Estudo da relação de ordem-desordem estrutural em nanopartículas de TiO2

Pós-graduação em Química - IQ

Síntese, caracterização e estudo do comportamento térmico dos glicolatos de lantanídeos e ítrio no estado sólido

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

O efeito da ordenação e estrutura geométrica dos materiais PtSn/C e PdSn/C na eletrooxidação do glicerol em meio alcalino

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Síntese e caracterização de materiais semicondutores nanoestruturados luminescentes à base de ZnS

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Avaliação da bioatividade de revestimentos produzidos sobre Tântalo por oxidação eletrolítica assistida por plasma

Pós-graduação em Ciência e Tecnologia de Materiais - FC

Nanopartículas de Pd suportadas em compósitos óxido-carbono: influência das interações metal-suporte na oxidação de etanol em meio básico

Fuel cells powered directly with ethanol (Direct Ethanol Fuel Cell-DEFC) are very attractive for the possibility of using a renewable fuel in the generation of clean energy. However, it is still necessary to deepen the understanding of catalytic processes and their dependence on the catalytic properties. This work proposes to study the catalytic activity of ethanol oxidation in an alkaline medium of Pd nanoparticles supported in carbon oxide hybrids using various transition metal oxides (MoO3, TiO2, WO3 and ZrO2). The materials prepared were characterized by techniques such as X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray dispersive spectroscopy (EDX) to verify the structure, the distribution of particles in the supports and the presence of Pd on particles oxide. Experiments of X-rays absorption spectroscopy were carried out using soft X-rays (SXS) to evaluate the changes in the electronic properties of the Pd particles caused by interactions with different oxides. Measurements of cyclic voltammetry and potential sweeps of adsorbed CO oxidation allowed evaluating general aspects of the catalysts' electrochemical behavior and determining the electrochemically active area thereof. The catalytic performances of ethanol oxidation in alkaline medium were evaluated by electrochemical techniques (potential scan and chronoamperometry), and showed an improvement in activity with the addition of oxides in material containing only carbon, which was most pronounced for the catalyst containing TiO2. This improvement was predominantly associated with the electronic effects caused by the interaction of Pd on the support, causing a vacancy in the 4d band of Pd which, in turn, produces variations in adsorption energies of the species...

Photoacoustic spectroscopy of aromatic amino acids in proteins

This paper concerns the use of photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) to study the presence of aromatic amino acid in proteins. We examined the aromatic amino acids in six proteins with well-known structures using absorption spectra of near ultraviolet PAS over the wavelength range 240-320 nm. The fundamental understanding of the physical and chemical properties that govern the absorption of light and a subsequent release of heat to generate a transient pressure wave was used to test the concept of monitoring aromatic amino acids with this method. Second derivative spectroscopy in the ultraviolet region of proteins was also used to study the regions surrounding the aromatics and the percentage area in each band was related in order to determine the contribution in function of the respective molar extinction coefficients for each residue. Further investigation was conducted into the interaction between sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and bothropstoxin-I (BthTx-I), with the purpose of identifying the aromatics that participate in the interaction. The clear changes in the second derivative and curve-fitting procedures suggest that initial SDS binding to the tryptophan located in the dimer interface and above 10 SDS an increased intensity between 260 and 320 nm, demonstrating that the more widespread tyrosine and phenylalanine residues contribute to the SDS/BthTx-I interactions. These results demonstrate the potential of near UV-PAS for the investigation of membrane proteins/detergent complexes in which light scattering is significant.