scholarly journals Review on Spinning of Biopolymer Fibers from Starch

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1121
Author(s):  
Selamu Temesgen ◽  
Mirko Rennert ◽  
Tamrat Tesfaye ◽  
Michael Nase

Increasing interest in bio-based polymers and fibers has led to the development of several alternatives to conventional plastics and fibers made of these materials. Biopolymer fibers can be made from renewable, environmentally friendly resources and can be fully biodegradable. Biogenic resources with a high content of carbohydrates such as starch-containing plants have huge potentials to substitute conventional synthetic plastics in a number of applications. Much literature is available on the production and modification of starch-based fibers and blends of starch with other polymers. Chemistry and structure–property relationships of starch show that it can be used as an attractive source of raw material which can be exploited for conversion into a number of high-value bio-based products. In this review, possible spinning techniques for the development of virgin starch or starch/polymer blend fibers and their products are discussed. Beneficiation of starch for the development of bio-based fibers can result in the sustainable replacement of oil-based high-value materials with cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and abundant products.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Terence Blaskovits ◽  
Maria Fumanal ◽  
Sergi Vela ◽  
Clemence Corminboeuf

<p>Singlet Fission (SF) has demonstrated significant promise for boosting the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solar cells. Traditionally, SF is targeted as an intermolecular process, however its dependence on crystal packing makes molecular design difficult. In contrast, intramolecular SF (iSF) enables the exploration of tunable bi-chromophoric systems following well-defined structure-property relationships. In this work, we propose a set of parameters to screen conjugated donor-acceptor copolymer candidates with potential iSF behaviour. We focus our analysis on the E(S<sub>1</sub>)>2E(T<sub>1</sub>) thermodynamic condition and on the appropriate charge transfer (CT) character of S<sub>1</sub>. We map the CT character with respect to the frontier molecular orbital (FMO) energies of the constituent monomers, providing a cost-effective protocol for an accelerated screening of promising iSF donor-acceptor pairs, while minimizing the number of computations. These parameters are applied to a chemically diverse, curated library of 81 truncated dimers of synthetically feasible donor-acceptor copolymers. From our dataset, four candidates are flagged for iSF, two of which were previously experimentally reported. This protocol is envisioned to be scaled up for the high-throughput screening of large databases of donor-acceptor dimers for the design and identification of conjugated polymers capable of iSF. </p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Terence Blaskovits ◽  
Maria Fumanal ◽  
Sergi Vela ◽  
Clemence Corminboeuf

<p>Singlet Fission (SF) has demonstrated significant promise for boosting the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solar cells. Traditionally, SF is targeted as an intermolecular process, however its dependence on crystal packing makes molecular design difficult. In contrast, intramolecular SF (iSF) enables the exploration of tunable bi-chromophoric systems following well-defined structure-property relationships. In this work, we propose a set of parameters to screen conjugated donor-acceptor copolymer candidates with potential iSF behaviour. We focus our analysis on the E(S<sub>1</sub>)>2E(T<sub>1</sub>) thermodynamic condition and on the appropriate charge transfer (CT) character of S<sub>1</sub>. We map the CT character with respect to the frontier molecular orbital (FMO) energies of the constituent monomers, providing a cost-effective protocol for an accelerated screening of promising iSF donor-acceptor pairs, while minimizing the number of computations. These parameters are applied to a chemically diverse, curated library of 81 truncated dimers of synthetically feasible donor-acceptor copolymers. From our dataset, four candidates are flagged for iSF, two of which were previously experimentally reported. This protocol is envisioned to be scaled up for the high-throughput screening of large databases of donor-acceptor dimers for the design and identification of conjugated polymers capable of iSF. </p>


Nanomaterials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 2532
Author(s):  
Carlos Sainz-Urruela ◽  
Soledad Vera-López ◽  
María San Andrés ◽  
Ana Díez-Pascual

Graphene oxide (GO) can be defined as a single monolayer of graphite with oxygen-containing functionalities such as epoxides, alcohols, and carboxylic acids. It is an interesting alternative to graphene for many applications due to its exceptional properties and feasibility of functionalization. In this study, electrochemically exfoliated graphene oxides (EGOs) with different amounts of surface groups, hence level of oxidation, were prepared by an electrochemical two-stage approach using graphite as raw material. A complete characterization of the EGOs was carried out in order to correlate their surface topography, interlayer spacing, defect content, and specific surface area (SSA) with their electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. It has been found that the SSA has a direct relationship with the d-spacing. The EGOs electrical resistance decreases with increasing SSA while rises with increasing the D/G band intensity ratio in the Raman spectra, hence the defect content. Their thermal stability under both nitrogen and dry air atmospheres depends on both their oxidation level and defect content. Their macroscopic mechanical properties, namely the Young’s modulus and tensile strength, are influenced by the defect content, while no correlation was found with their SSA or interlayer spacing. Young moduli values as high as 54 GPa have been measured, which corroborates that the developed method preserves the integrity of the graphene flakes. Understanding the structure-property relationships in these materials is useful for the design of modified GOs with controllable morphologies and properties for a wide range of applications in electrical/electronic devices.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Terence Blaskovits ◽  
Maria Fumanal ◽  
Sergi Vela ◽  
Clemence Corminboeuf

