Electrochemical Synthesis of Cu (II) Coordination Polymer Coatings Based on 2,2′-Thiodiacetic Acid and 1,2,4,5-Benzenetetracarboxylate

Electrochemical synthesis of coordination polymers of Cu(II), [Cu(TDA)]_n and [Cu₂(BTC)(H₂O)₆?6H₂O]_n in which H₂TDA is 2,2′-thiodiacetic acid and BTC stands for 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylate was carried out by the electrochemical oxidation of Cu anode in the presence of H₂TDA (a flexible ligand), and 1,2,4,5-benzentetracarboxylic acid (H₄BTC) (a rigid ligand) in aqueous solutions. The structure of coordination polymers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, elemental analysis, thermal gravimetric and differential thermal analyses. The crystal structure of the compounds consists of one-dimensional cubical crystal polymeric units of [Cu(TDA)]_n and [Cu₂(BTC)(H₂O)₆?6H₂O]_n. Furthermore, the coordination number of Cu (II) ions in synthesized coordination polymers to be found five. The main advantages of electrosynthesis are the minor synthesis time, the milder conditions and the facile synthesis of coordination polymer coatings.     

Growing Innovative Calcium Carbonate Morphologies by Utilizing the Colloidal Gas Aphron System as a Surfactant-Based Template Method

Many studies have been conducted to study the various polymorphs and morphologies of calcium carbonate crystals in nature and living organisms. In this experimental work, a novel method has been employed to crystallize calcium carbonate by using colloidal gas aphron dispersion. The polymorph and morphology of prepared particles were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry techniques. SEM and XRD analyses demonstrated that the morphology of synthesized CaCO₃ can be changed from spherical (vaterite phase) to novel rod and plate-like shapes (mixture of vaterite and calcite phases) with changes in the surfactant concentration. The quantitative examination results of different calcium carbonate polymorph orientations showed that the precursor concentrations had no significant effect on the orientation of calcite phase, but rather they affected the orientation development of vaterite phase at a higher surfactant concentration.     

Polystyrene-attached graphene nanolayers by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization: a grafting from epoxy groups with various densities

Graphene oxide was chemically functionalized with a modifier synthesized from coupling reaction of ethylenediamine and 2-(dodecylthiocarbonothioylthio)-2-methylpropionic acid in low and high graft densities. Then, the modified graphenes were used in grafting from reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization of styrene. Successful synthesis and grafting of modifier was approved by proton nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Also, FTIR, X-ray photo electron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy were used to confirm the successful grafting of modifier moieties. Molecular weight and polydispersity index of attached polystyrene chains were studied by size exclusion chromatography. Thermogravimetric analysis was used to investigate the degradation temperatures, char contents, and graft ratios. Weight ratio of modifier in modified graphenes is calculated to be 4.93 × 10^?2 and 12.23 × 10^?2 for low and high graft densities. Also, molar ratio of modifier is 121.22 and 300.71 μmol/g respectively. Scanning electron and transmission electron microscopies show that graphite layers with flat surface were wrinkled during the oxidation process and also polystyrene-grafted graphenes are observed as opaque layers.     

Influence of the Disk Diameter and Baffle Position on the Performance of Generated Colloidal Gas Aphrons

Aphrons are surfactant‐stabilized microbubbles with thick soapy shells. Colloidal gas aphrons (CGA) with an average diameter of 50 μm have some unique properties: a high interfacial area due to their small size, a thick soapy shell and, above all, high stability compared to conventional foams. Various factors that can influence the performance of CGA dispersion, such as the type and concentration of surfactant, mixing time and processing parameters, have already been extensively studied. However, although CGA applications in various fields continue to advance, the influence of the disk diameter and baffle position of the aphron generator on the performance of CGAs has not been well studied. In this experimental work, the influences of the spinning disk diameter and baffle position inside the aphron generator have been investigated. Analyzing the drainage curve of various experimental runs revealed that the disk diameter and baffle position might have a positive impact on the stability of CGA dispersion particularly when the generation time or surfactant concentration is low. The experimental findings have been supported by other techniques such as half‐life time and a new stability index, T_0.1, the time elapsed when the drained liquid from CGA dispersion reaches ten percent of its final height.     

Sulfonated Beet Pulp as Solid Catalyst in One-Step Esterification of Industrial Palm Fatty Acid Distillate

In this research a new heterogeneous catalyst has been prepared for biodiesel production. The catalyst was prepared by sulfonating industrial sugar waste. Unlike homogeneous catalysts, which require further purification and separation from the biodiesel production reaction media, this inexpensive synthetic catalyst does not need to go through an additional separation process. This advantage consequently minimizes the total application costs. The catalyst was prepared by partially carbonizing sugar beet pulp at 400 °C. The carbonization product was then sulfonated with concentrated H₂SO₄ vapor in order to produce a solid catalyst. The prepared catalyst was used in the esterification reaction between palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) and methanol. The effects of the temperature, methanol/PFAD ratio, reaction time and catalyst dosage on the efficiency of the production were individually investigated. The optimum biodiesel production occurred at 85 °C, a reaction time of 300 min, catalyst dosage of 3 g and methanol/PFAD ratio of 5:1 (mol/mol), lowering the acid value from 198 to 13.1 (mg KOH/g oil) or the equivalent, with a fatty acid methyl ester yield of around 92 %. The results suggest that the synthesized inexpensive catalyst is useful for biodiesel production from PFAD.     

The effect of promoters on the CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> reforming activity and coke formation of nanocrystalline Ni/Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> catalysts prepared by microemulsion method

Mesoporous nanocrystalline nickel-alumina promoted catalysts with high surface area were prepared by microemulsion (ME) method and employed in dry reforming of methane reaction. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area analysis (BET), temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and temperature programmed oxidation (TPO) techniques. The results showed that the prepared catalysts had high porosity with great surface area and small crystallite size. Among the K₂O, MgO, CaO and BaO promoters, the MgO promoter showed considerable effect on catalytic performance and coke suppression of catalyst.     

Implementation of a constitutive model in finite element method for intense deformation

Since the constitutive information is one of the most important aspects of material deformation analysis, here a new constitutive model is proposed that can investigate the behavior of material during intense deformation better than existent models. The model that is completely based on physical mechanisms can predict all stages of flow stress evolution and also can elucidate the effects of strain and strain rate on flow stress evolution of material during intense plastic deformation. Here as an application, implementation of the constitutive model in finite element method (FEM) is used to compare two methods of sever plastic deformation (SPD) processes of copper sheet; repetitive corrugation and straightening (RCS) and constrained groove pressing (CGP). The modeling results are in good agreement with the experimental data and show that the hardness uniformity and its magnitude for RCSed sheet are higher than that for CGPed sheet. However, the prominence of these processes in strain uniformity depends on pass number.