Quantification of a single aggregate inner porosity and pore accessibility using hard X-ray phase-contrast nanotomography

The 3D structure of three individual aggregates composed of 165 nm polystyrene primary particles is revealed nondestructively by hard X-ray phase-contrast synchrotron nanotomography. Three-dimensional image analysis allows us for the first time to obtain the complex inner porosity of the entire aggregate. It is demonstrated that despite their rather compact structure, characterized by a fractal dimension equal to 2.7, the produced aggregates are still porous, with porosity increasing with its size. Generated pores have diameters from 100 nm to 3 μm and are almost completely interconnected.     

Porous structure of natural and modified clinoptilolites

The evaluation of the pore-size distribution (PSD) of natural and modified mesoporous zeolites, i.e., clinoptilolites is presented. We demonstrate the SEM results showing that the pores of fracture-type from 25-50 nm to 100 nm in size between clinoptilolite grains, as well as pores between crystal aggregates up to 500 nm in size are present in the studied material. The detailed distribution of pore sizes and tortuosity factor of the above-mentioned materials are determined from the adsorption-desorption isotherms of nitrogen measured volumetrically at 77 K. To obtain the reliable pore size distribution (PSD) of the above-mentioned materials both adsorption and desorption branches of the experimental hysteresis loop are described simultaneously by recently developed corrugated pore structure model (CPSM) of Androutsopoulos and Salmas. Evaluated pore size distributions are characterized by well-defined smooth peaks placed in the region of the mesoporosity. Moreover, the mean pore diameter calculated from the classical static measurement of nitrogen adsorption at 77 K correspond very well to the pore diameters from SEM, showing the applicability of the CPSM for characterization of the porosity of natural zeolites. We conclude that classical static adsorption measurements combined with the proper modeling of the capillary condensation/evaporation phenomena are a powerful method which can be applied for pore structure characterization of natural and modified clinoptilolites.     

Effect of Temperature on Thermal Treatment of Silica Coated Magnetic Nanoparticles

In the quest for developing a catalyst with as many desired characteristics, a facile synthetic route was designed for the preparation of mesoporous silica coated magnetic nanoparticles(MSMNP) employing a colloid mill reactor. The composite particles were characterized by the techniques, such as nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms, scanning electron microscopy(SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD), thermo-gravimetric analysis(TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR) and vibrating sample magnetometer(VSM), etc. The analysis showed that the resulted MSMNP composites were composed of silica shell layers with open pores connecting channels and NiFe₂O₄ with spinel structure, so the thermal treatment temperature did not show significant effect on pore textural properties, and its specific surface areas were in the range of 443-474 m²/g, while pore volume of about 0.8 cm³/g with an average pore size of around 9.5 nm. The composites with super paramagnetic nature were encapsulated entirely with amorphous silica layers contributing to optimum porosity and abundant surface hydroxyl groups.     

Deposition of spherical particles onto cylindrical solid surfaces. I. Numerical simulations

The permeability of fractal porous aggregates with realistic three-dimensional structure is investigated theoretically using model aggregates composed of identical spherical primary particles. Synthetic aggregates are generated by several techniques, including a lattice-based method, simulation of aggregation by differential settling and turbulent shear, and the specification of simple cubic structures, resulting in aggregates characterized by the number of primary particles, solid fraction, characteristic radius, and fractal dimension. Stokesian dynamics is used to determine the total hydrodynamic force on and the distribution of velocity within an aggregate exposed to a uniform flow. The aggregate permeability is calculated by comparing these values with the total force and velocity distribution calculated from the Brinkman equation applied locally and to the entire aggregate using permeability expressions from the literature. The relationship between the aggregate permeability and solid fraction is found to be best predicted by permeability expressions based on cylindrical rather than spherical geometrical elements, the latter tending to underestimate the aggregate permeability significantly. The permeability expressions of Jackson and James or Davies provide good estimates of the force on and flow through porous aggregates of known structure. These relationships are used to identify a number of general characteristics of fractal aggregates.     

