Waterborne polyurethanes (WPU) have been widely applied in adhesive, leather, paints, leathers, textiles, and coatings. Herein, the reinforcement of 2 D nanosheets, graphene (Gr), graphene oxide (GO) and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) on the water resistance, mechanical and anti-corrosion properties of WPU was studied via in situ polymerization method with the loading amount of 0.25 wt%. Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy analysis revealed no obvious changes in the internal structure of WPU incorporated with these 2 D nanosheets. The scanning electron microscope demonstrates a relatively homogeneous dispersion of h-BN in the WPU matrix. It is clear from the results that the resistance to water, mechanical and anti-corrosion properties of WPU were prominently improved by the incorporation of these nanosheets, especially h-BN, which was ascribed to its homogenous dispersion in WPU matrix and interface adhesion between polymer and filler. In the presence of 0.25 wt% h-BN, the water-absorption rate of WPU decreased from 37.3% to 15.7%, and the tensile strength improved from 4.16 MPa to 19.56 MPa. In conclusion, h-BN might be considered as an ideal nano-filler for WPU as compared to Gr and GO.

Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP) has been a powerful tool to synthesize well-defined functional polymers, which are widely used in biology, drug/gene delivery and antibacterial materials, etc. However, the potential toxic residues in polymer reduced its service life and limited its applications. In order to overcome the problem, in this work, a novel polymerization system of activators generated by electron transfer for atom transfer radical polymerization (AGET ATRP) for synchronous separation of the metal catalyst and byproduct of reducing agent was developed, using thiol-grafted cellulose paper (Cell-SH) as a solid reducing agent. The polymerization kinetics were investigated in detail, and the “living” features of the novel polymerization system were confirmed by chain-end analysis and chain extension experiment for the resultant polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). It is noted that the copper residual in obtained PMMA was less than 20 ppm, just by filtering the sheet-like byproduct of the reducing agent.

Hollow Fe2TiO5 microspheres were successfully fabricated through a facile one-pot low-temperature solvothermal approach using FeCl3 as the Fe source and the Ti(OC3H7)4 as the Ti source in the presence of n-dodecylamine and ethanol, followed by high temperature calcination at 500 °C. The crystalline structures and morphological features were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. Results indicate that the morphology and size of Fe2TiO5 particles largely depend on the concentrations of n-dodecylamine, which has been used as surfactant to control the growth of crystals because of its long nonpolar carbon chain. With only 0.1 mmol hollow Fe2TiO5 microspheres, 3 mmol Rhodamine B (RhB) could be completely degraded under visible light irradiation in 4 h, compared with TiO2 and α-Fe2O3, the hollow Fe2TiO5 exhibited enhanced photocatalytic efficiency under the visible light irradiation.

This paper highlights the synthesis of a one-dimensional (1D) hierarchical material mesosilica/palygorskite (Pal) composite and evaluates its adsorption performance for anionic dye methyl orange (MO) in comparison with Pal and Mobile crystalline material-41 (MCM-41). The Mesosilica/Pal composite is consisted of mesosilica coated Pal nanorods and prepared through a dual template approach using cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and Pal as soft and hard templates, respectively. The composition and structure of the resultant material was characterized by a scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmissionelectron microscopy (TEM), N₂ adsorption-desorption analysis, small-angle X-Ray powder diffraction (XRD), and zeta potential measurement. Adsorption experiments were carried out with different absorbents at different contact times and pH levels. Compared with Pal and MCM-41, the mesosilica/Pal composite exhibited the best efficiency for MO adsorption. Its adsorption ratio is as high as 70.4%. Its adsorption equilibrium time is as short as 30 min. Results testify that the MO retention is promoted for the micro-mesoporous hierarchical structure and positive surface charge electrostatic interactions of the mesosilica/Pal composite. The regenerability of the mesosilica/Pal composite absorbent was also assessed. 1D morphology makes it facile to separate from aqueous solutions. It can be effortlessly recovered and reused for up to nine cycles.