Search

Project-based learning (PJBL) is student-centered and teamwork educational activity that prepares students for the challenge of real-world problems. This kind of instructional method is highly recommended by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).This paper describes an authentic project that focuses on the preparation of (S)-epichlorohydrin from laboratory (lab) scale to mass production, which provides a situation for students to explore lab work as well as real industrial practice. During the different learning activities, clear learning objectives and guiding questions would be explicitly given to students to help them apply their knowledge and skills to the engineering project and complete the tasks within a given time. Upon the completion of the project, their written reports and team oral reports are used to evaluate their learning gains. The assessment results showed that most of the students attained good scores, and all teams reached outstanding level. Their engineering practical abilities including practical operation, problem-solving, systematic thinking, teamwork, and communication were significantly improved. This paper discusses how to cultivate engineering science talents at the college's comprehensive practicing course.

Elaborately designed multifunctional electrocatalysts capable of promoting Li+ and CO2 transport are essential for upgrading the cycling stability and rate capability of Li‐CO2 batteries. Hydrogen‐bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) with open channels and easily functionalized surfaces hold great potential for applications in efficient cathodes of Li‐CO2 batteries. Herein, a robust HOFS (HOF‐FJU‐1) is introduced for the first time as a co‐catalyst in the cathode material of Li‐CO2 batteries. HOF‐FJU‐1 with cyano groups located periodically in the pore can induce homogeneous deposition of discharge products and accommodate volumetric expansion of discharge products during cycling. Besides, HOF‐FJU‐1 enables effective interaction between Ru0 nanoparticles and cyano groups, thus forming efficient and uniform catalytic sites for CRR/CER. Moreover, HOF‐FJU‐1 with regularly arranged open channels are beneficial for CO2 and Li+ transport, enabling rapid redox kinetic conversion of CO2. Therefore, the HOF‐based Li‐CO2 batteries are capable of stable operation at 400 mA g−1 for 1800 h and maintain a low overpotential of 1.96 V even at high current densities up to 5 A g−1. This work provides valuable guidance for developing multifunctional HOF‐based catalysts to upgrade the longevity and rate capability of Li‐CO2 batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficient separation of xenon (Xe) and krypton (Kr) mixtures is a valuable but challenging process in the gas industry. Hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) have emerged as a promising class of porous materials for gas separation; however, due to the lack of available design methods, accurately adjusting the pore size of HOFs to improve the separation performance remains a major challenge. Herein, we present a pore engineering optimized strategy by enlarging the core size of the rigid monomers to increase the pore size of benzene cyanide-based HOFs. The replacement of the benzene ring in the molecular core of HOF-40 with a larger-sized dipyrrole ring resulted in the assembly of HOF-FJU-8a with a slightly larger pore size of 4.2 × 4.6 Å2, which is demonstrated as the highest performing HOF material for Xe/Kr separation reported to date. The superior Xe/Kr separation was determined by the gas adsorption and dynamic breakthrough experiments, showing a separation factor of 8.5 and a Kr productivity over 72 L kg−1 from the binary Xe/Kr mixture. The tailored pore size of HOF-FJU-8a played a crucial role in enabling the significant differential host–guest interactions and binding affinity, as confirmed by the single crystal structures of Xe-or Kr-loaded HOF-FJU-8a and GCMC calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous materials‐assisted atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) approaches are attractive for addressing the severe shortage of freshwater resources. Herein, ionothermal polymerization approach was employed to realize four porous organic polymers (FJU‐CTFs) with strong hydration stability and low skeleton density for atmospheric water harvesting. The materials exhibited ultra‐high water vapor adsorption capacity (1108 cm3 g−1), s‐type adsorption isotherms, and rapid filling of water vapor in the pores of the materials under low humidity conditions. It has the characteristics of atmospheric water harvesting from the air at lower humidity (30 %–40 %) and narrow temperature (30–35 °C). A total of 30 times of water adsorption‐desorption cycles showed the excellent working ability and hydrolytic stability of FJU‐CTFs, which provided new solutions for the application of porous materials in AWH and expanded new material types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The charged metal–organic framework (MOF) (anionic and cationic MOF) material plays an important role in gas adsorption and separation and ecological environment management. Herein, we reported a partially charged Mg-based MOF (FJU-129) with dimethylamine counterions, which can efficiently separate C2H2 from CO2 and rapidly adsorb the cationic dye methylene blue (MB). FJU-129a showed a high uptake capacity of up to 133.8 cm3/g for C2H2 at 273 K, 1 bar, and low isosteric heat of adsorption of C2H2 (24.78 kJ/mol). The C2H2/CO2 separation is validated by a dynamic breakthrough experiment at 296 K, 1.5 bar, and the Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulation revealed that the partially remaining charge on the magnesium sites has an electrostatic force on the −CC– bond of C2H2 molecules, and C–H···π interactions play an important role in the separation of C2H2/CO2 selective mixtures. In addition, owing to the pore size and electrostatic effect, FJU-129 selectively absorbs MB and excludes other cationic dyes and anionic dyes (MB, CV, RB, R6G, MO, and SD-III). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rational design of high nuclear copper cluster‐based metal–organic frameworks has not been established yet. Herein, we report a novel MOF (FJU‐112) with the ten‐connected tetranuclear copper cluster [Cu4(PO3)2(μ2‐H2O)2(CO2)4] as the node which was capped by the deprotonated organic ligand of H4L (3,5‐Dicarboxyphenylphosphonic acid). With BPE (1,2‐Bis(4‐pyridyl)ethane) as the pore partitioner, the pore spaces in the structure of FJU‐112 were divided into several smaller cages and smaller windows for efficient gas adsorption and separation. FJU‐112 exhibits a high separation performance for the C2H2/CO2 separation, which were established by the temperature‐dependent sorption isotherms and further confirmed by the lab‐scale dynamic breakthrough experiments. The grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations (GCMC) studies show that its high C2H2/CO2 separation performance is contributed to the strong π‐complexation interactions between the C2H2 molecules and framework pore surfaces, leading to its more C2H2 uptakes over CO2 molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: Acetylene purification from methane is challenging in the field of porous organic polymers (POPs). Herein, we have provided one‐pot Ullmann coupling reaction to synthesize a series of POPs with rich N‐sites, named FJU‐POP‐n, wherein the low‐cost and non‐toxic Cu(acac)2 and environmental‐friendly glycerol are employed as catalyst and solvent, respectively. These POPs constructed by aromatic amine and haloarene monomers exhibit different steric configurations and pore sizes. Among these, FJU‐POP‐4 with abundant N‐functional sites and suitable pore size exhibits ultra‐high selective separation for C2H2/CH4 (307.1, 50 : 50) at ambient conditions, the highest among the reported MOFs and POPs with nitrogen‐sites as only functional species. Dynamic fixed bed breakthrough and regeneration experiments confirm structural stability and reproducibility, indicating their promising application in selective separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]