Characterization of the pores in hydrous ferric oxide aggregates formed by freezing and thawing

Hydrous ferric oxides (HFO) are efficient sorbents for inorganic and organic pollutants and therefore have great potentials in environmental science and engineering applications. Freezing and thawing of HFO suspensions leads to the formation of dense HFO aggregates. It facilitates the handling and increases the drying rate of HFO. In this study, we used a combination of pycnometry, gas adsorption (N(2) gas, water vapor), and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) to characterize the porosity and pore size distribution of dense HFO aggregates formed by freezing dialyzed HFO suspensions at -25 degrees C and thawing them at room temperature. The crystallinity of the HFO, which was a 2-line ferrihydrite, was not affected by this treatment. Wet sieving and laser diffraction analysis showed that the dense HFO aggregates had a unimodal size distribution with an average diameter of 235+/-35 microm. Increasing the freezing rate by cooling with liquid N(2) (-196 degrees C) resulted in much smaller aggregates with an average diameter of 20 microm. Adding NaNO(3) electrolyte to the HFO suspensions prior to freezing also resulted in the formation of smaller aggregates. The dense HFO aggregates formed at -25 degrees C had a porosity of 0.73+/-0.02 ll(-1). SANS revealed a unimodal size distribution of pores, with an average pore diameter of 2.0 nm. The diameter of the HFO crystallites was estimated by transmission electron microscopy to be 1.9+/-0.5 nm. Geometrical considerations taking into account the unit particle and average pore size suggest that the crystallites retain 1-2 layers of hydration water during the coagulation induced by freezing. Analysis by N(2) gas adsorption showed that drying the dense HFO aggregates induced a reduction in porosity by about 25% and shifted the pore size distribution to smaller diameters. Rewetting during water vapor adsorption did not induce significant changes of the aggregate structure. The specific surface area of the dry HFO aggregates was between 320 and 380 m(2)g(-1).     

以短链季铵盐/脂肪酸盐为模板合成超微孔二氧化硅

超微孔材料具有1~2 nm的孔径,在分离、催化应用中有望展现出择形催化的能力。 寻找经济、简便的合成超微孔材料的表面活性剂体系是一项有意义的工作。 本研究以短链季铵盐(十烷基三甲基溴化铵,记为C₁₀TAB)和不同链长脂肪酸酸盐混合胶束为模板剂,硅酸钠为硅源,成功制备出高度有序超微孔SiO₂。 通过小角X射线衍射、N₂吸附-脱附、傅里叶变换红外光谱、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和透射电子显微镜(TEM)等技术手段对产品的结构和性能进行了表征。 结果表明,合成体系中脂肪酸盐碳链长、加入量、晶化温度等对产物孔道有序性有很大影响。 当选择正辛酸钠(SO)为助表面活性剂,当n(C₁₀TAB):n(Na₂SiO₃):n(SO):n(H₂O)=1:1.5:0.3:800,晶化温度为80 ℃时,可以得到高度有序超微孔SiO₂。 煅烧后样品比表面积为1300 m²/g,孔体积0.49 cm³/g,孔径分布在1.90 nm。     

Kaolinite flocculation structure

Effective flocculation and dewatering of mineral processing streams containing colloidal clays has become increasingly urgent. Release of water from slurries in tailings streams and dam beds for recycle water consumption, is usually slow and incomplete. To achieve fast settling and minimization of retained water, individual particles need to be bound, in the initial stages of thickening, into large, high-density aggregates, which may sediment more rapidly with lower intra-aggregate water content. Quantitative cryo-SEM image analysis shows that the structure of aggregates formed before flocculant addition has a determinative effect on these outcomes. Without flocculant addition, 3 stages occur in the mechanism of primary dewatering of kaolinite at pH 8: initially, the dispersed structures already show edge-edge (EE) and edge-face (EF) inter-particle associations but these are open, loose and easily disrupted; in the hindered settling region, aggregates are in adherent, chain-like structures of EE and stairstep face-face (FF) associations; this network structure slowly partially rearranges from EE chains to more compact face-face (FF) contacts densifying the aggregates with increased settling rates. During settling, the sponge-like network structure with EE and FF string-like aggregates, limits dewatering because the steric effects in the resulting partially-gelled aggregate structures are dominant. With flocculant addition, the internal structure and networking of the pre-aggregates is largely preserved but they are rapidly and effectively bound together by the aggregate-bridging action of the flocculant. The effects of initial pH and Ca ion addition on these structures are also analyzed. Statistical analysis from cryo-SEM imaging shows that there is an inverse correlation of intra-aggregate porosity with Darcian inter-aggregate permeability whereas there is a strong positive correlation of Darcian permeability with settling and primary dewatering rate as a function of pH in suspension. Graphs of partial void contributions also suggest that it is not total porosity that dominates permeability in these systems but the abundance of larger intra-aggregate voids.     

