High throughput production of a self-floating MIL-88A(Fe)@polyurethane sponge for efficient oil/water separation.

A durable and efficient hydrophobic/superoleophilic MIL-88A(Fe)@sponge (MS) with high throughput was fabricated via the dip-coating technique. Its adsorption capacities for pump oil, peanut oil, and CCl4 were 32.13 g g-1, 34.85 g g-1, and 34.25 g g-1, respectively. The hydrophobic surface of MS has excellent chemical resistance and physical stability in harsh environments.

Floating MIL-88A(Fe)@expanded perlites catalyst for continuous photo-Fenton degradation toward tetracyclines under artificial light and real solar light.

In this work, MIL-88A(Fe) was immobilized onto the expanded perlites to fabricate the floating MIL-88A(Fe)@expanded perlites (M@EP) catalyst via high throughput batch synthesis method under room temperature. The as-prepared M@EP could efficiently activate H2O2 to achieve 100% tetracycline antibiotics (TCs) removal under both artificial low power UV light (UVL) and real sunlight (SL) irradiation. The toxicological evaluation, growth experiment of mung beans and antimicrobial estimation revealed the decreasing aquatic toxicity of the TCs intermediates compared to those of the pristine TCs. A self-designed continuous bed reactor was employed to investigate the long-term operation of the M@EP. The findings demonstrated that the antibiotics mixture can be continuously degraded up to 7 days under UVL and 5 daytimes under SL irradiation, respectively. More importantly, ca. 76.9% and 81.6% of total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiencies were accomplished in continuous bed reactor under UVL and SL irradiation, respectively. This work advances the immobilized MOFs on floating supports for their practical application in large-scale wastewater purification through advanced oxidation processes. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATION: This work presented the high throughput production and photo-Fenton degradation application of floating MIL-88A(Fe)@expanded perlites (M@EP). Three tetracycline antibiotics (TCs) were selected as model pollutants to test the degradation ability of M@EP in batch experiment and continuous operation under artificial light and solar light. The complete TCs degradation could be accomplished in self-designed device up to 7 d under UV light and 5 d under real solar light. This work tapped a new door to push MOFs-based functional materials in the real water purification.

Bisphenol A cleanup over MIL-100(Fe)/CoS composites: Pivotal role of Fe-S bond in regenerating Fe2+ ions for boosted degradation performance.

Series of MIL-100(Fe)/CoS composites (MxCy) were facilely fabricated using ball-milling method. The optimum M50C50 exhibited extremely higher Fenton-like catalytic degradation activity toward bisphenol A (BPA) than the pristine MIL-100(Fe) and CoS. The significant improvement of BPA degradation was attributed to the synergetic effect between MIL-100(Fe) and CoS with the synergistic factor being 95.7%, in which the Fe-S bonds formed at the interface of the two components facilitate the Fe3+/Fe2+ cycle by improving the electron mobility both from Co to Fe and from S to Fe. Furthermore, the influence factors like co-existing inorganic ions and pH values on the catalysis activity of M50C50 were explored. The possible reaction mechanism was proposed and confirmed by both active species capture tests and electron spin resonance (ESR) determinations. It was found that M50C50 demonstrated good reusability and water stability, in which the morphology and structure were not changed obviously after five runs' operation. To our best knowledge, it is the first work concerning the interfacial interaction of Fe-MOF/MSx to promote Fe3+/Fe2+ cycle in Fe-MOFs for the purpose of organic pollutants degradation in the Fenton-like AOPs system.

Selective adsorption activities toward organic dyes and antibacterial performance of silver-based coordination polymers.

Two silver-based coordination polymers, [Ag2(bpy)2(cbda)] (BUC-51) and [Ag3(bpy)3(cpda)]·(NO3)·9H2O (BUC-52), have been successfully prepared by slow evaporation at room temperature. These coordination polymers exhibited good adsorptive performances toward series organic dyes with sulfonic groups, which could be ascribed to the AgcdotsO interaction between the silver(I) atoms in CPs and the oxygen atoms from sulfonic groups attached to organic dyes. Both BUC-51 and BUC-52 favoured slow release of Ag+ ions resulting into outstanding long-term antibacterial abilities toward Gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia coli (E. coli), which was tested by a minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) benchmark and an inhibition zone testing method. Both scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) images demonstrated that these two Ag-based coordination polymers could destroy the bacterial membrane and further cause death. Additionally, the excellent stability in common solvents and good optical stability under UV-visible light facilitated their adsorptive and antibacterial applications.

