Novel Anion Exchange Membrane Based on Poly(Pentafluorostyrene) Substituted with Mercaptotetrazole Pendant Groups and Its Blend with Polybenzimidazole for Vanadium Redox Flow Battery Applications.

In order to evaluate the performance of the anion exchange membranes in a vanadium redox flow battery, a novel anion exchange polymer was synthesized via a three step process. Firstly, 1-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)-5-mercaptotetrazole was grafted onto poly(pentafluorostyrene) by nucleophilic F/S exchange. Secondly, the tertiary amino groups were quaternized by using iodomethane to provide anion exchange sites. Finally, the synthesized polymer was blended with polybenzimidazole to be applied in vanadium redox flow battery. The blend membranes exhibited better single cell battery performance in terms of efficiencies, open circuit voltage test and charge-discharge cycling test than that of a Nafion 212 membrane. The battery performance results of synthesized blend membranes suggest that those novel anion exchange membranes are promising candidates for vanadium redox flow batteries.

Performances of Anion-Exchange Blend Membranes on Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries.

Anion exchange blend membranes (AEBMs) were prepared for use in Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFBs). These AEBMs consisted of 3 polymer components. Firstly, PBI-OO (nonfluorinated PBI) or F6-PBI (partially fluorinated PBI) were used as a matrix polymer. The second polymer, a bromomethylated PPO, was quaternized with 1,2,4,5-tetramethylimidazole (TMIm) which provided the anion exchange sites. Thirdly, a partially fluorinated polyether or a non-fluorinated poly (ether sulfone) was used as an ionical cross-linker. While the AEBMs were prepared with different combinations of the blend polymers, the same weight ratios of the three components were used. The AEBMs showed similar membrane properties such as ion exchange capacity, dimensional stability and thermal stability. For the VRFB application, comparable or better energy efficiencies were obtained when using the AEBMs compared to the commercial membranes included in this study, that is, Nafion (cation exchange membrane) and FAP 450 (anion exchange membrane). One of the blend membranes showed no capacity decay during a charge-discharge cycles test for 550 cycles run at 40 mA/cm² indicating superior performance compared to the commercial membranes tested.

Electrowinning of Iron from Spent Leaching Solutions Using Novel Anion Exchange Membranes.

In the Pyror process, electrowinning (EW) is used to recover acid and iron from spent leaching solutions (SLS), where a porous Terylene membrane acts as a separator between the cathode and anode. In this study, a novel anion exchange membrane (AEM)-based EW process is benchmarked against a process without and with a porous Terylene membrane by comparing the current efficiency, specific energy consumption (SEC), and sulfuric acid generation using an in-house constructed EW flow cell. Using an FAP-PK-130 commercial AEM, it was shown that the AEM-based process was more efficient than the traditional processes. Subsequently, 11 novel polybenzimidazole (PBI)-based blend AEMs were compared with the commercial AEM. The best performing novel AEM (BM-5), yielded a current efficiency of 95% at an SEC of 3.53 kWh/kg Fe, which is a 10% increase in current efficiency and a 0.72 kWh/kg Fe decrease in SEC when compared to the existing Pyror process. Furthermore, the use of the novel BM-5 AEM resulted in a 0.22 kWh/kg Fe lower SEC than that obtained with the commercial AEM, also showing mechanical stability in the EW flow cell. Finally, it was shown that below 5 g/L Fe, side reactions at the cathode resulted in a decrease in process efficiency, while 40 g/L yielded the highest efficiency and lowest SECs.

Application of Novel Anion-Exchange Blend Membranes (AEBMs) to Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries.

