Ming Xiang

• PhD
• Sichuan University

Polyethylene‐supported nanofiltration (NF) membranes have been reported for several cases in recent years. However, few have disclosed a NF membrane which achieves a high salt/water separation efficiency. Here, a novel polyamide NF membrane was prepared by conducting interfacial polymerization on poly(vinyl alcohol)‐decorated polyethylene separator...

Correction for ‘Effects of graphene oxide size on curing kinetics of epoxy resin’ by Xuebing Chen et al., RSC Adv., 2021, 11, 29215–29226, https://doi.org/10.1039/D1RA05234A.

In this manuscript, nanofillers of graphene oxide (GO) and cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) with different weight ratios (G/C ratios), named GC 2:1, GC 4:1, GC 8:1, GC 16:1, and GC 32:1, were successfully prepared. Characterization methods such as Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were perfo...

Graphene oxide has a strong tendency to agglomerate in polymers that are only hydrogen bonded acceptors due to the strong hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces between its lamellae, which greatly limits its application. In this work, Silica (SiO2) was introduced on the surface of graphene oxide (GO) by hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS). Gr...

Poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) is a biodegradable polymer with great mechanical properties and good transparency, but its low crystallization rate greatly limits its application. Hyperbranched polyesters (HBPs) modified carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are an ideal nucleating agent to prove the crystallization of PLLA. To compare different terminal group HBPs' e...

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) biaxially stretched films and graphene oxide-silica nanohybrids (GO-SiO2)/PLA nanocomposite biaxially stretched films (PGSi) with different stretching ratios were prepared by simultaneous biaxial stretching. The structural changes during biaxial stretching have a direct impact on the properties of the biaxially stretched fil...

To meet the larger-scale freshwater demand, it is necessary to develop advanced thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes with favorable separation performance and anti-fouling capacity. In this study, hydrophilic modified polydopamine nanoparticles (PDNPs) were synthesized by the co-polymerization of alkaline l-Arginine (Arg) with dopamine (DA). Sub...

Two different sizes of graphene oxide/poly(lactic acid) composites were prepared by the solution flocculation method, and the effect of the size effect of graphene oxide on the crystallization, barrier, and mechanical properties of poly(lactic acid) was investigated by various characterization methods. The results of the crystallization behavior te...

Inspired by biological aquaporins, artificial water channels (AWCs) can achieve high-performance for thin-film composite (TFC) reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. In our work, two types of liposomes (C18lyso and D5A liposomes) with superior permeability serving as AWCs were designed by regulating the molecular structures of lipids, in which D5A liposom...

Poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) is an environmentally friendly and renewable polymer material with excellent prospects, but its low crystallization rate greatly limits its application. Through the amidation reaction between amino hyperbranched polymer (HBP N103) and carboxylated carbon nanotubes (CNTs), CNTs-N103 was obtained. The modification was confir...

In this article, the nanofillers of graphene oxide (GO) and cellulose nanocrystal (CNC), which called GC, was prepared. The X‐ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS), Raman spectra, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were carried out for its characterizations. Besides, its influences on mechanical properties, t...

Thermal degradation occurs inevitably during the practical processing of poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) due to its low thermal stability, leading to the deterioration of processability and performance of PPS products. In this study, the structural evolution of PPS during thermal degradation in nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2) atmospheres are investigat...

Booming aspiration of advanced energy storage equipment elevates lithium-ion batteries vastly. Whereas separator with inferior porous structure and compatibility mismatches battery internal medium and raises ion transference rampart. Herein, fumed SiO2 compound separator is designed via ingenious bidirectional drawing technique to optimize the poro...

Superior permeability and high selectivity are crucial performances criterion for reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. Inspired by aquaporin-based biomimetic membranes, the loose liposomes as artificial water channels were prepared by thin-layer hydration method with lyso-phospholipids (C14lyso) and cholesterol followed by incorporating liposomes into t...

The thermal shutdown of the separator is the crucial feature for hindering thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries. Because the temperature within the cell continues to rise rather than drop immediately after shutdown, the separator should be capable of maintaining adequate dimensional stability up to a specific range above the shutdown temperatur...

In this study, one of the commonly used MXene (Ti3C2Tx) and β nucleated isotactic polypropylene (β-iPP)/MXene composites of different compositions were fabricated. The effects of MXene on non-isothermal crystallization and polymorphic behavior of β-iPP/MXene composites were comparatively studied. The non-isothermal crystallization kinetics indicate...

