Preparation of proton exchange membrane by radiation-induced grafting method : Grafting of styrene onto poly(ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) copolymer films

Radiation induced grafting of styrene onto poly(ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene) (ETFE) copolymer film was carried out to prepare graft copolymer (ETFE-g-polystyrene) that can host sulfonic acid groups and form proton exchange membrane for polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). The effect of monomer concentration and type of solvent on the degree of grafting was investigated. The formation of graft copolymer film was confirmed by FTIR spectrum analysis

Radiation grafted natural fibres functionalized with alkalised amine for transesterification of cottonseed oil to biodiesel

Poly(glycidyl methacrylate) grafted Linum usitatissimum (flax) fibers functionalized with diethylamine (DEA) groups followed by alkalisation were prepared and used as a heterogeneous catalyst for production of biodiesel. Particularly, the new basic catalyst was used for transesterification of cottonseed oil using different molar ratios with methanol and various reaction temperatures. The gas chromatography analysis was used to confirm the conversion of the cottonseed oil to biodiesel. The transesterification reaction temperature affected the conversion percentage significantly. The highest conversion was obtained at 60 °C. In addition, the oil/methanol ratio in the reaction mixture of 1:33 resulted in the highest conversion ratio reaching about 97 %. These results suggest that the alkaline organic catalyst prepared in this study has a potential for application in biodiesel production

Using Shabby Chic Style in Contemporary Clothing Accessories to Achieve the Principles of Sustainable Development

The research team is keen to provide a new thinking approach characterized by creativity and innovation to achieve the principles of sustainable development, both environmentally and economically. Thus, the team thought about how to preserve the environment by using worn-out clothes and accessories that are not usable again or through recycling instead of disposing of them permanently in a way that harms the environment while emphasizing the economic aspect and reducing the cost. The research team invented artworks with an antique touch as accessories to contemporary clothes, based on the Shabby Chic style, which is one of the economical styles that reuses old worn-out items and mixes them with simple modern ones to create an atmosphere of simplicity and elegance. It is a method used in interior design that combines elements of old furniture with simple design, soft colors, and classic touches that give the house a comfortable and attractive atmosphere. This is the reason why the research team applied the rules of this style with clothes and their accessories attempting to provide inexpensive and creative solutions to be the basis of a small successful project that goes with the new trend of entrepreneurship, in line with the events that the whole world is witnessing nowadays; and this is the most prominent goal of the research. The research followed the descriptive approach with analysis and application. It included a questionnaire to measure the opinions of experts about the suggested designs, and a questionnaire to identify the opinions of consumers about the suggested designs as well. The findings suggest that Shabby Chic Style could be used to create contemporary designs for clothing accessories that meet the principles of sustainable development and entrepreneurship

An Artistic Vision of Using Polyurethane Foam in Drapping Fictional Costumes Designs to Achieve Sustainable Development

One of the aspects of the modern era is leaving more room for imagination and experimentation. Costumes design in general and fictional costumes design in particular are among the areas that need a lot of experimentation, especially with new, non-traditional materials. This is what encouraged the researchers to choose the polyurethane foam as a non-traditional material to design fictional costumes in order to achieve sustainable development goals. The research aims at clarifying the characteristics of the polyurethane foam and it’s Forming instead of plastic capabilities in the field of Costumes design, and providing proposals for fictional costumes designs with this material, in addition to achieving the sustainable development goals; such as, adopting sustainable production and consumption patterns, and stimulating innovation. The research findings state the possibility of achieving new visions of using the polyurethane foam to design and create fictional costumes in order to achieve the goals of sustainable development

Sandwich structure polymer electrolyte membranes containing phosphotungstic acid immobilized electospun nanofibers

The advances in proton exchange membranes (PEM)s is critical for improving the performance of fuel cells [1]. Membranes compromising perfluorosulfonic acid polymers such as Nafion have been used extensively due to their desired conductivity and stability. However, these materials need to be saturated with water to obtain practical level of proton conductivity. There is a strong demand for the PEMs to work at lower relative humidity or under anhydrous conditions because the electrochemical reactions will be accelerated and water management of fuel cell will be simpler. Various designing strategies and advanced materials have been developed to mitigate for this issue without causing serious loss in proton conductivity or stability [2]. Among all, the introducing of inorganic proton conductors such as heteropoly acids have been considered widely. Generally, HPAs (such as phosphotungstic acid H3PW12O40, PWA) have a very strong Brønsted acidity approaching the superacid region (more acidic than Nafion) [3]. In this work, high level of PWA was self-anchored onto nylon electrospun nanofiberous sheet (Figure 1b). Sandwich structured proton conducting membranes were fabricate by assembling nanofibrous central layer with outer Nafion layers (Figure 1b). Since the PWA is attached to the polymer backbones, the risk of leaching out is minimized. Moreover, the significant synthetic versatility of the method helps to increase PWA immobilization level. As shown in the Figure 1c, proton conductivity of as high as 60 mS cm-1 at 30 °C was achieved which is comparable with Nafion 115. The durability of the proton conductivity of sandwiched membrane

