Catalytic Combustion of Model Carbon Particles (CPs) over Pt/β-SiC Catalyst

Platinum catalyst supported on a medium surface area -SiC was successfully used for the catalytic combustion of model carbon particles and compared to a catalyst supported on a low surface area -SiC. The -SiC-based catalyst showed no deactivation as a function of cycling tests while a strong deactivation was observed on the -SiC-based catalyst. This deactivation was attributed to the progressive encapsulation of the platinum particles by a layer of silica which built up during the combustion cycle. These results render possible the use of Pt/-SiC catalyst as a diesel carbon particle catalytic filter with continuous regeneration.     

Synthesis of highly concentrated suspension of chemically converted graphene in organic solvents: Effect of temperature on the extent of reduction and dispersibility

We report the effect of temperature on the extent of graphene oxide reduction by hydrazine and the dispersibility of the resulting chemically converted graphene (CCG) in polar organic solvents. The extent of graphene oxide reduction at high temperatures was only slightly higher than at low temperatures (30–50 °C), while the dispersibility of the resulting CCG in organic solvents decreased markedly with increasing temperature. The low dispersibility of CCGs prepared at high temperatures was greatly affected by reduction and influenced by the formation of an irreversible agglomerate of CCG at high temperatures. The reduction of graphene oxide at low temperatures is necessary to prepare highly dispersible CCG in organic solvents. CCG prepared at 30 °C is dispersible in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone concentrations as high as 0.71 mg/mL. The free-standing paper made of this CCG possessed an electrical conductivity of more than 22,000 S/m, one of the highest values ever reported.     

Luminescent properties of ZnO structures grown with a vapour transport method

ZnO structures were synthesised on the sapphire (112?0) substrate by a vapour transport method in a gas flowing furnace. The influence of the oxygen content in the gas mixture on the morphology and luminescent properties of ZnO structures grown on a strip-like substrate was investigated, with all other growth parameters being kept nominally identical. Integrated electron microscopy and cathodoluminescence analysis shows gradual variations of structural and optical emission properties for ZnO structures grown on the long substrate. Defect-related green luminescence of ZnO is found to be highly dependent on the oxygen vapour in the growth region of the furnace. Our findings demonstrate that the green luminescence is associated with oxygen deficiency in ZnO.     

Selective oxidation of H2S in Claus tail-gas over SiC supported NiS2 catalyst

Very high activity and selectivity could be achieved for the direct oxidation of H₂S into elemental sulfur at low reaction temperature (40–60°C), on nickel sulfide supported SiC catalyst. The heterogeneous nature of the support surface (hydrophilic and hydrophobic areas) could explain the important role played by water to maintain a high and stable H₂S conversion level. The formation of a very active superficial nickel oxysulfide phase was proposed in order to explain the activation period necessary at reaction temperatures <60°C. Total selectivity for sulfur was attributed to the very low reaction temperature and the absence of any microporosity in the support.     

A systematic approach to the construction of bandwidth-efficient multidimensional trellis codes

We present a unified approach to the construction of multidimensional trellis codes that have small constellation expansion ratio (CER) and small peak-to-average power ratio (PAR) and hence are of high bandwidth efficiency. In the approach, we extend Wei's (1987) construction to dimensionalities other than a power of two and propose a low-complexity encoder. We also present a general partition technique that gives geometrically uniform partitions with a good distance profile. The proposed method can generate many good codes including previously reported Ungerboeck codes, Gallager-Calderbank-Sloane codes, and Wei codes with quadrature amplitude modulation signals. Some newly discovered six-dimensional trellis codes are compared with these known codes on their CER, PAR, effective coding gain, and encoder/decoder complexities.     

Efficacy of a novel sanitizer composed of lactic acid and peroxyacetic acid against single strains of nonpathogenic Escherichia coli K-12, Listeria innocua, and Lactobacillus plantarum in aqueous solution and on surfaces of romaine lettuce and spinach

A novel sanitizer composed of lactic acid and peroxyacetic acid (LA-PAA) was developed as an alternative to chlorinated water (CW) for fresh produce processing. Single strains of Lactobacillus plantarum, nonpathogenic Escherichia coli K-12, and Listeria innocua were used to demonstrate the microbial efficacy of LA-PAA. LA-PAA achieved a >7.8-log reduction of L. innocua and L. plantarum suspended in water at 4°C for 20 s, and LA, PAA, and CW achieved reductions of 0.4, 4.8, and 2.7 log, respectively. LA-PAA, when compared with LA, PAA, and CW, enhanced the reduction of L. innocua attached to romaine leaves by >2.2 log, and improved the removal of E. coli attached to spinach leaves by >2.4 log. The exponential improvement in the microbial efficacy of LA-PAA showed synergism between LA and PAA. LA-PAA microbial efficacy was inversely proportional to pH value and directly correlated with residence time and concentration. Despite an improvement in microbial reduction through the addition of surfactant to LA-PAA, the usage of surfactant in washing fresh produce was impeded by excessive foaming during actual processing. Effects of organic matter on the performance of LA-PAA were minimal. External sensory evaluations showed that LA-PAA had no negative effects on the quality of lettuce and tender leaves. Temperature-abuse studies demonstrated that LA-PAA reduced decay by ～50% when compared with CW. Overall, these results support the premise that LA-PAA has significant potential to be an alternative to CW for fresh produce processing.