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Selective oxidation of methane to organic oxygenates over metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) catalysts at low temperature is a challenging topic in the field of C1 chemistry because of the inferior stability of MOFs. Modifying the surface of Cu-BTC via hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) at 235 °C under vacuum not only can dramatically improve its catalytic cycle stability in a liquid phase but also generate coordinatively unsaturated Cu(I) sites, which significantly enhances the catalytic activity of Cu-BTC catalyst. The results of spectroscopy characterizations and theoretical calculation proved that the coordinatively unsaturated Cu(I) sites made H 2 O 2 dissociative into •OH, which formed Cu(II)-O active species by combining with coordinatively unsaturated Cu(I) sites for activating the C−H bond of methane. The high productivity of C1 oxygenates (CH 3 OH and CH 3 OOH) of 10.67 mmol g cat. −1 h −1 with super high selectivity of 99.6% to C1 oxygenates was achieved over Cu-BTC-P-235 catalyst, and the catalyst possessed excellent reusability.

Strain XMGL2

MIL-100 and MIL-101 were synthesized and evacuated to generate a series of heterogeneous catalysts for isomerization of 1-butene. Their crystal structures and pore properties were characterized by ...

Two membrane bioreactors with and without adding an electric circuit (named as MFC-MBR and C-MBR, respectively) were established to investigate the effects of micro-electric field on membrane fouling. With the aeration rate of 1.5 L/min, the synergistic effect of aeration and micro-electric field was the best in reducing membrane fouling and COD in treatment of a simulated phenol wastewater. Compared with C-MBR, the running time of MFC-MBR was extended for 16 days. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray detector (SEM-EDX) demonstrated that less foulants were attached to the membrane and the attachment was loosend in MFC-MBR. The decreased absolute value of zeta potential indicated repulsion among the negatively-charged sludge particles was reduced and flocculation of the sludge was improved, which alleviated the membrane fouling. The soluble microbial products (SMP) and loosely-bound extracellular polymeric substances (LB-EPS) were also decreased in MFC-MBR. It was found that migration and neutralization of the negatively-charged particles, and degradation of microorganisms contributed to the alleviation of membrane fouling. Moreover, the decreases of carbohydrates in LB-EPS led to higher protein/carbohydrates (PN/PS) ratio, which was a key parameter for alleviating membrane fouling. Meanwhile, the increase of tightly bound extracellular polymeric substances (TB-EPS) could also slow down membrane fouling. Because TB-EPS can be used as a binder to strengthen the flocculation of sludge particles.

Photocatalytic removal of NH

A biocathode microbial fuel cell was constructed to investigate Congo red decolorization and power generation under different cathode operational parameters. The results showed that the suspended sludge in the cathode could improve the performance of the microbial fuel cell for electricity generation but had a negligible effect on the Congo red decolorization. The maximum voltage increased as the aeration rate was increased up to 100 mL/min. At aeration rates of 150 and 200 mL/min, the maximum voltage was lower than that at 100 mL/min. In the meantime, the Congo red decolorization efficiency decreased with increasing cathode aeration rate. These results showed that excessive aeration is not favorable in a bio-cathode microbial fuel cell used for simultaneous Congo red decolorization and electricity generation. The addition of Mn2+ to the biocathode resulted in a 74.5% increase in maximum power density but had no effect on Congo red decolorization. SEM and 16S rRNA sequencing analysis confirmed that Mn2+ was involved in the electrochemical reaction of the biocathode as an electron mediator, and it could induce a difference in the biocathode-attached populations.

Ethyl acetate content has strong influence on the style and quality of Baijiu. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Y3401 on the production of ethyl acetate by Wickerhamomyces anomalus Y3604. Analysis of cell growth showed that Y3401 influences Y3604 by nutrient competition and inhibition by metabolites, while the effect of Y3604 on Y3401 was mainly competition for nutrients. Mixed fermentation with two yeasts was found to produce more ethyl acetate than a single fermentation. The highest yield of ethyl acetate was 2.99 g/L when the inoculation ratio of Y3401:Y3604 was 1:2. Synergistic fermentation of both yeasts improved ethyl acetate production and increased the content of other flavor compounds in liquid and simulated solid-state fermentation for Baijiu. Saccharomyces cerevisiae had a positive effect on ethyl acetate production in mixed culture and provides opportunities to alter the aroma and flavor perception of Baijiu.

