Fouling Reduction and Thermal Efficiency Enhancement in Membrane Distillation Using a Bilayer-Fluorinated Alkyl Silane-Carbon Nanotube Membrane.

In this study, we report the robust hydrophobicity, lower fouling propensity, and high thermal efficiency of the 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane (FAS)-coated, carbon nanotube-immobilized membrane (CNIM) when applied to desalination via membrane distillation. Referred to as FAS-CNIM, the membrane was developed through a process that combined the drop-casting of nanotubes flowed by a dip coating of the FAS layer. The membranes were tested for porosity, surface morphology, thermal stability, contact angle, and flux. The static contact angle of the FAS-CNIM was 153 ± 1°, and the modified membrane showed enhancement in water flux by 18% compared to the base PTFE membrane. The flux was tested at different operating conditions and the fouling behavior was investigated under extreme conditions using a CaCO3 as well as a mixture of CaCO3 and CaSO4 solution. The FAS-CNIM showed significantly lower fouling than plain PTFE or the CNIM; the relative flux reduction was 34.4% and 37.6% lower than the control for the CaCO3 and CaCO3/CaSO4 mixed salt solution. The FAS-CNIM exhibited a notable decrease in specific energy consumption (SEC). Specifically, the SEC for the FAS-CNIM measured 311 kwh/m3 compared to 330.5 kwh/m3 for the CNIM and 354 kwh/m3 for PTFE using a mixture of CaCO3/CaSO4. This investigation underscores the significant contribution of the carbon nanotubes' (CNTs) intermediate layer in creating a durable superhydrophobic membrane, highlighting the potential of utilizing carbon nanotubes for tailored interface engineering to tackle fouling for salt mixtures. The innovative design of a superhydrophobic membrane has the potential to alleviate wetting issues resulting from low surface energy contaminants present in the feed of membrane distillation processes.

Inorganic salt starvation improves the polysaccharide production and CO2 fixation by Porphyridium purpureum.

The microalgae industry shows a promising future in the production of high-value products such as pigments, phycoerythrin, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and polysaccharides. It was found that polysaccharides have high biomedical value (such as antiviral, antibacterial, antitumor, antioxidative) and industrial application prospects (such as antioxidants). This study aimed to improve the polysaccharides accumulation of Porphyridium purpureum CoE1, which was effectuated by inorganic salt starvation strategy whilst supplying rich carbon dioxide. At a culturing temperature of 25 °C, the highest polysaccharide content (2.89 g/L) was achieved in 50% artificial seawater on the 12th day. This accounted for approximately 37.29% of the dry biomass, signifying a 25.3% increase in polysaccharide production compared to the culture in 100% artificial seawater. Subsequently, separation, purification and characterization of polysaccharides produced were conducted. Furthermore, the assessment of CO2 fixation capacity during the cultivation of P. purpureum CoE1 was conducted in a 10 L photobioreactor. This indicated that the strain exhibited an excellent CO2 fixation capacity of 1.66 g CO2/g biomass/d. This study proposed an efficient and feasible approach that not only increasing the yield of polysaccharides by P. purpureum CoE1, but also fixing CO2 with a high rate, which showed great potential in the microalgae industry and Bio-Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage.

Drug-free and multifunctional sodium bicarbonate/hyaluronic acid hybrid dressing for synergistic healing of infected wounds.

Skin wounds are susceptible to microbial infections which commonly lead to the delayed wound healing. Rapid clearance of pathogens from the wound is of great significance and importance for efficient healing of the infected wounds. Herein, we report a multifunctional hybrid dressing, which simply combines sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and hyaluronic acid (HA) for the synergistic wound healing. Addition of NaHCO3 allows the hybrid dressing to have the great antibacterial and antioxidant activity, while maintaining the intrinsic skin repair function of HA. As a result, NaHCO3/HA hybrid dressing showed the great antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive (S. aureus) and Gram-negative (E. coli) pathogens, the ability to improve the fibroblasts proliferation and migration, the cell-protection capacity under H2O2-induced oxidative stress, and most importantly, the great healing efficacy for the mice wound infected by S. aureus. We further found that the epidermal regeneration, the collagen deposition and the angiogenesis were enhanced by NaHCO3/HA hybrid dressing. All these effects were NaHCO3 concentration-dependent. Since the NaHCO3/HA hybrid dressing is drug-free, easily fabricated, biocompatible, and efficient for wound healing, it may have great potentials for clinical management of infected wounds.

