Electrochemical reaction rates in a dye-sensitised solar cell—the iodide/tri-iodide redox system

The electrochemical reaction rate of the redox couple iodide/tri-iodide in acetonitrile is characterised by impedance spectroscopy. Different electrode materials relevant for the function of dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSC) are investigated. Preferably, the reaction with the iodide/tri-iodide couple should be fast at the counter electrode, i.e. this electrode must have a high catalytic activity towards the redox couple, and the same reaction must be slow on the photo electrode.The catalytic activity is investigated for platinum, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), polypyrrole (PPy), and polyaniline (PANI)—all deposited onto fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass. Both Pt and PEDOT are found to have sufficiently high catalytic activities for practical use as counter electrodes in DSSC. The reaction resistance on FTO and anatase confirmed the beneficial effect of a compact anatase layer on top of the FTO glass in lowering the tri-iodide reduction rate.     

Hormone-sensitive lipase: structure, function, evolution and overproduction in insect cells using the baculovirus expression system

Hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) catalyses the rate-limiting stepin the hydrolysis of stored triacylglycerols and is therebya key enzyme in lipid metabolism and overall energy homeostasis.The gene organization of human HSL indicates that each putativefunctional region is encoded by a different exon, raising thepossibility that HSL is a mosaic protein. The catalytic serine(Ser423), as shown by site-directed mutagenesis, is encodedby exon 6. The phosphorylation site for cAMP-mediated activitycontrol and a second site, which is presumably phosphorylatedby 5' AMP-activated kinase, are encoded by exon 8, and a putativelipid-binding region is encoded by the ninth and last exon.Besides the catalytic site serine motif (GXSXG), found in virtuallyall Upases, a sequence similarity between the region surroundingthe catalytic site of HSL and that of five prokaryotic enzymeshas been found, but the functional basis of this is not yetunderstood. To resolve the 3-D structure of HSL, an expressionsystem utilizing recombinant baculovirus and insect cells hasbeen established. The expressed protein, 80 mg/l culture, hasbeen purified to homogeneity and a partial characterizationindicates that it has the same properties as HSL purified fromrat adipose tissue.     

fMRI neuroinformatics.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) generates vast amounts of data. The handling, processing, and analysis of fMRI data would be inconceivable without computer-based methods. fMRI neuroinformatics is concerned with research, development, and operation of these methods. Reconstruction, rudimentary analysis, and visualization tools are implemented in software controlling modern MRI scanners. Research in advanced methods for analysis of subtle activation patterns, realistic physiological modeling, or integration of data from multiple subjects is the basis for a lively research field and has led to the development of a large number of tools.     

Association between ventilation rates in 390 Swedish homes and allergic symptoms in children

The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that a low-ventilation rate in homes is associated with an increased prevalence of asthma and allergic symptoms among children. A total of 198 cases (with at least two of three symptoms: wheezing, rhinitis, eczema) and 202 healthy controls, living in 390 homes, were examined by physicians. Ventilation rates were measured by a passive tracer gas method, and inspections were carried out in the homes. About 60% of the multi-family houses and about 80% of the single-family houses did not fulfill the minimum requirement regarding ventilation rate in the Swedish building code (0.5 air changes per hour, ach). Cases had significantly lower ventilation rates than controls and a dose-response relationship was indicated. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: A low-ventilation rate of homes may be a risk factor for allergies among children. Families with allergic children should be given the advice to have good ventilation in the home. In investigations, of associations between environmental factors and allergies, the air change rate in homes has to be considered.     

Nanoconfined 2LiBH4–MgH2–TiCl3 in carbon aerogel scaffold for reversible hydrogen storage

Nanoconfinement of 2LiBH₄–MgH₂–TiCl₃ in resorcinol–formaldehyde carbon aerogel scaffold (RF–CAS) for reversible hydrogen storage applications is proposed. RF–CAS is encapsulated with approximately 1.6 wt. % TiCl₃ by solution impregnation technique, and it is further nanoconfined with bulk 2LiBH₄–MgH₂ via melt infiltration. Faster dehydrogenation kinetics is obtained after TiCl₃ impregnation, for example, nanoconfined 2LiBH₄–MgH₂–TiCl₃ requires ∼1 and 4.5 h, respectively, to release 95% of the total hydrogen content during the 1st and 2nd cycles, while nanoconfined 2LiBH₄–MgH₂ (∼2.5 and 7 h, respectively) and bulk material (∼23 and 22 h, respectively) take considerably longer. Moreover, 95–98.6% of the theoretical H₂ storage capacity (3.6–3.75 wt. % H₂) is reproduced after four hydrogen release and uptake cycles of the nanoconfined 2LiBH₄–MgH₂–TiCl₃. The reversibility of this hydrogen storage material is confirmed by the formation of LiBH₄ and MgH₂ after rehydrogenation using FTIR and SR-PXD techniques, respectively.     

