Preparation and Characterization of Cu and Ni on Alumina Supports and Their Use in the Synthesis of Low-Temperature Metal-Phthalocyanine Using a Parallel-Plate Reactor

Grafting Amino Groups onto Polyimide Films in Flexible Copper-Clad Laminates Using Helicon Plasma

Polyimide (PI) films are widely used in electronic devices owing to their excellent mechanical and electrical properties and high thermal and chemical stabilities. In particular, PI films play an important role in flexible printed circuit boards (FPCBs). However, one challenge currently faced with their use is that the adhesives used in FPCBs cause a high dielectric loss in high-frequency applications. Therefore, it is envisioned that PI films with a low dielectric loss and Cu films can be used to prepare two-layer flexible copper-clad laminates (FCCLs) without any adhesive. However, the preparation of ultra-thin FCCLs with no adhesives is difficult owing to the low peel strength between PI films and Cu films. To address this technical challenge, an FCCL with no adhesive was prepared via high-power helicon wave plasma (HWP) treatment. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were tested. Also, the surface roughness of the PI film and the peel strength between the PI film and Cu film were measured. The experimental results show that the surface roughness of the PI film increased by 40-65% and the PI film demonstrated improved adhesion (the peel strength was >8.0 N/cm) with the Cu film following plasma treatment and Cu plating.

Using innovative copper-loaded activated alumina (Cu/AA) as the catalyst for catalytic wet peroxidation (CWPO) of catechol

In this study, copper-loaded activated alumina (Cu/AA) was synthesized and used for the CWPO of catechol (a representative refractory organic pollutant). Various characterization techniques were deployed to characterize the catalysts, e.g., activated alumina (AA), as well as pristine and spent 1% Cu/AA. The innovative 1% Cu/AA catalyst exhibited good thermal stability up to 1173 K with a marginal weight loss of 13%. The Cu species were well dispersed on the activated alumina framework with no significant cluster formation. Typically, the average copper particle size of 5 nm was dispersed on the AA framework. Catechol removal was observed to be 92% with 87% mineralization at optimized conditions (initial catechol concentration = 200 mg/L, catalyst dose of 1% Cu/AA = 2 g/L; temperature = 323 K; pH = 6; and H₂O₂/catechol stoichiometric ratio = 0.5). The mineralization of catechol was analyzed using mass spectroscopy, with the associated mechanism has been elucidated. Results of this study indicated that synthesized catalyst has phenomenal advantages in terms of simple separation and high removal efficiency of catechol, suggesting the feasibility of employing Cu/AA as the effective catalyst for the CWPO of catechol.

Crystalline Porphyrazine-Linked Fused Aromatic Networks with High Proton Conductivity

Fused aromatic networks (FANs) have been studied in efforts to overcome the low physicochemical stability of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), while preserving crystallinity. Herein, we describe the synthesis of a highly stable and crystalline FAN (denoted as Pz-FAN) using pyrazine-based building blocks to form porphyrazine (Pz) linkages via an irreversible reaction. Unlike most COFs and FANs, which are synthesized from two different building blocks, the new Pz-FAN is formed using a single building block by self-cyclotetramerization. Controlled and optimized reaction conditions result in a highly crystalline Pz-FAN with physicochemical stability. The newly prepared Pz-FAN displayed a high magnitude (1.16×10^-2  S cm^-1 ) of proton conductivity compared to other reported FANs and polymers. Finally, the Pz-FAN-based membrane was evaluated for a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), which showed maximum power and current densities of 192 mW cm^-2 and 481 mA cm^-2 , respectively.

The composition dependent structure and catalytic activity of nanostructured Cu–Ni bimetallic oxides

Nanostructured CuO–NiO bimetallic oxide was used as a catalyst for the effective conversion of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP).