Molecular characteristics of organic matter derived from sulfonated biochar.

Sulfonated biochar (SBC), as a functional carbon-based material, has attracted widespread attention due to its excellent adsorption properties. The composition of biochar-derived organic matter (B-DOM) is a key factor influencing the migration and transformation of soil elements and pollutants. However, molecular characteristics of sulfonated biochar-derived organic matter (SBC-DOM) are still unclear. In this study, the molecular composition of derived organic matter (DOM) from SBC prepared via one-step carbonization-sulfonation techniques was investigated by Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) and then compared with those of DOMs from rice husk (RH), pyrochar (PYC), and hydrochar (HYC). The results show that the CHOS- and CHONS-containing formulae are predominant in SBC-DOM, accounting for 85% of the total molecular formula number, while DOMs from RH, PYC, and HYC are dominated by CHO-containing formulae. Compared to PYC-DOM and HYC-DOM, SBC-DOM has more unsaturated aliphatic compounds, which make it more labile and easily biodegraded. Additionally, SBC-DOM has higher O/C, (N + O)/C ratios and sulfur-containing compounds. These findings provide a theoretical basis for further research on the application of sulfonated biochar in soil improvement and remediation.

Research Progress in Boron-Modified Phenolic Resin and Its Composites.

As one of the most successful modified phenolic resins, boron-modified phenolic resin (BPF) has excellent heat resistance and ablative resistance, good mechanical and wear resistance, and flame retardancy. BPF and its composites can be widely used in areas such as aerospace, weapons and equipment, automobile brakes, and fire retardants. In this review, the current state of development of BPF and its composites is presented and discussed. After introducing various methods to synthesize BPF, functionalization of BPF is briefly summarized. Particular emphasis is placed on general methods used to fabricate BPF-based composites and the heat resistance, ablative resistance, mechanical property, wear resistance, flame retardancy, and water resistance of BPF-based composites. Finally, the challenges of this research area are summarized and its future outlook is prospected.

Aqueous brown carbon formation by aldehyde compounds reaction with Glycine/Ammonium sulfate.

Brown carbon (BrC) can absorb solar radiation in the ultraviolet (UV) and near visible (Vis) regions, which plays an important role in the Earth's radiative balance and global climate. 1,4-dioxane-2,5-diol (DD), glyoxal (GX) and acetaldehyde (AAld) appeared moderate absorbent and fluorescent, when each of them reaction with glycine (Gly)/ammonium sulfate (AS). Combined with the previous experimental studies of the methylglyoxal (MG), GX reaction with GX/AS, novelty conclusions are as following: the absorbance of the reaction products in the same reaction time followed the order: MG-Gly＞DD-Gly＞GX-Gly＞AAld-Gly, DD-AS＞MG-AS＞GX-AS＞AAld-AS. And for the same aldehyde compound reaction with Gly the reaction rate was faster than with AS. Three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix (EEM) plot showed that, with the increasing of reaction time, red shift of emission peak occurred in MG-Gly/AS and GX-Gly, no shift occurred in DD-Gly/AS and AAld-Gly, and blue shift occurred in GX-AS. The H2O2 oxidation photolysis results showed that the effective H2O2 oxidation photolysis rate constants (k) in the visible region are larger than in UV region for the reaction MG, GX, DD with Gly. But for AAld-Gly system, the k in the visible region is smaller than in the UV region. Besides, the reaction MG, GX, DD, AAld with Gly clearly showed that the presence of abundant organic products by Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analysis.