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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 1,549 records · Page 86
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Synthesis and characterization of Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} composite nanoparticles with high X-ray absorption

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Uniform Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} nanorods were prepared via a hot injection method. • Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} nanorods were coated with TEOS and PEG for surface modification. • CT images of Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3}@SiO{sub 2}-PEG are much higher than clinical iobitridol when they have the same concentration. • Cellular toxicity of Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3}@SiO{sub 2}-PEG is low when the probes were directly in contact with tissue fluid. - Abstract: Owing to the high X-ray absorption, Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} nanocrystals are widely used as CT contrast agents. Here, we prepared uniform Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} nanorods via a hot injection method using bismuth (III) chloride, sulfur and oleyl amine. The resulting nanocrystals were coated with tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and 2-[methoxy(polyethyleneoxy)propyl]yrimethoxysilane (PEG-silane) for the biological utility. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results showed that the Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} nanorods had an orthorhombic structure with the length of 14 nm and the diameter of 7 nm, respectively. Composite nanoparticles (0.0226 M) gave a CT number at 550 (HU), which was higher than that of the commercial available iobitridol CT contrast agent. Furthermore, cell experiments revealed that Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} composite nanoparticles had a low cytotoxicity with a concentration up to 0.01 M of Bi for 24 h.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

A biotemplated nickel nanostructure: Synthesis, characterization and antibacterial activity

Highlights: • Nickel nanostructure-encapsulated bacteria were prepared using electroless deposition. • Bacterium surface was activated by red-ox reaction of its surface amino acids. • Interfacial changes at cell surfaces were investigated using fluorescence spectroscopy. • TEM and AFM depicted morphological changes. • Antibacterial activity of nanostructure was examined against different bacteria strains. - Abstract: Nickel nanostructure-encapsulated bacteria were prepared using the electroless deposition procedure and activation of bacterium cell surface by red-ox reaction of surface amino acids. The electroless deposition step occurred in the presence of Ni(II) and dimethyl amine boran (DMAB). Interfacial changes at bacteria cell surfaces during the coating process were investigated using fluorescence spectroscopy. Fluorescence of tryptophan residues was completely quenched after the deposition of nickel onto bacteria surfaces. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) depicted morphological changes on the surface of the bacterium. It was found that the Ni coated nanostructure was mechanically stable after ultrasonication for 20 min. Significant increase in surface roughness of bacteria was also observed after deposition of Ni clusters. The amount of coated Ni on the bacteria surface was calculated as 36% w/w. The antibacterial activity of fabricated nanostructure in culture media was examined against three different bacteria strains; Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Xantomonas campestris. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were determined as 500 mg/L, 350 mg/L and 200 mg/L against bacteria, respectively.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Preparation and characterization of bifunctional dendrimer modified Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/CdTe nanoparticles with both luminescent and superparamagnetic properties

Highlights: • The fluorescent superparamagnetic dendrimeric Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/CdTe nanoparticles are synthesized in this paper. • The synthesized nanocomposites maintain excellent magnetic properties. • The synthesized nanocomposites maintain highly luminescent markers with narrow emission bands. - Abstract: Magnetic nanoparticles Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} were prepared by hydrothermal coprecipitation of ferric and ferrous ions using NaOH. The surface modification of Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} nanoparticle by dendrimers has rendered the nanoparticle surface with enriched amine groups which facilitated the adsorption and conjugation of thioglycolic acid (TGA) modified CdTe quantum dots to form a stable hybrid nanostructure. Three generations (first generation: G0F, second generation: G1F, third generation: G3F) of bifunctional dendrimeric Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/CdTe nanoparticles were successfully prepared using this technique and characterized by microscopy. The optical and magnetic properties of the dendrimeric Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/CdTe nanoparticle were also investigated. The microscopic study reveals 3 different sizes for 3 generations, 16 nm (G0F), 31 nm (G1F) and 47 nm (G3F). Among three generations of nanoparticles, the G1F has the best optical property with a luminescent quantum yield of 25.6% and the G0F has the best magnetic property with a saturation magnetization of 19.3 emμ/g.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Scalable production of Cu@C composites for cross-coupling catalysis