<p>Singlet Fission (SF) has demonstrated significant promise for boosting the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solar cells. Traditionally, SF is targeted as an intermolecular process, however its dependence on crystal packing makes molecular design difficult. In contrast, intramolecular SF (iSF) enables the exploration of tunable bi-chromophoric systems following well-defined structure-property relationships. In this work, we propose a set of parameters to screen conjugated donor-acceptor copolymer candidates with potential iSF behaviour. We focus our analysis on the E(S<sub>1</sub>)>2E(T<sub>1</sub>) thermodynamic condition and on the appropriate charge transfer (CT) character of S<sub>1</sub>. We map the CT character with respect to the frontier molecular orbital (FMO) energies of the constituent monomers, providing a cost-effective protocol for an accelerated screening of promising iSF donor-acceptor pairs, while minimizing the number of computations. These parameters are applied to a chemically diverse, curated library of 81 truncated dimers of synthetically feasible donor-acceptor copolymers. From our dataset, four candidates are flagged for iSF, two of which were previously experimentally reported. This protocol is envisioned to be scaled up for the high-throughput screening of large databases of donor-acceptor dimers for the design and identification of conjugated polymers capable of iSF. </p>


Author(s):  
J. Petermann ◽  
G. Broza ◽  
U. Rieck ◽  
A. Jaballah ◽  
A. Kawaguchi

Oriented overgrowth of polymer materials onto ionic crystals is well known and recently it was demonstrated that this epitaxial crystallisation can also occur in polymer/polymer systems, under certain conditions. The morphologies and the resulting physical properties of such systems will be presented, especially the influence of epitaxial interfaces on the adhesion of polymer laminates and the mechanical properties of epitaxially crystallized sandwiched layers.Materials used were polyethylene, PE, Lupolen 6021 DX (HDPE) and 1810 D (LDPE) from BASF AG; polypropylene, PP, (PPN) provided by Höchst AG and polybutene-1, PB-1, Vestolen BT from Chemische Werke Hüls. Thin oriented films were prepared according to the method of Petermann and Gohil, by winding up two different polymer films from two separately heated glass-plates simultaneously with the help of a motor driven cylinder. One double layer was used for TEM investigations, while about 1000 sandwiched layers were taken for mechanical tests.


Author(s):  
Barbara A. Wood

A controversial topic in the study of structure-property relationships of toughened polymer systems is the internal cavitation of toughener particles resulting from damage on impact or tensile deformation.Detailed observations of the influence of morphological characteristics such as particle size distribution on deformation mechanisms such as shear yield and cavitation could provide valuable guidance for selection of processing conditions, but TEM observation of damaged zones presents some experimental difficulties.Previously published TEM images of impact fractured toughened nylon show holes but contrast between matrix and toughener is lacking; other systems investigated have clearly shown cavitated impact modifier particles. In rubber toughened nylon, the physical characteristics of cavitated material differ from undamaged material to the extent that sectioning of heavily damaged regions by cryoultramicrotomy with a diamond knife results in sections of greater than optimum thickness (Figure 1). The detailed morphology is obscured despite selective staining of the rubber phase using the ruthenium trichloride route to ruthenium tetroxide.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Stafford ◽  
Dowon Ahn ◽  
Emily Raulerson ◽  
Kun-You Chung ◽  
Kaihong Sun ◽  
...  

Driving rapid polymerizations with visible to near-infrared (NIR) light will enable nascent technologies in the emerging fields of bio- and composite-printing. However, current photopolymerization strategies are limited by long reaction times, high light intensities, and/or large catalyst loadings. Improving efficiency remains elusive without a comprehensive, mechanistic evaluation of photocatalysis to better understand how composition relates to polymerization metrics. With this objective in mind, a series of methine- and aza-bridged boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) derivatives were synthesized and systematically characterized to elucidate key structure-property relationships that facilitate efficient photopolymerization driven by visible to NIR light. For both BODIPY scaffolds, halogenation was shown as a general method to increase polymerization rate, quantitatively characterized using a custom real-time infrared spectroscopy setup. Furthermore, a combination of steady-state emission quenching experiments, electronic structure calculations, and ultrafast transient absorption revealed that efficient intersystem crossing to the lowest excited triplet state upon halogenation was a key mechanistic step to achieving rapid photopolymerization reactions. Unprecedented polymerization rates were achieved with extremely low light intensities (< 1 mW/cm<sup>2</sup>) and catalyst loadings (< 50 μM), exemplified by reaction completion within 60 seconds of irradiation using green, red, and NIR light-emitting diodes.


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