Photoelectrochemical properties of FTO/m-BiVO4 electrode in different electrolytes solutions under visible light irradiation

Photoelectrochemical properties of FTO/BiVO₄ electrode were investigated in different electrolytic solutions, potassium chloride (KCl) and sodium sulphate (Na₂SO₄), and under visible light irradiation condition. In order to accomplish that, an FTO/BiVO₄ electrode was built by combining the solution combustion synthesis technique with the dip-coating deposition process. The morphology and structure of the BiVO₄ electrode were investigated through X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. Photoelectrochemical properties were analyzed through chronoamperometry measurements. Results have shown that the FTO/BiVO₄ electrode presents higher electroactivity in the electrolyte Na₂SO₄, leading to better current stabilization, response time, and photoinduced current density, when compared to KCl electrolyte. Besides, this electrode shows excellent performance for methylene blue degradation under visible light irradiation condition. In Na₂SO₄, the electrode has shown higher degradation rate, 51 %, in contrast to 44 % in KCl, plus higher rate constant, 174?×?10^?4 min^?1 compared to 150?×?10^?4 min^?1 in KCl. Results presented in this communication leads to the indication of BiVO₄ thin films as alternate materials to use in heterogeneous photoelectrocatalysis, more specifically in decontamination of surface water.     

Comments on “Enhancements on the Hyperplanes Arrangements in Mixed-Integer Programming Techniques”

In a recent paper by Prodan et al. (J. Optim. Theory Appl. 154:549–572, 2012), a technique was presented to reduce the number of binary variables needed to represent not convex constraints in a mixed-integer programming (MIP) problem. The proposed technique employs tuples of binary variables, which are associated with feasible regions of the feature space. However, since the number of all possible tuples with a given number of bits is a power of two, there may be several unallocated tuples that must be rendered infeasible by imposing suitable constraints. We show in this paper that it is always possible to partition the tuples so that only one inequality is necessary to render all the unallocated tuples and only them infeasible. Moreover, we develop a systematic procedure to perform this partition and write the referred inequality.     

Direct TLC/MALDI–MS coupling for modified polyamidoamine dendrimers analyses

Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) are synthetic dendrimers which present attractive properties for the biological and biomedical fields, as they proved to be efficient drug and gene carriers. In order to increase their transfection efficiency, chemical modifications of the amino end-groups had been reported. In this work, the synthesis of the ammonia-cored G1(N) PAMAM and the consecutive chemical modification with glycine or phenylalanine amino-acids were monitored using the coupling of thin layer chromatography (TLC) with matrix–assisted laser desorption ionization–mass spectrometry (MALDI–MS). Thus, the monitoring of the PAMAM synthesis included the identification of the by-products such as defective structures of PAMAM dendrimers as well as the study of phenylalanine-grafted PAMAM oligomer distribution.     

Traveling Wave Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry and Ab Initio Calculations of Phosphoric Acid Clusters

Positive and negative ion electrospray mass spectra obtained from 50 mM phosphoric acid solutions presented a large number of phosphoric acid clusters: [(H₃PO₄)_n?+?zH] ^z+ or [(H₃PO₄)_n – zH] ^z– , with n up to 200 and z up to 4 for positively charged clusters, and n up to 270 and z up to 7 for negatively charged cluster ions. Ion mobility experiments allowed very explicit separation of the different charge states. Because of the increased pressures involved in ion mobility experiments, dissociation to smaller clusters was observed both in the trap and transfer areas. Voltages along the ion path could be optimized so as to minimize this effect, which can be directly associated with the cleavage of hydrogen bonds. Having excluded the ion mobility times that resulted from dissociated ions, each cluster ion appeared at a single drift time. These drift times showed a linear progression with the number of phosphoric atoms for cluster ions of the same charge state. Cross section calculations were carried out with MOBCAL on DFT optimized geometries with different hydrogen locations and with three types of atomic charges. DFT geometry optimizations yielded roughly spherical structures. Our results for nitrogen gas interaction cross sections showed that values were dependent on the atomic charges definition used in the MOBCAL calculation. This pinpointed the necessity to define a clear theoretical framework before any comparative interpretations can be attempted with uncharacterized compounds.

