Dissociative adsorption of alkanes on clean and sulfur-modified nickel surfaces

Recent studies of the dissociative adsorption of methane on clean Ni(111), Ni(100), Ni(110), and sulfur-modified Ni(100), as well as ethane, propane, and n-butane on Ni(100) have been carried out under the high incident flux conditions of 1.00 Torr methane, 0.10 Torr ethane, 0.01 Torr propane, and 0.001 Torr n-butane, respectively. It has been found that the activation energies for these processes range from 3.1±1.0 to 13.3±1.5 kcal mol^–1. A comparison with the results of corresponding molecular beam studies suggests that the effects of vibrational energy on sticking probabilities must be accounted for and the sticking probabilities of molecules with very low normal kinetic energies must be accurately known when attempting to model high pressure processes using molecular beam techniques. While dissociation of ethane, propane, and n-butane on Ni(100) is believed to proceed primarily via a trapped molecular precursor, the results on sulfur-modified Ni(100) surface indicate that the direct channel to methane dissociation likely dominates and the contribution from the trapped molecular precursor mechanism is likely relatively small, with the sulfur atoms poisoning this reaction by a simple site blocking mechanism.     

Adsorption and dissociation kinetics of alkanes on CaO(100)

The adsorption kinetics of ethane, butane, pentane, and hexane on CaO(100) have been studied by multi-mass thermal desorption (TDS) spectroscopy. The sample cleanliness was checked by Auger electron spectroscopy. A molecular and dissociative adsorption pathway was evident for the alkanes, except for ethane, which does not undergo bond activation. Two TDS peaks appeared when recording the parent mass, which are assigned to different adsorption sites/configurations of the molecularly adsorbed alkanes. Bond activation leads to desorption of hydrogen and several alkane fragments assigned to methane and ethylene formation. Only one TDS feature is seen in this case. Formation of carbon residuals was absent.     

Zut Kinetik der plasmachemischen Methan-Umsetzung in einer stillen elektrischen Entladung

In a silent electrical discharge of barrier type operated at 50 Hz, 10 resp. 20 kV alternating voltages and pressures of 3.32–9.96 × 10⁴ Pa methane was plasmachemically converted to simple hydrocarbons. Ethane and propane were identified as main gaseous products, whereas butane, acetylene, ethylene and propylene occurred in distinct lower concentrations. The decay of methane in dependence on discharge time corresponds up to 1000 s strongly to an exponential function. The formation of alkanes especially ethane follows according to the scheme of a successive reaction; it can be well described kinetically by a 1st order rate equation.     

Probing Zinc–Protein–Chelant Interactions Using Gold Nanoparticles Functionalized with Zinc‐Responsive Polypeptides

The coordination of zinc by proteins and various other organic molecules is essential for numerous biological processes, such as in enzymatic catalysis, metabolism, and signal transduction. Presence of small molecular chelants can have a profound effect on the bioavailability of zinc and affect critical Zn²⁺–protein interactions. Zn²⁺ chelators are also emerging therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease because of their preventive effect on zinc‐promoted amyloid formation. Despite the importance of zinc–protein–chelant interactions in biology and medicine, probing such interactions is challenging. Here, an innovative approach is introduced for real‐time characterization of zinc–protein–chelant interactions using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) functionalized with a zinc‐responsive protein mimetic polypeptide. The peptide‐functionalized AuNPs aggregate extensively in the presence of Zn²⁺, triggered by specific Zn²⁺‐mediated polypeptide dimerization and folding, causing a massive red shift of the plasmon band. Chelants affects the Zn²⁺–polypeptide interaction and thus the aggregation differently depending on their concentrations, zinc‐binding affinities, and coordination numbers, which affect the position of the plasmon band. This system is a simple and powerful tool that provides extensive information about the interactions of chelants in the formation of Zn²⁺ coordination complexes, and an interesting platform for development of bioanalytical techniques, and characterization of chelation‐based therapeutics.     

