No abstract

Piperazine pyrophosphate (PAPP) was mixed in polyamide 6 (PA6) to investigate its flame retardant properties. The PAPP was characterised by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), elemental analysis, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The elemental analysis and TGA results of PAPP indicated it had a high P element content and good thermal stability. The flame retardancy of PA6/ PAPP was also characterised by TGA, limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL-94 vertical test and microscale combustion calorimetry (MCC). The TGA results showed that the PAPP increased the stability of the PA6/PAPP and resulted in a significant increase of char residue. PA6/PAPP passed the UL94 V-0 rating with a LOI value of 42 vol %. The MCC test indicated that the PAPP can greatly decrease the peak heat release rate (PHRR) and total heat release (THR). The results of scanning electron microscope (SEM) illustrated that PAPP can promote the formation of compact char layer.

No abstract

BiVO4, a visible-light response photocatalyst, has shown tremendous potential because of abundant raw material sources, good stability and low cost. There exist some limitations for further applicaitions due to poor capability to separate electron–hole pairs. In fact, a single-component modification strategy is barely adequate to obtain highly efficient photocatalytic performance. In this work, P substituted some of the V atoms from VO4 oxoanions, namely P was doped into the V sites in the host lattice of BiVO4 by a hydrothermal route. Meanwhile, Ag as an attractive and efficient electron-cocatalyst was selectively modified on the (010) facet of BiVO4 nanosheets via facile photo-deposition. As a result, the obtained dually modified BiVO4 sheets exhibited enhanced photocatalytic degradation property of methylene blue (MB). In detail, photocatalytic rate constant (k) was 2.285 min−1 g−1, which was 2.78 times higher than pristine BiVO4 nanosheets. Actually, P-doping favored the formation of O vacancies, led to more charge carriers, and facilitated photocatalytic reaction. On the other hand, metallic Ag loaded on (010) facet effectively transferred photogenerated electrons, which consequently helped electron–hole pairs separation. The present work may enlighten new thoughts for smart design and controllable synthesis of highly efficient photocatalytic materials.

The importance of NIPT and guidelines for the application of NIPT should be clarified in current clinical practice in China. Extensive education regarding NIPT application is necessary prior to mass implementation.