New insights into the oxidation chemistry of pyrrole,an N-containing biomass tar component

Pyrrole, the smallest molecule with a nitrogen atom in the heterocycle ring, is an important tar component from coal and nitrogen-rich biomass devolatilization. Understanding the combustion chemistry of pyrrole can help to elucidate the pollutant formation chemistry from fuel nitrogen, thus enabling cleaner biomass energy utilization technologies. Experimental measurements were performed in a jet stirred reactor coupled with time of flight molecular beam mass spectrometry using synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet beam as photon ionization source, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to provide comprehensive measurements of 31 species including nine C₄ and C₅ N-containing compounds. Based on the evidence from the experiments and aiming to improve the kinetic model performance, possible formation routes are proposed with OH addition as the entrance reaction. Reaction rate coefficients for the OH addition channel as well as those for key H-atom abstraction reactions (H, OH, CH_3, and HO₂) were calculated by quantum chemical methods and updated in the model. The updated model can qualitatively predict the identified C₄ N-containing species and perform reasonably well for a large set of experimental data considered for validation, overall improving the performance of the previous model. The influence of the investigated reactions on the predictions of fuel reactivity and pollutant formation motivates further investigations of N-containing fuel chemistry.     

Characterization of the low-temperature oxidation chemistry of an unsaturated aldehyde 2-butenal in a Jet-stirred reactor

Unsaturated aldehydes such as butenal are essential intermediates in the combustion of various alkenes and oxygenated biofuels. 2-Butenal is a typical intermediate included in the core mechanism, containing a C=C double bond adjacent to an aldehyde group. In the present work, the oxidation of 2-butenal is studied in a jet-stirred reactor (JSR) at atmospheric pressure under temperature ranging from 500 to 850 K. The synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry is employed to identify the key intermediates. A kinetic model for 2-butenal oxidation is developed and validated against the experimental datasets. Fuel flux and sensitivity analyses are performed to clarify reactions governing the reactivity of 2-butenal. OH addition to the C=C double bond is essential for fuel reactivity at the initial stage. A combination of experimental observations and kinetic simulations is used to illuminate the Waddington mechanism initiated by OH addition. The resonance-stabilized feature of fuel radicals facilitates their interactions with HO₂ radicals, which replenishes a large amount of OH radicals and contributes to the formation of CO₂.     

Redox kinetics of NiO/YSZ for chemical-looping combustion and the effect of support on reducibility

This paper explores the reaction kinetics of NiO supported on YSZ (Yttria Stabilized Zirconia) as an oxygen carrier for chemical looping combustion. Nickel particles with size less than 1 μm mixed with YSZ nano-powders are used to prepare the solid mixture, with 45% mol of NiO. Redox reactivity and oxygen carrying capacity are measured in a laboratory scale fixed bed reactor in the temperature range 500–1000 °C with different concentrations of the reactive gasses. Samples are subjected to repeated redox cycles using synthetic air (O₂+Ar) for oxidation, and H₂/H₂O/Ar mixtures for reduction. NiO/YSZ demonstrates superb cyclic regenerability starting with the 2nd cycle, with full utilization of its oxygen carrying capacity. Compared to pure nickel, pronounced improvement is achieved in the kinetics and oxygen utilization. Full reduction is achieved, and the presence of H₂O does not affect the reduction rate. Reactivity is also determined as a function of conversion. Global models of redox conversion are developed, in which surface chemistry and solid diffusion are considered. Oxidation exhibits the characteristics of a shrinking-core model with internal reactions at the Ni/NiO interface being the rate limiting step, and it is weakly temperature dependent. Reduction with H₂ generally exhibits surface chemistry limitation (adsorption-desorption), with surface product formation being the rate limiting step. YSZ significantly enhances ionic transport during oxidation and reduction. Reaction rate dependencies on conversion during the two steps suggest an optimal range for the oxygen carrying capacity of the material.     

Pathway exploration in low-temperature oxidation of a new-generation bio-hybrid fuel 1,3-dioxane