Bis(tetra-butyl-ammonium) tetra-chlorido-manganate(II) di-chloro-methane disolvate.

The title compound, (C16H36N)2[MnCl4]·2CH2Cl2, is an ionic organic-inorganic hybride compound consisting of a tetra-butyl-ammonium cation and a tetra-chlorido-manganate(II) anion in a 2:1 stoichiometric ratio. The cation contains a central nitro-gen atom bonded to four n-butyl groups in a tetra-hedral arrangement, while the anion contains a central MnII atom tetra-hedrally coordinated by four chlorido ligands. It co-crystallized with two equivalents of di-chloro-methane solvent, CH2Cl2, to give the following empirical formula: [(C4H9)4N]2[MnCl4]·(CH2Cl2)2. The crystal structure is mainly stabilized by Coulombic inter-actions.

Inorganic salt recrystallization strategy for achieving ultralong room temperature phosphorescence through structural confinement and aluminized reconstruction.

Achieving highly efficient and stable room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) with ultralong lifetime is critical for the multi-purpose applications of phosphorescent materials. In this work, we propose an inorganic salt heating recrystallization strategy to simultaneously improve the lifetime, quantum efficiency, and stability of phosphorescent scandium/leucine microspheres (Sc/Leu-MSs). Inorganic salt-treated Sc/Leu-MSs are obtained by simply heating and drying inorganic salt solution containing Sc/Leu-MSs, which can achieve a maximum lifetime increase of 4.42-times from 208.37 ms (Sc/Leu-MSs) to 920.08 ms (Al2(SO4)3-treated Sc/Leu-MSs), accompanied by a RTP intensity increase up to 24.08-times. The enhancement mechanism of RTP efficiency is attributed to the stabilization of triplet excitons caused by inorganic salt coating that suppresses molecular motion and isolates oxygen on the one hand, and the efficient intersystem crossing promoted by aluminized reconstruction-caused duplex heavy atom effects on the other hand. This study provides new design principle and a facile strategy to construct RTP materials with ultralong lifetime, high phosphorescent quantum efficiency, and high stability for promising applications such as anti-counterfeiting and light emitting diodes.

Facile fabrication of strong and conductive cellulose hydrogels with wide temperature tolerance for flexible sensors.

Cellulose-based ionic conductive hydrogels (ICHs) have found extensive applications in flexible electronics and multifunctional sensors. However, simultaneous realization of sufficient conductivity, superior mechanical property and extreme environment tolerance for ICHs remains to be a huge challenge. In this work, a facile one-pot approach was developed to fabricate ICHs by directly dissolving cotton linter cellulose and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) in a concentrated ZnCl2 solution. By regulating the content of PVA in ICHs, the optimal hydrogel (Gel-5) exhibits a tensile strength of 0.30 MPa, a compressive strength of 2.05 MPa and a conductivity of 8.16 S m-1. Moreover, the resulting dual-network ICHs present high transparency, good thermal reversibility and desirable ionic conductivity. Due to the high concentration of inorganic salts in the porous dual-network structure, the ICH presents good anti-drying and anti-freezing (as low as -90 °C) properties. Such hydrogel can be assembled into multi-functional sensors for human motion and temperature monitoring, and they demonstrate durable sensitivity, cycling stability in a wide operating temperature. This work will shed light on the design of cellulose-based hydrogels with good ionic conductivity and mechanical performance under extreme conditions.

The effect of inorganic salt on the morphology and nucleation of polyaniline nanofibers synthesized via self-assembly.

Polyaniline (PANI), due to the various and controllable shapes, the environmental stability, the excellent physical and chemical property, has gained significant attention. PANI with abundant morphologies were successfully prepared through adjusting and controlling the state of the initial micelle-like in the micelle-like system composed by aniline and organic acids with relatively weak intermolecular interaction. Although the influence of the inorganic salts on their morphology, including the surface and the diameter, was investigated, the influence of salt on the nucleation of PANI was still unclear. Therefore, PANI nanofibers were fabricated through the addition of inorganic salt such as NaCl, MgSO4 and AlCl3 into the micelle-like composed of aniline and D-camphor-10-sulfonic acid. The influence of types and concentration of inorganic salts, doped acids and temperature on PANI was studied by Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), UV-vis and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) spectroscopy. In addition, in situ UV-vis and 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance technology (NMR) were applied to observe the process of aniline polymerization, and it was indicated the polymerization rate of aniline changed after the addition of inorganic salt NaCl into the initial solution.

