Oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane on Pt–Sn impregnated monoliths

The oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane was studied over Pt–Sn impregnated monoliths at 1 bar, 600–900 °C and with different contents of oxygen, hydrogen and steam in the feed gas. As expected a decrease in oxygen in the feed led to a decrease in the conversion of ethane due to lower temperatures in the reactor. Adding steam to the feed showed no effect on the ethane conversion or the ethene selectivity. When the hydrogen/ethane ratio in the feed was varied from 0 to 0.5 at 700 and 850 °C, it resulted in a significant increase in the selectivity to ethene while the ethane conversion remained relatively unchanged. At 700 °C the selectivity increased from about 50% to 93% (carbon basis) with only a small decrease in the conversion of ethane. The results clearly show that both Pt and Sn have a catalytic effect. Pt caused the ethane conversion to rise and addition of Sn resulted in much better ethene selectivity. However, even though Sn alone showed some catalytic effect at lower temperatures, it cannot explain the great difference between the Pt and Pt–Sn catalysts. A reasonable assumption is therefore that there exist interactions between Pt and Sn that gives the Pt–Sn catalysts excellent properties for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane, in particular upon addition of hydrogen.     

Small-scale hydrogen production from propane

Partial oxidation and oxidative steam reforming of propane were investigated over 0.01 wt.% Rh/Al₂O₃ foam catalysts. High selectivity to hydrogen was obtained for both reactions, but addition of steam to the reactant mixture gave higher selectivity to hydrogen. Stability tests over 7 h revealed that the catalytic activity of Rh was quite stable under partial oxidation conditions. Higher loss in Rh activity was observed when steam was present in the reactant mixture. FE-SEM images showed that Rh particle size and distribution are modified under partial oxidation and oxidative steam reforming conditions. However, these changes were more distinct on the catalyst used for oxidative steam reforming.     

Synthesis of trimethylene carbonate/ϵ‐caprolactone copolymers initiated with zinc alkoxide: influence of copolymer chain microstructure on thermal and mechanical properties

Ethylzinc(II ) ethoxide is a highly active and efficient initiator for the bulk polymerization of 1,3‐trimethylene carbonate and its copolymerization with ? ‐caprolactone. This initiator allows one to obtain (co)polymers with high molar masses in quite a short time. Significant difference in co‐monomer reactivity and relatively low participation of intermolecular transesterification processes lead to the obtained copolymers being characterized by a gradient chain microstructure. In ¹³C NMR spectra, in all regions, we observed the presence of triads which were distinctly represented by four peaks for the carbonyl signal. Mechanical tests showed that copolymers containing 70% and more of ? ‐caprolactone presented a relatively high Young's modulus and a very high maximum elongation factor; therefore these materials are promising in many biomedical applications. Due to the high reaction rate, we also made an attempt at copolymerization using reactive extrusion which gave promising results. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry     

Electrostrictive properties of ceramics obtained on the basis of ferroelectrk relaxors

We present the results for search of the best ceramic materials for electrostrictive transducers. We performed the following investigations: (1) investigation of different types of ferroelectric, antiferroelectric and non-polar complex oxides with perovskite (OPS) and tetragonal tungsten bronze (TBS) structures; (2) the investigations of the OPS with different degrees of the cations ordering; (3) the measurements of the electrostrictive coefficient Q, Curie-Weiss constant C_W, coefficient of linear thermal expansion λ, polarization P and dielectric permittivity ^σ_r; (4) the X-ray analysis of the structure. The electrostrictive deformation may be very high and the relative strain can be of the order 10^-3 in such materials.     

The method of matching resonance frequencies in coupled transmitterPVDF/TRFE diaphragms

The influence of thermal aging on the resonance frequency and electric impedance of polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) type polymer films was studied with the aim to apply thermal treatment to modify and tune the parameters of polymer electromechanical transducers. Results of our study show that thermal treatment of PVDF/TRFE 75/25 copolymer in the temperature range 50 to 125°C (10 min) can be applied for matching the resonance frequencies of coupled transducers. The resonance frequency of the copolymer was found to increase linearly with the rise of the annealing temperature by ~12%, whereas the related decrease in the electromechanical coupling coefficient does not exceed ~11%     