Highlights: • Cu@C core–shell composite was prepared by reduction of [Cu(NH{sub 3}){sub 4}]{sup 2+} with glucose. • The carbon shell in Cu@C can be tuned to the different degree of carbonization. • The Cu@C composites were utilized to catalyze the C−N cross coupling reaction. • The catalytic ability of Cu@C depends on the degree of shell-carbonization. - Abstract: A novel Cu@C core–shell microstructure was prepared by reduction of [Cu(NH{sub 3}){sub 4}]{sup 2+} with glucose using a mild hydrothermal process. The carbon shell of such Cu@C composite can be tuned to different carbonization degrees just through varying the calcination conditions. The structural properties of as-prepared Cu@C were investigated in detail by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron micrographs (TEM) and Raman spectra. In addition, these Cu@C composites were firstly used to catalyze the C−N cross coupling of amines with iodobenzene. Among them, the catalytic ability of Cu@C composites increased as their surface carbon’s carburization degree improved.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Synthesis, characterization, and recycling of bio-derivable polyester covalently adaptable networks for industrial composite applications

Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) are critical for energy-relevant applications such as wind turbine blades. Despite this, the end-of-life options for FRPs are limited as they are permanently cross-linked thermosets. To enable the circularity of FRPs, we formulated a bio-derivable polyester covalently adaptable network (PECAN), sometimes referred to as a polyester vitrimer, to manufacture FRPs at >1 kg scale, which is accomplished as the resin is infusible (175-425 cP at 25 °C viscosity), can be cured at 80 °C within 5 h and is depolymerizable via methanolysis yielding high-quality fibers and recoverable hardener. The FRPs exhibit a transverse tensile modulus comparable with today's wind relevant FRPs (10.4-11.9 GPa). Modeling estimates a resin minimum selling price of $2.28/kg and, relative to an epoxy-amine resin, PECAN manufacture requires 19%-21% less supply chain energy and emits 33%-35% less greenhouse gas emissions. Overall, this study suggests that redesigned thermosets can yield beneficial circularity.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2018

High solvent-resistant and integrally crosslinked polyimide-based composite membranes for organic solvent nanofiltration

This study reports a new class of integral polyimide (PI)-based thin film composite (TFC) membranes (with improved solvent resistance in both the skin layer and the substrate) for organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN). The OSN membrane was prepared via interfacial polymerization (IP) onto a PI ultrafiltration (UF) substrate, followed by an imidization, a chemical crosslinking, and a solvent activation process. During the IP process, m-phenylenediamine (MPD), dopamine (DA), and 1,2,4,5-benzene tetracarboxylic acyl chloride (BTAC) were respectively used as an aqueous monomer, an aqueous additive, and an organic monomer. We proved that amide bonding formed between MPD and the PI substrate during the immersion of the substrate in the aqueous MPD solution, thus providing a strong binding between the substrate and the subsequently formed skin layer of polyamide acid (PAA), which was formed due to reaction between MPD and BTAC during the IP process. DA contains amine group and could also help build a strong binding between the substrate and the skin layer during the same IP process. The subsequent imidization step converted the PAA molecules of the skin layer into PI polymers, which was quite similar to that of the substrate. The final crosslinking step crosslinked not only the inner molecules of the skin layer, and the inner molecules of the substrate, but also the interface molecules between the skin and substrate so as to form an integral composite membrane with improving solvent resistance. Finally, the fabricated OSN membranes under optimal preparation conditions exhibited an ethanol permeance of 2.03 L m -2 h -1 bar -1 with a rejection of 98% for Rhodamine B (479 Da) and exhibited an outstanding organic solvent resistance without compromising separation performance during the persistent immersion in DMF at 80 °C for two weeks, indicating a promising prospective in OSN applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Highly permeable polyethersulfone substrates with bicontinuous structure for composite membranes in CO 2 /N 2 separation

