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The present study explored the utilization of Rugulopteryx okamurae (RO), an invasive brown seaweed, as a renewable raw material for plastic materials based on biopolymer blends. The goal of this study was to improve the previously observed poor mechanical properties of materials based on single biopolymer RO. To enhance these properties, two polymers with distinct hydrophobicities were incorporated into the formulation of different blends: hydrophobic polycaprolactone (PCL) and hydrophilic acylated soy protein isolate (SPIa). SPIa was derived from soy protein through a chemical modification process, introducing hydrophilic carboxyl groups. The addition of PCL significantly strengthened the blend, increasing the storage modulus (E′1 Hz) from ~ 110 to ~ 250 MPa. Conversely, SPIa incorporation resulted in softening, with E′ values around 40 MPa. Both additives enhanced deformability proportionally to their concentrations, with SPIa exhibiting notably higher deformability, reaching a maximum deformation of ~ 23% for a RO/SPIa ratio of 25/75. In summary, the study demonstrates the feasibility of producing environmentally friendly blend materials based on RO, tailored for specific applications by incorporating suitable additives into the formulation. Therefore, PCL is recommended for applications susceptible to moisture effects, such as packaging, while SPIa is suggested for highly absorbent applications such as personal care or horticulture.

Calotropis commonly called milk weed is a large shrub belongs to Apocynaceae family, species Calotropis gigantea which can yield a durable fibre commercially known as “bowstrings of India”. It is grown in water scary areas which do not require fertilizer and cultivation. The stem of the plant is potential for its fibres which possess good strength and flexibility. The fibres can be produced as fabrics as it has abrasion resistant. The stems of Calotropis gigantea is collected undergoes drying for a week under shade as it contains latex. The stem is subjected to retting for efficient fibre extraction. The fibre is extracted manually from the bark of the stem. The collected fibres are cleaned and mixed with organic cotton. Calotropis fibers are coarser and cause discomfort for the wearer, they are blended with organic cotton to improve comfort. The selected fibres are metered and mixed. The homogeneous state is obtained by mixing the diverse fibers together. In terms of nonwoven technology dry laid process is carried out and laying is done. The type of lay used is random lay. Carding parallelizes and individualizes the formed web. Yarns are made using Open end spinning. Fabric is made from these yarns for a possible application.

With the still huge dependence on crude oil, it is crucial to develop enhanced oil recovery techniques to improve reservoir production and lifespan. Carbonate reservoirs constitute over half the world's oil reserves, but they are challenging in terms of recovery due to their complex pore network, oil-wet or mixed-wet rocks, and harsh conditions of temperature and salinity. This work offers a significant contribution to the exploitation of these reservoirs. A new formulation, able to provide very low interfacial tension at high temperatures with reduced adsorption on carbonate rocks, was designed. A low-cost traditional alkyl benzene sulfonate (RECOLAS158) was mixed with the cationic surface active ionic liquid N,N-diethoxylated-N-tallow-N-ethylammonium ethylsulfate. A formulation containing 56.4 wt% RECOLAS158 was selected for its good performance in terms of phase behavior, injectability and interfacial tension at a wide range of temperatures and salinities. A very significant tertiary oil recovery (19.53% of the original oil in place) and low blend adsorption (0.086 mgblend/grock), demonstrated the promising performance of the formulation. The key mechanism associated to the improvement of oil recovery is interfacial tension reduction

This study aims to assess a surfactant blend for enhanced oil recovery from carbonate rocks. Due to the abundance of these reservoirs, their profitable exploitation would ensure our petrochemical needs are met, and maintain current quality of life. The objective of this work is to increase the technology readiness level of our previous proposal based on the use of a blend of pure sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate and the surface-active ionic liquid cocosalkylpentaethoximethyl ammonium methylsulfate. To that aim, the method was adapted for its application with a commercially available petrochemical surfactant (RECOLAS103, a mixture of lineal alkyl benzene sulfonates), and reservoir simulations were carried out to evaluate its effectiveness. Phase behavior, stability, dynamic interfacial tension, adsorption and core flooding were the experimental tests carried out. An optimized formulation consisting of 1 wt% of blend (40 wt% RECOLAS103) in synthetic sea water was found stable and able to reduce water-oil interfacial tension down to 0.02 mN/m. The dynamic blend adsorption in carbonate rocks was found to be 0.60 mg/grock, a promising value for the application. Core flooding tests were conducted at 25 and 120 °C and additional oil recoveries achieved ranged from 10.2 to 12.7% of the original oil in place, the lowest production obtained at the highest temperature. This work offers an advance in the application of surfactants for EOR in carbonate reservoirs, since it improves previous proposals that show stability or high adsorption problems. Moreover, a chemical injection optimization was also carried out by simulation with the CMG-STARS software. Results point to the possibility of reaching higher oil recoveries than those obtained experimentally if the extraction method is optimized

This Thesis focused on the design of formulations based on ionic liquids to enhance oil recovery methods. A literature review on their application in surfactant flooding was conducted. Preliminary formulations showed promise, but ionic liquids were found to be better use to improve the performance of traditional surfactants. Several formulations were developed to enhance the application of alkyl benzene sulfonates in carbonate reservoirs. Increasing the ethoxylation degree of the ionic liquid improved high-temperature performance. Some ionic liquids were also evaluated for foam generation in CO₂ flooding, showing enhanced stability and increased mobility ratio compared to traditional surfactants. These studies provide a foundation for the application of ionic liquids in enhanced oil recovery.

There is an urgent need to increase cereal yields in the Ethiopian Highlands to ensure national food security. A major crop response-to-fertilizer program was set up in 2017–2019 as part of the CASCAPE project in the Ethiopian Highlands. It covered 33 experiments on maize, teff and wheat in five reference soil groups (Nitisols, Luvisols, Vertisols, Leptosols and Andosols). Five levels of multi-nutrient fertilizer (50–300 kg NPSZnB ha− 1 and 100 kg urea ha− 1) were applied. At the lower fertilizer level, average yields were 5500, 1500 and 3300 kg ha− 1 for maize, teff and wheat, respectively. At the highest rate, yields were 7900, 2100 and 5000 kg ha− 1. Maize and wheat yields were strongly correlated to the reference soil groups, but not to rainfall differences. Wheat yields were also positively correlated to soil organic carbon levels, underpinning the need to apply integrated soil fertility management. Comparing NPSZnB fertilizers with NPS and DAP fertilizers revealed a lack of statistically significant advantage for the fertilizers including Zn and B. As B was present in fine-granular form in the fertilizer bags, being prone to segregation, firm conclusions on the need for this micronutrient cannot be drawn. The use of ‘recommendation windows’ is suggested to group results into concrete packages at district levels and below, preferably combined with soil maps since soil types were correlated with maize and wheat yields. The windows could then be the starting point to develop ‘last mile’ fertilizer use policies, relevant to farmers and the way they manage their fields in the landscape.

Poly(ʟ-lactic acid) (PLLA) is an interesting polymer for the engineering and medical field because of its high elastic modulus, good tensile strength and sustainability. The only major obstacle for these applications, like the shape memory effect, is its brittleness. In this study, a series of poly(L-lactic acid) polymers are blended with different percentage of polyethylene glycol (PEG) plasticizer of molecular weight of 600 g/mol. We investigated the effect of PEG percentage on the shape memory behaviour, the mechanical and thermal properties of the polymer through DSC, ATG, DMTA and tensile tests. We then determined the right concentration of PEG needed to maximize the shape memory effect for medical application. The experimental results reveal that introduction of appropriate PEG content improves the shape memory behaviours, by reducing the glass transition temperature and the brittleness of PLLA.

