TY - JOUR A1 - Hafidi, Youssef A1 - El Hatka, Hicham A1 - Schmitz, Dominik A1 - Krauss, Manuel A1 - Pettrak, Jürgen A1 - Biel, Markus A1 - Ittobane, Najim T1 - Sustainable soil additives for water and micronutrient supply: swelling and chelating properties of polyaspartic acid hydrogels utilizing newly developed crosslinkers JF - Gels N2 - Drought and water shortage are serious problems in many arid and semi-arid regions. This problem is getting worse and even continues in temperate climatic regions due to climate change. To address this problem, the use of biodegradable hydrogels is increasingly important for the application as water-retaining additives in soil. Furthermore, efficient (micro-)nutrient supply can be provided by the use of tailored hydrogels. Biodegradable polyaspartic acid (PASP) hydrogels with different available (1,6-hexamethylene diamine (HMD) and L-lysine (LYS)) and newly developed crosslinkers based on diesters of glycine (GLY) and (di-)ethylene glycol (DEG and EG, respectively) were synthesized and characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and regarding their swelling properties (kinetic, absorbency under load (AUL)) as well as biodegradability of PASP hydrogel. Copper (II) and zinc (II), respectively, were loaded as micronutrients in two different approaches: in situ with crosslinking and subsequent loading of prepared hydrogels. The results showed successful syntheses of di-glycine-ester-based crosslinkers. Hydrogels with good water-absorbing properties were formed. Moreover, the developed crosslinking agents in combination with the specific reaction conditions resulted in higher water absorbency with increased crosslinker content used in synthesis (10% vs. 20%). The prepared hydrogels are candidates for water-storing soil additives due to the biodegradability of PASP, which is shown in an exemple. The incorporation of Cu(II) and Zn(II) ions can provide these micronutrients for plant growth. KW - micronutrients KW - swelling properties KW - biodegradable polymers KW - hydrogels KW - superabsorbent polymers KW - glycine KW - polyaspartic acid Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/gels10030170 SN - 2310-2861 VL - 10 IS - 3 SP - Artikel 170 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - El Bergui, Omnia A1 - Abouabdillah, Aziz A1 - Bourioug, Mohamed A1 - Schmitz, Dominik A1 - Biel, Markus A1 - Aboudrare, Abdellah A1 - Krauss, Manuel A1 - Jomaa, Ahlem A1 - Romuli, Sebastian A1 - Müller, Joachim A1 - Fagroud, Mustapha A1 - Bouabid, Rachid T1 - Innovative solutions for drought: Evaluating hydrogel application on onion cultivation (Allium cepa) in Morocco JF - Water N2 - Throughout the last decade, and particularly in 2022, water scarcity has become a critical concern in Morocco and other Mediterranean countries. The lack of rainfall during spring was worsened by a succession of heat waves during the summer. To address this drought, innovative solutions, including the use of new technologies such as hydrogels, will be essential to transform agriculture. This paper presents the findings of a study that evaluated the impact of hydrogel application on onion (Allium cepa) cultivation in Meknes, Morocco. The treatments investigated in this study comprised two different types of hydrogel-based soil additives (Arbovit® polyacrylate and Huminsorb® polyacrylate), applied at two rates (30 and 20 kg/ha), and irrigated at two levels of water supply (100% and 50% of daily crop evapotranspiration; ETc). Two control treatments were included, without hydrogel application and with both water amounts. The experiment was conducted in an open field using a completely randomized design. The results indicated a significant impact of both hydrogel-type dose and water dose on onion plant growth, as evidenced by various vegetation parameters. Among the hydrogels tested, Huminsorb® Polyacrylate produced the most favorable outcomes, with treatment T9 (100%, HP, 30 kg/ha) yielding 70.55 t/ha; this represented an increase of 11 t/ha as compared to the 100% ETc treatment without hydrogel application. Moreover, the