Tungsten Lamps as an Affordable Light Source for Testing of Photovoltaic Cells

An improved Tungsten light source system for photovoltaic cell testing made from low-cost, commercially available materials is presented as an alternative to standard expensive testing equipment. In this work, spectral correction of the Tungsten light source is achieved by increasing the color temperature to ??5200 K using inexpensive commercially available filters. Spectral measurements of the enhanced light source reveal that a better spectrum match towards the solar spectrum is achieved than what has been previously demonstrated. Specifically, the improved solar spectrum match is achieved by substantial filtering of the infrared range. The proposed setup is used to evaluate the performance of both silicon and organic based photovoltaic cells.     

Influence of technological conditions on electronic transitions in chemical vapor deposited poly(azomethine) thin films

Thin films of poly(1,4-phenylenemethilidynenitrilo-1,4-phenylenenitrilomethilidyne) (PPI) have been prepared by chemical vapor deposition in the horizontal geometry using gaseous argon as a transport agent. PPI thin films have been grown by polycondensation of para-phenylene diamine (PPDA) and terephtal aldehyde (TPA). Fourier Transform Infrared spectra confirm formation of PPI layers without end groups. The strongest absorption band with discernible vibronic progression has been found to be due to superposition of 2.64, 2.82 and 3.03 eV bands corresponding to interband transitions connecting electronic ground state and vibrational levels of electronic excited state. A feature seen at about 2.6 eV in the spectra of PPI films prepared at higher temperatures of PPDA and TPA sources are attributed to excitons connected with the π-π? gap. Shoulder at 3.31 eV is attributed to interband transitions between delocalized states, while a peak at 4.2 eV is attributed to excitons formed by localized holes and delocalized electrons and vice versa and interband transitions connecting delocalized and localized bands, with the binding energy of about 0.8 eV. Thin films prepared at low temperatures of monomers consist of randomly distributed PPI chains weakly bound together.     

Mechanochemical reaction in the K2CO3–Nb2O5 system

We studied the mechanochemical synthesis of KNbO₃, starting from a powder mixture of K₂CO₃ and Nb₂O₅. The milling experiments were designed with different ball-impact energies in order to investigate the mechanochemical reactions. X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the samples. Based on the results, we propose a mechanism for the mechanochemical reaction between K₂CO₃ and Nb₂O₅. The first stage of the reaction is characterized by the formation of an amorphous carbonato complex, which decomposes after prolonged milling at higher ball-impact energy giving rise to the crystallization of KNbO₃ and other niobate phases with a molar ratio K/Nb < 1. The reaction course is discussed and compared with the Na₂CO₃–Nb₂O₅ system.     

Potential Application of Curcumin and Its Analogues in the Treatment Strategy of Patients with Primary Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Recent findings on the molecular basis of ovarian cancer development and progression create new opportunities to develop anticancer medications that would affect specific metabolic pathways and decrease side systemic toxicity of conventional treatment. Among new possibilities for cancer chemoprevention, much attention is paid to curcumin—A broad-spectrum anticancer polyphenolic derivative extracted from the rhizome of Curcuma longa L. According to ClinicalTrials.gov at present there are no running pilot studies, which could assess possible therapeutic benefits from curcumin supplementation to patients with primary epithelial ovarian cancer. Therefore, the goal of this review was to evaluate potential preclinical properties of curcumin and its new analogues on the basis of in vivo and in vitro ovarian cancer studies. Curcumin and its different formulations have been shown to display multifunctional mechanisms of anticancer activity, not only in platinum-resistant primary epithelial ovarian cancer, but also in multidrug resistant cancer cells/xenografts models. Curcumin administered together with platinum-taxane chemotherapeutics have been reported to demonstrate synergistic effects, sensitize resistant cells to drugs, and decrease their biologically effective doses. An accumulating body of evidence suggests that curcumin, due to its long-term safety and an excellent profile of side effects should be considered as a beneficial support in ovarian cancer treatment strategies, especially in patients with platinum-resistant primary epithelial recurrent ovarian cancer or multidrug resistant disease. Although the prospect of curcumin and its formulations as anticancer agents in ovarian cancer treatment strategy appears to be challenging, and at the same time promising, there is a further need to evaluate its effectiveness in clinical studies.