Molecular-dynamics investigation on polarization retention of barium titanate nanofilm arising from ordered oxygen vacancy

Molecular-dynamics simulations have been carried out to investigate the electric hysteresis of barium titanate nanofilm containing oxygen vacancy ordering array parallel to the {101} crystal plane. The results obtained show a significant weakening of polarization retention from non-zero value to zero as the size of the array was reduced to a critical level, which was attributed to the formation and motion of head-to-head domain wall structure under external field loading process. By comparing with materials containing isolated oxygen vacancies, it was found that the zero retention was due to the oxygen vacancy ordering array rather than to the concentration of oxygen vacancy. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2010

Performance improvement in direct methanol fuel cell cathode using high mesoporous area catalyst support

Black Pearls 2000 (designated as BP- 2000) and Vulcan XC-72 (designated as XC-72) carbon blacks were chosen as supports to prepare 40 wt % (the targeted value) Pt/C catalysts by a modified polyol process. The carbon blacks were characterized by N-2 adsorption and Fourier tranform infrared spectroscopy. The prepared catalysts were characterized by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), in situ cyclic voltammetry, and current-voltage curves. On BP- 2000, Pt nanoparticles were larger in size and more unevenly distributed than on XC-72. It was observed by SEM that the corresponding catalyst layer on BP- 2000 was thicker than that of XC-72 based catalyst at almost the identical catalyst loading. And the BP- 2000 supported catalyst gave a better single cell performance at high current densities. These results suggest that the performance improvement is due to the enhanced oxygen diffusion and water removal capability when BP- 2000 is used as cathode catalyst support. (C) 2004 The Electrochemical Society.

Chiral synthesis on catalysts immobilized in microporous and mesoporous materials

This paper reviews the recent progress made in the asymmetric synthesis on chiral catalysts in porous materials and discusses the effects of surface and pores on enantio-selectivity (confinement effect). This paper also summarizes various approaches of immobilization of the chiral catalysts onto surfaces and into pores of solid inorganic supports such as microporous and mesoporous materials. The most important reactions surveyed for the chiral synthesis in porous materials include epoxidation. hydrogenation, hydroformylation, Aldol and Diels-Alder reactions, etc. The confinement effect originated from the surfaces and the pores turns out to be a general phenomenon. which may make the enantioselectivity increase (positive effect) or decrease (negative effect). The confinement effect becomes more pronounced particularly when the bonding between the catalyst and the surface is more rigid and the pore size is tuned to a suitable range. It is proposed that the confinement in chiral synthesis is essentially a consequence of subtle change in transition states induced by weak-interaction in pores or on surfaces. It is also anticipated that the enantioselectivity could be improved by tuning the confinement effect based on the molecular designing of the pore/surface and the immobilized catalysts according to the requirements of chiral reactions.

Synthesis and spectroscopic study of mesoporous aluminum methylphosphonate foam templated by dibutyl methylphosphonate

New types of templates and novel interactive mechanisms between template and framework are very important for creating porous materials. In this work, by using neutral dibutyl methylphosphonate as a template, an inorganic-organic hybrid mesoporous material, aluminum methylphosphonate, was prepared. The as-synthesized material was studied by P-31 magnetic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS NMR), Al-27 MAS NMR, C-13 CP/MAS, FT-IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetry (TG), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and transmission electron microscopy. After thermal treatment at 673 K and 10 mmHg for 2 h, hybrid mesoporous foam was obtained. The transformation process was investigated by FT-IR. TG-DTA results indicate that the methyl group bonded to the framework keeps intact up to 792 K under air and 823 K under nitrogen. The characterization results from nitrogen gas adsorption-desorption measurements show that the BET surface area and the Barrett-Joyner-Halenda desorption cumulative pore volume of the foam are 90 m(2) g(-1) and 0.32 cm(3) g(-1) respectively. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ordered FePt Nanoparticle Arrays Prepared by a Micellar Method

City Univ Hong Kong

Bioactive, Luminescent and Mesoporous Europium-doped Hydroxyapatite as a Drug Carrier

Bioactive, luminescent and mesoporous europium-doped hydroxyapatite (Eu:HAp) was successfully prepared through a simple one-step route using cationic surfactant as template. The obtained multifunctional hydroxyapatite was performed as a drug delivery carrier to investigate the drug storage/release properties using ibuprofen (IBU) as a model drug