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Abstract Polylactide (PLA), a promising biodegradable and renewable polymer, finds many applications, particularly, used as biodegradable fiber in textile industry. The key is to improve its heat resistance. In this work, small amount of poly (D-lactide) (PDLA) was added firstly into poly (L-lactide) (PLLA) matrix to form stereocomplex polylactide (SC-PLA), which has much better heat resistance than that of PLLA matrix. Then two melting temperatures were adopted for fiber spinning, the one (210 °C) is far below the melting temperature of SC-PLA (i.e., 220–230 °C), and the other (225 °C) is close to the melting temperature of SC-PLA. The boiling water shrinkage and tensile strength of PLLA/PDLA fibers were investigated as function of PDLA content. It was found, the boiling water shrinkage could be largely reduced to as low as 5.6% and a satisfactory tensile strength (628 MPa) is achieved for fibers spun at 225 °C, compared with fibers spun at 210 °C (7.5% and 500 MPa, respectively), as the PDLA content is 3 wt%. SEM observation suggests a formation of nanofibrillar like SC-PLA structure as spun at 225 °C, while only spherical SC-PLA particles as spun at 210 °C. DSC result indicates that adding PDLA could largely enhance the crystallization rate of PLLA, but almost a constant crystallinity and SC-PLA content were observed for both spun fibers, disregarding the spinning temperatures. Herman's orientation parameters of spun fiber were obtained from 2D-WAXD, which suggests that fiber spun at 225 °C has higher orientation than that of fiber spun at 210 °C. Thus it can be concluded that the formation of nanofibrillar like SC-PLA and enhanced orientation degree contribute mainly to the improved heat resistance and tensile strength. This work presents a feasible and effective way to fabricate all-PLA-based fibers with the outstanding heat resistance by adding a small amount of PDLA and using a suitable spinning temperature. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • The influence of spinning temperature on the orientation and properties of PLLA/PDLA fibers was depicted in detail. • A critical PDLA content of increasing PLLA/PDLA fibers' heat resistant and mechanical property was revealed.. • All-PLA-based fiber with outstanding heat resistance was manufactured by melt spinning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Recently, powder metallurgy inspired low-temperature (below the melting temperature) sintering has been proposed as an innovative technology for the processing of eco-friendly stereocomplex-type polylactide (SC-PLA) from its nascent powder, without triggering noticeable thermal degradation. The physicochemical performances of the obtained SC-PLA products are governed by the newly formed SC crystallites with a remarkable ability to weld the interfaces between adjacent powder particles, however, the insufficient interdiffusion of poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) and poly(D-lactide) (PDLA) chains across the interfaces makes it challenging to form sufficient amounts of new SC crystallites. In the present work, we describe a facile and robust strategy to address this challenge by coating a trace amount (e.g., 0.001 wt%) of disentangled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the SC-PLA particle surfaces. During the subsequent sintering, these interface-localized CNTs can function as efficient nucleating agent to substantially promote the SC crystallization of PLLA/PDLA chains on their surfaces and finally countless SC crystallites are formed to strongly weld the interfaces as welded joints. Accordingly, SC-PLA/CNTs products possessing superb heat/solvent resistances and mechanical strength have been fabricated. Impressively, with the introduction of 0.001 wt% CNTs, the tensile strength is significantly enhanced from 45.8 MPa to 67.2 MPa. Most importantly, there is a linear relationship between the tensile strength and the content of the CNTs induced SC crystallites. Overall, this wok could provide a practical guidance for the design and fabrication of high-performance SC-PLA products through low-temperature sintering assisted by nanofillers like CNTs. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • SC-PLA products with superb performances has been fabricated by CNTs assisted low-temperature sintering. • The disentangled CNTs were coated on the surface of SC-PLA powder particles before sintering. • These CNTs can substantially promote SC crystallization across particle interfaces as nucleating agent. • Countless new SC crystallites are induced to strongly weld the interfaces and thus enhance the product performances. • The linear relationship between tensile strength and CNTs induced SC crystallites has been established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polypropylene (PP) was compounded with β-nucleating agent and injection-molded at 180 °C or 220 °C. The samples were subsequently treated by supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO 2 ) at different temperatures. Results show that processing temperature and scCO 2 treatment could strongly influence the tensile and impact properties of β-nucleated PP. In particular, the sample processed at 220 °C and treated at 120 °C exhibit much enhanced impact strength (4.8 times that of its untreated counterpart). FTIR, WAXD, SEM and DMA were performed to explore the effects of processing temperature and scCO 2 treatment on structure of the samples. Deformation-induced plastic flow and micro-voids were also evaluated to construct structure-property relations. It was found that the influence of processing temperature on mechanical properties is mainly associated with the β-form content and β-crystalline morphology, while the structural changes in the crystalline lamellar scale may be responsible for the toughening effect of scCO 2 treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective localization of nanoparticles at the interface of immiscible polymer blends has been witnessed as an efficient method to improve blend properties and even provide some added functionalities. Nevertheless, it is still a great challenge to achieve thermodynamically stable interface-localization of the nanoparticles mainly due to their low interfacial stabilities as well as high transfer speeds between the blend phases, especially for those with high aspect ratios. In this work, taking poly( l -lactide)/poly( d -lactide) grafted ethylene-acrylic ester copolymer/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (PLLA/EGD/MWCNTs) ternary composite as an example, we describe a new and facile strategy to address this challenge via anchoring high-aspect-ratio MWCNTs at the interface of PLLA/EGD blends using interface-localized stereocomplex (SC) crystallites as anchoring