Substrate morphology has a significant effect on the CO 2 transport performance of a thin-film composite (TFC) membrane. In this study, a new mixed solvent comprising 2-pyrrolidone (2-PD) and 2-methoxyethanol (2-ME) was used to prepare polyethersulfone (PES) substrates with bicontinuous structure by water vapor-induced phase separation, followed by immersion in water as nonsolvent. Here, compared with the commonly used solvent, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), the 2-PD/2-ME mixed solvent is more hydrophilic and can decrease the thermodynamic stability of the casting solution significantly. As a result, the phase separation was induced via the spinodal decomposition mechanism. The open morphology bestowed the optimized substrate with a very high CO 2 permeance of 133,226 ± 3,870 GPU (1 GPU = 10 –6 cm 3 (STP) s –1 cm –2 cmHg –1 = 3.3464 × 10 -9 kg-mol s –1 m –2 Pa –1 ), which was 5 times more permeable than the baseline substrate synthesized with NMP. By using this new substrate, the prepared TFC membrane containing amines showed an increased CO 2 permeance of 908 ± 8 GPU at 57°C, which was 48 GPU higher than that with the baseline substrate. Meanwhile, the CO 2 /N 2 selectivity was retained at 162 ± 4 at 57°C. In addition, the good scalability of the new PES substrate was demonstrated by roll-to-roll fabrication of a 50' long scale-up PES substrate with a width of 21".

2-Pyrrolidone↗
DOE OSTI2021

Boric acid removal with polyol-functionalized polyether membranes

Poor selectivity of conventional desalination membranes for boron often necessitates multi-stage treatment trains to achieve desired boron removal for end uses such as irrigation. One approach to membrane design for improved single-pass boric acid removal is via incorporation of chelating ligands that selectively sorb boron. In this study, membranes based on epoxy-amine cross-linked poly(glycidyl glycidyl ether) (PGGE) were synthesized and functionalized with N-methyl-d-glucamine (NMDG), a polyol known to interact selectively with boron. PGGE and PGGE-NMDG membranes exhibited boron sorption isotherms that were well-described by dual mode isotherms. PGGE-NMDG sorbed 2.5 mmol B/g dry polymer from a neutral aqueous solution containing 100 mmol B/L, which was almost three times the adsorption density of a commercial boron selective resin, Amberlite IRA743. Further, the membranes were regenerated in acid without a significant loss of boron sorption capacity over four cycles. Interactions between boron and NMDG and PGGE sites (e.g., epoxides) impacted boron diffusion in both membranes. The use of ligand functionalized membranes to capture target solutes such as boron requires high loading of interacting sites to maximize uptake capacity. Establishing fundamental structure/property rules for boron selectivity could lead to new material designs with improved boron separation properties for water purification.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

PBI nanofiber mat-reinforced anion exchange membranes with covalently linked interfaces for use in water electrolysers

Anion exchange membranes (AEM) are key components in anion exchange membrane water electrolysers. Recently developed materials are less susceptible to the alkaline degradation of the polymer backbone and quaternary ammonium groups. A remaining challenge is the mechanical stability in contact with hot water and dimensional stability when the temperature of the feed solution changes. One solution is to reinforce membranes with a porous support. Since support materials like PEEK or PTFE have a different swelling behavior than the matrix and no strong interactions with the matrix, voids can form, and gas crossover increases. In this work, we approach this issue by pore filling polybenzimidazole nanofiber mats with the bromomethylated precursor of mTPN, an ultra-stable AEM material. During drying, a covalent interaction between support (PBI amine groups) and matrix (-CH 2 Br) is established. After quaternization, the optimized PBI/mTPN-50.120 composite membrane still shows a high conductivity of 62 mS cm –1 , but 37% reduced length swelling in comparison to the non-reinforced membrane. Tensile strength and Young's modulus increase 17% and 56% to 49 MPa and 680 MPa, respectively. In an electrolyser, a stable voltage of 1.98V at 0.25 A cm –2 was achieved, and no change in membrane resistance was observed over the test time of 200 h (50°C, 1 M KOH, catalysts based on Ni/Fe and Mo).