The Potential Environmental and Social Influence of the Inorganic Salt Hydrates Used as a Phase Change Material for Thermal Energy Storage in Solar Installations.

The aim of this article is to assess the potential impact of inorganic salt hydrates used as PCM material in solar installations on the environment and human health and to assess the society's approach to this technology. The properties of salt are discussed in two ways: first, by analyzing the environmental and health problems caused by chemical hazards on the basis of the available material safety data sheets. Secondly, by analyzing the potential disadvantages of salt hydrates in terms of environmental hazards based on the results of experimental studies available in the literature. Then, using questionnaires, the public approach to solar installations with a built-in converter containing salt hydrates is assessed. Disodium hydrogen phosphate dodecahydrate turned out to be the most prospective salt in terms of environmental, thermophysical, and economic properties for use in solar installations. Understanding the attitudes of the local community toward technologies using inorganic salt hydrates will enable appropriate action to be taken in the future to promote their development. Surveys have shown great public concern about their impact on the environment and human health. In this regard, it is necessary to implement information and promotion activities.

Multiple Functions of Malpighian Tubules in Insects: A Review.

The Malpighian Tubules (MTs) are the main excretory organs in most insects. They play a key role in the production of primary urine and osmoregulation, selectively reabsorbing water, ions, and solutes. Besides these functions conserved in most insects, MTs can serve some specialized tasks at different stages of some species' development. The specialized functions include the synthesis of mucopolysaccharides and proteins for the building of foam nests, mucofibrils for the construction of dwelling tubes, adhesive secretions to help the locomotion, and brochosomes for protection as well as the usage of inorganic salts to harden the puparia, eggs chorion, and pupal cells' closing lids. MTs are also the organs responsible for the astonishing bioluminescence of some Diptera glowworms and can go through some drastic histological changes to produce a silk-like fiber utilized to spin cocoons. The specialized functions are associated with modifications of cells within the entire tubules, in specific segments, or, more rarely, modified secretory cells scattered along the MTs. In this review, we attempted to summarize the observations and experiments made over more than a century concerning the non-excretive functions of insects' MTs, underlying the need for new investigations supported by the current, advanced technologies available to validate outdated theories and clarify some dubious aspects.

Characteristics, mechanisms and measurement methods of dissolution and deposition of inorganic salts in sub-/supercritical water.

The efficient and harmless treatment of hypersaline organic wastes has become an urgent environmental problem. Compared to traditional thermochemical methods, supercritical water oxidation has been proven to be an efficient organic waste treatment technology due to the advantages of low cost, high degradation rate, no secondary pollutants, etc. However, the solubilities of inorganic salts drop rapidly near the critical point of water, and some sticky salts form easily agglomerates and then adhere to internal surfaces of reactor and pipeline, causing plugging and inhibition of heat transfer. Hence, the characteristics, mechanisms and measurement methods of the dissolution and deposition of inorganic salts in sub-/supercritical water are summarized and analyzed systematically and comprehensively in this work, intending to provide a valuable guide for salt deposition prevention and subsequent research directions. Firstly, a new classification form of inorganic salt is put forward based on melting point. The phase equilibriums of brine systems are then analyzed in detail. Six theories concerning dissolution mechanisms are discussed deeply and various measurement methods of salt solubility are also supplemented. Furthermore, salt deposition characteristics and related measurement technologies are summarized. Notably, a new idea "hydrothermal molten salt" system is reviewed which may provide a solution for salt deposition in sub/supercritical water. Finally, an outlook for the follow-up researches is prospected and some suggestions are proposed.

Structural transition of reverse cylindrical micelles to reverse vesicles by mixtures of lecithin and inorganic salts.

HYPOTHESIS: The transformation from reverse micelles to reverse vesicles is influenced by electrostatic interactions between lecithin headgroups and inorganic salts. The electrostatic interactions are expected to influence molecular geometry of lecithin, resulting in a reduction in critical packing parameter (p). Hence, it should be possible to drive structural transitions of reverse self-assembled structures by addition of inorganic salts to lecithin solutions. EXPERIMENTS: Structural transitions of reverse micelles and reverse vesicles were formulated including lecithin and inorganic salts as a function of concentration in cyclohexane. A systematic study was performed using inorganic salts with the different valences of the cations such as Li+, Ca2+, and La3+. To probe the nanodomain structures from the lecithin/salt mixtures, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used. FINDINGS: Adding salts to lecithin solutions induced the systematic transformation of reverse self-assembled structures from reverse spherical micelles to reverse cylindrical micelles and finally to reverse vesicles. The transformation was also correlated with interactions between lecithin headgroups and salts, that is, Li+ < Ca2+ < La3+. In addition, a water-soluble dye such as rhodamine B (RB) can be readily encapsulated into reverse micelles and vesicles, indicating that they are potentially useful for controlled solute delivery.

Ion exchange membrane optimized light-driven photoelectrochemical unit for efficiency simultaneous organic degradation and metal recovery from the mine wastewater.

Resource recovery from wastewater is a promising and challenging topic. Herein, a well-designed ion exchange membrane optimized light-driven photoelectrochemical unit (MPECS) was constructed to reduce the effect of inorganic salt on the photoelectrochemical performance of the photoanode. TiO2/carbon dots/WO3 (TCDW) photoanode with the indirect Z-scheme heterojunction structure was successfully fabricated, achieving a strong light harvest performance (10.82%) and a high photocurrent density (5.39 mA/cm2). For the simulated solution (0.01 M phenol and 0.01 M CuSO4), the phenol degradation and Cu recovery efficiencies reached 99.67% and 62.20% in 60 min, respectively, and the corresponding photoelectric conversion efficiency (PECE) reached 4.64% in the TCDW/Pt-based MPECS. For the actual Cu-laden mine wastewater, over 98% of inorganic salt was removed. Compared to the traditional photoelectrochemical system (PECS), the COD removal and Cu recovery efficiencies were further improved by 23.77% and 49.41% in MPECS, respectively. The results exhibited a promising light-driven mine wastewater treatment technology.

Effect of different factors on treatment of oily wastewater by TiO2/Al2O3-PVDF ultrafiltration membrane.

An ultrafiltration membrane developed by our research group was applied to treat simulated emulsified oil wastewater. ATR-FTIR, SEM, TEM, and Zeta potential analyzes demonstrated that the modified ultrafiltration membrane (MM) has excellent stability and anti-fouling capacity than origin membrane (OM), which possesses a pure water flux of 260 L·m-2·h-1 and oil/water (o/w) rejection of 98.5 ± 0.33%. Inorganic salt CaCl2 has more considerable influence than MgSO4 and NaCl under the same mass concentration in the two membranes UF process. Along with concentration increasing, flux sharply reduces; meanwhile, the rejection has an opposite trend. Moreover, permeation flux has a maximum value, and the rejection also gets its optimal state under neutral conditions during the pH value of 2-12. The membrane also exhibits excellent anti-fouling performance and anti- o/w adsorption properties with an adsorption rate below 0.8% compared with OM, which has an adsorption rate of nearly 2.1%, respectively. A kind of new UF membrane developed by our research group was applied to treat simulated o/w. ATR-FTIR, SEM, TEM, and Zeta potential analyzes demonstrated that PVDF-Al2O3/TiO2 material has excellent stability and anti-fouling capacity. CaCl2 has the greatest influence than MgSO4 and NaCl under the same mass concentration. Moreover, permeation flux has maximum value and the rejection also gets its optimal state under neutral conditions during pH 2-12. The membrane also exhibits excellent anti-fouling performance and anti-O/W adsorption properties with adsorption rate below 0.8% compared with OM which has an adsorption rate nearly 2.1%, respectively.

Synergetic effect of ZnCo2O4/inorganic salt as a sustainable catalyst system for CO2 utilization.

Currently, it is essential to consider the rapidly increasing emission of CO2 into the atmosphere, causing major environmental issues such as climate change and global warming. In this work, we have developed the binary catalyst system (ZnCo2O4/inorganic salt) for chemical fixation of CO2 with epoxides into cyclic carbonates without solvent, and all reactions were performed on a large scale using a 100 ml batch reactor. Two mesoporous catalysts of ZnCo2O4 with different architecture, such as flakes (ZnCo-F) and spheres (ZnCo-S) were synthesized and utilized as a heterogeneous catalyst for cycloaddition reaction. The bifunctional property of catalysts is mainly attributed to strong acidic and basic properties confirmed by TPD (NH3 & CO2) analysis. The ZnCo-F catalyst exhibited excellent conversion of propylene oxide (99.9%) with good corresponding selectivity of propylene carbonate (≥99%) in the presence of inorganic salt (KI) at 120 °C, 2 MPa, 3 h. In addition, ZnCo-F catalyst demonstrated good catalytic applicability towards the various substrates scope of the epoxide. Furthermore, the catalytic properties were examined by evaluating the reaction parameter such as catalyst loading, pressure, temperature and time. The proposed catalyst exhibited good reusability for cycloaddition reaction without significant change in its catalytic activity and proposed a possible reaction mechanism for chemical fixation of CO2 with epoxide into cyclic carbonate over ZnCo-F/KI.

