Surface modification of γ-alumina membranes by silane coupling for CO2 separation

Top layers of γ-Al₂O₃ composite membranes have been modified by the silane coupling technique using phenyltriethoxysilane for improving the separation factor of CO₂ to N₂. The separation efficiency of the modified membranes was strongly dependent upon the hydroxylation tendency of the support materials and the amount of the special functional group (i.e. phenyl radical) which was coupled onto a top layer. The separation factor through the TiO₂ supported γ-Al₂O₃ membrane was found to be fairly enhanced by silane coupling, but in case of the -Al₂O₃ supported membrane was not. The CO₂/N₂ separation factor through the modified γ-Al₂O₃/TiO₂ composite membrane is 1.7 at 90°C and ΔP = 2 × 10⁵ Pa for the binary mixture containing 50 vol% CO₂. The separation factor is proportional to the CO₂ concentration in the gas mixture, and the modified membrane is stable up to 100°C. The main mechanism of the CO₂ transport through the modified γ-Al₂O₃ layer is known to be a surface diffusion.     

Melt‐state polymer chain dimensions as a function of temperature

The unperturbed chain dimensions (〈R²〉_o/M) of cis/trans‐1,4‐polyisoprene, a near‐atactic poly(methyl methacrylate), and atactic polyolefins were measured as a function of temperature in the melt state via small‐angle neutron scattering (SANS). The polyolefinic materials were derived from polydienes or polystyrene via hydrogenation or deuteration and represent structures not encountered commercially. The parent polymers were prepared via lithium‐based anionic polymerizations in cyclohexane with, in some cases, a polymer microstructure modifier present. The polyolefins retained the near‐monodisperse molecular weight distributions exhibited by the precursor materials. The melt SANS‐based chain dimension data allowed the evaluation of the temperature coefficients [dln 〈R²〉_o/dT(κ)] for these polymers. The evaluated polymers obeyed the packing length (p)‐based expressions of the plateau modulus, G = kT/np³ (MPa), and the entanglement molecular weight, M_e = ρN_anp³ (g mol^?1), where n_t denotes the number (～21) of entanglement strands in a cube with the dimensions of the reptation tube diameter (d_t) and ρ is the chain density. The product np³ is the displaced volume (V_e) of an entanglement that is also expressible as pd or kT/G. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 40: 1768–1776, 2002     

On the statistical independence of various column contributions to band broadening. Part 1: Second moment contributions from statistically independent,longitudinal diffusion in both phases

The total length-based second moment contribution from longitudinal sample diffusion in both phases on a column, σD , is derived by adding individual partial differential contributions to a partial differential equation accounting for the longitudinal diffusion processes only. Although each diffusion-dispersed sample part is equilibrated between two phases, the resulting σ,D (= 2D _mt _m + 2D _st _s) can be interpreted as the sum of two independent contributions in accordance with the variance addition rule. (D _m and D _s are the mean diffusion coefficients and t _mand t _s the mean residence times of the sample in the mobile and stationary phases, respectively.) The same σD expression is derived from the random walk model of Giddings by treating the diffusional process in each phase as statistically independent of the other processes. Under these conditions the broadening contribution from longitudinal diffusion in the mobile phase is shown to be independent of the velocity profile.     

Developments on carbon dioxide reduction: Their promise,achievements, and challenges

CO₂ reduction processes continue to be developed for electrosynthesis, energy storage applications, and environmental remediation. A number of promising materials have shown high activity and selectivity to target reduction products. However, the progress has been mainly at a small laboratory scale, and the technical challenges of large scale CO₂ reduction have not been considered adequately. This review covers recent advancements in catalyst materials and cell designs. The leading materials for CO₂ reduction to a number of useful products are presented with their corresponding cell and reactor designs. The latest efforts to progress to industrially relevant scales are discussed, along with the challenges that must be met for carbon dioxide reduction to be a viable route for mass scale production.     

Grain boundary diffusion coefficients in gold–nickel thin films

Polycrystalline gold–nickel thin films are deposited on silicon (111) wafers by evaporation in a vacuum of 2 × 10^?6 mbar. Concentration profiles of heat‐treated specimens are obtained by Auger electron depth profiling. The heat treatments are carried out in a vacuum furnace of 4 × 10^?6 mbar in the temperature interval 473–773 K. The grain boundary diffusion coefficient is determined, using a modified Wipple model, to be (3 × 10^?4 cm² s^?1) exp (?0.94 eV kT^?1). It is concluded that interdiffusion in the investigated system is characterized by type B kinetics, and that grain boundary diffusion plays a dominant role in the mass transport process of such films. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gas diffusion-flow injection determination of total inorganic carbon in water using tungsten oxide electrode

A novel gas diffusion-flow injection method has been developed for the rapid and sensitive determination of total inorganic carbon (TIC) in water. The method is based on the diffusion of CO₂ across gas permeable membrane from a donor stream containing 0.1 M HCl to an acceptor stream of sodium acetate (10⁻⁵ mol l⁻¹ and pH 10). The CO₂ trapped in the acceptor stream passes through an electrochemical flow cell contains a tungsten oxide wire and a silver/silver chloride electrode, where it was sensitively detected. The parameters affecting the sensitivity of the electrode such as buffer concentration, pH, flow rate and injected volume were studied in detail. The electrode response was linear in the concentration range from 5 to 100 μg ml⁻¹ CO₃²⁻ with a correlation coefficient (R²) of 0.998. Precision (R.S.D.) was 1.42% for 20 μg ml⁻¹ standard solution of CO₃²⁻ (n=10). The detection limit was 0.20 μg ml⁻¹ CO₃²⁻. The method was evaluated by the injection of real natural water samples and an average recovery of 100.1% was obtained. The sampling rate was 30 samples h⁻¹. The method is simple, feasible with satisfactory accuracy and precision and thus could be used for monitoring TIC in water.     

Morphogenetic control of calcite crystal growth in sulfonic acid based hydrogels

In this paper the mineralization of CaCO(3) in various hydrogel matrices is presented. Sulfonic acid based hydrogels were prepared by introduction of sulfonate-containing monomers into a polyacrylamide network. The sulfonate content of polyacrylamide-co-vinylsulfonate and polyacrylamide-co-allylsulfonate decreases during elution of the copolymers in demineralized water, indicating insufficient linking of the sulfonate-bearing monomers within the hydrogel. In contrast to this, acrylamidomethylpropanesulfonate (AMPS) effectively copolymerizes with acrylamide (AAm) monomers. To study the influence of spatial arrangement of ionic functional groups within hydrogel networks on the mineralization of CaCO(3), AMPS copolymers with different degrees of AMPS cross-linking were synthesized. For the mineralization experiments the copolymers were placed into a double-diffusion arrangement. Calcite as the thermodynamically stable modification of CaCO(3) was obtained with a particular morphology. The pseudocubic habitus resembles aggregates obtained by mineralization in pure polyacrylamide. However, closer examination of the aggregates by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows that the crystal growth in the AMPS copolymers is different from that observed in polyacrylamide. Whereas the morphology of the calcite aggregates could be fine-tuned by using copolymers with different sulfonate content, the spatial distribution of the ionic functional groups alters the course of crystallization. Calcium ions are locally accumulated due to the heterogeneous distribution of functional sulfonate groups within the copolymer network. Thereby the nucleation of calcite is triggered, resulting in enhanced mineralization.     

The Mathematical Theory of Ito Diffusions on Hypersurfaces, with Applications to NMR Relaxation Problems

A mathematical framework for translational Brownian motion on hypersurfaces is presented, using an imbedding of the surface and Ito diffusions in the ambient space. This includes a survey of Ito calculus and differential geometry. Computational methods for time correlation functions relevant to spin relaxation studies on curved interfaces are given, and explicit calculations of time correlation functions and order parameters for a Rippled surface are presented.     

Correlation analysis of quantum chemical data and the polarizability effect in H-complexes

The study is concerned with analysis of the energies of formation (E), frequency shifts (Δν) in IR spectra, ionization potentials (IP) of H-complexes, hydrogen bond lengths (r), and spin densities (sd) in H-complexes involving radical cations, obtained from quantum chemical calculations for 20 series of H-complexes. It was for the first time established that the E, IP, r, and sd values and the changes in enthalpy (δH) depend not only on the inductive and resonance effects but also on the polarizability effect of the substituents bound to the donor and acceptor centers in the H-complexes. Interrelations between the polarizability effect and the molecular structure of H-complexes are considered. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 4, pp. 602–608, April, 2006.     

The kinetics of vapor-phase nitration of cellulose 2. Nitration with nitric acid under static conditions

The regularities of vapor-phase nitration of cellulose with HNO₃ under conditions of natural convection and hindered heat removal in the absence of air were studied using the nonisothermal kinetic method. It was established that the nitration rate at the depth of conversion of 0.08 to 0.7 is described by the kinetic law d/dt =k ₁ p/(1+), wherek ₁ = 10^4.49±0.6 exp(–A/RT) s^–1 atm^–1, = 10^{–35.5±15.7}exp(B/RT),A = 36.6±3.8 kl mol^–1, andB = 203±88 kJ mol^–1. The diffusion mechanism of vapor-phase nitration of cellulose, which explains the high value of activation energies, is discussed. The effective diffusion coefficient of HNO₃ in cellulose at 25 °3.7 · 10^–7 cm² s^–1) and the activation energy of diffusion (38.3±4.2 kJ mol^–1) were estimated.For Part 1, see Ref. l.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 8, pp. 1981–1985, August, 1996.