Evolution of a plasma vortex in air.

We report the generation of a vortex-shaped plasma in air by using a capacitively coupled dielectric barrier discharge system. We show that a vortex-shaped plasma can be produced inside a helium gas vortex and is capable of propagating for 3 cm. The fluctuation of the plasma ring shows a scaling relation with the Reynolds number of the vortex. The transient discharge reveals the property of corona discharge, where the conducting channel within the gas vortex and the blur plasma emission are observed at each half voltage cycle.

Finger evolution of a gas bubble driven by atmospheric pressure plasma.

We report the generation and evolution of a finger-shaped bubble in liquid by dielectric discharge setup. The spherical gas bubble is deformed into a finger-shaped bubble after the ignition of plasma. The presence of the filamentary discharge in the bubble not only provides the local heating to the bubble, it also changes the distribution of the electric field in the bubble and the bubble mutually provides the pathway to the discharge. The reduced surface tension on the liquid-gas interface due to the rise of temperature by plasma heating and the nonuniform electric field caused by the presence of filamentary discharge might induce the concave-shaped bubble. We also observe the formation of the quasi-two-dimensional bubble, which is generated from the bubble and attached on one side of the electrodes. It is found that the discharge induces the growth of the periodic fluctuations in the thin layer of gas.

Saffman-Taylor-like instability in a narrow gap induced by dielectric barrier discharge.

This work is inspired by the expansion of the plasma bubble in a narrow gap reported by Chu and Lee [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 225001 (2011)]. We report the unstable phenomena of the plasma-liquid interface with different curvature in a Hele-Shaw cell. Dielectric barrier discharge is produced in the cell at atmospheric pressure which is partially filled with silicone oil. We show that the Saffman-Taylor-like instability is observed on the bubble-type, channel-type, and drop-type interfaces. The Schlieren observation of the plasma-drop interaction reveals that there is a vapor layer around the drop and the particle image velocimetry shows the liquid flow inside the drop. We propose that the thermal Marangoni effect induced by the plasma heating is responsible for the unstable phenomena of the plasma-liquid interaction. The fluctuation of the interface is shown consistently with the Saffman-Taylor instability modified by the temperature-dependent velocity and surface tension.

Registration of 2D C-Arm and 3D CT Images for a C-Arm Image-Assisted Navigation System for Spinal Surgery.

C-Arm image-assisted surgical navigation system has been broadly applied to spinal surgery. However, accurate path planning on the C-Arm AP-view image is difficult. This research studies 2D-3D image registration methods to obtain the optimum transformation matrix between C-Arm and CT image frames. Through the transformation matrix, the surgical path planned on preoperative CT images can be transformed and displayed on the C-Arm images for surgical guidance. The positions of surgical instruments will also be displayed on both CT and C-Arm in the real time. Five similarity measure methods of 2D-3D image registration including Normalized Cross-Correlation, Gradient Correlation, Pattern Intensity, Gradient Difference Correlation, and Mutual Information combined with three optimization methods including Powell's method, Downhill simplex algorithm, and genetic algorithm are applied to evaluate their performance in converge range, efficiency, and accuracy. Experimental results show that the combination of Normalized Cross-Correlation measure method with Downhill simplex algorithm obtains maximum correlation and similarity in C-Arm and Digital Reconstructed Radiograph (DRR) images. Spine saw bones are used in the experiment to evaluate 2D-3D image registration accuracy. The average error in displacement is 0.22 mm. The success rate is approximately 90% and average registration time takes 16 seconds.

Vortex-mediated bouncing drops on an oscillating liquid.

