Electronic structure and absolute band edge position of tetragonal AgInS2 photocatalyst: A hybrid density functional study

Energy bands, effective mass of carriers, absolute band edge positions and optical properties of tetragonal AgInS₂ were calculated using a first-principles approach with the exchange correlation described by B3LYP hybrid functional. The results indicate that tetragonal AgInS₂ has a direct band gap of 1.93 eV, which reproduce well experimental value. Calculated effective masses of electrons and holes are both small which are beneficial to separation and migration of electron and hole pairs. This implies that AgInS₂ has good photocatalytic performance. The calculated optical characteristics indicate that AgInS₂ has a slight anisotropy for both the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function and exhibits large optical absorption in the visible light region. Furthermore, the calculated band edge positions in (100), (010) and (001) surfaces indicate that tetragonal AgInS₂ is beneficial to the reduction and oxidation of water to hydrogen and oxygen under visible light irradiation.     

A high propylene productivity over B2O3/SiO2@honeycomb cordierite catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation of propane

Boron-based metal-free catalysts for oxidative dehydrogenation of propane (ODHP) have drawn great attention in both academia and industry due to their impressive activity and olefin selectivity. Herein, the SiO₂ and B₂O₃ sequentially coated honeycomb cordierite catalyst is designed by a two-step wash-coat method with different B₂O₃ loadings (0.1%-10%) and calcination temperatures (600, 700, 800 ℃). SiO₂ obtained by TEOS hydrolysis acts as a media layer to bridge the cordierite substrate and boron oxide via abundant Si-OH groups. The welldeveloped straight channels of honeycomb cordierite make it possible to carry out the reactor under high gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) and the thin wash-coated B₂O₃ layer can effectively facilitate the pore diffusion on the catalyst. The prepared B₂O₃/SiO₂@HC monolithic catalyst exhibits good catalytic performance at low boron oxide loading and achieves excellent propylene selectivity (86.0%), olefin selectivity (97.6%, propylene and ethylene) and negligible CO₂ (0.1%) at 16.9% propane conversion under high GHSV of 345,600 ml·(g B₂O₃)^-1·h^-1, leading to a high propylene space time yield of 15.7 g C₃H₆·(g B₂O₃)^-1·h^-1 by suppressing the overoxidation. The obtained results strongly indicate that the boron-based monolithic catalyst can be properly fabricated to warrant the high activity and high throughput with its high gas/surface ratio and straight channels.     

A high propylene productivity over B2O3/SiO2@honeycomb cordierite catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation of propane

Boron-based metal-free catalysts for oxidative dehydrogenation of propane (ODHP) have drawn great attention in both academia and industry due to their impressive activity and olefin selectivity. Herein, the SiO₂ and B₂O₃ sequentially coated honeycomb cordierite catalyst is designed by a two-step wash-coat method with different B₂O₃ loadings (0.1%–10%) and calcination temperatures (600, 700, 800 °C). SiO₂ obtained by TEOS hydrolysis acts as a media layer to bridge the cordierite substrate and boron oxide via abundant SiOH groups. The well-developed straight channels of honeycomb cordierite make it possible to carry out the reactor under high gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) and the thin wash-coated B₂O₃ layer can effectively facilitate the pore diffusion on the catalyst. The prepared B₂O₃/SiO₂@HC monolithic catalyst exhibits good catalytic performance at low boron oxide loading and achieves excellent propylene selectivity (86.0%), olefin selectivity (97.6%, propylene and ethylene) and negligible CO₂ (0.1%) at 16.9% propane conversion under high GHSV of 345,600 ml·(g B₂O₃)⁻¹·h⁻¹, leading to a high propylene space time yield of 15.7 g C₃H₆·(g B₂O₃)⁻¹·h⁻¹ by suppressing the overoxidation. The obtained results strongly indicate that the boron-based monolithic catalyst can be properly fabricated to warrant the high activity and high throughput with its high gas/surface ratio and straight channels.     

Synthesis and swelling properties of poly[acrylamide-co-(crotonic acid)] superabsorbents

Superabsorbent polymers of acrylamide (AAm)/crotonic acid (CA) were synthesized by foamed polymerization in an aqueous solution of AAm with CA as a comonomer, initiated by an initiator couple of ammonium persulfate and N,N,N′N′-tetramethylethylenediamine. A crosslinking agent N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide, a foaming agent sodium bicarbonate, and a foam stabilizer, a triblock copolymer of polyoxyethylene/polyoxypropylene/polyoxyethylene, were used in the polymerization. The influences of the relative contents of CA, crosslinking agent, and initiator, on the swelling properties of the superabsorbent polymer systems were examined. The superabsorbent polymer synthesized with an AAm/CA ratio of 98:2 by mole, 0.5 wt.% of N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide and 1 wt.% of ammonium persulfate at 250 rpm and 50 °C for 30 min of polymerization time produced the highest water absorption of 211 ± 9 times its dried weight and could absorb water up to 162 ± 4 g g⁻¹ of the dry copolymer within 10 min. The electrochemical reaction for acrylamide–crotonic acid polymerization was investigated by cyclic voltammetry. The anodic current indicated that acrylamide acting as an electron donor whereas crotonic acid performed as an electron receiver, then providing the cathodic current. The diffusion of water into the superabsorbent polymer was non-Fickian (case II and anomalous). Acrylamide–crotonic acid superabsorbents containing various crosslinker concentrations had a water swelling in the range of 79–289 g g⁻¹. The diffusion coefficients varied between 6.9 × 10⁻⁹ and 5.1 × 10⁻⁸ cm² s⁻¹. Adsorption of the basic dye by the superabsorbent was a monolayer evaluated by the Langmuir isotherm. The superabsorbents can thus be used to adsorb cationic dyes in textile industry.     