The joint and flexible utilization of renewable electricity, ligno-cellulosic biomass, and/or CO₂ point sources to produce so-called bio-hybrid fuels is a promising solution to achieve carbon neutrality while still meeting the energy demand of the transportation sector. One of the new-generation bio-hybrid fuels is 1,3-dioxane. It has a special chemical structure with two oxygen atoms in a six-membered ring. In this work, the low-temperature oxidation of 1,3-dioxane was studied theoretically and experimentally. Potential energy surfaces of the products of the O₂ recombination with the three radicals formed from the H-atom abstraction of 1,3-dioxane were calculated at the DLPNO-CCSD(T)/CBS//B2PLYP-D3/cc-pVTZ level. The reaction rate coefficients were calculated with the RRKM/master equation method (T = 500–2000 K, p = 0.01–100 atm). To validate the proposed pathways, low-temperature oxidation experiments of 1,3-dioxane were performed in a jet stirred reactor (JSR) coupled with a synchrotron photon ionization time of flight molecular beam mass spectrometer (T = 590 K, p = 1 bar). Key intermediates in the investigated pathways were captured and identified by the combination of measured photon ionization efficiency curves and calculated ionization energies. Compared to cyclohexane, which has no oxygen in the six-membered ring, 1,3-dioxane has much weaker C-H bonds for the carbon between the two oxygen atoms, thus enabling faster internal H-atom migration from ROO to QOOH. Furthermore, oxidation of 1,3-dioxane tends to favor cyclic ethers + OH (chain propagation) instead of alkenes + HO₂ (chain termination), explaining its high reactivity in the low-temperature regime.     

On the low-temperature chemistry of 1,3-butadiene

In this paper, species versus temperature profiles were measured during the oxidation of 1,3-butadiene in a jet-stirred reactor (JSR) at 1 atm, at different equivalence ratios (φ = 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0), in the temperature range 600 – 1020 K. Both synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry (SVUV-PIMS) and gas chromatography (GC) methods were used to analyze the species. The experimental results show that a large proportion of the products are aldehydes (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, etc.) and ketenes (ketene, methyl-ketene), with acrolein being one of the major products. Moreover, furan, 1,3-cyclopentadiene and benzene are also present as intermediates in significant amounts. The reaction pathways leading to the formation of these species are discussed in detail. A new detailed mechanism, NUIGMech1.3, was developed to simulate these new data as well as other experimental data available in the literature. The validation results indicate that quantum calculations are also needed to explore the formation of some important species formed in the oxidation of 1,3-butadiene. Overall, the new 1,3-butadiene mechanism agrees well with various experimental data in the low- to high-temperature regimes and at different pressures. Flux and sensitivity analyses show that 1,3-butadiene shares some common reaction chemistry pathways with 1- and 2-butene via Ḣ atom and HȮ₂ radical addition to the C = C double bond in 1,3-butadiene, reactions which are important for both systems. The low temperature chemistry of 1,3-butadiene is mainly controlled by the reaction pathways of ȮH radical addition to the C = C double bond of the fuel molecule. The 1-buten-4-ol-3-yl radicals so formed subsequently add to O₂ and react via the Waddington mechanism, which is important in accurately simulating the oxidation and auto-ignition of 1,3-butadiene at engine relevant conditions.     

Oxidation of ethyl methyl ether: Jet-stirred reactor experiments and kinetic modeling

Larger ethers such as diethyl ether (DEE) and di-n-propyl ether (DPE) have different oxidation behavior (double-NTC behavior) compared to the simplest dimethyl ether (DME). Such phenomena are interpreted with different reactions and processes in different ether kinetic models, which also predict different formation pathways of oxidation intermediates such as acids. To gain further insights into the oxidation kinetics of linear ethers, ethyl methyl ether (EME), which has a nonsymmetrical structure, was studied in this work. Oxidation experiments of 1% of EME were performed in a jet-stirred reactor at 1 atm, a residence time of 2 s, an equivalence ratio of 1, and over a temperature range of 375–850 K. The intermediates were analyzed with photoionization molecular-beam mass spectrometry. To explain the oxidation behavior of EME, a detailed kinetic model was also constructed. The oxidation of EME spans a wider temperature range than DME, but no obvious double-NTC behavior was observed as DEE. Based on the model analysis and profiles of critical intermediates such as ketohydroperoxides (KHPs) and CH₃O₂H, the low-temperature oxidation behavior of EME was explained by the chain-branching reactions of the fuel itself and the oxidation intermediates. Abundant species such as aldehydes, acids, esters, and fuel-specific dione species were detected and could be well reproduced by the current model. In particular, acids are produced by the decomposition of KHPs and subsequent reactions of the intermediate CH₃CHO. Esters and dione species are mainly formed via fuel-related pathways.     

Investigating Membrane-Mediated Antimicrobial Peptide Interactions with Synchrotron Radiation Far-Infrared Spectroscopy

Synchrotron radiation-based Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy enables access to vibrational information from mid over far infrared to even terahertz domains. This information may prove critical for the elucidation of fundamental bio-molecular phenomena including folding-mediated innate host defence mechanisms. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) represent one of such phenomena. These are major effector molecules of the innate immune system, which favour attack on microbial membranes. AMPs recognise and bind to the membranes whereupon they assemble into pores or channels destabilising the membranes leading to cell death. However, specific molecular interactions responsible for antimicrobial activities have yet to be fully understood. Herein we probe such interactions by assessing molecular specific variations in the near-THz 400–40 cm⁻¹ range for defined helical AMP templates in reconstituted phospholipid membranes. In particular, we show that a temperature-dependent spectroscopic analysis, supported by 2D correlative tools, provides direct evidence for the membrane-induced and folding-mediated activity of AMPs. The far-FTIR study offers a direct and information-rich probe of membrane-related antimicrobial interactions.     