combination of hydrogel application with 50% ETc water stress showed promising results, with treatment T4 (HP, 30 kg, 50%) producing almost the same yield as the 100% ETc treatment without hydrogel while saving 208 mm of water. KW - water economy KW - yield KW - deficit irrigation KW - hydrogel KW - onion Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w15111972 VL - 15 IS - 11 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Lauth, Jakob T1 - Physical chemistry in a nutshell: Basics for engineers and scientists N2 - This book is based on a multimedia course for biological and chemical engineers, which is designed to trigger students' curiosity and initiative. A solid basic knowledge of thermodynamics and kinetics is necessary for understanding many technical, chemical, and biological processes. The one-semester basic lecture course was divided into 12 workshops (chapters). Each chapter covers a practically relevant area of physical chemistry and contains the following didactic elements that make this book particularly exciting and understandable: - Links to Videos at the start of each chapter as preparation for the workshop - Key terms (in bold) for further research of your own - Comprehension questions and calculation exercises with solutions as learning checks - Key illustrations as simple, easy-to-replicate blackboard pictures Humorous cartoons for each workshop (by Faelis) additionally lighten up the text and facilitate the learning process as a mnemonic. To round out the book, the appendix includes a summary of the most popular experiments in basic physical chemistry courses, as well as suggestions for designing workshops with exhibits, experiments, and "questions of the day." Suitable for students minoring in chemistry; chemistry majors are sure to find this slimmed-down, didactically valuable book helpful as well. The book is excellent for self-study. KW - Physical chemistry KW - Thermodynamics as minor KW - Physical chemistry starters KW - Minor chemistry KW - Physical chemistry basics Y1 - 2023 SN - 978-3-662-67636-3 (Softcover) SN - 978-3-662-67637-0 (eBook) U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-67637-0 PB - Springer CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - El Moussaoui, Noureddine A1 - Talbi, Sofian A1 - Atmane, Ilyas A1 - Kassmi, Khalil A1 - Schwarzer, Klemens A1 - Chayeb, Hamid A1 - Bachiri, Najib T1 - Feasibility of a new design of a Parabolic Trough Solar Thermal Cooker (PSTC) JF - Solar Energy N2 - In this article, we describe the structure, the functioning, and the tests of parabolic trough solar thermal cooker (PSTC). This oven is designed to meet the needs of rural residents, including Urban, which requires stable cooking temperatures above 200 °C. The cooking by this cooker is based on the concentration of the sun's rays on a glass vacuum tube and heating of the oil circulate in a big tube, located inside the glass tube. Through two small tubes, associated with large tube, the heated oil, rise and heats the pot of cooking pot containing the food to be cooked (capacity of 5 kg). This cooker is designed in Germany and extensively tested in Morocco for use by the inhabitants who use wood from forests. During a sunny day, having a maximum solar radiation around 720 W/m2 and temperature ambient around 26 °C, maximum temperatures recorded of the small tube, the large tube and the center of the pot are respectively: 370 °C, 270 °C and 260 °C. The cooking process with food at high (fries, ..), we show that the cooking oil temperature rises to 200 °C, after 1 h of heating, the cooking is done at a temperature of 120 °C for 20 min. These temperatures are practically stable following variations and decreases in the intensity of irradiance during the day. The comparison of these results with those of the literature shows an improvement of 30–50 % on the maximum value of the temperature with a heat storage that could reach 60 min of autonomy. All the results obtained show the good functioning of the PSTC and the feasibility of cooking food at high temperature (>200 °C). Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2020.03.079 SN - 0038-092X VL - 201 IS - Vol. 201 (May 2020) SP - 866 EP - 871 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - PAT A1 - Finger, Sebastian A1 - Hojdis, Nils A1 - Menglong, Huang T1 - Sekundäre galvanische Zelle N2 - Die vorliegende Erfindung betrifft eine sekundäre galvanische Zelle, umfassend eine Kathode, eine Anode und einen Separator, der zwischen der Kathode und der Anode angeordnet ist, wobei die Kathode ein erstes elastomeres Polymer umfasst, welches mit einem ersten Füllstoff als Kathodenmaterial gefüllt ist, wobei die Anode ein zweites elastomeres Polymer umfasst, welches mit einem zweiten Füllstoff als Anodenmaterial gefüllt ist, wobei der Separator ein drittes elastomeres Polymer umfasst, wobei das erste elastomere Polymer, das zweite elastomere Polymer und das dritte elastomere Polymer unabhängig voneinander aus vernetzungsfähigen Dienkautschuken ausgewählt sind, und wobei zumindest eines von dem ersten elastomeren Polymer, dem zweiten elastomeren Polymer und dem dritten elastomeren Polymer eine ionische Flüssigkeit und/oder ein elektrisch leitfähiges Polymer enthält. Die vorliegende Erfindung betrifft ferner eine wiederaufladbare Batterie, umfassend die erfindungsgemäße sekundäre galvanische Zelle, ein Verfahren zur Herstellung einer sekundären galvanischen Zelle sowie die Verwendung der erfindungsgemäßen sekundären galvanischen Zelle sowie der erfindungsgemäßen wiederaufladbaren Batterie. Y1 - 2020 N1 - Patent DE102018222385A1 25.06.2020 auch veröffentlicht unter EP3671932A1 ER - TY - PAT A1 - Hojdis, Nils A1 - Recker, Carla T1 - Schwefelvernetzte Kautschukmischung für Fahrzeugreifen enthaltend Carbon Nanotubes (cnt), Fahrzeugreifen, Der Die schwefelvernetzte Kautschukmischung aufweist, sowie Verfahren zur Herstellung der schwefelvernetzten Kautschukmischung enthaltend Cnt Y1 - 2020 N1 - Patent EP000003625288A1 25.03.2020 auch veröffentlicht unter CN110678508A; DE102017208137A1; WO2018210471A1 ER - TY - PAT A1 - Ehmke, Tobias A1 - Finger, Sebastian A1 - Hojdis, Nils A1 - Kurz, Martin A1 - Nawrocka-Herczynska, Monika T1 - Funkeinheit und Vorrichtung mit einer Funkeinheit N2 - Dargestellt und beansprucht ist eine Funkeinheit mit einem Funkbauteil, einer elektrisch leitfähigen Antenne und einem Kunststoffverbindungsmittel. Das Funkbauteil weist einen Antennenanschluss auf. Das Kunststoffverbindungsmittel weist ein erstes Elastomermaterial mit elektrisch leitfähigem Zusatzmaterial auf, so dass das Kunststoffverbindungsmittel elektrisch leitfähig ist. Das Kunststoffverbindungsmittel bildet eine mechanische und elektrisch leitfähige Verbindung zwischen dem Antennenanschluss und der Antenne. Weiterhin wird eine Vorrichtung mit einem ein Matrixmaterial mit oder aus einem zweiten Elastomermaterial und einer Funkeinheit beschrieben und beansprucht, wobei die Funkeinheit vollständig in das Matrixmaterial eingebettet ist. Die Vorrichtung kann insbesondere ein Fahrzeugreifen sein. Y1 - 2020 N1 - Patent DE102018222380A1 25.06.2020 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Everaers, Ralf A1 - Karimi-Varzaneh, Hossein Ali A1 - Fleck, Franz A1 - Hojdis, Nils A1 - Svaneborg, Carsten T1 - Kremer–Grest Models for Commodity Polymer Melts: Linking Theory, Experiment, and Simulation at the Kuhn Scale JF - Macromolecules N2 - The Kremer–Grest (KG) polymer model is a standard model for studying generic polymer properties in molecular dynamics simulations. It owes its popularity to its simplicity and computational efficiency, rather than its ability to represent specific polymers species and conditions. Here we show that by tuning the chain stiffness it is possible to adapt the KG model to model melts of real polymers. In particular, we provide mapping relations from KG to SI units for a wide range of commodity polymers. The connection between the experimental and the KG melts is made at the Kuhn scale, i.e., at the crossover from the chemistry-specific small scale to the universal large scale behavior. We expect Kuhn scale-mapped KG models to faithfully represent universal properties dominated by the large scale conformational statistics and dynamics of flexible polymers. In particular, we observe very good agreement between entanglement moduli of our KG models and the experimental moduli of the target polymers. Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.9b02428 SN - 1520-5835 VL - 53 IS - 6 SP - 1901 EP - 1916 PB - ACS Publications CY - Washington, DC ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Aaron C. A1 - Turgut, Hatice A1 - Le, Dao A1 - Beloqui, Ana A1 - Delaittre, Guillaume T1 - Making the best of it: nitroxide-mediated polymerization of methacrylates via the copolymerization approach with functional styrenics JF - Polymer Chemistry N2 - The SG1-mediated solution polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (OEGMA, Mₙ = 300 g mol⁻¹) in the presence of a small amount of functional/reactive styrenic comonomer is investigated. Moieties such as pentafluorophenyl ester, triphenylphosphine, azide, pentafluorophenyl, halide, and pyridine are considered. A comonomer fraction as low as 5 mol% typically results in a controlled/living behavior, at least up to 50% conversion. Chain extensions with styrene for both systems were successfully performed. Variation of physical properties such as refractive index (for MMA) and phase transition temperature (for OEGMA) were evaluated by comparing to 100% pure homopolymers. The introduction of an activated ester styrene derivative in the polymerization of OEGMA allows for the synthesis of reactive and hydrophilic polymer brushes with defined thickness. Finally, using the example of pentafluorostyrene as controlling comonomer, it is demonstrated that functional PMMA-b-PS are able to maintain a phase separation ability, as evidenced by the formation of nanostructured thin films. Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C9PY01458F VL - 11 IS - 2 SP - 593 EP - 604 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eckert, Alexander A1 - Abbasi, Mozhdeh A1 - Mang, Thomas A1 - Saalwächter, Kay A1 - Walther, Andreas T1 - Structure, Mechanical Properties, and Dynamics of Polyethylenoxide/Nanoclay Nacre-Mimetic Nanocomposites JF - Macromolecules N2 - Nacre-mimetic nanocomposites based on high fractions of synthetic high-aspect-ratio nanoclays in combination with polymers are continuously pushing boundaries for advanced material properties, such as high barrier against oxygen, extraordinary mechanical behavior, fire shielding, and glass-like transparency. Additionally, they provide interesting model systems to study polymers under nanoconfinement due to the well-defined layered nanocomposite arrangement. Although the general behavior in terms of forming such layered nanocomposite materials using evaporative self-assembly and controlling the nanoclay gallery spacing by the nanoclay/polymer ratio is understood, some combinations of polymer matrices and nanoclay reinforcement do not comply with the established models. Here, we demonstrate a thorough characterization and analysis of such an unusual polymer/nanoclay pair that falls outside of the general behavior. Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and sodium fluorohectorite form nacre-mimetic, lamellar nanocomposites that are completely transparent and show high mechanical stiffness and high gas barrier, but there is only limited expansion of the nanoclay gallery spacing when adding increasing amounts of polymer. This behavior is maintained for molecular weights of PEO varied over four orders of magnitude and can be traced back to depletion forces. By careful investigation via X-ray diffraction and proton low-resolution solid-state NMR, we are able to quantify the amount of mobile and immobilized polymer species in between the nanoclay galleries and around proposed tactoid stacks embedded in a PEO matrix. We further elucidate the unusual confined polymer dynamics, indicating a relevant role of specific surface interactions. Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.9b01931 SN - 1520-5835 VL - 53 IS - 5 SP - 1716 EP - 1725 PB - ACS Publications CY - Washington, DC ER -