We have investigated the behavior of bouncing drops on a liquid surface by using particle image velocimetry analysis. A drop on an oscillating liquid surface is observed to not coalesce with the liquid and to travel along the surface if the oscillation is strong enough. A streaming vortex pair, induced by the alternatively distorted liquid surface, shows up below a bouncing drop. The time-averaged flow fields of the vortices are measured. In our quasi-one-dimensional setup, there are three stable distances for the drops, which can be characterized by the Faraday wavelength. The interactions of the vortex-mediated bouncing drops are deduced from the streamlines in the liquid bulk. We further show that a three-dimensional vortex ring is induced by a bouncing drop in a square cell.

Observations of three-dimensional Richtmyer-Meshkov instability on a membraneless gas bubble.

We investigate the three-dimensional evolution of shock impact on a membraneless gas bubble. When a shock wave impacts a gas interface, gas layer is generally perturbed via the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. We show the vortex structure evolves from the merging process of the extending spikes on the compressed D-shaped surface via the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. The spikes are found to have a linear growth before 11 µs (of 1.4 mm). A ripple-typed fluctuating ring structure is observed and discussed with the scaling relation. We also notice that a thin layer exists in the intersection of the counterpropagating shock shells. The superposition of the rarefaction waves from both sides of the intersection is suspected to be responsible for the density change.

[Distribution characteristics and correlation analysis of inorganic elements in Alismatis rhizoma and rhizospheric soils in different habitats].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the distribution characteristics and correlation of inorganic element contents in Alismatis Rhizoma and rhizospheric soils from three habitats (Jianou, Fujian; Guangchang, Jiangxi; Pengshan, Sichuan). METHODS: The inorganic element contents were detected with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). RESULTS: The results showed that inorganic element contents in Alismatis Rhizoma from different habitats presented regular distribution characteristics. In all samples, the contents of S, P, K, Mg and Ca were relatively high. The contents of S, P, K, Fe, Mg, Ca, Al and Zn in Alismatis Rhizoma from Fujian with low-content harmful heavy metal were more than those of other two places. Alismatis Rhizoma from different habitats showed remarkable ability to enrich P, S, Zn, Mg and Cu, especially to P and S. The contents of inorganic element in Alismatis Rhizoma and rhizosperic soil showed certain correlation. CONCLUSION: These results provide scientific evidence for artificial modification of effective components biosynthesis in Alisma orientalis, and it could also provide a reference for forming mechanism of genuine characteristics and quality of Alismatis Rhizoma.

Evolution of the plasma bubble in a narrow gap.

We investigate the evolution of the plasma bubble in a narrow gap. According to the morphological changes, we further show that there are three phases during the evolution for spherical fluctuating, radial fingering, and dense branching plasma bubbles, which are similar to the radial fingering pattern in a Hele-Shaw cell. The dependences of the wavelength of the fingering boundary are experimentally discussed. The dense branching plasma bubble is found with a fractal dimension of D(f)=1.74. The reduced surface tension pressure from the local heatings due to the filamentary discharges is suspected of being responsible for the growth of the radial fingering and the dense branching plasma bubbles.

Interaction and fragmentation of pulsed laser induced microbubbles in a narrow gap.

We investigate the interaction dynamics of an existing stable microbubble B1 and another laser induced nearby expanding microbubble B2 in a thin ink sheet between two glass slices. The fast expanding B2 causes anistropic compression of B1 with a forward penetrating jet. In the subsequent expansion stage of B1, the gas associated with jet protrusion to the opposite edge of B1 and the nonuniform surrounding flow field induce necking with transverse inward jetting from the side lobes, which further interact with the axial jet and lead to the final fragmentation into smaller bubbles. At small interbubble distance, the backward interaction from B1 first leads to the pointed pole of the expanding B2 and then a backward jetting during its collapsing. The strong interaction can merge the two bubbles with complicated asymmetric intermediated patterns.

Observation of laser-pulse-induced traveling microbubbles in dusty plasma liquids.

We report a direct experimental observation of traveling microbubbles induced by intense laser pulses in strongly coupled dusty plasma liquids. The dense plasma ablated from a suspended dust particle generates a spherical plasma bubble with a low dust density, in the quiescent regime before a transition to self-organized longitudinal dust density waves. It travels downwards at a velocity about 6 cm/sec inside the dust liquid. Dust density fluctuations trailing the bubble are also observed. The bubble generated in the high pressure dissipative regime collapses right after formation.