Solution-phase synthesis of Au@ZnO core-shell composites

A novel solution-phase method for the preparation of Au@ZnO core-shell composites was described. With this method, the composites were grown without heating that is usually needed in other solution methods. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) results show that the diameter of Au@ZnO core-shell composites is about 10.5 nm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was applied to characterize Au@ZnO core-shell composites. The optical properties of Au@ZnO core-shell composites, including UV-vis absorption and photo luminescence (PL), were observed at room temperature.

Structure-properties relationship in toughening of poly(butylene terephthalate) with core-shell modifier

The performance of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) core-shell modifier with different grafting degree, acrylonitrile (AN) content, and core-shell ratio in toughening of poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) matrix was investigated. Results show PBT/ABS blends fracture in ductile mode when the grafting degree is high, and with the decrease of grafting degree PBT/ABS blends fracture in a brittle way. The surface of rubber particles cannot be covered perfectly for ABS with low grafting degree and agglomeration will take place; on the other hand, the entanglement density between SAN and PBT matrix decreases because of the low grafting degree, inducing poor interfacial adhesion. The compatibility between PBT and ABS results from the strong inter-action between PBT and SAN copolymer and the interaction is influenced by AN content. Results show ABS cannot disperse in PBT matrix uniformly when AN content is zero and PBT/ABS fractures in a brittle way. With the addition of AN in ABS, PBT/ABS blends fracture in ductile mode. The core-shell ratio of ABS copolymers has important effect on PBT/ABS blends.

Seed-mediated growth of large, monodisperse core-shell gold-silver nanoparticles with Ag-like optical properties

Large, monodisperse core-shell Au-Ag nanoparticles with Ag-like optical properties have been prepared by the seeding growth method in micellar media.

Preparation and application of a novel core-shell-particle-supported zirconocene catalyst

The use of functional groups bearing silica/poly(styrene-co-4-vinylpyridine) core-shell particles as a support for a zirconocene catalyst in ethylene polymerization was studied. Several factors affecting the behavior of the supported catalyst and the properties of the resulting polymer, such as time, temperature, Al/N (molar ratio), and Al/Zr (molar ratio), were examined. The conditions of the supported catalyst preparation were more important than those of the ethylene polymerization. The state of the supported catalyst itself played a decisive role in both the catalytic behavior of the supported catalyst and the properties of polyethylene (PE). IR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to follow the formation of the supports. The formation of cationic active species is hypothesized, and the performance of the core-shell-particle-supported zirconocene catalyst is discussed as well. The bulk density of the PE formed was higher than that of the polymer obtained from homogeneous and polymer-supported Cp2ZrCl2/methylaluminoxane catalyst systems. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Effect of the core-shell latex polymer content on the compatibility, morphology and mechanical properties of PC/PBA-cs-PMMA blends

The toughening effect of the content of a core-shell poly(butyl acrylate)/poly(methyl methacrylate) latex polymer (PBA-cs-PMMA) on the mechanical properties, morphology and compatibility of its blends with polycarbonate(PC), i.e., PC/PBA-cs-PMMa, was studied. The mechanical properties of the blends are strongly affected by varying the content of PBA-cs-PMMA in the blend. When the PBA-cs-PMMA content is only 5 wt.-%, the impact strength of PC/PBA-cs-PMMA is almost 19 times as high as that of pure PC, indicating that PBA-cs-PMMA is a very good impact modifier for PC. With increasing interphacial layer thickness and decreasing interphacial tension, the interphacial activity becomes more and more effective and, at the same time, miscibility increases too.

An effective etching technique for polycarbonate/core-shell poly(butyl acrylate) poly(methyl methacrylate) blend

Two etching techniques are used to reveal the morphology of PC/PBA-cs-PMMA blend. One is based on acetic acid (CH3COOH) solutions, whereas the other uses CCl4/ C2H5OH (3/1 v/v). The latter approach shows to be more appropriate and successful for revealing the morphology of PC/PBA-cs-PMMA blend.

Study of the blends containing core-shell latex polymer

Polycarbonate (PC) and a core-shell latex polymer composed of poly(butyl acrylate) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PBA-cs-PMMA) as core and shell, respectively, were mixed using a Brabender-like apparatus under different conditions. The mechanical properties, the morphology and the processability of the blends were investigated. Because of the good compatibility of PC and PMMA, even dispersion of PBA-cs-PMMA in PC matrix and good adhesion between the components have been achieved. PBA-cs-PMMA is thus a very good impact modifier for PC. The toughening mechanism is both cavitation and shear yielding, as indicated by SEM observation. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Controlling electric field distribution by graded spherical core-shell metamaterials

This paper investigates analytically the electric field distribution of graded spherical core-shell metamaterials, whose permittivity is given by the graded Drude model. Under the illumination of a uniform incident optical field, the obtained results show that the electrical field distribution in the shell region is controllable and the electric field peak's position inside the spherical shell can be confined in a desired position by varying the frequency of the optical field as well as the parameters of the graded dielectric profiles. It has also offered an intuitive explanation for controlling the local electric field by graded metamaterials.

Localization of the electric-field distribution in graded core-shell metamaterials

The local electric-field distribution has been investigated in a core-shell cylindrical metamaterial structure under the illumination of a uniform incident optical field. The structure consists of a homogeneous dielectric core, a shell of graded metal-dielectric metamaterial, embedded in a uniform matrix. In the quasistatic limit, the permittivity of the metamaterial is given by the graded Drude model. The local electric potentials and hence the electric fields have been derived exactly and analytically in terms of hypergeometric functions. Our results showed that the peak of the electric field inside the cylindrical shell can be confined in a desired position by varying the frequency of the optical field and the parameters of the graded profiles. Thus, by fabricating graded metamaterials, it is possible to control electric-field distribution spatially. We offer an intuitive explanation for the gradation-controlled electric-field distribution.

Ordered magnetic core-manganese oxide shell nanostructures and their application in water treatment

In this paper, we have reported a facile method for the synthesis of ordered magnetic core-manganese oxide shell nanostructures. The process included two steps. First, manganese ferrite nanoparticles were obtained through a solvothermal method. Then, the manganese ferrite nanoparticles were mixed directly with KMnO4 solution without any additional modified procedures of the magnetic cores. It has been found that Mn element in the core can react with KMnO4 to form manganese oxide which acts as a seed for the in-situ growth of manganese oxide shells. This is significant for the controllable fabrication of symmetrical ordered manganese oxide shell structures. The shell thickness can be easily controlled through the reaction time. Transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy have been employed to characterize the products at different reaction time.

A study of the effect of shell content on the mechanical properties of polycarbonate/poly(butyl acrylate)-cs-poly(methyl methacrylate) blends

The toughening effect of the shell content of a core-shell latex polymer poly(butyl acrylate) (PBA)-cs-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) on its blends with polycarbonate (PC) was studied. The changes of mechanical properties, morphology, and compatibility of the blends of PC/PBA-cs-PMMA with the change of the shell thickness of PBA-cs-PMMA were investigated. It is interesting to notice that mechanical properties of the blends are very sensitive to the shell thickness (i.e., shell content), and that there is a possibility to adjust the impact and tensile properties of the blend by selecting a PBA-cs-PMMA with a proper core/shell ratio. Hence, a modified PC material with balanced mechanical properties may be prepared.

Spatially separated excitons in quantum-dot quantum well structures

In the framework of the effective-mass envelope-function theory, the electronic and optical properties of a spherical core-shell quantum-dot quantum well (QDQW) structure with one and two wells have been investigated. The results show that the energies of electron and hole states depend sensitively on the well thickness and core radius of quantum-dot quantum well structure. An interesting spatially separated characteristic of electron and hole in QDQW is found and enhanced significantly in the two-wells case. The normalized oscillator strength for the optical transition between the electron and hole states in QDQW exhibits a deep valley at some special well thickness. The Coulomb interaction between the electron and hole is also taken into account. [S0163-1829(98)02412-6].

核壳结构改性剂增韧聚氯乙烯的机理及性能优化

我国是世界上聚氯乙烯产量最大的国家。由于在氯乙烯分子中氯的含量大于50%，而氯又是制碱工业的必然副产物，因此聚氯乙烯工业成为氯碱平衡中的主要杠杆。随着近年来世界石油资源的日益短缺和价格的上涨及国内聚氯乙烯产能过剩，开发聚氯乙烯的新用途，发展聚氯乙烯树脂的改性具有深远的意义。本工作的目的是以开发PVC核壳结构改性剂MBS和注塑级PVC/ABS合金为背景，对核壳粒子改性的聚氯乙烯的屈服机理和改性剂性能优化进行了研究。 对于增韧剂的研究，人们总是希望用最少的增韧剂用量来达到最好的增韧效果，即提高增韧剂的增韧效率，而且MBS改性的PVC在应用时还需要保持较高的透光率和具有一定的抗应力发白的能力。为此我们成功开发了具有高增韧效率、高透明及抗应力发白的MBS增韧剂，并研究了MBS结构特性对PVC/MBS共混物力学性能及屈服机理的影响。结果表明：粒径范围在80nm~280nm的橡胶粒子均能有效地对PVC进行增韧。大粒径的MBS通过空洞化释放三维静张应力引发基体的屈服来吸收能量，而小粒径的MBS不能产生空洞，但同样能引起基体的屈服起到增韧的作用。为了兼顾PVC/MBS共混物的韧性和透明性，我们在制备MBS时将一部分苯乙烯单体与丁二烯共聚结合来提高丁苯胶乳的折光指数与PVC基体相匹配，而另一部分苯乙烯单体以接枝的方式结合，这样可以保持MBS的弹性，并且制备的PVC/MBS共混物具有高韧性和高透明；同时我们发现MBS的内包容物及多层结构都会削弱PVC/MBS共混物的透光率。研究表明橡胶粒子的空洞化是引发共混物应力发白的主要原因。为此通过制备小粒径及具有一定交联程度的MBS来抑制空洞的产生，制备了兼有抗应力发白和韧性的MBS。成功开发了多个牌号的MBS产品，并在吉化集团公司建成了年产5000吨的生产车间，实现了MBS的工业化生产。 由于PVC的熔体流动性较差，通过与熔体流动性好的ABS树脂共混，成功开发了注塑级PVC/ABS合金。ABS树脂是SAN树脂和PB-g-SAN的共混物，在PVC中加入ABS使增韧对象由PVC基体转化为PVC/SAN共混基体，并研究了基体性质的改变对增韧效果的影响。结果表明随着PVC/ABS共混体系基体中PVC含量的增加共混物的冲击强度显著增加，形变机理发生了由银纹向剪切屈服的转变。