| 1. |
- Chen, Fei, et al.
(author)
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Wheat gluten/chitosan blends : A new biobased material
- 2014
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In: European Polymer Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 0014-3057 .- 1873-1945. ; 60, s. 186-197
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Wheat gluten and chitosan are renewable materials that suffer from some poor properties that limit their use as a potential replacement of petroleum-based polymers. However, polymer blends based on wheat gluten and chitosan surprisingly reduced these shortcomings. Films were cast from acidic aqueous or water/ethanol solutions of wheat gluten and chitosan. Wheat gluten was the discontinuous phase in the 30-70 wt.% wheat gluten interval investigated. The most homogeneous films were obtained when reducing agents were used (alone or together with urea or glycerol). They consisted mainly of 1-2 mu m wheat gluten particles uniformly distributed in the continuous chitosan phase. Slightly smaller particles were also observed in the water/ethanol solvent system, but together with significantly larger particles (as large as 200 mu m). Both small and large particles were observed, albeit in different sizes and contents, when surfactants (both with and without a reducing agent) or urea (without a reducing agent) were used. The particles were often elongated, and preferably along the film, the most extreme case being observed when the glyoxal crosslinker was used together with sodium sulfite (reducing agent), showing particles with an average thickness of 0.6 mu m and an aspect ratio of 4.2. This film showed the highest transparency of all the blend films studied. For one of the most promising systems (with sodium sulfite), having good film homogeneity and small particles, the mechanical and moisture solubility/diffusivity properties were studied as a function of chitosan content. The extensibility, toughness and moisture solubility increased with increasing chitosan content, and the moisture diffusivity was highest for the pristine chitosan material. It is noteworthy that the addition of 30 wt.% wheat gluten to chitosan reduced the moisture uptake, while the extensibility/toughness remained unchanged.
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| 2. |
- Marina, Sara, et al.
(author)
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Polymorphism in Non-Fullerene Acceptors Based on Indacenodithienothiophene
- 2021
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In: Advanced Functional Materials. - : Wiley. - 1616-3028 .- 1616-301X. ; 31:29
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Organic solar cells incorporating non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) have reached remarkable power conversion efficiencies of over 18%. Unlike fullerene derivatives, NFAs tend to crystallize from solutions, resulting in bulk heterojunctions that include a crystalline acceptor phase. This must be considered in any morphology-function models. Here, it is confirmed that high-performing solution-processed indacenodithienothiophene-based NFAs, i.e., ITIC and its derivatives ITIC-M, ITIC-2F, and ITIC-Th, exhibit at least two crystalline forms. In addition to highly ordered polymorphs that form at high temperatures, NFAs arrange into a low-temperature metastable phase that is readily promoted via solution processing and leads to the highest device efficiencies. Intriguingly, the low-temperature forms seem to feature a continuous network that favors charge transport despite of a poorly order along the pi-pi stacking direction. As the optical absorption of the structurally more disordered low-temperature phase can surpass that of the more ordered polymorphs while displaying comparable-or even higher-charge transport properties, it is argued that such a packing structure is an important feature for reaching highest device efficiencies, thus, providing guidelines for future materials design and crystal engineering activities.
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