Recently, Pickering
emulsion stabilized by Janus particles has
received considerable attention for interfacial reactions and droplet
manipulation. However, its potential interests have been rarely explored
because of the difficulties in designing and fabricating Janus particles
for Pickering emulsion with suitable applications. Also, photocatalytic
materials are scarcely applied as emulsifiers in Pickering emulsions
because of their photogenerated hydrophilicity. This work reports
the synthesis of methyl-capped Janus TiO2–SiO2 particles (MJTSs), which can be used as a novel emulsifier
and photocatalyst simultaneously. The MJTSs, composed of an anatase
TiO2 sphere and silica rod, are prepared by inverse emulsion-based
step-by-step growth. We demonstrate that the Pickering emulsion stabilized
by MJTSs represents extraordinary ability of emulsification, excellent
stability, and tunable emulsion type (water in oil or oil in water).
In addition, the MJTSs exhibit photocatalytic activity in decomposition
of pollutants in the water phase while maintaining the stability of
the Pickering emulsion.
High-loading Pt/C catalysts play an important role in
the practical
application of metal–air batteries and fuel cells because of
their superior activity, high conductivity, and commercial availability.
It is well known that high loadings always lead to the agglomeration
of Pt nanoparticles, resulting in a loss of catalytic activity and
stability; thus, it still remains a challenge to prepare high-loading
Pt/C catalysts with high dispersion and small particle sizes. Here,
we introduce a surfactant-assisted microwave discharge method to prepare
high-loading (>40 wt %) Pt/C electrocatalysts with ultrafine particle
sizes (∼3.19 nm) and good dispersion. Benefitting from the
high-temperature property and reducibility of carbon-induced-arc,
the surfactant and Pt precursors undergo rapid decomposition, reduction,
and carbonization, generating the structure of Pt@C on carbon black.
The carbon derived from the surfactant can not only inhibit the agglomeration
of Pt nanoparticles but also prevent the Pt core from toxication,
ensuring high activity and stability of the high-loading Pt/C catalyst.
When evaluated in the oxygen reduction reaction, the as-prepared Pt/C
catalyst demonstrates a comparable activity and better methanol resistance
to commercial Pt/C.
In this paper, anisotropic SiO2 with different morphologies were synthesized through an emulsion-based one-pot method by adding various silane coupling agents. Silane coupling agents affected the growth of silica nanostructures at the oil/water interfaces. Robust super-repellent film that showed great durability under different harsh conditions were obtained by bonding the self-assembled anisotropic silica nanostructures (ASN) film to substrate by the commercial acrylic adhesive. The film switched from superhydrophobic (157.1[Formula: see text] to superhydrophilic (0[Formula: see text] after being heat-treated at 500[Formula: see text]C. Further, silane treatment with addition of acid reduced the time of modification. Meanwhile, silane grafting density was improved and superhydrophobicity of calcinated ASN films was regenerated.
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