The magnesium oxide was prepared by the hydrothermal treatment-thermal decomposition method and the carbonation-thermal decomposition method using the normal magnesium hydroxide as raw material. The former method was to obtain magnesium oxide by calcining the hexagonal magnesium hydroxide precursor, which was prepared by hydrothermal treatment me-thod. The later method was to obtain high active magnesium oxide by calcining flower-like hy-dromagnesite or nesquehonite whisker, which was prepared by the carbonation method. The ef-fects of calcining temperature and soaking time on the activity of magnesium oxide were studied. The results showed that the high active MgO was prepared by nesquehonite whisker precursor, which had the CAA value of 8.45 s, iodine adsorption value of 264.14 mg·g^-1. The adsorption performances of MgO have been also studied in lead solution. The results of adsorption were conformed to Langmuir model, and maximum adsorption was 364 mg·g^-1.

A two-step electrochemical anodization method was used to fabricate the TiO₂ nanotube electrode, and Cu₂O was deposited onto the annealed TiO₂ nanotubes arrays via the galvanostatic electrodeposition method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis DRS) were used to identify the characterization of the samples. The SEM results show that TiO₂ nanotubes align vertically on the Ti substrate with an average tube diameter of 50 nm and a tube length of approximately 1 μm. The Cu₂O nanoparticles are uniformly deposited on the TiO₂ nanotubes arrays. The XRD results show that the structures of TiO₂ and Cu₂O are anatase and cubic, respectively. XPS results reveal the existence states of Cu and Ti in Cu₂O/TiO₂ are Cu¹⁺ and Ti²⁺, correspondingly. UV-vis DRS results reveal the deposited Cu₂O expands the ability of light absorption to the visible area. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) tests reveal that fabricated Cu₂O/TiO₂ shows better activity and the photocurrent density of the Cu₂O/TiO₂ is more than 2 times compared with those of the TiO₂ nanotubes. The photoconversion efficiency of the Cu₂O/TiO₂ reaches 0.41% at 0.735 V (vs. RHE) when the deposition amount of Cu₂O is 5.18×10^-7 mol. The Cu₂O/TiO₂ was annealed to enhance the performance. By annealing at 373 K for 0.5 h in air, the photoconversion efficiency of the annealed sample is up to 0.65% (0.759 V vs. RHE). The stability of the CT-0.1 and CT-0.1-373 was investigated at last. The test of continuous linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) of 100 times reveal that CT-0.1-373 remains a photoconversion efficiency of 0.64% (0.762 V vs. RHE) after 100 scans, while CT-0.1 remains a photoconversion efficiency of 0.38%, which reveals annealing at low temperatures not only improves the activity but also enhances the stability of the Cu₂O/TiO₂.

In order to solve the serious problem of CO pollution, nano SnO₂ catalyst was prepared with hydrothermal method. CTAB was introduced as a surfactant in the process. The morphology structure and oxidation reduction abilities of SnO₂ were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N₂ adsorption (BET), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and temperature programmed H₂ reduction (H₂-TPR), and CO oxidation activities were measured, as well. Our results show that the as-prepared SnO₂ nano-particles have higher specific surface area, uniform particle size and distribution, a higher surface Sn⁴⁺ concentration than that of the conventional SnO₂ catalyst prepared with precipitation method. Results show that the nano-SnO₂ catalysts possess higher activity for CO oxidation, and its E_a decreased from 61.3 to 54.2 kJ·mol^-1, as compared with the SnO₂ catalyst prepared with precipitation method.

