Adsorption of anionic and cationic dyes by activated carbons, PVA hydrogels, and PVA/AC composite

The textural and adsorption characteristics of a series of activated carbons (ACs), porous poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) gels, and PVA/AC composites were studied using scanning electron microscopy, mercury porosimetry, adsorption of nitrogen (at 77.4 K), cationic methylene blue (MB), anionic methyl orange (MO), and Congo red (CR) from the aqueous solutions. Dye-PVA-AC-water interactions were modeled using the semiempirical quantum chemical method PM6. The percentage of dye removed (C(rem)) by the ACs was close to 100% at an equilibrium concentration (C(eq)) of less than 0.1 mM but decreased with increasing dye concentration. This decrease was stronger at C(eq) of less than 1 mM, and C(rem) was less than 50% at a C(eq) of 10-20 mM. For PVA and the PVA/AC composite containing C-7, the C(rem) values were minimal (<75%). The free energy distribution functions (f(ΔG)) for dye adsorption include one to three peaks in the -ΔG range of 1-60 kJ/mol, depending on the dye concentration range used and the spatial, charge symmetry of the hydrated dye ions and the structural characteristics of the adsorbents. The f(ΔG) shape is most complex for MO with the most asymmetrical geometry and charge distribution and adsorbed at concentrations over a large C(eq) range. For symmetrical CR ions, adsorbed over a narrow C(eq) range, the f(ΔG) plot includes mainly one narrow peak. MB has a minimal molecular size at a planar geometry (especially important for effective adsorption in slit-shaped pores) which explains its greater adsorptive capacity over that of MO or CR. Dye adsorption was greatest for ACs with the largest surface area but as molecular size increases adsorption depends to a greater extent on the pore size distribution in addition to total and nanopore surface areas and pore volume.     

Thermal characteristics of precursors to a difunctional imide monomer

A difunctional imide monomer may be produced from 4-nitrophthalic anhydride and m-phenylenediamine. The requisite anhydride may be generated by nitration of phthalimide followed by hydrolysis to the corresponding acid and dehydration. All intermediate compounds have been fully characterized using spectroscopic and thermal methods.     

UV polymerization of hydrodynamically shaped fibers

Most natural and man-made fibers have circular cross-sections; thus the properties of materials composed of non-circular fibers are largely unexplored. We demonstrate the technology for fabricating fibers with predetermined cross-sectional shape. Passive hydrodynamic focusing and UV polymerization of a shaped acrylate stream produced metre-long fibers for structural and mechanical characterization.     

The 5v 3 bands of 18O enriched ozone: line positions of 16O16O18O, 16O18O16O, 16O18O18O and 18O16O18O

The four 5v ₃ bands of ¹⁸O enriched ozone have been observed and analysed for the first time. Two species (¹⁶O¹⁸O¹⁶O and ¹⁸O¹⁶O¹⁸O) belong to the C_2v symmetry group and two other (¹⁸O¹⁸O¹⁶O and ¹⁶O¹⁶O¹⁸O) to the C_s symmetry group. They have been recorded at a resolution of 0.008 cm^?1 with a pathlength of 32.16 m. Despite the very weak absorptions observed, almost 250 energy levels have been derived for each of the 4 species, with J ? 35 and K _a ? 13, and suitable sets of Hamiltonian parameters have been determined. For 3 species it has been necessary to account for the resonance between the (005) and (311) states to correctly reproduce the spectra observed. These resonances, anharmonic for C_2v, and hybrid (both anhar-monic and Coriolis) for C_s symmetry confirm the accidentally extremely strong coupling between the (005) and (311) states for ¹⁶O₃, due in that case to the very close distance between unperturbed energy levels. This work also confirms the excellent prediction of band centres of these four species derived from the recently determined isotopically invariant molecular potential function.     

