Hierarchical conductive metal-organic framework films enabling efficient interfacial mass transfer.

Heterogeneous reactions associated with porous solid films are ubiquitous and play an important role in both nature and industrial processes. However, due to the no-slip boundary condition in pressure-driven flows, the interfacial mass transfer between the porous solid surface and the environment is largely limited to slow molecular diffusion, which severely hinders the enhancement of heterogeneous reaction kinetics. Herein, we report a hierarchical-structure-accelerated interfacial dynamic strategy to improve interfacial gas transfer on hierarchical conductive metal-organic framework (c-MOF) films.

Polarity and functionality tailored conjugated microporous polymer coatings on silica microspheres for enhanced pollutant adsorption.

Many sources of pollution that are generated by modern society are not addressable by conventional methods. Especially organic compounds, like pharmaceutics, are particularly hard to remove from waterbodies. Herein, a new approach is presented using conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) to coat silica microparticles yielding specifically tailored adsorbents.

SiO nanospheres as surfactant and template in aqueous dispersion polymerizations yielding highly nanoporous resin particles.

Hypothesis: High nitrogen containing resins such as poly(melamine-co-formaldehyde) (PMF) are known for their very good adsorption properties. Until now, using an ecofriendly hard-templating approach with SiO nanospheres in water for synthesis, only yielded either highly porous particles with diameters up to 1 µm or non-porous particles with diameters above 1 µm. Small particles cannot be used as fixed bed adsorbents in columns because of the very high pressure occurring.

Tuning the pore structure of templated mesoporous poly(melamine-co-formaldehyde) particles toward diclofenac removal.

The increasing demand and implementation of pharmaceutics poses severe risk to different aquatic species as detectable contaminant in almost every surface water worldwide. Diclofenac (DCF) as one of the most common used analgesics was investigated as contaminant to be removed by adsorption onto nanoporous poly(melamine-co-formaldehyde) (PMF) particles featuring a very high amount of nitrogen functionalities. To achieve a high specific surface area (up to 416 m/g) and a tunable pore system by hard templating, four different SiO nanoparticles were used as template.

Meso- and macroporous silica-based arsenic adsorbents: effect of pore size, nature of the active phase, and silicon release.

Arsenic pollution in ground and drinking water is a major problem worldwide due to the natural abundance of arsenic by dissolution from ground sediment or mining activities from anthropogenic activities. To overcome this issue, iron oxides as low-cost and non-toxic materials, have been widely studied as efficient adsorbents for arsenic removal, including when dispersed within porous silica supports. In this study, two head-to-head comparisons were developed to highlight the As(v)-adsorptive ability of meso- and macrostructured silica-based adsorbents.

Mesoporous Poly(melamine--formaldehyde) Particles for Efficient and Selective Phosphate and Sulfate Removal.

Due to the existence-threatening risk to aquatic life and entire ecosystems, the removal of oxyanions such as sulfate and phosphate from anthropogenic wastewaters, such as municipal effluents and acid mine drainage, is inevitable. Furthermore, phosphorus is an indispensable resource for worldwide plant fertilization, which cannot be replaced by any other substance. This raises phosphate to one of the most important mineral resources worldwide.

A Complementary and Revised View on the N-Acylation of Chitosan with Hexanoyl Chloride.

The modification of the biobased polymer chitosan is a broad and widely studied field. Herein, an insight into the hydrophobization of low-molecular-weight chitosan by substitution of amino functionalities with hexanoyl chloride is reported. Thereby, the influence of the pH of the reaction media was investigated.

Simultaneous Ligand and Cation Exchange of Colloidal CdSe Nanoplatelets toward PbSe Nanoplatelets for Application in Photodetectors.

Cation exchange emerged as a versatile tool to obtain a variety of nanocrystals not yet available via a direct synthesis. Reduced reaction times and moderate temperatures make the method compatible with anisotropic nanoplatelets (NPLs). However, the subtle thermodynamic and kinetic factors governing the exchange require careful control over the reaction parameters to prevent unwanted restructuring.

