Low-temperature processing and characterization of single-phase PZT powders by sol-gel method

A new sol-gel system using acetoin was developed and employed for the fabrication of PZT powders and films with compositions near the morphotropic phase boundary Pb(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)O₃. Acetoin was used as chelating agent to replace the highly toxic methoxyethanol used in previous formulations. This route simplified the chemical processing of PZT-based solutions. Powders were completely crystallized by about 450 °C and contained the ferroelectric perovskite single phase. The firing temperature and time were to be the most important variables. Metallic lead formed only when excess Pb was incorporated. The precursor and the heat-treated powders have been characterized by using thermal analysis and X-ray diffractometry (XRD) studies. The average particle size, as measured from X-ray line broadening, was ∼35 nm.     

MedHySol: Future federator project of massive production of solar hydrogen

Mediterranean Hydrogen Solar (MedHySol) is a federator project for development of a massive hydrogen production starting from solar energy and its exportation within a framework of a Euro–Maghrebian Cooperation project for industrial and energetic needs in the Mediterranean basin. The proposal of this project is included in the Algiers Declaration's on Hydrogen from Renewable Origin following the organization of the first international workshop on hydrogen which was held in 2005. Algeria is the privileged site to receive the MedHySol platform. The objective of the first step of the project is to realize a technological platform allowing the evaluation of emergent technologies of hydrogen production from solar energy with a significant size (10–100 kW) and to maintain the development of energetic rupture technologies. The second step of the project is to implement the most effective and less expensive technologies to pilot great projects (1–1000 MW). In this article we present the potentialities and the feasibility of MedHySol, as well as the fundamental elements for a scientific and technical supervision of this great project.     

Performance of a proposed complete wetting surface counter flow channel type liquid desiccant air dehumidifier

An idea that improves the wettability over the surfaces of a cylindrical dehumidifier channel was proposed and experimentally proved. Fibrous sheets were attached to the inner surfaces of the channel. The capillary effect of fibers sustains the complete wetting of the heat and mass transfer surfaces. The air to be dehumidified and cooled flows upward in the annulus space between the two layers of fibrous sheets, which are saturated with the downward flowing desiccant solution. The permeability of the fibrous sheet was determined experimentally. It was 2.43 × 10^?10 m². The measured solution flow rate due to the capillary suction of the sheets was Γ_in,min = 1.12 kg/h m. The liquid desiccant tested was H₂O/CaCl₂ with salt concentration ratios ranging from 35 to 40%. The measured distribution of the solution flow rate along the circumference of the sheets at the outlet showed 5% deviation from the average flow rate. This is a good indication for the good wettability of walls inside the dehumidifier.Feeding the solution by this mechanism has many advantages over spray feeding. Beside sustaining complete surface wetting, it also prevents channel blockage with solution, which is a main factor in increasing the air pressure drop. About 95% of the air pressure drop is saved in this study by avoiding these problems. A simple theoretical model for the heat and mass transfer processes inside the dehumidifier was developed and experimentally validated. In general, there is good agreement between the predicted and measured data. The developed model was utilized to study the effect of the different parameters on the dehumidifier performance. For a 1 m height dehumidifier with an inlet specific humidity and air temperature of 0.0234 kg_v/kg_a, and 35 °C, respectively, the predicted outlet air specific humidity was 0.0102 kg_v/kg_k and the corresponding outlet air temperature was 27.4 °C. The inlet solution temperature and salt concentration were 25 °C and 40%, respectively.     

Electrochemical oxidation of 1,3,5-trimethoxybenzene in aqueous solutions at gold oxide and lead dioxide electrodes

A kinetic study of the electrochemical oxidation of 1,3,5-trimethoxybenzene (TMB) by direct electron transfer at treated gold disk was combined with results of electrolysis in order to produce total degradation into CO₂ and H₂O at Ta/PbO₂ anode. The oxidation of TMB at gold electrode was studied by cyclic voltammetry. The cyclic voltammogram shows one irreversible anodic peak (I) corresponding to the oxidation of adsorbed TMB molecules. The proposed mechanism is based on the hypothesis of two-electron oxidation of TMB molecule leading, via intermediate of a radical cation, to the formation of the 2,4,6-trimethoxyphenol (TMP) and an adsorbed polymeric film. The TMP molecule undergoes a rapid oxidation leading to the formation of 2,6-dimethoxy-p-benzoquinone (DMBQ) as a major product. Degradation of TMB was studied by galvanostatic electrolysis using Ta/PbO₂ anode. The influence of initial TMB concentration and applied current density was investigated. Measurement of total organic carbon (TOC) and analysis by HPLC were used to follow this degradation. The experimental data indicated that the removal of TMB follows a pseudo first-order kinetic. The efficiency of the electrochemical process increases at lower current density and higher TMB initial concentration while it decreases with the TOC removal progress.     

