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.

Microencapsulation of n-hexadecane as a phase change material in polyurea

For thermal energy storage application, polyurea microcapsules about 2.5 mum in diameter containing phase change material were prepared using interfacial polycondensation method. In the system droplets in microns are first formed by emulsifying an organic phase consisting of a core material ( n-hexadecane) and an oil-soluble reactive monomer, toluene-2, 4-diisocyanate (TDI), in an aqueous phase. By adding water-soluble reactive monomer, diamine, monomers TDI and diamine react with each other at the interface of micelles to become a shell. Ethylenediamine (EDA), 1, 6-hexane diamine (HDA) and their mixture were employed as water-soluble reactive monomers. The effects of diamine type on chemical structure and thermal properties of the microcapsules were investigated by FT-IR and thermal analysis respectively. The infrared spectra indicate that polyurea microcapsules have been successfully synthesized; all the TG thermographs show microcapsules containing n-hexadecane can sustain high temperature about 300 degreesC without broken and the DSC measurements display that all samples possess a moderate heat of phase transition; thermal cyclic tests show that the encapsulated paraffin kept its energy storage capacity even after 50 cycles of operation. The results obtained from experiments show that the encapsulated n-hexadecane possesses a good potential as a thermal energy storage material.

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 of carbon nanotube bundles with mesoporous structure by a self-assembly solvothermal route

A kind of carbon nanotube bundle has been synthesized by a simple one-step solvothermal reaction between Na and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) using NiCl2 as catalyst precursor. Before the reaction, NiCl2 was initially dispersed ultrasonically in cyclohexane then prereduced by Na at 230degreesC to produce small Ni particles in reduced state. The tubes thus-produced have a uniform outer diameter of about 20 nm, an inner diameter of 4 nm, and are highly ordered assembled as bundles which have a 2D hexagonal arrangement as proven by SAXS and TEM experiments.

Degradation of aquatic humic material by ultraviolet light

Natural humic water was treated with ultraviolet (UV) light and UV + hydrogen peroxide . The effects on the dissolved organic carbon content (DOC), the UV-absorbance at 254 nm (UV-abs.), the molecular size distribution, pH, and mutagenic activity were monitored, and the identity and concentrations of the most abundant gas chromatographable organic degradation products were determined. The DOC content and the UV-abs. of the water decreased substantially during treatment with. The decreases were dependent on the time of irradiation (UV dose) as well as on the H2O2 dose applied. The humus macromolecules were degraded to smaller fragments during irradiation. At higher UV doses, however, part of the dissolved organic matter (DOM) was found to precipitate, probably as a result of polymerization. Oxalic acid, acetic acid, malonic acid, and n-butanoic acid were the most abundant degradation products detected. These acids were found to account for up to 20% and 80% of the DOM in UV- and waters, respectively. No mutagenic activity was generated by the UV irradiation or the treatment. It is further concluded that the substantial mutagenic activity formed during chlorination of humic waters cannot be decreased by using UV irradiation as a pretreatment step.

Study on Broadband Emitting Self-Assembled Quantum-Dot Material and Devices

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

A new heteroleptic ruthenium sensitizer enhances the absorptivity of mesoporous titania film for a high efficiency dye-sensitized solar cell

A heteroleptic polypyridyl ruthenium complex, cis-Ru(4,4'-bis(5-octylthieno[3,2-b]thiophen-2-yl)-2,2'-bipyridine)(4,4'-dicarboxyl-2,2'-bipyridine)(NCS) 2, with a high molar extinction coefficient of 20.5 x 10(3) M-1 cm(-1) at 553 nm has been synthesized and demonstrated as a highly efficient sensitizer for a dye-sensitized solar cell, giving a power conversion efficiency of 10.53% measured under an irradiation of air mass 1.5 global ( AM 1.5G) full sunlight.

Electroluminescence of hole block material caused by electron accumulation and hole penetration

In this study, we investigated the electroluminescence (EL) mechanisms and processes of hole block material in the multilayer devices with Eu(TTA)(3)phen (TTA = thenoyltrifluoroacetone, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) doped CBP (4,4'-N,N'-dicarbazolebiphenyl) as the light-emitting layer (EML). First, the hole block ability of 2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (BCP) was experimentally confirmed by comparing the EL spectra. With increasing hole injection, BCP emission emerges and increases gradually due to the increasing hole penetration from EML into the hole block layer (HBL).

Ternary lanthanide (Er3+, Nd3+, Yb3+, Sm3+, Pr3+) complex-functionalized mesoporous SBA-15 materials that emit in the near-infrared range

The tertiary lanthanide complexes [Ln(hfth)(3)phen] (Ln=Er, Nd, Yb, Sm) and [Pr(tfnb)(3)phen] have been Successfully covalently attached in the ordered SBA-15 mesoporous materials via a functionalized 1,10-phenanthroline group 5-(N,N-bis-3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl)ureyl-1,10-phenanthroline (Phen-Si). The derivative materials [denoted as Ln(hfth)(3)phen-S15 and Pr(tfnb)(3)phen-S15; Ln=Er, Yb, Nd, Sm; hfth=4,4,5,5,6,6,6-heptafluoro-1-(2-thienyl)hexane-1,3-dionate; tfnb=4,4,4-trifluoro-1-(2-naphthyl)-1,3-butanedionate] were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and N-2 adsorption/desorption.