A Comparative Study on the Flocculation of Silica and China Clay with Chitosan and Synthetic Polyelectrolytes.

Flocculation is still one of the most important and efficient processes for water treatment. However, most industrial processes, such as in water treatment plants, still use huge amounts of synthetic polyelectrolytes for the flocculation process. Here we compare the flocculation of two different suspended particles, i.

Orthopaedic Surgery Elicits a Systemic Anti-Inflammatory Signature.

Little information is available on the functional activity of leukocytes after arthroplasty or the expansion of populations with immune suppressive properties during the acute post-operative period. Synovial fluid and matched pre- and post-surgical blood samples were collected from total hip and knee arthroplasty patients (THA and TKA, respectively) to examine the impact of surgery on peripheral blood leukocyte frequency, bactericidal activity, and inflammatory mediator expression. For spinal surgeries, inflammatory mediator production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) pre- and post-surgery was examined.

Solubility and Selectivity Effects of the Anion on the Adsorption of Different Heavy Metal Ions onto Chitosan.

The biopolymer chitosan is a very efficient adsorber material for the removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions. Due to the solubility properties of chitosan it can be used as both a liquid adsorber and a solid flocculant for water treatment reaching outstanding adsorption capacities for a number of heavy metal ions. However, the type of anion corresponding to the investigated heavy metal ions has a strong influence on the adsorption capacity and sorption mechanism on chitosan.

Therapeutic and economic effects of multimodal back exercise: A controlled multicentre study.

To compare the cost-effectiveness of a multimodal back exercise programme for non-specific back pain with that of standard treatment. Medical costs were measured in euros (EUR) and effectiveness was measured using Graded Chronic Pain Status (GCPS). A controlled multicentre study (39 sites) with a 6-month intervention phase and follow-up at 6, 12 and 18 months.

Tuning the Porosity and Photocatalytic Performance of Triazine-Based Graphdiyne Polymers through Polymorphism.

Crystalline and amorphous organic materials are an emergent class of heterogeneous photocatalysts for the generation of hydrogen from water, but a direct correlation between their structures and the resulting properties has not been achieved so far. To make a meaningful comparison between structurally different, yet chemically similar porous polymers, two porous polymorphs of a triazine-based graphdiyne (TzG) framework are synthesized by a simple, one-pot homocoupling polymerization reaction using as catalysts Cu for TzG and Pd /Cu for TzG . The polymers form through irreversible coupling reactions and give rise to a crystalline (TzG ) and an amorphous (TzG ) polymorph.

Exploring the "Goldilocks Zone" of Semiconducting Polymer Photocatalysts by Donor-Acceptor Interactions.

Water splitting using polymer photocatalysts is a key technology to a truly sustainable hydrogen-based energy economy. Synthetic chemists have intuitively tried to enhance photocatalytic activity by tuning the length of π-conjugated domains of their semiconducting polymers, but the increasing flexibility and hydrophobicity of ever-larger organic building blocks leads to adverse effects such as structural collapse and inaccessible catalytic sites. To reach the ideal optical band gap of about 2.

Fluorescent Sulphur- and Nitrogen-Containing Porous Polymers with Tuneable Donor-Acceptor Domains for Light-Driven Hydrogen Evolution.

Light-driven water splitting is a potential source of abundant, clean energy, yet efficient charge-separation and size and position of the bandgap in heterogeneous photocatalysts are challenging to predict and design. Synthetic attempts to tune the bandgap of polymer photocatalysts classically rely on variations of the sizes of their π-conjugated domains. However, only donor-acceptor dyads hold the key to prevent undesired electron-hole recombination within the catalyst via efficient charge separation.

Complex calcium carbonate/polymer microparticles as carriers for aminoglycoside antibiotics.

Composite microparticles of CaCO and two pectin samples (which differ by the functional group ratio) or corresponding nonstoichiometric polyelectrolyte complexes with different molar ratios (0.5, 0.9 and 1.

The Influence of Salt Anions on Heavy Metal Ion Adsorption on the Example of Nickel.

The biodegradable polysaccharide chitosan possesses protonated and natural amino groups at medium pH values and has therefore been used as an adsorbing material for nickel salts in water treatment. Nickel is a problematic heavy metal ion which can cause various diseases and disorders in living organisms. Here, we show the influence of oxyanions (e.

Twinned Growth of Metal-Free, Triazine-Based Photocatalyst Films as Mixed-Dimensional (2D/3D) van der Waals Heterostructures.

Design and synthesis of ordered, metal-free layered materials is intrinsically difficult due to the limitations of vapor deposition processes that are used in their making. Mixed-dimensional (2D/3D) metal-free van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures based on triazine (C N ) linkers grow as large area, transparent yellow-orange membranes on copper surfaces from solution. The membranes have an indirect band gap (E = 1.

Tailored Band Gaps in Sulfur- and Nitrogen-Containing Porous Donor-Acceptor Polymers.

Donor-acceptor dyads hold the key to tuning of electrochemical properties and enhanced mobility of charge carriers, yet their incorporation into a heterogeneous polymer network proves difficulty owing to the fundamentally different chemistry of the donor and acceptor subunits. A family of sulfur- and nitrogen-containing porous polymers (SNPs) are obtained via Sonogashira-Hagihara cross-coupling and combine electron-withdrawing triazine (C N ) and electron-donating, sulfur-containing linkers. Choice of building blocks and synthetic conditions determines the optical band gap (from 1.

Synthesis of mesoporous poly(melamine-formaldehyde) particles by inverse emulsion polymerization.

Mesoporous poly(melamine-formaldehyde) (MF) particles with surface areas of up to 200mg were synthesized by an inverse emulsion polymerization using dodecane and Span80® as continuous phase. The finer details of the shape control (using emulsion techniques) and the porosity control (using silica nanoparticles as hard-template) are discussed. The impact of phase-separation processes on the observable porosity of the 20-200µm sized spherical particles is analysed by gas sorption methods and electron microscopy.

Waterborne Colloidal Polymer/Silica Hybrid Dispersions and Their Assembly into Mesoporous Poly(melamine-formaldehyde) Xerogels.

The acid-catalyzed polycondensation of oligo(melamine-formaldehyde) in aqueous phase and in the presence of silica nanoparticles leads to a stable dispersion of coexisting silica and polymer nanoparticles. The dispersion can be processed into mesoporous xerogels (SBET ≈ 200 m(2) g(-1)), whose porosity can be enhanced by etching of silica up to specific surface areas of >400 m(2) g(-1). The formation mechanism and the characteristics of the hybrid dispersion are crucial to the materials derived from it and analyzed in detail using a variety of experimental techniques (electron and force microscopy, light and X-ray scattering, ultracentrifugation, and spectroscopy).

A double-blind randomized clinical trial evaluating the analgesic efficacy of ketorolac versus butorphanol for patients with suspected biliary colic in the emergency department.

Objectives: Patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with suspected biliary colic often require intravenous (IV) analgesia. The choice of IV analgesia typically includes opioids and ketorolac. Although ultrasound (US) is the initial diagnostic study in these patients, nondiagnostic scans and a high clinical suspicion may require the patient to undergo hepatobiliary scintigraphy (HIDA).

Genetic analysis of sorting nexins 1 and 2 reveals a redundant and essential function in mice.

Sorting nexins 1 (Snx1) and 2 (Snx2) are homologues of the yeast gene VPS5 that is required for proper endosome-to-Golgi trafficking. The prevailing thought is that Vps5p is a component of a retrograde trafficking complex called the retromer. Genetic and biochemical evidence suggest mammals may have similar complexes, but their biological role is unknown.