Growing desire for high-performance improves lithium-ion batteries. But separator exhibits poor electrolyte compatibility owing to intrinsic hydrophobicity feature and weak compression resistance caused by inferior microporous structure, which raises lithium-ion migration obstacle. In this article, polyethylene/poly (vinyl alcohol) (PE/PVA) composi...

Thin film composite (TFC) technology has been widely used to prepare reverse osmosis (RO) membrane, in which the relationship between support layer and selective layer plays a significant role. To thoroughly clarify the influence of support layer pore size on the properties of selective layer, herein, we prepared a series of polysulfone (PSf) suppo...

The surface pore size and structure, as well as the hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity characterization of support layer are vital factors that affect the formation process of polyamide selective layer via interfacial polymerization. In this research, polysulfone support layers with similar pore structures but different hydrophilicity were prepared. Int...

To study the effects of graphene oxide (GO) size on the curing kinetics of epoxy resin (EP), two kinds of GO were selected and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), FT-Raman spectrometry (FTIR-Raman), thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffract...

The effects of MXene on the crystallization behavior of β-nucleated isotactic polypropylene (iPP) were comparatively studied. The commonly used MXene Ti3C2Tx was prepared by selective etching and its structure and morphology were studied in detail. Then MXene and a rare earth β-nucleating agent (NA) WBG-II were nucleated with iPP to prepare samples...

Nowadays, the rapid development of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) leads to an urgent demand for the separator with excellent mechanical and electrochemical performances. In this work, the ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)/liquid paraffin (LP) gel film and the film after extraction of LP are prepared respectively. Due to the identical...

MXenes, a family of two-dimensional transition-metal carbides/nitrides, have attracted great attention and shown promising application in polymer composites. In this study, a typical MXene Ti3C2Tx was prepared by selective etching. The structure and morphology of Ti3C2Tx were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy, and tra...

Anti‐fouling properties are tightly related to the surface properties of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. In our study, fluorinated polyethyleneimine (FPEI) was synthesized by introducing perfluoroalkyl groups into a hydrophilic polyethyleneimine (PEI) matrix, and the heterogeneous wettability surface with hydrophilic and low‐surface‐energy properti...

Poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) is a prospective renewable and degradable material, but slow crystallization limits its processing and application. By dehydration condensation of hydroxyl-terminated hyperbranched resin (H202) and carboxylated carbon nanotubes (CNTs), a modified CNT, CNTs-H202, was obtained. Grafting was confirmed by Fourier transform inf...

In this research, multi-layer co-extrusion technology was adopted to prepare Polypropylene random copolymer (PPR)/Polyethylene of raised temperature resistance (PERT) composite pipes. The structures and mechanical properties of PPR/PERT composite pipe were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Dynamic thermomechanical analysis (DMA) a...

In this article, oriented β isotactic polypropylene (β‐iPP) with different aggregation structures were prepared by shearing and adding different β nucleating agents. It is found that the formation mechanism of oriented β‐iPP is nucleating agent induced and their crystalline structures strongly depend on the assembly of β nucleating agents. In the c...

Three most commonly used commercial polymer separators are selected to investigate the relationship between microstructure and performance of lithium-ion battery separators. The mechanical behavior and failure modes of separators in all probable loading conditions are compared. The scanning electron microscopy, two-dimensional wide-angle X-ray diff...

In this work, the lamellar structural evolution and microvoids variations of β polypropylene (β-PP) during the processing of two different stretching methods, sequential biaxial stretching and simultaneous biaxial stretching, were investigated in detail. It was found that different stretching methods led to significantly different lamellae deformat...

In this paper, the lamellar structural evolution and microvoids variations of β-iPP during the processing of two different stretching methods, sequential biaxial stretching and simultaneous biaxial stretching, were investigated in detail. It was found that different stretching methods led to significantly different lamellae deformation modes, and t...

Two different supermolecular structures of β-iPP cast films were used to investigate structural evolution during the simultaneous biaxial stretching process via small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Based on the mechanical behaviors and porosity variations during...

An unusual delamination phenomenon on three kinds of lithium‐ion battery separators was investigated in this study, which is closely associated with the compression resistance of the separator. The delamination trends of three kinds of polymer separators were analyzed systematically. Scanning electron microscopy, two‐dimensional wide‐angle X‐ray di...