Enzymatic-fluorometric quantification of cholesterol in bovine milk

The present paper describes an enzymatic-fluorometric method for the determination of cholesterol in milk and other opaque matrices. The initial step of the method is to liberate chemically and physically bound cholesterol from the milk fat globule membrane by enzymatic action. The method is able to discriminate between esterified and free cholesterol in milk. The analysis is cost effective and is developed to work directly on whole, fresh milk thereby eliminating time consuming and tedious pre-treatment procedures of the sample. More than 1000 milk samples were analysed on the day of sampling. The total concentration of milk cholesterol ranged from 80 to 756μM (n=1068; mean 351μM). Milk cholesterol was significantly correlated to milk fat concentration as analysed by mid-infra red spectrometry (r=0.630; n=853) and by an enzymatic-fluorometric method (triacylglycerol) (r=0.611; n=842).     

Enhanced hydrogen reversibility of nanoconfined LiBH4–Mg(BH4)2

This study shows the hydrogen desorption kinetics and reversible hydrogen storage properties of 0.55LiBH₄–0.45Mg(BH₄)₂ melt-infiltrated in different nanoporous carbon aerogels with different BET surface areas of 689 or 2660 m²/g and pore volumes of 1.21 or 3.13 mL/g. These investigations clearly show a significantly improved hydrogen storage capacity after four cycles of hydrogen release and uptake for bulk 0.55LiBH₄–0.45Mg(BH₄)₂ and infiltrated in carbon aerogel and the high surface area scaffold, where 22, 36 and 58% of the initial hydrogen content remain after four cycles of hydrogen release and uptake, respectively. Nanoconfinement in high surface area carbon aerogel appears to facilitate hydrogen release illustrated by release of 13.3 wt% H₂ (93%) and only 8.4 wt% H₂ (58%) from bulk hydride in the first cycle using the same physical condition. Notably, nanoconfinement also appear to have a beneficial effect on hydrogen uptake, since 8.3 wt% H₂ (58%) is released from the high surface area scaffold and only 3.1 wt% H₂ (22%) from the bulk sample during the fourth hydrogen release.     

Rate‐based‐Modellierung von CO2‐Absorptionskolonnen mit Anstaupackungen

The efficiency of columns for fluid separation can be increased by the application of sandwich packings. During the operation, different load‐dependent regimes with peculiar separation performance arise. In order to account for the effects of the individual flow regimes in a single model, both separation performance measurements and tomographic imaging are applied. A rate‐based model is presented, which takes the heterogeneous regimes in sandwich packings into account by means of appropriate correlations. The model is tested with experimental data for CO₂ absorption.     

Kinetics and thermodynamics of hydrogenation-dehydrogenation for Mg-25%TM (TM = Ti,Nb or V) composites synthesized by reactive ball milling in hydrogen

0.75Mg?0.25TM?H (TM = Ti, Nb or V) samples were mechano-chemically synthesized by reactive ball milling. The detailed reaction mechanism during hydrogen release and uptake was investigated by in-situ synchrotron radiation powder X-ray diffraction (SR-PXD) experiments. The thermodynamic and kinetic properties have been studied by Sievert's method. On the base of calculated values of the Gibbs free energy for reaction of hydrogen absorption (ΔG < 0) it reveals that hydrogenation reaction could thermodynamically proceed at room temperature, which is experimentally confirmed for all of the studied composites. It is clearly shown that β-MgH₂ forms at RT under conditions of experiment. Comparative analysis of the MgTi, MgV and MgNb systems makes it possible to establish that the most effective additive facilitating hydrogen uptake, particularly at RT, is vanadium. It provides the degree of conversion into hydride phase α = 0.86 for the first minute of hydrogenation. In contrast, additives of Nb and Ti provide only α = 0.62 and 0.36, respectively, following the 30 min of exposure. However, this study reveals that for the dehydrogenation process, titanium is the best among the examined additives, which is evidenced by lowest value of activation energy E_a = 53.6 kJ/mol of the hydrogen desorption.