Hot paper: Selective separation of acetylene at room temperature

Selective separation of acetylene at room temperature

Acetylene is widely known for its use as a fuel in welding equipment and it is also a very important building block in industrial chemical synthesis. Unfortunately, obtaining high-purity acetylene is not a trivial matter. Removing methane and carbon dioxide via cryogenic distillation is extremely energy intensive due to the low temperature required and therefore a process that avoids the need for such cooling is extremely attractive.

Hui Xu et al. have recently demonstrated the effective purification of acetylene at room temperature and pressure through the use of a microporous metal-organic framework, Cu6(PDC)6 . 2.6H2O (PDC = 3,4-pyridine-dicarboxylate). Known as UTSA-50, the material was designed such that its pores are not only optimally sized for gas storage but that they also contain both exposed metal atoms and pyridyl groups. This enables both electrostatic and hydrogen-bonding interactions with acetylene. The latter are thought to be the key to selectivity given the ability of pyridyl nitrogen atoms to form hydrogen bonds with acetylene but not with CO2 or CH4.

At 296 K and 1 atm the UTSA-50 framework can adsorb 91 cm-1 g-1 acetylene which is comparable to other materials with similar pore size and surface area. Henry’s law selectivities of 68.0 and 13.3 for acetylene over carbon dioxide and methane, respectively, are extremely promising. In fact, the selectivity for CO2 is, according to the authors, the highest ever reported.

A microporous metal-organic framework with both open metal and Lewis basic pyridyl sites for highly selective C2H2/CH4 and C2H2/CO2 gas separation at room temperature

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013, 2, 77.  DOI: 10.1039/c2ta00155a

James Serginson is a guest web writer for the Journal of Materials Chemistry blog. He currently works at Imperial College London carrying out research into nanocomposites.

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Introducing Journal of Materials Chemistry A Associate Editor Zhiqun Lin

Professor Zhiqun Lin received his B.S. degree in Materials Chemistry from Xiamen University in 1995, Masters degree in Macromolecular Science from Fudan University in 1998, and PhD degree in Polymer Science and Engineering from University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2002. He joined Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Iowa State University as an Assistant Professor in 2004, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2010. He moved to Georgia Institute of Technology in 2011. His research focuses on solar cells, functional nanocrystals, conjugated polymers, semiconductor organic/inorganic nanocomposites, block copolymers, hierarchical structure formation and assembly, and surface and interfacial properties.

His recent papers include:

Graphene-based transparent flexible electrodes for polymer solar cells
J. Mater. Chem., 2012,22, 24254-24264

Assembling and positioning latex nanoparticles via controlled evaporative self-assembly
J. Mater. Chem., 2011,21, 16968-16972

Conjugated rod–coil and rod–rod block copolymers for photovoltaic applications

J. Mater. Chem., 2011,21, 17039-17048

Controlled evaporative self-assembly of hierarchically structured bottlebrush block copolymer with nanochannels
J. Mater. Chem., 2011,21, 14248-14253

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Hot paper: Feature article of soft X-ray characterisation of organic semiconductor films

This Feature Article by McNeill and Ade reviews the characterisation of the structural composition and morphology of thin film organic semiconductors using different X-ray techniques. The authors discuss six different applications of soft X-rays including scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM); resonant X-ray scattering; resonant X-ray reflectivity; near-edge X-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopy; polarized STXM and polarized soft X-ray scattering. The authors conclude that soft X-ray techniques have great potential for unravelling the complex structures shown by organic semiconductor blends and multilayers.

Soft X-ray characterisation of organic semiconductor films
J. Mater. Chem. C, 2013, Advance Article.  DOI: 10.1039/c2tc00001f
(free to read for a short time)

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2013 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship – Nominations now open!

Now in its 4th year, we are looking for nominations from you for the next Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship recipient.

We are pleased to announce that the 2013 Lectureship is now open for nominations. This annual lectureship honours a younger scientist who has made a significant contribution to the field of materials chemistry.

Xiangfeng Duan, the winner of the 2012 lectureship, was chosen as last year’s recipient, and will be giving his Journal of Materials Chemistry lecture during the next few months.

Qualification
To be eligible for the Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship, the candidate should be in the earlier stages of their scientific career, typically within 10 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, and will have made a significant contribution to the field.

Description
The recipient of the award will be asked to present one Journal of Materials Chemistry lecture, at a conference decided upon by the recipient and the Editorial Office. The Journal of Materials Chemistry Editorial Office will provide the sum of £1000 to the recipient for travel and accommodation costs. The award recipient will be presented with the award at this lecture. They will also be asked to contribute a lead article to the journal and will have their work showcased on the back cover of the issue in which their article is published.

Selection
The recipient of the lectureship will be selected and endorsed by the Journal of Materials Chemistry Executive Editorial Board.

Nominations
Those wishing to make a nomination should send details of the nominee including a brief C.V. (no longer than 2 pages) together with a letter supporting the nomination (no longer than 2 pages), to the Journal of Materials Chemistry Editorial Office by 28 February 2013. Please note that self-nomination is permitted.

