Sonochemical conversion of CO2 into hydrocarbons: The Sabatier reaction at ambient conditions

In this study, we investigated an alternative method for the chemical CO₂ reduction reaction in which power ultrasound (488 kHz ultrasonic plate transducer) was applied to CO₂-saturated (up to 3%) pure water, NaCl and synthetic seawater solutions. Under ultrasonic conditions, the converted CO₂ products were found to be mainly CH₄, C₂H₄ and C₂H₆ including large amount of CO which was subsequently converted into CH₄. We have found that introducing molecular H₂ plays a crucial role in the CO₂ conversion process and that increasing hydrogen concentration increased the yields of hydrocarbons. However, it was observed that at higher hydrogen concentrations, the overall conversion decreased since hydrogen, a diatomic gas, is known to decrease cavitational activity in liquids. It was also found that 1.0 M NaCl solutions saturated with 2% CO₂ + 98% H₂ led to maximum hydrocarbon yields (close to 5%) and increasing the salt concentrations further decreased the yield of hydrocarbons due to the combined physical and chemical effects of ultrasound. It was shown that CO₂ present in a synthetic industrial flue gas (86.74% N₂, 13% CO₂, 0.2% O₂ and 600 ppm of CO) could be converted into hydrocarbons through this method by diluting the flue gas with hydrogen. Moreover, it was observed that in addition to pure water, synthetic seawater can also be used as an ultrasonicating media for the sonochemical process where the presence of NaCl improves the yields of hydrocarbons by ca. 40%. We have also shown that by using low frequency high-power ultrasound in the absence of catalysts, it is possible to carry out the conversion process at ambient conditions i.e., at room temperature and pressure. We are postulating that each cavitation bubble formed during ultrasonication act as a “micro-reactor” where the so-called Sabatier reaction -$C{O}_2+4H_2\stackrel{\mathit{Ultrasonication}}{\to }C{H}_4+2H_{2}O$ - takes place upon collapse of the bubble. We are naming this novel approach as the “Islam-Pollet-Hihn process”.     

富晶格位错的多孔铋纳米花高效电还原二氧化碳制甲酸盐※

二氧化碳转化已成为现今世界研究的热点. 本工作采用原位电化学转化的策略, 将简单溶剂热法合成的层状甲酸氧铋纳米花(BiOCOOH NFs)还原为带有大量晶格位错的多孔铋纳米花(p-Bi NFs). 研究结果表明, p-Bi NFs电催化二氧化碳转化为甲酸盐具有较小的过电位(436 mV). 在–1.8 V(相对饱和甘汞电极, vs. SCE)时, 甲酸盐的分电流密度(j_formate)高达24.4 mA•cm^-2, 法拉第效率(FE_formate)为96.7%, 且在超过500 mV的宽电位窗口内FE_formate超过90%, 并具有很好的稳定性. 该催化剂的高催化性能可归因于前驱体晶格坍塌和重构而形成特殊的多孔粗糙的微纳多级结构, 其表面富含晶格位错和缺陷等高本征活性位, 且具有较强的电子传递能力. 本研究为设计合成高性能的电催化二氧化碳还原产甲酸催化剂提供了新的思路.     

Design of Functional Carbon Composite Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage

The carbon composite materials have been a research hotspot in the fields of catalysis, energy conversion and so on, because of their features of large structure and morphology variety, good chemical and electrochemical stability, and high electronic conductivity, large specific surface area and rich active sites. This paper summarizes some research progress of carbon composite materials, including assembly methodologies, their structure regulation, properties, and related applications. Moreover, the current challenges and the prospects of these materials are also discussed.     

水热法制备二氧化锡/钨酸铋复合光催化材料及其催化活性研究

本文用水热法制备了正交晶系的纳米球状结构的二氧化锡和正交晶系的由片状聚集成球状结构的钨酸铋,并且对二者进行了复合,制备出了二氧化锡/钨酸铋复合光催化材料。采用X射线衍射(XRD)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、比表面积测试仪(BET)、紫外可见分光光度计等技术对复合样品的结构、形貌、比表面积、孔容孔径和光学性质进行了表征。用碘钨灯模拟太阳光,分别以二氧化锡、钨酸铋和二氧化锡/钨酸铋复合材料为催化剂降解罗丹明B(RhB),研究所制备的二氧化锡/钨酸铋复合材料的光催化活性。光催化90 min时二氧化锡、钨酸铋和二氧化锡/钨酸铋对罗丹明B的降解率分别是9%、22%和30%。实验结果表明,在可见光下,二氧化锡/钨酸铋复合材料的光催化活性要高于单一的二氧化锡和钨酸铋。     

掺锗提高VO2薄膜的相变温度机理研究

二氧化钒(VO₂)作为一种长久以来备受关注的新型可逆相变材料,发展潜力巨大,其相变温度(T_MIT)的调控一直是研究热点。本文主要利用锗离子作为掺杂离子探索其对VO₂薄膜T_MIT的影响,并尝试解释其内部作用机理。在约1 cm²大小抛光的氧化铝薄片上沉积了一系列含不同比例锗离子VO₂薄膜。研究发现锗离子作为掺杂离子确实有利于T_MIT的提高(本课题T_MIT最大可达84.7 ℃)。T_MIT提高的主要原因是锗离子的引入能够强化单斜态V-V二聚体的稳定性,进而增强单斜态的稳定性,使得低温单斜态向四方金红石态转变更加困难。     

