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For thermal energy storage, the most promising method that has been considered is latent heat storage associated with molten salt mixtures as phase-change material (PCM). The binary salt mixture lithium chloride—lithium hydroxide (LiCl–LiOH) with a specific composition can store thermal energy. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no information on their thermal stability in previous literature. The key objectives of this article were to investigate the thermophysical properties, thermal repeatability, and thermal decomposition behavior of the chosen binary salt mixture. FactSage software was used to determine the composition of the binary salt mixture. Thermophysical properties were investigated with a simultaneous thermal analyzer (STA). The thermal results show that the binary salt 32 mol% LiCl-68 mol% LiOH melts within the range of 269 °C to 292 °C and its heat of fusion is 379 J/g. Thermal repeatability was tested with a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) for 30 heating and cooling cycles, which resulted in little change to the melting temperature and heat of fusion. Thermal decomposition analysis indicated negligible weight loss until 500 °C and showed good thermal stability. Chemical and structural instability was verified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) by analysing the binary salt system before and after thermal treatment. A minor peak corresponding to lithium oxide was observed in the sample decomposed at 700 °C which resulted from the decomposition of LiOH at high temperature. The morphology and elemental distribution examinations of the binary salt mixture were carried out via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was conducted for surface analysis, and their elemental composition verified the chemical stability of the binary salt mixture. Overall, the results confirmed that the binary salt mixture is a potential candidate to be used as thermal energy storage material in energy storage applications of up to 500 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecularly imprinted polyacrylamide cryogels were synthesized with pending templates (bovine serums of different concentrations). As the serum concentrations increased in the monomer solutions, the resulting cryogels could adsorb and deplete more proteins from serum samples. Due to the addition of vinyltriethoxysilane (VTEOS) in the prepolymerizing solutions, the polymers came as organic-inorganic hybrid materials. It endued the silica-modified amphoteric polyacrylamide cryogels with improved mechanical strengths. Scanning electron micrography (SEM), Infrared (IR) spectrometry, thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were carried out to characterize these macroporous polymers. Amphoteric cryogels proved to be favorable materials recognizing and binding proteins. When used as liquid chromatography stationary phases, they were capable of simultaneously adsorbing various serum proteins. Electrophoresis showed that abundant proteins were gradually depleted by the cryogels prepared from increased ratios of bovine serums in the monomer solutions. As abundant proteins are always imprinted first, this sample per se imprinting method provides an effective and convenient way to deplete abundant proteins from complex samples such as serums, meanwhile concentrating and collecting scarce species therein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]