International audienceThe synthesis, reactivity and applications of glycerol carbonate (glycerine carbonate or 4-hydroxymethyl- 2-oxo-1,3-dioxolane) are discussed and reviewed. Supported by the increasing sustainable awareness, glycerol carbonate has gained much interest over the last 20 years because of its versatile reactivity and as a way to valorize waste glycerol. Numerous synthesis pathways for this molecule were identified, some of them very promising and on the verge of being applied at an industrial scale. The wide reactivity of this molecule due to the presence of both a hydroxyl group and a 2-oxo-1,3-dioxolane group has been studied and has initiated some emerging applications in various domains from solvents to polymers
This review is an exhaustive representation of the electrochemical processes reported in the literature to produce superhydrophobic surfaces. Due to the intensive demand in the elaboration of superhydrophobic materials using low-cost, reproducible and fast methods, the use of strategies based on electrochemical processes have exponentially grown these last five years. These strategies are separated in two parts: the oxidation processes, such as oxidation of metals in solution, the anodization of metals or the electrodeposition of conducting polymers, and the reduction processed such as the electrodeposition of metals or the galvanic deposition. One of the main advantages of the electrochemical processes is the relative easiness to produce various surface morphologies and a precise control of the structures at a micro- or a nanoscale.
Using the concept of covalent layer-by-layer assembly (covalent LbL), used until now for the elaboration of films from polymers or dendrimers, we have constructed hybrid organic/inorganic surfaces by alternating different layers of amino-functionalized silica nanoparticles (295 nm diameter) and epoxy-functionalized smaller silica nanoparticles (20 nm diameter). The so-realized macromolecular edifice leads to a hierarchical integration of nanoscale textures. Then hydrophobization of the last layer of amino-functionalized silica particles was carried out by grafting a new designed highly fluorinated aldehyde, creating a monomolecular layer via the formation of an imine function. Five highly fluorinated surfaces were built, and their water-repellent abilities were directly correlated to the surface topologies (i.e., the number of layers of silica nanoparticles and their organization on the glass support). The hydrophobicity increased with the number of layers and stable highly water-repellent surfaces (static contact angle with water of 150+/-3 degrees and a contact angle hysteresis of 12 degrees) were obtained with the alternation of nine layers. This result demonstrates the possibility to construct covalent LbL edifices with functionalized silica nanoparticles of different sizes and open this field for the elaboration of responsive, sensing, and therapeutic surfaces with improved film stability.
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