Mechanism of BPh3-Catalyzed N-Methylation of Amines with CO2 and Phenylsilane: Cooperative Activation of Hydrosilane

BPh₃ catalyzes the N-methylation of secondary amines and the C-methylenation (methylene-bridge formation between aromatic rings) of N,N-dimethylanilines or 1-methylindoles in the presence of CO₂ and PhSiH₃; these reactions proceed at 30–40 °C under solvent-free conditions. In contrast, B(C₆F₅)₃ shows little or no activity. ¹¹B NMR spectra suggested the generation of [HBPh₃]⁻. The detailed mechanism of the BPh₃-catalyzed N-methylation of N-methylaniline ( 1 ) with CO₂ and PhSiH₃ was studied by using DFT calculations. BPh₃ promotes the conversion of two substrates (N-methylaniline and CO₂) into a zwitterionic carbamate to give three-component species [Ph(Me)(H)N⁺CO₂⁻⋅⋅⋅BPh₃]. The carbamate and BPh₃ act as the nucleophile and Lewis acid, respectively, for the activation of PhSiH₃ to generate [HBPh₃]⁻, which is used to produce key CO₂-derived species, such as silyl formate and bis(silyl)acetal, essential for the N-methylation of 1 . DFT calculations also suggested other mechanisms involving water for the generation of [HBPh₃]⁻ species.     

吸收波长和吸收效率可控的超材料吸收器

为了使超材料完美吸收器(metamaterial perfect absorber,MPA)能够同时实现吸收效率和吸收波长的控制,本文提出利用二氧化钒(VO2)和石墨烯作为MPA的材料,通过对MPA的结构设计,在红外波段实现了高吸收,吸收效率最高可达99%.研究发现通过改变VO2的温度和石墨烯的化学势,可同时实现MPA吸收效率和吸收波长的控制,吸收效率调制深度和吸收波长调谐范围分别可达97.08%和3.2μm.通过对MPA在吸收波长处的磁场分布分析可以得出,MPA能够产生高吸收是由于其形成了法布里-帕罗(Fabry-Pérot,FP)干涉腔共振,研究发现MPA的结构参数对FP腔的共振波长具有显著的影响.     

In situ confinement of iron-based active sites within high porosity carbon frameworks with enhanced activity for rechargeable Zn–air battery

Non-noble bifunctional electrocatalysts with robust activity and stability toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are greatly significant but challenging for Zn-air batteries. Here, in situ confinement of FeN_x active sites in high porosity carbon framework (FeN_x/CMCC) derived from chelate of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and iron ions were synthesized. Particularly, construction of FeN_x within porous carbon framework accelerates the electron transfer and the sufficient utilization of active centers, and then expedites the reaction kinetics of ORR and OER. As expected, the optimized FeN_x/CMCC exhibits superior ORR activity with a larger half-wave potential of 0.869 V. The rechargeable Zn-air battery delivers a higher power density of 99.6 mW/cm² and a special capacity of 781.9 mA h/g_Zn at 10 mA/cm², together with excellent durability of over 335 h. Remarkably, the as-assembled solid-state battery exhibits a higher open circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.5 V, a special capacity of 709.7 mA h/g_Zn, as well as prolonged cycling stability (90 h). Moreover, the flexible solid-state battery displays negligible loss of electrochemical performance under various bending angles, illustrating its potential application in flexible electronic devices.     

Experimental and theoretical investigation of CO2 and air bubble rising velocity through kerosene and distilled water in bubble column

This paper concerns with developing of parameters which influence terminal velocities of air and CO₂ bubbles in distilled water and kerosene pools. The objective of this study is to validate and correct the formulas that were developed by previous investigators for prediction of terminal velocities. The investigation revealed that the terminal velocity of a single rigid spherical bubble in Newtonian fluids can be developed by balancing of mechanical forces acting on the bubble. However, for large bubbles, because of deforming of the bubble which is a result of interfacial tension, the effect of surface tension should be considered in the terminal velocity prediction formula. By using PSO algorithm and plotting experimental data of terminal velocity against the size of gas bubbles, the suitable equation for each of systems was chosen. Results showed that Jamialahmadi model is more practical for terminal velocity prediction. Jamialahmadi model requires a modification to be utilized for air-kerosene, CO₂-kerosene, air- distilled water and CO₂-distilled water systems. The developed PSO algorithm model is accurate for prediction of experimental data with an average R² value of 0.9722.     

First principles investigations of Fe,Co, Ni in model honeycomb carbon networks

The behaviors of ferromagnetic transition metals of the first period: Fe, Co and Ni are examined within density functional theory calculations in two dimensional carbon extended networks using model structure LiC₆. Around geometry optimized structures, the energy-volume equations of states considering non magnetic and spin polarized configurations established ferromagnetic ground states with magnetizations –reduced with respect to the metals’– of 2 μ_B for FeC₆ and 1 μ_B for CoC₆ while no magnetic solution could be identified for NiC₆. In the D_6h point group of the P6/mmm space group l_m decomposition of the d states results with increasing energy into doublet state E_1g with d(x²-y²) and d(xy); singlet state A_1g d(z²) and doublet state E_2g d(xz) and d(yz) lying on E_F and responsible of the onset of magnetic moments. This was mirrored via molecular orbital approach with a construct of Fe embedded between two extended carbon networks thus validating the model structure proposed for TC₆ compounds. The 100% polarization in one spin channel allows proposing potential uses in spintronics applications.