2,5-Dimethyl-furan (DMF) was electrochemically synthesized from 5-hydroxymethylfurfural with high efficiency and selectivity using a CuNi bimetallic electrode.

The development of flexible sensors with low cost, facile preparation and good reproducibility is of profound significance for wearable electronics and intelligent systems. Lignin is an aromatic composition of lignocellulosic biomass and known as a cheap, renewable, and environmentally friendly resource available everywhere. In this study, we present a simple and low-cost approach for the preparation of a highly electrically sensitive and flexible composite with polydimethylsiloxane and carbonized lignin via a facile process (CL/PDMS). This electrically sensitive flexible composite can be used in the preparation of a piezo-resistive sensor, which exhibits stable and fast response to loading and unloading stress in 60 ms and 40 ms, respectively. The sensor prototype displayed high sensitivity (57 kPa⁻¹), wide range of working pressure (from 0 to 130 kPa) and excellent durability. The signals of pulse rates and the force needed for picking up items were successfully collected with this CL/PDMS sensor prototype. With the simple process for fabrication, low-cost of the filling material and excellent performance, we believe that the lignin-based sensitive flexible composite CL/PDMS is promising for applications in wearable electronics and intelligent systems such as health monitoring, smart skins, sports and other related areas.

In situ synthesis of Ni _x Se _y –NiFe LDH core–shell nanoarrays on nickel foam for electrochemical oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and furfural.

A new kind of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) microspheres for the selective extraction of kaempferol was prepared by precipitation polymerization using 4-vinylpridine (4-VP) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as functional monomer and cross-linker respectively. The synthesis conditions, such as ratios of 4-VP/EDMA and polymerization time were discussed in detail. Results showed that the 2% was the optimal concentration of co-monomers to obtain monodisperse MIP microspheres, the best ratio of 4-VP/EDMA was 1:2, and 24 h was considered as the proper polymerization time. Compared with the MIP agglomeration or coagulum particles, monodisperse MIP microspheres showed the better adsorption capacity: the saturated adsorption capacity of monodisperse MIP microspheres was 7.47 mg g⁻¹, the adsorption equilibrium could be obtained in 30 min. Finally, the adsorption performances of the optimal MIP microspheres were evaluated by kinetic adsorption, adsorption isotherm, and selective adsorption experiments, which indicated that the adsorption mechanism were chemical single layer adsorption and the separation factor was up to 3.91 by comparing with the structure similar compound (quercetin). The MIP microspheres exhibit prospects in the kaempferol efficient and selective separation.

The selective photocatalytic oxidation of vanilla alcohol with air was studied preliminarily using supported Au–Pd bimetallic nanocatalysts. The support, phosphate-modified Mg–Al hydrotalcite (HT-PO₄ ³⁻), was produced first with a sol–gel and ion-exchange method, and then Au–Pd alloy nanocatalysts supported on activated carbon (C) and HT-PO₄ ³⁻ were prepared, respectively, by an impregnated-reduction approach. Subsequently, the morphology and property of these two catalysts were characterized by XPS, SEM-EDX, ICP-OES, XRD, HR-TEM and DR-UV-vis. In terms of the photocatalytic reaction, Au–Pd@C and Au–Pd@HT-PO₄ ³⁻ exhibited photocatalytic activity and the latter displayed higher selectivity. Under optimized experimental conditions, the conversion rate and selectivity using Au–Pd@HT-PO₄ ³⁻ as catalyst were 52.8% and 49.6% respectively, due to the synergistically double dehydrogenative oxidation derived from alloy nanoparticles and basic support. Moreover, the catalysts had good recyclability without significant loss of activity after several recycles. Therefore, this catalyst could recurrently realize production of vanillin from vanilla alcohol under mild reaction conditions, including in the atmosphere, at ambient temperature and with no addition of alkali, which is very important for a potential “green” strategy towards clean and cost-efficient production of vanillin.