Polymer brushes possess unique changes in physical and chemical properties when they are exposed to external stimuli and have a wide range of applications. Self-oscillating polymers are anchored on surfaces of certain materials and are coupled with some self-oscillating reactions (with the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction as an example) to form self-oscillating polymer brushes. As an independent field of stimulus response functional surface research, the development of new intelligent bionic materials has good potential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe electro-oxidation of formamidine disulfide, an important sulfur-containing compound, was simultaneously investigated with on-line high-performance liquid chromatography and cyclic voltammetry. Using a home-made microporous sampler located at the electrode interface, the solution on the electrode surface was in situ sampled and analyzed. The electrochemical scanning was synchronously performed, which allowed the electro-oxidation products to be detected at a given potential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA novel amino-functionalized hydrochar material (referred to NH-HCs) was prepared and used as the soil amendment to immobilize multi-contaminated soils for the first time. The results showed that the application of NH-HCs significantly improved (P < 0.05) soil properties (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe thermal behavior of the hydrochars from co-hydrothermal carbonization (co-HTC) of sawdust (SD) and sewage sludge (SS) was investigated using thermogravimetric analysis. The comprehensive devolatilization index indicated that the devolatilization performance of SS was decreased by HTC, while it was significantly improved 7.38-23.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAngew Chem Int Ed Engl
April 2016
Inspired by the biological growth that takes place in time-varying external fields such as light or temperature, we design an open reaction-diffusion system in order to investigate growth dynamics. The system is composed of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) oscillatory reaction coupled with a copolymer gel consisting of NIPAAm and a photosensitive ruthenium catalyst. When subject to a unidirectional flow of the BZ reactants, the system displays groups of chemical waves whose structure depends upon the period and amplitude of illumination.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe oscillation frequency of a nonlinear reaction system acts as a key factor for interaction and superposition of spatiotemporal patterns. To control and design spatiotemporal patterns in oscillatory media, it is important to establish the dominant frequency-related mechanism and the effects of external forces and species concentrations on oscillatory frequency. In the Ru(bipy)3(2+)-catalyzed Belousov-Zhabotinsky oscillator, a nonmonotonic relationship exists between light intensity and oscillatory frequency (I-F relationship), which is composed of fast photopromotion and slow photoinhibition regions in the oscillation frequency curve.
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