Pore size distribution of ceramic UF membranes by liquid–liquid displacement porosimetry

Commercial ceramic tubular membranes made by Tami^® have been characterized by several techniques. Their pore size distributions (PSD) have been obtained by liquid–liquid displacement porosimetry (LLDP).

Computerized image analysis (CIA) of SEM pictures has been used to get information on the width of the active layer of the studied membranes. These values of thickness have helped to evaluate the porosity of the membranes and to get representative radii from measurements of the permeability to several gases and liquids. A fully automated porosimeter designed by us has been used in the determination of pore size distributions. Results show a good accuracy and reproducibility of LLDP measurements.

Binary and ternary liquid mixtures have been used to wet and penetrate into the membrane pores when performing LLDP leading to quite similar results when an effective surface tension is assigned for the ternary mixture. This procedure can be used to calibrate the technique to be extended to thick ultrafiltration and even to nanofiltration membranes.     

碳化硅衍生碳/球形天然石墨复合材料的制备及其结构调控

为满足储能领域对于材料兼具高能量密度和高功率密度的需求, 本文旨在将具有特殊孔隙结构的碳化物衍生碳与具有高导电性和高能量存储密度的石墨化碳(球形天然石墨)相复合, 制备得到一种多孔碳化硅衍生碳/球形天然石墨(SiC-CDCs@NG)复合材料. 采用X射线衍射(XRD)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、透射电子显微镜(TEM)、拉曼光谱、N₂吸/脱附等方法对材料的组成、结构、形貌、孔结构和比表面积等进行了表征. 结果表明,SiC-CDCs@NG材料具有较大的且可调节的比表面积和微孔体积, 微孔孔径集中在0.5-0.7 nm范围内; 通过改变NG/Si 摩尔比, 可以有效调控CDCs壳和NG核在复合材料中的组成分布、CDCs微孔的体积、孔径分布和比表面积.     

Effect of porosity on the effective electrical conductivity of different ceramic membranes used as separators in eletrochemical reactors

Different microporous ceramic membranes have been investigated to be used as separators in electrochemical reactors. The effect of porosity on the effective electrical conductivity of the ceramic membranes has been studied. The porosity of the membranes has been modified by changing the manufacturing pressure and by the addition of starch to the alumina–kaolin matrix. In the absence of starch the pore size distribution becomes more uniform with the increase of the manufacturing pressure, and lower porosities and average pore sizes are obtained. On the other hand, the porosity and the average pore size increase with the addition of starch to the alumina–kaolin matrix, but pore size distribution is less uniform and becomes bimodal with two different characteristic pore diameters.

The effective electrical conductivity of the membranes, κ_eff, increases with the decrease of manufacturing pressure and with the increase of starch content. The following correlation between the effective electrical conductivity and the porosity has been obtained: f_c = κ_eff/κ = 0.35 ^1.04, where κ is the electrolyte electrical conductivity.     

Nanoporous metals with controlled multimodal pore size distribution

A simple two-step dealloying strategy is described to make free-standing metal membranes with hierarchical porous architecture. This structure has a bimodal pore size distribution composed of large porosity channels and small porosity channel walls, where each pore size can be tailored independently of the others. A new gas-phase electroless plating technique was also developed here that could be used to uniformly fill porous structures with pore size as small as 10 nm.     

