In-situ electrochemical study of chalcopyrite pressure oxidation leaching from 110 °C to 150 °C under saturated vapor pressure

Pressure oxidation leaching behavior of chalcopyrite in sulfuric acid solution from 110 °C to 150 °C were investigated by in-situ electrochemical methods. Leaching experiments under saturated vapor pressure conditions were used to simulate the anoxic environment that may be encountered in industrial applications. Scanning electron microscope and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the morphology and the chemical status of chalcopyrite surface. Results show that the copper extraction was increased with the increase of leaching temperature. Under the optimal leaching conditions under saturated vapor pressure, the copper and iron extraction are 8.3% and 29.8%, respectively. When the temperature increased from 110 °C to 150 °C, the self-corrosion potential and electrochemical reaction resistance firstly increased and then decreased. In contrast, the resistance of the passive film was always increased with the increase of temperature. The electrochemical study results indicated that the increase in temperature affected the oxidation of chalcopyrite by altering the kinetics of the cathodic reaction and the anodic passivation. Both the self-corrosion current density (i_corr) and rate constant were affected by the reduction of Fe(III). The XPS results show that elemental sulfur and H₃O(Fe₃(SO₄)₂(OH)₆) were the main leaching solid products. The formation of H₃O(Fe₃(SO₄)₂(OH)₆) not only caused a decrease in cathodic reaction kinetics, but also increased the resistance of mass transfer process. Due to the faster release of iron, copper-rich sulphides were formed, which mixed with the elemental sulfur and/or H₃O(Fe₃(SO₄)₂(OH)₆) led to coverage of the chalcopyrite surface.     

Theoretical study on the mechanism for the excited-state double proton transfer process of an asymmetric Schiff base ligand

Excited-state double proton transfer (ESDPT) in the 1-[(2-hydroxy-3-methoxy-benzylidene)-hydrazonomethyl]-naphthalen-2-ol (HYDRAVH₂) ligand was studied by the density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory method. The analysis of frontier molecular orbitals, infrared spectra, and non-covalent interactions have cross-validated that the asymmetric structure has an influence on the proton transfer, which makes the proton transfer ability of the two hydrogen protons different. The potential energy surfaces in both S₀ and S₁ states were scanned with varying O-H bond lengths. The results of potential energy surface analysis adequately proved that the HYDRAVH₂ can undergo the ESDPT process in the S₁ state and the double proton transfer process is a stepwise proton transfer mechanism. Our work can pave the way towards the design and synthesis of new molecules.     

Pure annihilation decay of strange beauty meson into two charm heavy mesons

In this study, the heavy to heavy decay of \begin{document}$ B^0_s\rightarrow D^{*+}D^- $\end{document} is evaluated through the factorization approach by using the final state interaction as an effective correction. Under the factorization approach, this decay mode occurs only through the annihilation process, so a small amount is produced. Feynman's rules state that six meson pairs can be assumed for the intermediate states before the final meson pairs are produced. By taking into account the effects of twelve final state interaction diagrams in the calculations, a significant correction is obtained. These effects correct the value of the branching ratio obtained by the pure factorization approach from \begin{document}$ (2.41\pm1.37)\times10^{-5} $\end{document} to \begin{document}$ (8.27\pm2.23)\times10^{-5} $\end{document}. The value obtained for the branching ratio of the \begin{document}$ B^0_s\rightarrow D^{*+}D^- $\end{document} decay is consistent with the experimental results.     

广西经济增长、金融发展与城乡收入差距的实证研究

探讨了经济增长及金融发展与城乡收入差距之间互动影响,刻画了三者间的逻辑关系,并基于广西1990-2017年的统计数据,运用状态空间模型及卡尔曼滤波算法对三者间动态关系进行了实证分析.结果显示:经济增长对城乡收入差距呈现倒U型曲线形态,而金融发展则显示出具有不断缩小城乡收入差距的趋势.     