Recently, there has been significant improvement in the power conversion efficiency of non-fullerene organic solar cells, exceeding 19%. In this article, we have fabricated conventional sandwich structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/PM6:Y7/PDINO/Ag reaching efficiency up to 17.3% along with high generated current density of 30.60 mA/cm2 for the optimized devices. The thickness of PM6:Y7 layer has been varied to investigate the impact on the overall device behavior. The obtained results showed that the PCE has been enhanced by 15% upon reducing its thickness from 150 nm to 100 nm. Accordingly, current-voltage measurements and impedance spectroscopy analysis through capacitance-voltage, Mott-Schottky analysis and capacitance frequency under different illumination intensities were conducted to evaluate the behaviour of the charge recombination due to thickness variation of the PM6:Y7 photoactive layer.

En una sociedad cada vez más concienciada con el medioambiente, surge la necesidad de reducir el consumo e impacto ambiental de los polímeros no renovables de alto rendimiento tan utilizados en la vida actual debido a su versatilidad y a sus propiedades superiores a otros materiales, entre ellas mecánicas y térmicas. En este contexto, en el presente Trabajo Fin de Máster se desarrollaron materiales compuestos por el elastómero termoplástico estireno-b-(etileno-co-butileno)-b-estireno (SEBS) junto a la celulosa como agente de relleno renovable con la intención de mantener, e incluso mejorar, las propiedades más significativas para potenciales aplicaciones, tales como en la industria automotriz y en sensores. Se seleccionó la celulosa ya que posee un gran interés en el ámbito industrial al ser de origen natural y además disminuye considerablemente el coste de producción a pesar de que contribuye en general al deterioro de ciertas propiedades. Esto tiene como consecuencia la búsqueda de un equilibrio entre todas estas cualidades. Además, en las mezclas de polímeros es importante tener en cuenta su naturaleza química, que debe ser similar. Debido a que el SEBS es hidrofóbico y la celulosa hidrofílica, uno de los dos materiales debe ser modificado. Por lo tanto, se estudiaron dos tipos de modificaciones: derivados de la celulosa con grupos apolares para ser semejantes al SEBS apolar y SEBS funcionalizado con anhídrido maleico (SEBS-g-MA) para incrementar su polaridad. Una vez seleccionados los materiales más adecuados, se prepararon una serie de films a base de SEBS y SEBS-g-MA donde se incorporaron las diferentes celulosas con distintas concentraciones, y se llevó a cabo un estudio de las propiedades morfológicas, estructurales, mecánicas, térmicas y eléctricas, mediante diversas técnicas: Microscopía Electrónica de Barrido (SEM), Espectroscopía Infrarroja por Transformada de Fourier (FTIR), ensayo de tracción, Calorimetría Diferencial de Barrido (DSC), Termogravimetría, Ingurumenaz gero eta kontzientziatuago dagoen gizarte honetan, errendimendu handiko polimero ez- berriztagarrien kontsumoa eta ingurumen-inpaktua murrizteko beharra dago. Izan ere, gaur egungo bizitzan hain erabiliak diren polimero ez-berriztagarri hauek, aldakortasun handia dute eta beste materialen aldean propietate hobeak dituzte, hala nola mekanikoak eta termikoak. Testuinguru honetan, Master Lan honetan, elastomero termoplastiko-estireno-b-(etileno-ko-butileno)-b- estirenoaz (SEBS) jatorri naturaleko betegarri batekin osatutako materialak garatu ziren. Zelulosa hautatu zen betegarri bezala. Izan ere, zelulosak interes handia du industria-eremuan, jatorri naturalekoa baita, eta, gainera, ekoizpen-kostua murrizten du eta. Nahiz eta horrela izan, osagarri honek, interes handiko propietate batzuk murriztu ditzake. Horren ondorioz, ezaugarri horien guztien arteko oreka bilatzen da. Gainera, polimeroen propietateak kontuan hartu behar izan ziren, antzekoak izan behar dira eta nahasketak egiteko orduan. Testuinguru horretan, SEBS hidrofobikoa eta zelulosa hidrofilikoa direnez, bi materialetako bat aldatu egin behar izan zen. Beraz, bi aldaketa mota aztertu ziren: zelulosaren deribatuak apolar taldeekin SEBS apolarra eta SEBS anhidrido maleikoarekin (SEBS- g-MA) funtzionalizatua antzekoak izateko, polaritatea handitzeko. Material egokienak hautatu ondoren, SEBS eta SEBS-g-MA oinarri hartuta hainbat film prestatu ziren. Horietan, zelulosa desberdinak nahastu ziren, kontzentrazio desberdinekin. Propietate morfologiko, mekaniko, termiko eta elektrikoen azterketa egin zen, ondorengo teknikak erabiliz: Mikroskopia Elektronikoa (SEM), Fourier Transformatu Infragorrien Espektroskopia (FTIR), trakzio-probak, Eskanetze Kalorimetria Diferentziala (DSC), Termogravimetria (TGA) eta neurketa dielektrikoak. Horri esker, SEBSaren aplikagarritasunaren ikuspegitik, zelulosa aitzindari propietateak eta karga edukiak kontuan hartuta, interesgarrienak identifikatu ahal izan ziren. Karakte, In an increasingly environmentally conscious society, there is a need to reduce the consumption and environmental impact of the non-renewable high-performance polymers used in today's life due to their versatility and better properties than other materials such as mechanical and thermal. In this context, in this Master's thesis materials composed of the thermoplastic elastomer called styrene-b- (ethylene-co-butylene)-b-styrene (SEBS) and a renowable filler agent called cellulose were developed with the intention of maintaining, and even improving, its most significant properties for potential applications such as the automotive industry and sensors. Cellulose was selected because of its great interest in the industrial field caused by different reasons: it is a natural source and, also, considerably reduces the production cost despite the fact that it generally contributes to the deterioration of certain properties. This results in the search for a balance between all these qualities. In addition, in polymer blends it is important to consider their chemical nature, which must be similar. Because of their characteristics: SEBS is hydrophobic and cellulose hydrophilic, one of the two materials must be modified. Therefore, two types of modifications were studied: cellulose derivatives with apolar groups to be similar to apolar SEBS and the maleic anhydride grafted SEBS (SEBS-g-MA) to increase its polarity. Once the most suitable materials were selected, a series of SEBS and SEBS-g-MA based films were prepared in which the different celluloses were incorporated with different concentrations, and a study of the morphological, structural, mechanical, thermal and electrical properties was carried out using various techniques: Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), tensile testing, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermogravimetryc analysis (TGA) and dielectric measurements. This made it possible to identify which cellulo

Physics education entails rigorous problem-solving. But physics is full of abstraction and mathematical representations, which are hard to visualize. Hence, understanding the problems requires constant lab activities essential to physics problem-solving. But due to limited equipment and limited periods of usage in conventional labs, virtual labs are an alternative with their own set of limitations. So, a blend of the two virtual and conventional labs is a better option for problem-solving. A mixed-method approach was adopted to know the perception of higher secondary students towards this blended approach. For this, 150 CBSE board higher secondary students of science stream selected using convenient sampling from Lucknow were surveyed using a Likert-type perception scale comprising 15 items followed by an unstructured interview to know the preferred mode for physics problem-solving. The data so obtained were expressed in percentages. The study revealed that most students agreed with the overall perceived benefits of using conventional and virtual labs separately. But due to the inherent problems of these labs separately, students perceived the benefits offered by the blend of conventional and virtual labs in physics problem-solving more than using them separately. A blend of conventional and virtual labs should be used more often.