Enhancement of Alkaline Protease Activity and Stability via Covalent Immobilization onto Hollow Core-Mesoporous Shell Silica Nanospheres

The stability and reusability of soluble enzymes are of major concerns, which limit their industrial applications. Herein, alkaline protease from Bacillus sp. NPST-AK15 was immobilized onto hollow core-mesoporous shell silica (HCMSS) nanospheres. Subsequently, the properties of immobilized proteases were evaluated. Non-, ethane- and amino-functionalized HCMSS nanospheres were synthesized and characterized. NPST-AK15 was immobilized onto the synthesized nano-supports by physical and covalent immobilization approaches. However, protease immobilization by covalent attachment onto the activated HCMSS–NH₂ nanospheres showed highest immobilization yield (75.6%) and loading capacity (88.1 μg protein/mg carrier) and was applied in the further studies. In comparison to free enzyme, the covalently immobilized protease exhibited a slight shift in the optimal pH from 10.5 to 11.0, respectively. The optimum temperature for catalytic activity of both free and immobilized enzyme was seen at 60 °C. However, while the free enzyme was completely inactivated when treated at 60 °C for 1 h the immobilized enzyme still retained 63.6% of its initial activity. The immobilized protease showed higher V_max, k_cat and k_cat/K_m, than soluble enzyme by 1.6-, 1.6- and 2.4-fold, respectively. In addition, the immobilized protease affinity to the substrate increased by about 1.5-fold. Furthermore, the enzyme stability in various organic solvents was significantly enhanced upon immobilization. Interestingly, the immobilized enzyme exhibited much higher stability in several commercial detergents including OMO, Tide, Ariel, Bonux and Xra by up to 5.2-fold. Finally, the immobilized protease maintained significant catalytic efficiency for twelve consecutive reaction cycles. These results suggest the effectiveness of the developed nanobiocatalyst as a candidate for detergent formulation and peptide synthesis in non-aqueous media.     

Improvement of the WMSNs lifetime using multi-hop clustering routing protocol

Wireless Networks - Wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs) can gather multi-media events such as road traffic accidents, object monitoring, and scalar data. Additionally, multimedia...     

Effect of low‐energy X‐ray irradiation on physical,chemical, textural and sensory properties of Dates

The effect of X‐ray irradiation as postharvest treatment on physical, chemical, textural and sensory attributes of Khalas dates (Phoenix dactylifera L.) was investigated. The surface of dates was subjected to low‐energy X‐ray irradiation at 3, 5 and 7 KGy. While some physical and chemical properties of dates were significantly different between treatments (fruit hardness, crude protein, total fat, tannins, total fibre and insoluble fibre), there was no detrimental effect on the quality (crude fibre, soluble dietary fibre, sucrose, glucose, fructose, moisture, total soluble solids, pH, water activity, colour and sensory evaluation). The sensory acceptability of X‐ray irradiated dates was significantly lower at 5 and 7 KGy than for untreated control. Irradiation at 3 KGy did not contribute to significant changes in physical, chemical or textural properties of dates. Adaptation to low‐energy X‐ray irradiation can be used as a potential commercial treatment for retaining the quality and ensuring the safety of dates.     

Background subtraction practice in X-ray reflectivity reciprocal space mapping and its influence on the structural parameters of thin films

Background subtraction practice in X-ray reflectivity reciprocal space mapping (XRRSM) is described and compared to the traditional specular reflectivity. XRRSM allows determining a more precise contribution of background to the reflectivity signal which manifests itself in an improvement of the resolution of interference fringes. Data analysis and influence of background subtraction determined by two methods on the structural parameters of thin film are discussed using simulated X-ray reflectivity.     

Corrosion Inhibition by Some Cationic Surfactants in Oil Fields

Two cationic surfactants, namely, tetradecyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (TDBAC) and tributyl tetradecyl phosphonium chloride (TTPC) were supplied from the local market and characterized. The adsorption tendency of the two surfactants was estimated from the values of the depression of surface tension of the water at the critical micelle concentration. The studied surfactants were evaluated as antimicrobial agents against sulfate-reducing bacteria. These cationic surfactants showed good antimicrobial activities against the tested microorganisms. It was also found that these compounds are good corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel in 0.5?M HCl at doses of 25?C600?ppm.