Amoxicillin removal from aqueous solutions using hollow fibre supported liquid membrane: kinetic study

Amoxicillin was removed from aqueous solutions using hollow fibre supported liquid membrane system (HFSLM). After evaluation of the influencing variables, the highest permeation coefficient of amoxicillin reached 2.778 × 10^?4 ms^?1 when the length of hollow fibres was 15 cm and the operating time was 60 min. Then, the reaction flux models of extraction and stripping were calculated. Thereafter, the modelling results were compared with the experimental data at standard deviations of 2.07 and 3.19%. In the comparison of carrier and diluent, the best conditions were achieved when Aliquat 336 and 1-Decanol were used. Results showed that amoxicillin extraction and stripping were of first and zero reaction orders; their reaction rate constants were 0.0344 min^?1 and 0.0445 mg/L·min, respectively.     

Effect of annealing on electrical responses of electrode and surface layer in giant-permittivity CuO ceramic

The effect of heat treatments on the electrical responses of the electrode and surface layer in a giant-permittivity CuO ceramic is investigated. It is found that the giant low-frequency relative permittivity of the CuO ceramic can be tuned by annealing in Ar and O₂—it can be reduced by annealing in Ar, and then it can be enhanced up to the initial value by annealing in O₂. The results indicate to the effect of oxygen vacancy concentration on the giant dielectric properties of the CuO ceramic. Interestingly, three sets of dielectric relaxations are observed in the O₂–annealed sample, which can be assigned as the effects of outmost surface layer, electrode, and grain boundary. Our results reveal that the giant low-frequency dielectric response in the CuO ceramic is associated with both of the interfacial polarization at the sample–electrode interface resulted from a non-Ohmic electrode contact and the outmost surface layer-inner part interface.     

Nanocrystalline CaCu<Subscript>3</Subscript>Ti<Subscript>4</Subscript>O<Subscript>12</Subscript> powders prepared by egg white solution route: synthesis,characterization and its giant dielectric properties

Nanocrystalline CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ powders with particle sizes of 50–90 nm were synthesized by a simple method using Ca(NO₃)₂·4H₂O, Cu(NO₃)₂·4H₂O, titanium(diisoproproxide) bis(2,4-pentanedionate) and freshly extracted egg white (ovalbumin) in aqueous medium. The synthesized precursor was characterized by TG-DTA to determine the thermal decomposition and crystallization temperature which was found to be at above 400 °C. The precursor was calcined at 700 and 800 °C in air for 8 h to obtain nanocrystalline powders of CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂. The calcined CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ powders were characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM and TEM. Sintering of the powders was conducted in air at 1100 °C for 16 h. The XRD results indicated that all sintered samples have a typical perovskite CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ structure and a small amount of CuO, although the sintered sample of the 700 °C calcined powders contained some amount of CaTiO₃. SEM micrographs showed the average grain sizes of 12.0±7.8 and 15.5±8.9 μm for the sintered CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ ceramics prepared using the CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ powders calcined at 700 and 800 °C, respectively. The sintered samples exhibit a giant dielectric constant, ε^′ of ∼ 1.5–5×10⁴. The dielectric behavior of both samples exhibits Debye-like relaxation, and can be explained based on a Maxwell–Wagner model. PACS 77.22.Gm; 81.05.Je; 81.07.Wx; 81.20.Ev     

Electrical responses and dielectric relaxations in giant permittivity NaCu3Ti3TaO12 ceramics

Conductive and highly transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films were prepared on photosensitive glass substrates by the combination of sol–gel and spin-coating techniques. First, the substrates were coated with amorphous Sn-doped indium hydroxide, and these amorphous films were then calcined at 550^∘C to produce crystalline and electrically conductive ITO layers. The resulting thin films were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The measurements revealed that the ITO films were composed of spherical crystallites around 20 nm in size with mainly cubic crystal structure. The ITO films acted as antireflection coatings increasing the transparency of the coated substrates compared to that of the bare supports. The developed ITO films with a thickness of ∼170–330 nm were highly transparent in the visible spectrum with sheet resistances of 4.0–13.7 kΩ/sq. By coating photosensitive glass with ITO films, our results open up new perspectives in micro- and nano-technology, for example in fabricating conductive and highly transparent 3D microreactors.     

Nanocrystalline CaCu<Subscript>3</Subscript>Ti<Subscript>4</Subscript>O<Subscript>12</Subscript> powder by PVA sol–gel route: synthesis,characterization and its giant dielectric constant

Nanocrystalline CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ powders were synthesized by a simple PVA sol–gel route and calcined at 700 and 800°C in air for 8 h. The diameter of the powders ranges from 40–100 nm. The calcined CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ powders were characterized by TG-DTA, XRD, FTIR, SEM, and TEM. Sintering of the powders was conducted in air at 1100°C for 16 h. The XRD results indicated that all sintered samples had a typical perovskite CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ structure although the sintered samples contained some amount of CaTiO₃. SEM of the sintered CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ ceramics showed the average grain sizes of 13–15 μm. The samples exhibit a giant dielectric constant, ε′∼10⁵ at 150 to 200°C with weak temperature dependence below 1 kHz in the sample sintered using the powders calcined at 700°C. The Maxwell–Wagner polarization mechanism is used to explain the high permittivity in these ceramics. It is also found that all sintered samples have the same activation energy of grains, which is ∼0.122 eV.