Dissociation of alkane ionized molecules

The subject of investigation is the fragmentation of variously charged molecular ions arising in col-lisions of several kiloelectronvolt H⁺, He²⁺, and Ar⁶⁺ ions with molecules of the simplest alkanes (from methane to butane). Using the method of time-of-flight mass spectrometry, the formation cross sections of dissociation-induced fragment ions are measured. The dissociation takes place when an incident ion captures an electron from a methane, ethane, or propane molecule. The role of additional ionization of the molecule, which accompanies the electron capture by the incident ion, is elucidated. The kinetic energy spectrum for protons resulting from the fragmentation of multiply charged alkane ions is determined. The most plausible kinetic energies of protons depending on the degree of ionization and molecule size fall into the range 1–25 eV. It is shown that, when the molecule loses several electrons, the kinetic energies of protons are governed by Coulomb interaction between all fragment ions and are determined by their flying apart from the relative spatial arrangement of corresponding atoms in a parent molecule.     

Preparation of Zn2+–Ni2+–Fe3+–CO32−LDHs and study of photocatalytic activities for decomposition of Methyl Orange solution

New type photocatalytic materials of Zn²⁺–Ni²⁺–Fe³⁺–CO₃^2?LDHs were prepared by complexing agent-assisted homogeneous precipitation technique and Zn(NO₃)₂·6H₂O, Ni(NO₃)·6H₂O, Fe(NO₃)₃·9H₂O used as raw materials in the case of molar ratio of Zn²⁺/Ni²⁺/Fe³⁺ = 1:6:2. Zn²⁺–Ni²⁺–Fe³⁺–CO₃^2?LDHs having a specific surface area of 96.5 m²/g. The structure and catalytic properties of the material were systematically studied. The experimental results show that the Zn²⁺–Ni²⁺–Fe³⁺–CO₃^2?LDHs has a higher adsorption performance and lower band gap which make it an excellent catalyst for reducing the degradation of the methyl orange. Study on the process of photocatalytic reaction shows that Methyl Orange was adsorbed to the layer of Zn²⁺–Ni²⁺–Fe³⁺–CO₃^2?LDHs, and then it was photodecomposed to inorganic molecules and ions by Zn²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Fe³⁺ on the surface of Zn²⁺–Ni²⁺–Fe³⁺–CO₃^2?LDHs.     

Measurement and modeling of the sooting propensity of binary fuel mixtures

The sooting behaviour of binary fuel mixtures was evaluated both experimentally and through computer simulations. The soot volume fraction in laminar diffusion flames of mixtures of ethylene/propane, methane/ethylene, methane/propane, methane/ethane, methane/butane, ethane/propane and ethane/ethylene fuels was measured using 2-dimensional line of sight attenuation. A synergistic effect was observed for the ethylene/propane, methane/ethylene, methane/ethane and ethane/ethylene mixtures. The synergistic effect translated into a higher soot concentration for a mixture fraction than could be yielded by the added contribution of both pure fuels. Such an effect was not observed for the methane/propane, methane/butane and ethane/propane mixtures. Through experiments in which the flame temperature was kept constant, it was determined that the synergistic effect in the methane/ethylene mixture is very temperature dependent whereas, that in the ethylene/propane mixture is not. This phenomenon was further studied through the modeling of the ethylene/propane mixture. Numerical simulations were carried out using two different soot models. The simulations confirmed the presence of a synergistic effect. It was found that the effect could be directly correlated to a synergistic effect in the concentration of n-C₄H₅ and n-C₄H₃, which could be traced back to an interaction between ethylene and methyl radical species. These results yield further insight into the pathways to soot formation and highlight the importance of further analyzing binary fuel mixtures as a means of understanding soot formation in practical devices using industrial fuels.     

In situ high temperature MAS NMR study of the mechanisms of catalysis. Ethane aromatization on Zn-modified zeolite BEA

Ethane conversion into aromatic hydrocarbons over Zn-modified zeolite BEA has been analyzed by high-temperature MAS NMR spectroscopy. Information about intermediates (Zn-ethyl species) and reaction products (mainly toluene and methane), which were formed under the conditions of a batch reactor, was obtained by ¹³C MAS NMR. Kinetics of the reaction, which was monitored by ¹H MAS NMR in situ at the temperature of 573 K, provided information about the reaction mechanism. Simulation of the experimental kinetics within the frames of the possible kinetic schemes of the reaction demonstrates that a large amount of methane evolved under ethane aromatization arises from the stage of direct ethane hydrogenolysis.     

