Using waste to treat waste: Red mud induced hierarchical porous γ-AlOOH and γ-Al2O3 microspheres as superior Pd support for catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol

Toward the imperative treatment of the industrial wastewater containing 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and industrial solid waste red mud (RM), an innovative approach of “Using waste to treat waste” is developed. Valuable element Al is leached from the RM first, the resultant NaAlO₂ solution is hydrothermally converted to γ-AlOOH hierarchical porous microspheres (RM γ-AlOOH HPMSs, average diameter: 2.0 μm, S_BET: 77.81 m² g⁻¹, pore volume: 0.38 cm³ g⁻¹) in the presence of urea. The subsequent mild thermal conversion results in γ-Al₂O₃ hierarchical porous microspheres (RM γ-Al₂O₃ HPMSs). Both of the RM γ-AlOOH and RM γ-Al₂O₃ HPMSs are employed as the Pd catalyst support for the catalytic reduction of 4-NP. Particularly, the as-obtained composite Pd/RM γ-AlOOH and Pd/RM γ-Al₂O₃ exhibit excellent catalytic activities with superior k_nor as 8204.5 and 4831.4 s⁻¹ g⁻¹, respectively, significantly higher than that of most Pd based catalysts. Moreover, the excellent catalytic stability and durability of the Pd/RM γ-AlOOH and Pd/RM γ-Al₂O₃ within 10 successive cycles of reduction enable the present industrial solid waste RM induced γ-AlOOH and γ-Al₂O₃ HPMSs as great promising Pd catalyst support for the reduction of the industrial wastewater containing 4-NP.     

Surface-modification of TiO2 with new metalloporphyrins and their photocatalytic activity in the degradation of 4-notrophenol

A new mono-functionalized porphyrin derivative, 5-mono-[4-(2-(4-hydroxy)-phenoxy)ethoxy]-10,15,20-triphenylporphyrin (3) and its Cu(II) (3a), Zn(II) (3b) and Ni(II) (3c) metalloporphyrins were synthesized and characterized by using various spectroscopic techniques. The corresponding 3a, 3b, 3c-TiO₂ photocatalysts were then prepared and characterized by means of FT-IR and diffused reflectance spectra, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The photocatalytic activities of 3a, 3b, 3c-TiO₂ were investigated by testing the photodegradation of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) in aqueous solution under the halogen lamp irradiation. The results indicated that all the 3a, 3b, 3c enhanced the photocatalytic efficiency of bare TiO₂ in photodegrading the 4-NP, and 3a-TiO₂ exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity. The result is considered a combined action of potential match of 3a with TiO₂ CB and effective impregnated of 3a onto the surface of TiO₂.     

“先核后壳”和“先壳后核”的简便途径制备M@SiO2(M=Ag,Au,Pt)纳米核壳结构及其催化活性

采用简便的“先核后壳”和“先壳后核”途径制备了M@SiO₂ (M=Ag, Au, Pt)核壳结构. 采用“先核后壳”途径时,金属内核可以控制在6 -9 nmm, 粒径分布均匀, SiO₂壳层织构可调. 该途径制备过程简便, 无需高速离心分离, 可有效节约制备成本. 由该途径制得的Au@mSiO₂中纳米Au的热稳定性高, 经550 ℃空气焙烧后仍能保持高的CO氧化性能(T₁₀₀=235 ℃). 由“先壳后核”途径制得的核壳结构内核金属粒子也可以控制在< 10 nmm, 粒径分布均匀, 且SiO₂壳层孔隙率可以预调, 即使在液相中也可有效消除对硝基苯酚反应物分子的扩散限制, 并于室温下将其还原为对氨基苯酚. 两种途径所得的核壳结构均呈高单分散态. 使用含有不同有机官能团的硅源可对介孔SiO₂壳层进行进一步改性, 拓展应用领域, 因而具有很好的潜在应用前景.     

Electrosynthesis of a new selective chelating agent for solid phase extraction of Ni(II) from water samples: characterisation and analytical applications

A new polymer as a selective chelating agent for separation and preconcentration of nickel ions from water samples was prepared by electropolymerisation of 4-nitrophenol. Electrosynthesis was carried out on the lead cathode in aqueous sodium acetate solution. The electrode-product is a dark-brown powder, insoluble in water but soluble in methanol, N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and tetrahydrofuran (THF). The electrode-product was characterised by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), FT-IR, ¹H-NMR, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and UV-Vis spectrometry. A proper mechanism and structure of the prepared polymer was suggested. A few drops of methanolic solution of electrode-product formed a blue complex with nickel ions in an aqueous medium in the pH range of 6 to 10. This new chelating reagent was used as a coating material on activated charcoal and applied for solid phase extraction of trace amounts of nickel ions from natural and waste waters. The effect of different parameters such as type of eluent, elution conditions, sample volume and sample flow rate and mass of coating material were studied. In the presence of co-existing ions, no significant interferences were observed. Under the optimal conditions, limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were 0.32 and 1 µg L^?1 Ni(II), respectively. The proposed method was used for determination of Ni(II) in some lagoons south of the Caspian Sea and waste waters of factories. The validity of this method was confirmed by the comparison of the obtained results with the results of ICP-OES.     

Spectrophotometric Determination of the Ionization Constants of Aqueous Nitrophenols at Temperatures up to 225 °C

The UV-visible spectra of aqueous o-, m-, and p-nitrophenol were measured as a function of pH at temperatures from 50 to 225 °C at a pressure of 7 MPa. These were used to determine equilibrium constants for the acid ionization reaction of each isomer. The new results were combined with literature data on the ionization of nitrophenols and used for parameter optimization in the thermodynamic model of Marshall and Franck (J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data 10:295–304, [1981]), to describe the dependence of ionization properties on temperature and pressure. The model yields predictions of the ionization constants for o-, m-, and p-nitrophenol, log ₁₀ K _a, to at least 250 °C and 20 MPa with an estimated uncertainty in log ₁₀ K _a of less than ±0.06.     

High-throughput synthesis of size-controlled Pt-based catalysts

Pt catalysts are commonly used for chemical reaction processes due to its high catalytic activity and selectivity. Notably, the size of metal particles often has a significant impact on the performance of the metal-loaded catalysts. Therefore, developing highly efficiently synthesis method for the size control of Pt catalysts has great development prospects and research value. In this study, high-throughput size tuning of Pt-based catalysts was achieved by carbonizing the carriers. The experimental and characterization results showed that the size of the loaded Pt nanoparticles varied with different concentrations of glucose solution during carriers carbonization process. The reduction of 4-nitrophenol as a template reaction indicated that the reaction rate constant of the catalyst is approximately linear with the size of Pt particles. Importantly, a laboratory-built high-throughput synthesis system was applied for the catalyst synthesis, which enhances the automation of the laboratory exploratory experiments and makes it possible to synthesize catalysts with controllable size in batches.