Highly carbonylated cellulose nanofibrous membranes utilizing maleic anhydride grafting for efficient lysozyme adsorption.

Construction of adsorptive materials for simple, efficient, and high-throughput adsorption of proteins is critical to meet the great demands of highly purified proteins in biotechnological and biopharmaceutical industry; however, it has proven extremely challenging. Here, we report a cost-effective strategy to create carbonyl groups surface-functionalized nanofibrous membranes under mild conditions for positively charged protein adsorption. Our approach allows maleic anhydride to in situ graft on cellulose nanofibrous membranes (CMA) to construct adsorptive membranes with large surface area and tortuous porous structure.

Carbon Nanotubes Enhanced Fluorinated Polyurethane Macroporous Membranes for Waterproof and Breathable Application.

Waterproof and breathable macroporous membranes that are both completely resistant to liquid water penetration and easily allowable to vapor transmission would have significant implication for numerous applications; however, fabrication of such materials has proven to be tremendously challenging. Herein, we reported novel electrospun composite fibrous membranes with high waterproof and breathable performance, which consisted of polyurethane (PU), terminal fluorinated polyurethane (FPU), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Benefiting from the utilization of FPU and CNTs, the fibrous membranes were endowed with superhydrophobic surface, optimized pores size and porosity, along with enhanced fibers, which resulted in excellent waterproof, breathable and mechanical properties.

Superelastic and superhydrophobic nanofiber-assembled cellular aerogels for effective separation of oil/water emulsions.

Many applications proposed for functional nanofibers require their assembly into a monolithic cellular structure. The ability to maintain structural integrity upon large deformation is essential to ensure a macroscopic cellular material that functions reliably. However, it remains a great challenge to achieve high elasticity in three-dimensional (3D) nanofibrous networks.

Influence of substitution on the rheological properties and gelation of hydroxyethyl cellulose solution in NaOH-water solvent.

The rheological properties of hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) with a low molar substitution (MS) dissolved in 8wt% NaOH-water were studied as a function of solution temperature, polymer concentration and molar substitution. Special attention was paid to gelation kinetics. Similar to cellulose dissolved in alkali or ionic liquids, the intrinsic viscosity of HEC decreased with temperature increase, indicating a decrease of solvent thermodynamic quality.

Ultralight nanofibre-assembled cellular aerogels with superelasticity and multifunctionality.

Three-dimensional nanofibrous aerogels (NFAs) that are both highly compressible and resilient would have broad technological implications for areas ranging from electrical devices and bioengineering to damping materials; however, creating such NFAs has proven extremely challenging. Here we report a novel strategy to create fibrous, isotropically bonded elastic reconstructed (FIBER) NFAs with a hierarchical cellular structure and superelasticity by combining electrospun nanofibres and the fibrous freeze-shaping technique. Our approach causes the intrinsically lamellar deposited electrospun nanofibres to assemble into elastic bulk aerogels with tunable densities and desirable shapes on a large scale.

Electreted polyetherimide-silica fibrous membranes for enhanced filtration of fine particles.

Development of technologies for air filtration and purification is critical to meet the global challenges of threatened human health and accelerated greenhouse effect, especially for point-of-use applications. Here, we report a novel electreted polyetherimide-silica (PEI-SiO2) fibrous membrane by a single-step strategy to achieve effective filtration of fine particles. The hierarchical structured PEI-SiO2 membranes were endowed with promising superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 152°, allowing their better self-cleaning performance compared with commercial polypropylene (PP) filter media.

Changes of structure and property of alkali soluble hydroxyethyl celluloses (HECs) and their regenerated films with the molar substitution.

Hydroxyethyl celluloses (HECs) with low molar substitutions (MS) were prepared by reaction of alkali cellulose with ethylene oxide (EO) in a heterogeneous process. NMR, FTIR, WAXD, TG, solubility and tensile tests were adopted to investigate the changes of structures and properties of HECs with their MS values. NMR results showed that the hydroxyethyl groups were introduced into the cellulose chains as expected, causing the destruction in ordered structure and a loss in crystallinity.

Superamphiphobic nanofibrous membranes for effective filtration of fine particles.

