Heterogeneity During the Formation of Waterborne Barrier Coating Revealed by Cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscopy.

Imaging the film formation process of waterborne barrier coatings in situ with nanoscopic resolution is very challenging, which limits the understanding of the underlying mechanisms and rational design of the materials. Here this challenge is tackled using in situ cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryoTEM) in combination with electron tomography (cryoET), which allows 3D imaging of the process with <1 nm resolution. By monitoring the film formation process of poly(ethylene-co-methacrylic acid) (EMAA) ionomer dispersion, onion-like nano-aggregates are captured.

Linear Calcium Carbonate Chains by Directional Control of Ionic Bonding.

As a result of the non-directionality of ionic bonds, oppositely charged ions always assemble into closely packed clusters or crystals rather than linear structured ionic species. Here, we generated a series of linear calcium carbonate chains, (CaCO), with an orientated directionality of the ionic interactions. The formation of these ionic chains with long-range ordered ionic interactions was originally induced by the dipole orientation of the ions and subsequently preserved by capping agents.

Efficient production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from fructose over CuAPO-5 molecular sieves synthesized using an ionothermal method.

A group of CuAPO-5 molecular sieves with trace Cu were successfully synthesized an ionothermal method and used for fructose dehydration to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in [BMIM]Br ionic liquid. The 0.06-CuAPO-5 sample displayed excellent performance and a HMF yield of 93.