Enhancement of the electrooxidation of ethanol on Pt-Sn-P/C catalysts prepared by chemical deposition process

In this paper, five Pt3Sn1/C catalysts have been prepared using three different methods. It was found that phosphorus deposited on the surface of carbon with Pt and Sn when sodium hypophosphite was used as reducing agent by optimization of synthetic conditions such as pH in the synthetic solution and temperature. The deposition of phosphorus should be effective on the size reduction and markedly reduces PtSn nanoparticle size, and raise electrochemical active surface (EAS) area of catalyst and improve the catalytic performance. TEM images show PtSnP nanoparticles are highly dispersed on the carbon surface with average diameters of 2 nm. The optimum composition is Pt3Sn1P2/C (note PtSn/C-3) catalyst in my work. With this composition, it shows very high activity for the electrooxidation of ethanol and exhibit enhanced performance compared with other two Pt3Sn1/C catalysts that prepared using ethylene glycol reduction method (note PtSn/C-EG) and borohydride reduction method (note PtSn/-B). The maximum power densities of direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) were 61 mW cm(-2) that is 150 and 170% higher than that of the PtSn/C-EG and PtSn/C-B catalyst.

Chemical effects of cationic surfactant and anionic surfactant used in organically modified montmorillonites on degradation and fire retardancy of polyamide 12 nanocomposites

Three kinds of organically modified Na+-montmorillonites (OMMTs), including two kinds of octadecylammonium modified montmorillonite with different contents of octadecylammonium and a kind of sodium dodecylsulfonate (SDSo) modified montmorillonite, were used to prepare polyamide 12 (PA12)/OMMT nanocomposites. Effects of the modifiers on degradation and fire retardancy of PA12/OMMT nanocomposites were investigated. Acid sites formed in cationic surfactant modified MMT via Hoffman decomposition could accelerate degradation of PA12 at high temperature. However, catalytic effect of the acid sites on carbonization of the degradation products promoted char barrier formation, which reduced heat release rate (HRR). Higher content of cationic surfactant in OMMT is beneficial to fire retardancy of PA12 nanocomposites and the dispersion states of OMMT have assistant effects. In contrast, Na+-montmorillonite (Na-MMT) and anionic surfactant modified MMT (a-MMT) could not form acid sites on the MMT layers; in this case, fire retardancy of PA12/Na-MMT appears to have no improvement and PA12/a-MMT appears to have limited improvement.

Design of silicone rubber according to requirements based on the multi-objective optimization of chemical reactions

The explicit expression between composition and mechanical properties of silicone rubber was derived from the physics of polymer elasticity, the implicit expression among material composition, reaction conditions and reaction efficiency was obtained from chemical thermodynamics and kinetics, and then an implicit multi-objective optimization model was constructed. Genetic algorithm was applied to optimize material composition and reaction conditions, and the finite element method of cross-linking reaction processes was used to solve multi-objective functions, on the basis of which a new optimization methodology of crosslinking reaction processes was established. Using this methodology, rubber materials can be designed according to pre-specified requirements.

Novel chemical synthesis of Pt-Ru-P electrocatalysts by hypophosphite deposition for enhanced methanol oxidation and CO tolerance in direct methanol fuel cell

A novel method was developed to prepare the highly active Pt-Ru-P/C catalyst. The deposition of phosphorus significantly increased electrochemical active surface (EAS) area of catalyst by reduces Pt-Ru particle size. TEM images show that Pt-Ru-P nanoparticles have an uniform size distribution with an average diameter of 2 nm. Cyclic voltammetry (CV), Chronoamperometry (CA), and CO stripping indicate that the presence of non-metal phosphorus as an interstitial species Pt-Ru-P/C catalyst shows high activity for the electro-oxidation of methanol, and exhibit enhanced performance in the oxidation of carbon monoxide compared with Pt-Ru/C catalyst. At 30 degrees C and pure oxygen was fed to the cathode, the maximum power density of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) with Pt-Ru-P/C and Pt-Ru/C catalysts as anode catalysts was 61.5 mW cm(-2) and 36.6 mW cm(-2), respectively. All experimental results indicate that Pt-Ru-P/C catalyst was the optimum anode catalyst for direct methanol fuel cell.

Electronic structures and chemical bonding in transition metal monosilicides MSi (M=3d, 4d, 5d elements)

Bond distances, vibrational frequencies, electron affinities, ionization potentials, dissociation energies, and dipole moments of the title molecules in neutral, positively, and negatively charged ions were studied using the density functional method. Ground state was assigned for each species. The bonding patterns were analyzed and compared with both the available data and across the series. It was found that besides an ionic component, covalent bonds are formed between the metal s, d orbitals and the silicon 3p orbital. The covalent character increases from ScSi (YSi) to NiSi (PdSi) for 3d (4d) metal monosilicides, then decreases. For 5d metal monosilicides, the covalent character increases from LaSi to OsSi, then decreases. For the dissociation of cations, the dissociation channel depends on the magnitude of the ionization potential between metal and silicon. If the ionization potential of the metal is smaller than that of silicon, channel MSi+-> M++Si is favored. Otherwise, MSi+-> M+Si+ will be favored. A similar behavior was observed for anions, in which the dissociation channel depends on the magnitude of electron affinity.

Chemical bonding and electronic structure of 4d-metal monocarbides

Bond distances, vibrational frequencies, dissociation energies, electron affinities, ionization potentials and dipole moments of the title molecules in neutral and charged ions were studied by use of density functional method. Ground states for each molecule were assigned. For neutral and cationic molecules, the bond distance decreases from YC (YC+) to RhC (RhC+), then increases, while for anionic molecules, the bond distance decreases from YC- to RuC-, then increases. Opposite trend was observed for vibrational frequency. The bond ionic character decreases from ZrC to PdC for neutral molecules. The bonding patterns are discussed and compared with the available studies.

Synthesis of neodymium hydroxide nanotubes and nanorods by soft chemical process

A facile soft chemical approach using cetyltrimethylammoniurn bromide (CTAB) as template is successfully designed for synthesis of neodymium hydroxide nanotubes. These nanotubes have an average outer diameter around 20 nm, inner diameter around 2 nm, and length ranging from 100 to 120 nm, high BET surface area of 495.71 m(2) g(-1). We also find that neodymium hydroxide nanorods would be obtained when CTAB absented in reaction system. The Nd(OH)(3) nanorods might act as precursors that are converted into Nd2O3 nanorods through dehydration at 550 degrees C. The nanorods could exhibit upconversion emission characteristic under excitation of 591 nm at room temperature.