The formation of mesostructured polymer and carbon single-crystals is very difficult due to increased complexity of the energy hypersurface and the role of slowed-down kinetics. Here we reported the synthesis of ordered mesostructured phloroglucinol-formaldehyde single crystals through mesoscale self-assembly of reactive monomicelles under acidic conditions which were traditionally thought very
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com5 March 2021
One halide ion (X?) can bind on the surface of nanoscale Anderson-type polyoxometalate (POMs) clusters 3AlMo6O18(OH)3, and form stable complexes in solution with binding constant K=1.53×103. Single-crystal structural analysis showed that this binding behavior occurs through multiple hydrogen bonding between X? and three hydroxy groups on the uncapped side of…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com5 March 2021
FrankKasper phases, a family of ordered structures formed from particles with spherical motifs, are found in a host of materials, such as metal alloys, inorganic colloids and various types of soft matter. All the experimentally observed FrankKasper phases can be constructed from the basic units of three fundamental structures called…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com5 March 2021
The piezoelectric properties of poly?vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) are determined by the prevalence and orientation of its polar ?-crystal phase, which can be tuned by processing conditions, additives, mechanical stretching or post-treatment. Here, the effects of three types of processing conditions on the crystalline structure evolution of PVDF were investigated; electrospinning,…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com5 March 2021
We have performed synthesis and testing of novel supramolecular thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs). The polymers incorporate metal-ligand bonds between terbium (Tb3+) ions and imidazole groups in a triblock copolymer poly(isobornyl acrylate)-block-poly(n-butyl acrylate-co-1-vinylimidazole)-block-poly(isobornyl acrylate) (PIBA-b-P(BA-co-VI)-b-PIBA) as a second reversible physical cross-link in
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com5 March 2021
The synthesis and structural characterization of linear PolyC3 polymers containing trimethylene-1,1-dicarboxylate structural repeat units with C6F13 and C8F17 fluorinated side chains is described for the first time, and their properties were compared with the traditional polyvinyl structures that display the fluorinated chain on every second rather than on every third…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com5 March 2021
We report the ZnO nanoparticle-templated formation of nanoporous carbon (NTC) embedded with TiO2 nanoparticles for the adsorption and photodegradation of organic pollutants in water. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) studies indicate that NTC and NTC-TiO2 exhibit two types of porosities with average pore diameters of 2.8 and 11.5?nm, while Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET)…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com5 March 2021
Cocoa butter (CB) is the preferred fat for chocolates and confections. However, for technological and economic reasons, there have been strong efforts for partially replacing it. As shea butter (SB) has become an important natural source of symmetrical stearic-rich triacylglycerols (TAG), the aim of this work was to study physical…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com5 March 2021
Polymer crystals that are good conductors of heat are highly desirable for thermal management applications. Although thermally conductive polymer crystals are well known, the microscopic thermal transport processes that enable these properties have been challenging to probe experimentally. We used an optical method to probe heat conduction at submicrometer length…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com5 March 2021
Metal carbides have shown great promise in a wide range of applications due to their unique catalytic, electrocatalytic and magnetic properties. However, the scalable production of dispersible metal carbide nanoparticles remains a challenge. Here, we report a simple and scalable route to dispersible iron carbide (Fe3C) nanoparticles. This uses MgO…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com5 March 2021