Determination of calcium and iron in silicon and uranium silicide using ion chromatography

Two separate ion chromatography methods were developed for the determination of calcium and iron in silicon and uranium silicide. A cation exchange separation with conductivity detection was developed for Ca. A reversed phase column modified with 50 mM camphor-10-sulphonic acid was used for separating Fe. Iron was detected photometrically. Linear calibrations for Ca (0.1–10 ppm) and Fe (0.5–25 ppm) were performed. Limits of detections for Ca and Fe are 0.03 and 0.2 ppm, respectively. The precision of the methods are better than 2 % for Ca at 0.2 ppm and Fe at 2 ppm.     

Solid phase extraction studies on cellulose based chelating resin for separation,pre-concentration and estimation of Cu2+and Ni2+

Chelating resins based on biopolymers, specifically cellulose, offers a green analytical method for determination of metal ions at trace levels present in various samples. It offers a fast, accurate and simple method for separation and pre-concentration of metal ions at low concentrations, prior to their determination by instrumental method. Cellulose based chelating resin (CELL-GLY) has been synthesised by immobilising glycine on it. CELL-GLY was used for the determination of trace amounts of Cu²⁺ and Ni²⁺ from aqueous solutions before their determination by FAAS. The preparation of CELL-GLY involves simple steps, based on natural and easily available biopolymer cellulose, which makes its use as chelating resin is a green method. The Cu²⁺ and Ni²⁺ can be quantitatively recovered from the CELL-GLY in the pH range 4.8–6.9 and 6.9-7.8 respectively with a recovery of more than 95% for each of these metal ions. Recovery of these metal ions using CELL-GLY was quantitative up to 35 °C. The detection limits for copper and nickel by FAAS were 1.20 ppb and 1.40 ppb, respectively. The method was successfully employed for the determination of trace amounts of Cu²⁺ and Ni²⁺ in various samples.     

Indium-doped ZnOas efficient photosensitive material for sunlight driven hydrogen generation and DSSC applications: integrated experimental and computational approach

Electricity generation using simple and cheap dye-sensitized solar cells and photocatalytic water splitting to produce future fuel, hydrogen, directly under natural sunlight fascinated the researchers worldwide. Herein, synthesis of indium-doped wurtzite ZnO nanostructures with varying molar percentage of indium from 0.25 to 3.0% with concomitant characterization indicating wurtzite structure is reported. The shift of (002) reflection plane to higher 2θ degree with increase in indium-doping thus is a clear evidence of doping of indium in zinc oxide nanoparticles. Surface morphological as well as microstructural studies of In@ZnO exhibited generation of ZnO nanoparticles and nanoplates of diameter 10–30 nm. The structures have been correlated well using computational density functional (DFT) studies. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy depicted the extended absorbance of these materials in the visible region. Hence, the photocatalytic activity towards hydrogen generation from water under natural sunlight as well as efficient DSSC fabrication of these newly synthesized materials has been demonstrated. In-doped ZnO exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity towards hydrogen evolution (2465 μmol/h/g) via water splitting under natural sunlight. DSSC fabricated using 2% In-doped ZnO exhibited an efficiency of 3.46% which is higher than other reported In-doped ZnO based DSSCs.

     

Asymmetric Gold‐Catalyzed Lactonizations in Water at Room Temperature

Asymmetric gold‐catalyzed hydrocarboxylations are reported that show broad substrate scope. The hydrophobic effect associated with in situ‐formed aqueous nanomicelles gives good to excellent ee’s of product lactones. In‐flask product isolation, along with the recycling of the catalyst and the reaction medium, are combined to arrive at an especially environmentally friendly process.     

Efficient Synthesis of 1,4-Bis(5-aryl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorobenzenes

Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry - An efficient acid-catalyzed condensation between substituted benzohydrazides and 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoroterephthalic acid to form...     

The integrable Boussinesq equation and it’s breather,lump and soliton solutions

The fourth-order nonlinear Boussinesq water wave equation, which explains the propagation of long waves in shallow water, is explored in this article. We used the Lie symmetry approach to analyze the Lie symmetries and vector fields. Then, by using similarity variables, we obtained the symmetry reductions and soliton wave solutions. In addition, the Kudryashov method and its modification are used to explore the bright and singular solitons while the Hirota bilinear method is effectively used to obtain a form of breather and lump wave solutions. The physical explanation of the extracted solutions was shown with the free choice of different parameters by depicting some 2-D, 3-D, and their corresponding contour plots.

     

Characterization of porosity in vapor-deposited amorphous solid water from methane adsorption

We have characterized the porosity of vapor-deposited amorphous solid water (ice) films deposited at 30-40 K using several complementary techniques such as quartz crystal microgravimetry, UV-visible interferometry, and infrared reflectance spectrometry in tandem with methane adsorption. The results, inferred from the gas adsorption isotherms, reveal the existence of microporosity in all vapor-deposited films condensed from both diffuse and collimated water vapor sources. Films deposited from a diffuse source show a step in the isotherms and much less adsorption at low pressures than films deposited from a collimated source with the difference increasing with film thickness. Ice films deposited from a collimated vapor source at 77 degrees incidence are mesoporous, in addition to having micropores. Remarkably, mesoporosity is retained upon warming to temperatures as high as 140 K where the ice crystallized. The binding energy distribution for methane adsorption in the micropores of ice films deposited from a collimated source peaks at approximately 0.083 eV for deposition at normal incidence and at approximately 0.077 eV for deposition at >45 degrees incidence. For microporous ice, the intensity of the infrared bands due to methane molecules on dangling OH bonds on pore surfaces increases linearly with methane uptake, up to saturation adsorption. This shows that the multilayer condensation of methane does not occur inside the micropores. Rather, filling of the core volume results from coating the pore walls with the first layer of methane, indicating pore widths below a few molecular diameters. For ice deposited at 77 degrees incidence, the increase in intensity of the dangling bond absorptions modified by methane adsorption departs from linearity at large uptakes.     

Third body modeling in fretting using the combined finite-discrete element method

A new approach was developed for modeling the effect of the third body on fretting. This was accomplished using the combined finite-discrete element method (FDEM) in which the third body is analyzed as discrete elements while the first bodies are modeled using finite elements. This approach provides a link between large scale models which treat the mass of wear debris as a single or small number of bodies and small scale models which only study a control volume. The FDEM was used to analyze the behavior of third body particles between flat sliding surfaces. When the third body mass is composed of unconnected particles, it behaves as a Newtonian fluid, but this behavior ceases when the particles are connected into platelets. The FDEM was also used to study the behavior of third body particles inside a Hertzian line contact. As the number of particles and platelet size increase the load carried by the worn slip zone grows larger in relationship to the unworn stick zone.