The design, fabrication, and characterization of optically switchable organic light-emitting diodes (OSOLEDs) based on the combination of the commercially available light-emitting polymer poly(9,9′-dioctylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole), F8BT, doped with a diarylethene derivative is reported. The photochromic activity of the dopant in the solid state has been investigated both via UV/vis absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy, whereas the morphology of different blends is investigated via atomic force microscopy. OSOLEDs embedding dopant loadings of 1, 5, and 10 wt% exhibit optical responsivity with a maximum reversible optical threshold voltage shift of 4 V. The best performing devices containing 5 wt% dopant show a maximum current density and luminance ON/OFF ratio of ≈20 and ≈90, respectively. For the first time, the impact of the diarylethene isomerization on hole and electron transport has been decoupled and directly investigated, via the design, fabrication, and characterization of single-carrier switchable devices based on the same blends. Not only do these results confirm the photo-responsive trapping activity of the diarylethenes on both charge carriers, but they also demonstrate its asymmetry, with a predominant effect on electron transport that is over 3.4 times larger as compared to hole transport.

Fine tuning of blend morphology is a key factor that limits the performance of the bulk-heterojunction organic photovoltaics (BHJ-OPVs). Herein, the morphological control of the binary (PM6:Y7) and ternary (PM6:Y7:PC70BM) blends is conducted through 1-chloronaphthalene (CN) solvent additive and thermal annealing (TA) treatment with respect to their influence on the photovoltaic performance. Moreover, a distinct study is accomplished on the optical and electronic properties of the treated and nontreated binary and ternary devices by external quantum efficiency measurements and impedance spectroscopy. The results indicate that these treatments affect the performance of the binary and ternary OPVs differently. Regarding the 2% CN addition, the current density of the binary devices is improved by approximate to 27%, whereas the fill factor of the ternary devices shows a pronounced increment of approximate to 22%. A contradictory behavior is exhibited by TA for the binary and ternary OPVs. The PCEs for binary devices (with/without CN) and 2% CN-treated ternary ones are improved, while diminishing the PCEs of the ternary ones with 0% CN. Accordingly, the highest efficiencies of the binary and ternary OPVs are obtained due to the dual effect of 2% CN solvent additive along with the TA treatments.

Morphological control of the layers within the bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics (BHJ-OPVs) is a key feature that governs their performance. In the present work, we demonstrate that zinc oxide-ZnO-interlayers sprayed via the intermittent spray pyrolysis technique, employing a low-concentration precursor solution, can yield inverted BHJ-OPVs as efficient as the standard reported ones using the conventional laboratory-scale spin-coating technique. However, we record a pioneer stability behavior of the fabricated inverted fullerene organic photovoltaics (iF-OPVs) with various sprayed ZnO conditions. Thus, after optimizing the sprayed ZnO interfacial layer morphology for the inverted PTB7-Th:PC70BM devices, by carefully inspecting the interdependence between the sprayed ZnO thin film morphology and the figures of merit of the optimized iF-OPVs, we conducted a distinct analysis on the optical and electronic properties of the fresh and degraded devices using external quantum efficiency measurements and impedance spectroscopy. Hence, we showed that the most proper ZnO microstructural morphology was obtained by spraying 25 running cycles (25R). Remarkably, we observed that 25R-ZnO-based iF-OPV devices showed a stunning stability behavior and maintained 85% of their initial power conversion efficiency even after 16.7 months without encapsulation in a dry nitrogen glovebox, demonstrating an excellent shelf stability. Accordingly, this approach might facilitate the scalability of inverted OPVs for industrial production visibility.

[ES] El continuo crecimiento de la población e industria ha dado lugar a un aumento en el consumo de productos plásticos, generando como consecuencia una abundante corriente de residuos que da lugar a diversos problemas medioambientales. Con el fin de favorecer una economía circular además de realizar una adecuada gestión de dichos residuos, el reciclaje mecánico se presenta como una opción capaz de reducir el impacto ambiental que generan y un aumento de la vida útil de estos materiales. En base a esto, en el presente trabajo se decidió estudiar el polietileno de alta densidad (HDPE) reciclado de color, un material cuyo volumen de producción es muy elevado y con una amplia gama de aplicaciones. Para ello fue necesario un estudio previo de las propiedades físicas tanto de este material como del resto de componentes empleados para la obtención de mezclas de compuestos. Seguidamente, y tras sintetizar dichas mezclas, se estudiaron las propiedades resultantes de las mismas, además de obtener modelos estadísticos para la estimación de la fluidez en cada caso, teniéndose en cuenta que se deberían analizar tanto las propiedades mecánicas como las microscópicas del material de forma simultánea. Los resultados muestran que una mezcla de HDPE color con HDPE natural es capaz de satisfacer las necesidades del cliente, resultando sin embargo, en una opción de elevado coste. Como alternativa se realizaron diseños de mezcla de HDPE color con tapones de LDPE (polietileno de baja densidad) y con contenedor, siendo este polietileno también de alta densidad. Finalmente se evaluaron diversas mezclas con polipropileno (PP) obteniéndose un rango de fluidez mayor, donde se tuvo en cuenta la pérdida de propiedades mecánicas en función de la composición., [CA] El continu creixement de la població i indústria ha donat lloc a un augment en el consum de productes plàstics, generant com a conseqüència un abundant corrent de residus que dona lloc a diversos problemes mediambientals. Amb la finalitat d'afavorir una economia circular a més de realitzar una adequada gestió d'aquests residus, el reciclatge mecànic es presenta com una opció capaç de reduir l'impacte ambiental que generen i un augment de la vida útil d'aquests materials. Sobre la base d'això, en el present treball es va decidir estudiar el polietilè d'alta densitat (HDPE) reciclat de color, un material el volum de producció del qual és molt elevat i amb una àmplia gamma d'aplicacions. Per a això va ser necessari un estudi previ de les propietats físiques d'aquest material, a més de realitzar aquests assajos per a aquells components amb els quals posteriorment es van obtenir mescles de compostos. Seguidament, i després de sintetitzar aquestes mescles, es van estudiar les propietats resultants d'aquestes, a més d'obtenir models estadístics per a l'estimació de la fluïdesa en cada cas, tenint-se en compte que s'haurien d'analitzar tant les propietats mecàniques com les microscòpiques del material de manera simultània. Els resultats mostren que una mescla de HDPE color amb HDPE natural és capaç de satisfer les necessitats del client, resultant, no obstant això, en una opció d'elevat cost. Com a alternativa es van realitzar dissenys de mescla de HDPE color amb taps de LDPE (polietilè de baixa densitat) i amb contenidor, sent aquest polietilè també d'alta densitat. Finalment, es van avaluar diverses mescles amb polipropilè (PP) obtenint-se un rang de fluïdesa major, on es va tenir en compte la pèrdua de propietats mecàniques en funció de la composició., [EN] The continuous growth of the population and industry has led to an increase in the consumption of plastic products, resulting in an abundant flow of waste that leads to various environmental problems. To promote a circular economy in addition to proper management of this waste, mechanical recycling is presented as an option capable of reducing the environmental impact they generate and an increase in the useful life of these materials. Based on this, in the present work it was decided to study recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE) color, a material whose production volume is very high and with a wide range of applications. This required a prior study of the physical properties of this material, in addition to performing these tests for those components with which blends were subsequently obtained. Next, and after synthesizing these mixtures, the resulting properties of these were studied, in addition to obtaining statistical models for the estimation of the fluidity in each case, considering that they should be analyzed, both the mechanical and microscopic properties of the material in parallel. The results show that a mixture of HDPE color with natural HDPE can meet customer needs, resulting, however, in a high-cost option. As an alternative, HDPE color mixing designs were made with LDPE (low density polyethylene) caps and containers, this polyethylene also being of high density. Finally, several polypropylene (PP) blends were evaluated to obtain a higher fluidity range, where the loss of mechanical properties depending on the composition was considered.

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were added to provide electrical conductivity to bio-based polymer blends with improved toughness (based on commercially available Pebax thermoplastic elastomers and bio-based polyamide 4,10). A preliminary study including three different Pebax grades was carried out to select the grade and the composition that would best improve the impact properties of PA410. Thus, tough multiphasic PA/Pebax/CNT nanocomposites (NCs) with enhanced electrical conductivity were obtained. The CNTs were added either: (1) in the form of pristine nanotubes or (2) in the form of a PA6-based masterbatch. Hence, PA410/Pebax/CNT ternary NCs and PA410/PA6/Pebax/CNT quaternary NCs were obtained, respectively, up to a CNT content of 1 wt%. The ternary and quaternary NCs both showed similar mechanical and electrical properties. The electrical percolation threshold decreased with respect to previously studied corresponding NCs without Pebax, i.e., PA410/CNT and PA410/PA6/CNT, due to the partial volume exclusion effect of Pebax over the CNTs that were dispersed mainly in the PA matrix; materials with percolation concentrations as low as 0.38 wt% were obtained. With respect to mechanical properties, contrary to the NCs without Pebax, all the PA/Pebax/CNT NCs showed a ductile behavior and impact strength values that were from three to five-fold higher than that of the pure PA410.

Conventional fuels petrochemicals are available in limited sources. And increase in demand of such fuels is extremely high, so it might result in energy crises. So it is our duty to fulfill essential engineering need of society. In order to do that we are finding new economical easily available resources to replace conventional fuel. Plastic is such a material which cannot get destroyed about 400 years, if we burn plastic it may emit hazards gases which are also negatively affect on environment. Similarly waste tire is available in abundant quantity. One of the surveyssays that US alone, over 290 million car tires are discarded annually. Hence we decided to use tire and plastic waste for making alternate fuel.Pyrolysis -The word “Pyrolysis” is originallyobtained from Greek language, Pyro means ‘Fire’ and Lysis means ‘separating’. Pyrolysis is a thermo chemicaldecomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen or any kind of halogen. It involves the simultaneous change ofchemical composition and physical phase, and is irreversible. Pyrolysis is usually the first chemical reaction that occurs in the burning of many solid organic fuels and also of some kinds of plastic.

Over the past two centuries, energy needs have risen dramatically, particularly due to the transportation and industry sectors. However, the main made fuels like (fossil fuels) are polluting and their reserves are limited. Governments & research organization work together for make the use of renewable resources a priority and reduce irresponsible use of natural supplies through increased conservation. The energy crisis is a broad is biggest problem in world. Most people don't realize to their reality unless the price of fuel at the pump goes up or there are lines at the fuel station. Plastics waste fuel is sustainable and futuristic solution of fossil fuel as well as biggest problem of waste management of plastic waste can solve by this fuel. In thesis we prepare the plastic waste fuel by application of paralysis process in this process use low, medium and high grade of plastic and heated with limited amount of oxygen melt the plastic. The result of paralysis finds of liquid fuel and flammable gas. This fuel can be used as a blend in diesel with a proportion of B0D100, B10D90 B20D80, & B30D70 where B tent to blend of plastic fuel and D tend to diesel as if B0D100 means blend 0% and diesel 100%. These blend run diesel engine. The blends are in 10%, 20% & 30% plastic paralysis oil with standard diesel fuel. For experiment simultaneous optimization used a method called “Taguchi” used in the engine such as injection pressure and load condition. Taguchi Method of Optimization is a simplest method of optimizing experimental parameters in less number of trials.

There is a gap in the literature for the preparation of agar-xanthan gum-carboxymethyl cellulose-based films by thermo compression methods. The present work aims to fill this gap by blending the polysaccharides in a plastograph and preparation of films under high pressure and temperature for a short duration of time. The pivotal aim of this work is also to know the effect of different mixing conditions on the physical, chemical, mechanical and thermal properties of the films. The films are assessed based on results from microscopic, infrared spectroscopic, permeability (WVTR), transmittance, mechanical, rheological and thermogravimetric analysis. The results re-vealed that the mixing volume and mixing duration had negative effects on the films’ transparency. WVTR was independent of the mixing conditions and ranged between 1078 and 1082 g/m2.d. The mixing RPM and mixing duration had a positive effect on the film tensile strength. The films from the blends mixed at higher RPM for a longer time gave elongation percentage up to 78%. Blending also altered the crystallinity and thermal behavior of the polysaccharides. The blend prepared at 80 RPM for 7 min and pressed at 140 °C showed better percent elongation and light barrier properties. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

This study evaluated the relationship among palatability attributes, volatile compounds, and fatty acid (FA) profiles in meat from barley, corn, and blended (50:50, barley and corn) grain-fed steers. Multiple correspondence analysis with three dimensions (Dim) explained 62.2% of the total variability among samples. The Dim 1 and 2 (53.3%) separated pure from blended grain-fed beef samples. Blended grain beef was linked to a number of volatiles including (E,E)-2,4-decadienal, hexanal, 1-octen-3-ol, and 2,3-octanedione. In addition, blended grain-fed beef was linked to fat-like and rancid flavors, stale-cardboard, metallic, cruciferous, and fat-like aroma descriptors, and negative categories for flavor intensity (FI), off-flavor, and tenderness. A possible combination of linoleic and linolenic acids in the blended diet, lower rumen pH, and incomplete biohydrogenation of blended grain-fed polyunsaturates could have increased (p ≤ 0.05) long-chain n-6 fatty acids (LCFA) in blended grain-fed beef, leading to more accumulation of FA oxidation products in the blended than in barley and corn grain-fed meat samples. The Dim 3 (8.9%) allowed corn separation from barley grain beef. Barley grain-fed beef was mainly linked to alkanes and beef positive FI, whereas corn grain-fed beef was associated with pyrazines, in addition to aldehydes related to n-6 LCFA oxidation.

The Amaranthus dubius is a herbaceous plant with high nutritional value thanks to its high content of protein, vitamins and minerals. Its agro-industrial use represents a food alternative, for which it is necessary to know the process parameters and the concentrations of use as raw material for the elaboration of a yogurt.Objective: To evaluate the effect of the inclusion of amaranth leaf flour on the properties of a fruity yogurt with soursop pulp (Annona muricata L.)Method: The production process was designed, incorporating the piglet in the form of flour. The time for humidity in equilibrium at 65 ° C was determined, the curve was adjusted to the Page model and four treatments were established (P, T1, T2, and T3), with piglet concentrations of 0%, 10%, 15 % and 20% respectively. A DCA (completely randomized design) was formulated, to evaluate the effect of the addition of flour, on the physicochemical, nutritional and sensory properties of fruity yogurt.Results: Equilibrium humidity was reached at 3h, with page model constants (C: 0,9585; K: 0,0133 and n: 2,2830). It was evidenced that pigtail improved the protein profile of the yogurt samples. In addition, the T3 formulation presented the highest protein content (7.93%), as well as vitamin C (0.15%), acidity (0.84%) and pH (4.21%). The formulations with the addition of milkweed showed a lower acceptance by the sensory panel.Conclusions: The incorporation of 20% amaranth leaf flour into the yogurt made it possible to increase the protein content by 6.21%, although the sensory properties should be improved.

The energy gap law (EG-law) and aggregation quenching are the main limitations to overcome in the design of near-infrared (NIR) organic emitters. Here, we achieve unprecedented results by synergistically addressing both of these limitations. First, we propose porphyrin oligomers with increasing length to attenuate the effects of the EG -law by suppressing the non-radiative rate growth, and to increase the radiative rate via enhancement of the oscillator strength. Second, we design side chains to suppress aggregation quenching. We find that the logarithmic rate of variation in the non-radiative rate vs. EG is suppressed by an order of magnitude with respect to previous studies, and we complement this breakthrough by demonstrating organic light-emitting diodes with an average external quantum efficiency of ~1.1%, which is very promising for a heavy-metal-free 850 nm emitter. We also present a novel quantitative model of the internal quantum efficiency for active layers supporting triplet-to-singlet conversion. These results provide a general strategy for designing high-luminance NIR emitters.

Fluorinated zinc and copper metallophthalocyanines MPcF48 are synthesized and incorporated as third component small molecules in ternary organic solar cells (TOSCs). To enable the high performance of TOSCs, maximizing short-circuit current density (JSC) is crucial. Ternary bulk heterojunction blends, consisting of a polymer donor PTB7-Th, fullerene acceptors PC70BM, and a third component MPcF48, are formulated to fabricate TOSCs with a device architecture of ITO/PFN/active layer/V2O5/Ag. Employing copper as metal atom substitution in the third component of TOSCs enhances JSC as a result of complementary absorption spectra in the near-infrared region. In combination with JSC enhancement, suppressed charge recombination, improved exciton dissociation and charge carrier collection efficiency, and better morphology lead to a slightly improved fill factor (FF), resulting in a 7% enhancement of PCE than those of binary OSCs. In addition to the increased PCE, the photostability of TOSCs has also been improved by the appropriate addition of CuPcF48. Detailed studies imply that metal atom substitution in phthalocyanines is an effective way to improve JSC, FF, and thus the performance and photostability of TOSCs.

В статье рассмотрены метафорические модели, репрезентирующие сердце как часть тела человека в сознании носителей русского языка, выявлены их фреймы и слоты. Авторами дана интерпретация аксиологического параметра представленных метафор., This article considers methaphorical models that represent the heart as a part of human body in the minds of native Russian speakers.Their frames and slots have been identified.The axiological parameter of presented metaphors is interpreted.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles have recently appeared in PET waste because of the introduction of opaque PET bottles. We prepare polymer blend nanocomposites (PBNANOs) by adding hydrophilic (hphi), hydrophobic (hpho), and hydrophobically modified (hphoM) titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles to 80rPP/20rPET recycled blends. Contact angle measurements show that the degree of hydrophilicity of TiO2 decreases in the order hphi > hpho > hphoM. A reduction of rPET droplet size occurs with the addition of TiO2 nanoparticles. The hydrophilic/hydrophobic balance controls the nanoparticles location. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM_ shows that hphi TiO2 preferentially locates inside the PET droplets and hpho at both the interface and PP matrix. HphoM also locates within the PP matrix and at the interface, but large loadings (12%) can completely cover the surfaces of the droplets forming a physical barrier that avoids coalescence, leading to the formation of smaller droplets. A good correlation is found between the crystallization rate of PET (determined by DSC) and nanoparticles location, where hphi TiO2 induces the highest PET crystallization rate. PET lamellar morphology (revealed by TEM) is also dependent on particle location. The mechanical behavior improves in the elastic regime with TiO2 addition, but the plastic deformation of the material is limited and strongly depends on the type of TiO2 employed.

This paper delves into the structure and motivations of blending by reporting on the results of the analysis of a corpus of 80 blends gathered from the field of videogaming. The starting point will be a multidimensional description based on a set of parameters and values drawn on previous works by, among others, Kemmer (2000), Ronneberger-Sibold (2006) and Mattiello (2013). In accordance with the principles of Prototype Theory (Lakoff 1987; Langacker 1987), the combination of values displayed by the items results in an overall degree of typicality and will allow their location in the centre or the periphery of the category. The theoretical framework will be put into practice in the analysis of a corpus of blends naming videogames. Most of them are found to be prototypical items, the most common type being the so-called "overlapping" blend (Splatoon: splat + platoon). Lastly, concerning the motivations for the creation of blends in this particular field, these items succeed in economically capturing key features of the game so as to awaken the interest of potential buyers. Moreover, blends anticipate the humorous, puzzling or creative qualities of the game they name and wink at the players’ inventiveness to work out rules., Este trabajo profundiza en la estructura y motivaciones de los cruces léxicos a partir de los resultados del análisis de un corpus de 80 cruces léxicos del campo de los videojuegos. El punto de partida es una descripción multidimensional basada en un conjunto de parámetros recogidos de estudios previos de, entre otros, Kemmer (2000), Ronneberger-Sibold (2006) y Mattiello (2013). De acuerdo con los principios de la Teoría de Prototipos (Lakoff 1987; Langacker 1987), la combinación de valores exhibidos por los ítems da como resultado un nivel global de tipicidad, lo que permite su localización en el centro o la periferia de la categoría. El marco teórico se lleva a la práctica en el análisis de un corpus de cruces léxicos de nombres de videojuegos. La mayor parte de ellos resultan ser elementos prototípicos, y el tipo más común es el denominado cruce léxico “solapado” (Splatoon: splat + platoon). Por último, en lo concerniente a las motivaciones para la creación de cruces léxicos en este campo, dichas formaciones capturan de manera efectiva y económica rasgos clave del juego para despertar el interés de compradores potenciales. Además, los cruces léxicos anticipan los rasgos humorísticos, intrigantes y creativos del juego al que nombran, al tiempo que hacen un guiño a la inventiva de los jugadores para descubrir las reglas.

