Preparation of Aqueous Nanodispersions of Disperse Dye by High-Gravity Technology and Spray Drying

Disperse dyes are poorly water-soluble and difficult to stably disperse in an aqueous medium, which greatly limits their application in dyeing synthetic fibers. Micronization can solve this problem. Herein, a facile way to prepare stable aqueous nanodispersions of disperse dye (C.I. disperse yellow 54) is presented by combining high-gravity antisolvent precipitation in a rotating packed bed (RPB) with spray drying. The as-prepared product had an average particle size of 120 nm, which could be readily redispersed in water. Compared with raw dye, the wettability and dispersibility of disperse dye nanoparticles were remarkably improved. Furthermore, the dyeing properties of the nanodispersions were obviously better than those of the commercial dye, which was micronized by ball milling.     

Computational and experimental study of dental resin composites with high filler content

Journal of Materials Science - Nanocomposites have been used in various industries due to their excellent properties. For some of them, high filler content (over 50 wt%) is beneficial to improving...     

Preparation of transparent BaSO4 nanodispersions by high-gravity reactive precipitation combined with surface modification for transparent X-ray shielding nanocomposite films

BaSO₄ nanoparticles as important functional materials have attracted considerable research interests, due to their X-rays barrier and absorption properties. However, most of BaSO₄ nanoparticles prepared by traditional technology are nanopowders with broad size distribution and poor dispersibility, which may greatly limit their applications. To the best of our knowledge, the synthesis of transparent BaSO₄ nanodispersions was rarely reported. Here, we firstly present a novel and efficient method to prepare transparent and stable BaSO₄ nanodispersions with a relatively small particle size around 10 to 17 nm using a precipitation method in a rotating packed bed (RPB), followed by a modification treatment using stearic acid. Compared with the BaSO₄ prepared in a traditional stirred tank, the product prepared using an RPB has much smaller particle size and narrower size distribution. More importantly, by using RPB, the reaction time can be significantly decreased from 20 min to 18 s. Furthermore, the transparent BaSO₄-polyvinyl butyral nanocomposite films with good X-ray shielding performance can be easily fabricated. We believe that the stable BaSO₄ nanodispersions may have a wide range of applications for transparent composite materials and coatings with X-ray shielding performance for future research.     

Direct encapsulation of water-soluble drug into silica microcapsules for sustained release applications

Direct encapsulation of water-soluble drug into silica microcapsules was facilely achieved by a sol-gel process of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) in W/O emulsion with hydrochloric acid (HCl) aqueous solution containing Tween 80 and drug as well as cyclohexane solution containing Span 80. Two water-soluble drugs of gentamicin sulphate (GS) and salbutamol sulphate (SS) were chosen as model drugs. The characterization of drug encapsulated silica microcapsules by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), FTIR, thermogravimetry (TG) and N₂ adsorption-desorption analyses indicated that drug was successfully entrapped into silica microcapsules. The as-prepared silica microcapsules were uniform spherical particles with hollow structure, good dispersion and a size of 5-10 μm, and had a specific surface area of about 306 m²/g. UV-vis and thermogravimetry (TG) analyses were performed to determine the amount of drug encapsulated in the microcapsules. The BJH pore size distribution (PSD) of silica microcapsules before and after removing drug was examined. In vitro release behavior of drug in simulated body fluid (SBF) revealed that such system exhibited excellent sustained release properties.     

Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-coated nanodiamonds for multifunctional applications

Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-coated nanodiamonds (NDs@POSS) were prepared via the amide formation between amine-functionalized POSS and oxygen-containing groups of NDs. The POSS structures grafted on the surface of NDs enable the NDs@POSS nanocomposites to be well-dispersed in organic solvents and polymers for multifunctional applications. The surface coating of NDs with POSS also bring other incidental advantages such as enhanced thermal stability and superhydrophobic of the NDs. NDs@POSS nanocomposites-embedded hybrid films based on polycarbonate and polyvinyl butyral were fabricated by solution blending methods, showing tunable refractive indexes in the range of 1.49–1.61. Furthermore, the powders of NDs@POSS were superhydrophobic with contact angle of water/air of 154°. Liquid marbles formed by coating the water droplet with NDs@POSS were prepared, and the process intensification effects of the NDs@POSS-based miniature reactors for degradation of methylene and fabrication of Ag nanoparticles were also demonstrated, respectively.     

