Publications by authors named "Mingkai Yan"

Hydrogels generally do not adhere well to different substrates and freeze at sub-zero temperatures, limiting their application. In this study, the strategy of replacing water in hydrogels with deep eutectic solvents (DES) was used to address these challenges. Specifically, choline chloride (ChCl) as hydrogen bond acceptor, acrylic acid (AA) and itaconic acid (IA) as hydrogen bond donors and polymerizable monomers constitute PDES.

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As a common flexible sensing device, gels are widely used in electronic skin, personalized health monitoring, and smart manufacturing. However, gel suffers from temperature sensitivity, long polymerization times or thickness limitations. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have abundant hydrogen bond networks and low saturated vapor pressure, which can accelerate the frontal polymerization of ionic gels, and overcome the temperature sensitivity problem.

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Modifying biodegradable poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) plastic with inorganic fillers is critical for improving its overall performance, lowering the costs, and expanding its application scope. The chemical modification method for the inorganic filler determines the application performance of PBAT composites. In this work, gas-solid fluidization method was developed as a simple, efficient, and scalable strategy for chemically modifying CaCO filler.

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Lignin, as the aromatic polymer in the world, has attracted more attention because of rich functional groups. In this study, lignin/ZnO composites was prepared by a simple one-pot method rely on urea and ZnCl-deep eutectic solvent (U/ZnCl-DES) as solvent and raw material. Through molecular dynamics simulation, the interaction mechanism between lignin functional groups and DES was clarified, and it was blended with waterborne polyurethane (WPU) to form a film, while the feasibility of its application in ultraviolet shielding was evaluated.

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