Both cation-exchange membranes and anion-exchange membranes are used as ion conducting membranes in vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). Anion-exchange membranes (AEMs) are applied in vanadium redox flow batteries due to the high blocking property of vanadium ions via the Donnan exclusion effect. In this study, novel anion-exchange blend membranes (AEBMs) were prepared, characterized, and applied in VRFBs. Bromomethylated poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide), poly[(1-(4,4′-diphenylether)-5-oxybenzimidazole)-benzimidazole] (PBI-OO) and sulfonated polyether sulfone polymer were combined to prepare 3-component AEBMs with 1,2,4,5-tetramethylimidazole (TMIm) for quaternization. 3-component AEBMs showed significantly enhanced chemical and mechanical properties compared with those of 2-component AEBMs, resulting in an improved performance in VRFBs. The compositions of the anion-exchange polymers in 3-component AEBMs were systematically varied to optimize the AEBMs for the redox-flow battery application. While the 3-component AEBMs showed comparable efficiencies with Nafion® 212 membranes, they displayed improved vanadium ions cross-over as was confirmed by open circuit voltage tests and capacity fade tests conducted in VRFBs. In addition, one of the synthesized 3-component AEBM had a superior coulombic efficiency and capacity retention in a charging⁻discharging test over 300 cycles at a current density of 40 mA/cm². It can thus be concluded that 3-component AEBMs are promising candidates for long-term operation in VRFBs.

Intelligence Is Associated With Voluntary Disclosure in Child Sexual Abuse Victims.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was (1) to determine whether intelligence level is associated with the pattern of the disclosure and (2) to elucidate which, between the verbal and performance intelligence, better reflect the pattern of disclosure in child and adolescent sexual abuse victims. METHODS: Data were collected on 162 participants who visited a public center for sexually abused children and adolescents between January 2013 and December 2014. Demographic information, case characteristics, and disclosure pattern as well as intelligence quotients (IQs) of subjects were gathered. Intelligence was analyzed as level, full scale IQ, and the verbal and performance IQ. RESULTS: Eighty-one subjects (50.0%) voluntarily disclosed that they have been sexually abused. In regression analysis, intellectual level, age, and the number of perpetrators were associated with disclosure pattern. Full scale IQ was associated with the disclosure pattern (odds ratio = .983, 95% confidence interval = .968-.997, p = .017). When intelligence was divided into verbal and performance IQ, verbal IQ affected the pattern of disclosure (odds ratio = .973, 95% confidence interval = .956-.991, p = .003) with linear correlation (p = .001). CONCLUSIONS: We found that IQ was associated with the disclosure pattern. The intelligence, especially in verbal domain, is linearly correlated with the probability of voluntary disclosure. We suggest that special legal assistance and social concern are required for children and adolescent victims below normal intelligence to make them disclose the sexual abuse.

Sulfonated Copper Phthalocyanine/Sulfonated Polysulfone Composite Membrane for Ionic Polymer Actuators with High Power Density and Fast Response Time.

Ionic polymer composite membranes based on sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES) and copper(II) phthalocyanine tetrasulfonic acid (CuPCSA) are assembled into bending ionic polymer actuators. CuPCSA is an organic filler with very high sulfonation degree (IEC = 4.5 mmol H+/g) that can be homogeneously dispersed on the molecular scale into the SPAES membrane, probably due to its good dispersibility in SPAES-containing solutions. SPAES/CuPCSA actuators exhibit larger ion conductivity (102 mS cm-1), tensile modulus (208 MPa), strength (101 MPa), and strain (1.21%), exceptionally faster response to electrical stimuli, and larger mechanical power density (3028 W m-3) than ever reported for ion-conducting polymer actuators. This outstanding actuation performance of SPAES/CuPCSA composite membrane actuators makes them attractive for next-generation transducers with high power density, which are currently developed, e.g., for underwater propulsion and endoscopic surgery.

Prognostic significance of PCR-based molecular staging in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with R-CHOP immunochemotherapy.

The prognostic role of detecting clonal immunoglobulin gene rearrangement (IgR) from bone marrow (BM) aspirates was evaluated by BIOMED-2 PCR in 97 patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treated with rituximab-CHOP immunochemotherapy. Sixteen (16.5%) patients had BM involvement (BMI) defined by BM biopsy (MOR+) and 39 (40.2%) had positive IgR (PCR+). Patients with MOR + BMI showed inferior event-free survival (EFS) compared to those with MOR-/PCR- (p < 0.001) or those with MOR-/PCR + BMI (p = 0.002), while no significant difference in EFS was observed between patients with MOR-/PCR + and those with MOR-/PCR - BMI (p = 0.497). Use of the BIOMED-2 for PCR resulted in significant increase in detection of BMI. However, the increased sensitivity by PCR did not translate into improved prediction of prognosis, emphasizing the essential role of histopathological review of trephine biopsy for the detection of BMI.