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Polystyrene sulfonate (PSS) stabilized polyethylenimine (PEI) membranes fabricated by spray coating for highly effective CO 2 /N 2 separation

Greenhouse effect, largely caused by CO 2 emission, has become a major concern for global climate change. Post-combustion CO 2 capture is one of the critical strategies to mitigate this issue. Membrane technology for carbon capture has drawn significant attention because of the cost and energy efficiency and scalability. Many membranes for CO 2 capture are limited by the trade-off between CO 2 permeability and CO 2 /N 2 selectivity and the long-term stability under practical operating conditions. Facilitated transport membranes with efficient CO 2 carriers have demonstrated potential to surpass the permeability-selectivity trade-off, but these carriers are often lost under operational conditions. In this work, we designed and fabricated a polystyrene sulfonate (PSS) stabilized polyethylenimine (PEI) membrane by a facile and scalable spray-coating method. The deposited defect-free selective layer, in which the amine carriers in PEI can be stabilized electrostatically by PSS, exhibited superior CO 2 separation performance with good long-term stability under practical operating conditions. The separation performance was optimized by spray-coating cycles, CNT network loading, and PSS loading. Our membrane showed CO 2 permeance ranging from 820 to 1,770 GPU and CO 2 /N 2 selectivity varying from 395 to 460 under vacuum operation mode in the temperature range between 80 and 90 °C. Furthermore, the membrane was successfully scaled up to 200 cm 2 with good uniformity. These results might suggest a novel membrane structure and a scalable approach for fabrication of highly efficient CO 2 separation membranes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Direct, efficient and selective capture of low concentration of CO 2 from natural gas flue gas using a high temperature tubular carbon capture membrane

Natural gas (NG) fired power plants emit low concentration (4–5%) of CO 2 , which presents additional technical and economic challenges to the current benchmark amine absorption technology. The newly emerged high-temperature multiphase membranes operated on molten carbonate (MC) chemistry for CO 2 capture/separation/conversion have been demonstrated with great potential to meet this challenge. In this study, we report on the CO 2 capture performance of such a membrane in tubular geometry from a mockup NG flue gas. The membrane is comprised of a mixture of Gd 0.20 Ce 0.80 O 1.95 (GDC) and MC, in which GDC forms a porous skeleton to contain MC. Here, we show that the membrane with a dimension of 6.1 mm in outer diameter, 5.1 mm in inner diameter and 5 cm in effective length (resulting in 4cm 2 effective surface area) can achieve a CO 2 flux density of 0.46–0.55 mL/min·cm 2 at 650°C, capturing 97% pure CO 2 at a rate of 37–42% from 5%CO 2 –N 2 using moistened Ar as the sweep gas. The level of performance demonstrated by this study suites the membrane well for stationary CO 2 capture from NG power plants.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Probing lead acetate in solution using X-ray diffraction

Here, for the purpose of water purification involving toxic metal sensing and removal, high energy X-ray diffraction experiments have been performed on lead acetate Pb(Ac) 2 solutions, liquid and amorphous glutathione disulfide (GSSG), and their mixtures. The data have been interpreted using Empirical Potential Structure Refinement and pair distribution function analysis. At the highest concentration of 1 M Pb(Ac) 2 in water, the lead molecules are found to cluster and the second shell in the water structure becomes slightly more ordered as the water molecules become compressed. Liquid and amorphous GSSG are found to hydrogen bond primarily via OH-O interactions, while NH-O bonds are much more distorted. Aqueous solutions of Pb(Ac) 2 + GSSG show the closest Pb-O (carboxyl) and Pb-N (amine) bonds both at a distance of 2.5 ± 0.1 Å at a concentration of 1 M Pb(Ac) 2 in water. At 0.75 M Pb(Ac) 2 in water, strong Pb-S bonds are found at a distance of 2.8 ± 0.1 Å. The implications for lead removal using capacitive deionization are discussed.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Doped hole transport layer for efficiency enhancement in planar heterojunction organolead trihalide perovskite solar cells

