Mesoporous amorphous MnO<Subscript>2</Subscript> as electrode material for supercapacitor

A kind of novel mesoporous, electrochemical active material, amorphous MnO₂ has been synthesized by an improved reduction reaction and using supramolecular as template. The synthesized sample was characterized physically by thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope (TEM), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area measurement, respectively. Electrochemical characterization was performed using cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentiometry in 2 mol/l KOH aqueous solution electrolyte. The results of BET and TEM analysis indicated that supramolecular template plays an important role in the process of big specific surface area mesoporous material forming. After sintering at 200 °C, the sample still remained an amorphous structure, and its specific capacitance reached 298.7 F/g and presented a very stable capacitance after 500 cycles. In addition, the electrochemical process, such as ion transfer and electrical condition, was also investigated with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.     

On the three-phase mass transfer with solid particles adhered to the gas-liquid interface

A heterogeneous, multi-layer mass transfer model is proposed for prediction of the effect of multi-layer packing of catalyst particles adhered to the gas-liquid interface. The behavior of the mass transfer rate with respect to the multi-layer packing, to the particle size and mass transfer coefficient without particles is discussed. It is shown that enhancement can be considerably increased by multi-layer packing compared to that of mono-layer packing, depending on the values of particle size and mass transfer coefficient. The predicted mass transfer rates using the proposed model was verified with experimental data taken from the literature. The model presented should be superior to that of published in the literature.     

Structures and stability of N7+ and N7− clusters

Ab initio molecular orbital theory and density functional theory have been used to study nine isomers of N₇ ionic clusters with low spin at the HF/6-31G*, MP2/6-31G*, B3LYP/6-31G*, and B3LYP/6-311(+)G* levels of theory. All stationary points are examined with harmonic vibrational frequency analyses. Four N₇ ⁺ isomers and five N₇ ⁻ isomers are determined to be local minima or very close to the minima on their potential-energy hypersurfaces, respectively. For N₇ ⁺ and N₇ ⁻, the energetically low lying isomers are open-chain structures (C _{2 v} and C _{2 v} or C₂). The results are very similar to those of other known odd-number nitrogen ions, such as N₅ ⁺, N₉ ⁺, and N₉ ⁻, for which the open-chain structures are also the global minima. This research suggests that the N₇ ionic clusters are likely to be stable and to be potential high-energy-density materials if they could be synthesized. Received: 16 July 2001 / Accepted: 8 October 2001 / Published online: 21 January 2002     

Efficient synthesis of cellulose furoates in 1-<Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride

The ionic liquid 1-N-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C₄mim]⁺Cl⁻) was investigated as reaction media for the homogeneous acylation of cellulose with 2-furoyl chloride in the presence of pyridine. The preparation of cellulose furoate depending on the reaction conditions, the cellulose type and the pyridine content was studied. Cellulose furoates with a degree of substitution in the range from 0.46 to 3.0 were accessible, i.e., under mild conditions, with a low excess of reagent and in a short reaction time. The products were characterized by elemental analysis, perpropionylation, ¹H- and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and FTIR spectroscopy. Thomas Heinze is the member of the European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence (EPNOE), www.epnoe.eu     

Synthesis of poly(<Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-methylolacrylamide)/polymethylacrylamide hybrids via frontal free-radical polymerization

In this study, poly(N-methylolacrylamide)/polymethylacrylamide (PNMA/PMAA) hybrids were produced successfully by frontal free-radical polymerization at ambient pressure. In a typical run, the appropriate amounts of reactants (N-methylolacrylamide, NMA; methylacrylamide, MAA) and initiator (ammonium persulfate) were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide at ambient temperature. Frontal polymerization (FP) was initiated by heating the wall of the tube with a soldering iron, and the resultant hot fronts were allowed to self-propagate throughout the reaction vessel. Once initiated, no further energy was required for polymerization to occur. The dependences of the front velocity and front temperature on the initiator concentration, reactant dilution, and NMA/MAA components were thoroughly investigated. The front temperatures were between 69 and 116 °C, depending on the persulfate concentration. We have also investigated the FP of PNMA/PMAA hybrids with N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone as solvent. Results show that FP can be exploited as a means for the preparation of PNMA/PMAA hybrids with the potential advantage of higher throughput compared to the traditional mode.     

Supramolecular isomerism in the hydrogen-bonded network of (5<Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>,10<Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>)-3,8-dihydroxy-5,10-diethoxy-5,10-dihydrochromeno[5,4,3-<Emphasis Type="Italic">cde</Emphasis>]chromene monohydrate

A new compound (5R, 10R)-3,8-dihydroxy-5,10-diethoxy-5,10-dihydrochromeno[5,4,3-cde]chromene monohydrate was obtained from 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde in aerobic basic aqueous ethanol solution in the presence of manganese chloride and triethylamine and crystallized in orthorhombic P2₁2₁2₁ space group (denoted as 1). When 1 was recrystallized from aqueous methanol, it was transformed to another crystal (2) with the same composition but in P2₁/n space group. The drastic difference in the extensive hydrogen bond network makes 1 a 3D and 2 a 2D infinite supramolecular structure, respectively.     

Solvent and thiourea adsorption/intercalation effects on the solid-state electrochemistry of α-phase nickel hydroxide nanoparticles

Nanoparticles of α-phase nickel hydroxide were synthesized by a single-step hydrothermal method using urea as the hydrolytic agent. Precipitated powders were of pure turbostratic α-phase as confirmed by x-ray diffraction profile. The ageing of α-Ni(OH)₂ in 1.0 M alkali solutions is investigated for pure non-intercalated α-Ni(OH)₂ and thiourea intercalated/absorbed α-phase nanomaterials. The α-Ni(OH)₂ powder immobilized on the surface of graphite electrodes shows a gradual α→β phase transformation with continuous voltammetric cycling, and the concentration gradient of water that exists in the layered-double-hydroxide-like interlayers of α-phase and the solution was shown to play a crucial role on the high electrochemical activity of this phase nickel hydroxide. To understand the role of water in the ageing process, concomitant entries of non-aqueous solvents like ethanol and acetonitrile along with thiourea were effected. Cyclic voltammetric measurements of thiourea-treated α-Ni(OH)₂ samples revealed that hydroxyl ion influx during the anodic oxidation depends on the counter flux of solvent molecules, and if the intercalated the solvent is acetonitrile, then the electrochemical activity of α-Ni(OH)₂ reduced drastically; Q _a/Q _c>1 for water as solvent in the interlayers α-Ni(OH)₂ and Q _a/Q _c<1 for ethanol and acetonitrile as solvents. The α-phase gets stabilized in the presence of thiourea with water and ethanol as co-intercalates. Transmission electron microscope images of α-Ni(OH)₂ and thiourea-treated samples show a change in particle size and morphology. Elemental CHNS analysis confirms the presence of sulphur in the thiourea intercalated samples.     

Separation and analysis of glycyrrhizin, 18beta-glycyrrhetic acid and 18alpha-glycyrrhetic acid in liquorice roots by means of capillary zone electrophoresis

Glycyrrhizin is the main active compound of Glycyrrhiza glabra root extracts; according to recent studies, glycyrrhizin and its aglycon, glycyrrhetic acid, have interesting therapeutic properties. A new capillary electrophoretic method has been developed for the separation and quantification of glycyrrhizin, beta-glycyrrhetic acid and its isomer a-glycyrrhetic acid. Separation of the analytes was achieved in less than 3 min on a fused silica capillary, by injecting the samples at the short end of the capillary (effective length: 8.5 cm). The background electrolyte was composed of pH 10.0 carbonate buffer, methanol and ethylene glycol (80/10/10) and contained 0.4% beta-cyclodextrin; indomethacin was used as the internal standard. Diode array detection was used, with quantitative assays carried out at 254 nm. Linearity was found over the 5-200 and 2.5-100 microg mL(-1) concentration ranges for glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetic acid, respectively. This method has been applied to the determination of the analytes in different matrices (liquorice roots and commercial confectionery products), and to the purity control of beta-glycyrrhetic acid obtained from the hydrolysis of glycyrrhizin. When analysing beta-glycyrrhetic acid and its epimer in roots, the samples were purified by means of a suitable solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure with Oasis HLB cartridges, which granted good selectivity, eliminating matrix interference.     

Synthesis,characterization and third-order nonlinear optical properties of ruthenium(II) complexes containing 2-(4-nitrophenyl)imidazo[4,5-f] [1,10]phenanthroline

Two novel Ru^II complexes [Ru(phen)₂(PNOPH)]²⁺ and [Ru(dmp)₂ (PNOPH)]²⁺ (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, dmp = 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline, PNOPH = 2-(4-nitrophenyl)imidazo-[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline) and their deprotoned complexes were synthesized and characterized by ES–MS, ¹H - n.m.r, u.v.–vis. and electrochemistry. The crystal structure of the deprotonated complex [Ru(dmp)₂ (PNOP)][ClO₄] · CH₃CN was determined by means of X-ray single crystal diffraction. Nonlinear optical properties of the Ru^II complexes were investigated by Z-scan techniques in DMF solution, and all of them exhibited both NLO absorption and self-defocusing effect. The corresponding effective NLO susceptibilities |³ | of the complexes are 2.39 × 10^-12–5.80 × 10^-12 esu.     

Parametric Integer Programming Analysis: A Contraction Approach

An algorithm is presented for solving families of integer linear programming problems in which the problems are "related" by having identical objective coefficients and constraint matrix coefficients. The righthand-side constants have the form b + θd where b and d are conformable vectors and θ varies from zero to one.The approach consists primarily of solving the most relaxed problem (θ = 1) using cutting planes and then contracting the region of feasible integer solutions in such a manner that the current optimal integer solution is eliminated.The algorithm was applied to 1800 integer linear programming problems with reasonable success. Integer programming problems which have proved to be unsolvable using cutting planes have been solved by expanding the region of feasible integer solutions (θ = 1) and then contracting to the original region.