TY - JOUR A1 - Ihlenburg, Ramona A1 - Lehnen, Anne-Catherine A1 - Koetz, Joachim A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Sulfobetaine Cryogels for Preferential Adsorption of Methyl Orange from Mixed Dye Solutions JF - Polymers / Molecular Diversity Preservation International N2 - New cryogels for selective dye removal from aqueous solution were prepared by free radical polymerization from the highly water-soluble crosslinker N,N,N’,N’-tetramethyl-N,N’-bis(2-ethylmethacrylate)-propyl-1,3-diammonium dibromide and the sulfobetaine monomer 2-(N-3-sulfopropyl-N,N-dimethyl ammonium)ethyl methacrylate. The resulting white and opaque cryogels have micrometer sized pores with a smaller substructure. They adsorb methyl orange (MO) but not methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution. Mixtures of MO and MB can be separated through selective adsorption of the MO to the cryogels while the MB remains in solution. The resulting cryogels are thus candidates for the removal of hazardous organic substances, as exemplified by MO and MB, from water. Clearly, it is possible that the cryogels are also potentially interesting for removal of other compounds such as pharmaceuticals or pesticides, but this must be investigated further. KW - cryogel KW - water treatment KW - dye removal KW - methyl orange KW - methylene blue KW - dye mixture Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13020208 SN - 2073-4360 VL - 13 IS - 2 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Block, Inga A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Rodrigues, Alysson Duarte A1 - Paasch, Silvia A1 - Hesemann, Peter A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Carbon Adsorbents from Spent Coffee for Removal of Methylene Blue and Methyl Orange from Water JF - Materials N2 - Activated carbons (ACs) were prepared from dried spent coffee (SCD), a biological waste product, to produce adsorbents for methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) from aqueous solution. Pre-pyrolysis activation of SCD was achieved via treatment of the SCD with aqueous sodium hydroxide solutions at 90 °C. Pyrolysis of the pretreated SCD at 500 °C for 1 h produced powders with typical characteristics of AC suitable and effective for dye adsorption. As an alternative to the rather harsh base treatment, calcium carbonate powder, a very common and abundant resource, was also studied as an activator. Mixtures of SCD and CaCO3 (1:1 w/w) yielded effective ACs for MO and MB removal upon pyrolysis needing only small amounts of AC to clear the solutions. A selectivity of the adsorption process toward anionic (MO) or cationic (MB) dyes was not observed. KW - water KW - spent coffee KW - dye adsorption KW - methylene blue KW - methyl orange KW - calcium carbonate KW - activated carbon KW - water treatment KW - dye removal Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14143996 SN - 1996-1944 VL - 14 IS - 14 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wojnarowska, Zaneta A1 - Lange, Alyna A1 - Taubert, Andreas A1 - Paluch, Marian T1 - Ion and proton transport in aqueous/nonaqueous acidic tonic liquids for fuel-cell applications-insight from high-pressure dielectric studies JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces / American Chemical Society N2 - The use of acidic ionic liquids and solids as electrolytes in fuel cells is an emerging field due to their efficient proton conductivity and good thermal stability. Despite multiple reports describing conducting properties of acidic ILs, little is known on the charge-transport mechanism in the vicinity of liquid-glass transition and the structural factors governing the proton hopping. To address these issues, we studied two acidic imidazolium-based ILs with the same cation, however, different anions-bulk tosylate vs small methanesulfonate. High-pressure dielectric studies of anhydrous and water-saturated materials performed in the close vicinity of T-g have revealed significant differences in the charge-transport mechanism in these two systems being undetectable at ambient conditions. Thereby, we demonstrated the effect of molecular architecture on proton hopping, being crucial in the potential electrochemical applications of acidic ILs. KW - proton hopping KW - dielectric spectroscopy KW - high pressure KW - ion transport KW - acidic ionic liquids Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c06260 SN - 1944-8244 SN - 1944-8252 VL - 13 IS - 26 SP - 30614 EP - 30624 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Balischewski, Christian A1 - Choi, Hyung-Seok A1 - Behrens, Karsten A1 - Beqiraj, Alkit A1 - Körzdörfer, Thomas A1 - Gessner, Andre A1 - Wedel, Armin A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Metal sulfide nanoparticle synthesis with ionic liquids state of the art and future perspectives JF - ChemistryOpen N2 - Metal sulfides are among the most promising materials for a wide variety of technologically relevant applications ranging from energy to environment and beyond. Incidentally, ionic liquids (ILs) have been among the top research subjects for the same applications and also for inorganic materials synthesis. As a result, the exploitation of the peculiar properties of ILs for metal sulfide synthesis could provide attractive new avenues for the generation of new, highly specific metal sulfides for numerous applications. This article therefore describes current developments in metal sulfide nano-particle synthesis as exemplified by a number of highlight examples. Moreover, the article demonstrates how ILs have been used in metal sulfide synthesis and discusses the benefits of using ILs over more traditional approaches. Finally, the article demonstrates some technological challenges and how ILs could be used to further advance the production and specific property engineering of metal sulfide nanomaterials, again based on a number of selected examples. KW - Ionic liquids KW - ionic liquid crystals KW - ionic liquid precursors KW - metal KW - sulfides KW - catalysis KW - electrochemistry KW - energy materials KW - LED KW - solar KW - cells Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/open.202000357 SN - 2191-1363 VL - 10 IS - 2 SP - 272 EP - 295 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Figueroa Campos, Gustavo Adolfo A1 - Perez, Jeffrey Paulo H. A1 - Block, Inga A1 - Sagu Tchewonpi, Sorel A1 - Saravia Celis, Pedro A1 - Taubert, Andreas A1 - Rawel, Harshadrai Manilal T1 - Preparation of activated carbons from spent coffee and coffee parchment and assessment of their adsorbent efficiency JF - Processes : open access journal N2 - The valorization of coffee wastes through modification to activated carbon has been considered as a low-cost adsorbent with prospective to compete with commercial carbons. So far, very few studies have referred to the valorization of coffee parchment into activated carbon. Moreover, low-cost and efficient activation methods need to be more investigated. The aim of this work was to prepare activated carbon from spent coffee grounds and parchment, and to assess their adsorption performance. The co-calcination processing with calcium carbonate was used to prepare the activated carbons, and their adsorption capacity for organic acids, phenolic compounds and proteins was evaluated. Both spent coffee grounds and parchment showed yields after the calcination and washing treatments of around 9.0%. The adsorption of lactic acid was found to be optimal at pH 2. The maximum adsorption capacity of lactic acid with standard commercial granular activated carbon was 73.78 mg/g, while the values of 32.33 and 14.73 mg/g were registered for the parchment and spent coffee grounds activated carbons, respectively. The Langmuir isotherm showed that lactic acid was adsorbed as a monolayer and distributed homogeneously on the surface. Around 50% of total phenols and protein content from coffee wastewater were adsorbed after treatment with the prepared activated carbons, while 44, 43, and up to 84% of hydrophobic compounds were removed using parchment, spent coffee grounds and commercial activated carbon, respectively; the adsorption efficiencies of hydrophilic compounds ranged between 13 and 48%. Finally, these results illustrate the potential valorization of coffee by-products parchment and spent coffee grounds into activated carbon and their use as low-cost adsorbent for the removal of organic compounds from aqueous solutions. KW - coffee by-products KW - spent coffee grounds KW - parchment KW - valorization KW - calcination KW - activated carbon KW - organic compounds adsorption Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9081396 SN - 2227-9717 VL - 9 IS - 8 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heyne, Benjamin A1 - Arlt, Kristin A1 - Geßner, André A1 - Richter, Alexander F. A1 - Döblinger, Markus A1 - Feldmann, Jochen A1 - Taubert, Andreas A1 - Wedel, Armin T1 - Mixed Mercaptocarboxylic Acid Shells Provide Stable Dispersions of InPZnS/ZnSe/ZnS Multishell Quantum Dots in Aqueous Media JF - Nanomaterials N2 - Highly luminescent indium phosphide zinc sulfide (InPZnS) quantum dots (QDs), with zinc selenide/zinc sulfide (ZnSe/ZnS) shells, were synthesized. The QDs were modified via a post-synthetic ligand exchange reaction with 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) and 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA) in different MPA:MUA ratios, making this study the first investigation into the effects of mixed ligand shells on InPZnS QDs. Moreover, this article also describes an optimized method for the correlation of the QD size vs. optical absorption of the QDs. Upon ligand exchange, the QDs can be dispersed in water. Longer ligands (MUA) provide more stable dispersions than short-chain ligands. Thicker ZnSe/ZnS shells provide a better photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) and higher emission stability upon ligand exchange. Both the ligand exchange and the optical properties are highly reproducible between different QD batches. Before dialysis, QDs with a ZnS shell thickness of ~4.9 monolayers (ML), stabilized with a mixed MPA:MUA (mixing ratio of 1:10), showed the highest PLQY, at ~45%. After dialysis, QDs with a ZnS shell thickness of ~4.9 ML, stabilized with a mixed MPA:MUA and a ratio of 1:10 and 1:100, showed the highest PLQYs, of ~41%. The dispersions were stable up to 44 days at ambient conditions and in the dark. After 44 days, QDs with a ZnS shell thickness of ~4.9 ML, stabilized with only MUA, showed the highest PLQY, of ~34%. KW - quantum dots KW - cadmium-free KW - Cd-free KW - InP KW - InPZnS KW - multishell KW - mercaptocarboxylic acids KW - 3-mercaptopropionic acid KW - 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid KW - phase transfer KW - ligand exchange KW - aqueous dispersion KW - QDs Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10091858 SN - 2079-4991 VL - 10 IS - 9 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tao, Lumi A1 - Liu, Yuchuan A1 - Wu, Dan A1 - Wei, Qiao-Hua A1 - Taubert, Andreas A1 - Xie, Zailai T1 - Luminescent Ionogels with Excellent Transparency, High Mechanical Strength, and High Conductivity JF - Nanomaterials N2 - The paper describes a new kind of ionogel with both good mechanical strength and high conductivity synthesized by confining the ionic liquid (IL) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethane sulfonyl)imide ([Bmim][NTf₂]) within an organic–inorganic hybrid host. The organic–inorganic host network was synthesized by the reaction of methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS), tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), and methyl methacrylate (MMA) in the presence of a coupling agent, offering the good mechanical strength and rapid shape recovery of the final products. The silane coupling agent 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (KH-570) plays an important role in improving the mechanical strength of the inorganic–organic hybrid, because it covalently connected the organic component MMA and the inorganic component SiO₂. Both the thermal stability and mechanical strength of the ionogel significantly increased by the addition of IL. The immobilization of [Bmim][NTf₂] within the ionogel provided the final ionogel with an ionic conductivity as high as ca. 0.04 S cm⁻¹ at 50 °C. Moreover, the hybrid ionogel can be modified with organosilica-modified carbon dots within the network to yield a transparent and flexible ionogel with strong excitation-dependent emission between 400 and 800 nm. The approach is, therefore, a blueprint for the construction of next-generation multifunctional ionogels. KW - ionic liquid KW - ionogel KW - carbon dots KW - organic–inorganic hybrid KW - luminescence KW - mechanical strength Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10122521 SN - 2079-4991 VL - 10 IS - 12 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Balischewski, Christian A1 - Behrens, Karsten A1 - Zehbe, Kerstin A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Mies, Stefan A1 - Sperlich, Eric A1 - Kelling, Alexandra A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Ionic liquids with more than one metal BT - optical and rlectrochemical properties versus d-block metal vombinations JF - Chemistry - a European journal N2 - Thirteen N-butylpyridinium salts, including three monometallic [C4Py](2)[MCl4], nine bimetallic [C4Py](2)[(M1-xMxCl4)-M-a-Cl-b] and one trimetallic compound [C4Py](2)[(M1-y-zMyMz (c) Cl4)-M-a-M-b] (M=Co, Cu, Mn; x=0.25, 0.50 or 0.75 and y=z=0.33), were synthesized and their structure and thermal and electrochemical properties were studied. All compounds are ionic liquids (ILs) with melting points between 69 and 93 degrees C. X-ray diffraction proves that all ILs are isostructural. The conductivity at room temperature is between 10(-4) and 10(-8) S cm(-1). Some Cu-based ILs reach conductivities of 10(-2) S cm(-1), which is, however, probably due to IL dec. This correlates with the optical bandgap measurements indicating the formation of large bandgap semiconductors. At elevated temperatures approaching the melting points, the conductivities reach up to 1.47x10(-1) S cm(-1) at 70 degrees C. The electrochemical stability windows of the ILs are between 2.5 and 3.0 V. KW - bandgap KW - electrochemistry KW - ionic liquids KW - metal-containing ionic KW - liquids KW - tetrahalido metallates Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202003097 SN - 0947-6539 SN - 1521-3765 VL - 26 IS - 72 SP - 17504 EP - 17513 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schneider, Matthias A1 - Fritzsche, Nora A1 - Puciul-Malinowska, Agnieszka A1 - Baliś, Andrzej A1 - Mostafa, Amr A1 - Bald, Ilko A1 - Zapotoczny, Szczepan A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Surface etching of 3D printed poly(lactic acid) with NaOH BT - a systematic approach JF - Polymers N2 - The article describes a systematic investigation of the effects of an aqueous NaOH treatment of 3D printed poly(lactic acid) (PLA) scaffolds for surface activation. The PLA surface undergoes several morphology changes and after an initial surface roughening, the surface becomes smoother again before the material dissolves. Erosion rates and surface morphologies can be controlled by the treatment. At the same time, the bulk mechanical properties of the treated materials remain unaltered. This indicates that NaOH treatment of 3D printed PLA scaffolds is a simple, yet viable strategy for surface activation without compromising the mechanical stability of PLA scaffolds. KW - surface modification KW - sodium hydroxide etching KW - poly(lactic acid) KW - 3D KW - printing KW - roughness KW - wettability KW - erosion Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12081711 SN - 2073-4360 VL - 12 IS - 8 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schneider, Matthias A1 - Fritzsche, Nora A1 - Puciul-Malinowska, Agnieszka A1 - Balis, Andrzej A1 - Mostafa, Amr A1 - Bald, Ilko A1 - Zapotoczny, Szczepan A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Surface etching of 3D printed poly(lactic acid) with NaOH: a systematic approach JF - Polymers N2 - The article describes a systematic investigation of the effects of an aqueous NaOH treatment of 3D printed poly(lactic acid) (PLA) scaffolds for surface activation. The PLA surface undergoes several morphology changes and after an initial surface roughening, the surface becomes smoother again before the material dissolves. Erosion rates and surface morphologies can be controlled by the treatment. At the same time, the bulk mechanical properties of the treated materials remain unaltered. This indicates that NaOH treatment of 3D printed PLA scaffolds is a simple, yet viable strategy for surface activation without compromising the mechanical stability of PLA scaffolds. KW - surface modification KW - sodium hydroxide etching KW - poly(lactic acid) KW - 3D printing KW - roughness KW - wettability KW - erosion Y1 - 2020 VL - 12 IS - 8 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER -