Flame-Retardant, Highly Conductive, and Low-Temperature-Resistant Organic Gel Electrolyte for High-Performance All-Solid Supercapacitors.

Traditional liquid electrolytes are volatile, flammable, and easy to leak, which makes the energy storage device easy to burn and explode in the case of overcharge and short circuit. Here, by utilizing the active P-H bond of a flame retardant (DOPO) to graft onto the polymer chain, flame-retardant organic gel electrolytes were fabricated to address these issues. The gel electrolyte had good ionic conductivity of 4 mS cm-1 at 20 °C and good flame retardant ability. By changing the molar ratio of the monomers and the salt concentrations, the mechanical strength of the gel electrolyte could be adjusted (maximum stress≈28 KPa, maximum strain≈305 %). The transport mechanism of lithium ions in the gel polymer electrolyte was proposed. The gel electrolyte-assembled supercapacitor (SC) possessed better electrochemical properties than that of SC assembled by liquid electrolyte. Importantly, the gel-based SC remained basically unchanged under multiple bending cycles. Additionally, the gel electrolyte had good low-temperature tolerance (0.1 mS cm-1 at -40 °C). The gel electrolyte-assembled SC could work normally in the temperature range of -20 to 60 °C. The multiple advantages of gel electrolyte expand the applications in ionic conductor and energy storage devices.

Biomimetic bone tissue engineering hydrogel scaffolds constructed using ordered CNTs and HA induce the proliferation and differentiation of BMSCs.

The use of bone tissue engineering scaffolds has become a promising potential treatment for bone defects as they expedite bone healing. A carbon nanotube-hydroxyapatite (CNT-HA) composite can accelerate the growth of cells. However, the molecular organized arrangement of organic and inorganic components is one of the most important biochemical phenomena in the formation of bones. This study aimed to prepare ordered CNT-HA scaffolds by applying agarose gel electrophoresis to imitate a biomimetic parallel pattern of collagens and hydroxyapatite hydrogel scaffolds (AG-Col-o-CNT). Significant improvements were presented in the mechanical properties of the scaffolds and cell growth in vitro or in vivo. The results showed that the AG-Col-o-CNT scaffolds accelerated the proliferation and differentiation of bone mesenchymal stem cell lines. In addition, the bone defects were repaired when the scaffolds were transplanted after 28 and 56 days in vivo. The superior performance of the ordered AG-Col-o-CNT scaffolds indicates that they have an enormous potential for bone tissue engineering.

The preparation of the ordered pores colloidal crystal scaffold and its role in promoting growth of lung cells.

Lung is one of important organs and lung diseases seriously affect the health of human beings. In this study, chitosan and gelatin as natural biological macromolecules raw material for the synthesis of ordered colloidal crystal scaffolds (CCS), Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were used as pore-making for the first time. The pore-making agent were added into the hydrogels to synthesis the ordered (magnetic field) and disordered (no magnetic field) CCS. Collagen and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) modified on the surface of CCS. Then mouse lung epithelial cells (TC-1) and normal human bronchial epithelial cells (Beas-2B) were cultured on the scaffold, obviously induced cell proliferation. Various physical and chemical characteristics indicate that the preparation of scaffolds and modified growth factors can greatly promote the proliferation of these two cells. In addition, the scafolld was implanted into the SD rat in vivo, and routine blood tests showed that the stent had a small inflammatory response to the rat. This may be one of the effective strategies for the future treatment of lung injury repair.

Preparation and characterization of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles carrying insulin and gallic acid for insulin oral delivery.

Although nanoparticles carriers for oral delivery of insulin have been researched for many years, this method still fails to solve issues with toxicity, biocompatibility, and degradability in the organism. We therefore developed an innovative conjugation system to solve this problem. Nano hydroxyapatite (HAP) particles were used as the core, then polyethylene glycol (PEG) was wrapped onto the surface of hydroxyapatite, and, finally, insulin (INS) and gallic acid (GA) were conjugated with PEG. PEG functionalized HAP was increased the hydrophilicity of the nanoparticles, also protected them from degradation in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Most importantly, the in vivo absorption of nanoparticles in rat small intestines revealed that HAP-PEG-GA-INS was absorbed by the small intestine epithelium. The blood glucose of the type 1 diabetes (T1D) rats that were given intragastrically HAP-PEG-GA-INS showed an obvious downward trend. Overall, we synthesized a safe, non-toxic, and effective oral insulin delivery system.

N-(2,2-Dimethyl-1-(quinolin-2-yl)propylidene) arylaminonickel Complexes and Their Ethylene Oligomerization.

A series of N-(2,2-dimethyl-1-(quinolin-2-yl)propylidene) arylamines was sophisticatedly synthesized and reacted with nickel(II) bromine for the formation of the corresponding nickel complexes. All the organic compounds were characterized by IR, NMR spectra and elemental analysis, while all the nickel complexes were characterized by IR spectra and elemental analysis. On activation with ethylaluminium sesquichloride (EASC) and modified methylaluminoxane (MMAO), all nickel precatalysts exhibited good activities toward ethylene oligomerization, indicating the positive efficiency of gem-dimethyl substitutents; in which major hexenes were obtained with MMAO. The catalytic parameters were verified, and the steric and electronic influences of substituents with ligands were observed, with a slight change of activities under different ethylene pressures.

Design and performance of tapered cubic anvil used for achieving higher pressure and larger sample cell.

In order to increase the maximum cell pressure of the cubic high pressure apparatus, we have developed a new structure of tungsten carbide cubic anvil (tapered cubic anvil), based on the principle of massive support and lateral support. Our results indicated that the tapered cubic anvil has some advantages. First, tapered cubic anvil can push the transfer rate of pressure well into the range above 36.37% compare to the conventional anvil. Second, the rate of failure crack decreases about 11.20% after the modification of the conventional anvil. Third, the limit of static high-pressure in the sample cell can be extended to 13 GPa, which can increase the maximum cell pressure about 73.3% than that of the conventional anvil. Fourth, the volume of sample cell compressed by tapered cubic anvils can be achieved to 14.13 mm(3) (3 mm diameter × 2 mm long), which is three and six orders of magnitude larger than that of double-stage apparatus and diamond anvil cell, respectively. This work represents a relatively simple method for achieving higher pressures and larger sample cell.