Status of cross-flow membrane emulsification and outlook for industrial application

Cross-flow membrane emulsification has great potential to produce monodisperse emulsions and emulsions with shear sensitive components. However, until now, only low disperse phase fluxes were obtained. A low flux may be a limiting factor for emulsion production on a commercial scale. Therefore, the effects of membrane parameters on the disperse phase flux are estimated. Besides, the effects of these parameters on the droplet size and droplet size distribution are qualitatively described. Wetting properties, pore size and porosity mainly determine the droplet size (distribution). Membrane morphology largely determines the disperse phase flux. As an example, industrial-scale production of culinary cream was chosen to evaluate the required membrane area of different types of membranes: an SPG membrane, an -Al₂O₃ membrane and a microsieve. Due to the totally different morphologies of these membranes, the fraction of active pores is 1 for a microsieve and is very low for the other membranes. The choice of the optimal membrane did not depend on the production strategy: either to produce large quantities or to produce monodisperse emulsions, the best suitable was a microsieve with an area requirement of around 1 m². In general, the total membrane resistance should be low to obtain a large disperse phase flux. In contrast, the membrane resistance should be high to obtain monodisperse emulsions when using membranes with a high porosity.     

Designed fabrication of ordered porous au/ag nanostructured films for surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates

This article reports the designed preparation of two different kinds of novel porous metal nanostructured films, namely, an ordered macroporous Au/Ag nanostructured film and an ordered hollow Au/Ag nanostructured film. Different from previous reports, the presently proposed method can be conveniently used to control film structures by simply varying the experimental conditions. The morphology of these films has been characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and their performance as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates has been evaluated by using rhodamine 6G (R6G) as a probe molecule. We show that such porous nanostructured films consisting of larger interconnected aggregates are highly desirable as SERS substrates in terms of high Raman intensity enhancement, excellent stability, and reproducibility. The interconnected nanostructured aggregate, long-range ordering porosity, and nanoscale roughness are important factors responsible for this large SERS enhancement ability.     

Aggregate formation and collision efficiency in differential settling

A new method of application of Stokesian dynamics, which can efficiently simulate movements of up to 500 particles with interparticle interactions in reasonable computational times, has been developed for the purpose of investigating particle-cluster aggregation in aqueous systems. The method is applied to monodisperse non-Brownian spherical particles aggregating in differential settling, while repulsive colloidal interaction is presumed to be negligible, so that a minimum separation distance can represent the attractive van der Waals force. The final aggregates formed by this algorithm, composed of 300 primary particles, have a common fractal dimension of approximately 2.0. The computed collision efficiency, defined as the product of a global and a capture efficiency, is about 5.77x10(-3). This value is significantly larger than the collision efficiency of primary particles colliding with an impermeable solid sphere of the same size as the aggregate, illustrating the important interplay between the permeability and the formation of aggregates.     

二氧化锡/石墨烯柔性电极的制备及其在锂离子电池中的应用

采用简便的抽滤装置制备了三明治结构的不同粒径大小的二氧化锡(SnO_2)/石墨烯柔性薄膜电极,通过X射线衍射(XRD)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、透射电子显微镜(TEM)、原子力显微镜(AFM)、比表面积(BET)和电化学等测试技术手段对样品结构、形貌和电化学性能进行表征,研究了二氧化锡颗粒大小对复合电极电化学性能的影响。结果表明,当SnO_2纳米颗粒的粒径为6 nm时柔性复合电极表现出最优的电化学性能,在100 m A/g的电流密度下经过100次循环后,可逆比容量保持在555 m A·h/g,远高于纯SnO_2和粒径过大或过小的SnO_2/石墨烯复合电极。     

On techniques for the measurement of the mass fractal dimension of aggregates

A review is presented of a number of techniques available for the characterisation of the structure of aggregates formed from suspensions of sub-micron particles. Amongst the experimental techniques that have been commonly used are scattering (light, X-ray or neutron), settling and imaging and these are the focus of this work. The theoretical basis for the application of fractal geometry to characterisation of flocs and aggregates is followed by a discussion of the strengths and limitations of the above techniques. Of the scattering techniques available, light scattering provides the greatest potential for use as a tool for structure characterisation even though interpretation of the scattered intensity pattern is complicated by the strong interaction of light and matter. Restructuring further complicates the analysis. Although settling has long been used to characterise particle behaviour, the absence of an accurate permeability model limits the technique as a means of determining the porosity of fractal aggregates. However, it can be argued that the determination of fractal dimension is relatively unaffected. The strength of image analysis lies in its ability to provide a great deal of information about particle morphology and the weaknesses lie in the difficulties with image processing and sample size as this is a particle counting technique. There are very few papers which compare the fractal dimension measured by more than one technique. Light scattering potentially provides a useful tool for checking settling results. However, further work is required to develop proper models for aggregate permeability and flow-through effects.     