In situ generation of hydrogen peroxide from reaction of O2 with hydroxylamine from hydroxylammonium salt in neutral aqueous or non-aqueous medium using reusable Pd/Al2O3 catalyst

In situ generation of H₂O₂ with high yield can be accomplished by reacting O₂ with NH₂OH from hydroxylammonium salt [NH₂OH · HCl or (NH₂OH)₂ · H₂SO₄] in a neutral aqueous medium using a reusable heterogeneous Pd (1.0 wt%)/Al₂O₃ catalyst, even at low temperature (10 °C), with the formation of harmless by-products (viz. N₂ and water). The presence of KCl or KBr in the medium has beneficial effect. The H₂O₂ generation is strongly influenced by the pH of medium, reaction period and temperature; best results are obtained at the optimum pH and reaction medium.     

Supervised Distance Preserving Projections: Applications in the quantitative analysis of diesel fuels and light cycle oils from NIR spectra

In this work, we discuss a recently proposed approach for supervised dimensionality reduction, the Supervised Distance Preserving Projection (SDPP) and, we investigate its applicability to monitoring material's properties from spectroscopic observations. Motivated by continuity preservation, the SDPP is a linear projection method where the proximity relations between points in the low-dimensional subspace mimic the proximity relations between points in the response space. Such a projection facilitates the design of efficient regression models and it may also uncover useful information for visualisation. An experimental evaluation is conducted to show the performance of the SDPP and compare it with a number of state-of-the-art approaches for unsupervised and supervised dimensionality reduction. The regression step after projection is performed using computationally light models with low maintenance cost like Multiple Linear Regression and Locally Linear Regression with k-NN neighbourhoods. For the evaluation, a benchmark and a full-scale calibration problem are discussed. The case studies pertain the estimation of a number of chemico-physical properties in diesel fuels and in light cycle oils, starting from near-infrared spectra. Based on the experimental results, we found that the SDPP leads to parsimonious projections that can be used to design light and yet accurate estimation models.     

Single-Atom Metal Sites Anchored Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Frameworks for Superior “Two-In-One” Photocatalytic Reaction

Photoredox catalysis is a green solution for organics transformation and CO₂ conversion into valuable fuels, meeting the challenges of sustainable energy and environmental concerns. However, the regulation of single-atomic active sites in organic framework not only influences the photoredox performance, but also limits the understanding of the relationship for photocatalytic selective organic conversion with CO₂ valorization into one reaction system. As a prototype, different single-atomic metal (M) sites (M²⁺ = Fe²⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, and Zn²⁺) in hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (M-HOF) backbone with bridging structure of metal-nitrogen are constructed by a typical “two-in-one” strategy for superior photocatalytic C N coupling reactions integrated with CO₂ valorization. Remarkably, Zn-HOF achieves 100% conversion of benzylamine oxidative coupling reactions, 91% selectivity of N-benzylidenebenzylamine and CO₂ conversion in one photoredox cycle. From X-ray absorption fine structure analysis and density functional theory calculations, the superior photocatalytic performance is attributed to synergic effect of atomically dispersed metal sites and HOF host, decreasing the reaction energy barriers, enhancing CO₂ adsorption and forming benzylcarbamic acid intermediate to promote the redox recycle. This work not only affords the rational design strategy of single-atom active sites in functional HOF, but also facilitates the fundamental insights upon the mechanism of versatile photoredox coupling reaction systems.     

Fabrication of high-pore volume carbon nanosheets with uniform arrangement of mesopores

Carbon nanosheets with a tunable mesopore size,large pore volume,and good electronic conductivity are synthesized via a solution-chemistry approach.In this synthesis,diaminohexane and graphene oxide (GO) are used as the structural directing agents,and a silica colloid is used as a mesopores template.Diaminohexane plays a crucial role in bridging silica colloid particles and GO,as well as initiating the polymerization of benzoxazine on the surfaces of both the GO and silica,resulting in the formation of a hybrid nanosheet polymer.The carbon nanosheets have graphene embedded in them and have several spherical mesopores with a pore volume up to 3.5 cm3·g-1 on their surfaces.These nuerous accessible mesopores in the carbon layers can act as reservoirs to host a high loading of active charge-storage materials with good dispersion and a uniform particle size.Compared with active materials with wide particle-size distributions,the unique proposed configuration with confined and uniform particles exhibits superior electrochemical performance during lithiation and delithiation,especially during long cycles and at high rates.     

邻甲酚-间二甲苯-乙二醇液液平衡数据的测定与关联

乙二醇可从含芳烃组分油品中选择性萃取酚类,为支撑焦化含酚油中的酚类化合物萃取分离新工艺开发,针对其组分特点,在现有相平衡数据基础上选定代表物,利用液液平衡釜法测出常压下303.15、313.15和323.15K时邻甲酚-间二甲苯-乙二醇体系液液相平衡数据,并利用Othmer-Tobias方程、Hand方程、Bachman方程分别进行实验数据可靠性检验,其线性相关系数的平方均大于0.99。同时分别用NRTL和UNIQUAC活度系数模型对实验数据进行关联,回归得到不同温度下的模型参数,模型计算值与实验数据对比后发现其均方根偏差小于1.8%,说明NRTL和UNIQUAC模型均可较好地描述该三元体系相平衡行为。