The worldwide demands are rising for an energy-efficient and cost-effective approach that can provide advanced nanofibrous membranes with high filtration performance and superior antifouling properties. Here we report a novel synthesized fluorinated polyurethane (FPU) modified nanofibrous membrane optimized to achieve oil and non-oil aerosol particle filtration. By employing the FPU incorporation, the polyacrylonitrile/polyurethane (PAN/PU) composite membranes were endowed with superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 154° and superoleophobicity with an oil contact angle of 151°.

A novel iterative scheme and its application to differential equations.

The purpose of this paper is to employ an alternative approach to reconstruct the standard variational iteration algorithm II proposed by He, including Lagrange multiplier, and to give a simpler formulation of Adomian decomposition and modified Adomian decomposition method in terms of newly proposed variational iteration method-II (VIM). Through careful investigation of the earlier variational iteration algorithm and Adomian decomposition method, we find unnecessary calculations for Lagrange multiplier and also repeated calculations involved in each iteration, respectively. Several examples are given to verify the reliability and efficiency of the method.

Electrospun nanofibrous chitosan membranes modified with polyethyleneimine for formaldehyde detection.

Here we describe a formaldehyde sensor fabricated by coating polyethyleneimine (PEI) functionalized chitosan nanofiber-net-binary structured layer on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). The chitosan fibrous substrate comprising nanofibers and spider-web-like nano-nets constructed by a facile electro-spinning/netting process provided an ideal structure for the uniform PEI modification and sensing performance enhancement. Benefiting from the fascinating nanostructure, abundant primary amine groups of PEI, and strong adhesive force to the QCM electrode of PEI-chitosan membranes, the developed formaldehyde sensor presented rapid response and low detection limit (5 ppm) at room temperature.

Variational iteration method for Bratu-like equation arising in electrospinning.

This paper points out that the so called enhanced variational iteration method (Colantoni & Boubaker, 2014) for a nonlinear equation arising in electrospinning and vibration-electrospinning process is the standard variational iteration method. An effective algorithm using the variational iteration algorithm-II is suggested for Bratu-like equation arising in electrospinning. A suitable choice of initial guess results in a relatively accurate solution by one or few iteration.

Hierarchically structured polysulfone/titania fibrous membranes with enhanced air filtration performance.

Hierarchically structured, superhydrophobic filter medium exhibiting robust filtration performance to airborne particulate were prepared by a facile deposition of electrospun polysulfone/titania nanoparticles (PSU/TiO2 NPs) on a conventional nonwoven substrate. The air permeability, tensile strength and abrasion resistance of pristine PSU fibrous membranes could be finely controlled by regulating the solvent composition and number ratios of jets. By employing the TiO2 NPs incorporation, the pristine PSU fibers were endowed with promising superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of up to 152°.

Structure and properties of urea-plasticized starch films with different urea contents.

Films of thermoplastic starch (TPS) plasticized with different contents of urea were prepared by using a solution casting method. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and IR spectroscopy were used to characterize structures of the TPS films, respectively. Water vapor sorption isotherms and tensile properties of the films were determined.

Electro-spinning/netting: A strategy for the fabrication of three-dimensional polymer nano-fiber/nets.

Since 2006, a rapid development has been achieved in a subject area, so called electro-spinning/netting (ESN), which comprises the conventional electrospinning process and a unique electro-netting process. Electro-netting overcomes the bottleneck problem of electrospinning technique and provides a versatile method for generating spider-web-like nano-nets with ultrafine fiber diameter less than 20 nm. Nano-nets, supported by the conventional electrospun nanofibers in the nano-fiber/nets (NFN) membranes, exhibit numerious attractive characteristics such as extremely small diameter, high porosity, and Steiner tree network geometry, which make NFN membranes optimal candidates for many significant applications.

Effects of lipid chain length on the surface properties of alkylaminomethyl rutin and of its mixture with model lecithin membrane.

Three model flavonoid-based bioactive molecules with different lipid chain lengths (RuCn: n=8, 12, 18) were newly synthesized. The surface properties [surface pressure (π)-area (A), surface potential (ΔV)-surface pressure (π) and dipole moment (u(⊥))-surface pressure (π)] of pure RuCn and the lecithin membrane compounds had been investigated by using the Langmuir monolayer technology. The results suggested that the distinctive monolayer behavior of RuCn is strongly dependent on the lipid chain length.