In this study, polypropylene with different molecular structures was selected to clarify the relationship between the molecular structure and crystal structure during the extrusion of the dry process. The pore formation process was further investigated. The test results of thermal analysis, two‐dimensional wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction, two‐dimensio...

Cast films, based on β-iPP, were prepared via melt extrusion, and, then annealed at different temperature. The effect of annealing on the properties of the cast films, as well as on microvoid formation and evolution was investigated. After annealing, the initial lamellar structure was improved, and more secondary crystals were formed which decrease...

Two polypropylene precursor films with various die draw ratios (DDR) are made by melt extrusion. The crystal structure evolution analysis during annealing show that two precursor films have identical long periods and lamellae thickness but different lateral dimensions and tilted states of lamellae. Lower DDR generates shorter lateral dimension and...

In this research, a new kind of anti-fouling ultrafiltration (UF) composite membrane was fabricated by decorating poly (vinyl alcohol) on both the surface and cavities of a commercialized polyethylene (PE) separator. Zwitterionic l-cysteine was further tethered onto the composite membrane by “thiol–ene” click chemistry for pursuing enhanced anti-fo...

Polyamide (PA) thin film composite reverse osmosis (RO) membranes have been extensively used in desalination industry today. However, the poor chlorine resistance and anti-fouling properties greatly limit the wide application of RO technology. Grafting or coating hydrophilic materials on the RO membrane surface may optimize its performances. Howeve...

Pentaerythritol was used as the plasticizer to prepare PVA films through solution casting method. The interaction between pentaerythritol and PVA was studied by FTIR. The crystallinity of raw PVA and modified PVA films was characterized by X-ray diffraction. The effect of the addition of pentaerythritol on the swelling properties, mechanical proper...

In this article, hyperbranched polyester grafted graphene oxide (GO) was successfully prepared. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were performed for its characterizations. On the other hand, differential scanning calori...

A facile route for fabrication of polypropylene separators for lithium ion batteries with high elongation and strong puncture resistance has been proposed in this work. Polypropylene separators immersing in paraffin wax have been prepared to introduce small molecules into separators. The influence of small molecules on mechanical properties of sepa...

In this research, l-lysine was adopted as a new aqueous monomer to react with 1,3,5-benzenetricarbonyl trichloride (TMC) for the preparation of polyamide thin-film composite (PA TFC) membrane (denoted as l-lysine TFC membrane in our research) via interfacial polymerization method. A novel salt concentration sensitive charge-mosaic nanofiltration me...

The application of a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane is greatly restricted on account of a trade-off between water flux and salt rejection, as well as poor anti-fouling properties. In order to improve the surface hydrophilicity of RO membranes, l-lysine (Lys) was grafted onto polyamide selective layers with the premise of maintaining the original sur...

To prepare polyamide thin-film composite reverse osmosis (PA-TFC-RO) membranes with high performance, l-arginine (Arg) was used as an additive in m-phenylenediamine (MPD) aqueous solution. Arg with active amine groups can react with 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic chloride (TMC) to be incorporated into the polyamide selective layer during interfacial po...

In this paper, the influence of ordered structure effects (OSE) on crystallization behaviors of β-nucleated isotactic polypropylene/graphene oxide (β-iPP/GO) composites with different thermal histories, which crystallized at a slow cooling rate (called SLOW), fast cooling rate (called FAST) and medium cooling rate (called MED), respectively, was st...

The increase of the permeability and antifouling properties of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes is always significant in desalination. In this study, zwitterionic amino acid l‐Arginine (Arg) is grafted onto the self‐made RO membrane by one‐step method to construct the zwitterionic surface for enhancing the performances of the membranes. X‐ray photoel...

The morphological evolution and pore formation mechanism of different kinds of β-iPP spherulites during biaxial stretching were analyzed. The smaller radial-growth spherulite deforms heterogeneous, causing a faster reduction in β-crystal content and higher orientation degree during longitudinal stretching, while the bigger spherulite derived from t...

In this study, we have prepared two β‐nucleated isotactic polypropylene/graphene oxide (β‐iPP/GO) composites with different stereo‐defect distribution (named NPP‐B and NPP‐A). The role of stereo‐defect distribution on the crystallization and polymorphic behaviors of samples with varied melt structures were investigated by scanning electron microsco...

In this work, using two isotactic polypropylene (iPP) resins with similar average isotacticity and molecular weight but different uniformities of stereo-defect distribution, the β-nucleated iPP/graphene oxide (β-iPP/GO) composites (NPP-A and NPP-B) were prepared to investigate the effect of stereo-defect distribution on the nonisothermal crystalliz...

In this article, six different PPR content samples were prepared to study the effect of PPR on the pore formation behavior and pore performances of β nucleated isotactic polypropylene microporous membranes used for lithium-ion battery separator. Different scanning calorimetry (DSC) and the wide angle X-ray diffraction (WXRD) results indicate that t...

In this study, effects of heat setting treatment (pre-set heat setting ratio λ and heat setting temperature Tsetting) on the crystalline structures, orientation status, microporous structures, gas permeability and electrochemical performances of the separators were studied in detail by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), infrared dich...

This article mainly explores the mechanism and deformation of polypropylene random copolymer at different temperatures and the role of microstructure in the toughening process. Firstly, the conventional differential scanning calorimetry, wide-angle X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy were employed to study different structures of cr...

Inspired by the special pH value-responsive and strong hydrophilic ability of poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEOX), in this study, asymmetric polysulfone (PSf) and PSf/PEOX ultrafiltration membranes were prepared by a phase separation method, wherein different dosages of PEOX (0-3 wt%) were incorporated into the PSf casting solution as polymeric additi...

Compression stress on thickness direction of separators exists in assembling and operation of all lithium ion batteries (LIBs). In this study, influences of compression on microporous morphologies, electrolyte uptake behavior and electrochemical properties of three types of commercial separators (PP-U, PP-B and PE-B) for LIBs manufactured via diffe...

In this paper, effects of ordered structure on non-isothermal crystallization kinetics and subsequent melting behavior of β-nucleated isotactic polypropylene/graphene oxide composites were investigated. Under all cooling rates, as fusion temperature Tf stepped into the range of 168–178 °C, the ordered structure survived in the melt, resulting in th...

In this work, polypropylene random copolymer (PPR) was taken as an example to study the changes of mechanical properties related to its microstructure evolution. Firstly, the toughness and fracture morphology were analyzed by notched Izod impact test and scanning electron microscope. Annealing at relative lower temperatures (<100°C), mechanical pro...

In this article, iPP cast films with high molecular weight in middle layer were prepared to investigate the effect of high molecular weight component on pore formation and mechanical strength. The results of DSC, SEM and 2D-XRD indicated that higher molecular weight and die draw ratio (DDR) would not alter the thickness of lamellae but enhance the...

Polyamide thin film composite (TFC) reverse osmosis (RO) membranes were prepared in this study. L-Lysine is used as a type of aqueous additive during interfacial polymerization. As a result, the pure water flux (PWF) of the resulting membranes increased by around 18% and their salt rejection improved from 98.17% to 98.40% at an optimum L-lysine dos...

Four kinds of polypropylene (PP) cast films with different die draw ratios (DDR) were prepared. The impact of different DDR on the crystalline and oriented properties of PP cast films and annealed films was explored herein. Wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and fourier transform infrared (FTIR) methods were adopted to examine the orientation degr...

In this work, the influences of polysulfone (PSf) support layer on the morphology of polyamide (PA) selective layer was investigated. Interfacial polymerization was conducted on PSf support layers with different surface pore size or at the bulk interface. The bottom surface of PA layer was exposed by carefully dripping N,N-dimethylformamide onto th...

In this paper, effects of ordered structure on isothermal crystallization kinetics and subsequent melting behavior of β‐nucleated isotactic polypropylene / graphene oxide (iPP/GO) composites were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The ordered structure status was controlled by tuning the fusion temperature Tf. The results showed th...

Balancing the stiffness and toughness is always the goal of high performance general plastics, especially for isotactic polypropylene/graphene oxide (iPP/GO) composites. However, during the crystallization of β-nucleated iPP, GO exhibits an α-nucleating effect, and its nucleation efficiency (NE) is higher than that of some conventional β-nucleating...

In this study, polyamide-aluminum foil-polypropylene (PA-Al-PP) composite films with different orientation status of the PP layer were prepared, and their morphology, tensile, peeling and heat seal behavior were studied. The comparative study of tensile and fracture behaviors of single-layer film of PA, Al and PP, as well as the composite films of...

The skin layer structure can be changed by adjusting the diffusion rate of the non-solvent into the polymer solution between membrane and coagulation bath through adding surfactant into either coagulation bath or dope solution. When adding SDS in coagulation bath, the variation trend of apparent diffusion coefficient during phase separation and sca...

In this work, four samples containing different contents of fumed SiO2 were prepared to improve the pore size distribution and various properties of β nucleated isotatic polypropylene (β-iPP) biaxial membrane used for lithium-ion battery separator. The wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results show that...

To investigate effects of molecular structures on β-crystallization of polypropylene random copolymer (PPR), PPR-A and PPR-B with similar molecular weight and distribution but significantly different polymorphic behavior were used. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), solvent fractionation combined w...

In this study, polyethylene glycol (PEG) of different molecular weight was added into poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) through melt blending. The hydrophilicity, processability, mechanical properties of the blends were investigated. Moreover, to understand fully, the crystallization and melting behavior, crystalline structure, molecular interaction...

In this article, four β nucleated polypropylene (β-iPP) precursor films were prepared through adding four conventional β nucleating agents (β-NA) and crystallizing at 126 °C. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results show that four cast films had similar crystalli...

The isotactic polypropylene (iPP) with different uniformities of stereo-defect distribution was synthesized, and the β-nucleated iPP /glass fiber composites (TPPA-GF and TPPB-GF) were prepared. The influence of glass fiber on the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics, β-phase crystallization and morphology behavior of the composites were investig...

Previous studies reported that by tuning the fusion temperature Tf (i.e., controlling the melt structure), the β-nucleation efficiency of β-nucleated isotactic polypropylene (β-iPP) can be greatly enhanced, which was called ordered structure effect (OSE). The aim of this study is to investigate the roles of melt structures and molecular weight in n...

Glucose is an ideal fuel for fuel cells because it is abundant in nature, renewable, non-toxic and easy to produce. Glucose fuel cells using enzymes and microbes as the catalysts are limited by their very poor performance and rather short durability. In this work, a direct oxidation glucose fuel cell using an anion-exchange membrane and three-dimen...

In this study, the effects of melt structure (tuned by controlling the fusion temperature Tf) on non-isothermal crystallization and subsequent melting behaviors of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) nucleated with α/β compounded nucleating agents (α/β-CNAs) have been further investigated. The results show that under all cooling rates studied (2–40°C/min...

The ?-nucleated isotactic polypropylene (?-iPP) /isotactic Poly(4-methylpentene-1) (TPX) composites were prepared using a ?-nucleating agent (TMB-5). The crystallization behavior and polymorphic morphology of ?-iPP with various concentration of TPX were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and...

This manuscript reviews the latest progress to characterize the uniformity of lamellar thickness, the tensile behavior and the uniformity of cavitation during stretching of the casting film, and further to predict the pore size distribution and thickness distribution of the final separator. Five beta-PP precursor films, which had similar crystallin...

The compositional heterogeneity, morphology and melting behavior of two commercial high-impact polypropylene (HiPP) in-reactor alloys were systematically investigated by the combined use of thermal fractionation, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Correlati...

Stereodefect distribution is very important in determining the morphology and properties of isotactic polypropylene (iPP). In this study, two iPPs (PP-A and PP-B) with different uniformities of stereodefect distribution were prepared. The tensile behavior and morphology evolution of their cast films were studied. The morphology study of the cast fi...

The influence of bi-component β-nucleating agent of pimelic acid/calcium stearate (Pa–Cast) on the non-isothermal crystallization behavior and polymorphic composition of two isotactic polypropylene (iPP) samples with nearly same average isotacticity but different uniformities of stereo-defect distribution were investigated by differential scanning...

To elucidate the synergetic effect in enhancing β-crystallization between β-nucleating agent (β-NA) and ordered structures of isotactic polypropylene (iPP), i.e., ordered structure effect (OSE), in this study, the role of β-NA concentration (Cβ-NA) was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and in-situ small-angle X-ray scattering (in-s...

As part of continuous efforts to understand the surprising synergetic effect between β-nucleating agent and pre-ordered structures of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) in significant enhancement of β-crystallization (Ordered Structure Effect, OSE), two β-nucleated iPP with different uniformities of stereo-defect distribution (WPP-A and WPP-B) were prep...

In this article, five β nucleated polypropylene (β-iPP) cast films were prepared through crystallizing from 110 oC to 135 oC. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results show that all the five β-iPP samples had similar crystallinity, high content of β-crystal but di...

Self-nucleation (SN) behavior is one of the most fascinating behaviors of semicrystalline polymers; it is of great scientific and practical importance. In this study, the crystallization and melting behavior of a series of controlled-rheology polypropylene (CRPP) with different molecular weights were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DS...