Optimized Degradation of Eosin Dye Through UV-ZnO NPs Catalyzed Reaction

Journal of Fluorescence - The present study is set out to determine the photocatalytic degradation potential of ZnO nanoparticles for effective degradation of Eosin dye. The heterogeneous...     

Recent advances in sodium alginate-based membranes for dehydration of aqueous ethanol through pervaporation

Sodium alginate (SA) is a progressive material for membrane fabrication. The technological development of SA-based membranes has made a significant contribution to the separation techniques, especially in aqueous organic solutions. The outstanding performance of SA is attributed to its outstanding structural flexibility and hydrophilicity. In view of structural characteristics, SA membranes have immense utilization in the pervaporation separation of organics. Among various organics, dehydration of aqueous ethanol is employed as a standard to check the success of pervaporation (PV) membrane. Because ethanol and water have comparable molecular sizes, thus difficult to extract water from aqueous ethanol mixtures than it is for other organics. A literature survey shows that wide-ranging data are available on the PV performance of SA and its modified membranes. In this context, the present review addresses the recent advances made in SA membranes for enhanced ethanol dehydration performance during the last decade. Available data since 2010 has been compiled for grafted, crosslinked, blend, mixed matrix, and composite hybrid sodium alginate membranes in terms of separation factor, permeation flux, and pervaporation separation index PSI. The data are assessed with reference to the effect of feed composition, membrane selectivity, flux, and swelling behavior.     

Effect of Al and Zr co-doping on electrochemical performance of cathode Li[Li0.2Ni0.13Co0.13Mn0.54]O2 for Li-ion battery

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - The Li[Li0.2Ni0.13-x + y/3Co0.13-x + y/3Mn0.54-x + y/3]Al x Zr y O2 was synthesized via conventional solution...     

Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Ethanol on Flexible Three‐dimensional Interconnected Nickel/Gold Composite Foams in Alkaline Media

In this work, a porous and flexible three‐dimensional (3D) nickel/gold nanoparticle electrode (NiF/AuNPs) is presented as an efficient electrocatalyst for ethanol oxidation in alkaline media. The 3D nanocomposite electrode consists of interconnected porous nickel foam (NiF) with large pores (500±200 μm diameter) surrounded by interconnected struts (～100 μm) that are decorated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs, 37±8 nm) through in‐situ electrochemical deposition. The catalytic performance of the 3D electrode was evaluated by different electrochemical methods. An enhancement in the performance (about 253 %) and a remarkable decline in onset potential (about ～0.63 V) in comparison with pristine NiF for ethanol oxidation are demonstrated. This potential is lower than many reported results except palladium‐ and platinum‐based catalysts, which are expensive. It is shown that both hydroxyl anions and cations affect the ethanol oxidation on the 3D electrode. The interconnected porous structure provides efficient mass diffusivity, which along with its high specific surface area combined with the catalytic nature of AuNPs, may open new opportunities for in‐inexpensive and highly efficient electro‐oxidation of ethanol for energy applications.     

Low-frequency Vibrational Modes in Small Polypeptides of Essential Amino Acids

Optics and Spectroscopy - The length-dependent low-frequency terahertz absorption spectrum of the essential amino acid chains has been investigated. Since this special type of amino acids cannot be...     

Preparation and characterization of a composite PDMS membrane on CA support

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is the most commonly used membrane material for the separation of condensable vapors from lighter gases. In this study, a composite PDMS membrane was prepared and its gas permeation properties were investigated at various upstream pressures. A microporous cellulose acetate (CA) support was initially prepared and characterized. Then, PDMS solution, containing crosslinker and catalyst, was cast over the support. Sorption and permeation of C₃H₈, CO₂, CH₄, and H₂ in the prepared composite membrane were measured. Using sorption and permeation data of gases, diffusion coefficients were calculated based on solution‐diffusion mechanism. Similar to other rubbery membranes, the prepared PDMS membrane advantageously exhibited less resistance to permeation of heavier gases, such as C₃H₈, compared to the lighter ones, such as CO₂, CH₄, and H₂. This result was attributed to the very high solubility of larger gas molecules in the hydrocarbon‐based PDMS membrane in spite of their lower diffusion coefficients relative to smaller molecules. Increasing feed pressure increased permeability, solubility, and diffusion coefficients of the heavier gases while decreased those of the lighter ones. At constant temperature (25°C), empirical linear relations were proposed for permeability, solubility, and diffusion coefficients as a function of transmembrane pressure. C₃H₈/gas solubility, diffusivity, and overall selectivities were found to increase with increasing feed pressure. Ideal selectivity values of 9, 30, and 82 for C₃H₈ over CO₂, CH₄, and H₂, respectively, at an upstream pressure of 8 atm, confirmed the outstanding separation performance of the prepared membrane. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new and reliable model for predicting methane viscosity at high pressures and high temperatures

In recent years, there has been an increase of interest in the flow of gases at relatively high pressures and high temperatures. Hydrodynamic calculation of the energy losses in the flow of gases in conduits, as well as through the porous media constituting natural petroleum reservoirs, requires knowledge of the viscosity of the fluid at the pressure and temperature involved. Although there are numerous publications concerning the viscosity of methane at atmospheric pressure, there appears to be little information available relating to the effect of pressure and temperature upon the viscosity. A survey of the literature reveals that the disagreements between published data on the viscosity of methane are common and that most investigations have been conducted over restricted temperature and pressure ranges. Experimental viscosity data for methane are presented for temperatures from 320 to 400 K and pressures from 3000 to 140000 kPa by using falling body viscometer. A summary is given to evaluate the available data for methane, and a comparison is presented for that data common to the experimental range reported in this paper. A new and reliable correlation for methane gas viscosity is presented. Predicted values are given for temperatures up to 400 K and pressures up to 140000 kPa with Average Absolute Percent Relative Error (EABS) of 0.794.     

Stability of preserving lattice cubic functional equation in Menger probabilistic normed Riesz spaces

The aim of this paper is to investigate Hyers–Ulam–Rassias stability of preserving lattice functional equation in various spaces. First, we prove stability of generalized preserving lattice functional equation in Banach lattices. Next, we show stability of preserving lattice cubic functional equation in Menger probabilistic normed Riesz spaces.     

Interval estimation of $$$$ in ranked set sampling

This article deals with constructing a confidence interval for the reliability parameter using ranked set sampling. Some asymptotic and resampling-based intervals are suggested, and compared with their simple random sampling counterparts using Monte Carlo simulations. Finally, the methods are applied on a real data set in the context of agriculture.