Biodiesel, which is stable, lubricating, and has the advantages of environmental protection and regeneration, is becoming a substitute for traditional fossil fuels such as petrol and diesel. Traditional catalysts, such as solid and liquid acid/alkali, have been used in the preparation of biodiesel until now. The biodiesel with high yield can be obtained by using traditional catalysts, whereas there are negative impacts on manufacturing equipment, environmental protection and economic benefits owing to the causticity. In the meantime, the ionic liquid, a kind of substance with wide liquid range, negligible vapor pressure, high catalytic activity, excellent chemical and thermal stability, potential recoverability, design possibilities, and ease of separation of the products from reactants, has been proposed as a new type of high-effect catalysts recently, and can be widely used in the field of biodiesel due to the advantages mentioned above. In this work, based on the application of ionic liquids in the synthesis of biodiesel, the different impacts on the esterification of fatty acid to biodiesel with different kinds of ionic liquids are elaborated and some suggestions about solving the existing issues of ionic liquids are put forward.

Pyridine dicarboxamide derivatives with different side chains, including 4a/4b/4c, 5 and 9, were synthesized and their gelation properties were tested. The results showed that these compounds can form stable gels in some organic solvents and the structure of side chain affects gelling property greatly. Ultra-violet-visible spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to investigate the driving force of gelation. Gels from these compounds are responsive to fluorine anion, indicating the existence of hydrogen bond. The morphologies of xerogels were observed with scanning electron microscopy. Teas parameters of 9 and eight organic solvents were calculated and a Teas plot was constructed. The validity of expected gelation domain in the Teas plot was verified.

As a new class of soft materials, smart gels have attracted much attention in recent years due to their unique stimuli responsive properties. Derived from a platform molecule 2,4-(3,4-dichloro)benzylidene methy-d-gluconate, two more compounds 3a and 3b were synthesized as novel Schiff-based gelators. The gelation behaviors of these compounds were studied in different solvents and the effects of mechanical force on these smart gelators were also investigated. It was shown that the gelation abilities of these compounds depended on the type of the solvents and the length of the alkyl chains of the gelators. The morphology of these gels were observed with atomic force microscope (AFM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) and showed three-dimensional fibrous network structure. More importantly, compound 3b, with a shorter alky chain, exhibited unique mechanochromic behaviors. This interesting phenomenon may due to the transformation of compound 3b between crystalline state and amorphous state, as indicated by the results of scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).

Fe-D72 resin was prepared by the ion exchange process between iron ions and D72 resin. It was applied to the phenol hydroxylation with H₂O₂. The effects of different reaction conditions such as the iron capacity of catalyst, reaction temperature, reaction time, catalyst dosage, molar ratio of H₂O₂ to phenol were investigated. The orthogonal experiment was carried out to get the best optimized operating conditions. Under the conditions of iron capacity as 95.4 mg·g^-1, reaction temperature as 70 ℃, reaction time as 1 h, catalyst dosage as 0.1 g, molar ratio of H₂O₂ to phenol as 1∶1, 42.4% phenol conversion was obtained with benzenediol selectivity being 94.1%. The reusability of prepared catalyst illustrated that it could be recovered and reused without notable loss of activity.

L-Lactide is an important intermediate in the industrial production of PLA. Brönsted-Lewis acid ionic liquids (ILs) [HSO₃-bmim]Cl-SnCl₂ with different molar fractions of tin(Ⅱ) chloride were successfully prepared, and applied for the preparation of L-Lactide by the prepolymer route. The effects of different amounts of SnCl₂ on catalytic reactivity were studied. The influences of various reaction parameters, such as the dosage of catalysts, reaction temperature, and reaction time, were investigated. Owing to the reutilization of PLLA residue and ILs catalyst, the reiterative lactide synthesis was realized. The recycled catalyst showed no notable loss of activity for 3 circles. Meanwhile, high-quality L-lactide could be selectively produced in high yield (90.99%~92.64%, based on L-lactic acid replenished).

A bifunctional hindered amine light stabilizer (HALS) was designed and synthesized from 2,4-dihydroxybenzophenone, chloroacetyl chloride and 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-4-amine through two-step nucleophilic substitutions. The structure of the target compound was confirmed by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, FT-IR and ESI-HRMS. Its anti-oxidant and anti-aging properties were evaluated. The obtained results indicate that this synthesized stabilizer is efficient for inhibiting degradation of polymer materials with good oxidation resistance and photo-stabilization.

A novel hydrogel photonic crystal (HPC) sensor based on complexation reaction has been prepared to be used for Cu(Ⅱ) determination. Histidine-immobilized HPC was fabricated and its responses to Cu(Ⅱ) were monitored through readable Bragg diffraction shifts by using a fiber optic spectrometer. A functional relationship was found between the red-shift Δλ and the logarithm of Cu(Ⅱ) concentrations (lgc) in range of 10^-9~10^-5 mol·L^-1. Effects of histidine content, pH and ion strength on the response of HPC were examined experimentally. The reversibility and the response time of HPC to Cu(Ⅱ) were also investigated, and the response mechanism of the response process was explored.

Three-Dimensional numerical simulation and analysis of flow field characteristics in oil-water separator was carried out by numerical simulation software. The research was made of three liquid cartridge inlet internals with different fractional hole area, three kinds of grid-type flow commutate internals with different arrangement form, four different forms of the corrugated coalescing plate group. The separation characteristic for different internals was analyzed and compared. The simulation results indicate that the new liquid cartridge inlet internals with 30% fractional hole area, the grid-type flow commutate internals with inner-dense outer-sparse type, two-dimensional sine corrugated coalescing plate group has good separation characteristics.

Extractive distillation is an effective separation method in chemical engineering industry, and the selection of the extraction agents affect greatly the feasibility and economy of extractive distillation process. This paper is a heuristic research of applying the molecular simulation software, Material Studio(MS), to calculate the mixing energy of binary systems and using the mixing energy as the criteria for extractive agent selection. In this paper, a typical example of benzene and cyclohexane binary system was given for illustration and some certain solvents were chosen as candidate extraction agents. The mixing energy between the solvent molecular and benzene was given by MS calculation, so was the mixing energy between the same extraction solvent molecular and cyclohexane. Then, the gap of the two mixing energies was computed, and this gap was the final criteria for candidate solvents. The selectivity from reported literatures or calculated by the infinite dilution activity coefficients by NRTL model were used to validate the method. It is indicated that the gap of the two mixing energies increased via the increasing of selectivity, which lay a solid foundation for further research and new methods for choosing extraction agents.

Cost-efficient bi-functional electrocatalyst which can catalyze the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is key to the widespread commercialization of regenerative fuel cells and metal-air batteries. In this study, a heteroatoms doped carbon (HDC) supported Co₂P nanoparticles (Co₂P-HDC) bi-functional electrocatalyst was prepared via a facile one step pyrolysis in molten salt with hen's egg yolk and cobalt chloride as precursor. The structural and functional properties of the as-obtained Co₂P-HDC are studied via SEM, TEM, XRD and XPS. A rotating disk electrode (RDE) was used to characterize the electrocatalytic performance of Co₂P-HDC towards ORR and OER in an alkaline media. In fact, the Co₂P-HDC catalyst demonstrates similar ORR activity and higher OER activity and stability as compared with a commonly used commercial Pt/C catalyst, and is expected to find application in metal-air batteries, regenerative fuel cells, etc. Furthermore, this would also be a new way to make good use of the yolk.

The active surface loss due to the precipitation of polysulfides causes lithium-sulfur cell capacity fade. A mathematical model of nucleation and growth of polysulfides is presented to describe the effect of polysulfides' precipitation in the lithium-sulfur cell. In addition, error function of erf(x) is used to modify capacity fade of lithium-sulfur cell due to active surface loss. The model is validated using experimental discharge curves obtained from literature with fairly high accuracy. Furthermore, the necessity of rapid precipitation of lower polysulfides is discussed in detail. Increasing growth rates of Li₂S₂ and Li₂S cause the potential plateau raised. And increasing growth and nucleation rate of S^2- is necessary to enhance discharge capacity.