorption capacity of lithium can reach 4.85 mg·g^-1 in 1 h). The mechanism of disc-like LiMn₂O₄ in electrochemical lithium extraction was proposed based on the analysis of electrochemical characterization and quasi in situ XRD. This novel structure may further promote the practical application of electrochemical lithium extraction from brine.

Deuterium (D₂) is one of the important fuel sources that power nuclear fusion reactors. The existing D₂/H₂ separation technologies that obtain high-purity D₂ are cost-intensive. Recent research has shown that metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are of good potential for D₂/H₂ separation application. In this work, a high-throughput computational screening of 12020 computation-ready experimental MOFs is carried out to determine the best MOFs for hydrogen isotope separation application. Meanwhile, the detailed structure-performance correlation is systematically investigated with the aid of machine learning. The results indicate that the ideal D₂/H₂ adsorption selectivity calculated based on Henry coefficient is strongly correlated with the 1/ΔAD feature descriptor; that is, inverse of the adsorbility difference of the two adsorbates. Meanwhile, the machine learning (ML) results show that the prediction accuracy of all the four ML methods is significantly improved after the addition of this feature descriptor. In addition, the ML results based on extreme gradient boosting model also revealed that the 1/ΔAD descriptor has the highest relative importance compared to other commonly-used descriptors. To further explore the effect of hydrogen isotope separation in binary mixture, 1548 MOFs with ideal adsorption selectivity greater than 1.5 are simulated at equimolar conditions. The structure-performance relationship shows that high adsorption selectivity MOFs generally have smaller pore size (0.3–0.5 nm) and lower surface area. Among the top 200 performers, the materials mainly have the sql, pcu, cds, hxl, and ins topologies. Finally, three MOFs with high D₂/H₂ selectivity and good D₂ uptake are identified as the best candidates, of all which had one-dimensional channel pore. The findings obtained in this work may be helpful for the identification of potentially promising candidates for hydrogen isotope separation.

The particle-size distribution of adsorbents usually plays an important role on the adsorption performance. In this study, population balance equation (PBE) is utilized in the simulation of an adsorption process to model the time-dependent adsorption amount distribution on adsorbent particles of a certain size distribution. Different adsorption kinetics model can be used to build the adsorption rate function in PBE according to specific adsorption processes. Two adsorption processes, including formaldehyde on activated carbon and CO₂/N₂/CH₄ mixture on 4A zeolite are simulated as case studies, and the effect of particle-size distribution of adsorbent is analyzed. The simulation results proved that the influence of particle-size distribution is significant. The proposed model can help consider the influence of particle-size distribution of adsorbents on adsorption processes to improve the prediction accuracy of the performance of adsorbents.

Efficient control of the desulphurization system is challenging in maximizing the economic objective while reducing the SO₂ emission concentration. The conventional optimization method is generally based on a hierarchical structure in which the upper optimization layer calculates the steady-state results and the lower control layer is responsible to drive the process to the target point. However, the conventional hierarchical structure does not take the economic performance of the dynamic tracking process into account. To this end, multi-objective economic model predictive control (MOEMPC) is introduced in this paper, which unifies the optimization and control layers in a single stage. The objective functions are formulated in terms of a dynamic horizon and to balance the stability and economic performance. In the MOEMPC scheme, economic performance and SO₂ emission performance are guaranteed by tracking a set of utopia points during dynamic transitions. The terminal penalty function and stabilizing constraint conditions are designed to ensure the stability of the system. Finally, an optimized control method for the stable operation of the complex desulfurization system has been established. Simulation results demonstrate that MOEMPC is superior over another control strategy in terms of economic performance and emission reduction, especially when the desulphurization system suffers from frequent flue gas disturbances.

This wok proposed the extraction distillation coupled pervaporation (ED+PV) technology process using two different solvents to separate isopropanol (IPA) and diisopropyl ether (DIPE) from DIPE/IPA/H₂O ternary heterogeneous azeotropes in industrial wastewater from the synthesis of isopropanol in this study. Based on strict design specifications, simulation and sequential iteration methods are used for process design and optimization. Compared to the ethylene glycol (EG)-EG+H₂O process and the 1,3-propanediol (PDO)-IPA+H₂O process, the total annual cost (TAC) of the EG-IPA+H₂O process decreased by 20.76% and 7.86% (PDO). Compared to the EG-EG+H₂O process, the TAC of the PDO-IPA+H₂O process reduced 14%, but the global warming potential (GWP) and human toxicity of the PDO-IPA+H₂O process increased 11.3% and 4.07% respectively. Compared to the PDO-IPA+H₂O process, the EG-IPA+H₂O process saves 7.86% (TAC), 9.78% (GWP) and 9.85% (human toxicity). The ED+PV process with EG is superior to PDO in factors of TAC, energy consumption, human toxicity and environment. The EG-IPA+H₂O process changed the separation order of the products of the multi-azeotropic system, reduced the cost and energy conservation of the system, and enhanced the environmental protection evaluation of the process, is the best process through life cycle assessment for analyzing the economy, energy conservation, environmental assessment and human toxicity, designing cleaner products, controlling waste discharge, and promoting the chemical purification industry. This work provides a new process design and optimized separation ideas, will have a good guiding significance for the research and application separation of multi-azeotropic mixture with mixed solvents in organic wastewater from the cleaner chemical production, has been up to standard wastewater discharge process, and realized the development goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality in the sustainable development of chemical clean industry.

Geminal dinitropropyl ester plasticizers (DNPEPs) possess excellent energetic performances which provide good potentials as insensitive plasticizer. In this study, we design and synthesize DNPEPs with different alkane chain parts, and systematically investigate their structure–property relationships. Results show that DNPEPs have impact sensitivities all higher than 25.2 J, thermal decomposition temperatures all higher than 254 ℃, and glass transition temperatures (T_g) lower than -90 ℃. Furthermore, the effects of DNPEPs as plasticizer are studied on hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) in detail, including the viscosity, glass transition temperatures and others. It is noteworthy that 2,2-dinitropropyl nonanoate (DNPNc) among these DNPEPs exhibits the most expected simultaneous tuning effects on both viscosity and T_g of HTPB systems, providing favorable potentials to replace the conventional plastizers as dioctyl sebacate (DOS) in the HTPB based propellants and explosives.