Effect of acidity on the formation of silica–chitosan hybrid materials and thermal conductive property

In this study, the formation of silica–chitosan hybrid materials via sol–gel process under pH values of 2–6 were investigated using N₂ sorption analysis, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, thermal analysis and zeta potential analyzer. The hierarchical structure consisting of meso- and macropore was formed when pH value was higher than 2. Mesopores were formed as the interparticle channels of silica nanoparticles aggregates, whereas macropores were the void between the aggregates (clusters). The clusters size was decreased with increasing the pH value, resulting in the increase of the macroporosity. The thermal conductivity of the products was controlled in the range of 0.06 and 0.13 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ by varying the product porosity between 88 and 69% (pH 6 and pH 2, respectively).     

中空纤维担载氧化硅膜的制备及结构研究

采用SXRD,HRTEM,FTIR,SEM和氮气吸附等测试手段对膜结构、形貌、孔径及其分布进行了表征.SXRD和HRTEM结果显示,所制备的膜具有短程有序结构.SEM分析发现膜表面完整.气体渗透实验表明,担载膜具有一定的气体选择性,在0.1MPa下对H₂/N₂和CH₄/N₂的分离因子分别为2.25和1.56,气体透过膜孔的扩散由努森机制所控制.等温氮气吸附实验显示,经500℃热处理后氧化硅膜的最可几孔径小于3.34nm,非担载膜的比表面积为919.8m²/g,孔容为0.43mL/g.     

焦化过程半焦孔隙结构时空变化规律的实验研究——孔隙率、比表面积、孔径分布的变化

以井式加热炉(φ150mm×300mm) 为主体模拟工业炼焦过程，借助压汞法考察了焦化过程中不同焦化温度、炉内径向不同位置半焦的孔隙结构参数的变化。结果表明，半焦中存在丰富的大孔和中孔，孔隙率和比表面积随焦化温度、径向位置呈规律性变化；相同焦化温度下，由边缘沿中心方向先减少后增加；相同位置下，孔隙率随着温度的升高逐渐变小，至900℃后孔隙率略有增大，比表面积在900℃左右达到最小值后随温度升高又迅速增加；此外，半焦孔隙以孔径大于5.0μm的孔为主，孔径小于0.4μm、介于0.4μm～5.0μm和大于5.0μm的孔累积孔隙分率分别约占总孔体积分数的10％、20％和70％，孔径分布的高峰处于60 μm～150μm。SEM分析显示，焦柱中存在丰富的大孔，且边缘和中心处孔径较大。     

尿素改性β-分子筛催化苯与煤制油烷基化制重烷基苯

对β-分子筛(n(Si)：n(Al)=15：1)分别进行酸洗、碱洗改性,制备出孔结构、酸性等性质不同的分子筛催化剂。 通过扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、X射线衍射(XRD)、N₂吸附-脱附、NH₃-TPD和Py-FTIR等表征手段对分子筛催化剂的结构、性能及其在苯的烷基化反应中的应用进行了研究。 结果表明,盐酸浸洗对β-分子筛的孔径、比表面积及孔容均有扩大作用,但在酸性上有所减弱;NaOH溶液浸洗造成了分子筛骨架的崩塌,对其酸性与孔结构均造成了破坏;尿素改性不仅改善了分子筛的孔结构性质,而且对分子筛酸性影响较小,是一种温和、有效的改性方式。 尿素改性β-分子筛催化剂催化苯与煤基冷阱油的烷基化反应活性最好,烯烃转化率达91.2%,且重烷基苯2位异构体(2-HAB)和3位异构体(3-HAB)在产物中含量最高,选择性分别为50.1%和33.5%,占整个烷基化产物的84%。