agents. During melt mixing of EGD with PLLA/MWCNTs mixture, such SC crystallites can be rapidly formed at the blend interface to prevent MWCNTs transferring from the thermodynamically unfavorable PLLA matrix into favorable EGD phase as physical barriers, and meanwhile some of these transferring MWCNTs could serve as nucleating agents to induce SC crystallization on their surfaces. As a result, many MWCNTs are firmly anchored at the blend interface by these SC crystallites. The anchored MWCNTs can not only function as effective interfacial enhancers to remarkably enhance interfacial strength and resulting impact toughness of PLLA/EGD blends but also enable the formation of electrical conductive pathway in the network-like PLLA/EGD blends at a much lower percolation threshold. This wok could offer a promising opportunity for preparing high-performance and multifunctional PLLA-based composites through controlling particle localization at the interface of immiscible PLLA blends with the aid of SC crystallization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterojunctioned architectures were facilely fabricated using hydrothermally treated electrospun TiO 2 nanofibers in an alkaline Sr(NO 3 ) 2 precursor solution in an electronic oven. TiO 2 on the fiber surface was partially dissolved into Ti 4+ to react with Sr 2+ in favor of the nucleation of SrTiO 3 on TiO 2 nanofibers, and thus a heterojunction was formed between SrTiO 3 and TiO 2 , which will benefit the improvement of photocatalytic activity. And then a multifunctional membrane was created by functionalizing the surface of commercial cellulose acetate (CA) membrane with heterojunctioned SrTiO 3 /TiO 2 nanofibers. This newly structured membrane exhibited excellent water purification performances in a concurrent photocatalytic membrane filtration system under the irradiation of UV light, because it is able to integrate the advantages of photocatalysis and membrane filtration while minimizes their disadvantages. The high water purification performances in terms of high photodegradation ability and high permeate flux are attributed to the high photocatalytic activity of heterojunctioned SrTiO 3 /TiO 2 nanofibers architectures and their structured porous functional layer favorable for fast water pass through. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of semicrystalline polymers is significantly dependent on the crystal morphology and lamellae orientation. In this work, the crystal superstructure and mechanical properties of polylactide (PLA) with different amounts of nucleating agent (tetramethylene-dicarboxylic dibenzoyl-hydrazide, TMC-306) were investigated. It was found that TMC-306 can be dissolved in PLA melt and re-crystallize into fibrils upon cooling. These fibrils can serve as nucleation templates to induce the crystallization of PLA on their surface, resulting in a large enhancement in crystallization rate. More importantly, PLA lamellae can grow perpendicular to the long axis of TMC-306 fibrils, inducing the formation of shish-calabash, shish-kebab and needle-like structures, depending on the concentration of TMC-306 used. Taking advantage of shear flow experienced in injection molding, TMC-306 fibrils tend to align in PLA melt along the shear flow direction, inducing the formation of highly orientated PLA lamellae in injection-molded articles. In this way, a simultaneous improvement in impact toughness, tensile strength and elongation at break is achieved. This work provides a good example of using a fibrous nucleating agent as a template to tailor the crystal morphology and lamellae orientation, thus achieving greatly enhanced properties for PLA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We facilely fabricate hierarchical 3D microspheres consisting of 2D V 2 O 5 (vanadium pentoxide) nanosheets by a low temperature hydrothermal method and use it to structure hierarchical 3D micro-/nano-LIBs (lithium ion batteries) cathode. This is a template-free and facile method easy for scale-up production of hierarchical 3D micro-/nano-structured V 2 O 5 spheres beneficial for high performance LIBs applications. Such a facile method resulted hierarchical 3D micro-/nano-V 2 O 5 possess many unique features good for LIBs: (1) 2D V 2 O 5 nanosheets facilitate the Li + diffusions and electron transports; (2) hierarchical 3D micro-/nano-cathode structure built up by V 2 O 5 nanosheet spheres will lead to the close and sufficient contact between electrolytes and activate materials and at the same time will create buffer volume to accommodate the volume change during discharging/charging process; and (3) micro-scale V 2 O 5 spheres are easy to result in high cell packing density beneficial for high power battery. As revealed by the experimental results, the micro-/nano-V 2 O 5 electrode demonstrates high initial discharge and charge capacities with no irreversible loss, high rate capacities at different currents and long-lasting lifespan. The high-energy and high-power performances of the micro-/nano-V 2 O 5 electrode is ascribed to the unique hierarchical micro-/nano-structure merits of V 2 O 5 spheres as abovementioned. In view of the advantages of facile fabrication method and unique features of 3D micro-/nano-V 2 O 5 spheres for high power and high energy LIB battery, it is of great significance to beneficially broaden the applications of high-energy and high-power LIBs with creating novel hierarchical micro-/nano-structured V 2 O 5 cathode materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, influence of matrix crystallization on the electrical conductivity and mechanical properties of poly( l -lactide)/multiwalled carbon nanotubes (PLLA/MWCNTs) nanocomposites has been investigated. By introducing trace amount of nucleating agent (0.15 wt%) and controlling isothermal crystallization time (0.1–8 min) of PLLA matrix in a hot mould (130 °C), the injection molded bars of the nanocomposites with different matrix crystallinities (5–45%) were prepared. Interestingly, the electrical conductivity is found to be linearly increased with increasing matrix crystallinity for nanocomposites with low concentrations of MWCNTs (below the percolation threshold). This could be attributed to the volume exclusion effect and the straightening effect of MWCNTs provided by PLLA crystallization, as evidenced from SEM observations. However, matrix crystallization induced reconstruction of MWCNTs network cannot effectively enhance the electrical conductivity when the concentration of MWCNTs is high enough (above the percolation threshold). More interestingly, the reconstructed MWCNTs network shows a better reinforcement effect in the nanocomposites as compared with that initially formed in the amorphous matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, bismuth/titanium oxide (Bi3+/TiO 