Reactive molecular dynamic simulations of hydrocarbon dissociations on Ni(111) surfaces

Empirical potential parameters for H, C and Ni elements have been developed for the ReaxFF force field in order to study the decomposition of small hydrocarbon molecules on nickel using molecular dynamics simulations. These parameters were optimized using the geometrical and energetic information obtained from density functional (DFT) calculations on a subset of hydrogen and methane reactions with nickel (111) surfaces. The resulting force field was then used to obtain a molecular perspective of the dynamics of the methane dissociative adsorption on Ni(111) as well as two other small alkane molecules, ethane and n-butane. NVT simulations of dissociative adsorption of methane over a range of temperatures enabled the estimation of the sticking coefficient for the adsorption as well as the activation energy of the first C–H bond breaking. The rate constants of each elementary step (both forward and reverse) of CH_x dissociation on Ni(111) were obtained by monitoring the surface species and a microkinetic model was constructed as a result. Qualitative analyses of the simulations of ethane and n-butane decompositions on Ni(111) demonstrate that such reactive MD technique can also be used to obtain useful information on complex reaction networks.     

Vanadium ions in zinc oxide

Trace amounts of trivalent vanadium in zinc oxide single crystals can be converted into divalent ions by heating the samples in an atmosphere of zinc vapor. The ESR spectra of V²⁺ have been investigated at low temperature and the parameters of the spin-Hamiltonian were determined by making use of a computer program. The parameter values for V³⁺ have been refined. The ions are assumed to be at substitutional Zn²⁺ sites.     

Catalytic ignition of light hydrocarbons over Rh/Al2O3 studied in a stagnation-point flow reactor

The ignition (light-off) temperatures of catalytic oxidation reactions provide very useful information for understanding their surface reaction mechanism. In this study, the ignition behavior of the oxidation of hydrogen (H₂), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH₄), ethane (C₂H₆), and propane (C₃H₈) over Rh/alumina catalysts is examined in a stagnation-point flow reactor. The light-off temperatures are identified by means of the sudden increase of the catalyst temperature when linearly heating the catalyst for various fuel/oxygen ratios. For hydrogen and all hydrocarbons studied, the results show a rise of ignition temperature with increasing fuel/oxygen ratio, whereas the opposite trend is observed for the light-off of CO oxidation. Hydrogen oxidation, however, shows an opposite trend compared to previous investigations, performed on platinum [1], [2].     

N-benzoate-N′ salicylaldehyde ethynelediamine: A new fluorescent sensor for Zn2+ ion by “off-on” mode

Imbalance of zinc ion (Zn²⁺) in human body causes diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and therefore Zn²⁺ estimation in biological fluids has diagnostic values. Fluorescence “off-on” sensors have advantages of high sensitivity and in situ application over other sensors. A new fluorescent “off-on” Zn²⁺ sensor, N-benzoate-N′ salicylaldehyde ethynelediamine (L), has been synthesisied. In 1:1(v/v) CH₃OH:PBS (PBS?=?phosphate buffer solution), L shows ca. 20 times enhancement in fluorescence intensity on interaction with Zn²⁺, due to snapping of photoinduced electron transfer (PET) process, which is selective over metal ions - Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺, Hg²⁺ and Pb²⁺. These metal ions either individually or all together does not interfere the sensing ability of L towards Zn²⁺. A 1:1 interaction between L and Zn²⁺ ion with binding constant 10^4.25 has been established from spectroscopic data.     

Methanol synthesis from methane and oxygen with [Ga Cr]/Cu–Zn–Al catalyst in a dielectric barrier discharge

Direct methanol synthesis by methane (CH₄) oxidation has been thoroughly investigated in the presence of copper–zinc–alumina (CZA) catalyst doped with Ga and Cr. Low thermal plasma condition has been selected as the reaction media to allow high excitation level of stable gases, i.e., methane (CH₄) and oxygen (O₂). It shows that CZA catalyst produced a good reaction performance in the plasma process by increasing methanol production more than twice higher than noncatalytic plasma process. A catalytic modification of CZA catalyst by Ga and Cr addition was conducted to boost the yield of methanol production. The presence of Ga and Cr led to the increment of methanol yield ca. 20–25 % compared to pure or original CZA catalyst.     

