Synthesis of thermoresponsive copolymer/silica-coated magnetite nanoparticle composite and its application for heavy metal ion recovery

To enhance chemical stability and suppress of aggregation of magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs), which are used as a support for thermoresponsive copolymer immobilization, silica coating of the MNPs is applied via the electrooxidation method. Although the resulting silica coated-MNPs also formed aggregates, the size distribution of the aggregate shifted to smaller size range. Because of that, the surface area available for copolymer immobilization increased approximately 6.7 times at maximum as compared with that of the uncoated MNPs. It contributed to the increase of the amount of the immobilized copolymer on the silica-coated MNPs, which is approximately four times larger than that on the uncoated MNPs. Fe₃O₄ dissolution test confirmed enhancement of chemical stability of MNPs. The thermoresponsive copolymer immobilized on the silica-coated MNPs shows the ability to recycle Cu(II) ion from Cu(II) containing solution by changing temperature with significantly shorter time than those in other thermoresponsive adsorbents in gel form.     

Nano fibrillated cellulose-based foam by Pickering emulsion: Preparation,characterizations, and application as dye adsorbent

An ecofriendly and biodegradable porous structure was prepared from drying aqueous foams based on nano fibrillated cellulose (NFC), extracted from softwood pulp by subcritical water/CO₂ treatment (SC-NFC). The primary aim of this work was to use the modified SC-NFC as stabilizer for a water-based Pickering emulsion which upon drying, yielded porous cellulosic materials, a good dye adsorbent. In order to exploit the carboxymethylated SC-NFC (CMSC-NFC, with a degree of substitution of 0.35 and a charge density of 649 μeqv/g) as a stabilizer for water-based Pickering emulsion in subsequent step, an optimized quantity of octyl amine (30 mg/g of SC-NFC) was added to make them partially hydrophobic. A series of dry foam structures were prepared by varying the concentrations of treated CMSC-NFCs and 4 wt% was found to be the optimum concentration to yield foam with high porosity (99%) and low density (0.038 g/cc) along with high compression strength (0.24 MPa), superior to the conventionally extracted NFC. The foams were applied to capture as high as 98% of methylene blue dyes, making them a potential green candidate for treating industrial effluent. In addition, the dye adsorption kinetics and isotherms were found to be well suited with second order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm models.     

Synergistic regulation of hydrogen adsorption/desorption via dual interfaces of Cu/Ni/Ni(OH)2 toward efficient hydrogen evolution reaction

Nickel-based catalysts have attracted tremendous attention as alternatives to precious metal-based catalysts for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in virtue of their conspicuous advantages such as abundant reserves and high electrochemical activity. Nevertheless, a great challenge for Ni-based electrocatalyst is that nickel sites possess too strong adsorption for key intermediates H1, which severely suppresses the hydrogen-production activities. Herein, we report a hierarchical architecture Cu/Ni/Ni(OH)₂ consisting of dual interfaces as a high-efficient electrocatalyst for HER. The Cu nanowire backbone could provide geometric spaces for loading plenty of Ni sites and the formed Ni/Cu interface could effectively weakened the adsorption intensity of H1 intermediates on the catalyst surface. Moreover, the H1 adsorption could be further controlled to appropriate states by in-situ formed Ni(OH)₂/Ni interface, which simultaneously promotes water adsorption and activation, thus both Heyrovsky and Volmer steps in HER could be obviously accelerated. Experimental and theoretical results confirm that this interface structure can promote water dissociation and optimize H1 adsorption. Consequently, the Cu/Ni/Ni(OH)₂ electrocatalyst exhibits a low overpotential of 20 mV at 10 mA cm^?2 and an ultralow Tafel slope of 30 mV dec^?1 in 1.0 M KOH, surpassing those of reported transition-metal-based electrocatalysts and even the prevailing commercial Pt/C.     

Investigation into adsorption equilibrium and thermodynamics for water vapor on montmorillonite clay

The isothermal adsorption curves for water vapor on montmorillonite were measured by a gravimetric adsorption system. Dent's model was employed to estimate the adsorption behaviors of water vapor on primary adsorption sites and secondary adsorption sites. The thermodynamics analysis of water vapor adsorption was performed. At low vapor pressure region, primary adsorption predominates, and with increasing vapor pressure, secondary adsorption becomes notable. Primary adsorption sites have an evidently stronger adsorption affinity than secondary adsorption sites. With increasing vapor pressure, Gibbs free energy variation rapidly increases and then reduces slowly. Although increasing vapor pressure raises adsorption spontaneity on primary adsorption sites, the enhancement in vapor pressure decreases the spontaneity of water vapor adsorption on secondary adsorption sites. As adsorbed loading increases, isosteric heat of adsorption and entropy loss decrease first and then increase quickly. The gradually growing water clusters are responsible for the increase of entropy loss at late stage.     

