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The effect of nucleating agents on the crystallization behavior of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) was studied. A differential scanning calorimeter was used to monitor the energy of the crystallization process from the melt and melting behavior. During the crystallization process from the melt, nucleating agent led to an increase in crystallization temperature (T c ) of PHBV compared with that for plain PHBV (without nucleating agent). The melting temperature of PHBV changed little with addition of nucleating agent. However, the areas of two melting peaks changed considerably with added nucleating agent. During isothermal crystallization, dependence of the relative degree of crystallization on time was described by the Avrami equation. The addition of nucleat-ing agent caused an increase in the overall crystallization rate of PHBV, but did not influence the mechanism of nucleation and growth of the PHB crystals. The equilibrium melting temperature of PHBV was determined as 187°C. Analysis of kinetic data according to nucleation theories showed that the increase in crystallization rate of PHBV in the composite is due to the decrease in surface energy of the extremity surface.

With the assistance of resorcinol-formaldehyde, MoS 2 coated hollow carbon spheres (C@MoS 2 ) were synthesized through a facile hydrothermal route followed by heat and alkali treatments. The measurements indicate that the hollow carbon spheres with an average diameter of 300 nm and shell thickness of 20 nm. And the hollow core are uniformly covered by ultrathin MoS 2 nanosheets with a length increased to 400 nm. The unique hollow structure and the synergistic effect between carbon layer and MoS 2 nanosheets significantly enhance the rate capability and electrochemical stability of C@MoS 2 spheres as anode material of lithium-ion battery. The synthesized C@MoS 2 delivered a capacity of 750 mAh g −1 at a current density of 100 mA g −1 . More importantly, the C@MoS 2 maintained a reversible capacity of 533 mAh g −1 even at a high current density of 1000 mA g −1 . The study indicated that MoS 2 coated hollow carbon spheres can be promising anode material for next generation high-performance lithium-ion batteries.