Send a nomination here today: materials-rsc@rsc.org

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Meet the materials chemistry team in 2013

Find out which conference we’ll be attending

Liz Dunn and the team will be attending a host of exciting conferences this year. Please do let us know if you’ll be there too – we’d love to meet you!

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Hot paper: Layer-by-layer coating of alginate matrices with chitosan–alginate

It is postulated that probiotic bacteria play a role in maintaining good health and they have been shown to alleviate the symptoms of some common conditions such as traveller’s diarrhoea. If the bacteria are to be ingested orally, they must withstand an acid challenge in the stomach before they can reach the intestine to act. A common strategy to reduce bacterial cell death is encapsulation, usually using a polymer matrix. The naturally occurring polysaccharide alginate is the most popular probiotic encapsulation-based material.

In this hot paper, Khutoryanskiy, Charalampopoulos and co-workers evaluate the production of alginate matrices coated with multilayers of alternating alginate and chitosan as viable encapsulation materials for probiotic bacteria. The authors show, that the multilayers are stable in both simulated gastric and intestinal solutions, with encapsulation in 3-layer coated matrices giving the highest recovery of viable cells. It is suggested that this method of encapsulation could be used to protect orally administrated probiotics from the low pH of the stomach.

Layer-by-layer coating of alginate matrices with chitosan–alginate for the improved survival and targeted delivery of probiotic bacteria after oral administration
J. Mater. Chem. B
, 2013, Advance Article.  DOI: 10.1039/c2tb00126h (free to read for a short time)

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It is postulated that probiotic bacteria play a role in maintaining good health and they have been shown to alleviate the symptoms of some common conditions such as traveller’s diarrhoea. If the bacteria are to be ingested orally, they must withstand an acid challenge in the stomach before they can reach the intestine to act. A common strategy to reduce bacterial cell death is encapsulation, usually using a polymer matrix. The naturally occurring polysaccharide alginate is the most popular probiotic encapsulation-based material.

In this hot paper, Khutoryanskiy, Charalampopoulos and co-workers evaluate the production of alginate matrices coated with multilayers of alternating alginate and chitosan as viable encapsulation materials for probiotic bacteria. The authors show, that the multilayers are stable in both simulated gastric and intestinal solutions, with encapsulation in 3-layer coated matrices giving the highest recovery of viable cells. It is suggested that this method of encapsulation could be used to protect orally administrated probiotics from the low pH of the stomach.

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Happy holidays from Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B & C!

All of us in the Journal of Materials Chemistry Editorial team would like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year! The Editorial office will be closed from 21 December 2012 and will reopen on 2 January 2013.

We’re really looking forward to 2013, which will see some great themed issues in all of the Journal of Materials Chemistry family of journals as well as the 2013 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship (opening for nominations early in the year).

Don’t miss out on all the journal news – follow us on twitter @JMaterChem and and like us on Facebook!

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C Issue 3’s online now!

The Issue 3’s of Journal of Material Chemistry A, B and C have been published online. Each journal showcases high impact research you expect from Journal of Materials Chemistry, now in three separate journals. For more information, please go to http://rsc.li/jmc-abc.

Journal of Materials Chemistry C features articles on the following:

Self assembled monolayers (SAMs) on metallic surfaces (gold and graphene) for electronic applications, Aravind Vijayaraghavan et al.: We review advances in the last decade in self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) for electronic applications, focusing on gold and graphene surfaces.

A D–A–D swivel-cruciform oligothiophene based on 5,5′-bibenzothiadiazole, Xiaowei Zhan et al.: A multi-dimensional D–A–D oligothiophene, 4,4′,7,7′-tetrakis(hexylbithiophene)–5,5′-bibenzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole swivel cruciform (BBT-SC), was synthesized. BBT-SC thin films exhibited a high intrinsic charge carrier mobility of 0.1 cm2 V−1 s−1, measured by a time-resolved microwave conductivity technique.

Low operation voltage macromolecular composite memory assisted by graphene nanoflakes, Yang-Fang Chen et al.: Bistable nonvolatile memory devices using an insulating polymer doped with solution phase of graphene nanoflakes are fabricated through a simple one-step solution-process.

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A features articles on the following:

Ca-based synthetic materials with enhanced CO2 capture efficiency, Jose Manuel Valverde, This manuscript reviews the development of novel sorbents to improve the CO2 capture performance of natural limestone at Ca-looping conditions.

Microporous metal–organic frameworks with open metal sites as sorbents for selective gas adsorption and fluorescence sensors for metal ions
, Xian-He Bu et al.: Two cluster-based microporous MOFs exhibit highly selective uptake for CO2 over CH4 and N2 under ambient conditions. 1 also provides an ideal luminescence sensor for selectively probing Ba2+ and Cu2+ ions based on its significant fluorescence enhancement or quenching.