We demonstrated the efficiency of a solution-processed planar heterojunction organometallic trihalide perovskite solar cell can be increased to 17.5% through doping the hole transporting layer for reducing the resistivity. Doped Poly(triaryl amine) (PTAA) by 2,3,5,6-Tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-Tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4-TCNQ) reduced device series resistance by three-folds, increasing the device fill factor to 74%, open circuit voltage to 1.09 V without sacrificing the short circuit current. As a result, this study reveals that the high resistivity of currently broadly applied polymer hole transport layer limits the device efficiency, and points a new direction to improve the device efficiency.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Chemometric modeling of power conversion efficiency of organic dyes in dye sensitized solar cells for the future renewable energy

The present study reports chemometric modeling of power conversion efficiency (PCE) of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) using the biggest available data set till date which comprises around 1200 dyes covering 7 chemical classes. To extract the best structural features required for higher PCE, we have developed multiple partial least squares (PLS) quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models for the Triphenylamine, Phenothiazine, Indoline, Porphyrin, Coumarin, Carbazole and Diphenylamine chemical classes using descriptors derived from the best subset selection method followed by selection of best five models in each dataset based on the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) values. The models were validated both internally and externally followed by the consensus predictions employing “Intelligent Consensus Predictor” tool to examine whether the quality of predictions can be improved with the “intelligent” selection of multiple PLS models. The quality of predictions for the respective external sets showed that the consensus models (CM) are better than the individual models (IM) in most of the cases. From the insights of the developed models, we concluded that attributes like a packed structure toward higher conductivity of electrons, auxiliary donor fragment of aromatic tertiary amines, number of thiophenes inducing the bathochromic shift and augmenting the absorption, presence of additional electron donors, enhancement of electron-donating abilities, number of non-aromatic conjugated C(sp 2 ) which helps as conjugation extension units to broaden the absorption and highly conjugated $π$-systems exert positive contributions to the PCE. On the contrary, features negatively contributing to PCE are the followings: fragments which lower the tendency of localized $π–π*$ transition, fragments related to larger volume and surface area of dyes along with hydrophobicity resulting in poor adhesion, fragment RC = N causing dye hydrolysis, steric hindrance for π electronic mobility, fragments enhancing polarity, etc. Finally, the identified features from the best QSPR model of the coumarin dataset was employed in designing of ten more efficient coumarin dyes (predicted %PCE ranging from 8.93 to 10.62) than the existing ones.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

The current status of high temperature electrochemistry-based CO 2 transport membranes and reactors for direct CO 2 capture and conversion

The concept of direct CO 2 capture and conversion has attracted significant interest from industries and academia in recent decades due to its potential to address the current grand challenge of global warming/climate change, rapid depletion of fossil fuels and realization of a future carbon neutral ecosystem. The incumbent benchmark technology for CO 2 capture is the post-combustion flue-gas “amine washing”, which is energy intensive and costly for large-scale commercial implementation. The CO 2 conversion technologies, on the other hand, are still at their infancy with many technical challenges to overcome, but primarily being explored in laboratory-scale, low-temperature, solution-based and high-temperature, solid-oxide-based electrochemical cells with renewable electricity perceived as the energy input. In this article, we provide a comprehensive overview on an emergent class of high-temperature electrochemical CO 2 transport membranes that can capture and convert CO 2 into valuable chemicals in single catalytic reactor fashion. The review starts with the chemistry and transport theory of three basic types of membranes purposely designed for different CO 2 feedstocks and downstream conversions. A range of key functional materials used in these membranes and their microstructural/electrochemical properties important to the CO 2 transport are then thoroughly discussed in conjunction with the effects of surface modifications and operating conditions. Several types of combined CO 2 capture and conversion catalytic reactors based on these membranes are also assessed with a focus on their working principles, system configurations and performance demonstrations. Finally, challenges and prospective of these electrochemical CO 2 transport membranes and their associated conversion reactors are candidly discussed for future development.