This paper delves into the structure and motivations of blending by reporting on the results of the analysis of a corpus of 80 blends gathered from the field of videogaming. The starting point will be a multidimensional description based on a set of parameters and values drawn on previous works by, among others, Kemmer (2003), Ronneberger-Sibold (2006) and Mattiello (2013). In accordance with the principles of Prototype Theory (Lakoff 1987; Langacker 1987), the combination of values displayed by the items results in an overall degree of typicality and will allow their location in the centre or the periphery of the category. The theoretical framework will be put into practice in the analysis of a corpus of blends naming videogames. Most of them are found to be prototypical items, the most common type being the so-called “overlapping” blend (Splatoon: splat + platoon). Lastly, concerning the motivations for the creation of blends in this particular field, these items succeed in economically capturing key features of the game so as to awaken the interest of potential buyers. Moreover, blends anticipate the humorous, puzzling or creative qualities of the game they name and wink at the players’ inventiveness to work out rules., Este artículo profundiza en la estructura y las motivaciones de las mezclas al informar sobre los resultados del análisis de un corpus de 80 mezclas reunidas en el campo de los videojuegos. El punto de partida será una descripción multidimensional basada en un conjunto de parámetros y valores extraídos de trabajos anteriores de, entre otros, Kemmer (2000), Ronneberger-Sibold (2006) y Mattiello (2013). De acuerdo con los principios de la teoría de prototipos (Lakoff 1987; Langacker 1987), la combinación de valores mostrados por los elementos da como resultado un grado general de tipicidad y permitirá su ubicación en el centro o la periferia de la categoría. El marco teórico se pondrá en práctica en el análisis de un corpus de mezclas para nombrar videojuegos. La mayoría de ellos son elementos prototípicos, el tipo más común es el llamado "superposición"Splatoon: splat + pelotón ). Por último, con respecto a las motivaciones para la creación de mezclas en este campo en particular, estos elementos logran capturar económicamente las características clave del juego para despertar el interés de los compradores potenciales. Además, las mezclas anticipan las cualidades humorísticas, desconcertantes o creativas del juego que nombran y hacen un guiño a la inventiva de los jugadores para elaborar reglas.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles have recently appeared in PET waste because of the introduction of opaque PET bottles. We prepare polymer blend nanocomposites (PBNANOs) by adding hydrophilic (hphi), hydrophobic (hpho), and hydrophobically modified (hphoM) titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles to 80rPP/20rPET recycled blends. Contact angle measurements show that the degree of hydrophilicity of TiO2 decreases in the order hphi > hpho > hphoM. A reduction of rPET droplet size occurs with the addition of TiO2 nanoparticles. The hydrophilic/hydrophobic balance controls the nanoparticles location. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM_ shows that hphi TiO2 preferentially locates inside the PET droplets and hpho at both the interface and PP matrix. HphoM also locates within the PP matrix and at the interface, but large loadings (12%) can completely cover the surfaces of the droplets forming a physical barrier that avoids coalescence, leading to the formation of smaller droplets. A good correlation is found between the crystallization rate of PET (determined by DSC) and nanoparticles location, where hphi TiO2 induces the highest PET crystallization rate. PET lamellar morphology (revealed by TEM) is also dependent on particle location. The mechanical behavior improves in the elastic regime with TiO2 addition, but the plastic deformation of the material is limited and strongly depends on the type of TiO2 employed.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles have recently appeared in PET waste because of the introduction of opaque PET bottles. We prepare polymer blend nanocomposites (PBNANOs) by adding hydrophilic (hphi), hydrophobic (hpho), and hydrophobically modified (hphoM) titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles to 80rPP/20rPET recycled blends. Contact angle measurements show that the degree of hydrophilicity of TiO2 decreases in the order hphi > hpho > hphoM. A reduction of rPET droplet size occurs with the addition of TiO2 nanoparticles. The hydrophilic/hydrophobic balance controls the nanoparticles location. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM_ shows that hphi TiO2 preferentially locates inside the PET droplets and hpho at both the interface and PP matrix. HphoM also locates within the PP matrix and at the interface, but large loadings (12%) can completely cover the surfaces of the droplets forming a physical barrier that avoids coalescence, leading to the formation of smaller droplets. A good correlation is found between the crystallization rate of PET (determined by DSC) and nanoparticles location, where hphi TiO2 induces the highest PET crystallization rate. PET lamellar morphology (revealed by TEM) is also dependent on particle location. The mechanical behavior improves in the elastic regime with TiO2 addition, but the plastic deformation of the material is limited and strongly depends on the type of TiO2 employed., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (published version)

A waterborne pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) that shows high adhesive performance and easy debondability on demand without leaving residues on the substrate (adhesive failure) has been developed. A key component of the PSA is a semicrystalline phase that is beneficial for the adhesive properties and that becomes fluid when heated above the melting temperature. Migration of this liquid-like polymer to the substrate-adhesive interface and hardening upon cooling results in a hard non-tacky interface that facilitates debonding. The effect of the particle morphology on the debonding ability is discussed.

This paper investigates the working of antithesis in Shakespeare's most famous soliloquy "To be, or not to be" and its three Ukrainian translations. In cognitive poetics, antithesis is often viewed as a verbal variety of conceptual oxymoron. However, this paper argues for distinguishing antithesis from conceptual oxymoron based on consideration of the different processes at work behind their creation and reading. Significantly, in antithesis the emergent meaning retains the dichotomy of two input spaces rather than creating a new one, as happens in conceptual oxymoron. In this context, we consider antithesis in English-Ukrainian translations against the backdrop of Kaluza's (1984) reflection on asymmetry and irreversibility in antithesis. As will be seen, renditions into Ukrainian change the perception of the original antithesis prompted by structural and semantic changes in the translations. © 2018 John Benjamins Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Due to the so-called energy-gap law and aggregation quenching, the efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) emitting above 800 nm is significantly lower than that of visible ones. Successful exploitation of triplet emission in phosphorescent materials containing heavy metals has been reported, with OLEDs achieving remarkable external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) up to 3.8% (peak wavelength > 800 nm). For OLEDs incorporating fluorescent materials free from heavy or toxic metals, however, we are not aware of any report of EQEs over 1% (again for emission peaking at wavelengths > 800 nm), even for devices leveraging thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). Here, the development of polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) peaking at 840 nm and exhibiting unprecedented EQEs (in excess of 1.15%) and turn-on voltages as low as 1.7 V is reported. These incorporate a novel triazolobenzothiadiazole-based emitter and a novel indacenodithiophene-based transport polymer matrix, affording excellent spectral and transport properties. To the best of knowledge, such values are the best ever reported for electroluminescence at 840 nm with a purely organic and solution-processed active layer, not leveraging triplet-assisted emission.

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) hold great promise as materials for novel, advanced electromechanical applications such as actuators, generators and sensors. [1] Choosing the right polymer for the blending approach is of utmost importance to improve the electro-mechanical properties of DEs. [2] A study in our laboratories shows that sub-percentage additions of various aromatic substances can increase electrical breakdown strength significantly via voltage stabilisation, due to an electron trapping effect. [3-5] In this work, improved electro-mechanical properties of silicone-based dielectric elastomers are achieved by means of adding so-called “voltage-stabilisers” prepared from phenyl-functional copolymers prepared using oxyanionic ring-opening polymerisation of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) and either tetramethyltetraphenylcyclotetrasiloxane (T4) or octaphenylcyclotetrasiloxane (O4). The concentration of the voltage stabiliser was varied both by changing the molar ratio between methyl and phenyl groups in the copolymer and also by varying the amount of copolymer mixed into a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based elastomer. The phenyl-functional copolymers were generally found to disperse homogeneously in the PDMS matrix and this resulted in networks with improved mechanical and electrical properties.

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) hold great promise as materials for novel, advanced electromechanical applications such as actuators, generators and sensors. [1] Choosing the right polymer for the blending approach is of utmost importance to improve the electro-mechanical properties of DEs. [2] A study in our laboratories shows that sub-percentage additions of various aromatic substances can increase electrical breakdown strength significantly via voltage stabilisation, due to an electron trapping effect. [3-5]

To obtain thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) with low hardness, dynamically vulcanized TPU/polybutadiene rubber(BR)(70/30) blends were prepared. The effect of dicumyl peroxide (DCP) content and stabilizers on the tensile strength and elongation at break of the dynamically vulcanized blends was examined. The tensile strength and elongation at break of the dynamically vulcanized blends decrease with increasing content of DCP. The addition of optimal content of stabilizer leads to the improvement of tensile strength and elongation at break of the blends. Also, the effect of sulfur cure systems and accelerators on the tensile strength and elongation of the blends was investigated. The tensile strength and elongation at break of all the dynamically vulcanized TPU/BR (70/30) blends using 1-step processing are not higher than those of simple TPU/BR (70/30) blends. However, the tensile strength and elongation of the dynamically vulcanized blends prepared at 8 min (mixing time) using 2-step processing are higher than those of the simple blends.

