First principles calculations of oxygen reduction reaction at fuel cell cathodes

The efficiency of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) depends critically on materials, in particular for the cathode where the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) occurs. Typically, mixed conducting perovskite ABO₃-type materials are used for this purpose. The dominating surface terminations are (001) AO and BO₂, with the relative fractions depending on materials composition and ambient conditions.Here, results of recent large-scale first principles (ab initio) calculations for the two alternative polar (La,Sr)O and MnO₂ (001) terminations of (La,Sr)MnO₃ cathode materials are discussed. The surface oxygen vacancy concentration for the (La,Sr)O termination is more than 5 orders of magnitude smaller compared to MnO₂, which leads to drastically decreased estimated ORR rates. Thus, it is predicted for prototypical SOFC cathode materials that the BO₂ termination largely determines the ORR kinetics, although with Sr surface segregation (long-term degradation) its fraction of the total surface area decreases, which slows down cathode kinetics.     

Determination of polycyclic aromatic sulfur heterocycles (PASH) in diesel fuel by high performance liquid chromatography and photodiode-array detection

An oxidation method (sulfone method) for the determination of polycyclic aromatic sulfur heterocycles (PASH) in diesel fuel is presented. The aromatic fraction of a diesel fuel, isolated by solid phase extraction, is oxidized under controlled conditions with hydrogen peroxide. The oxidation products, mainly methylated dibenzosulfone, are determined and quantified directly, without further clean-up, by HPLC with photodiode-array detection.     

Die kristall- und molekülstruktur von Fe3Te2(CO)9

The crystal and molecular structure of Fe₃Te₂(CO)₉ has been determined by X-ray diffraction analysis. The compound crystallizes in the triclinic space group P$\text{1}$ with a 952.5(4), b 1314.3(8), c 694.7(2) pm, α 95.27(4), β 112.78(3), γ 81.44(4)° and Z = 2 (R = 0.036, using 2079 reflections).     

Bioanalytik für Einsteiger.Diabetes,Drogen und DNA. Von Reinhard Renneberg.

Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2008. 284 S., geb., 34.95 €.—ISBN 978‐3827418319

     

Quinolin‐6‐ol at 100 K

The title compound, C₉H₇NO, has two symmetry‐independent molecules in the asymmetric unit, which have different conformations of the hydroxy group with respect to the quinoline ring. One of the molecules adopts a cis conformation, while the other shows a trans conformation. Each type of independent molecule links into a separate infinite O—H...N hydrogen‐bonded chain with the graph‐set notation C(7). These chains are perpendicular in the unit cell, one extended in the a‐axis direction and the other in the b‐axis direction. There is also a weak C—H...O hydrogen bond with graph‐set notation D(2), which runs in the c‐axis direction and joins the two separate O—H...N chains. The significance of this study lies in the comparison drawn between the experimental and calculated data of the crystal structure of the title compound and the data of several other derivatives possessing the hydroxy group or the quinoline ring. The correlation between the IR spectrum of this compound and the hydrogen‐bond energy is also discussed.     

Formaldehyde Formation on Vanadium Oxide Surfaces V2O3(0001) and V2O5(001): How does the Stable Methoxy Intermediate Form?

Hydroxy‐mediated methoxy formation or stabilization is probably an important process in many methanol adsorption systems. Hydrogen atoms originating from the scission of the methanol O? H bond react with the substrate and form water. This process may result 1) in the production of additional surface defects as reactive centers for methoxy formation and 2) in the stabilization of methoxy groups by suppression of methanol formation.

     

Reactions of Complex Ligands. Part 107 Densely Substituted Hydroquinoid Phenanthrene and Triphenylene Cr(CO)3 Complexes: Chromium‐Templated Synthesis and Molecular Structure

Densely substituted hydroquinoid phenanthrene ( 10 – 18 ), acephenanthrene ( 19 ), and triphenylene chromium tricarbonyl complexes ( 20 – 22 ) have been prepared via benzannulation of naphthalenyl ( 1 – 7 ), acenaphthenyl ( 8 ) and phenanthrenyl carbene complexes ( 9 ), respectively. The naphthalenyl, acenaphthenyl and phenanthrenyl carbene complexes 1 – 9 were obtained in 52–88 % yield starting from commercially available bromoarenes by dehalolithiation, addition of hexacarbonyl chromium to the lithioarene and O‐alkylation of the resulting acyl chromates with trimethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate (Fischer route). The benzannulation of the aryl carbene complexes (either with 3‐hexyne / (t‐butyl)dimethylsilyl chloride or with (t‐butyl)dimethylsilylethyne) allowed the regiospecific synthesis of the oligocyclic hydroquinoid arene tricarbonyl chromium complexes 10 – 22 in 44–94 % yield thus providing a two‐step synthesis with overall yields of 18 ‐ 80 %. Under the kinetic reaction conditions used the metal atom is exclusively coordinated to the persubstituted terminal hydroquinoid ring. The molecular structures of phenanthrene complexes 10 , 12 – 14 , and 16 , acephenanthrene complex 19 , and triphenylene complexes 20 and 21 in the solid state have been determined by X‐ray crystallography. The carbonyl ligands either adopt an eclipsed ( 10 , 12 , 14 , 16 , 19 , 20 ) or staggered ( 13 , 21 ) exo‐conformation pointing away from the center of the phenanthrene, acephenanthrene and triphenylene ligands, respectively. The coordination of the metal atom to the hydroquinoid ring is unsymmetric with the largest metal‐carbon distances found between the chromium atom and one bridgehead carbon and the ring carbon atom bearing the bulky (t‐butyl)dimethylsilyloxy (TBDMSO) substituent.