A High Rate and Stable Hybrid Li/Na-Ion Battery Based on a Hydrated Molten Inorganic Salt Electrolyte.

Taking into the consideration safety, environmental impact, and economic issue, the construction of aqueous batteries based on aqueous electrolyte has become an indispensable technical option for large-scale electrical energy storage. The narrow electrochemical window is the main problem of conventional aqueous electrolyte. Here, an economical room-temperature inorganic hydrated molten salt (RTMS) electrolyte with a large electrochemical stability window of 3.1 V is proposed. Compared with organic fluorinated molten salts, RTMS is composed of lithium nitrate hydrate and sodium nitrate with much lower cost. Based on the RTMS electrolyte, a hybrid Li/Na-ion full battery is fabricated from cobalt hexacyanoferrate cathode (NaCoHCF) and perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) anode. The full cell with the RTMS electrolyte exhibits a fantastic performance with high capacity of 139 mAh g-1 at 1 C, 90 mAh g-1 at 20 C, and capacity retention of 94.7% over 500 cycles at 3 C. The excellent performances are contributed to the unique properties of RTMS with a large electrochemical window, solvated H2 O free and high mobility of Li+ , which exhibits excellent Li-ions insertion and extraction capacity of NaCoHCF. This RTMS cell provides a new economic choice for large-scale energy storage.

[Chemical Components and Sources of PM2.5 and Their Evolutive Characteristics in Zhengzhou].

To explore the main sources of PM2.5 and the characteristics of seasonal differences in Zhengzhou, PM2.5 sampling was conducted in 2019 and the concentrations of inorganic water-soluble ions, carbon components, and various elements were analyzed. Results showed that the average mass concentration of PM2.5 in 2019 was (67.0±37.2) µg ·m-3 with the highest concentration in winter and the lowest in summer. The main components of PM2.5 were nitrate, ammonium, sulfate, organic matter, crustal matter, and elemental carbon. In spring and autumn, PM2.5 was greatly affected by crustal matter and elemental carbon, and In summer, concentrations were mainly affected by sulfate. In winter, the concentrations of organic matter and nitrate increased significantly, produced by photochemical reactions in summer and aqueous-phase reactions under high humidity in winter. Carbonaceous aerosols were greatly influenced by automobile exhaust emission, coal combustion, and biomass combustion. Source apportionment showed that secondary sources were the greatest contributors in all four seasons, particularly in in winter (56.5%). Among the primary sources, the proportion of dust in spring (15.2%) and autumn (11.4%) was slightly higher, and the contribution of motor vehicle pollution was the largest (12.3%) in summer. In winter, PM2.5was greatly affected by coal combustion (13.2%). From 2014 to 2019, PM2.5 in Zhengzhou increased annually under the influence of secondary sources. The contribution of industrial sources, biomass combustion sources, and coal combustion sources exhibited a downward trend over this period.

Differential effects of inorganic salts on cellulase kinetics in enzymatic saccharification of cellulose and lignocellulosic biomass.

Inorganic salt pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass has proven to be an efficient way to increase the efficiency of enzymatic saccharification. However, it is not clear that this improvement is the result of modification of the lignocellulosic substrate after pretreatment, or removal of inhibitor, or enhancement of cellulase or a combination of these events. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the effects of inorganic salts on kinetics of cellulase enzymes (celluclast 1.5L and accellerase 1500). Two substrates rich in cellulose content [carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), avicel (AV)] and lignocellulose substrate [sugarcane bagasse (SB)] were considered. The enzymatic saccharification was carried with and without the addition of inorganic salts (NaCl and KCl) at 0.5 M and 1.0 M concentration. The kinetic parameters, Km and Vm, were determined to mechanically understand the pattern of inhibition and enhancement of inorganic salts on enzymatic saccharification. The kinetics parameters of celluclast 1.5L and accellerase 1500 for hydrolysis of CMC and AV with NaCl showed uncompetitive inhibition. Whereas, influences of KCl on both cellulase were differentiated to function in inhibition or enhancement modes when challenged with different substrates. On the other hand, enzymatic hydrolysis efficiencies of SB using both cellulases were enhanced under addition of NaCl and KCl, by increasing Vm of celluclast 1.5L from 0.303 to 0.635 mg/mL min (0.5 M KCl) and accellerase 1500 from 0.383 to 0.719 mg/mL min (1.0 M NaCl). The details of kinetic analysis in this work revealed the mechanism of inorganic salts on cellulase kinetics to be involved in substrate modification and removal of inhibitor.

Dual Inorganic Sacrificial Template Synthesis of Hierarchically Porous Carbon with Specific N Sites for Efficient Oxygen Reduction.

It is still a challenge to achieve efficiently controlled preparation of functional oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) carbon electrocatalysts with multi-preferred structures (hierarchically porous networks and specific carbon-nitrogen bonds) from carbohydrate-containing small molecules via simple one-step pyrolysis. Based on the step-by-step spontaneous gas-foaming strategy, we successfully prepare 3D hierarchically porous networks with tunable N sites (NP/NG ≈ 1:1) by pyrolyzing diverse carbohydrates (glucose, maltose, and cyclodextrin) using nonmetal-metal dual inorganic sacrificial templates. In situ evaporation templates can simplify the procedure of the experiments and avoid the active site loss compared with traditional hard templates. Crucially, dual inorganic sacrificial templates can induce abundant defects and microscopic pore structures (the specific surface area increased from 922.403 to 1898.792 m2·g-1) and tunable N sites compared with single nonmetal sacrificial templates. The regulatory mechanism of dual inorganic templates on N sites (NP/NG ≈ 1:1) is independent of the polymeric state of carbohydrate precursors or even the carbonization condition of the pyrolysis process. A series of carbon materials prepared by this strategy all have ORR-preferred structures and exhibit low ORR overpotentials compared with Pt/C. For instance, the Zn-air battery with ßCD-DSC-950-1 exhibits an open-circuit potential of 1.51 V and a peak power density of 180.89 mW·cm-2, higher than those of Pt/C (1.47 V, 174.94 mW·cm-2). In general, the conversion of carbohydrate-containing small molecules to functional carbon materials provides a new strategy for the development of carbonaceous electrocatalysts.

Understanding the Salt-Dependent Outcome of Glycine Polymorphic Nucleation.

The salt-dependent polymorphs of glycine crystals formed from bulk solutions have been a longstanding riddle. In this study, in order to shed fresh light, we studied the effects of seven common salts on primary nucleation of the metastable α-glycine and the stable γ-glycine. Our nucleation experiments and in-depth data analyses enabled us to reveal that (NH4)2SO4, NaCl and KNO3, in general, promote γ-glycine primary nucleation very significantly while simultaneously inhibiting α-glycine primary nucleation, thereby explaining why these three salts induce γ-glycine readily. In comparison, Ca(NO3)2 and MgSO4 also promote γ-glycine and inhibit α-glycine primary nucleation but not sufficiently to induce γ-glycine. More interestingly, Na2SO4 and K2SO4 promote not only γ-glycine but also α-glycine primary nucleation, which is unexpected and presents a rare case where a single additive promotes the nucleation of both polymorphs. As a result, the promoting effects of Na2SO4 and K2SO4 on γ-glycine do not enable γ-glycine nucleation to be more competitive than α-glycine nucleation, with γ-glycine failing to appear. These observations help us to better understand salt-governed glycine polymorphic selectivity.

A Novel Green Extraction Technique for Extracting Flavonoids from Folium nelumbinis by Changing Osmosis Pressure.

A new green and sustainable extraction technique, namely osmosis extraction (OE), was developed for efficient extracting flavonoids from Folium nelumbinis by changing the osmotic pressure. The antioxidant activities of the extracted flavonoids were also evaluated. Ethanol and ammonium sulfate were selected for the OE system because they are environmentally friendly. The maximum flavonoids concentration in the top phase was obtained with an ethanol volume fraction of 42.0% and the salt mass of 1.9 g. The kinetic behavior of the extraction process showed that OE had higher efficiencies especially coupled with ultrasonication due to the accompanying and serious morphological changes of Folium nelumbinis cells observed by digital microscope and nano-computed tomography (nano-CT). Results of morphological and anatomical features showed that the higher intracellular chemical potential made the cell expand and even led to bursting. The results also showed that the extraction efficiency of flavonoids with high antioxidant activities was higher than that of the traditional method. The interface effect enhanced the extraction during the salting-out extraction and osmosis was the main factor that improved the extraction efficiency.