We identified physicochemical, volatile compound, and microbial community differences between three grades of roasted-sesame-like flavored Daqu. The Daqu grades had different physicochemical characteristics. The concentrations and proportions of various esters reflected sensory evaluations of the Daqu classes but no rule linking the flavor compound types and concentrations to Daqu grade was identified. The prokaryotic microorganism communities were similar in premium- and first-grade Daqu but very different in general-grade Daqu. The eukaryotic microorganism communities in premium- and general-grade Daqu were similar, but the genus abundances were more similar in the premium- and first-grade Daqu samples than in premium- and general-grade Daqu.

Background Daqu, the saccharification, fermentation, and aroma-producing agents for Baijiu brewing, is prepared using a complex process. Aging is important for improving the quality of Daqu, but its impact has rarely been studied. This study investigated changes in the physicochemical properties, flavor compounds, and microbial communities during aging of Daqu with a roasted sesame-like flavor. Results The physicochemical properties changed continuously during aging to provide a high esterifying activity. Aging removed unpleasant flavor compounds and helped to stabilize the flavor compounds in mature Daqu. A high-throughput sequencing approach was used to analyze the changing composition of the microbial communities during aging. Aging helped to modify the microbial population to produce better Baijiu by eliminating low-abundance microbial communities and optimizing the proportion of predominant microbial communities. Nine genera of prokaryotic microbes formed the core microbiota in Daqu after aging. Regarding eukaryotic microbes, Zygomycota, the predominant community, increased in the first 2 months, then decreased in the third month of aging, while Ascomycota, the subdominant community, showed the opposite behavior. Absidia, Trichocomaceae_norank and Rhizopus were the predominant genera in the mature Daqu. Conclusions Significant correlations between microbiota and physicochemical properties or flavor compounds were observed, indicating that optimizing microbial communities is essential for aging Daqu. This study provides detailed information on aging during Daqu preparation.

In this work, removal of antipyrine was studied through two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) electrolysis. 2D electrolysis was firstly studied with the Ti/SnO2-Ta2O5-IrO2 anode as working electrode. Operating parameters affecting antipyrine removal, such as current density, electrode distance, and initial concentration of antipyrine, were investigated and optimized. As the limited antipyrine removal efficiency of 48.0% was not satisfying, 3D electrolysis with γ-Al2O3 as particle electrodes was introduced in the purpose of improving the antipyrine removal. An obviously enhanced removal efficiency of 78.3% was obtained, which seemingly validated the effect of particle electrodes in improving antipyrine removal. Hence, an effort to further enhance the antipyrine removal efficiency was made through improving the electrochemical characteristics of γ-Al2O3 as particle electrodes. Modified Sn-Sb-Bi/γ-Al2O3 particles were thus prepared through impregnation method. And a desirable antipyrine removal efficiency of 94.4% and energy consumption of 0.18 kWh/g antipyrine were achieved in the 3D electrolysis with Sn-Sb-Bi/γ-Al2O3 as particle electrodes. Furthermore, possible mechanism and pathway of antipyrine degradation in 3D electrolysis were explored through detection of ·OH using terephthalic acid fluorescent probe method and detection of antipyrine degradation intermediates using LC-MS.

SSVEP-BCIs have attracted extensive attention because of high information transfer rate. High-speed BCIs need to collect sufficient user's own data to train optimal subject-specific parameters. However, one of the challenges which limits the real-life application of BCIs is the time-consuming and tiring calibration process. This study developed two cross-subject frameworks. One of them uses data from all training subjects to train task-related component analysis based spatial filters (all-to-one, A2O), and the other uses data from each training subject to train task-related component analysis based spatial filters (one-to-one, O2O). Both of them do not need calibration process for a new user. The study further proposed O2O with threshold (O2O-Thr) to increase the reliability of recognition process. The proposed strategies can exploit information from existing subjects' SSVEP data and transfer it to new users. The performance of these methods was compared using an 8-class SSVEP dataset recorded from 10 subjects. O2O-Thr achieves average accuracy of 94.6% with data length of 1.5 seconds. The proposed methods have great potential for building subject-independent BCI that do not require any calibration data from new users, which make BCI more practical and user-friendly.