Spektren und Winkelverteilungen der Photoelektronen von Atomen und Molekülen

The photoelectron energy spectra produced by the impact of 584 Å photons on the gases Kr, H₂, N₂, O₂, CO, NO and several alkanes are reported. The angular distribution of photoelectrons corresponding to the simultaneous formation of specific electronic states of the ion have been measured in the range 30°—130°. A preference for electron ejection in the direction of light propagation is shown in the formation of the electronic ground states of NO⁺ and O ₂ ⁺ . Both involve the ejection of an electron from aπ _g orbital. The onset energies for the various electronic states have been obtained with a resolution of ca. 40 meV. The relative transition probabilities for formation of various electronic states in a given molecular ion, as well as the Franck-Condon factors within specific states have been obtained. Similar experiments with the alkanes (methane, ethane, propane, and n-butane) reveal directly the existence of widely separated electron states (or grouping of states) in the ion, as well as the probability of forming these states. This energy distribution function, of vital importance to the study of the unimolecular decay of ions, could only be inferred previously by use of a questionable assumption.     

Characterization of LaMnAl11O19 by FT-IR spectroscopy of adsorbed NO and NO/O2

The nature of the NO_x species produced during the adsorption of NO at room temperature and during its coadsorption with oxygen on LaMnAl₁₁O₁₉ sample with magnetoplumbite structure obtained by a sol-gel process has been investigated by means of in situ FT-IR spectroscopy. The adsorption of NO leads to formation of anionic nitrosyls and/or cis-hyponitrite ions and reveals the presence of coordinatively unsaturated Mn³⁺ ions. Upon NO/O₂ adsorption at room temperature various nitro-nitrato structures are observed. The nitro-nitrato species produced with the participation of electrophilic oxygen species decompose at 350 °C directly to N₂ and O₂. No NO decomposition is observed in absence of molecular oxygen. The adsorbed nitro-nitrato species are inert towards the interaction with methane and block the active sites (Mn³⁺ ions) for its oxidation. Noticeable oxidation of the methane on the NOx⁻-precovered sample is observed at temperatures higher than 350 °C due to the liberation of the active sites as a result of decomposition of the surface nitro-nitrato species. Mechanism explaining the promoting effect of the molecular oxygen in the NO decomposition is proposed.     

A theoretical density functional study of association of Zn2+ with oxazolidine and its thio derivatives in the gas phase

We have performed density functional theory (DFT) calculations in order to study the gas‐phase interaction of oxo‐ and thio‐oxazolidine derivatives with Zn²⁺. The calculations were performed at B3LYP/6‐311+(2df,2p) level of theory. It has been found, in all cases, that the direct association of Zn²⁺ with the carbonyl and thiocarbonyl groups takes place at the heteroatom attached to position 2 irrespective of its nature. This preference has been attributed to the resonance effects caused by the nearest heteroatoms (oxygen and nitrogen). The most stable complexes correspond to structures with Zn²⁺ bridging between the heteroatom at position 2 or 4 of the 4‐ or 2‐enol (or the 4‐ or 2‐enethiol) tautomer and the dehydrogenated ring nitrogen atom, N3. Zn²⁺ association has a clear catalytic effect on the tautomerization processes which connect the oxo–thione forms with the enol–enethiol tautomers. Hence, although the enol–enethiol tautomers of oxazolidine and its thio derivatives should not be observed in the gas phase, the corresponding Zn²⁺ complexes are the most stable species and should be accessible, because the tautomerization barriers are smaller than the Zn²⁺ binding energies. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

C-radiolabeling study of methanol decomposition on copper oxide modified mesoporous SBA-15 silica

¹¹C-radiolabeling technique is applied to investigate methanol decomposition on copper oxide modified SBA-15. Nitrogen physisorption, XRD, FTIR, UV-vis and TPR techniques are used for catalyst characterization. Selective adsorption coverage of the catalytic active sites with ¹¹C- and ¹²C-methanol molecules is carried out and the products of their conversion are followed. The mechanism of methyl formate, methylal and CO₂ formation from methanol is discussed.     