10 SYNTHETIC FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Functional group activation and coupling agent migration induced by plasma treatment in adhesive for enhanced toughness of metal-composite joints

Commercial adhesive paste was additionally activated using low-power oxygen plasma with different plasma exposure durations to investigate its interfacial bonding contribution in adhesively-bonded Aural-5/CFRP-PA6 double cantilever beam (DCB) joints with plasma-treated adherends. The plasma-treated adhesive showed enhanced functional peak intensities in Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) as plasma exposure time was increased, and some degree of oxidation was also detected via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A small molecule, dicyandiamde (coupling agent) in adhesive was migrated to adhesive layer, where double concentration of coupling agent was detected after 10 minutes of plasma treatment. As a result, characterization of the adhesive/CFRP-PA6 interface after DCB fracture showed additional chemical bonds formed through amine-initiated epoxy ring opening polymerization, as well as amide bonds and ester bonds. In conclusion, these additional bonds at the adhesive/CFRP-PA6 interfaces led to significantly increased failure extensions and fracture energies of the joints as the plasma exposure time on the adhesive increased, compared to the joints with plasma-treated adherends but non-plasma-treated adhesive as commonly seen in the literature.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Engineering acid-base active sites on an N-doped biochar catalyst for microwave-assisted biodiesel production from waste cooking oil

Acid-base bifunctional catalysts play a crucial role in converting high-free fatty acid (FFA) feedstocks into biodiesel by enabling the simultaneous esterification and transesterification of triglycerides in a single step, thereby minimizing saponification and streamlining the process. In this study, we report the design and development of a novel N-doped acid-base bifunctional biochar catalyst synthesized from renewable biomass precursors- glucose and chitosan. The catalyst’s acidic sites were introduced via surface functionalization with o-sulfobenzoic acid cyclic anhydride, grafting -SO₃H groups onto the carbon framework, while basic sites were generated from amine functionalities (-NH) derived from chitosan, yielding a robust and truly bifunctional surface. The catalyst was characterized and used for the microwave-assisted transesterification of waste cooking oil, and process optimization using response surface methodology (RSM-CCD) yielding a maximum biodiesel yield of 98.8 ± 0.4% under optimal conditions (methanol-to-oil molar ratio 20:1, catalyst loading 5.7 wt%, temperature 99 °C, and reaction time 46.6 min). The catalyst demonstrated good stability, maintaining a yield of 92.2 ± 0.4% after eight reuse cycles. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) conducted for 1 kg of biodiesel production revealed a global warming potential of 0.85 kg CO 2 eq and human toxicity potential of 1.59 kg 1,4-DB eq, with the largest environmental contributions arising from catalyst preparation and reuse. In conclusion, this work highlights a green and circular approach to biodiesel production, combining renewable catalyst design, waste feedstock utilization, and quantitative sustainability assessment to guide future developments in sustainable catalysis and biofuel engineering.

Bifunctional catalyst↗
DOE OSTI2021

Hairy nanoparticles by atom transfer radical polymerization in miniemulsion

Polymer nanoparticles with various architectures and functionalities are promising materials in numerous fields. Miniemulsion polymerization is one of the suitable pathways to prepare polymer nanoparticles since each droplet could act as a “nanoreactor”. A “smart” atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) catalytic system comprising Cu-TPMA/DS – (TPMA = tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine, DS – = dodecyl sulfate anion) ion pair catalyst was efficiently applied in miniemulsion ATRP at low catalyst concentrations. Herein, hairy nanoparticles consisting of hydrophobic poly(n-butyl methacrylate) (P(BMA/EGDMA), EGDMA = ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) network “core” and hydrophilic oligo(ethylene oxide) methyl ether methacrylate (OEOMA) chains as “hair” were prepared by miniemulsion ATRP and a successive chain extension by aqueous ATRP from the particle surface. The addition of an inimer, 2-(α-bromoisobutyryloxy)ethyl methacrylate (HEMA-iBBr) to the P(BMA/EGDMA) network introduced more ATRP initiation sites for ATRP of OEOMA, enabling adjustment of the particle size from >400 nm to <150 nm. The miniemulsion system remained stable after the one pot synthesis of P(BMA/EGDMA)-g-POEOMA and P(BMA/EGDMA/HEMA-iBBr)-g-POEOMA, and the resulting polymer nanoparticles were re-dispersed in water for further modification. A zwitterionic monomer, [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide (SBMA), was grafted from P(BMA/EGDMA/HEMA-iBBr)-g-POEOMA. The resulting hairy nanoparticles provide an avenue for the design and preparation of novel nanostructured materials.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