Carbon molecular sieves from PET for separations involving CH4, CO2, O2 and N2

Carbon molecular sieves (CMS) have been made for the first time from PET textile fibres by carbonisation and pore mouth narrowing using CVD of benzene. The diffusion of O₂, N₂, CO₂ and CH₄ in these materials, and also in the commercial CMS Takeda 3A, was studied. It was found that the best PET based CMS was obtained after 10 min CVD time and had adsorption capacities and rates of diffusion similar to those of the Takeda 3A.     

Controlling the micropore size of activated carbons for the treatment of fuels and combustion gases

Exclusively microporous activated carbons have been prepared from cork by physical and chemical activation under different conditions. The results show that it is possible to control the pore size of the activated carbons and to obtain materials with narrow micropore size (≥0.69 nm) and high micropore volume (≤0.64 cm³ g⁻¹) equal to or better than the best activated carbon fibres. Higher micropore volumes are generally obtained by chemical activation at higher temperature using dry or potassium hydroxide impregnation. On the other hand, wet or carbonate impregnation, as well as high temperature, or physical activation with CO₂ or H₂O under appropriate conditions, favours low mean pore widths.     

Development of a selective sorbent for the solid‐phase extraction of terbuthylazine in olive oil samples: A molecular imprinting strategy

Aiming to implement an analytical methodology that is highly selective for the extraction and quantification of terbuthylazine from olive oil, we successfully achieved: (i) the development of a molecularly imprinted polymer by bulk polymerization using terbuthylazine as template molecule, methacrylic acid as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross‐linker, and dichloromethane as porogen; (ii) characterization of the imprinting material using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, nitrogen adsorption at 77 K, and scanning electron microscopy; (iii) their molecular recognition for the template molecule using high‐performance liquid chromatography, and (iv) optimization of a solid‐phase extraction procedure using as sorbent the synthesized molecularly imprinted polymer for the selective extraction and clean‐up of terbuthylazine from spiked organic olive oil and further quantification of the pesticide levels by high‐performance liquid chromatography. The suitability of the implemented analytical methodology was demonstrated, as concentrations of terbuthylazine below the tolerated maximum residue limits in the spiked organic olive oil samples could be satisfactorily analyzed with good precision/accuracy with high recovery rates (96%). Overall, the implemented methodology has proven to be reliable and robust and is highly promising in the field of sample preparation, particularly for the isolation/preconcentration of terbuthylazine in complex food samples.     

New high-energy luminescence bands from Co2+ in ZnSe

Three sharp absorption features in the energy range 2.36–2.55 eV have been detected in the transmission spectrum of Co-diffused ZnSe, and a number of luminescence transitions originating from the lowest of these states at 2.361 eV have been observed. Photoluminescence excitation spectra prove that these are high energy excited states of the Co²⁺_Zn impurity, a conclusion confirmed by comparison of measured and predicted luminescence energies. This represents the first identification of luminescence branching from a higher excited state of a transition metal ion in any semiconductor. The sharp, weakly phonon-coupled transitions involve either intra-impurity excitation or transitions from the impurity to localised states split off from a minimum in the conduction band. The implications of these observations for the mechanism of host-impurity energy transfer and for the nature of the excited state wavefunctions are discussed.