Novel synthesis of highly active Pt/C cathode electrocatalyst for direct methanol fuel cell

A 40 wt% Pt/C cathode electrocatalyst with controlled Pt particle size of similar to 2.9 nm showing better performance than commercial catalyst for direct methanol fuel cell was prepared by a polyol process with water but without using stabilizing agent.

Liquid-phase hydrodechlorination of chlorinated benzenes over active carbon supported nickel catalysts under mild conditions

Liquid phase hydrodechlorination of chlorinated benzenes was studied over Ni/active carbon (Ni/AC), Ni/gamma-Al2O3, Ni/SiO2 and Raney Ni. The complete dechlorination of chlorobenzene (ClBz) was realized at 333-343 K on Ni/AC under hydrogen atmosphere of 1.0 MPa in the presence of alkaline hydroxide. Dichloro- and trichlorobenzenes were also hydrodechlorinated with 50-95% yields of benzene under the similar conditions, as above. The reaction follows zero-order to ClBz concentration and 1.9 order to hydrogen pressure. The reaction does not proceed in the absence of alkaline hydroxide, suggesting the complete coverage of active nickel surface with produced chlorine and the removal of the chlorine ion with hydroxide ion as a rate-limiting step. The active catalysts were characterized by H-2 chemisorption and transmission electron microscopy techniques. The apparent activity strongly depends on the active area of nickel on catalyst surface. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Unilamellar liposomes covalently coupled on silica gel for liquid chromatography

Silica gel was used as a support for the covalent coupling of liposomes, which could overcome drawbacks of soft gel beads in column efficiency and separation speed. The influences of the concentration of added dimethylaminopyridine and reaction time on the chloroformate activation reaction of silica gel were investigated. Temperature and pH for covalent coupling of liposomes on the activated silica gel were also optimized. Experimental results indicated that the stability of the covalently coupled liposome columns was obviously superior to that of the noncovalently coated liposome columns but the selectivity of both columns was basically identical. Separation and analysis of a crude extract of a traditional Chinese medicine Ligusticum Wallichii and a mixture of small peptides on both columns further support this conclusion.

Preparation of highly active Pt/C cathode electrocatalysts for DMFCs by an improved aqueous impregnation method

An improved aqueous impregnation method was used to prepare 40 wt% Pt/C electrocatalysts. TEM analysis of the samples showed that the Pt particles impregnated for a short time have a very narrow size distribution in the range of 1-4 nm with an average size of 2.6 nm. UV-vis spectroscopy measurements verified that the redox reaction between PtCl62- and formaldehyde took place with a slow rate at ambient temperature via a two-step reaction path, where PtCl42- serves as an intermediate. The use of the short-time-impregnated 40 wt% Pt/C as cathode electrocatalysts in direct methanol fuel cells yields better performance than that of commercial 40 wt% Pt/C electrocatalyst. Experimental evidence provides clues for the fundamental understanding of elementary steps of the redox reactions, which helps in guiding the design and preparation of highly dispersed Pt catalyst for fuel cells.

A facile and effective method for the distribution of Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst active centers

Post-steaming treatment of Mo/HZSM-5 catalysts results in more molybdenum species migrating into and residing in the HZSM-5 zeolite channels. This is confirmed by XRF and XPS measurements. H-1 MAS NMR and Si-29 MAS NMR also demonstrate that the number of free Bronsted acid sites decreases in the Mo/HZSM-5 catalysts that underwent post-steaming treatment, compared to untreated Mo/HZSM-5 catalysts. As a result, the deactivation rate constant (kd) on the Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst after post-steaming treatment for 0.5 h is much smaller, and the catalyst therefore shows remarkable stability in the probe reaction of methane dehydro-aromatization. The results suggest that a more beneficial bi-functional balance between active Mo species for methane activation and acid sites for the following aromatization is developed over those Mo/HZSM-5 catalysts that have experienced post-steaming treatment for 0.5 h, in comparison with the untreated Mo/HZSM-5 catalysts.

