Numerical prediction of humidification process in planar porous membrane humidifier of a PEM fuel cell system to evaluate the effects of operating and geometrical parameters

In present study, a numerical model is employed to investigate the effects of different operating parameters and channel geometry on the performance of membrane humidifier. Simulations are performed by a commercial CFD code and based on user defined functions. Three-dimensional counter-flow humidifier model for a gas-to-gas case is considered. Results show that an increase in porosity or permeability leads to better humidification. Moreover, increase in inlet temperature of dry and wet channels as well as inlet mass flowrate of water vapor would enhance humidifying process. On the other hand, by reduction in inlet mass flowrate of gas channel and thickness of the porous medium in membrane, better humidifier performance would be achieved. To investigate the geometric parameters, three different channel types including stepped, sinusoidal and zigzag are considered. It is found that stepped geometry has the best performance in humidifying.

     

Copper chromite decorated on nitrogen-doped graphene aerogel as an efficient catalyst for thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate particles

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The present study reports numerical simulations of water-based Al2O3 nanofluid flowing in a 2D channel with a heated wall-mounted obstacle. The...     

Electrochemical behavior of Al2O3/Al composite coated Al electrodes through surface mechanical alloying in alkaline media

The behavior of $A{l}_2{O}_3/Al$ composite coated Al electrodes fabricated by surface mechanical alloying ‘SMA’ was studied. The work was accomplished using Cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques in alkaline media $2MKOH$ were done at room temperature. Results show hydroxyl ions accumulate on the surface due to Al deformation micro cavities filling with $A{l}_2{O}_3$ until full charge blockage reached. A barrier cover layer development causing an increase of both resistance and capacitance as it becomes more stable and thinner with exposure time increase. Migrating hydroxyl ion inside micro cavity changed its composition from Al₂O₃ to stable tetrahedral $Al{\left(OH\right)}_4^{?}$ aluminate ions. Therefore future benefits could be reached by developing such surfaces having charge accumulation that enables environmental interaction.     

Highly stretchable,self-adhesive,and self-healable double network hydrogel based on alginate/polyacrylamide with tunable mechanical properties

A number of synthetic hydrogels suffer from low mechanical strength. Despite of the recent advances in the fabrication of tough hydrogels, it is still a great challenge to simultaneously construct high stretchability, and self-adhesive and self-healing capability in a hydrogel. Herein, a new type of double network hydrogel was prepared based on irreversible cross-linking of polyacrylamide chains and Schiff-base reversible cross-linking between glycidyl methacrylate-grafted ethylenediamine and oxidized sodium alginate (OSA). The combination of both cross-linkings and their synergistic effect provided a novel hydrogel with high strength, stretchable, rapid self-healing, and self-adhesiveness to different material. Besides, the hydrogels with diverse OSA content could maintain their original shapes after loading–unloading tensile test. The resulting hydrogel has a great potential in various fields for supporting and load-bearing substance.     

Induced secondary metabolites from the endophytic fungus Aspergillus versicolor through bacterial co-culture and OSMAC approaches

Two new cryptic 3,4-dihydronaphthalen-(2H)-1-one (1-tetralone) derivatives, aspvanicin A (1) and its epimer aspvanicin B (2), as well as several known cryptic metabolites (3–8), were obtained from the ethyl acetate extract of the co-culture of the endophytic fungus Aspergillus versicolor KU258497 with the bacterium Bacillus subtilis 168 trpC2 on solid rice medium. When A. versicolor was cultured axenically in liquid Wickerham medium supplemented with 3.5% DMSO, an additional three known secondary metabolites (9–11) were isolated that were lacking when the fungus was fermented on rice medium. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated using one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy as well as HRESIMS. The relative and absolute configurations of 1 and 2 were determined by the combination of NMR and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) analysis aided by DFT conformational analysis and TDDFT-ECD calculations. The ECD calculations revealed that although the sign of the blue-shifted overlapping n-π¹ ECD transition follows the helicity rule of cyclic aryl ketones, the calculation of low-energy conformers and ECD spectra was necessary to determine the stereochemistry. All metabolites were assessed for their antibacterial and cytotoxic activities; one of the new diastereomers, compound 2, showed moderate cytotoxic activity against the mouse lymphoma cell line L5178Y.     

Evaluation of new 99mTc-labeled HYNIC-bombesin analogue for prostate cancer imaging

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - In this study, we introduce a new 99mTc-radiolabeled bombesin derivative for imaging of prostate cancer (PC). We used 6-hydrazinonicotinamide...     

Sonication-assisted preparation of a nanocomposite consisting of reduced graphene oxide and CdSe quantum dots,and its application to simultaneous voltammetric determination of ascorbic acid,dopamine and uric acid

Microchimica Acta - Accurate detection of temperature and oxygen concentration at the cellular level is important in tumor diagnosis. Multifunctional nanocomposites are described that consist of...     

Synthesis and structural characterization for novel mixed-donor ligand palladium (II) based on graphene and oxime: its application as a highly stable and efficient recyclable catalyst

In this article, the palladium (II) mixed-ligand complex synthesized with reduced graphene oxides containing tetraethoxysilane and menthone oxime was used as an efficient solid catalyst for the Heck coupling reaction. To maintain stability and catalytic activity in the C–C bond reaction, graphene was considered due to the available surface as the solid support. Then, the structure of new heterogeneous catalyst was investigated by FT-IR, UV–Vis DRS, FE-SEM, EDX, AFM, XRD, ICP-OES, Raman, and TGA. The newly synthesized nanocatalyst have beneficial properties, including product’s easy separation, the shorter time to react, purity products (yield 79–99%), and easier work-up procedure. Furthermore, the catalyst was reused six times without significant degradation in catalytic activity and performance.     

Synthesis of a polymer-capped palladium nanoparticles and its application as a reusable catalyst in oxidative coupling reaction of α-hydroxyketones and 1,2-diamines for preparation of pyrazines and quinoxalines

A novel method for the synthesis of pyrazines and quinoxalines has been developed using α-hydroxyketones and 1,2-diamines in the presence of cross-linked poly(4-vinylpyridine)-stabilized Pd(0) nanoparticles, [P4-VP]-PdNPs. The catalyst was easily prepared and characterized using various techniques such as FT-IR and UV–Vis spectroscopy, AAS, TEM, FESEM, EDX analysis and XRD. The results confirm a good dispersion of palladium nanoparticles on the polymer support. The catalyst displayed good catalytic activity when applied to the synthesis of quinoxalines via condensation of α-hydroxyketones with 1,2-diamines. A few pyrazine derivatives and various quinoxalines are prepared via coupling reaction of α-hydroxyketones and 1,2-diamines in high–excellent yields (81–99%) with short reaction times. The quinoxalines products were characterized by FT-IR, ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, and the physical properties were compared to the literature values of known compounds. The advantages of the present method over conventional classical methods are rapid and very simple work-up, and the catalyst is reusable many times without a significant loss in its activity.