The Extraction of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Atmospheric Particulate Matter Samples by Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE)

Abstract

The Accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) of PAHs (23 2- to 6-ring species) spiked onto glass fibre filters (GFFs) was studied as a function of variable extraction solvents, pressure, temperature and extraction times. Acceptable recoveries (85% ± 15%) were obtained for certain combinations of conditions and a tentative method (1500 psi, 150°C, 70:30 hexane:acetone mixture, 7 min heat-up time, 5 min static extraction time, 60% flush volume, 2 static cycles was selected for further testing. However, this method did not prove as effective as the traditional Soxhlet method of extraction when these parameters were used to extract native PAHs from ambient atmospheric particulate matter collected on a GFF by Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN) sampling protocols. The extraction recovery study for spiked GFFs was repeated using slightly different extraction conditions: 2000 psi, 100°C, 70:30 hexane:acetone, 5 min heat-up time, 5 min static extraction time, 150% flush volume, 3 static cycles. When this method was applied to the extraction of native PAHs from ambient atmospheric particulate matter collected on GFFs, the results showed equivalent or better recoveries to that of the Soxhlet method. The total time of extraction was 25 min requiring only 30 mL of solvent. This ASE method is presently used to quantitatively determine PAHs in IADN particle-phase samples.     

On the Stability of Pt-Based Catalysts in HBr/Br2 Solution

Stability studies on supported metal nanoparticles are essential for gaining insight into the design and optimization of high-performance materials. In this work, the dissolutions of Pt-based catalysts in HBr/Br₂ mixture of various concentration regimes were studied and correlated with material structural properties. The dissolution of metal nanoparticles was enhanced by adding Br₂ to the HBr solution. Comparing with commercial Pt/C catalyst, the well-alloyed PtIr/C catalyst was observed to exhibit high resistance towards dissolution. In addition, regulating the accessibility of the metal sites to dissolution-inducing species contributed to the marked stability of the nanoparticles in HBr/Br₂ solutions, as shown for the surface-modified PtIr/C catalysts with organic diamine molecules.     

Scalable bottom‐up assembly of suspended carbon nanotube and graphene devices by dielectrophoresis

Bottom‐up assembly by dielectrophoresis (DEP) has emerged in recent years as a viable alternative to conventional top–down fabrication of electronic devices from nanomaterials, particularly carbon nanotubes and graphene. Here, we demonstrate how this technique can be extended to fabricate devices containing carbon nanotubes and graphene suspended between two electrodes over a back‐gate electrode. The suspended device geometry is critical for the development of nano‐electromechanical devices and to extract maximum performance out of electronic and optoelectronic devices. This technique allows for parallel assembly of devices over large scale. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Polysaccharide‐Based Oleogels Prepared with an Emulsion‐Templated Approach

The preparation and characterization of oleogels structured by using a combination of a surface‐active and a non‐surface‐active polysaccharide through an emulsion‐templated approach is reported. Specifically, the oleogels were prepared by first formulating a concentrated oil‐in‐water emulsion, stabilized with a combination of cellulose derivatives and xanthan gum, followed by the selective evaporation of the continuous water phase to drive the network formation, resulting in an oleogel with a unique microstructure and interesting rheological properties, including a high gel strength, G′>4000 Pa, shear sensitivity, good thixotropic recovery, and good thermostability.     

Collective correlations,dynamics, and behavioural inconsistencies of the cryptocurrency market over time

Nonlinear Dynamics - This paper introduces new methods to study behaviours among the 52 largest cryptocurrencies between 01-01-2019 and 30-06-2021. First, we explore evolutionary correlation...     

Recoil spectrometry: Ion accelerator based elemental characterisation of surface layers

Recoil Spectrometry covers a group of techniques that are very similar to the well known Rutherford backscattering Spectrometry technique, but with the important difference that one measures the recoiling target atom rather than the projectile ion. This makes it possible to determine both the identity of the recoil and its depth of origin from its energy and velocity, using a suitable detector system. The incident ion is typically high-energy (30–100MeV)³⁵C1,⁸¹Br or¹²⁷I. Low concentrations of light elements such as C, O and N can be profiled in a heavy matrix such as Fe or GaAs. Here we present an overview of mass and energy dispersive recoil Spectrometry and illustrate its successful use in some typical applications.     

Deflection of laser-produced ions in laser-induced thermal-desorption/fourier-transform mass spectrometry for surface analysis

A method for deflecting ions, such as K⁺, produced outside a Fourier-transform mass spectrometer cell during laser-induced thermal desorption, is described. This technique has been shown to deflect laser-generated K and Ti ions from two Ti foil samples (biomedical implant model surfaces), yielding mass spectra of coadsorbed organic species. Further studies characterizing the laser desorption/deflection parameters have shown that ion deflection improves with higher deflection voltages and greater sample to Fourier-transform mass spectrometry cell separation. Higher laser power densities resulted in greater surface ion production; hence higher deflection voltages were necessary. A 6% increase in laser power necessitated a fourfold increase in deflection voltage for the Ti sample.     

An extension of implicit Monte Carlo diffusion: Multigroup and the difference formulation

Implicit Monte Carlo (IMC) and Implicit Monte Carlo Diffusion (IMD) are approaches to the numerical solution of the equations of radiative transfer. IMD was previously derived and numerically tested on grey, or frequency-integrated problems [1]. In this research, we extend Implicit Monte Carlo Diffusion (IMD) to account for frequency dependence, and we implement the difference formulation [2] as a source manipulation variance reduction technique. We derive the relevant probability distributions and present the frequency dependent IMD algorithm, with and without the difference formulation. The IMD code with and without the difference formulation was tested using both grey and frequency dependent benchmark problems. The Su and Olson semi-analytic Marshak wave benchmark was used to demonstrate the validity of the code for grey problems [3]. The Su and Olson semi-analytic picket fence benchmark was used for the frequency dependent problems [4]. The frequency dependent IMD algorithm reproduces the results of both Su and Olson benchmark problems. Frequency group refinement studies indicate that the computational cost of refining the group structure is likely less than that of group refinement in deterministic solutions of the radiation diffusion methods. Our results show that applying the difference formulation to the IMD algorithm can result in an overall increase in the figure of merit for frequency dependent problems. However, the creation of negatively weighted particles from the difference formulation can cause significant numerical instabilities in regions of the problem with sharp spatial gradients in the solution. An adaptive implementation of the difference formulation may be necessary to focus its use in regions that are at or near thermal equilibrium.     

Laser-induced acoustic wave generation/propagation/interaction in water in various internal channels

Short pulsed laser-induced single acoustic wave generation, propagation, interaction within a water-filled internal channel are experimentally and numerically studied. A large-area, short-duration, single-plane acoustic wave was generated by the thermoelastic interaction of a homogenized nanosecond pulsed laser beam with a liquid–solid interface and propagated at the speed of sound in water. Laser flash Schlieren photography was used to visualize the transient interaction of the plane acoustic wave in various internal channel structures ((a) sudden expansion and contraction channels, (b) bifurcating channels, (c) gradual contraction wall channels and (d) a cylinder). Fairly good agreement between the experimental results and numerical simulation is observed.