Cyclopropanation on a highly active heterogeneous catalyst: CuO/TiO2-Al2O3

Some heterogeneous catalysts, cupric oxide supported on different supports, were prepared and employed to catalyze the cyclopropanation of styrene and 2,5-dimethyl-2,4-hexadiene with ethyl diazoacetate (EDA). The catalytic performance for cyclopropanation strongly depends on the nature of the support. A novel catalyst, CUO/TiO2-Al2O3, in which Al2O3 is modified with a monolayer TiO2, is found to be most active and selective for the cyclopropanation reaction. The yields of 93 and 94% cyclopropanes are obtained for styrene and 2,5-dimethyl-2,4-hexadiene at 40 degreesC as the substrates, respectively. The activity and selectivity in cyclopropanes are optimized with a monolayer dispersion of cupric oxide on the corresponding supports. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

In situ IR spectroscopic studies on molybdenum nitride catalysts: active sites and surface reactions

Recent IR spectroscopic studies on the surface properties of fresh Mo2N/gamma-Al2O3 catalyst are presented in this paper. The surface sites of fresh Mo2N/gamma-Al2O3, both Modelta+ (0<δ<2) and N sites, are probed by CO adsorption. Two characteristic IR bands were observed at 2045 and 2200 cm(-1), due to linearly adsorbed CO on Mo and N sites, respectively. The surface N sites are highly reactive and can react with adsorbed CO to form NCO species. Unlike adsorbed CO on reduced passivated one, the adsorbed CO on fresh Mo2N/gamma-Al2O3 behaves similarly to that of group VIII metals, suggesting that fresh nitride resembles noble metals. It is found that the surface of Mo nitrides slowly transformed into sulfide under hydrotreating conditions, which could be the main reason for the activity drop of molybdenum nitride catalysts in the presence of sulfur-containing species. Some surface reactions, such as selective hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene, isomerization of 1-butene, and hydrodesulfurization of thiophene, were studied on both fresh and reduced passivated Mo2N/gammaAl(2)O(3) catalysts using IR spectroscopy. The mechanisms of these reactions are proposed. The adsorption and reaction behaviors of these molecules on fresh molybdenum nitride also resemble those on noble metals, manifesting the unique properties of fresh molybdenum nitride catalysts. Mo and N sites are found to play different roles in the adsorption and catalytic reactions on the fresh Mo2N/gammaAl(2)O(3) catalyst. Generally, Mo sites are the main active sites for the adsorption and reactions of adsorbates; N sites are not directly involved in catalytic reactions but they modify the electronic properties of Mo sites.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry using porous silicon and silica gel as matrix

Porous silicon powder and silica gel particles have been applied as inorganic matrices for the analysis of small molecules in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS). In contrast to conventional MALDI-TOFMS, the signal interference of low-molecular analytes by the matrix has been eliminated. Almost no fragmentations of the analytes were observed. Effects of various factors, such as the particle and pore size, the suspending solution, and sample preparation procedures, on the intensity of mass spectra have been investigated. The pore structure of the inorganic matrix and penetration of the analytes into the pores must be optimized for effective desorption and ionization of the analytes. Matrices (DHB and HCCA) were covalently bound to silica gel for improvement of spectrum intensity. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A Review of Active Appearance Models

Active appearance model (AAM) is a powerful generative method for modeling deformable objects. The model decouples the shape and the texture variations of objects, which is followed by an efficient gradient-based model fitting method. Due to the flexible and simple framework, AAM has been widely applied in the fields of computer vision. However, difficulties are met when it is applied to various practical issues, which lead to a lot of prominent improvements to the model. Nevertheless, these difficulties and improvements have not been studied systematically. This motivates us to review the recent advances of AAM. This paper focuses on the improvements in the literature in turns of the problems suffered by AAM in practical applications. Therefore, these algorithms are summarized from three aspects, i.e., efficiency, discrimination, and robustness. Additionally, some applications and implementations of AAM are also enumerated. The main purpose of this paper is to serve as a guide for further research.

Layer-by-layer assembly of functional silica and Au nanoparticles for fabricating electrogenerated chemiluminescence sensor

We described the use of silica nanoparticles as building blocks for the immobilization of electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) reagent Ru(bpy)3" and the fabrication of layer-by-layer assembly film by alternating the deposition of the Ru(bpy)3 2'-doped silica nanoparticles and Au nanoparticles.