Search results for " Chemistry"
showing 10 items of 41321 documents
Adsorption and Activation of Water on Cuboctahedral Rhodium and Platinum Nanoparticles
2017
Rh and Pt are widely used as the components in heterogeneous catalysts for multiple industrial applications. Because the metals are typically in the form of nanoparticles in real catalysts, it is important to carefully select models for the computational prediction of the catalytic properties. Here we report a first-principles study on the water activation, an important step in numerous catalytic reactions, using the finite-size Rh and Pt nanoparticle models and compare them to the extended surface models. We show that regardless of the model, adsorption and activation of water is practically identical for both metals, whereas the dissociation is energetically more favorable on Rh. The expe…
Iron and pH regulating the photochemical mineralization of dissolved organic carbon
2017
Solar radiation mineralizes dissolved organic matter (DOM) to dissolved inorganic carbon through photochemical reactions (DIC photoproduction) that are influenced by iron (Fe) and pH. This study addressed as to what extent Fe contributes to the optical properties of the chromophoric DOM (CDOM) and DIC photoproduction at different pH values. We created the associations of Fe and DOM (Fe-DOM) that cover the range of loadings of Fe on DOM and pH values found in freshwaters. The introduced Fe enhanced the light absorption by CDOM independent of pH. Simulated solar irradiation decreased the light absorption by CDOM (i.e., caused photobleaching). Fe raised the rate of photobleaching and steepened…
Characterization of lignin enforced tannin/furanic foams
2020
Worldwide, tons of lignin is produced annually in pulping plants and it is mainly considered as a waste material. Usually lignin is burned to produce energy for the pulping reactors. The production of value-added materials from renewable materials like lignin, has proved to be challenging. In this study, the effects of addition of three different types of lignin in the production of tannin/furanic foams is investigated. The foams were matured, first at 373 K and finally carbonized at 1073 K and the properties of them including mechanical strength, specific surface area and pore development are investigated before and after thermal treatment. According to the results, higher mechanical stren…
Task-Specific Organic Salts and Ionic Liquids Binary Mixtures: A Combination to Obtain 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural From Carbohydrates
2019
The increase in energy demand and depletion of fossil fuels are among major issues of modern society. Valorization and transformation of raw materials in products of industrial value represents a challenge. This justifies the growing interest of scientific research towards the identification of suitable media and methodologies able to pursue above goals, paying attention to matter of sustainability. On this subject, we studied sulfonic-acid functionalized diimidazolium salts as catalysts for the conversion of fructose and sucrose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) in an ionic liquid mixture. In general, using these salts allowed us to obtain 5-HMF in good yields from both substrates in mild…
High-Performance Lead-Acid Batteries Enabled by Pb and PbO2 Nanostructured Electrodes: Effect of Operating Temperature
2021
Lead-acid batteries are now widely used for energy storage, as result of an established and reliable technology. In the last decade, several studies have been carried out to improve the performance of this type of batteries, with the main objective to replace the conventional plates with innovative electrodes with improved stability, increased capacity and a larger active surface. Such studies ultimately aim to improve the kinetics of electrochemical conversion reactions at the electrode-solution interface and to guarantee a good electrical continuity during the repeated charge/discharge cycles. To achieve these objectives, our contribution focuses on the employment of nanostructured electr…
Effect of oil lamination between plasticized starch layers on film properties
2016
International audience; To reduce the hygroscopic character of biodegradable starch-based films, rapeseed oil was incorporated by lamination (starch-oil-starch 3-layers technique). The lipid lamination followed by starch solution casting step induced an emulsion type structure of dried films. Composite films are more opalescent and glossier than fatty free starch films. For all the films, structure is heterogeneous in the cross-section only. Adding fat induced a twice decrease of the tensile strength. Thermal gravimetry analysis did not show differences between films with and without oil. Lipid reduced the moisture absorption particularly at higher RH as well as the surface swelling index, …
Understanding the White-Emitting CaMoO4 Co-Doped Eu3+, Tb3+, and Tm3+ Phosphor through Experiment and Computation
2019
In this article, the synthesis by means of the spray pyrolysis method, of the CaMoO4 and rare-earth cation (RE3+)-doped CaMoO4:xRE3+ (RE3+ = Eu3+, Tb3+, and Tm3+; and x = 1, 2, and 4% mol) compounds, is presented. The as-synthesized samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction, Rietveld refinement, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Raman spectroscopy, and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. To complement and rationalize the experimental results, first-principles calculations, at the density functional theory level, have been performed to analyze the band structure and density of states. In addition, a theoretical method based on the calculations of surface energie…
Chemical composition of the essential oil of Elaeoselinum asclepium (L.) Bertol subsp. meoides (Desf.) Fiori (Umbelliferae) collected wild in Central…
2020
In the present study, the chemical composition of the essential oils from flowers and leaves of Elaeoselinum asclepium(L.) Bertol subsp. meoides(Desf.) Fiori collected in Central Sicily was evaluated by GC and GC-MS. The main volatile components of the flowers were alpha-phellandrene (42.5%), terpinolene (15.7%), p-cymene (11.6%) and beta-phellandrene (10.2%), whereas the ones of the leaves were p-cymene (44.0%), alpha-pinene (13.2%), alpha-phellandrene (11.0%), beta-phellandrene (10.2%) and beta-pinene (9.2%). Furthermore, the antibacterial and antifungal activities against some microorganisms infesting historical art craft were determined. The essential oil from leaves (EL) showed to be p…
Densities, Refractive Indices, and Derived Excess Properties of the Binary Systems Toluene + Isooctane and Methylcyclohexane + Isooctane and the Tern…
2000
This paper reports mesurements of the densities and refractive indices of the binary systems toluene + isooctane and methylcyclohexane + isooctane and the ternary systems tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) + toluene + isooctane and tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) + methylcyclohexane + isooctane over the entire range of composition at 298.15 K. Excess molar volumes and changes of refractive indices were evaluated from the experimental data obtained. These derived properties were fitted to variable-degree polynomials. The experimental values of physical properties were compared with the values estimated by different methods.
DEVELOPMENT OF A TEST FOR EVALUATING THE CONCEPTUAL KNOWLEDGE OF CHEMICAL EQUILIBRIUM CONSTANT AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND ITS APPLICATION TO SPANI…
2014
This article outlines a procedure that was used to develop a written test for evaluating the conceptual knowledge of chemical equilibrium constant among university students. The concepts in the subject matter were carefully defined through propositional statements. Students' understanding of the topic was determined through interviews. These data were used to produce nine multiple choice questions. Each question was designed to identify misconceptions related to the chemical equilibrium constant. The test was evaluated by foure associate professors and was administred to a total of 196 spanish university students. This test has a Cronbach's alpha reliability of 0.63 and its content validity…