2) composite nanofibers (herein after referred to as Bi/TiO 2) with enhanced physicochemical properties thus photocatalytic efficiency are successfully synthesized via electrospinning which maximizes the uniformity of Bi and Ti at molecular level. Bi/TiO 2 shows positive characterization through anatase crystallinity, large light utilization rate, high specific surface area and low electron holes pair recombination rate as a result of the novel materials synthesis approach. Glycerol as a typical pollutant of industrial wastewater, is used here to demonstrate the concurrent production of chean water and H 2 over the well synthesized Bi/TiO 2. Bi is incorporated to extend the light absorbance capability of TiO 2 to visible light region. Experimental data shows that 3% Bi/TiO 2 exhibits the highest H 2 generation and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) removal. The reduction of TOC of 8% means the conversion of glycerol into H 2 has been achieved, which is in favor of the production of clean water from highly polluted glycerol wastewater. An optimization study is undertaken by varying the calcination temperature to investigate properties-activity relationship of the new photocatalyst, which exhibited higher photocatlytic efficiency under both UV–visible and visible light compared with that of bare TiO 2. The mechanism illustration is derived from the novel materials synthesis and property optimization to explain the rationale behind this interesting phenomenon. It is worth to note that Bi/TiO 2 nanofibers represent a promising photocatalyst for environmental remediation and sustainability where it can be potentially used in glycerol by-product or waste from the industry under the renewable solar irradiation to generate H 2 and clean water simultaneously. [Display omitted] • Bi-incorporated TiO 2 nanofibers exhibited to be able to concurrently generate H 2 and clean water under solar irradiation. • Enhanced physico-chemical properties of Bi/TiO 2 nanofibers. • Enlarged specific surface area & unique mesoporosity. • Enhanced light absorption capability for better photocatalytic reaction, and. • Well-dispersed heterojunctions for an efficient electrons-holes separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adding titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) into Polylactide (PLA) matrix is an efficient way to improve the UV-resistance of PLA for outdoor applications. In this work, soft poly(ester)urethane elastomer was used to tailor the dispersion and distribution of TiO 2 nanoparticles and improve the toughness of PLA as well. It was observed that TiO 2 nanoparticels are selectively located at the interface between PU dispersed phase and PLA matrix to form a so called soft core-rigid shell structure. Interestingly, the addition of PU gives a significant rise to not only toughness, but also UV-resistance of PLA/TiO 2 composites. According to Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), the anhydride as the main photoproducts was confirmed for all the prepared samples, including PLA, PLA/PU blends, PLA/TiO 2 and (PLA/TiO 2 )PU nanocomposites, which indicates that the addition of PU or/and TiO 2 does not alter the photooxidation chemical mechanism of PLA. The enhancement of anti -UV performance is mainly ascribed to good UV-absorption ability of PU and TiO 2 nanoparticels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel airfoil flow field is proposed for fuel cells. • Airfoil flow field can enhance mass transfer while maintain low pressure drop. • Fuel cell with airfoil flow field is evaluated via experimental test and simulation. • Airfoil flow field increases the fuel cell's maximum power density effectively. • Airfoil flow field promotes the uniform distributions in fuel cells. Optimal configuration of bipolar plate (BP) embedding flow field is of great significance in improving the power density and durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Inspired by the airfoil in aircraft dividing the airflow into two streams causing pressure difference, a novel airfoil flow field (AFF) is designed to enhance the mass transfer capacity in channel and across the rib between two adjacent channels, which hardly increases the pressure drop in channel, unlike many baffle designs. The performance improvement achieved by implementing AFF in PEMFC is compared with common parallel flow field (PFF) and the wave flow field (WFF) by experimental test with respect to polarization curve and electrochemical loss and numerical simulation via a three-dimensional (3D) PEMFC model. The experimental results indicate that the novel AFF exhibits best fuel cell performance at various operation conditions (e.g. relative humidity, air stoichiometric ratio) mainly benefitted from the enhanced oxygen transfer, which contributes to the improvement of maximum power density by 8.85 % and 14.37 % compared to PFF and WFF, respectively. The modeling results indicate that the pressure drop increase in AFF is negligible compared with PFF, and is even slightly lower than WFF, indicating high practicability. Moreover, the utilization of AFF also helps the uniformity of oxygen concentration, current density and temperature in PEMFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable stereocomplex-type polylactide (SC-PLA) has been recognized as a potential substitute for some traditional engineering plastics, however its widespread application still faces several hurdles primarily related to poor melt processability (i.e., the unfavorable melt memory effect in SC crystallization as well as the low melt strength) and insufficient fracture toughness. To overcome these hurdles, an equimolar poly(l -lactide)/poly(d -lactide) (PLLA/PDLA) blend toughened with poly(ethylene -co- vinyl acetate) (EVA) has been chosen as a model system and a facile strategy has been devised by incorporating trace amounts (i.e., 0.5 wt%) of epoxy-functionalized oligo(styrene-acrylic) (ESA) into the PLLA/PDLA/elastomer blends through direct melt-blending at 200 °C. Such a one-pot blending not only facilitates the stereocomplexation between PLLA and PDLA chains but also permits the highly efficient reaction between terminal hydroxyl groups of some enantiomeric PLAs and epoxy groups of ESA before their stereocomplexation. This results in the in situ generation of large amounts of long-chain-branched PLA- graft -ESA copolymer in the SC-PLA matrix. Very impressively, the generation of this PLA- graft -ESA copolymer gives rise to a substantial improvement in the melt memory effect of the SC-PLA matrix. This copolymer behaves as a compatibilizer to stabilize regular PLLA/PDLA chain clusters in blend melts and hence to stimulate the exclusive formation of SC crystallites in melt-processed blend products. In addition, long PLA branches endow the matrix with