Additional file 2: Figure S1. The clustering analysis was performed using UPGMA, which is a type of hierarchical clustering method based on unweighted UniFrac distance metrics, and showed the relationship of the prokaryotic communities in the four samples. Figure S2. PCoA analysis of the prokaryotic communities in the four samples. Figure S3. The clustering analysis was performed using UPGMA, which is a type of hierarchical clustering method based on unweighted UniFrac distance metrics, and showed the relationship of the eukaryotic communities in the four samples. Figure S4. PCoA analysis of the eukaryotic communities in the four samples.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Volatile compounds identified in RSF Daqu samples.

In this study, a forward osmosis coupled with electrochemical oxidation (FO-EO) process was used to achieve simultaneous rejection and degradation of 15 pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in wastewater. The influence of wastewater effluent organic matter (EfOM) on PhACs removal was investigated. Sodium alginate (SA), humic acid (HA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were used as model organics to represent major constituents of EfOM. Results demonstrated that a generally negative influence of SA on PhACs rejection was observed due to membrane fouling in FO processes. During FO-EO processes, high rejection (>95%) and degradation efficiencies (>94%) of 15 PhACs were achieved simultaneously. With the presence of model organics in feed, adverse impacts on PhACs degradation were observed in the order of HA > BSA > SA. Results of UV and EEM fluorescence spectroscopy detection verified the competition of EfOM with PhACs for electrochemical oxidation, further proving the role of natural organic matter (NOM) and proteins in impeding the PhACs removal in FO-EO processes. Moreover, degradation products of PhACs were identified. And the acute toxicity of the feed was decreased after treated by FO-EO processes although the mineralization of PhACs was partially achieved. Furthermore, PhACs in actual secondary effluent were well removed by FO-EO processes, exhibiting a desirable application performance.

Stimuli-responsive hydrogels have been considered to have various applications in numerous fields. In the present work, a double-network (DN) hydrogel has been synthesized. The copolymers of 2-acrylamide-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS) and acrylamide (AM) [P(AMPS- co-AM)] are prepared as the 1st network and poly(acrylic acid) as the 2nd network. This DN hydrogel is sensitive to glucose by introducing the glucose-sensitive group phenylboronic acid to the network. The tribological properties of this glucose-sensitive DN hydrogel have been investigated using a universal mechanical tester (UMT-5). The tribological results show that the friction coefficient varied with the glucose solution. The friction coefficient increased to a maximum of 0.06, and finally decreased to 0.025 with the increase in the glucose concentration. An adjustable friction coefficient of the hydrogel, between 0.025 and 0.056, was achieved along with the change of lubricant. According to the tribological experimental results and the analysis of the DN structure, it can be deduced that a hydrated layer exists in the interface of the hydrogel. The hydrated layers consisting of water molecules are bounded with the hydrophilic group of the hydrogel network by hydrogen bonds. The change in the number of water molecules leads to the difference in the water content of the hydrogel, which further resulted in the various tribological properties. In addition, the hydrogel's mesh size also has an impact on the change in friction coefficient. In general, the adjustable friction of the hydrogel in a glucose environment is achieved.

This study evaluated the feasibility of phenol degradation in microbial fuel cell (MFC) and membrane bioreactor (MBR) coupling system, and explored the mechanism of MBR membrane fouling. Four aspects were researched in open and closed circuit conditions: the degradation capacity of the coupling system, the increase of trans-membrane pressure (TMP), and the adhesion of phenol degradation products and microorganisms on the membrane. The results showed that the degradation of phenol and COD in the closed circuit coupling system was higher than that in the open circuit. The micro-electric field can inhibit the growth of TMP and keep dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane away from the membrane, meanwhile can also reduce the abundance and species diversity of microorganisms. Nevertheless, the micro-electric field could not completely eliminate the membrane fouling due to the fact that the phenol degradation product of ethanethiol, microorganisms of Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were more favorable on the membrane.

Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP) based Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) has achieved very high information transmission rate (ITR), but its portability and fundamental interactions with the surrounding environment were limited. The combination of Augmented Reality (AR) and BCI is expected to solve these problems. In this paper, we combined AR with the SSVEP-BCI to build a more portable and natural BCI system in Microsoft HoloLens. We designed the AR-BCI system and studied the influence of different algorithms on the system performance. The analysis of SSVEP signals collected in AR environment shows that the extended filter bank canonical correlation analysis was better than task-related component analysis. The average recognition accuracy and ITR obtained by using Electroencephalography (EEG) data of 1s, 1.5s, and 2s length were 87.7%、95.4%、 97.6% and 64.6 bit/min 、 62.9 bit/min 、 55.6 bit/min, respectively. Compared with the existing AR-BCI studies, the ITR has been greatly improved in this study.

