Direct conversion of biomass to carbon aerogel provides a promising approach to developing absorbent materials for spilled oils and organic solvents recovery. In this work, three-dimensional carbon aerogels were fabricated via a hydrothermal and post-pyrolysis process using winter melon as the only raw materials. The winter melon carbon aerogel (WCA) prepared shows a low density of 0.048 g/cm 3 , excellent hydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 135°, and selective absorption for organic solvents and oils. The absorption capacity of WCA for organic solvents and oils can be 16−50 times its own weight. Moreover, distillation can be employed to recover WCA and harvest the pollutants. Over five absorption−harvesting cycles, the absorption capacity of WCA to organic solvents and low boiling point oils can recover almost 100% of its starting capacity. With a combination of low-cost biomass as raw materials, green preparation process, low density, and excellent hydrophobicity, WCA as an absorber has great potential in application of spilled oil recovery and environmental protection.

Freestanding, mechanically stable, and highly electrically conductive graphene foam (GF) is formed with a two-step facile, adaptable, and scalable technique. This work also demonstrates the formation of graphene foam with tunable densities and its use as strain/pressure sensor for both high and low strains and pressures.

Carbon aerogel (CA) produced from melon was used to fabricate CA–wax composites, which can achieve solar–thermal and electric–thermal energy conversion effectively, and can store the heat in the composites.

Single‐unit‐cell Sn‐MFI, with the detectable Sn uniformly distributed and exclusively located at framework sites, is reported for the first time. The direct, single‐step, synthesis is based on repetitive branching caused by rotational intergrowths of single‐unit‐cell lamellae. The self‐pillared, meso‐ and microporous zeolite is an active and selective catalyst for sugar isomerization. High yields for the conversion of glucose into fructose and lactose to lactulose are demonstrated.

In this study, free-standing graphene foam (GF) was developed by a three-step method: (1) vacuum-assisted dip-coating of nickel foam (Ni-F) with graphene oxide (GO), (2) reduction of GO to reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and then (3) etching out the nickel scaffold. Pure GF samples were tested for their morphology, chemistry, and mechanical integrity. GF mimics the microstructure of Ni-F while individual bones of GF were hollow, because of the complete removal of nickel. The GF-PDMS composites were tested for their ability to sense both compressive and bending strains in the form of change in electrical resistance. The composite showed different sensitivity to bending and compression. Upon applying a 30% compressive strain on the GF-PDMS composite, its resistance increased to ∼120% of its original value. Similarly, bending a sample to a radius of 1 mm caused the composite to change its resistance to ∼52% of its original resistance value. The relative change in resistance of the composite by an applied pressure/strain can be tuned to considerably different values by heat-treating the GF at different temperatures prior to infusing PDMS into its scaffold. Upon heat treating the GF at 800 °C prior to PDMS infusion, the GF-PDMS demonstrated ∼10 times better sensitivity than the untreated sample for a compressive strain of 20%. The composite was also tested for its ability to retain a change in electrical resistance when a brief load/strain is applied. The GF-PDMS composite was tested for at least 500 cycles under compressive cyclic loading and showed good electromechanical durability. Finally, it was demonstrated that the composite can be used to measure human blood pressure when attached to human skin.

A pioneering class of proccessable thermoplastic/thermosetting crossover polymers made of commercially available chemicals has been developed. The striking feature of this class of polymers is its inherently low viscosity at room temperature that facilitates the processability. The polymers have been synthesized from the polycondensation reaction of bisphenol A, formaldehyde, and amine-terminated poly(ether diamine). The structure of the polymers has been confirmed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The polymers are cross-linked via thermal treatment to produce tough and flexible thermosetting materials without using any external initiators, accelerators, catalysts, or reactive diluents. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and FTIR are used to study cross-linking behavior of these polymers. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been employed to study the phase behavior of the cross-linked polymers as a function of poly(ether diamine) chain length and wettability. Thermal properties of the cross-linked polymers have been studied by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).

Benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX) are present as contaminants in the H 2 S gas stream entering a Claus furnace. The exhaust gases from the furnace enter catalytic units, where BTX form soot particles. These particles clog and deactivate the catalysts. A solution to this problem is BTX oxidation before the gases enter catalyst beds. This work presents a theoretical investigation on benzene oxidation by SO 2 . Density functional theory is used to develop a detailed mechanism for phenyl radical −SO 2 interactions. The mechanism begins with SO 2 addition to phenyl radical after overcoming an energy barrier of 6.4 kJ/mol. This addition reaction is highly exothermic, where a reaction energy of 182 kJ/mol is released. The most favorable pathway involves O−S bond breakage, leading to the release of SO. A remarkable similarity between the pathways for phenyl radical oxidation by O 2 and its oxidation by SO 2 is observed. The reaction rate constants are also evaluated to facilitate process simulations.

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