The vertical spectrum of H2CO revisited: (SC)2-CI and CC calculations

The vertical electronic spectrum of formaldehyde has been studied by means of (SC)²-MR-SDCI and CCLR methods. Two basis sets of atomic natural orbitals (ANOs) complemented with a one-centre series of Rydberg orbitals were used. The first was taken from the CASPT2 study by Merchán, M., and Roos, B. O., 1995, Theoret. Chim. Acta, 92, 221, and may be described as C,O[4s3pld]/H[2slp] with a lslpld Rydberg series centred in the charge centroid of the ²B₂ state of the cation. The second was a larger basis set that may be described as C,O[6s5p3d2f]/H[4s3p2d] + 3s3p3d in the same centre. The (SC)² dressing may be applied efficiently to an MR-SDCI method and comparison with the dressed CAS-SDCI is satisfactory, in spite of the remarkable reduction in the CI space dimension. The consistency of the (SC)²-MR-SDCI results was tested also against the CCLR and CASPT2 results using the same basis sets and against the CCLR results using Dunning's aug- and daug-cc-pVQZ basis sets. The ³A₁(π → π *) state is correctly placed as the second excited triplet while the highly multi-configurational nature of the ¹A₁(π → π *) state is confirmed as well as its greatly mixed valence-Rydberg nature. This state is predicted as lying under the 10 eV level, on top of the (n_y → 3d) Rydberg states that are predicted in the 8.9–9.5eV region. The 5 ¹B₂(n^y → 4s) Rydberg state and the ¹B₂(σ_y → π*) also are predicted in this region. The triplet states also were calculated with the (SC)²-MR-SDCI method. The vertical ordering of the 2 ¹A₁(n_y → 3p_y) and 2 ¹B₂(n_y → 3p_z) states is discussed, as well as that of the ¹B₁(σ → π*) and the Rydberg ¹B₁(n_y → 3d_xy) states. This work shows the highly reliable values that may be reached applying the dressing method along with a large basis set. Such a procedure is made possible using an MR-SDCI selection of spaces instead of the CAS-SDCI that was used up to now in most (SC)² dressing applications.     

Virial coefficients and equations of state for mixtures of hard discs,hard spheres and hard hyperspheres

The composition-independent virial coefficients of a d-dimensional binary mixture of (additive) hard hyperspheres following from a recent proposal for the equation of state of the mixture (Santos, A., Yuste, S. B., and López de Haro, M., 1999, Molec. Phys., 96, 1) are examined. Good agreement between theoretical estimates and available exact or numerical results is found for d = 2, 3, 4 and 5, except for mixtures whose components are very disparate in size. A slight modification that remedies this deficiency is introduced and the resummation of the associated virial series is carried out, leading to a new proposal for the equation of state. The case of binary hard sphere mixtures (d = 3) is analysed in some detail.     

Ferrimagnetic coupling in oxamido-bridged Mn(II)Cu(II) compounds: a combined CASPT2 and DDCI study

Multiconfigurational perturbation theory (CASPT2) and difference dedicated configuration interaction (DDCI) are applied to study the ferrimagnetic coupling in an oxamido-bridged Mn(II)Cu(II) molecular species. CASPT2 reproduces the experimental coupling very well. From the partition of the CASPT2 energy, the most important contributions to the coupling are established. Spin populations are calculated with DDCI. The successive improvement of the N-electron wave function allows us to analyse the contributions to the spin delocalization.     

A Popov-theory-based survey on digital control of infinite-dimensional systems with unboundedness

This paper represents a Popov-theory-based assessment of thecurrent status of the digital control of infinite–dimensionalsystems with certain unboundedness in control and/or observation,summarizing some results and indicating which, in the authors'opinion, would be the promising directions for future research.     

An adaptive control scheme for a continuous plant under Known output delay, unmodelled dynamics, and input saturation

This paper deals with robustness of adaptive control of continuoussystems subject to known output delay, input saturation, unmodelledlinear dynamics, and bounded disturbances. A simple gradient-typealgorithm with a relative deadzone is used. The relative deadzoneis built with an estimated contribution of the unmodelled dynamicsto the system output. The basic tool used for stability androbustness analysis is Gronwall's lemma.