基于ODMG Java绑定的面向对象数据库 存储管理①

针对面向对象数据库(OODB)的存储管理进行研究,依照ODMG3.0标准,并以Java绑定方式提供实现方案。通过对典型对象存储结构的研究,给出一种兼顾各种类型数据特点的分层对象存储结构。结合这里使用的体系结构,给出一种基于分槽页结构的改进文件存储结构,将存储单位由页面替换成数据库文件。分析OODB中引入的索引,给出一种基于B+-Tree,结合继承层次和聚集层次的综合索引策略。     

Recent advances on metal-free graphene-based catalysts for the production of industrial chemicals

With the development of carbon catalysts, graphene-based metal-free catalysts have drawn increasing attention in both scientific research and in industrial chemical production processes. In recent years, the catalytic activities of metal-free catalysts have significantly improved and they have become promising alternatives to traditional metal-based catalysts. The use of metal-free catalysts greatly improves the sustainability of chemical processes. In view of this, the recent progress in the preparation of graphene-based metal-free catalysts along with their applications in catalytic oxidation, reduction and coupling reactions are summarized in this review. The future trends and challenges for the design of graphene-based materials for industrial organic catalytic reactions with good stabilities and high catalytic performance are also discussed.     

Establishment of DNA barcodes for the identification of the botanical sources of the Chinese ‘cooling’ beverage

The Chinese ‘cooling’ beverage (Liangcha) consumed in China and Asian countries is made from a single or a mixture of wild plants. It has been designed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in China by Ministry of Culture of P. R. China in 2006, which further increasing its popularity. To ensure safety and efficacy, we have systematically collected a total of 177 samples of 44 botanical species of representative raw materials according to the criteria of the DNA barcoding initiative for establishing four DNA barcodes for molecular identification of these herbal materials. Altogether, a total of 608 sequences of four DNA barcodes were generated, including 173 rbcL, 150 matK, 160 trnH-psbA and 125 ITS sequences, which could be used to identify the Chinese ‘cooling’ beverage. This study also demonstrated the application of these DNA barcodes to differentiate the genuine materials from adulterants or substitutes, and to identify dried commodity samples. This is the first study using DNA barcoding techniques to identify the Chinese ‘cooling’ beverage materials and the gathered DNA barcodes are useful asset for standardization and quality control purposes.     

白杨素抗氧化应激对实验性糖尿病大鼠脑损伤的保护作用

目的: 研究白杨素对大鼠实验性糖尿病脑损伤的影响及其机制。方法: SD大鼠一次性腹腔注射链脲佐菌素(STZ)溶液建立大鼠实验性糖尿病模型,72 h 后空腹血糖≥15 mmol/L为模型成功标准。将模型大鼠随机分为模型组和白杨素低、高剂量组（每组10只）,另取10只正常大鼠为空白对照组。每周测一次体质量和空腹血糖。4 周后禁食12 h 麻醉大鼠,采血,取脑组织,测定血清和脑的超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶（GSH-Px）的活性及丙二醛(MDA)的含量,并且观察脑组织的形态学改变。结果: 与模型组比较,白杨素可使血糖降低 (P<0.05) ,同时可减轻脑组织损伤,提高脑内SOD和GSH-Px的活性,降低脑内MDA的含量,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。结论: 白杨素对实验性糖尿病大鼠脑损伤有保护作用,其机制可能与其具有较强的抗氧化作用有关。     

Cu nanoparticle preparation in a tube-in-tube microchannel reactor and encapsulation by silica

An approach to fabricate Cu@SiO₂ nanostructured materials was presented by using Cu nanoparticles (NPs) produced in a tube-in-tube microchannel reactor (TMR) as the core. Due to the excellent micromixing efficiency of the TMR, monodisperse Cu NPs of sub-5 nm were easily obtained. A combination of the direct silica-coating technique with the remarkable ability of the TMR for mass production of nanoparticles may open an economic pathway for producing core-shell nanomaterials.