Janus Polymer/Carbon Nanotube Hybrid Membranes for Oil/Water Separation

A robust and simple method is provided to fabricate Janus polymer/carbon nanotube (CNT) hybrid membranes for oil/water separation. Starting from CNT membranes formed by dispensing, hydrophobic poly(styrene) (PS) and hydrophilic poly(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) were grated from different sides of the photoactive CNT membranes via self-initiated photografting and photopolymerization (SIPGP) to achieve Janus polymer/CNTs hybrid membranes. The obtained membranes have excellent oil/water selectivity in the removal of oil from water. Moreover, they can effectively separate both surfactant-stabilized oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions because of the anisotropic wettability of the membranes

Aggregation-induced emission of tetraphenylethylene-modified polyethyleneimine for highly selective CO2 detection

A polymer-based visible and quantitative fluorometric assay for CO2 gas is constructed using branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) covalently modified with tetraphenylethylene (TPE). The sensing mechanism relies on the reaction of CO2 with alkylamines of PEI to induce the "solution-to-precipitation" phase transition of the sensory polymer (TPE-PEI), thus resulting in strong aggregation-induced fluorescent emission of TPE-PEI. It works in a relatively environmental benign ethanol medium and avoids the use of toxic amine compounds with unpleasant odor. More importantly, this system is proved to be highly tolerant to possibly coexisting water, carbon monoxide, acid SO2 and H2S gases as well as many common volatile organic compounds. These characteristics make the presently developed fluorescent chemosensor hold great potential for many real-world applications. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Interfacial self-assembled GR/GO ultrathin membranes on a large scale for molecular sieving

Graphene oxide (GO) has superior molecular sieving abilities due to its unimpeded two-dimensional (2D) nano-channels and nacre-like lamellar structure. However, it remains a huge challenge to fully exploit its unmatched features to construct a GO-based membrane on a large scale for excellent screening performance. Here, we display a facile, ultrafast and environmentally friendly strategy to design an ultrathin (graphene/graphene oxide@polyetherimide) GR/GO@PEI composite membrane under the collective effects of a hydrophilic PEI molecular-bridge and an ordered GR/GO laminar structure. Excitingly, this composite membrane presents extraordinary structural stability, even when transferred to any given substrate, regardless of its chemical components, structure, or specification. Furthermore, this membrane shows high permeance of up to 191 L m(-2)h(-1)bar(-1)and over 99% rejection of Congo red, far superior to the majority of GO-based separation membranes reported so far. In addition, it can withstand several types of physical damage and chemical corrosion, as well as being further able to realize the purification of actual, complex, multi-component, domestic sewage. This work will open the door to developing scalable 2D lamellar membranes with ultrafast and precise separation channels for practical water purification

Au nanoparticle-loaded PDMAEMA brush grafted graphene oxide hybrid systems for thermally smart catalysis

A novel smart catalytic system was successfully constructed by using poly[(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate] (PDMAEMA) brush grafted graphene oxide (GO) to load gold nanoparticles (Au NPs). The catalytic activity of the Au NPs was finely tuned by temperature, which can control the inclusion and 'exposure' of Au NPs inside the PDMAEMA brushes via the phase transition of the grafted PDMAEMA chain triggered by a temperature above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of PDMAEMA

CNTs/TiO2 composite membrane with adaptable wettability for on-demand oil/water separation

Pre-wetting induced separation membranes are of great significance due to their unique property for separating oil/water mixtures. Herein, we have presented a facile strategy to prepare a separation membrane by integrating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs). The obtained CNTs/TiO2 composite membrane has presented smart wettability to activate on-demand separation for expected components from oil/water mixtures. In addition, it can maintain its separation efficiency above 99.1% even after ten cyclic separations. It is rather remarkable that this composite membrane has taken on excellent separation performance with the flux up to 40,000 L m(-2) h(-1) bar(-1) for water-in-dichloromethane emulsion and separation efficiency above 98.89%, which has surpassed most of the reported separation membranes to date. Furthermore, the CNTs/TiO2 membrane has feathered excellent corrosion resistance ability under harsh conditions (HCl, NaOH, NaCl) for 7 days, and can show stable permeation flux and efficiency towards various emulsions. This work will provide further guidance for developing CNTs-based membranes in order to realize task-oriented oily water treatment. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Nomogram integrating gene expression signatures with clinicopathological features to predict survival in operable NSCLC: a pooled analysis of 2164 patients