Derivatives of 5-nitro-1,2,3-2H-triazole – high performance energetic materials, Jean’ne M. Shreeve et al.: The derivatives of 5-nitro-1,2,3-2H-triazole are energetic materials, in particular 2-amino-4,5-dinitro-1,2,3-2H-triazole which exhibits good properties (Td,onset, 190 °C; P, 36.2 GPa; vD, 8843 m s−1; IS, 24 J).
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Journal of Materials Chemistry B features articles on the following:

Biologically responsive, sustainable release from metallo-drug coordinated 1D nanostructures, Naohiro Kameta, Toshimi Shimizu et al.: A multistep self-assembly process produced nanotubes and nanotapes with a ligand that coordinated an anticancer Pt complex. Nanotubes were superior to nanotapes with respect to sustainable release of the drug.

A water-soluble phosphorescent polymer for time-resolved assay and bioimaging of cysteine/homocysteine, Qiang Zhao, Fuyou Li, Wei Huang et al.: A water-soluble phosphorescent bioprobe was successfully developed by introducing an iridium(III) complex as a phosphorescent signaling unit with poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) as the stimuli-responsive backbone.

A graphene oxide platform for the assay of DNA 3′-phosphatases and their inhibitors based on hairpin primer and polymerase elongation, Jianhui Jiang, Ruqin Yu et al.: A label-free sensitive GO sensing platform for DNA 3′-phosphatases and their inhibitors, based on a hairpin primer and polymerase elongation.

Follow the latest journal news on Twitter @JMaterChem or go to our Facebook page.

To keep up-to-date with all the latest research, sign-up to our RSS feed or Table of contents alert.

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Hot paper: First thermodynamically-controlled synthesis of iron pyrite nanocrystals

Iron pyrite (fool’s gold, FeS2) has a high absorption coefficient and an indirect band gap of ~0.95 eV, making it a promising optoelectronic material. FeS2 is also abundant and non-toxic compared to commonly employed chalcogenides semiconductor materials. Photovoltaic investigations into FeS2 have not progressed as quickly as other materials because of its complicated synthesis control and conflicting crystal studies.

In this hot paper the Ren group report the nanoscale synthesis and characteristics of FeS2. The authors systematically change the different synthetic variables in the synthesis such as reaction temperature and chemical precursors. Five different nanocrystal shapes are observed with two different growth directions by controlling both the thermal and chemical precursor effects. The authors propose a thermodynamic model behind the shape-controlled synthesis.

Thermodynamic control of iron pyrite nanocrystal synthesis with high photoactivity and stability
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013, Advance Article.  DOI: 10.1039/c2ta00498d
(read for free for a short time)

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C Issue 2’s online now!

The Issue 2’s of Journal of Material Chemistry A, B and C have been published online this week. Each journal showcases high impact research you expect from Journal of Materials Chemistry, now in three separate journals. For more information, please go to http://rsc.li/jmc-abc.

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Journal of Materials Chemistry B features articles on the following:

Design strategies for fluorescent biodegradable polymeric biomaterials, Yi Zhang and Jian Yang: In this paper, we provide a critical review on the fluorescent biodegradable polymers with emphases on material fluorescence mechanism, design criteria for fluorescence, and their cutting-edge applications in biomedical engineering. We expect that this review will provide an insightful discussion on the fluorescent biomaterial design and lead to innovations for the next generation of fluorescent biomaterials and fluorescence-based biomedical technology.

Polyol induced interpenetrating networks: chitosan–methylmethacrylate based biocompatible and pH responsive hydrogels for drug delivery system, Sharif Ahmad et al.: The hydrophobically modified hydrogels of CH–MMA/Polyol were prepared by free radical polymerization reaction. This study has come up with novel characteristics associated with the formation of interpenetrating networks by the introduction of polyol in the CH–MMA matrix..

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Journal of Materials Chemistry C features articles on the following:

Soft X-ray characterisation of organic semiconductor films, Christopher R. McNeill and Harald Ade: This feature article highlights the versatility of soft X-ray based techniques for characterising the structure of organic semiconductor devices.

The visible photoluminescence mechanism of oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes: an experimental and theoretical investigation, Hui Feng et al.: Dominant components of oxidized products of MWCNTs were separated by column chromatography, the origin of highly visible fluorescence from carbon nanotubes was revealed, and the nature of weak near UV-Vis fluorescence of oxidized carbon nanotubes from isolated sp2 clusters was supported.

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A features articles on the following:

Engineering nanostructured anodes via electrostatic spray deposition for high performance lithium ion battery application, Xifei Li and Chunlei Wang: ESD-derived nanostructured anodes show significantly improved cycling performance and rate capability in high performance lithium ion battery application.

Controlled synthesis of concave Cu2O microcrystals enclosed by {hhl} high-index facets and enhanced catalytic activity, Zhaoxiong Xie, Lansun Zheng et al.: Truncated concave octahedral Cu2O mainly with {332} high-index facets exhibit enhanced catalytic activity.

Counter electrodes from double-layered polyaniline nanostructures for dye-sensitized solar cell applications, Qunwei Tang et al.: DSSCs from double-layered polyaniline counter electrodes were fabricated by an electrochemical method and can be potentially used as high photoelectric conversion devices.

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