a considerably enhanced melt viscosity owing to the increased interchain entanglement density. Consequently, highly stereocomplexed SC-PLA/EVA products with exceptional impact toughness and heat resistance as well as robust mechanical strength have been prepared by injection molding. More notably, this strategy can be generalized to various SC-PLA-based blends, irrespective of whether the elastomers have reactive groups. Overall, these exciting findings illustrate a promising avenue toward the design and applications of high-performance SC-PLA-based materials with excellent melt-processability via the generation of unique graft copolymers having long PLLA and PDLA branches. [Display omitted] • SC-PLA/elastomer blends with markedly enhanced melt processability are designed. • Long-chain-branched copolymers are in-situ generated during melt-blending with ESA. • The chain branching induces drastically enhanced melt memory effect and melt strength. • The blends have been injection-molded into super-tough and heat-resistant products. • Our strategy can be generalized to various SC-PLA-based blends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrathin and/or ultrasmooth selective layer is one of the paramount goals in membrane realm for maximizing separation efficiency and/or minimizing fouling tendency. Towards this goal, the architecture of hydrogel selective layer is finely tuned for the first time for improving engineered osmosis (EO) membrane performance. Through delicately controlling synthesis parameters, ultrathin selective layer as thin as 30 nm, and ultrasmooth selective layer with sub-1 nm roughness (the smoothest EO membrane in literature) are successfully synthesized respectively. Analysis of reverse osmosis (RO) experimental results reveals hydrogel layer resistance to water permeation is linearly reduced by 1.40 × 1013 m−1 as the layer is tailored thinner per 10 nm, which leads to the remarkable enhancement of water permeability by ~10 times from 0.49 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 of 500 nm thickness to 4.75 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 of 30 nm thickness. Pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) and forward osmosis (FO) tests indicate 45-nm-thick hydrogel layer achieves the maximum separation efficiency in terms of specific water flux (J W /J S). Moreover, the mechanism for tuning hydrogel layer architecture is discussed on the basis of microscopic characterizations. This study sheds new light on ultrathin and ultrasmooth selective layer for promoting EO membrane to smartly tackle different kinds of wastewater. Ultrathin and ultrasmooth hydrogel membranes are synthesized through fine-tuning selective layer architecture for smartly tackling different wastewaters via engineered osmosis with high separation performance. Image 1 • Hydrogel membrane architecture is fine-tuned for engineered osmosis. • Ultrathin hydrogel selective layer as thin as 30 nm is synthesized. • Ultrasmooth hydrogel selective layer with sub-1 nm roughness is achieved. • The effect of hydrogel layer architecture on separation performance is revealed. • Hydrogel membrane holds the promise to smartly tackle different wastewaters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stereocomplex-type polylactide (SC-PLA) has recently emerged as an up-and-coming engineering Bio-plastic because the SC crystallization between enantiomeric poly(l -lactide) (PLLA) and poly(d -lactide) (PDLA) can substantially enhance the heat resistance and hydrolytic stability. Unfortunately, it is exceedingly challenging for high-molecular-weight PLLA/PDLA blends to preferentially crystallize into SC crystals (SCs) during melt processing and the concomitant formation of homocrystals (HCs) causes a significant deterioration in physio-chemical properties of final products. Herein, a dibenzoylhydrazide compound has been utilized as an efficient nucleating agent (NA) for the SC crystallization of PLLA/PDLA blends. The results indicate that, in both non-isothermal and isothermal crystallizations, the SC crystallization is markedly promoted with the incorporation of 0.2–1.5 wt% NA. Specially, the enantiomeric blends with relatively high amounts (≥0.5 wt%) of NA are found to exclusively crystallize into SCs without any HCs formation. Meanwhile, the NA can accelerate the SC crystallization and reduce the crystal size. The preferential SC crystallization should be associated with the hydrogen-bonding interactions between PLAs and NA molecules, which could lower barriers for the nucleation and crystal growth of SCs. Our work provides a facile yet powerful strategy for the preparation of high-performance SC-PLA materials with exceptional SC crystallization ability. [Display omitted] • TMC can act as an efficient NA to promote the SC crystallization of PLLA/PDLA blends. • Exclusive formation of SCs is achieved after adding 0.5 wt% TMC into the blends. • The crystallization is greatly accelerated due to the increase in nucleation density. • The hydrogen bonding between TMC and PLA is responsible for the enhanced SC formation. • A facile strategy has been proved to develop SC-PLA with exceptional crystallizability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, stereocomplex-type polylactide (SC-PLA) has generated growing interest because the unique SC crystals can provide drastic improvement in the heat/chemical resistances and durability of bio-derived and biodegradable PLA, exhibiting great potential to compete with some petroleum-derived engineering plastics in diverse applications. However, SC-PLA suffers from poor melt memory effect as well as significant thermal degradation after being completely melted at temperatures above 250 °C, which make it challenging to converse SC-PLA into useful products using versatile melt-processing technologies. With these challenges in mind, in this work, we propose a facile and practical strategy to fabricate SC-PLA products with exceptional thermomechanical properties through low-temperature melt-processing of SC-PLA powder with a bimodal melting temperature distribution. The results show that the melting temperature (T m) bimodality makes SC-PLA powder able to be easily injection molded at a relatively low temperature of 210 °C (between the two T m s) due to the selective melting of the low- T m SC-PLA component (SC- l PLA, ca. 20–40 wt%), indicating a good melt-processability. Meanwhile, the high- T m SC-PLA (SC- h PLA) component can directly deliver its desirable properties to the injection molded SC-PLA products. More importantly, during the injection molding process, the unmelted SC- h PLA particles can also induce the exclusive SC crystallization of the SC- l PLA melt as nucleating agent and greatly amplify the shear stress imposed on the melt as "rigid particles", finally