In recent years, improving the performance of cross-individual brain-computer interfaces (BCI) has become a research hotspot. This paper proposes a within-individual model and two cross-individual models for P300 speller character recognition and uses canonical correlation analysis (CCA) spatial filter and task-related component analysis (TRCA) spatial filter to optimize the model. Those methods are compared in their performance to allow for an accurate classification of P300 speller. As a result, the best classification accuracy rate of the within-individual recognition model is 98.83%, and the best classification accuracy rate in cross-individual model is 85.09%.

The style and quality of Baijiu is greatly influenced by ethyl acetate. Therefore, improving and controlling the ethyl acetate levels in Baijiu is important. This study investigated ethyl acetate production using a co-culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Y3401 and Wickerhamomyces anomalus Y3604. More ethyl acetate was produced in mixed fermentations using both yeasts than in single fermentations. The highest ethyl acetate yield was 6.41 g/L using a Y3401/Y3604 ratio of 3:1. Synergistic fermentation using both yeasts not only improved ethyl acetate production, but also increased the contents of other flavor compounds, such as β-phenethyl alcohol and phenethyl acetate. Therefore, the co-culture of S. cerevisiae and W. anomalus had a positive effect on ethyl acetate production and provides opportunities for altering the aroma and flavor perception of Baijiu.

New types of mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were fabricated by incorporating Zr-MOF (UiO-66-NH2 and UiO-66-NH3+Cl-) filler into polyamide 6 (PA 6) polymer, enabling efficient natural gas dehydration. All membranes were characterized and applied for H2O/CH4 mixtures separation at 1 bar pressure difference at 30 °C. It was found that the Zr-MOF nanoparticles in a size range of 0.4–0.5 μm were successfully incorporated into the high permeability polymer PA 6 to obtain MMMs with 10–30 wt% particle loadings. MMMs loaded with 25 wt% of UiO-66-NH3+Cl- and 20 wt% of UiO-66-NH2 demonstrated ultrahigh H2O/CH4 selectivity of 747.7 and 687.4, respectively, and enhanced H2O permeability as well as H2O/CH4 selectivity compared with the pure PA 6 polymer. The excellent membrane performance attributed to direct and extensive hydrogen bonds between the polymer and MOFs. This type of MMMs could be an alternative for further research in H2O/CH4 separation at industrial scale.

In the present work, a plant-based biomaterial named basil seed gel (BSG) is found to have an excellent lubricating property. The lubricating behavior of BSG is evaluated by a specifically designed apparatus without damaging its natural structure. An ultralow friction coefficient about 0.003 is obtained between BSG and the glass plate surface. Further characterizations reveal that the gel of basil seed has a three-dimensional network microstructure, which may provide a favorable condition for holding water molecules and forming hydration layers. The network constitutes of crosslinking polysaccharide sheets, which are easy to shear and easily adsorbed on the glass surface to form a stable nanoscale flat layer. A possible lubrication mechanism is employed that the easy-to-shear and easy-to-adsorb performance of BSG as well as the superior lubricating properties of hydration layer lead to the ultralow friction.

Objective This study aimed to design and evaluate a high-speed online steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interface (BCI) in an optical see-through (OST) augmented reality (AR) environment. Approach An eight-class BCI was designed in an OST-AR headset which is wearable and allows users to see the user interface of the BCI and the device to be controlled in the same view field via the OST head-mounted display. The accuracies, information transfer rates (ITRs), and SSVEP signal characteristics of the AR-BCI were evaluated and compared with a computer screen-based BCI implemented with a laptop in offline and online cue-guided tasks. Then, the performance of the AR-BCI was evaluated in an online robotic arm control task. Main results The offline results obtained during the cue-guided task performed with the AR-BCI showed maximum averaged ITRs of 65.50 ± 9.86 bits min-1 according to the extended canonical correlation analysis-based target identification method. The online cue-guided task achieved averaged ITRs of 65.03 ± 11.40 bits min-1. The online robotic arm control task achieved averaged ITRs of 45.57 ± 7.40 bits min-1. Compared with the screen-based BCI, some limitations of the AR environment impaired BCI performance and the quality of SSVEP signals. Significance The results showed the potential for providing a high-performance brain-control interaction method by combining AR and BCI. This study could provide methodological guidelines for developing more wearable BCIs in OST-AR environments and will also encourage more interesting applications involving BCIs and AR techniques.

