Cutinases are promising agents for poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) bio-recycling because of their ability to produce the PET monomer terephthalic acid with high efficiency under mild reaction conditions. In this study, we found that the low-crystallinity PET (lcPET) hydrolysis activity of thermostable cutinase from Thermobifida fusca (TfCut2), was increased by the addition of cationic surfactant that attracts enzymes near the lcPET film surface via electrostatic interactions. This approach was applicable to the mutant TfCut2 G62A/F209A, which was designed based on a sequence comparison with PETase from Ideonella sakaiensis. As a result, the degradation rate of the mutant in the presence of cationic surfactant increased to 31 ± 0.1 nmol min−1 cm−2, 12.7 times higher than that of wild-type TfCut2 in the absence of surfactant. The long-duration reaction showed that lcPET film (200 μm) was 97 ± 1.8% within 30 h, the fastest biodegradation rate of lcPET film thus far. We therefore believe that our approach would expand the possibility of enzyme utilization in industrial PET biodegradation.

Preparation of micrometer-sized spherical particles containing Rhodamine 6G (R6G) has been investigated for the spherical cavity micro-laser. Using phenyl triethoxy silane (PTES) as a starting material, R6G-doped monodisperse spherical particles were prepared by the vibrating orifice technique. Processing is consist of two major processes: (1) Hydrolysis and polymerization of PTES and (2) Droplet formation from PTES oligomers by vibrating orifice technique. A cylindrical liquid jet (PTES oligomer and R6G diluted with alcohol) passing through the orifice of 10 and 20 im in diameter breaks up into equal-sized droplets by mechanical vibration. Alcohol solvent of these droplets was evaporated during flying with carrier gas and subsequently solidified in ammonium water trap. For making smooth surface and good shaped particles, control of molecular weight of PTES oligomer was essential. R6G-doped hybrid spherical particles of 4 1O tm size of cavity structure were successfully obtained. The spherical particles were pumped by a second harmonic pulse of Q-switched Nd-YAG laser (532 nm wavelength) and laser emission peaks were observed at wavelengths which correspond to the resonance modes.

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Recently, improvement of hybrid and electric vehicle technologies, equipped with batteries, continues to solve energy and environmental problems. Lighter weight and crash safety are required in these vehicles body. In order to meet these requirements, three-dimensional hot bending and direct quench (3DQ) technology, which enables to form hollow tubular automotive parts with a tensile strength of 1470 MPa or over, has been developed. In addition, this technology enables to produce partially quenched automotive parts. In this study, the crash characteristics of 3DQ partially quenched products were investigated as the fundamental research of the design for improving the energy absorption. Main results are as follows: (1) for partially quenched straight products in axial crash test, buckling that occurs at nonquenched portion can be controlled; (2) for the nonquenched conventional and overall-quenched curved products, buckling occurs at the bent portion at the initial stage in axial crash tests, and its energy absorption is low; (3) by optimizing partially quench conditions, buckling occurrence can be controlled; and (4) In this study, the largest energy absorption was obtained from the partially quenched curved product, which was 84.6% larger than the energy absorption of the conventional nonquenched bent product in crash test.

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