Ultrahigh Loading Copper Single Atom Catalyst for Palladium-free Wacker Oxidation

Wacker oxidation is an industry-adopted process to transform olefins into value-added epoxides and carbonyls. However, traditional Wacker oxidation involves the use of homogeneous palladium and copper catalysts for the olefin addition and reductive elimination. Here, we demonstrated an ultrahigh loading Cu single atom catalyst(14% Cu, mass fraction) for the palladium-free Wacker oxidation of 4-vinylanisole into the corresponding ketone with N-methylhydroxylamine hydrochloride as an additive under mild conditions. Mechanistic studies by ¹⁸O and deuterium isotope labelling revealed a hydrogen shift mechanism in this palladium-free process using N-methylhydroxylamine hydrochloride as the oxygen source. The reaction scope can be further extended to Kucherov oxidation. Our study paves the way to replace noble metal catalysts in the traditional homogeneous processes with single atom catalysts.     

Nickel (II) tetrapyridyl complexes as electrocatalysts and precatalysts for water oxidation

Two nickel complexes, [Ni(tpen)](ClO₄)₂.0.5CH₃COCH₃ ( 1 ) and [Ni(tpbn)](ClO₄)₂ ( 2 ), of tetrapyridyl ligands N,N,N′,N′-tetrakis(2-pyridyl-methyl)-1,2-ethanediamine (tpen) and N,N,N′,N′-tetrakis(2-pyridyl-methyl)-1,4-butanediamine (tpbn) were prepared and their catalysis for water oxidation reaction (WOR) studied. In 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS) of pH 8.0, complex 1 is a homogeneous molecular catalyst with an overpotential of ~440 mV and a Faradaic efficiency of 89%. At pH ≥ 9.0, complex 1 degraded gradually during the catalytic process and formed NiO_x composite (nickel oxide with general formula Ni_xO_yH_z) active for WOR. In contrast, complex 2 deteriorated under measured conditions (pH 8.0–12.0) and formed NiO_x composite active for WOR. The NiO_x composite derived from 1 in 0.1 M PBS at pH 11.0 showed an activity with an overpotential of ~500 mV, a Tafel slope of ~90 mV/decade and a Faradaic efficiency of 97%. Mechanisms were proposed for water oxidation catalyzed by 1 and 2 . This work revealed that the catalytic activity of the nickel complexes was related to the flexibility of the tetrapyridyl ligands and the adaptability of the coordination sphere of the nickel(II) center.     

Renormalization group second‐order approximation for singularly perturbed nonlinear ordinary differential equations

We consider a 2 time scale nonlinear system of ordinary differential equations. The small parameter of the system is the ratio ϵ of the time scales. We search for an approximation involving only the slow time unknowns and valid uniformly for all times at order O(ϵ²). A classical approach to study these problems is Tikhonov's singular perturbation theorem. We develop an approach leading to a higher order approximation using the renormalization group (RG) method. We apply it in 2 steps. In the first step, we show that the RG method allows for approximation of the fast time variables by their RG expansion taken at the slow time unknowns. Next, we study the slow time equations, where the fast time unknowns are replaced by their RG expansion. This allows to rigorously show the second order uniform error estimate. Our result is a higher order extension of Hoppensteadt's work on the Tikhonov singular perturbation theorem for infinite times. The proposed procedure is suitable for problems from applications, and it is computationally less demanding than the classical Vasil'eva‐O'Malley expansion. We apply the developed method to a mathematical model of stem cell dynamics.     

Nickel(II) Schiff base complex supported on nano‐titanium dioxide: A novel straightforward route for preparation of supported Schiff base complexes applying 2,4‐toluenediisocyanate

For the first time, a novel, straightforward and inexpensive route for immobilization of metals in Schiff base complex form is reported applying 2,4‐toluenediisocyanate as a precursor of primary amine group. A nickel(II) Schiff base complex supported on nano‐TiO₂ was designed and synthesized as an effective heterogeneous nanocatalyst for organic reactions, and well characterized using various techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, energy‐dispersive X‐ray analysis and thermogravimetric analysis. The catalytic efficiency of the complex was evaluated in selective oxidation of sulfide to sulfoxide by hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant under solvent‐free conditions at room temperature, which successfully resulted in high yield and high conversion of products. Effective factors including solvent type, oxidant and catalyst amount were also optimized. The catalyst shows outstanding reusability and could be impressively recovered for six consecutive cycles without significant change of its catalytic efficiency.