generating numerous oriented SC structure in the SC- l PLA. Consequently, the injection molded SC- h PLA/SC- l PLA products exhibit impressively high tensile strength (74.3 MPa) and Vicat softening temperature (211.6 °C). Overall, this work presents an effective guidance for achieving desirable melt-processability of SC-PLA without sacrificing its thermomechanical properties and provides an industrial processing route towards high-performance SC-PLA products. Image 106841 • SC-PLA products were fabricated by low-temperature melt-processing of bimodal SC-PLA powder. • The melting temperature bimodality plays a key role in achieving balanced melt-processability and product performance. • The SC- l PLA component can provide the powder with good low-temperature melt-processability. • The SC- h PLA component can endow the melt-processed products with exceptional thermomechanical performance. • SC- h PLA induced exclusive SC formation and crystal orientation can also contribute to the enhanced performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract As the most promising bio-derived and biodegradable polymers with tremendous application potential, the practical application of poly(l -lactide) (PLLA) has been severely restricted by its inherent brittleness. Unfortunately, blending with various rubbers can substantially enhance the toughness of PLLA, but usually causes a significant deterioration in mechanical strength and modulus. In this work, taking novel PLLA/core-shell rubber (CSR) blends as an example, we describe a facile and robust strategy to obtain good stiffness-toughness balance by promoting the networking of CSR particles within PLLA matrix with the aid of stereocomplex (SC) crystallites. To do this, small amounts (5–20 wt%) of poly(d -lactide) (PDLA) were incorporated into the blends through simple melt-blending. The results demonstrate that the CSR particles can be uniformly dispersed in PLLA matrix due to the good interfacial compatibility, but the stereocomplex (SC) crystallites formed between the incorporated PDLA and PLLA matrix chains induces the organization of the CSR particles into a network-like structure in the matrix. Compared with the well-dispersed structure, the network-like structure can endow the PLLA/CSR blends with dramatically enhanced impact toughness, without compromising their mechanical strength and modulus, indicating a marvelous balance between the stiffness and toughness. Furthermore, the elongation at break of the blends is also enhanced greatly. These interesting findings suggest that the formation of SC crystallites could provide a promising avenue for fabricating CSR particles toughened PLLA blends with balanced stiffness-toughness. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • A promising strategy to induce the networking of CSR particles in PLLA/CSR blends has been reported. • The CSR particles can be organized into a network-like structure in PLLA matrix under the drive of SC crystallites. • The SC crystallites is formed during melt mixing of the blends with small amounts of PDLA. • The formation of the network structure can significantly enhance the toughening efficiency. • The obtained PLLA/CSR/PDLA blends exhibit a balanced stiffness and toughness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, we proposed a novel strategy for fabricating high-performance stereocomplex-type polylactide (SC-PLA) products through low-temperature (180–210 °C, lower than the melting temperature of SC crystallites) sintering from its nascent powder, without serious thermal degradation involved in the conventional melt processing at higher temperatures. During the sintering, some poly( l -lactide) (PLLA) and poly( d -lactide) (PDLA) chains from adjacent powdery particles can interdiffuse across the interfaces and subsequently co-crystallize into new SC crystallites capable of welding the interfaces. The interfacial strength is dominated by the content of the newly-formed SC crystallites, however, the fast cocrystallization of PLLA/PDLA chains could hinder their sufficient interdiffusion at the interfaces and thus only limited interface-localized SC crystallites could be formed. In this work, we attempt to substantially promote the chain interdiffusion via depressing the cocrystallization rate. To do this, SC-PLA nascent powders with different optical purities of the lactate units were prepared, and the role of optical purity in directing the chain interdiffusion and cocrystallization has been investigated. Very interestingly, we demonstrate that decreasing optical purity (from 99.5 to 96%) is favorable for the formation of numerous SC crystallites at the interfaces because the lowering of cocrystallization rate enables more PLLA/PDLA chains to interdiffuse sufficiently before their cocrystallization. As a result, SC-PLA products with superior heat resistance have been fabricated by the sintering of low-optical-purity SC-PLA powder. These fascinating findings could not only provide new understanding on the low-temperature sintering mechanism of SC-PLA powders but also greatly expand the possibilities for the fabrication of SC-PLA products with superb properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Few measles outbreaks among adults are reported in China, and outbreak response costs are seldom documented. We report an adult measles outbreak and response in 4 linked office buildings in Beijing and its associated costs. Method The World Health Organization measles case definitions were used to determine suspected and confirmed measles cases. Surveillance data were used to describe the outbreak, and records and interviews of response staff were used to describe the response. Costs were determined by use of retrospective surveys of cases, review of records, and interviews of staff. Results The outbreak lasted 19 days, and involved 22 cases aged 23–49 years. Nineteen cases had a local household registration. All cases were employed by 8 companies in 4 linked office buildings. Among the 22 cases, 8 had temperature less than 38.5 degree, 18 had no Koplik spots and none had complications or hospitalizations. A total of 7930 contacts were identified, and of these, 6869 were employees in the office buildings. All the child contacts aged 8 months–14 years had been up-to-date for measles-containing vaccine (MCV); no adult could document their vaccination or measles history. Of contacts, about 96% were offered post-exposure vaccination. The total household costs were $13,298, or $605 per case. Control costs were $384,594, or $17,481 per case. Involved companies paid for 90.7% of control costs. Conclusion Office buildings provide a mechanism for measles transmission. Timely control activities were challenged by the highly infectious nature of measles and mild presentations of cases. The outbreak response was very costly. Financial support by involved companies can provide needed resources for outbreak management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preparation of elastomer/plastic blends with co-continuous structure is beneficial to achieve good shape recovery and fixing performances. In this work, carbon black (CB) nanoparticles with self-networking capability were introduced to tailor the phase morphology and shape memory properties of polylactide (PLA)/thermoplastic poly(ether) urethane (TPU) blend (70/30 by weight). A morphological change from sea-island structure to co-continuous structure was observed with increasing CB content. The strong affinities between CB nanoparticles and TPU as well as the self-networking capability of CB nanoparticles led to the formation of this co-continuous structure. With such novel structure, the PLA70/TPU30/CB ternary composites owned an outstanding shape memory property because the continuous TPU phase provided stronger recovery driving force. Moreover, the selective localization of CB nanoparticles in the continuous TPU phase imparted the composites with enhanced mechanical properties and excellent electrical conductivities with low filler content. The composites then showed a good electroactive shape memory behavior, which could recover to their original shape within 80 s at 30 V. Our work provides a universal strategy via CB self-networking to prepare double percolated conductive polymer composites with optimal shape memory properties and excellent electrical conductivities, which may promote specific applications in intelligent devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, rubber toughened polypropylene (PP) blends have been extensively investigated with special regard to the importance of PP matrix properties (e.g., crystal morphology and structure) in tailoring the toughening efficiency. Unfortunately, although high melt flowability is indispensable to the processing of polymers into complex thin-wall products, it remains a huge challenge to achieve a marvelous balance between stiffness and toughness in the blends with relatively low matrix molecular weight. Herein, taking PP/EPR (ethylene-propylene copolymer) blends as an example, the combined effects of matrix molecular weight and crystallinity on the mechanical properties of PP/EPR blends have been examined in both experiment and theory. The experimental results show that decreasing molecular weight leads to significant deterioration in notched impact toughness, tensile strength and Young's modulus. Impressively, the toughness loss caused by the decrease of molecular weight can be well-compensated by a slight reduction in the matrix crystallinity, without evidently sacrificing the strength and modulus, demonstrating an improved stiffness-toughness balance. Theoretical analysis indicates that the impact toughness of PP/EPR blends is heavily dependent on the chain entanglement density (v e) of PP matrix, and a linear relationship between critical interparticle distance (ID c) and the v e 1/3 has been verified from both experiment and theory. Moreover, it is interesting to find that decreasing matrix crystallinity can increase the v e of low-molecular-weight PP matrix, which enables the effective toughening at lower concentration of EPR and thus gives rise to less loss in the strength and modulus. We believe this work not only gives a new insight into the role of chain entanglement in the toughening but also provides a promising guidance for the design of high-performance PP with high melt flowability. [Display omitted] • Combined effects of M n and crystallinity on the toughening efficiency of PP/EPR blends were studded. • The relationship between the ID c and v e of PP matrix i.e. ID c ∼ v e 1/3 , was given for the first time. • Matrix with higher M n or lower crystallinity has higher v e , exhibiting larger ID c. • Toughness loss caused by decreasing M n can be compensated by reducing crystallinity. • Low-viscosity PP/EPR blends with good toughness-stiffness balance were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we report that super-toughened and high-strength polylactide/poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PLA/PBAT) blends can be successfully prepared by interfacial compatibilization and dynamic vulcanization during reactive melt-blending with small amounts (0.5–3 wt %) of epoxy-functional styrene-acrylic oligomers (ESA). The results show that the compatibilization is realized with the grafting of some PLA and PBAT chains onto ESA backbones to in-situ generate PLA- graft -PBAT copolymers at the blend interface. Meanwhile, the ESA-mediated vulcanization gives rise to the highly cross-linked PBAT particles with a unique network-like distribution in the PLA matrix. Both the strengthened interfaces and networked PBAT particles are favorable to the triggering of massive matrix plastic deformation required for effective energy dissipation and thus the toughening effect is substantially enhanced. Impressively, the notched Izod impact toughness and elongation at break of the PLA/PBAT (70/30) blends can reach as high as 62.4 kJ/m2 and 232%, while the tensile strength increases from 44.2 MPa to 51.5 MPa, indicating a balanced toughness and strength. Most notably, it is demonstrated that tuning the molecular structure of ESA (i.e., epoxy group density and backbone length) is essential to improving the interfacial adhesion and phase morphology, enabling high toughening efficiency. Our facile yet robust strategy presents an unprecedented opportunity for the development of high-performance fully biodegradable PLA blends. [Display omitted] • Full biodegradable PLA/PBAT blends with balanced toughness and strength are prepared. • Dynamic vulcanization leads to the highly cross-linked PBAT domains in PLA matrix. • Copolymers are in-situ generated at the interface for effective compatibilization. • The formation of PBAT particle network is responsible for the desired properties. • The key role of ESA structure in tailoring the morphology and properties is verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymeric materials with alternating multi-layer structure have gained much attention in the field of biomimic, where many methods were used to prepare materials with such structure for various functionalities. A simple method based on high speed thin-wall injection molding (HSTWIM) has been proposed in our previous studies for the easy fabrication of multi-layer functional polymeric materials. Herein, the effect of various injection processing parameters: injection distance, injection speed, mold temperature and mold thickness on the phase morphology and molecular orientation is studied. The processing condition induced changes in flow field, temperature field, viscosity and shear time are thought to largely