Electrochemical performance of porous Ni-alloy electrodes for hydrogen evolution reaction from seawater electrolysis.

The hydrogen evolution reaction in seawater is investigated using porous Ni-Cr-Fe, Ni-Fe-Mo, Ni-Fe-C and Ni-Ti electrodes, prepared by elemental powder reactive synthesis methods. The open porosity of the four kinds of electrode materials is 23.05%, 20.

Insight into fractal self-assembly of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride)/sodium carboxymethyl cellulose polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles.

Poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride)-sodium carboxymethyl cellulose polyelectrolyte complexes (PDDA-CMCNa PECs) solids were prepared and dispersed in NaOH aqueous solution. Self-assembly of PECs nanoparticles during the solvent evaporation was examined by field emission electron microscopy (FESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and fractal dimension analysis. It was found that tree-shaped fractal patterns formed after the solvent (water) was dried at ambient temperatures, and the fractal pattern is composed of needle-shaped PEC aggregate (PECA) nanoparticles.

Tunable disintegration of layer-by-layer assembly multilayer films based on hydrolytical-polybetaine at wide-range time.

A cationic hydrolytical-polycarboxybetaine (HPCB), poly(N-ethyl acetate-4-vinylpyridinium bromide) was synthesized by incorporating ester group into the side chain of polycarboxybetaine (PCB). The hydrolytic behaviors of HPCB samples in pH 7.4 phosphate buffer saline (PBS) were investigated by FT-IR and (1)H NMR.

Optical fiber relative humidity sensor based on FBG incorporated thin-core fiber modal interferometer.

A new fiber-optic relative humidity (RH) sensor based on a thin-core fiber modal interferometer (TCFMI) with a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) in between is presented. Poly (N-ethyl-4-vinylpyridinium chloride) (P4VP·HCl) and poly (vinylsulfonic acid, sodium salt) (PVS) are layer-by-layer deposited on the side surface of the sensor for RH sensing. The fabrication of the sensing nanocoating is characterized by using UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Highly sensitive and fast responsive fiber-optic modal interferometric pH sensor based on polyelectrolyte complex and polyelectrolyte self-assembled nanocoating.

A new fiber-optic pH sensor is demonstrated by coating negatively charged polyelectrolyte complex (PEC(-)) nanoparticles, made of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA), and positively charged PDDA on the surface of a thin-core fiber modal interferometer (TCFMI) with a layer-by-layer (LbL) electrostatic self-assembly method. The fabricated TCFMI pH sensor has different transmission dip wavelengths under different pH values and shows high sensitivities of 0.6 nm/pH unit and -0.

Construction and deconstruction of multilayer films containing polycarboxybetaine: effect of pH and ionic strength.

The influences of pH and NaCl concentration of dipping solutions and the pH and NaCl concentration of disintegration solutions on the disintegration behaviors of poly(4-vinylpyridiniomethanecarboxylate) (PVPMC)/poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) (PVPMC/PSS) multilayer films were investigated by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was found that the disintegration rates and degrees of PVPMC/PSS multilayer films in neutral water could be well controlled by changing pH of dipping solutions and immersion time during the disintegration process. Furthermore, PVPMC/PSS multilayer films could be disintegrated completely and rapidly in pH 8 alkali solution or physiological condition (i.

Studies on structures and ultrahigh permeability of novel polyelectrolyte complex membranes.

This work studies the aggregation structures and free volumes of novel polyelectrolyte complex membranes (PECMs) and correlates the two with their ultrahigh permeability to water. Solution-processable PECs between poly(2-methacryloyloxy ethyl trimethylammonium chloride) (PDMC) and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMCNa) were prepared in a two-step method, i.e.

Low-cost high-performance fiber-optic pH sensor based on thin-core fiber modal interferometer.

A new fiber-optic pH sensor based on a thin-core fiber modal interferometer with electrostatic self-assembled nanocoating is presented. After inserting a segment of thin-core fiber into a standard single-mode fiber, high-order cladding modes are excited and interfere with the core mode to form an in-fiber modal interferometer. The side surface of the sensor is then deposited with poly(allylamine hydrochloride) and poly(acrylic acid) nanocoating by electrostatic self-assembly technique.

Fabrication of free-standing polyelectrolyte multilayer films: a method using polysulfobetaine-containing films as sacrificial layers.

A new pH-dependent sacrificial system based on zwitterionic polysulfobetaine was proposed for the fabrication of free-standing polyelectrolyte multilayer films. The zwitterionic polysulfobetaine, poly(4-vinylpyridine propylsulfobetaine) (P4VPPS), was synthesized and its layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly behavior with poly(diallyldimethylammonium) (PDDA) as counterpart was investigated by using UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The LbL multilayer films of PDDA/P4VPPS were successfully constructed in acid aqueous solution at pH 2 with 0.

Influences of solution property and charge density on the self-assembly behavior of water-insoluble polyelectrolyte sulfonated poly(sulphone) sodium salts.

Two sulfonated poly(sulphone) sodium salts (SPSF) with different molecular weights and ionic exchange capacities in a N,N-dimethyl formamide/water (DMF-H2O) mixed solvent with various DMF contents were selected as a model system for investigating the influences of solvent composition, solution properties, and charge density of polyelectrolytes on the layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly of water-insoluble polyelectrolytes. Poly(dimethyldiallylammonium chloride) (PDDA) in aqueous solution was used as the counterpart. The PDDA/SPSF multilayer films grew nearly linearly with the layer numbers regardless of the volume fraction of DMF, phiDMF, in the SPSF solutions.