Mesoporous polymer-coated PAN beads for environmental applications: fabrication,characterisation and uranium adsorption studies

Adsorption of U(VI) and other heavy metals on millimetre sized polymer-coated polyacrylinitrile (PAN) beads was investigated. PAN was used as scaffolds for the polymer layer thus producing porous material of high surface area, improved mechanical strength and improved adsorption capabilities. Extensive U(VI) adsorption studies were undertaken and results modelled using different kinetic and equilibrium models. Parameters including thermodynamic parameters were evaluated. Sorbent capacities were assessed as 124, 16, and 33 mg g^?1 for PCP, SPP and Dowex at 60 °C respectively. U(VI) adsorption mechanism for these adsorbents was postulated. Recovered uranium may be used for production of cheap electricity.     

Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) of Nok sculptures in I. P. Stanback Museum

Biochar prepared from Triticum aestivum straw (SB) was used to investigate the sorption separation of Cd²⁺ and Co²⁺ ions in single and binary systems. The maximum adsorption capacity of SB was higher for Cd²⁺ ions and the process was strongly pH dependent. Adsorption data in the binary system Cd²⁺–Co²⁺ were well described by the extended Langmuir model and the values of affinity parameter b indicate a higher affinity of SB to Cd²⁺ in comparison with Co²⁺ ions. The mechanisms for the removal of Cd and Co by biochar were evidenced by the different instrumental analyses as well as by chemical speciation modeling. Elemental mapping of SB revealed spatial distributions of cobalt and cadmium on biochar surfaces. The role of functional groups in metal sorption was confirmed by FTIR. Results demonstrate that SB is a promising heavy metal-immobilizing agent for contaminated soils or water.     

Novel approach to the synthesis of istaroxime

Istaroxime 1, a novel cardiotonic agent with high efficiency and low toxicity was synthesized from dehydroepiandrosterone 2 using a novel approach that included epoxidation, ring-opening, substitution, and oximation. The new protocol without gas protection was milder than the reported approaches. The overall yield of the method was 24.1%.     

Application of thermal analysis for evaluating the digestion of microwave pre-treated sewage sludge

The effect of microwave pre-treatment (MwP) on anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge was studied by means of thermal analysis and evolved gas analysis. The effect of the pre-treatment at low energy input (<1000 kJ L^?1) on sludge solubilisation was studied with the aid of response surface methodology. The pre-treatment process was subsequently studied at energies of 488–2700 kJ L^?1 to evaluate the improvement in biogas production under mesophilic conditions. Organic matter modifications were studied using a Setaram TGA92 analyser at atmospheric pressure coupled to an MSC200 quadrupole mass spectrometer from Balzers. Particle size analysis was carried out using a Laser Diffraction Particle Size Analyser LS 13 320 Beckmann Coulter for evaluating the effect of MwP on sludge particles. Results showed an increase in organic matter solubilisation with the increase in the energy applied. Modifications in the specific surface area of the organic matter due to the MwP resulted in increments in methane yields. However, an accumulation of complex compounds was observed in thermal profiles at the maximum energy input (2700 kJ L^?1). Semi-continuous digestion experiments were evaluated using as substrate pre-treated sludge at the optimum energy value (975 kJ L^?1). Results showed a significant increase in methane yield (43 %) when evaluating the process at hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 25–10 days.     

Electrolyte-cathode interactions in 5-V lithium-ion cells

The electrolyte/electrode interactions on the anode side of a lithium-ion cell and the formation of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) have been investigated intensively in the past and are fairly well understood. Present knowledge about the reactions on the cathode side and the resulting cathode electrolyte interphase (CEI) is less detailed. In this study, the electrolyte/electrode interactions on the surface of the high-voltage cathode material LiNi_0.5Mn_1.5O₄ (LNMO), both bare and FePO₄-coated, were investigated. The gases evolving upon first time charging of the system were investigated using a GC/MS combination. The degradation products included THF, dimethyl peroxide, phosphor trifluoride, 1,3-dioxolane and dimethyl difluor silane, formed in the GC’s column as its coating reacts with HF from the experiments. Although these substances and their formation are in themselves interesting, the absence of many degradation products which have been mentioned in the existing literature is of equal interest. Our results clearly indicate that coating a cathode material can have a major influence on the amount and composition of the gaseous decomposition products in the formation phase.     

New eco-friendly low-cost binders for Li-ion anodes

In the production of commercial Li-ion batteries, the active materials slurries are generally prepared using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVdF) as binder because of its good adhesion properties and electrochemical stability. Unfortunately, there are some disadvantages related to the use of PVdF: the most important is the use of toxic and environmentally unfriendly solvents, such as N-methyl-pyrrolidone (NMP), and the second is the high costs. In the light of these considerations, it seemed straightforward to investigate the suitability of some water-soluble, inexpensive, and eco-friendly materials to test as alternative binders (sodium alginate, chitosan tragacanth gum, gelatin). The rheological properties of these materials have been investigated in addition to the electrochemical characterization. Furthermore, graphite electrodes with PVdF, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) binders have been considered for sake of comparison. We found that some of these water-soluble binders, besides good electrochemical performances, showed a high adhesion to the current collector and a good electrochemical stability under the experimental conditions employed, which makes them interesting for the next generation of Li-ion batteries.     

Computational applications in organic electrochemistry

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Ionic liquids: Promising green solvents for lignocellulosic biomass utilization

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Non-accretive Schrödinger operators and exponential decay of their eigenfunctions

We consider non-self-adjoint electromagnetic Schrödinger operators on arbitrary open sets with complex scalar potentials whose real part is not necessarily bounded from below. Under a suitable sufficient condition on the electromagnetic potential, we introduce a Dirichlet realisation as a closed densely defined operator with non-empty resolvent set and show that the eigenfunctions corresponding to discrete eigenvalues satisfy an Agmon-type exponential decay.     

Using Improved Directions of Negative Curvature for the Solution of Bound-Constrained Nonconvex Problems

In this work, we describe the efficient use of improved directions of negative curvature for the solution of bound-constrained nonconvex problems. We follow an interior-point framework, in which the key point is the inclusion of computational low-cost procedures to improve directions of negative curvature obtained from a factorisation of the KKT matrix. From a theoretical point of view, it is well known that these directions ensure convergence to second-order KKT points. As a novelty, we consider the convergence rate of the algorithm with exploitation of negative curvature information. Finally, we test the performance of our proposal on both CUTEr/st and simulated problems, showing empirically that the enhanced directions affect positively the practical performance of the procedure.