The complexation mode of metal ions with Langmuir monolayers of nitrogen-containing flavonoid glycoside-based surfactants derived from rutin.

The molecular recognition activities of flavonoid derivatives toward other guest molecules have been the focus of interest recently. This study reports the metal-complexation behavior of nitrogen-containing rutin (RuCn) in the organized Langmuir films. Three model compounds with different lipid chain lengths (n=8, 12 and 18) were designed and synthesized.

Electrospun nanomaterials for ultrasensitive sensors.

Increasing demands for ever more sensitive sensors for global environmental monitoring, food inspection and medical diagnostics have led to an upsurge of interests in nanostructured materials such as nanofibers and nanowebs. Electrospinning exhibits the unique ability to produce diverse forms of fibrous assemblies. The remarkable specific surface area and high porosity bring electrospun nanomaterials highly attractive to ultrasensitive sensors and increasing importance in other nanotechnological applications.

Monolayers of mixture of alkylaminomethyl rutin and lecithin at the air/water interface.

A compound of flavonol-based biosurfactant, as C(8)-substituted alkylaminomethyl rutin (DAMR) for a potential pharmaceutical or agrochemical use, was prepared experimentally. The surface behavior of DAMR and its mixture with lecithin from soybean (SL) had been studied. DAMR, regarded as a pseudo-amphoteric character, exhibits both liquid-condensed (LC) and liquid-expanded (LE) phases while SL is in the form of the LE phase only.

Fatalness of virus depends upon its cell fractal geometry.

Why do more complex viruses (e.g., HIV, AIDS-virus and SARS coronavirus) tend to be more fatal? The paper concludes that the cell fractal geometry of viruses is the key.

On body size of infected mice.

Coutinho et al.'s experimental observation reveals that infected mice gain higher body weight. A theoretical analysis is given to explain the phenomenon, the result agrees remarkably well with Coutinho et al.

[Chromaticity analysis for colorants in dye-based ink-jet ink].

For ink-jet color inks used for the well-known printers, taking Canon, EPSON, HEWLETT PACKARD and LEXMARK as samples, transmittances of the ink solutions were determined, and then the chromaticity analyses were made, in order to calculate the tristimulus values and the chromatic coordinate of each color sample. Also, the gamuts, chroma values, dominant wavelengths and complementary wavelengths were obtained by using the chromatic method for the samples. In this paper, an empirical formula was suggested for the relationship between the complementary wavelengths of the three primary colors: lambda compl, M approximately equal 10/9 (lambda compl, Y) + 10 and lambda compl, M approximately equal 10/9 (lambda compl, Y) - 20.

Detection and determination of aromatic amines as products of reductive splitting from selected azo dyes.

The current environment-friendly regulations concerning textile products ban the marketing of textiles dyed with azo dyes capable of reductively splitting carcinogenic aromatic amines. The study analyzes seven azo dyes whose chemical structure determines various quantities of splitting aromatic amines, such as benzidine. For tests, seven commercially available azo dyes with aromatic amines in their structure were selected.

Biodegradation of polyvinyl alcohol by Phanerochaete chrysosporium after pretreatment with Fenton's reagent.

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solutions (BP05 and BF17; 5.0%, wt v(-1)) were degraded by a combination of chemical (Fenton's reagent) and fungal (Phanerochaete chrysosporium) treatments. The overall degradations of BP05 and BF17 were 74.

Semiempirical infrared spectra simulations for some aromatic amines of interest for azo dye chemistry.

A set of semiempirical methods (PM3, AM1, MNDO, MNDO3, INDO, CNDO and ZINDO/1) has been tested to find the best tool for the identification of aromatic amines by infrared spectroscopy. Analysed were 1,4-, 1,3-, 1,2-phenylenediamines and aniline, amines commonly used in the dye industry. Of all the semiempirical methods tested, AM1 showed the closest correspondence to experimental values.

The evaluation of structural changes in wool fibre keratin treated with azo dyes by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy.

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy spectroscopy is a useful technique for the analysis of structural changes in wool fibres at the molecular and supermolecular levels. Ecological requirements the textile industry has to meet oblige manufacturers to use ecological dyes in the process of fibre dyeing. These dyes should not split into the forbidden, carcinogenic aromatic amines (e.