Abstract Background The current tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging system is insufficient to predict outcome of patients with operable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) owing to its phenotypic and genomic heterogeneity. Integrating genomic signatures with clinicopathological factors may provide more detailed evaluation of prognosis. Methods All 2164 clinically annotated NSCLC samples (1326 in the training set and 838 in the validation set) with corresponding microarray data from 17 cohorts were pooled to develop and validate a clinicopathologic-genomic nomogram based on Cox regression model. Two computational methods were applied to these samples to capture expression pattern of genomic signatures representing biological statuses. Model performance was measured by the concordance index (C-index) and calibration plot. Risk group stratification was proposed for the nomogram. Results Multivariable analysis of the training set identified independent factors including age, TNM stage, combined prognostic classifier, non-overlapping signature, and the ratio of neutrophil to plasma cells. The C-index of the nomogram for predicting survival was statistically superior to that of the TNM stage (training set, 0.686 vs 0.627, respectively; P \u2009<\u2009.001; validation set, 0.689 vs 0.638, respectively; P \u2009<\u2009.001). The calibration plots showed that the predicted 1-, 3- and 5-year survival probabilities agreed well with the actual observations. Stratifying patients into three risk groups detected significant differences among survival curves. Conclusions These findings offer preliminary evidence that genomic data provide independent and complementary prognostic information and incorporation of this information can refine prognosis in NSCLC. Prospective studies are required to further explore the value of this composite model for prognostic stratification and tailored therapeutic strategies

Robust preparation of superhydrophobic polymer/carbon nanotube hybrid membranes for highly effective removal of oils and separation of water-in-oil emulsions

A facile and robust strategy for fabricating superhydrophobic polymer/carbon nanotube hybrid membranes via covalent attachment of hydrophobic polymer, such as polystyrene onto carbon nanotube membrane is proposed. The as-prepared hybrid membranes can selectively remove a wide range of organic solvents from water with high absorption capacity and good recyclability. Moreover, the obtained membrane shows excellent separation properties for surfactant-stabilized water in oil emulsions with separation efficiency as high as 99.94% and high flux (5000 L m(-2) h(-1) bar(-1)). Therefore, the superhydrophobic hybrid membranes enable an efficient separation for various oil/water emulsions, showing attractive potential for practical oil/water separation

Polymer brush functionalized Janus graphene oxide/chitosan hybrid membranes

A robust and simple method is reported to prepare polymer brush functionalized Janus graphene oxide (GO)/chitosan hybrid membranes via the combination of interface self-assembly of GO and chitosan, with subsequent self-initiated photografting and photo-polymerization (SIPGP) from both sides of the GO/chitosan composite membrane

Controlled evaporative self-assembly of Fe3O4 nanoparticles assisted by an external magnetic field

High fidelity and regularity structures of nanoscale materials has opened up new opportunities for developing miniaturized devices. A simple yet robust approach of magnetic field assisted controlled evaporative self-assembly (CESA) is developed to achieve Fe3O4 nanoparticle (NP) micro- and nano-patterns in a two dimensional (2D) direction. In the magnetic field assisted CESA process, the self-assembly morphology can be well controlled by varying extrinsic and intrinsic variables such as temperature, external magnetic field, and concentration of Fe3O4 NPs. Under the optimized magnetic field rotation frequency and temperature, 2D self-assembly of Fe3O4 NPs can be well realized. In addition, as photoactive sites, double bonds on the surface of Fe3O4 NPs allow the growth of polymer brushes by self-initiated photografting and photopolymerization (SIPGP), and the further achievement of free-standing magnetic composite films with well-defined patterns