Effect of selected dopants on conductivity and moisture stability of Li3PS4 sulfide solid electrolyte: a first-principles study

The first principle computational screening was performed to investigate the effect of selected dopants for Li₃PS₄ sulfide solid electrolyte on its ionic conductivity and stability toward moisture. The results suggest that substitution P⁵⁺ using isovalent cations whose electronegativity (EN) value is closer to the value of S has more significant effects on the ionic conductivity, whereby W⁵⁺ and Sb⁵⁺ can improve most. Similarly, aliovalent cation substitutions with compensating changes in the lithium-ion concentration, particularly those with a lower oxidation state and higher EN, such as Cu²⁺, effectively enhance the lithium-ion conductivity in this structure. For cation dopants, it is found that ionic conductivity improvement of Li₃PS₄ is the synergetic effect of EN and oxidation number of the dopant as well as the material's lattice parameter change. Oxides of the considered cation dopants can also improve the ionic conductivity of the material but have much lower lithium-ion conductivity than the cases of cation dopants. However, the metal oxide dopants, particularly those derived from soft Lewis' acid cations, show a marginal improvement in moisture stability of the Li₃PS₄ electrolyte. The effect of halides and metal halide dopants on the lithium-ion conductivity and moisture stability of Li₃PS₄ electrolyte are also studied. It is found that metal halides are more effective than any other dopants in improving the ionic conductivity of Li₃PS₄.     

Heterostructured composite of NiFe-LDH nanosheets with Ti4O7 for oxygen evolution reaction

Developing oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst based on earth-abundant materials holds great promise for ascertaining water-splitting to surmount its deprived kinetics. In this regard, NiFe-LDH (layered double hydroxide) receives considerable attention owing to their layered structure. However, they still suffer from poor electronic conductivity and structural stability. We combined NiFe-LDH nanosheets with Magnéli phase Ti₄O₇ into a heterostructured composite. A series of analyses reveal that decorating Ti₄O₇ facilitates charge transfer to enhance the conductivity of NiFe-LDH-Ti₄O₇. During electrochemical measurement, Ni²⁺ is transformed to metastable Ni³⁺ (Ni (OH)→ NiOOH) before the OER onset potential. Thus, the presence of Ni³⁺ as the main active sites could improve the chemisorption of OH^? to facilitate OER. As a result, the NiFe-LDH-Ti₄O₇ catalyst delivers as low as onset potential (1.43 V). Combining the holey structure (NiFe-LDH and Ti₄O₇) and the defect engineering generated on NiFe-LDH-Ti₄O₇ as a synergistic effect improves the OER performance. The inclusion of Ti₄O₇ in the composite leads to more vacancy sites, as evidenced by the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis. The obtained defective structure with a low coordination environment would improve the electronic conductivity and facilitate the adsorption process of H₂O onto metal cations, thereby increasing the intrinsic catalytic activity of NiOOH. The strong coupling of NiFe-LDH and Ti₄O₇ also increases the stability, and the heterostructured composite helps maintain the structural robustness of the LDH.     

Interaction of Hydrogen with Ceria: Hydroxylation,Reduction, and Hydride Formation on the Surface and in the Bulk

The study reports the first attempt to address the interplay between surface and bulk in hydride formation in ceria (CeO₂) by combining experiment, using surface sensitive and bulk sensitive spectroscopic techniques on the two sample systems, i.e., CeO₂(111) thin films and CeO₂ powders, and theoretical calculations of CeO₂(111) surfaces with oxygen vacancies (O_v) at the surface and in the bulk. We show that, on a stoichiometric CeO₂(111) surface, H₂ dissociates and forms surface hydroxyls (OH). On the pre-reduced CeO_2−x samples, both films and powders, hydroxyls and hydrides (Ce−H) are formed on the surface as well as in the bulk, accompanied by the Ce³⁺ ↔ Ce⁴⁺ redox reaction. As the O_v concentration increases, hydroxyl is destabilized and hydride becomes more stable. Surface hydroxyl is more stable than bulk hydroxyl, whereas bulk hydride is more stable than surface hydride. The surface hydride formation is the kinetically favorable process at relatively low temperatures, and the resulting surface hydride may diffuse into the bulk region and be stabilized therein. At higher temperatures, surface hydroxyls can react to produce water and create additional oxygen vacancies, increasing its concentration, which controls the H₂/CeO₂ interaction. The results demonstrate a large diversity of reaction pathways, which have to be taken into account for better understanding of reactivity of ceria-based catalysts in a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.