Amorphous Boron Dispersed in LaCoO3 with Large Oxygen Vacancies for Efficient Catalytic Propane Oxidation

Unsatisfactory oxygen mobility is a considerable barrier to the development of perovskites for low-temperature volatile organic compounds (VOCs) oxidation. This work introduced small amounts of dispersed non-metal boron into the LaCoO₃ crystal through an easy sol-gel method to create more oxygen defects, which are conducive to the catalytic performance of propane (C₃H₈) oxidation. It reveals that moderate addition of boron successfully induces a high distortion of the LaCoO₃ crystal, decreases the perovskite particle size, and produces a large proportion of bulk Co²⁺ species corresponding to abundant oxygen vacancies. Additionally, surface Co³⁺ species, as the acid sites, which are active for cleaving the C−H bonds of C₃H₈ molecules, are enriched. As a result, the LCB-7 (molar ratio of Co/B=0.93:0.07) displays the best C₃H₈ oxidation activity. Simultaneously, the above catalyst exhibits superior thermal stability against CO₂ and H₂O, lasting 200 h. This work provides a new strategy for modifying the catalytic VOCs oxidation performance of perovskites by the regulation of amorphous boron dispersion.     

Structural study on poly(ether ether ketone ketone)-poly(ether biphenyl ether ketone ketone) copolymers

Structures of poly(ether ether ketone ketone)-poly(ether biphenyl ether ketone ketone) copolymers were studied by using small angle X-ray scattering and the one-dimensional electron density correlation function method. The results revealed that structures of the aggregated state of the copolymers depend closely on the biphenyl content (n_b). When n_b = 0.35, invariant Q, long period L, average thickness of crystal lamellae d̄, electron density difference η_c − η_a and degree of crystallinity W_{c, x} assume minimum values.