Line strength and collisional broadening coefficients of H2O at 2.7 μm for natural gas quality assurance applications

We employed tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy to measure the line strength, the methane (CH₄), ethane (C₂H₆) and the propane (C₃H₈) broadening coefficients for the 523–422 H₂O transition at 3619.61 cm^?1. Water amount fractions generated by a stable and accurate humidity transfer standard, traceable to the SI units via the German national humidity standard, were used to calibrate the spectroscopic line strength measurements. We focus on the traceability of the measured line data to the SI and on uncertainty assessments following the guidelines of the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement. We determined the line strength to be (8.42 ± 0.07)×10^?20 cm^?1/(cm^?2 molecule) corresponding to a relative uncertainty of ±0.8%. To the best of our knowledge, we report the first methane, ethane and propane broadening coefficients of (8.037 ± 0.056)×10^?5 cm^?1/hPa, (9.077 ± 0.064)×10^?5 cm^?1/hPa and (10.469 ± 0.073)×10^?5 cm^?1/hPa for the 523–422 H₂O transition at 3619.61 cm^?1, respectively. The relative combined uncertainties of the stated CH₄, C₂H₆ and C₃H₈ broadening coefficients are in the ±0.7% range.     

Research on Si-Al based catalysts prepared by complete liquid-phase method for DME synthesis in a slurry reactor

A series of Si-Al based DME synthesis catalysts were prepared by complete liquid-phase method and characterized by in situ XPS, XRD, N₂ adsorption and NH₃-TPD analyses. Based on the results, the addition of Si could adjust the pore structure and surface acidity of catalyst, exhibiting a strong promoting effect on the CO conversion and DME selectivity. However, when Si/Al ratio is higher, Si would cover active sites and increase the amount of strong acidity sites, causing the reduction in catalytic activity. It was found from in situ XPS characterization that Cu⁰ is the active center of methanol synthesis in DME production, and the addition of Si changes the chemical surroundings of active components and weaken the interaction between Cu, Zn and Al, which maybe give rise to the decrease in catalyst stability.     

Modeling the properties of methane + ethane (Propane) binary hydrates,depending on the composition of gas phase state in equilibrium with hydrate

The properties of methane + ethane and methane + propane hydrates of cubic structures sI and sII are theoretically investigated. It is shown that the composition of the formed binary hydrate strongly depends on the percentage of a heavier guest in gas phase. For instance, for a 1% molar ethane concentration in gas phase, even at a low pressure, ethane occupies 60% large cavities in the hydrate sII, and as the pressure grows to 100 atm, it occupies 80% large cavities at a low temperature. The tendency remains the same at a temperature of higher than the ice melting point, but the methane concentration in the hydrate decreases to 30%. In the structure sI, the influence of the component composition of the gas mixture on that of the formed hydrate is less evident. However, in this case, calculation showed also that for a 1% molar ethane concentration in gas phase, ethane molecules occupy from 8 to 10% large hydrate cavities, depending on the pressure. This work is concerned with modeling phase transitions between cubic structures sI and sII of methane + ethane binary hydrates in view of incomplete occupation of cavities in the hydrate by guest molecules. For an ethane concentration under 2% in the gas mixture, the structure sII becomes more thermodynamically stable than the structure sI. However, as the ethane concentration grows to 20% in the equilibrium ice-gas-hydrate and to 40% in the equilibrium water-gas-hydrate, the structure sI becomes more thermodynamically stable. Hence, for low ethane concentrations in a gas mixture, the structure sI can be formed only as a metastable phase. Phase equilibria of methane hydrate sI and mixed methane + propane hydrate sII are considered, depending on the gas phase composition. Similar results are obtained for this equilibrium; this can evidence simultaneous formation of hydrates sI and sII at low propane concentrations.