Ethyl acetate content has strong influence on the style and quality of Baijiu. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Y3401 on the production of ethyl acetate by Wickerhamomyces anomalus Y3604. Analysis of cell growth showed that Y3401 influences Y3604 by nutrient competition and inhibition by metabolites, while the effect of Y3604 on Y3401 was mainly competition for nutrients. Mixed fermentation with two yeasts was found to produce more ethyl acetate than a single fermentation. The highest yield of ethyl acetate was 2.99 g/L when the inoculation ratio of Y3401:Y3604 was 1:2. Synergistic fermentation of both yeasts improved ethyl acetate production and increased the content of other flavor compounds in liquid and simulated solid-state fermentation for Baijiu. Saccharomyces cerevisiae had a positive effect on ethyl acetate production in mixed culture and provides opportunities to alter the aroma and flavor perception of Baijiu.

During the rejection of trace antibiotics from wastewater using forward osmosis (FO), spacer was added over the membrane to regulate the operation conditions. Interesting results were obtained, which demonstrated that when the spacer was added over the FO membrane, rejections of trace antibiotics increased by 2.3–2.8% in the active layer facing feed solution (AL-FS) orientation. Similarly, in the active layer facing draw solution (AL-DS) orientation, rejections of antibiotics increased by 5.3–8.5% after the spacer being added. To explore the mechanism of the enhancement for antibiotic rejections, the flow field in the FO cell was investigated using particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) technology. It was confirmed that turbulence was produced in the FO cell due to the added spacer. And it was proposed that the turbulence could disturb the boundary layer at the membrane surface and urge the antibiotics to diffuse from the layer back into the bulk solution, which reduced the diffusive driving force of antibiotics through the membrane into the draw solution, hence leading to an increase in rejections.

This work did a systematic investigation on removal of trace antibiotics from wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent through nanofiltration (NF), and disposal of the NF concentrate by advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). Four antibiotics, namely, norfloxacin (NOR), ofloxacin (OFL), roxithromycin (ROX) and azithromycin (AZI), which had high detection frequencies in effluents from WWTPs in Dalian (China), were selected as the target micropollutants. High rejections of antibiotics (>98%) were obtained in all sets of NF experiments. UV 254 photolysis, ozonation and UV/O 3 process were employed to treat NF concentrate. Results demonstrated that UV 254 photolysis was not effective in degrading the four antibiotics, while ozone-based processes exhibited high removal efficiencies in 30 min. A synergetic effect between O 3 and UV was observed in degradation of the selected antibiotics during UV/O 3 treatment. Generation of hydroxyl radicals in the process was testified using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spin trapping technology. In treatment of NF concentrate from real secondary effluent, UV/O 3 process achieved excellent removal efficiencies of antibiotics (>87%), a partial removal of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) (40%), an increase of BOD 5 /COD ratio (4.6 times), and a reduction of acute toxicity (58%). The study revealed that nanofiltration could efficiently remove antibiotics from WWTP effluent, and meanwhile, UV/O 3 process was able to further eliminate the antibiotics in the NF concentrate effectively.

In this paper, we investigated the frictional behaviors of the mixed self-assembled molecular films of the fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) molecules and non-fluoroalkylsilane (n-FAS) molecules with different chain length covalently absorbed on silicon surfaces, characterized by the universal ball-disk UMT-2 experimental tester under aqueous solution conditions. The surfaces of the substrate modified by mixed self-assembled molecular films were examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and contact angle measurements. The formation processes of the molecular films were characterized by quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). The results indicated that it would take a longer time to reach the adsorption equilibrium of the molecular films with the increment of carbon chain length. The measured tribological results showed that the mixing of the fluoroalkylsilane and non-fluoroalkylsilane enhance the lubrication and decrease the friction and wear compared to the one-component thin films. This may be caused by the reduced excitation of the energy dissipation channels.

