Advances in rapid and effective break-in/conditioning/recovery of automotive PEMFC stacks

Automotive proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks need to meet manufacturer specified rated beginning-of-life (BOL) performance before being assembled into vehicles and shipped off to customers. The process of “breaking-in” of a freshly assembled stack is often referred to as “conditioning.” It has become an intensely researched area especially in automotive companies, where imminent commercialization of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) demands a short, energy- and cost-efficient, and practical conditioning protocol. Significant advances in reducing the conditioning time from 1 to 2 days to as low as 4h or less, in some cases without the use of additional inert gases such as nitrogen, and with minimal use of hydrogen, and specialized test stations will be discussed.     

Probing nanocolumnar silver nanoparticle/zinc oxide hierarchical assemblies with advanced surface plasmon resonance and their enhanced photocatalytic performance for formaldehyde removal

Recent advances in photocatalysis focus on the development of materials with hierarchical structure and on the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) phenomenon exhibited by metal nanoparticles (NPs). In this work, both are combined in a material where size‐controllable Ag‐NPs are uniformly loaded onto the hierarchical microporous and mesoporous and nanocolumnar structures of ZnO, resulting in Ag‐NP/ZnO nanocomposites. The embedded Ag‐NPs slightly decrease the hydrophobicity of fibrous ZnO, improve its wettability, and increase the absorption of formaldehyde (H₂CO) onto the photocatalyst, all of this resulting in excellent photodegradation of formaldehyde in aqueous solution. Besides, we found that Ag‐NPs with optimal size not only accelerate the charge transfer to the surface of ZnO, but also strengthen the SPR effect in the intercolumnar channels of fibrous ZnO particles combining with high concentration of photo‐generated radical species. The micro‐to‐mesoporous ZnO is like a nanoarray packed Ag‐NPs. With Ag‐NPs of diameter 2.5 < ? < 6.5 nm, ZnO exhibits the most superior photodegradation rate constant value of 0.0239 min^?1 with total formaldehyde removal of 97%. This work presents a new feasible approach involving highly sophisticated Ag‐NP/ZnO architecture combining the SPR effect and hierarchically ordered structures, which results in high photocatalytic activity for formaldehyde photodegradation.     

A Combined Immunofluorescence and Fluorescent Viability Cocktail Staining Procedure for Rapid Microscopic Detection and Enumeration of Live Legionella pneumophila

Journal of Fluorescence - This report describes a combined immunofluorescence and fluorescence viability stain applied as one staining solution for rapid detection of&nbsp;live Legionella...     

The Reductive Dehydration of Cellulose by Solid/Gas Reaction with TiCl4 at Low Temperature: A Cheap,Simple, and Green Process for Preparing Anatase Nanoplates and TiO2/C Composites

Metal oxides and metal oxide/carbon composites are entering the development of new technologies and should therefore to be prepared by sustainable chemistry processes. Therefore, a new aspect of the reactivity of cellulose is presented through its solid/gas reaction with vapour of titanium(IV) chloride in anhydrous conditions at low temperature (80 °C). This reaction leads to two transformations both for cellulose and titanium(IV) chloride. A reductive dehydration of cellulose is seen at the lowest temperature ever reported and results in the formation of a carbonaceous fibrous solid as the only carbon‐containing product. Simultaneously, the in situ generation of water leads to the formation of titanium dioxide with an unexpected nanoplate morphology (ca. 50 nm thickness) and a high photocatalytic activity. We present the evidence showing the evolution of the cellulose and the TiO₂ nanostructure formation, along with its photocatalytic activity. This low‐temperature process avoids any other reagents and is among the greenest processes for the preparation of anatase and also for TiO₂/carbon composites. The anisotropic morphology of TiO₂ questions the role of the cellulose on the growing process of these nanoparticles.