Disclosed herein is a system for desorbing and detecting an analyte sorbed on a solid phase microextraction (SPME) device. This SPME device The system includes a desorption chamber containing solvent required for desorption of analytes from SPME device; a flow injector in fluid connection with the desorption chamber, the desorption chamber and the flow injector being fluidly connected by at least a flow-insulating fluid connector; a solvent source in fluid connection with the flow injector; and a fluid switch that: in a desorption position, allows the solvent to be sprayed from the flow injector while flow-insulating any desorption solution in the desorption chamber, and in an detecting position, turns off the solvent source while maintaining the fluid connection between the flow injector and the desorption chamber, transferring the desorption solution through the flow-insulating fluid connector to the flow injector as a substantially undiluted plug of liquid. The SPME device can be configured to be various morphologies such as, fibers, blades, thin film membranes and even magnetic particles. When magnetic particles are used an additional holder that contains an embedded magnet which holds a plate with a well to hold said magnetic particles is added to the system.

Monodisperse particles having: a single pure crystalline phase of a rare earth-containing lattice, a uniform three-dimensional size, and a uniform polyhedral morphology are disclosed. Due to their uniform size and shape, the monodisperse particles self assemble into superlattices. The particles may be luminescent particles such as down-converting phosphor particles and up-converting phosphors. The monodisperse particles of the invention have a rare earth-containing lattice which in one embodiment may be an yttrium-containing lattice or in another may be a lanthanide-containing lattice. The monodisperse particles may have different optical properties based on their composition, their size, and/or their morphology (or shape). Also disclosed is a combination of at least two types of monodisperse particles, where each type is a plurality of monodisperse particles having a single pure crystalline phase of a rare earth-containing lattice, a uniform three-dimensional size, and a uniform polyhedral morphology; and where the types of monodisperse particles differ from one another by composition, by size, or by morphology. In a preferred embodiment, the types of monodisperse particles have the same composition but different morphologies. Methods of making and methods of using the monodisperse particles are disclosed.

A self-bonding conductive wire and methods in which it is made and used. The wire comprises a conductor, an insulator, and a self-bonding outer coating. The self-bonding outer coating is a polyester polyether block copolymer. The insulator is an ethylene/tetrafluoroethylene copolymer, one or more layers of which may be used to insulate the conductor. The self-bonding capabilities of the wire may be activated by heating the wire, causing the outer coating to thermoplastically deform and fuse, allowing for the creation of self-supporting structures such as large bobbin-less coils. The use of the polyester polyether block copolymer for the self-bonding outer coating is superior to other materials, in which significant degradation of qualitative properties following self-bonding is observed, resulting in a superior self-bonding conductive wire.

Multilayer film prepared by a layer-by-layer process that is an effective barrier for humidity and oxygen.

An oleophilic and hydrophobic nanocellulose material is disclosed herein, for nanocellulose sponges and other applications. The oleophilic and hydrophobic nanocellulose material comprises lignin-coated cellulose nanofibrils and/or lignin-coated cellulose nanocrystals. In various embodiments, the nanocellulose material is in the form of a 2D coating or layer, or a 3D object (e.g., foam or aerogel). The nanocellulose material may be disposed onto a scaffold. A process is provided for producing an oleophilic and hydrophobic nanocellulose object, comprising fractionating a biomass feedstock with an acid, a solvent for lignin, and water, to generate cellulose-rich solids and a lignin-containing liquor; mechanically treating the cellulose-rich solids to form cellulose fibrils and/or cellulose crystals; generating a nanocellulose object from the intermediate nanocellulose material; exposing the nanocellulose object to the lignin-containing liquor to allow lignin to deposit onto a surface of the nanocellulose object; and recovering the oleophilic and hydrophobic nanocellulose object.

A yarn or multi-fiber formed of a plurality of micron diameter stainless steel monofilaments which have been rendered more conductive by one or more coatings of electrolytically-deposited metal or metal alloy materials. The metallized yarn provided by the invention has a very low electrical resistance, with consequent benefit in electrical performance, and is particularly useful as an RFI/EMI shielding material.

The present disclosure generally relates to patterned gradient polymer films and methods for making the same, and more particularly to patterned gradient optical films that have regions that include variations in optical properties such as refractive index, haze, transmission, clarity, or a combination thereof. The variation in optical properties can occur across a transverse plane of the film as well as through a thickness direction of the film.

The invention relates to a method for producing a fibrous composite material using at least one epoxy resin and at least one initiator comprising one or more cationic metal olefin complexes. The invention further relates to a fiber-containing agent and to a fiber-containing composite material as such.

A self-bonding conductive wire and methods in which it is made and used. The wire comprises a conductor, an insulator, and a self-bonding outer coating. The self-bonding outer coating is a polyester polyether block copolymer. The insulator is an ethylene/tetrafluoroethylene copolymer, one or more layers of which may be used to insulate the conductor. The self-bonding capabilities of the wire may be activated by heating the wire, causing the outer coating to thermoplastically deform and fuse, allowing for the creation of self-supporting structures such as large bobbin-less coils. The use of the polyester polyether block copolymer for the self-bonding outer coating is superior to other materials, in which significant degradation of qualitative properties following self-bonding is observed, resulting in a superior self-bonding conductive wire.

A method of making a glass sheet comprises laminating a high CTE core glass to a low CTE clad glass at high temperatures and allowing the laminate to cool creating compressive stress in the clad glass, and then ion exchanging the laminate to increase the compressive stress in the outer near surface regions of the clad glass. The core glass may include ions that exchange with ion in the clad glass to increase the compressive stress in inner surface regions of the clad glass adjacent to the clad glass/core glass interfaces. The glass laminate may be formed and laminated using a fusion forming and laminating process and fusion formable and ion exchangeable glass compositions.