State-of-the-art technologies for separation of azeotropic mixtures

Azeotropic separation technologies have been classified broadly into two major categories, i.e., distillation and membrane processes. Because normal distillation has limitations for azeotropic mixtures, enhancements have been proposed that either introduce a third component serving as an entrainer in extractive and azeotropic distillation processes or apply a pressure swing distillation system. Among the membrane processes, pervaporation was reported to be most promising for azeotropic separations. More recently, an approach known as process intensification has been proposed for combining multiple processes into single units such as a dividing wall distillation column or exploiting sonication phenomena to break an azeotrope in an ultrasonic distillation system. This article reviews the state-of-the-art technologies covering all the separation techniques mentioned here. Existing techniques are appraised, and technology gaps are identified. Based on these insights, areas for further development are suggested, aiming at satisfying the process objectives by inherently safer, environmentally benign and economically more attractive techniques

Extracts of Feijoa Inhibit Toll-Like Receptor 2 Signaling and Activate Autophagy Implicating a Role in Dietary Control of IBD

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a heterogeneous chronic inflammatory disease affecting the gut with limited treatment success for its sufferers. This suggests the need for better understanding of the different subtypes of the disease as well as nutritional interventions to compliment current treatments. In this study we assess the ability of a hydrophilic feijoa fraction (F3) to modulate autophagy a process known to regulate inflammation, via TLR2 using IBD cell lines

Highly conductive anion exchange membranes based on polymer networks containing imidazolium functionalised side chains

Two novel types of anion exchange membranes (AEMs) having imidazolium-type functionalised nanofibrous substrates were prepared using the facile and potentially scalable method. The membranes’ precursors were prepared by graft copolymerization of vinylbenzyl chloride (VBC) onto syndiotactic polypropylene (syn-PP) and polyamide-66 (PA-66) nanofibrous networks followed by crosslinking with 1,8-octanediamine, thermal treatment and subsequent functionalisation of imidazolium groups. The obtained membranes displayed an ion exchange capacity (IEC) close to 1.9 mmol g–1 and ionic (OH-) conductivity as high as 130 mS cm–1 at 80 °C. This was coupled with a reasonable alkaline stability representing more than 70% of their original conductivity under accelerated degradation test in 1 M KOH at 80 °C for 360 h. The effect of ionomer binder on the performance of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) in AEM fuel cell was evaluated with the optimum membrane. The MEA showed a power density of as high as 440 mW cm−2 at a current density is 910 mA cm−2 with diamine crosslinked quaternized polysulfone (DAPSF) binder at 80 °C with 90% humidified H2 and O2 gases. Such performance was 2.3 folds higher than the corresponding MEA performance with quaternary ammonium polysulfone (QAPS) binder at the same operating conditions. Overall, the newly developed membrane was found to possess not only an excellent combination of physico-chemical properties and a reasonable stability but also to have a facile preparation procedure and cheap ingredients making it a promising candidate for application in AEM fuel cell

Isotherms for adsorption of boron onto new fibrous adsorbent containing glycidol ligands: linear and nonlinear regression methods

The most appropriate way to design and evaluate an adsorption system performance is by having an idea of the equilibrium relationship, which is also known as adsorption isotherms. The adsorption isotherms provide information on how pollutants such as boron are interacting with adsorbent materials. A novel glycidol-containing adsorbent for selective boron removal was synthesised by radiation-induced grafting of N-vinylformamide (NVF) onto non-woven polyethylene/polypropylene (PE/PP) fiber, followed by hydrolysis and chemical treatment. The adsorbent equilibrium behaviour was investigated using the Langmuir, Freundlich, and Redlich-Peterson isotherms. Comparison of linear and non-linear regression methods was used to determine the most suitable isotherm that best describes the boron adsorption by the new adsorbent. The non-linear method is a better way of obtaining isotherm parameters. The best-fitting isotherm was found to be the Redlich-Peterson (R2 > 0.99) and Langmuir isotherms (R2 = 0.99)