Superior plasticization efficiency was achieved by a grafting from functionalization of the PVC backbone. This was deduced to a synergistic effect of internal plasticization and improved intermolecular interactions between PVC and an oligomeric poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) ( PBSA) plasticizer. A mild grafting process for functionalization of the PVC chain by crotonic acid ( CA) or acrylic acid ( AA) was used. The formation of PVC-g-CA and PVC-g-AA was confirmed by FTIR and H-1 NMR. Grafting with the seemingly similar monomers, CA and AA, resulted in different macromolecular structures. AA is easily homopolymerized and long hydrophilic poly( acrylic acid) grafts are formed resulting in branched materials. Crotonic acid does not easily homopolymerize; instead, single crotonic acid units are located along the PVC chain, leading to basically linear PVC chains with pendant crotonic acid groups. The elongation of PVC-g-CA and PVC-g-AA in comparison to pure PVC were greatly increased from 6% to 128% and 167%, respectively, by the grafting reactions. Blending 20% ( w/w) PBSA with PVC, PVC-AA or PVC-CA further increased the elongation at break to 150%, 240% and 320%, respectively, clearly showing a significant synergistic effect in the blends with functionalized PVC. This is a clearly promising milestone towards environmentally friendly flexible PVC materials., QC 20170509

Many currently used refrigerants are potent greenhouse gases and therefore need to be replaced with lower global warming potential (GWP) fluids. The list of the proposed replacements includes a significant amount of refrigerant mixtures that exhibit large temperature glides during the phase change. The use of such refrigerants will affect the temperature distribution in evaporator and condenser and thus impact a refrigerating system behavior. The current work analyses the effect of refrigerant glide on the performance of refrigeration systems. The discussion is supported with experimental observations of two different refrigeration systems at different operating conditions. The results suggest that refrigerant glide have significant effect on performance of systems through means of temperature glide matching, refrigerant composition variation and heat transfer coefficient degradation. This effect differs depending on the refrigeration system design, type of evaporator/condenser and thermodynamic properties of refrigerant. Attending to the experimental results of the study, it is concluded that the possible advantages of temperature glide are not utilized at the conditions of drop-in replacements., QC 20211019

Nowadays, 90% of the worldwide vehicles work with fossil fuels. Use of fossil fuels contributes to the greenhouse effect and, to increase the pollution worldwide. Hydrogen has been suggested as a possible alternative to fossil fuels. However, the use of hydrogen as fuel implies using, different fuel tanks. Due to its lower energy density, hydrogen requires fuel tanks with larger volume than conventional fuels, for an equivalent amount of energy released. The larger tanks modify the external geometry of the vehicle and therefore the aerodynamics are also different. The aim of this project is to carry out an experimental and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of an Airbus A320 and a tanker truck for which the geometries have been modified accounting for the larger hydrogen fuel tanks needed. Then, the aerodynamic performances of the modified vehicles are compared with the reference conventional A320 and tanker truck. The software used in this analysis is ANSYS Fluent. As in other CFD analysis, the procedure we followed consisted of these steps: generation of the geometry, meshing, definition of the boundary conditions and the physics of the problem, solving, processing of the results. Firstly, the A320 and tanker truck fuel tank modelling have been done in order to stock up the same quantity of fuel as before and to keep an equivalent energy. The modelling process has been performed thinking about the worst possible aerodynamics case. Furthermore, the control volume dimensions have been chosen, that is, the fluid field domain around the target body. Dimensions of the control volume have to be sufficiently big in order to not disrupt the simulation. ANSYS Meshing allowed us to do the mesh. We have tried that cells were refined as much as possible into the interest zones. The mesh quality parameters have been considered to ensure that the simulation is reliable. For the Airbus A320 study, two simulations have been carried out, the first one without any modifica

[EN] Poly(lactic acid) (PIA) and poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) were blended and bionanocomposite films were prepared by solvent casting method adding 1 or 3 wt% of cellulose nanocrystals extracted from Carmagnola carded hemp fibres. Both unmodified (CNC) and surfactant modified (s-CNC) cellulose nanocrystals were loaded to PIA matrix or to PLA_PBS blend in order to produce binary or ternary formulations while the thermal, morphological, mechanical, optical and barrier properties of all the produced systems were deeply investigated. Mechanical analysis showed increased values of Young's modulus in binary and ternary formulations, more evident in the CNC based formulations. The presence of both CNC and s-CNC and the addition of PBS to PIA matrix provoked an improvement of barrier, properties. This behaviour could be related to the synergic ability of cellulose nanocrystals to increase the tortuous path of gas molecules with the increase in the crystallinity degree induced by the presence of PBS. The disintegration in composting conditions of different PLA and PLA_PBS based bionanocomposites was also investigated. The results showed that all the formulations disintegrated in less than 17 days while s-CNC were able to promote the disintegration behaviour although the PBS presence hinders the disintegrability. During the composting, the main chemical parameters were investigated in order to assess changes in the composition of the tested mixtures. The organic matter (OM) loss occurred in both control and in the PBS_PLA based bionanocomposites composts in the 90 days of treatment. Neverthless the total organic C content showed values >20; moreover a low concentration in heavy metals in both composts as recommended by the Italian and European law was observed. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The strength of dielectric screening is one of the most intriguing yet least studied contributing factors to the operation and performance limit of organic solar cell devices. Increasing the dielectric constant of semiconducting polymers may close the performance gap between inorganic and organic solar cell devices. Here, a dielectric constant of 16.7 is reported for a DPP-based low bandgap polymer DT-PDPP2T-TT and 7 for its 1:3 blend with [60]PCBM ([6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester) using frequency and voltage dependent capacitance and charge extraction by linearly increasing voltage (CELIV) techniques. The charge mobility within the blend device (1.8 x 10-3 cm2 V-1 s-1) is found to be among the highest reported by CELIV. Bimolecular recombination and charge carrier lifetime in efficient photovoltaic devices are measured and compared to poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):PCBM (1:1 w/w) and poly[2,6-(4,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta[2,1-b;3,4-b′]dithiophene)-alt-4,7(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)] (PCPDTBT):PCBM (1:2 w/w) devices. When normalized to mobility, the bimolecular recombination coefficient in DT-PDPP2T-TT:PCBM is a factor of 2 lower than in P3HT:PCBM and an order of magnitude lower than in PCPDTBT:PCBM. The recombination mechanism is found to be close to diffusion-controlled Langevin recombination. The reduced recombination is explained by a smaller Coulomb capture radius, which, together with higher charge mobility, leads to efficient charge extraction in photovoltaic devices with large active layer thicknesses approaching 300 nm.

The technological application of sensitized upconversion based on triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) requires the transition from systems operating in liquid solutions to solid-state materials. Here, we demonstrate that the high upconversion efficiency reported in hyper-cross-linked nanoparticles does not originate from residual mobility of the embedded dyes as it happens in soft hosts. The hyper-reticulation from one side blocks the dyes in fixed positions, but on the other one, it suppresses the nonradiative spontaneous decay of the triplet excitons, reducing intramolecular relaxations. TTA is thus enabled by an unprecedented extension of the triplet lifetime, which grants long excitons diffusion lengths by hopping among the dye framework and gives rise to high upconversion yield without any molecular displacement. This finding paves the way for the design of a new class of upconverting materials, which in principle can operate at excitation intensities even lower than those requested in liquid or in rubber hosts.

Biopolymers are biodegradable commonly, fragile, hydrophilic and have low thermal resistance, which has limited its commercial application. In contrast, synthetic polymers or derived from non-renewable resources generally lower cost and limited or minimal biodegradability, have good mechanical and thermal characteristics. The blend of biopolymers and synthetic polymers provides materials with properties and reasonable costs for certain applications. This article is a literature review on the main applications recently reported for the most important blends of biopolymers and biodegradable synthetic polymers. The literature search was performed with the "Tree of Science" tool and narratively. The results showed that mixtures of aliphatic and polysaccharide polymers are the most used in engineering applications biological tissues, control drug delivery and packaging industry., Corrientemente los biopolímeros son biodegradables, frágiles, hidrofílicos y tienen baja resistencia térmica, lo que ha limitado su aplicación comercial. En contraste, los polímeros sintéticos o derivados de recursos no renovables, generalmente de menor costo y de limitada o mínima biodegradabilidad, tienen buenas características mecánicas y térmicas. La mezcla de biopolímeros y polímeros sintéticos proporciona materiales con propiedades intermedias y costos razonables para ciertos usos. Este artículo es una revisión bibliográfica sobre las principales aplicaciones reportadas recientemente para las más importantes mezclas de biopolímeros y polímeros sintéticos biodegradables. La búsqueda de literatura se realizó con la herramienta “Tree of Science” y de manera narrativa. Los resultados mostraron que las mezclas de polímeros alifáticos y polisacáridos son las más usadas en aplicaciones de ingeniería de tejidos biológicos, liberación controlada de medicamentos y en la industria de empaques.