Nanoraspberry-like palladium/spongy nickel oxide for electrooxidation of five light fuels

The spongy nickel oxide (SNO) was synthesized the solution combustion method. The SNO was selected as a promoter to boost the catalytic activity of nanoraspberry-like palladium (NRPd) toward electrooxidation of five light fuels (LFs): methanol, ethanol, formaldehyde, formic acid, and ethylene glycol. The X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscope techniques were used for the materials characterization. In comparison with nonpromoted Pd, the NRPd-SNO electrocatalyst shown an excellent efficiency in parameters like the electrochemical active surface area and anti-CO poisoning behavior. The turnover data and the parameters, including reaction order, activation energy, and the coefficients of electron transfer and diffusion, were evaluated for the each process of LFs electrooxidation. The outcome for NRPd-SNO activity toward LFs electrooxidation was compared to some reported electrodes. The SNO increases the removal of intermediates created in the oxidation of LFs that can poison the surface of palladium catalyst. This is due to the presence of the lattice oxygens in SNO structure and Ni switching between its high and low valances. The compatibility of the adsorption process of LFs on the surface of the NRPd-SNO catalyst with different isotherms was determined by studying the Tafel polarization and calculating the surface coverage.     

Preparation of magnetic zeolite/chitosan composite using silane as modifier for adsorption of Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions

This study aimed to prepare an efficient, cost-effective, and separable magnetic zeolite/chitosan composite (MZFA/CS) adsorbent from solid waste to deal with the water pollution of Cr(VI). The MZFA/CS was characterized by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) techniques. Then, the effect of pH, temperature, initial concentration of Cr(VI) ions, and contact time was considered in the study. For a sorbent dose of 0.1 g in 50 mL of a Cr(VI) solution, at a contact time of 30 min, temperature of 30°C, and a pH of 3, an adsorption capacity (q_e) of 16.96 mg g⁻¹ was achieved. Adsorption kinetics and isotherm data obtained for all adsorption systems were well-fitted by pseudo-second-order and Langmuir models, respectively. The thermodynamic study suggested that the adsorption process is spontaneous and endothermic in nature. In summary, the adsorbent with better separability (Ms = 16.83 emu g⁻¹) and adsorbability was successfully fabricated.     

吸附过程强化对提升高温热泵蒸汽生成性能的影响

在基于直接接触换热法的开式吸附热泵系统中，引入预吸附过程或预设传质通道，考察其对蒸汽生成和系统性能的影响。实验结果表明，预吸附蒸汽压力为0.0680 MPa(饱和温度=89.2℃)，系统生成高温蒸汽的平均温度为203℃，系统整体温升为98.4℃，相对于无预吸附系统，生成蒸汽的时间和质量分别增加52.2%和27.0%，系统制热系数和制热功率分别提升28.2%和27.2%。预置树枝状传质通道后，生成蒸汽的时间和质量分别增加了17.8%和8.75%，系统制热系数和制热功率分别提升8.16%和9.05%。预吸附过程使吸附床较快达到整体吸附和热力平衡，缩短蒸汽到达床层出口的时间。预吸附压力越高，系统到达整体吸附平衡的用时越短，蒸汽生成时间越早。传质通道促进吸附床局部平衡的达成，减小局部传质阻力，使部分蒸汽可迅速到达出口。整体和局部吸附平衡的快速达成，均强化了蒸汽的动态生成过程，提升系统整体性能。     

还原温度对氧化石墨烯的湿度-甲醛交叉敏感性能的影响

以氧化石墨烯溶胶为前体，通过旋涂工艺制备薄膜型气敏元件，在低温80～180℃下进行热处理，获得系列不同还原程度的还原氧化石墨烯气敏元件，采用XRD、AFM、FT-IR、XPS对样品的层结构、薄膜厚度及含氧官能团变化属性进行表征，将气敏薄膜元件在相对湿度为11.3%～93.6%的范围内进行预湿处理，并测定元件对甲醛气氛的敏感性能。结果表明：随热还原处理温度的升高，氧化石墨烯的结构逐渐向类石墨结构转变，含氧官能团逐渐脱失，缺陷增多，薄膜的方块电阻呈数量级地减小，从41 MΩ减小至928 Ω；经不同湿度预处理的气敏元件置于甲醛气氛中产生了水分子与甲醛分子的竞争吸附，从而导致电阻的明显变化；在10^?4甲醛气氛下，未还原或热还原温度较低的气敏元件适用于低、高湿环境下甲醛气氛的气敏测试，最大灵敏度为69.1%，而还原温度适中的元件则适用于中湿环境的甲醛测试，最大灵敏度为80.3%。