A series of environmentally friendly waterborne poly(urethane acrylate) (WPUA)/silica (SiO 2 ) hybrids were synthesized by a sol-gel process on the basis of isophorone diisocyanate, polyester polyol (GE-210), dimethylpropionic acid, butyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate monomers, tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), and 3-glycidyloxypropyl trimethoxysilane (GLYMO) as a coupling agent. The mechanical properties of the WPUA/SiO 2 hybrids were investigated through tensile and hardness tests. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray diffraction were used to assess the fracture surface morphology and the dispersions of the WPUA/SiO 2 hybrids. The strength and hardness values of the WPUA/SiO 2 hybrids were improved significantly. This was attributed to the synergistic effect of WPUA, GLYMO, and TEOS. The results show that SiO 2 particles of the membranes had a uniform dispersion and formed an excellent interfacial bonding layer on their surfaces. The prepared hybrids showed good thermal stability and mechanical properties in comparison with pure WPUA and showed tunable transparence with the SiO 2 fraction in the film. Through suitable adjustment of the TEOS content, some thin hybrids have potential applications as specialty materials.

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Porous carbons (PC) were prepared from a waste biomass named chestnut shell via a two-step method involving carbonization and KOH activation. The morphology, pore structure and surface chemical properties were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), N 2 sorption, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The carbons have been evaluated as the electrode materials for supercapacitors by a two-electrode system in 6 mol/L KOH electrolyte. Benefiting from the porous texture, high surface area and high oxygen content, the PCs derived from chestnut shell have exhibited high specific capacitance of 198.2 (PC-1), 217.2 (PC-2) and 238.2 F•g 1 (PC-3) at a current density of 0.1 A•g 1 , good rate capability of 55.7%, 56.6% and 54.9% in a range of 0.1-20 A•g 1 and high energy density of 5.6, 6.1 and 6.7 Wh•kg 1 , respectively. This is believed to be due to electric double layer capacitance induced by the abundant micropores and extra pseudo-capacitance generated by oxygen-containing groups. At a power density of 9000 Wh•kg 1 , the energy density is 3.1, 3.5 and 3.7 Wh•kg 1 for PC-1, PC-2 and PC-3, respectively, demonstrating the potential of the carbons derived from chestnut shells in energy storage devices.

The development of a rapid, robust and reliable method for extracting plant food materials is important for screening a wide range of plant bioactives for their health benefits. In this study, extractions of bioactive polyphenolic com-pounds from fruits and vegetables were per-formed using a pressurised solvent extraction technique. Variables including solvent, extrac-tion temperature and time, and number of ex-traction cycles, were optimised to develop a rapid and efficient extraction protocol. The re-sulting extracts were then analysed for antioxi-dant capacity, total phenolic content and com-position. The optimal parameters found were 19:1 methanol/water (95% methanol) as solvent and three extraction cycles, of 10 minutes at 40ºC or 2 minutes at 100ºC. High performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry did not detect any difference in extract composition between low and high temperatures. Extraction at 100°C generally gave a moderately higher yield of polyphenolics for some fruit and vege-table extracts but appeared to reduce the anti-oxidant activity particularly for turnip leaf, el-derberry and sour cherry extracts as measured by oxygen radical absorbance capacity assay. We found that all 40°C extracts were better at protecting cells from H2O2-induced cellular damage than their 100°C counterparts. The 40°C apple puree and elderberry extracts were about 2 fold and 1.7 fold more effective, respectively, than extracts prepared at 100°C. Our results demonstrated that pressurised solvent extrac-tion technique with careful parameter selection can be used as a quick method for screening the health benefits of plant food materials

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BACKGROUND Membrane fouling is still a big problem to be solved. In order to reduce membrane fouling and improve the efficiency of phenol degradation, a Pd/carbon conductive membrane, used as both a filter membrane and a cathode, was prepared by electrodeposition of Pd on a carbon membrane and then employed to develop an electro‐microbial membrane system (EMMS). RESULTS The degradation rate of phenol was higher than that in a microbial membrane system (MMS) and in an electrocatalytic membrane system (EMS). The phenol degradation followed zero‐order kinetics in the three systems. The degradation efficiencies of phenol and COD were 99.6% and 95.4%, respectively, at 10 h in the EMMS. The mean membrane flux in the EMMS was 2.64 times that in the MMS and 1.25 times that in the EMS. The reasons for the excellent anti‐fouling of Pd/carbon membrane were: (1) the membrane had repulsion potential for the pollutant because it carried negative charges; (2) H2 bubbles generated on the membrane surface possibly induced gas and liquid microflows to detach and even blow‐out the foulants; and (3) the membrane was scoured by shear stress resulting from aeration. CONCLUSIONS A carbon/Pd conductive membrane as cathode has great potential for membrane fouling mitigation in EMMS. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry