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This review focuses on supramolecular gelation that exhibits unique optical functionality through the highly ordered aggregation of low-molecular-weight compounds. The supramolecular gels can be applied to improve the functionality of polymer materials through nanofibrillar network formation, while maintaining transparency. We discuss concepts and methods for manufacturing supramolecular gels, their optical characteristics and their applications for light management technology.
The 1:1 mixtures of zinc diacrylate (ZDA) and zinc dialkanoate (ZDCx) was found to start melting at lower temperature than the melting points of the original components and polymerization of acrylate portions progressed in the molten state at lower temperature than the polymerization temperature of ZDA, In this process, ion exchange between ZDA and ZDCx was confirmed to accelerate the reaction.
Radical polymerization of a bisacrylate monomer trans-1,2-bisacryloyloxyethylcarbamoyloxycyclohexane proceeded via cyclopolymerization. The repeating unit consisted of a 19-membered ring structure. Notably, highly selective cyclopolymerization proceeded at a monomer concentration of 0.033 mol l−1 and produced the corresponding polymer in high yield. The selectivity was validated by size-exclusion chromatography, and nuclear magnetic resonance and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectroscopic analyses.
The local and global conformations of flower micelles and flower necklaces formed by the amphiphilic alternating copolymer of sodium maleate and dodecyl vinyl ether P(MAL/C12) in an aqueous solution were investigated using small-angle X-ray scattering and light scattering. Both local and global conformations for micelles of P(MAL/C12) with N01 (the degree of polymerization) < 300 and N01 >300 have been explained consistently by the flower micelle and flower necklace models with minimum-sized loops, respectively, as previously proposed.
The liquid crystalline (LC) behavior of two lyotropic systems, poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) solutions in sulfuric acid and hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) solutions in water, was compared on a dynamic rheological basis. Two systems showed similar behaviors in molecular stress relaxation but different orientation relaxation time behaviors. The helicoidal structure of the HPC systems is transformed to a nematic-like directional order via the damping process under very high shear.
The assembly structure and the critical rod length for the disorder–order orientational transition in rod–coil diblock copolymer films depend on the property of the wall surface and the film thickness.
The first-order perturbation calculation is carried out of the second virial coefficient A2 of the phantom Gaussian and Kratky–Porod wormlike rings without inter- and intramolecular topological constraints with consideration of the ternary-cluster integral β3 in addition to the binary-cluster integral β2. From a comparison of the present theoretical result with experimental data, the residual contribution of β3 to A2 is shown to be negligibly small for ring atactic polystyrene in cyclohexane at Θ in the range of the molecular weight M from 1 × 104 to 6 × 105.
To control contamination resistance of polymer surfaces, the surface hydrophobization and hydrophilization were attempted by atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ)-coating with hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) and APPJ-oxidation, respectively. The APPJ-coating remarkably prevented the deposition of the particulate contaminants in air. The granular morphology was observed on the film surfaces after the APPJ-coating, which resulted in superior contamination resistance via the decrease in the contact area with the contaminant. On the other hand, the APPJ-oxidation promoted the contamination removal in the aqueous detergent system.
The catalytic activities of basic and thermoresponsive microgel particles for the Knoevenagel condensation reaction in water at ambient temperature were evaluated. The catalytic activity of the basic gel particles depended on their base strength. The tertiary-aminated microgel particles had the higher activity than tertiary-aminated silica gel, bulk gel and trimethylamine. Because the base strength of the tertiary amines in the microgel particles decreased with increasing temperature, the catalysts and residual substrates were separated by dialysis with heating. The recovered microgel particle catalysts were recyclable for an additional Knoevenagel condensation.
The sandwich-like sulfonated polyimide/chitosan (SPI/CS) composite membranes were prepared and the SDs of the SPI were adjusted from 30 to 70%. Based on the proton/vanadium ion selectivity and chemical stability, the SPI40/CS and SPI50/CS membranes are selected as optimum candidates for all-vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) applications. The 100-time cyclic charge–discharge testing (50 mA cm−2) results show that the SPI40/CS membrane possessed higher coulombic efficiency than Nafion 117. In addition, the SPI40/CS membrane exhibited more stable energy efficiency than pure SPI40 membrane.
We have demonstrated nano-wood materials derived from wood are useful as reducing and supporting agents in the one-step preparation of monodisperse Au NPs. The average diameter of the Au NPs could be controlled by varying the concentration of the Au precursor, and the size distribution could be improved by the addition of NaOH. The obtained monodisperse Au NPs/wood composites exhibit high catalytic activities in the reduction of p-nitrophenol as a model reaction.