influence the confinement of melt during processing, thus, their final phase morphology. It is observed that moderate injection distance, moderate injection speed, moderate mold temperature and thin mold favors the formation of such alternating multi-layer structure. Such study could provide guidelines for the fabrication of functional multi-layered structure through HSTWIM as well as control of phase morphology through confined flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are principally two mechanisms to improve the impact resistance of polymer-based composites, intrinsic toughening and extrinsic toughening. But the interplay between them is far from being well understood. Here, glass fiber was incorporated into polypropylene to promote extrinsic toughening mechanism, while addition of elastomer and annealing were adopted for intrinsic toughening. In this way, the interaction among glass fiber, elastomer and annealing could be discussed based on various characterizations, and their combined effect on mechanical properties of the composites could be determined. The results show that the intrinsic toughening mechanism of elastomer will be suppressed by glass fiber irrespective of the support of annealing, though annealing could work synergistically with glass fiber to toughen polypropylene. The possible structure-property relations are discussed. This work will provide deeper insight into the toughening behavior of polymer composites and practical guidance for the design of composites with excellent stiffness-toughness balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bio-degradable polylactide (PLA) based composites has attracted much attention both in academic research and industrial applications in recent decades due to the increasing environmental concerns. In this work, we tried to obtain PLA based composites with good stiffness-toughness balanced properties by adjusting carbon fiber (CF) network in polylactide (PLA) matrix via adding a small amount of soft poly(ether)urethane (PU). It was interesting to find that PU could serve as “solder” to weld CF into a more perfect network due to the fact that PU has stronger interaction with CF as compared with PLA and improve the interface interaction between CF and PLA meanwhile. The self-weld CF network structure was confirmed by SEM characterizations, rheology and conductivity tests. More importantly, the formation of self-weld network structure constructed by both stiff CF and ductile PU elastomer can simultaneously improve tensile strength, impact toughness and even electrical conductivity of PLA. This inspiring result demonstrates that the addition of soft elastomer which has a strong interaction with fiber into fiber-reinforced polymers could be a universal platform to improve the performance of polymer composites via tuning fibers network and the interfacial interaction between fibers and polymer matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymer blending has been intensively investigated in recent decades because it is a simple way to achieve high-performance polymeric materials. It has been demonstrated that the properties of polymer blends are largely determined by its phase morphology. Recently, a change of sea-island morphology to a unique co-continuous-like structure was observed by adding a small amount of filler particles with self-networking capability in polymer blends. The formation of co-continuous-like structure can impart polymer blends with a good stiffness-toughness balance. However, the underlying mechanism for the formation and evolution of this structure is still not clear. In this work, three types of carbon black (CB) with different self-networking capabilities was used to tailor the phase morphology of polylactide (PLA)/poly(ether)urethane (PU) blend with fixed ratio (85/15 wt/wt). It was found that adding CB with high self-networking capability could lead to an easier formation of co-continuous-like structure compared with those with low self-networking capability, as confirmed by SEM observations. The CB induced co-continuous-like structure was further investigated by rheology time sweep tests. It was found that the formation process and stability of co-continuous-like structure is not only dependent on CB content and CB self-networking capability, but also on sweep temperature and frequency. This work gives a deep insight into the key role of the self-networking capability of fillers in controlling the phase morphology of immiscible polymer blends which can provide guidance for preparing high-performance polymeric materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a novel thermoplastic elastomer, olefin block copolymers (OBCs) show a tremendous application potential in many areas. However, the practical use of OBCs is mainly restricted to the low load-bearing environments because of its poor low-strain mechanical strength and stiffness. In this work, short Kevlar fiber was introduced into OBC matrix to improve its mechanical properties. The results show that introduction of pristine Kevlar fiber only gives rise to a slight increase in tensile strength of OBC owing to the poor interfacial strength, regardless of the presence of compatibilizer maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (MA-g-PP). However, a largely enhanced tensile strength can be easily obtained when hydrolyzed or polydopamine-coated Kevlar fiber was incorporated into the OBC matrix using the MA-g-PP as the reactive compatibilizer. More importantly, the tensile strength can be further enhanced with the orientation of Kevlar fiber in the composites. As compared with compression molded composites with randomly orientated fibers, injection molded composites with highly oriented fibers exhibit a significantly higher tensile strength at the same composition. Moreover, it is interesting to observe that Kevlar fiber can be easily exfoliated into several microfibers during melt-mixing with OBC, but the exfoliation has no evident effect on the reinforcement effect possibly because of the poor interfacial strength between the newly-formed microfibers and the OBC matrix. Our work demonstrates that mechanical performance of short fiber reinforced elastomer composites could be significantly improved by enhancing interfacial strength and fiber orientation using a facile surface modification strategy and conventional melt-processing technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite of its enormous application potential as a prominent engineering bioplastic, the processing of the stereocomplex-type polylactide (SC-PLA) formed from poly(l -lactide)/poly(d -lactide) (PLLA/PDLA) blends into useful products remains challenging. Recently, low-temperature sintering has emerged as a feasible and promising processing technology towards transparent highly-crystalline