It is necessary to modify the running-in process for the application of ceramics using water as a lubricant in real conditions because ceramics sliding in water are characterized by a running-in period with severe friction and wear. Fullerenol, a kind of highly water-soluble nanoparticle, was synthesized and then used to ameliorate the tribological properties of Si3N4 sliding against Al2O3 in pure water. With the addition of fullerenol, the running-in period was shortened from 30 min to 100 s at a speed of 250 mm/s. The speed threshold above which ultralow friction can be obtained in a short time was expanded from 450 mm/s to 80 mm/s. Meanwhile, the load-carrying ability of water film was increased. The role of fullerenol was discussed based on observation of the wear scar by an optical interferometer and XPS characterization of the tribo-film on the wear track.

The present work reports an excellent lubrication property of an aquatic plant called Brasenia schreberi (BS). To investigate the lubrication characteristics of the BS mucilage, a novel measuring system is designed, and an ultralow friction coefficient about 0.005 between the mucilage and glass surface has been obtained. It is found that the ultralow friction is closely related to the structure of mucilage and water molecules in the mucilage. The microstructure analysis indicates that the mucilage surrounding BS forms a kind of polysaccharide gel with many nanosheets. A possible lubrication mechanism is proposed that the formation of hydration layers among these polymer nanosheets with plenty of bonded water molecules causes the ultralow friction. The excellent lubrication property has a potential application for reducing the friction between a glossy pill coated with such layer of mucilage and people's throats.

To study the drug release behaviors of glucose-sensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-3-acrylamidophenylboronic acid) (P(NIPAM-PBA)) microgels, P(NIPAM-PBA) microgel monolayers were prepared by the modification of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) microgel monolayers with 3-aminophenylboronic acid under EDC catalysis. Alizarin Red S (ARS) and FITC-labeled insulin (FITC-insulin) were loaded in the monolayers respectively. Their release kinetics under various conditions were measured. For both drugs, at low temperature, the drug release can be described as passive diffusion of the drugs. At temperature higher than the phase transition temperature, however, the drugs are released via a “squeeze-out” mechanism. Glucose-regulated release for both drugs was observed. At all temperatures glucose enhances the release of ARS because it competes with ARS for binding with PBA groups. For FITC-insulin, glucose enhances its release at 4 °C, but retards at 37 °C. These results will guide the design of self-regulated insulin release systems based on P(NIPAM-PBA) microgels.

Four series of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) (core)/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-3-acrylamidophenylboronic acid) (P(NIPAM-AAPBA)) (shell) microgels were synthesized by the modification of PNIPAM (core)/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) (P(NIPAM-AA)) (shell) microgels with 3-aminophenylboronic acid (APBA). Their thermosensitive behaviors were studied by dynamic light scattering. Two or three phase transitions were detected depending on the shell thickness. These transitions were confirmed by the first derivative plot of the turbidity data. The first transition occurring at about 17 degrees C was assigned to that of the P(NIPAM-AAPBA) shell, whereas the second and third ones, which occur at about 22 and 28 degrees C, respectively, were assigned to that of the PNIPAM core. These results indicate that the influences of a shrunk P(NIPAM-AAPBA) shell on the different parts of the PNIPAM core are different. As the outer part, or the "shell" part of the PNIPAM core, directly connects with the P(NIPAM-AAPBA) shell, its phase transition temperature is reduced to a larger degree as compared with that of the inner part, or the "core" part. Glucose-induced swelling was observed for all the microgels, indicating their glucose-sensitivity. However, the degree of glucose-induced swelling is much smaller than that of the pure P(NIPAM-AAPBA) microgels.

During the rejection of trace pharmaceutical contaminants from wastewater by forward osmosis (FO), disposal of the FO concentrate was still an unsolved issue. In this study, by integrating the advantages of forward osmosis and electrochemical oxidation, a forward osmosis process with the function of electrochemical oxidation (FOwEO) was established for the first time to achieve the aim of rejection of trace antibiotics from wastewater and treatment of the concentrate at the same time. Results demonstrated that FOwEO (current density J=1 mA cm(-2)) exhibited excellent rejections of antibiotics (>98%) regardless of different operation conditions, and above all, antibiotics in the concentrate were well degraded (>99%) at the end of experiment (after 3h). A synergetic effect between forward osmosis and electrochemical oxidation was observed in FOwEO, which lies in that antibiotic rejections by FO were enhanced due to the degradation of antibiotics in the concentrate, while the electrochemical oxidation capacity was improved in the FOwEO channel, of which good mass transfer and the assist of indirect oxidation owing to the reverse NaCl from draw solution were supposed to be the mechanism. This study demonstrated that the FOwEO has the capability to thoroughly remove trace antibiotics from wastewater.