Cad for analysis and synthesis of MM-wave transmission lines

This work presents a software for analysis and synthesis of four types of planar lines used on the millimeter wave band: Suspended Microstrip Line, Inverted Microstrip Line, Suspended Stripline and Broadside Coupled Stripline. Conceived for IBM/PG or compatible microcomputers, the program, (MMWL), can study each configuration at a time or all of them at once, and it does not matter if it is synthesis or analysis for each line at the same time. The results are presented in Tables shown in the same screen. The program also provides curves of characteristic impedances against conducting strip width for each one of studied structures. Therefore, it allows choosing the best combination for circuit realization, becoming a helpful tool for projects and with acceptable results.     

Determination of monoamines and indoles in amniotic fluid by high-performance liquid chromatography-electrochemical detection.

A technique is presented for the separation and detection in amniotic fluid of various substances associated with catecholamine metabolism. Monoamines and their metabolites were separated using reversed-phase ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatography. Detection and quantification were performed electrochemically. The retention times of 28 standards associated with the monoamines and their precursors and metabolites were evaluated with 14 different eluents. On the basis of the retention times of each standard and the modification of the retention times of the various peaks detected in amniotic fluid, the following substances were identified in this biological fluid: 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenylacetic acid, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenylglycol, epinephrine, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymandelic acid, octopamine, tyrosine and tryptophan.     

Kinetics and the mechanism of the thermal reaction between trifluoromethylhypofluorite and hexafluoropropene

The kinetics of the thermal reaction between CF₃OF and C₃F₆ have been investigated between 20 and 75°C. It is a homogeneous chain reaction of moderate length where the main product is a mixture of the two isomers 1-C₃F₇OCF₃ (68%) and 2-C₃F₇OCF₃ (32%). Equimolecular amounts of CF₃OOF₃ and C₆F₁₄ are formed in much smaller quantities. Inert gases and the reaction products have no influence on the reaction, whereas only small amounts of oxygen change the course of reaction and larger amounts produce explosions. The rate of reaction can be represented by eq. (I): The following mechanism explains the experimental results: Reaction (5) can be replaced by reactions (5a) and (5b), without changing the result: Reaction (4) is possibly a two-step reaction: For ∣CF₃ = ∣C₃F₆∣, ν_20°C = 36.8, ν_50°C = 24.0, and ν_70°C = 14.2.     

Coupling the extraction efficiency of imidazolium-based ionic liquid aggregates with solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Application to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a certified reference sediment

Three ionic liquid (IL)-based aggregates, 1-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (HDMIm-Br), 1-hexadecyl-3-butylimidazolium bromide (HDBIm-Br), and 1,3-didodecylimidazolium bromide (DDDDIm-Br) have been applied to the development of a quantitative solid-phase microextraction (SPME)-gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS) method. A sensitivity factor (SF) is defined and introduced for the first time to quantitatively compare the efficiency of the IL-based aggregates by SPME-GC-MS and to evaluate the partitioning strength of several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to the three IL-aggregates. The ILs HDBIm-Br and HDMIm-Br have been used successfully to extract seven PAHs from the certified reference sediment BCR-535 using focused microwave-assisted extraction followed by SPME-GC-MS. Average recoveries for six of the seven certified PAHs were 84.6% for HDMIm-Br and 101% for HDBIm-Br, with relative standard deviation values (RSDs) lower than 19%. The overall extraction method requires short extraction times (around 7 min for the microwave step) and avoids the use of organic solvents.     

Determination of low‐molecular‐weight amines and ammonium in saline waters by ion chromatography after their extraction by steam distillation

A new method was developed for the determination of ammonium ion, monomethylamine and monoethylamine in saline waters by ion chromatography. Steam distillation was used to eliminate matrix interferences. Variables such as distillation time, concentration of sodium hydroxide solution and analyte mass were optimized by using a full two‐level factorial (2³) design. The influence of steam distillation on the analytical curves prepared in different matrices was also investigated. Limits of detection of 0.03, 0.05 and 0.05 mg/L were obtained for ammoniumion, monomethylamine and monoethylamine, respectively. Saline water samples from the Brazilian oil industry, containing sodium and potassium concentrations between 2.0–5.2% w/v and 96–928 mg/L, respectively, were analyzed. Satisfactory recoveries (90–105%) of the analytes were obtained for all spiked samples, and the precision was ≤ 7% (n = 3). The proposed method is adequate for analyzing saline waters containing sodium to ammoniumion, monomethylamine and monoethylamine concentration ratios up to 28 000:1 and potassium to ammonium, monomethylamine and monoethylamine concentration ratios up to 12 000:1.