Water-soluble biopolymers (SBO) were isolated from the alkaline hydrolysate of two materials sampled from an urban waste treatment plant; that is, an anaerobic fermentation digestate and a compost. The digestate biopolymers contained more lipophilic and aliphatic C, and less acidic functional groups than the compost biopolymers. The SBO were blended with poly (vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene), hereinafter EVOH. The blends were extruded and characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, size exclusion chromatography (SEC)– multi angle static light scattering (MALS) analysis, and for their thermal, rheological, and mechanical properties. The blends behavior depended on the type of SBO and its relative content. Evidence was obtained for a condensation reaction occurring between the EVOH and SBO. The best results were obtained with the blends containing up to 10% SBO isolated from the biowaste anaerobic digestate. Compared with the neat EVOH, these blends exhibited lower melt viscosity and no significant or great difference in mechanical properties. The results on the extrudates, compared with those previously obtained on the same blends obtained by solvent casting, indicate that the blends properties depend strongly also on the processing technology.

This paper was inspired by a study of mixed metaphor as a meta-linguistic comment (Semino 2015) and builds on a previous conference presentation based on the 176 instances of the word pun preceded by an adjective in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), totalling 450M words. The data for the present study includes all 784 instances of pun in the corpus, and the material is analysed with respect to the characteristics of the pun, i.e. how the ambiguity is created (metaphor, metonymy, homonymy etc.) and what type of scenarios are invoked by the two senses. This is then compared to the quality of the pun as expressed in the metacomment. In a pun, two meanings are incongruously combined in the same utterance (e.g. Ross 1998: 8), in cognitive linguistic terms invoking two scenarios or mental spaces that can either be very detailed or fairly schematic. Theoretically, the study shows how a more specific level of abstraction often is involved in conceptualisation processes, as suggested by Johansson Falck (2013), “making the schema more concrete and easier to refer to” (2013: 216), and enabling the construction of a blended space by providing two input spaces that are rich enough to share a generic space and allow cross-space mappings (Fauconnier & Turner 2002). The present study builds on the idea that puns, like mixed metaphors, display a sensitivity to “specific scenarios rather than broad source domains” (Semino 2015: 28), and further explores the earlier tentative conclusion that quality does not seem to be related to how the ambiguity is created, but to whether there is a meaningful connection between the two scenarios. A good-quality pun seems easier to achieve if certain types of scenarios are involved by virtue of the context.

[EN] Recycled materials are characterized by having endured different reprocessing cycles that cause thermal degradation and by containing often a number of impurities from different sources. In this paper, is studied the calculation of which of these two factors analyzed has more weight in the fall of mechanical properties. To carry out such work has investigated an ABS recycled from alarm systems used in Textile garments sector with presence of impurities of a 4% of PE. The results show that in the case studied, for an ABS reprocessed twice with a presence of 4% of impurities, is obtained that the thermal degradation factor has a weight of 25%, meanwhile, the presence of impurities has a weight of 75% in the fall of its properties., [ES] Los materiales reciclados se caracterizan por haber soportado diferentes ciclos de reprocesados que provocan degradación térmica y por contener frecuentemente una serie de impurezas de distinta procedencia. En este trabajo se expone el cálculo de cuál de estos dos factores tiene más peso en la caída de propiedades mecánicas. Para la realización de dicho trabajo se ha investigado un ABS reciclado procedente de sistemas de alarma utilizadas en prendas del sector Textil con una presencia de impurezas del 4% de PE. Los resultados muestran que en el caso estudiado, un ABS reprocesado dos veces y con una presencia de impurezas del 4%, el factor de la degradación térmica tiene un peso de un 25%, mientras que el otro factor, la presencias de impurezas tiene un peso del 75% en la caída de propiedades.

A binary blend of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene-high-impact polystyrene (ABS-HIPS 50% wt) was prepared on a twin-screw extruder at 190-210 degrees C. The different properties were then analyzed using tensile strength and impact tests, melt flow index, thermogravimetric analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The analysis of mechanical properties showed a decrease in elongation at break and impact strength. FTIR analysis indicated heterogeneous distribution of the blend in injected pieces and scanning electron microscopic images show heterogeneous distribution of both ABS and HIPS phase. On the other hand, by varying the percentage of styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (SEBS) from 10 to 30% wt using a twin-screw extruder at 190-210 degrees C, we have prepared ternary blends of ABS-HIPS-SEBS. The addition of SEBS to the binary system ABS-HIPS allowed us to increase the ductile properties (elongation at break and impact strength), as well as reducing the viscosity.

The effect of altering the acceptor and exchanging a key atom in the polymer structure on the extent of non Langevin (suppressed) recombination has been examined using the polymer/fullerene photovoltaic blend PDTSiTTz:PC60BM. Time of flight data show that changing the acceptor from PC60BM to PC70BM maintains the non Langevin recombination. In contrast, altering the donor polymer by exchanging the silicon bridging atom for a carbon considerably reduces the non Langevin behavior. Importantly, the addition of a processing additive, diiodooctane (DIO), allows a partial recovery of this non Langevin recombination. The addition of DIO also decreases the ionization potential of the polymer, which not only explains the drop in open circuit voltage but may also contribute to the partial recovery of non Langevin behavior observed. It is proposed that localized, more crystalline areas of lower ionization potential (or higher electron affinity) within a mixed/amorphous phase may act as energy sinks for the holes (electrons), thus potentially inhibiting bimolecular recombination. Such a phenomenon could contribute to non Langevin behavior in organic photovoltaic blends.

[ES] El objetivo de este trabajo es mejorar las propiedades de alargamiento de las mezclas de ácido poliláctico (PLA) mediante la incorporación de polietileno de alta densidad de origen renovable así como el empleo de agentes de compatibilización basados en copolímeros de etileno y acetato de vinilo (EVA). Además estudiará la influencia del contenido de agente compatibilizante (EVA) en las propiedades, estructura y comportamiento general de las mezclas de PLA-HDPE así como se evlauará la evolución de las prestaciones en función de la composición del sistema.

Tato diplomová práce pojednává o polymer/anorganických nanokompozitech aplikovatelných v tenkých vrstvách s využitím v organické elektronice. Byla provedena studie modifikace aktivní vrstvy OLED zařízení. Modifikace byla provedena prostřednictvím inkorporace nanočásticového plniva anebo vytvořením "host-guest" systému v polymerních směsích. Byl zkoumán vliv modifikace na výsledné optoelektronické vlastnosti a stabilitu OLED zařízení, která byla z těchto materiálů připravena a charakterizována. Byla provedena diskuze a interpretace výsledků s ohledem na mikrofyzikální podstatu provedených modifika-cí., This diploma thesis deals with polymer/inorganic nanocomposites applicable in the organic electronic in form of thin films. A study of modification of active layer in the OLED devices was carried out. The modification was realized either via incorporation of inorganic nanoparticles into the active polymer or the second way was preparation of host-guest systems polymer blends. The influence of modification of the active layer on the optical and electrical performance of prepared OLED was investigated. Achieved results were discussed and interpreted within the microphysical framework of performed modifications., Ústav inženýrství polymerů