Carbon nitride with encapsulated nickel for semi-hydrogenation of acetylene: pyridinic nitrogen is responsible for hydrogen dissociative adsorption

A new mechanism of catalyst has been demonstrated in this article. With the interaction between carbon nitride (CN) and encapsulated nickel, the CN in the catalyst has been endowed with new active sites for the adsorption and activation of hydrogen while nickel itself is physically isolated from the contact with reactive molecules. For the selective hydrogenation of acetylene in large amount of ethylene, the catalyst shows excellent ethylene selectivity than the nickel catalyst itself, which is almost totally unselective. Meanwhile, the CN itself is inactive for the reaction. The results of characterization demonstrate that pyridinic nitrogen doped in the carbon matrix should be the active sites for hydrogen dissociative adsorption. The theoretical calculations further confirm the results and provide with the detail in the electron transfer between nickel and CN in the catalyst. The current results supply a new concept for design of high performance catalyst.     

Synthesis of a macrocycle based on Linked Amino Acid Mimetics (LAAM)

We report the synthesis of a macrocycle utilizing a novel framework of standard amino acids in combination with subunits that we have named as Linked Amino Acid Mimetics (LAAMs). Macrocycles based on the LAAM concept provide both a peptide targeting region and two independently variable functional regions. In the prototype structure, the commonly known Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) sequence was used for the targeting region. The functional regions contain a phenyl group, and the linkage was formed via a Ring-Closing Metathesis (RCM) reaction.     

Voltammetric determination of tumor necrosis factor-α based on the use of an aptamer and magnetic nanoparticles loaded with gold nanoparticles

Microchimica Acta - The authors are presenting an electrochemical aptasensor for tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) detection that is aided by the use of magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) and two...     

PEO/PVDF-based gel polymer electrolyte by incorporating nano-TiO2 for electrochromic glass

Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology - To develop high performance mixed matrix gel polymer electrolyte, the synergistic effect of blending PVDF (PEO/PVDF weigh ratio of 85:15) and adding...     

Experimental and LES investigation of premixed methane/air flame propagating in a tube with a thin obstacle

In this paper, an experimental and numerical investigation of premixed methane/air flame dynamics in a closed combustion vessel with a thin obstacle is described. In the experiment, high-speed video photography and a pressure transducer are used to study the flame shape changes and pressure dynamics. In the numerical simulation, four sub-grid scale viscosity models and three sub-grid scale combustion models are evaluated for their individual prediction compared with the experimental data. High-speed photographs show that the flame propagation process can be divided into five stages: spherical flame, finger-shaped flame, jet flame, mushroom-shaped flame and bidirectional propagation flame. Compared with the other sub-grid scale viscosity models and sub-grid scale combustion models, the dynamic Smagorinsky–Lilly model and the power-law flame wrinkling model are better able to predict the flame behaviour, respectively. Thus, coupling the dynamic Smagorinsky–Lilly model and the power-law flame wrinkling model, the numerical results demonstrate that flame shape change is a purely hydrodynamic phenomenon, and the mushroom-shaped flame and bidirectional propagation flame are the result of flame–vortex interaction. In addition, the transition from “corrugated flamelets” to “thin reaction zones” is observed in the simulation.