SC-PLA products. During the sintering of SC-PLA nascent powder, the interfaces between adjacent particles could be bound together through SC crystallization of interdiffused PLLA and PDLA chains across the interfaces. However, the massive generation of the interface-localized SC crystallites is significantly impaired by the insufficient chain interdiffusion resulting from the rapid SC crystallization. In this work, miscible poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is adopted to substantially promote the chain interdiffusion by fundamentally diminishing the SC crystallization rate. Intriguingly, we find that the crystallization of PLLA/PDLA chains is greatly decelerated with the incorporation of PMMA and thus more enantiomeric PLA chains could interdiffuse through the interfaces before their crystallization. Moreover, the PMMA is also favorable for the particle wetting of the densified nascent powders, which makes it easier for the enantiomeric chains to interdiffuse across the interfaces. The promoted chain interdiffusion leads to an evident increase in the number of the newly-generated SC crystallites and resulting interfacial weld strength. Consequently, the sintered SC-PLA products possessing superior thermomechanical properties and markedly enhanced hydrolytic resistance have been fabricated by incorporating 9 wt% PMMA, without compromising transparency. These findings could bode well for the industrial fabrication and applications of SC-PLA products. Image 1 • PMMA has been used to improve the low-temperature sintering of SC-PLA nascent powder. • The PMMA can promotes the interdiffusion of PLLA/PDLA chains across the particle interfaces. • Both the decelerated crystallization and enhanced particle wetting contribute to the promotion of the chain interdiffusion. • Sufficient amounts of interface-localized SC crystallites are generated to achieve mechanically robust interfaces. • The obtained SC-PLA products have superior thermomechanical properties, transparency, and hydrolytic stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stereoblock copolymerization is regarded an appealing strategy to substantially enhance the melt stability (i.e., the survival ability of the intermolecular collaboration between poly(l -lactide) (PLLA) and poly(d -lactide) (PDLA) upon melting) of high-molecular-weight (high-MW) stereocomplex-type polylactide (SC-PLA), however it usually suffers from complicated synthetic procedures and even impaired sustainability. Herein, solid-state transesterification (SST) has been devised as a facile and robust route to prepare unique multi-stereoblock PLA copolymers with outstanding melt stability and unexpectedly strong crystallizability from commercial available linear high-MW PLLA/PDLA (50/50) blends. The SST was performed through low-temperature (i.e., 180 °C) melt-blending of PLLA and PDLA in the presence of trace amounts (0.03–0.035 wt%) of catalysts, where the enantiomeric PLA chains could rapidly co-crystallize into solid-state SC crystallites upon melting and subsequently the hetero-chain transesterification reaction occurs exclusively in the mobile amorphous phase of the pre-formed SC crystallites. As a result, multiblock-like PLLA- b -PDLLA- b -PDLA copolymers with long crystallizable PLLA and PDLA blocks are in-situ generated. The results show that high-content SC crystallites can be exclusively formed in the melt-crystallization of the copolymers even at high cooling rates (e.g., 40 °C/min) and low temperatures (e.g., 140 °C). More interestingly, the presence of the non-crystallizable PDLLA blocks not only does not disturb the SC crystallizability of the enantiomeric PLA blocks, as evidenced by the same high crystallinity and melting temperature as those of starting PLLA/PDLA blends, but also increase the crystallization rate by stabilizing the clusters of ordered PLLA/PDLA segments in the copolymer melt. Overall, these findings could open a new pathway to develop melt-processible all SC-PLA for engineering applications. Image 1 • Unique stereoblock PLA copolymers are prepared via solid-state transesterification (SST). • The SST was performed during low-temperature melt-blending of high-MW PLLA and PDLA. • SC crystallites rapidly formed are subjected to hetero-chain reaction in the amorphous phase. • Multiblock-like PLLA- b -PDLLA- b -PDLA copolymers with long crystallizable blocks are in-situ generated. • The obtained copolymers possess outstanding melt stability and strong crystallizability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a popular "green" engineering plastic, stereocomplex-type polylactide (SC-PLA) exhibits great application potential in various fields owing to its outstanding physicochemical performance and durability. However, the applications of SC-PLA still face formidable challenges mostly associated with its inferior melt-processability (i.e., the weak melt memory effect to motivate exclusive SC crystallization and extremely low melt viscosity) and the lack of necessary functional features (e.g., electrical conductivity) in some cases. Herein, we devise a facile and robust strategy to overcome these obstacles by incorporating carbon black (CB) into equimolar poly(L-lactide)/poly(D-lactide) (PLLA/PDLA) blend. It is interesting to find that the CB particles can adsorb many PLLA/PDLA chain segments on their surface and such strongly adsorbed PLA segments could interact with PLA chains outside the surface to form physical junctions capable of stabilizing the PLLA/PDLA chain assemblies in the melt, finally inducing the exclusive SC formation during subsequent crystallization. Meanwhile, the CB particles can substantially enhance the melt viscosity of the blend (from 3.9 Pa s to 844.1 Pa s when measuring at 250 °C and 50 Hz). Because of the greatly improved melt-processability, the PLLA/PDLA/CB composites have been successfully processed into highly crystalline products with exclusive SC crystallites and excellent thermomechanical performance by injection molding. Additionally, the CB particles can endow the composite products with fascinating electrical conductivity (19.0 S/m) and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness (26.6 dB). This work could open up a promising avenue towards high-performance and multifunctional PLA engineering Bioplastic. Image 1 • CB particles are used to improve the melt-processability and electrical performance of SC-PLA. • The CB particles exhibit strong adsorbability for PLLA/PDLA chain segments. • The adsorbed PLA segments contribute to the greatly enhanced melt memory effect and melt viscosity. • The PLLA/PDLA/CB composites can be injection molded into products with exclusive SC crystallites. • The obtained products possess superb thermomechanical and electrical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]